On tap this week:
- CHMF announces its 2015 inductees
- Firework coming in DTM?
- Another F1 fan survey
- F1 faster cars about to be delayed
- Quote of the Week: Allmendinger turns off
- NASCAR needs a road course in Chase
Colourful Riverside Speedway founder and owner John Chisholm, long-time motorsport supporter and builder Ralph Luciw, versatile veteran racer Alex Tagliani and seven-time Canadian stock car champion Don Thomson Jr. will be announced today as the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame's (CMHF) inductees for 2015.
The four will join International Category inductee and three-time world champion Sir Jackie Stewart on centre stage at the CMHF's 21st Induction Ceremonies at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto on Oct. 17. A limited number of tickets go on sale Aug. 15 on the CMHF website.
Fans attending the event will have an opportunity to meet and chat with the inductees during a reception following the ceremony.
Chisholm's influence in Canadian motorsport is undeniable. While he grew up dreaming of racing glory and enjoyed a successful career in stock cars, Chisholm's ambition to build a racetrack in his hometown of Antigonish, N.S., left an indelible mark on racing in Canada. Modelled after Tennessee's famed Bristol Motor Speedway, Riverside Speedway continues to be one of Canada's premiere racing venues and certainly contributed greatly to the growth of motorsport in Eastern Canada.
Luciw was the force behind the Honda-Michelin Challenge Series, which made its debut in 1976. The low-cost series gave many young Canadian drivers their start and served as an affordable venue for sponsors to get involved in racing. He also played a key role in promoting motorsport, working in public relations for manufacturers and in media relations at the Mosport International Raceway.
One of the last Canadians to benefit from the successful Player's driver program, Tagliani made 203 career starts in Champ Car/IndyCar over 16 seasons. The 2009 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year is the only Canadian start in pole position in the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing," which he did in 2011. In June, he became the only driver in the history of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series to lap the field in his dominant victory in the Leland Industries 300 at Sunset Speedway.
Thomson took seven consecutive stock car championships beginning in 1999 (two Canadian Eastern Championships and five CASCAR Super Series titles). Twice voted Most Sportsmanlike Driver by his CASCAR peers, Thomson also excelled on the engineering side of the sport and spent time helping young drivers, such as J.R. Fitzpatrick, develop their talent. He retired in 2011.
Random thoughts
Canadian racing fans should tune into the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Series' Aug. 28 stop in Moscow to see if NASCAR's "boys have at it" attitude will dominate the action. Audi driver Timo Scheider sparked the ire of the Mercedes team late in the last race in Austria when the manufacturer's sporting boss ordered him to take out championship contender Pascal Wehrlein. Scheider dutifully obeyed and used Canadian Robert Wickens to knock championship points leader Wehrlein into a gravel trap on the final lap.
By the numbers
Another Formula One fan survey was released last week by Autosport Magazine which delivered some interesting results from the 35,000, mostly male fans aged 18-40 who responded. There was an almost even split between those who liked and disliked the new 1.6-litre turbocharged engines. Almost half said they would not pay to stream live races and don't like F1 visiting new venues like Azerbaijan, Korea, and Russia. About 90 per cent want the technical regulations to allow more freedom and F1 to ensure traditional European races (Britain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, and Monaco) stay on the calendar.
Technically speaking
It appears that Formula One's plans to make the cars five to six seconds quicker in 2017 might be a bit tougher than originally anticipated. Although the sport's Strategy Group only announced the speedier goal in July, word is that it will gather later this month to discuss moving the deadline back a year to 2018. On the other hand, further restrictions on technology and coaching will come into effect at the next race in Belgium on Aug. 23. The biggest impact of the change may be seen at the start, where the drivers will now essentially be on their own when it comes to getting away from the grid.
Quote of the week
"Last time I do that."
— A radio message from annoyed NASCAR driver A.J. Allmendinger who could not get his No. 47 Chevy re-fired after using the engine toggle switch to turn his car on and off to save fuel during a full course caution in Sunday's Sprint Cup Cheez It 355 at Watkins Glen International. It turned out to be a battery issue.
The last word
Now that IndyCar finally responded to fans' demands by announcing it will return to the challenging Road America Circuit in 2016, it's NASCAR's turn. Just as die-hard IndyCar fans hoped the series would go back to Elkhart Lake, Wis, many NASCAR supporters feel it's about time a road course be included in the Chase for the Cup. A good candidate would be Watkins Glen International, which hosted a sold out Sprint Cup race on Sunday and was just voted the most popular racetrack in all of NASCAR . Eight of the 10 Chase tracks were in the poll, with three (Miami, Phoenix and Texas) not even making the Top-10.
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
Add us to your circles
Sign up for our weekly newsletter