CASCAR ON TV: The 2006 CASCAR YEAR-IN-REVIEW show on SPORTSNET

EAST:
Saturday Nov. 18th @ 2:30PM EST
Sunday Nov. 19th @ 12:00PM EST

ONTARIO:
Saturday Nov. 18th @ 3:00PM EST
Sunday Nov. 19th @ 11:00AM EST
Wednesday Nov. 22nd @ 1:00PM EST

WEST:
Saturday Nov. 18th @ 12:30PM MST & @ 7:00PM MST
Sunday Nov. 19th @ 11:00AM MST

PACIFIC:
Saturday Nov. 18th @ 7:00PM PST

The show features highlights on:

• The CASCAR Sportsman Series
• The Milwaukee Tools Western Report
• The Fast Eddie Rookie Report
• The Leland Drive to the Championship

NASCAR Cdn. Tire Series: Western champs 'park it' for '07

A post on the CASCAR West site says that the 2006 championship-winning #36 MOPAR Dodge Charger team won't be racing in 2007. This is very unfortunate.

While people are very happy about the news that the series will be called the "NASCAR Canadian Tire Series" in 2007.... beyond that there has been no information. I spoke with a team owner yesterday. He said that without information and material to sell their programs, the announcement of the series is of little benefit. He said it is already too late in terms of getting into companies' budgets for 2007.

According to the post by team owner Derek Johnston:

"It is with great sadness that I announce that we will not be participating in the 2007 season. We have all been waiting far too long for an announcement that still has not come...and may never come. No car owner could be prouder of the time committment, and dedication of the #36 team. They have proved over the last years that they are winners, and working with them has been a privledge. Unfortunately there are a lot of other factors, and time is one of them. I had set my own self imposed deadline to have the 2007 season finalized by Oct 1, then Nov. 1, now it's Nov 15 and we still have no answers. TIME HAS RUN OUT. Thanks to all our sponsors and thanks to all the teams for making racing competetive and fun, and I wish you all the best. Derek Johnston/ Derek Johnston Motorsports #36 Mopar, Mobil One, Exide Dodge"

World of Outlaws at Ohsweken Speedway???

The World of Outlaws could be making their first visit to Southern Ontario in 2007. Plans are in the works for Ohsweken Speedway to host an Outlaws sprint car race on Wednesday July 25th, 2007.

Although it is not officially confirmed, word from track management is that the deal is almost complete. The tentative date of July 25th would follow the tours Tuesday night visit to the Fulton Speedway in upstate New York.

Stay tuned for more details!!!

ACT: BRIAN HOAR TO CHALLENGE FOR ACT’S ’07 TITLE

Waterbury, VT – Five-time American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Champion, Brian Hoar of Williston, VT has announced he will return to the Vermont-based Late Model Series in search of a sixth championship title. The second generation driver last claimed an ACT crown in 2000 although he’s competed infrequently off and on with the Series since his departure.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” commented the 34 year-old racer who, over the past several years has been a competitor with NASCAR’s Busch East Series. “We’ve got some homework to do – the cars are quite a bit different, plus I’ll need to change my driving style some come spring,” he remarked.
The long-time Dodge driver continued, “It always takes me a little while to get comfortable behind the wheel when the season starts back up, you’ve got to get your mind and reactions back into it. I’ll also need to rediscover ACT’s spec motor, which has less horse power (than the Busch engine), and get used to the narrower 8” Goodyear tire, although the ACT car is wider and handles better than the Busch car.”
“Returning to the tracks where I grew up racing is exciting. It will be great to have fans come and cheer us on at Thunder Road, Airborne, Sanair, White Mountain and Oxford, as well as the other tracks on the 2007 ACT schedule. As a team, we’re particularly excited about the recently announced Super Series race at Kawartha (Speedway near Peterborough, ONT). I’ve done some research on the track over the internet and I think I’ve looked at every photo I could find for the past three years. It looks like a terrific facility. There aren’t a lot of tracks in this area with progressive banking and I can’t wait to head out there.”
Even though Hoar’s been away from regular ACT competition, he is among those considered as a contender for the 2007 crown. “I’m looking forward to Brian’s return,” stated six-time and defending ACT Champion, Jean-Paul Cyr. Cyr tied Hoar’s record of five ACT Late Model titles in 2005.
“It’s a lot of fun to race with him and his team always has a great attitude. Plus,” Cyr added, “He’s going to have a good car. Dave and Donna (Smith of Race Basics) build a competitive car and they’ve helped us to several of our championships,” he finished.
“I’m tickled to death,” agreed Brent Dragon, a three point finisher in each of the past years, “It’s always good to have another competitive car. Brian’s a clean racer; he was one of those you always wanted to beat back when he was winning championships.”
A.J. Begin, of Merrimac, MA hasn’t had much experience racing against Hoar since he arrived on the scene after his departure, “I don’t know much about Brian,” Begin said. “He was at the Ste-Croix Tour race back in May and I remember running side-by-side with him down the backstretch. He got loose and went into the infield, I thought `He’s going to loop it and come back across the track,’ but he never got sideways and amazingly he returned to the track without incident.”
He continued, “With ACT, it doesn’t matter what your name is. There is a lot of good, clean competition. At any given race, there’s a long list of drivers who could win. I understand that he’s a respectful driver and I welcome that.”
Hoar will begin his quest for a record tying sixth ACT Tour Championship on Sunday, April 29 at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway.
For additional information contact the ACT office (802) 244-6963 or visit www.acttour.com

From: Marjorie Mulligan Fay

Odds & Ends

Had some trouble with Blogger today, so I couldn't post. It's fixed now, as you can see.

Slow day anyway, other than someone told me that Grand Bend Micro Speedway won't be "Micro" for much longer. The 1/8-mile configuration is being stretched out to 1/4-mile. From what I have been told, they want to pave it this fall.

DJ Kennington is attempting to qualify for the Busch Series finale at Homestead this weekend. Good luck DJ!

Finally, a big 'thank you' to Dave Whitlock and everyone at Whitlock Motorsports for their hospitality in inviting me to their team party last Saturday night in Wyoming, ON!

TSN: Tag looking for a new ride

From TSN.CA

"Alex Tagliani's tenure at Team Australia appears to be over.
Writing in his column on RDS.ca, Tagliani says he has spoken to several teams about next season, including Rocketsports Racing, Dale Coyne and RuSport.
"I do not expect to return with Team Australia, the team with whom I spent the last two seasons," writes Tagliani. "I know that the team would like two Australian drivers next season and I cannot really blame them."

... more at the link above.

TSN: Tag looking for a new ride

From TSN.CA

"Alex Tagliani's tenure at Team Australia appears to be over. Writing in his column on RDS.ca, Tagliani says he has spoken to several teams about next season, including Rocketsports Racing, Dale Coyne and RuSport.
"I do not expect to return with Team Australia, the team with whom I spent the last two seasons," writes Tagliani. "I know that the team would like two Australian drivers next season and I cannot really blame them."

... more at the link above.

Grand Bend Speedway not very Micro for long

Apparently the formerly 1/8-mile Grand Bend Micro Speedway has been stretched out to a 1/4-mile. Word I received was that they are planning to pave it this fall.

Mark Martin prepares for his final drive in the #6 Roush Ford

... it was quite a ride.

AFTER 19 YEARS, MARTIN SET FOR FINAL RIDE IN NO. 6

Martin will exit the No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion after Sunday’s race at Homestead

CONCORD, N.C. (Nov. 14, 2006) ­ Can you recall where you were and what you were doing on Feb. 14, 1988? Mark Martin can. He was behind the wheel of the Roush Racing No. 6 Ford, forging forward on what would become one of the most successful runs in not only NASCAR, but all of sports history. Martin has spent the majority of his days since behind the wheel of the No. 6; 19 years worth to be exact. That will all come to an end this weekend, when Martin takes his final ride in the Roush Racing No. 6 Ford.

“It’s actually hard to believe that it’s actually here,” said Martin in reference to Sunday’s race at Homestead. “It’s one of those things where you know it has been coming for a while, but you still can’t believe that it’s almost here. I’ve been in that car for a long time ­ 19 years to be exact. It’s a part of me and I’m a part of it. Now the time has come for me to hand that over to someone else, but it’s going to be a different feeling for sure.”

To put Martin’s 19-year run in the same car in perspective, seven other current drivers, who are on the preliminary entry list for this weekend’s race at Homestead, also started that Daytona 500 in 1988. Of those seven drivers, all have raced for at least four different owners since that time. In fact, the seven combined have driven for 55 different owners and driven cars with a total of 57 different numbers. All while Martin forged on in the No. 6.

On that day Ronald Ragan was president, a gallon of gas cost 96 cents, the average price of a car was just over $14,000, a loaf of bread would run you a whopping 61 cents, and a young driver from Batesville, Arkansas was determined to make the most of a second chance. Martin’s tenure in the No. 6 was of humbling if not almost comical beginnings.

“We made the race on time,” said Martin recalling that first speed weeks with Roush Racing. “Then we got wrecked in the Twin-125’s and we didn’t have a backup speedway car, so we used the Atlanta car for the race. We didn’t last 20 laps before we lost the engine.”

When Martin climbed into that backup No. 6 car on that day, it was highly unlikely he could have envisioned the success he would go on to have in the No. 6. Six-Hundred and sixteen consecutive starts, 35 wins, 230 top-five finishes, 361 top-10 finishes, 39 poles, 181,163 laps, 11,100 laps led and 228,456.2 miles later, Martin prepares to get behind of the wheel of the No. 6 for the final time this Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Martin’s time in the No. 6 car has seen four different Presidents of the United States, two different series’ sponsors, three different Ford makes and numerous changes to the business of NASCAR and Roush Racing. The No. 6 team was the first step of team owner Jack Roush into NASCAR. Since that time Roush has added four more Cup teams, with two of those teams claiming championships, and Roush has grown into one of the largest and most successful motorsports operations in the world.

“We’ve been at this for a long time and there is a sense of accomplishment for what we’ve been able to do,” said Martin. “It’s been a great ride and I’m so thankful to Jack Roush for having given me the opportunity to really live out my dreams behind the wheel of the No. 6 car. It’s really been a great ride and I would not change it for anything. We’ve always went into it giving everything that we had and really going at it no less than 100 percent and hopefully that showed over the years.”

MARTIN’S STATS IN THE NO. 6
SEASONS: 19
STARTS: 616
WINS: 35
POLES: 39
TOP-FIVE’S: 230
TOP-10’s: 361
LAPS: 181,163
LAPS LED: 11,100
MILES: 228,456.2
TOP 10 POINT FINISHES: 16
TOP FIVE POINT FINISHES: 12
TOP 15 POINT FINISHES: 15

MARTIN MILESTONES IN THE NO. 6
Race # Date Track Start Finish President
1st Feb 14, 1988 Daytona 38 41 Ronald Reagan
56th Oct. 22, 1989 Rockingham (1st win)7 1 George Bush
100th June 16, 1991 Pocono 1 3 George Bush
200th Sept. 18, 1994 Dover 4 19 Bill Clinton
300th Nov. 16, 1997 Atlanta 9 3 Bill Clinton
400th Nov. 12, 2000 Homestead 11 3 George W. Bush
500th Sept. 14, 2003 New Hampshire 33 28 George W. Bush
600th July 16, 2006 New Hampshire 13 4 George W. Bush
617th Nov. 19, 2006 Homestead (Final Run)

###
Contact: Kevin Woods, Roush Racing

Amp'd Mobile Supercross at Rogers Centre: Suppport a great cause and win incredible access

Readers of Inside Motorcycles and its sister publication IMX have a chance to pick up free tickets to the Amp’d Mobile Supercross event at the Rogers Centre Nov. 30-Dec. 2, and help Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children at the same time.

The first 50 readers to donate $75 or more to the Amp’d Mobile Supercross Inside Line Experience Pledge Drive will receive two free tickets to the Rogers Centre event, compliments of Inside Motorcycles and IMX. If you stop and think about it, that's just about the cost of two tickets to the event anyway).

The top 10 fundraisers over $500 by Nov. 21 will also win a pair of passes to the Inside Line Experience at Toronto Supercross. The Amp’d Mobile Supercross Inside Line Experience Pledge Drive raises funds to support research at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Donations received through the drive will fund research for treating hydrocephalus – the number one cause of brain surgery in children. Fundraising efforts will help improve the lives of kids that have to endure multiple brain surgeries to live.

The Inside Line Experience is a package of exclusive opportunities at the Amp’d Mobile Supercross of Toronto, giving participants an unforgettable experience for this event. Hang out with top Supercross racers in a small group, in a relaxed environment. Attend the Supercross press conference. Watch a private practice at Rogers Centre. Tour a factory rig. Walk the track. And get a pit pass and great seats.

A pledge form can be downloaded from the Inside Motorcycles MX For Children website at this link.

To be eligible for the two free race tickets, you will need to pledge a minimum of $75 or more (get your friends, family, co-workers and/or corporations to pledge donations).

You will then need to send an email to Inside Motorcycles (david@insidemotorcycles.com) or call David Weber 519-869-4969 and let him know you have made your pledge in order to receive your tickets. If you wish, you can also call David and he can take your pledge over the phone.

But you'd better hurry; the two free tickets are only available to the first 50 readers of Inside Motorcycles or IMX who pledge $75 or more.

T.O. Sun: McNulty story says Villeneuve not likely to drive for Roush in '07

In the same piece, Ken Schrader is quoted as saying the new NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is more about "marketing" than developing a stepping stone to Cup.

Let's hope Kenny is wrong and it's about both of those things.

NASCAR: Quotes from Montoya and Ganassi on next weekend and next season

CHIP GANASSI (Car owner Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates)

WILL MONTOYA ATTEMPT TO QUALIFY FOR NEXT WEEK’S CUP RACE?
“We’ll see. We’re making the decision this week. We’ll have our post-race review from this weekend and go from there. If we so decide there is a car entered there.”

HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THE RECEPTION MONTOYA HAS HAD SO FAR IN NASCAR? “I think he’s been doing a great job. We had five of the fastest laps in the (Busch) race yesterday on the good side. On the bad side he came in and pinched the guys against the wall one time. We had a slow, slow stop. It’s just another learning curve. Trying to avoid an accident, he glanced off the wall again. In some sense that’s four races and four scrapes against the wall. You can look at it that way, too. He understands we’re trying to find the limits of these cars. We’re very happy with his awareness and what’s going on around him and what’s going on with the cars. Quite frankly I think he’s being too nice when these guys come down on him in the corner. He backs out of it and hits the wall. You just can’t do that.”

IS THERE ANY REASON NOT TO RUN HIM IN A CUP CAR NEXT WEEK? “We feel very strong about getting him in the Cup race. That’s not the issue. The issue is getting him out of the pits in a competitive manner. You can have the fastest car there and if we can’t get out of the pits you might as well not even be there. We’ve got to get the rest of the team organized around it. This has all come on pretty quick about putting him in a Cup race and everything. We just don’t want to embarrass him or ourselves out there. We want to make sure it’s right. We’re certainly leaning to that way. I think it’s obviously we’re leaning that way. We entered a car, but we’re going to look at it this week and decide. Quite frankly, I hope we do it.”

ARE YOU LOOKING AT GETTING MONTOYA’S DEBUT OUT OF THE WAY? “I don’t look at it that way. Every race we go to now is a new mountain to climb. It’s going to be that way for awhile. I’ve said all along we’ve got about eight steps to make and we’ve made about four of them. We have to make four more before we get there. As long as we make solid steps and we can do that we’re going to do that, but let’s not forget, we’re about four steps into an eight-step process. Yes, we’ve made solid steps. The next four have to all be solid, too.”

WHAT’S THE CAR NUMBER? “We have a 42 and 30. Those are the two Havoline cars entered next week.” WOULD MONTOYA BE IN THE 30? “Yes, that’s the way it stands right now. We’re going to take a look at all that this week. A lot of it has to do with how many other cars that are entered and who has a better shot at qualifying. Obviously Casey (Mears) is a great qualifier, but we haven’t even broached that subject. As far as Casey knows he’s in the 42 next weekend, and I’ve told him that.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (2007 Driver No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger)

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT SATURDAY’S BUSCH RACE AT PIR? “Yesterday was a bad day. We had a really bad car. We qualified well, but the car in the race was terrible. The car really never came to life. I think everybody else’s got worse than mine and we started making up a little bit of places. I started running the high line through three and four and some guys spun in front of me. That was pretty much our day. It was good in a way because we had to learn how to work all day with a really bad car and make it better all day. We really missed it a lot yesterday to where we needed to be with the car, but that was good. Everybody with the Texaco/Havoline Dodge at Ganassi has done a good job for me. Do we want to do better? Yeah, we want to do better. Do we need to improve? Yeah, I think when the car is good the speed is there, qualifying is there. It’s just learning how to race. I don’t want to get in trouble with people so early. I want to try to do it the right way, and if it doesn’t work, then you do it the other way.”

WHY WOULD YOU NOT RACE AT HOMESTEAD NEXT SUNDAY? “I don’t know. I think if everything is right it’s worth doing it. If things are not right, there’s no point to doing it. We need to make sure the team is capable of running two cars. (It’s in Chip’s ballpark.)”

ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH YOUR PROGRESS? “In three races I’ve qualified 9 and 11 and 11. I’ve been ahead of my teammates, all of them. Generally speaking I think my pace has been really good. I think there are other things to learn still, the overtaking and things like that. We need to work on that a little bit more, but I think that’s good. If the cars are in equal position, I can run with people, I can pass people. It works pretty good.”

ARE YOU SURPRISED IT’S NOT MORE DIFFICULT? “When you run up front the cars are a lot cleaner and it’s easier to run than when you run in the back. Yesterday when I spun in turn one I was beside the guy. I talked to the guy and I said, ‘I thought you were in my bumper and I wasn’t going to get in your way because I thought you were in my bumper.’ There’s no point to wreck another guy for the sake of wrecking him, but that’s the way he played it and that’s it. You’ve just got to get on with it.”

ARE YOU AHEAD OF WHERE YOU THOUGHT YOU’D BE NOW? “Yeah. I’m not racing for points or anything here, and I don’t want to (interfere) with anybody’s championship or anything. I’m out there to learn. When the car is good, I want people to race me clean. When they’re quick, I’ll race them clean at the moment. Next year when it gets down to business it’ll be a different story. Daytona is all relevant. Daytona is what the car can do. You can win the race or finish 30th and you didn’t even know what happened. It’s a bit like Talladega. You’ve just got to have people work with you. I think that’s going to be hard to get people to work with me at the beginning, but that’s why we’ve got two teammates. From what I saw at Talladega, I was shocked that all three guys didn’t work more together. I think we need to do that.”

WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET YOUR FIRST CUP START OUT OF THE WAY? “I don’t care. It’s just a race. It’s getting in the car and driving it. What’s the big deal? For me the biggest deal, probably more than doing a Cup race, was probably the ARCA race in Talladega because that was my first stock car race, my first NASCAR style race. It was just a race, get in it, drive the car and see what it does. I think Cup is a lot more give and take than Busch. In Busch people want to prove themselves to be able to get to Cup. When you’re in Cup you don’t have to do that. Even in F-1 you’ve got to learn to be patient. Here when things are going bad, just ride along and wait for the pit stop. I even told Chip yesterday it was bad the race wasn’t longer. They say the Cup races are harder because they’re longer, but in a way that’s better. You can make a difference. You make the changes wrong, the next pit stop you can just come in and change the car and keep changing the car until it gets better. You need to make sure you’re in that ballpark.”

From Ray Cooper

A1GP: Chinese Double Score for A1 Team Canada's Hinchcliffe

Sunday November 12, 2006 - A1 Team Canada's James Hinchcliffe endured a fast but frustrating third round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Beijing, China Sunday as the 19-year-old from Toronto added to the team's points tally with fourth and tenth place finishes in the Sprint and Feature races with the fastest race lap, and bonus point, also going to the Canadian charger.

With the grid for Sunday morning's 20-minute Sprint race based on Saturday's limited practice session, following vital track modifications to the Beijing street circuit, Hinchcliffe found himself taking the start in fourth. The tight nature of the Jingkai track in the Olympic city was never going to lend itself to spectacular overtaking and as expected the Sprint race proved to be a static affair as the 22 Nation field finally unleashed their identical 550bhp V8-powered A1GP racing machines.

Hinchcliffe held fourth to score three more points for Canada, his third straight points-scoring performance, with pole-sitter Jeroen Bleekemolen winning for A1 Team Netherlands ahead of Mexico's Salvador Duran and Italy's Enrico Toccacelo.

The Feature race saw Hinchcliffe climb into podium contention early in proceedings, taking the third spot as the Mexican entry floundered. As soon as the pit window opened on lap 20 the front-runners pitted with the exception of Canada who opted to stay out and build up an advantage over the rest of the field.

Unfortunately for Hinchcliffe, almost as soon as he assumed the lead two safety car periods in quick succession denied him the opportunity to streak too far away or similarly pit for a fresh set of tires. When the track finally returned to green James put pedal to the metal but the advantage lay with Holland in fourth having already stopped followed by a string of similarly placed cars. This failed to halt Hinchcliffe's stunning pace demonstration and he duly set the fastest lap of the race on lap 39.

Finally relinquishing the lead on lap 50, the end of the pit window, James pitted and rejoined 11th. He quickly climbed to eighth and with some final drama he was looking good to rebound and score a potential top-five finish following the retirements of Holland, Germany and Malaysia until he in turn found himself hitting the wall following a close last-lap dice with France's Nicolas Lapierre.

Classified tenth at the checkered flag, with a point for position and another for fastest lap, there was some consolation for the young Canadian after another eventful A1GP race. Enrico Toccacelo scored the Feature win for Italy, in doing so becoming the fifth nation this season to triumph, with Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis in second and Australia's Karl Reindler wrapping the podium celebrations in third.

"I'm super disappointed," stated Hinchcliffe at the end of the Feature. "It was a good race and we're unfortunate to be in the position, like Brno last time out, where we led lots of laps but haven't finished on the podium. I really had the hammer down to try and build an advantage but we were caught out by the safety periods. I thought France had a problem at the end and was letting me go as I ran wide but he started to race me again and I found myself out on the marbles and into the wall. It's frustrating but overall we showed great pace today and that's encouraging for the future!"

Round 4 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport takes place in two weeks time, Friday 24th - Sunday 26th November, at the Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia - www.a1gp.com
A1GP Nations Standings after Round 3/12: 1st Mexico (24), 2nd Germany (22), 3rd Great Britain (20), 4th Italy (19), 5th Malaysia (17), 6th Canada (16), =6th Czech Republic (16), =6th Australia (16)

From: Stuart Morrison - PR & Media Manager