In this week’s Motion Motorsport Report by Dave Mathers, Dave wraps up the weekend’s racing action and comments on happenings in the world of Canadian and International motorsports…
We read on a regular basis about police forces urging wannabe street racers to ‘take it to the racetrack’. So, what do those same forces do when the racers take their advice? They set up ‘safety checks’ right outside the very race tracks they suggested the racers attend. What is wrong with THAT picture?
Denny Hamlin, clearly upset with the lack of progress on the new NASCAR franchise agreement, has stated, “We don’t owe the series anything.” Denny clearly has forgotten that age old NASCAR adage, ‘You need us more than we need you.’
Apparently 23XI and Front Row are the two teams (of the 15) holding up ratification. NOT smart on their part. You can’t fight City Hall. Just saying. And the standoff has stalled work on Bubba Wallace’s contract going forward.
A bit of controversy has arisen in the NHRA Factory Stock and Factory X classes from the US Nationals in Indy, earlier this month. Turns out certain Chevrolet teams had been using improper overdrive gearing in their superchargers, a change that reportedly added about 80 horsepower.
As a result, father Greg (lost in Round 2) and his son Aaron Stanfield (won the Final) were both fined $2,500 and lost 100 points in Factory X, while over in Factory Stock, Stephen Bell (lost 2nd round), Lee Hartman (lost 1st round) and Doug Hamp (lost 1st round) were each fined a similar $2,500 and lost 100 points. Tony Scott, Jr., (lost 1st round) was fined a similar $2,500 and was disqualified from the event.
It seems NHRA was warned about these ‘indiscretions’ before the event. As well, there seems to be ‘radio silence’ on the issue from both sides. Interesting.
Kyle Larson will be attempting the Indy 500 / Coca-Cola 600 double again next year but this time his focus will be on Charlotte to avoid what happened this year (he missed the Cup start and had to ask NASCAR for a waiver to qualify for the playoffs).
Due to a weather delay at Indy, Larson was too late to start the Cup race. If weather is an issue at Indy next May, Tony Kanaan will race the Arrow McLaren in Kyle’s place. I wish him all the luck and hope can pull off the double because if anybody can win both races, he is the one pull it off.
Genesis has announced that they are going to compete in sports car endurance racing. The car(s) would be able to compete in IMSA’s GTP class and possibly at LeMans. Bring it!!
Good to see Jacques Villeneuve back on the F1 broadcast. No sign of Blundering Brundle!! And no David Croft!! We actually got to enjoy the race without Croft’s machine gun, non-stop, breathless deliveries (he doesn’t take a breath until about lap 3)! Bonus. Sky News, keep up the good work!!
PMRA guru Bruce Mehlenbacher sent me this nugget and a lot of us ‘old guys’ will remember when Thrush Mufflers started in business back in 1966 and the Thrush jet blower showed up on the scene.
Wally’s stories: courtesy of DRIVE Magazine, by Wally Parks (serialized), original president of NHRA.
“I went to Toronto with new NHRA sales rep Brian Tracy, where we toured the Thrush plant and with sketch in hand, made our proposal to the Thrush people for their sponsorship of an experimental NHRA track dryer. Its muffler shape was probably what sold the idea, and Thrush was the official sponsor of what would be the very first track dryer – if it worked.
“A next step was to get a builder for this experimental venture, so I contacted one of the west coast’s top hot rod builders, Romeo Palamides, who had moved from San Francisco to Chicago and was already at work on creating some experimental jet powered race cars’. Good stuff!
Targa Newfoundland: Targa Newfoundland roared to a start, on Saturday, with the wave of the flag at the ceremonial start at St. John’s City Hall. Drivers and co-drivers from across Canada, the United States, and as far away as Germany are competing on 18 teams this year.
Over the next several days, teams will race from eastern to north central Newfoundland and back again covering about 2000 km (1240 miles) including about 500 km of stages closed to public traffic. The rally starts along the Atlantic shore with teams challenging the twisty roads through the communities of Witless Bay and Bay Bulls.
“We’re excited to be back in the Southern Shore area for the first time in over 20 years,” says Robert Giannou, founder of Targa Newfoundland. “These beautiful communities were part of the inaugural rally back in 2002.”
Targa Newfoundland, the only internationally recognized targa rally in North America, runs until Sept. 19 in communities across eastern and north central Newfoundland.
Earl Ross 50th Anniversary of Winning Bus Tour: To honour and celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earl Ross’s historic victory at Martinsville, a group from Ailsa Craig are organizing a bus trip that will visit several racing-related sites near Charlotte, North Carolina, before heading to Martinsville, Virginia for the NASCAR weekend featuring the Xfinity and Cup Series.
“What Earl Ross did in 1974 is very special and we’re organizing a bus trip for a bunch of his fans, supporters and family to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his win at Martinsville,” said Charlene Kydd-Pickering, who has put together the itinerary. Her daughter, Angelina Pickering, is handling the travel bookings.
For info about the trip and how you can be part of it, click here.
NASCAR Canada Series: Their next race is at Quebec’s Montmagny, Sunday. It’s the season finale with Marc-Antoine Camirand, Kevin Lacroix and Andrew Ranger in the title mix.
Click HERE for a full preview on the NASCAR Canada site.
United Racing Series – APC Late Model Series: This tour wrapped up the previous weekend. The final points for the Late Models show Kyle Steckly as the season champion by 33 over Blair Wickett, by 35 over Shae Gemmell, and by 44 over both Josh Stade and Jo Lawrence.
In the Super Stocks, Carson Nagy was the season champion by 8 over Lane Zardo, by 15 on Shawn Chenoweth, by 25 ahead of Ryan Dyson and 33 on Brody Rickwood.
Ontario Sportsman Series: Their next race is at Sunset, Friday.
ASA Stars: In qualifying for the Glass City 200 Saturday at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway Canadians Chase Pinsonneault and Kyle Steckly qualified 13th and 16th. In the race Steckly finished 6th and Pinsonneault 8th.
CARS Tour: In the tour race Saturday night at South Boston (Virginia) Speedway Canadian Treyten Lapcevich finished 2nd to Carson Kvapil. Treyten was at Delaware a week ago spotting for his brother Cayden in both the APC Late Model race and the NASCAR Canada. Both events were part of Delaware’s Great Canadian Weekend.
I asked him how he got the weekend off and he said he had a race upcoming at South Boston. I asked him if he had been there yet, and he told me he hadn’t. I told him he would love it… and clearly, he did!!
Delaware Speedway: The fans got their money’s worth Friday night with two 15 lap Bone Stock B Mains plus a 40-lap main. There were 51 entries. The class used Group Qualifying to establish the starting lineup for the Feature.
Will Quarrie ran a 24.085 to lead Group 1, Gary Triska was quickest in Q2 with a 23.973, David Rockwood topped Q3 with a 23.559 (but failed tech?) and Colin Willems ran a 23.060 to top Q4. Jordan Morris won B Main1 while Taylor Everest won B Main 2.
The Feature had a humorous yellow for debris on the track. It was a bumper off the race leader and race winner Willems. He finished ahead of Matt Langford, Jo Lawrence, Justin Collver and Jeremiah Rabideau. In the points Langford leads Rabideau by 3 and Donavin Clark by 33.
The Super Stocks with 18 entries ran two features, one from August 30. Hudson Nagy won Heat 1 and Pete Vanderwyst, Jr. won Heat 2.
In the first feature, the rescheduled 25 lapper, Darrell Lake was smoking on the parade lap and pitted. Turns out it was a leaking rocker cover. Carson Nagy started on the pole. There were 3 cautions on lap 15!!
The first was for Ethan Orr spinning on the front straight, the second for Brody Rickwood spinning and the third time for two cars spinning. At the flag it was Trevor Collver over Carson Nagy, Ryan Dyson, Jay Cox and Andrew Ferreira.
For Feature 2 Hudson Nagy started on the pole ahead of Jay Cox, Orr, David McCullough and Vanderwyst. Corner 2 seemed to be a problem as Orr spun on lap 2 and then Ferreira spun on lap 4.
On lap 18 Austin Penney was being lapped when something broke on his car giving off sparks right in the middle of the top four. With two to go Orr, Ferreira, Brendon Edgar and Rickwood spun setting up a two-lap run to the flag.
Vanderwyst started inside with Lane Zardo outside. Going into Turn 3, on the last lap, those two got together with Vanderwyst spinning and then getting hit very hard by a fast closing Lonny Thompson. The red flag came out to allow for track cleanup.
At the flag it was Zardo over Carson Nagy, Collver, Hudson Nagy and Dyson. Collver continues to lead the points by 18 over Carson Nagy and by 43 on Zardo.
Their next race is Championship Night, Friday for V/8 Stocks, Super Stocks and Late Models.
Toronto Motorsports Park: Their next race is the Canada Heads Up, September 28-29.
Flamboro Speedway: Their next race is the Pro Late Models, Saturday. And it looks like excitement is building for the annual Frostoberfest fall special, in early October.
Grand Bend Motorplex: Their next race is the Ontario Team Finals, October 5 & 6.
St. Thomas Dragway: The DaSilva Racing Shootout is on this weekend followed by The Big Rig Nationals, next weekend.
NASCAR Cup Series: Ross Chastain (Chev) picked up the pole Go Bowling at the Glen Sunday at Watkins Glen International. Martin Truex was 2nd and Shane Van Gisbergen (Chev) was 3rd. There were 38 entries and all of them qualified.
Well, that didn’t take long. A bunch of cars got together exiting the bus stop on lap 1 with Kyle Busch appearing to have been spun by Corey LaJoie. About ten cars were involved in the incident. The corner camera did not look like it survived!! Ryan Blaney had to be towed back to the pits after apparently breaking his steering column in the accident.
Things ran smoothly to the end of the stage with Truex getting the stage win. With two laps to go in the second stage Daniel Suarez stuffed it into the gravel in turn 6. Chastain won Stage 2.
On lap 47 Denny Hamlin tried a three-wide pass of Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski in Corner 2 that did not work out well for him as he got shoved into the wall. ‘And the crowd went wild’!! I’m guessing that Denny is NOT a fan favourite in northern New York State (or anywhere!).
On lap 62, Austin Dillon spun Christopher Bell at pit-in, but Bell was able to recover and get onto pit road, so no yellow. On lap 80 Harrison Burton had a left rear tire go flat approaching the bus stop and pieces of the tire came off on track resulting in a yellow flag.
On lap 83 Brad Keselowski received a bump from Joey Logano, who had gotten a tap from William Byron, and then Brad got together with Byron in the Esses and Byron got up on the front of Brad’s car for a yellow.
On the restart, shocker, a yellow involving Tyler Reddick, Busch, David Gilliland, Truex, Chase Elliott and others!! NASCAR Overtime!! On the restart Shane Van Gisbergen, the Aussie Supercar star, moved from third to the lead with two laps to go. On the last lap Chris Buescher muscled his way back past SVG on the bust stop exit to go on and get the win. GREAT show.
At the flag it was Buescher. SVG, Carson Hocevar, Chastain and Zane Smith (who?? LOL). In the playoff points Christopher Bell leads Austin Cindric by 3 and Joey Logano by 5.
Their next race is Bristol Baby, Saturday at 7.30 P.M. on TSN 5.
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Thirty-eight cars qualified for the Mission 200 at Watkins Glen International Saturday and three were sent home. Sports car racer 18-year-old Connor Zilisch (Chev) made his first Xfinity Series start and was on the pole ahead of Ty Gibbs (Toyota) and A.J. Allmendinger (Chev). I counted 6 Cup regulars in the field.
Six cars had to start at the back of the pack, five due to adjustments and one for an engine change. The first stage ran clean and green with Zilisch picking up the stage win. However, he had a bad pit stop and came back out in fifth place.
Stage Two was the same as the first, clean and green, and William Byron took the stage win. During the caution period sports car racer Thomas Annunziata was removed from his car suffering from the excessive heat as he did not have a cool suit.
On the restart Justin Allgaier spun on Corner 6 entry and then stuffed it into the gravel trap bringing out a yellow for extraction. On lap 77 Matty ‘D’ (DiBenedetto) slowed with what appeared to be a blown motor and then stopped on the ‘bypass lane’ at the bus stop requiring a yellow to tow him away.
Chaos ensued on the restart as Ed Jones spun on Corner 1 entry and collected about five other cars. The red flag came out for the cleanup using a LOT of oil dry. NASCAR Overtime!!
On the restart Gibbs ran out of fuel and then Brandon Jones got shoved off track collecting Mike Skeen in the inner loop. Time to rerack and try it again. On the second restart more cars were running out of fuel.
Zilisch took the white flag but they were not done wrecking back in the pack at the bus stop. At the flag it was Zilisch ahead of Sheldon Creed and Allmendinger. Zilisch had also won the 100-mile ARCA race on Friday afternoon. Time of the race: 2:35:26.
In the points Allgaier leads Cole Custer by 43 and Chandler Smith by 62.
Their next race is Bristol, Friday at 7.30 P.M. on TSN 5.
NASCAR Craftsman Trucks: Their next race is Bristol, Thursday at 8 P.M. on Fox Sports Racing.
Formula One: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was quickest during FP1, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) topped FP2, George Russell (Mercedes)was fastest in FP 3 while Leclerc nabbed the pole over Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) for the F1 race Sunday at Baku, Azerbaijan.
Hamilton started from the back due to an engine swap while Lando Norris started 17th after failing to get out of Q1. We were guaranteed a show by those two.
Hard to believe but everything ran smoothly until the second last lap. Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez were racing HARD for the last podium spot when Sainz appeared to crowd over into Perez wrecking both cars. At the flag it was Piastri over Leclerc and Russell.
Norris ended up 4th with Hamilton 9th. Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) started 11th and finished 19th. Great to hear God Save the King again!!
In the Drivers’ Championship, Max Verstappen is 59 points ahead of Norris and 78 up on Leclerc. The Constructors’ Championship now sees McLaren taking over the lead by 20 on Red Bull and by 51 on Ferrari.
Their next race is Singapore, Sunday at 7.55 A.M. on TSN 5.
IndyCar: The season finale at Nashville Super Speedway Sunday saw Kyle Kirkwood nab the pole over Josef Newgarden and Feliz Rosenqvist. 27 entries. On lap 56 Rosenqvist had a flat tire and slid up into the wall. I must say I have never seen at tire have the inside sidewall come apart like that. Damage from a suspension part perhaps?
On lap 90 Katherine Legg appeared to overcorrect from getting too close to the wall on Corner 4 exit and spun down to the infield for the second yellow.
At the flag it was Colton Herta over Pato O’Ward and Newgarden.
In the final points for the year, Alex Palou became the 2024 Series Champion over Colton Herta 31 back and Scott McLaughlin 39 back.
IMSA: Their next race is Indy, Sunday at 11.30 A.M. on Rev TV.
NHRA: In Top Fuel qualifying for the Pep Boys Nationals at Maple Grove, PA Justin Ashley topped the 19 entries with a 3.713 at 333.49 MPH. Canadians Dan Mercier (14th) and Smax Smith (16th) made the show.
Smith was a ‘first round runner-up’ while Mercier took out points leader Doug Kalitta in Round 1. In the final, Antron Brown beat Shawn Langdon with a 3.798 @ 327.27. 6 upsets (lower qualified car wins) and 10 ‘smokers’ (one or both cars experienced traction loss). Kalitta still leads the points by 15 over Ashley and by 28 on Langdon.
In Funny Car, no surprise but Austin Prock was quickest and fastest of the 16 floppers at 3.849 at 338.43. Prock marched through the field taking out Jack Beckman (in the other John Force Racing car) with a 3.896 @ 332.51. Two upsets and 12 smokers. Prock leads Tasca by 39 and Matt Hagan by 46.
Pro Stock saw Dallas Glenn top the 19 entries with a 6.530 at 209.43. Canadian Eric Latino qualified 10th. Aaron Stanfield won the final over Erica Enders with a 6.569 at 209.26. 5 upsets and 3 smokers. Glenn leads Stanfield by 25 and Greg Anderson by 33.
Gaige Herrera unsurprisingly was tops of the 14 Pro Stock Bikes with a 6.743 at 200.20. Herrera fell to eventual winner Hector Arana, Jr. In the semis and Arana took out Richard Gadson in the final with a 6.839 at 198.38. 4 upsets. Herrera leads Matt Smith by 20 and Gadson by 33.
Factory Stock Showdown: Former longtime Pro Stock driver Mark Pawuk won the top spot in qualifying with a 7.743 at 177.74. Twelve entries. Scott Libersher won the final over Stephen Bell running 7.755 @ 177.46. 3 upsets. David Janac leads Pawuk by 22 in the points and Bell by 48.
Mountain Motor Pro Stock: Johnny Pluchino was the #1 qualifier with a 6.283 at 224.70. 15 entries for the 8-car class. In the final Pluchino topped John Montecalvo with a 6.325 @ 223.50. Two upsets. In the points Pluchino leads Bo Butner by 17 and John DeFlorian by 60.
Their next race is Charlotte, Sunday at 3 P.M. on Fox Sports Racing.
Full Throttle Motor Speedway: Their next race is the Fireworks Championship Night, Saturday.
Can-Am Stock/Super Stock Series: Their next races are September 28 & 29 at Empire Dragway.
Buxton Speedway: Their next race is the Crate Sprints, Saturday.
Shannonville Drags: Their next race is this weekend.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
