On tap this week:
- Sir Jackie's fondest Canadian memory
- Paralyzed racer on the move
- Mercedes loses big
- Six-time champ derailed
- Quote of the Week: Tony Stewart will still be a thorn
- Valiante's title gets soggy
Three-times world champion Sir Jackie Stewart had some great races in Canada, but his fondest memory of competing in this country happened well after the smell of gas and rubber dissipated from the old Mosport International Raceway (now Canadian Tire Motorsport Park).
Rather than fight the throngs of fans pouring out of the Bowmanville, Ont., circuit on a wet and foggy September day following his win in the 1972 Canadian Grand Prix, Stewart stayed behind and celebrated in a motor home with his guest for the weekend, Edsel Ford, the great-grandson of Henry Ford.
When they finally drove out of the track late in the afternoon, Stewart heard unmistakable sound of Amazing Grace being played on the bagpipes and spied a piper in full kilt standing under a small wooden hut behind the spectator areas near the start-finish line.
"I said: 'Oh, I've got to stop and see what this guy is doing'," Stewart recalled.
"When I went in to see him he said: 'My goodness, I was trying to get up to the podium.' He wanted to go up and pipe me on the podium but nobody would let him so he never got to. I signed some autographs and left."
Much to Stewart's surprise the same piper showed up for the next grand prix that year at Watkins Glen International in New York State, and he made sure that the pipes were playing on the podium because he won that race too.
The stories of Stewart's on track exploits in this country, including Formula One and Can-Am poles and wins, along with some away from the asphalt tales will be front and centre Oct. 17 when he enters the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame (CMHF) as this year's international inductee. Canadians John Chisholm and Ralph Luciw will also be inducted as builders while Alex Tagliani and Don Thomson Jr. go in as competitors. This year's induction ceremony takes place at CBC's Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto.
Special guest Brian Williams, who sat next to Stewart on both CBC and CTV Canadian Grand Prix broadcasts, will introduce his former colleague.
"I am very proud," Stewart said of his induction. "I had a lot of happy times in Canada."
Random thoughts
Michael Johnson celebrated his 23rd birthday in style last week by announcing that he will compete in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge's Street Tuner Class with 31-year-old Englishman Stephen Simpson as his co-driver. Paralyzed since a motorcycle accident when he was 12, Johnson will use hand controls provided by Italian company GuidoSimplex. The system is essentially two rings on the steering wheel he pushes and pulls to drive: One on the front controls for the throttle and another on the back applies for the brakes.
By the numbers
The balance sheet for the 2014 double world championship Mercedes Formula One revealed last week demonstrates the huge inequality that exists in the sport today. The outfit's 2014 financials revealed a $154-million loss for the season where it won 16 races and scored a record 11 1-2 finishes. While each win essentially cost the team a shocking $10-million, the total loss racked up by the Silver Arrows alone is roughly equivalent to the entire budget of the smaller teams like Sauber and Manor and more than 70 per cent of the total budget of midfielders Lotus, Toro Rosso and Force India.
Technically speaking
Jimmie Johnson has won half of the 12 Chase for the Cups and is easily the most feared driver in the NASCAR's 10-race championship playoff, but this year he was derailed by an unlikely foe: a $15 part. The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy driver came onto pit road with a problem after 104 of 400 laps of Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway and the 37 laps it took to repair his car's rear axle knocked him out of the 2015 Chase. "Talking to the guys it was an axle seal— a very inexpensive part," Johnson said after a 41st place finish. "If you look at the old Chase format, a bad finish like this would take you out of it anyway. You've gotta be on for 10 races."
Quote of the week
"NASCAR is probably going to be the most disappointed of everybody today because they aren't getting rid of me — they have to deal with me as an owner. There's still the opportunity to get fined and there's still the opportunity to be put on probation, just like always, just from a different capacity than now."
— Three times NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart last week after announcing his decision to step out of the cockpit after the 2016 season and concentrate on his Stewart-Haas Team full-time.
The last word
A pair of spins in treacherous conditions during a rain-shortened Petit Le Mans cost Canadian Michael Valiante the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship on Saturday. His 12th place finish overall (fifth in class) two laps behind the winners with co-drivers Michael Westbrook and Duetsche Tourenwagen Masters star Mike Rockenfeller meant their Corvette Daytona Prototype missed top season honours by a scant three points. In the end, Saturday's Prototype class winners, Christian Fittipaldi and João Barbosa, took the title with 309 points, with Westbrook and Valiante second with 306.
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