NASCAR

Coronavirus Cancels Motorsports

March 13, 2020 by ponycargirl 1 Comment

As the COVID-19 – the illness commonly referred to as coronavirus – has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), the cancellations in the world of motorsports are piling up. Here’s a list of cancellations and postponements as of March 23, 2020:

Trans-Am Speedfest: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca May 1-3 POSTPONED

World RX of Portugal: POSTPONED. “Due to the Portuguese government declaring a state of emergency and the suspension of all sporting events in Portugal in light of global health concerns… this year’s World RX of Portugal on May 2-3 has been postponed. …We will provide further updates as soon as we have them.”

Lime Rock Park: CLOSED. “This closure will remain in effect through April 30, 2020, unless earlier modified, extended, or terminated by Governor Lamont. This closure will affect all daily track rentals and events previously scheduled at the facility. Lime Rock staff will continue to work within the “Stay Safe, Stay Home” policy and will be available to answer calls and concerns during this time. The decision to reschedule any major events will be made at a future time. Our current intention is to run all major events for the 2020 season.”

WEC TOTAL 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: “…the decision has been taken to postpone the 7th round of the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 2019-2020 season… The promoter, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and the RACB are working together to find a new 2020 date and, as soon as this is finalised, it will be communicated.”

Formula 1:
UPDATE 3: As of March 23, Azerbaijan GP is POSTPONED.
UPDATE 2: As of March 19, 2020, the Dutch GP and Spanish GP are POSTPONED while Monaco is CANCELLED.
Mandatory summer shutdown has been moved from August to March and April, and extended to up to 21 days.
UPDATE: As of March 13, 8:30 a.m. EST, Bahrain and Vietnam Grand Prix have been POSTPONED. The Formula 1 season will tentatively resume in May 2020. Additionally, the second round of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, which were to have run at Albert Park during the GP weekend, will be POSTPONED to later in the year. (Note that the Chinese Grand Prix had already been POSTPONED in February.)
The Australian Grand Prix, supposed to have been run on Sunday, March 15, 2020 has been CANCELLED

Twelve Hours of Sebring: IMSA have POSTPONED the race to November 11-14, 2020.

ABB FIA Formula e: As of March 13, season is SUSPENDED for two months

INDYCAR: As of March 26, 2020, the Indy 500 has been POSTPONED to Sunday, August 23, 2020.
As of March 13, 2020, all NTT INDYCAR SERIES events have been CANCELLED through April. This includes the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

WRC Rally Mexico: Remaining stages CANCELLED March 14th to allow teams to travel home. Sebastien Ogier declared winner.

Rally Argentina: 2020 SpeedAgro Rally Argentina, originally scheduled for 23 – 26 April, has been POSTPONED. New dates will be announced soon.

100 Acre Wood Rally: As of March 13, 100 Acre Wood Rally is CANCELLED.

NASCAR:
FULL UPDATE:
Atlanta Motor Speedway: “With the health and safety of fans, staff, competitors, race teams and media our top priority, NASCAR and Atlanta Motor Speedway POSTPONED this weekend’s race activities to a yet-to-be determined future date.”
ARCA: This weekend’s ARCA Menards Series East race at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida has been POSTPONED.
Homestead-Miami: “As a result of the recent Coronavirus and taking necessary precautions to ensure the safety of our fans and industry stakeholders, NASCAR has decided to postpone the race events at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend and Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend.”
Whelen Modifier South Boston: “NASCAR and South Boston Speedway officials announced Friday that the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour opener has been POSTPONED INEVITABLY.“
NASCAR WHELEN EURO SERIES: After conversations with Circuit Ricardo Tormo and the local government, the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season opener in Valencia, Spain has been rescheduled due to the ongoing concerns regarding the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). The NASCAR GP Spain at Valencia, previously scheduled for April 25-26, will now take place on October 31st – November 1st. [POSTPONED]

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach: The April 17-19 GP has been CANCELLED. “…various race sanctioning bodies and the Long Beach Convention Center to discuss the viability of rescheduling this event at a later time in the year. If that is not possible, then we look forward to presenting the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 16-18, 2021.”

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg: CANCELLED.

NHRA: As per the the March 12 press release, “NHRA officials are postponing a portion of the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. Some Sportsman racing will be contested this weekend without ticketed spectators, but the majority of the event has been POSTPONED to a later date.”

Formula D: The 2020 opening round is now CANCELLED. “For all Formula DRIFT Long Beach ticket buyers, information on refunds and/or credits will be forthcoming.”

Trans Am Series: The debut at Sonoma Raceway that was originally scheduled for March 14-15 is POSTPONED. New date will be announced soon. “As an additional precautionary measure, the upcoming SpeedTour Road Atlanta Grand Prix event at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta March 28–29 will be held WITHOUT SPECTATORS.”

Monster Energy Supercross: March 14 race at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium has been CANCELLED.

FIA World Rallycross: “In light of the Generalitat de Catalunya’s decree to currently suspend all live sporting events in response to the evolving COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation, this year’s World RX of Catalunya-Barcelona on April 18-19 has been POSTPONED.”

Daytona 200/Daytona TT: “American Flat Track has postponed Bike Week At DAYTONA race events at Daytona International Speedway for March 14 and 15, which includes Saturday’s DAYTONA 200 presented by CoMoto and the DAYTONA TT. The 79th DAYTONA 200 will be held as part of Biketoberfest in October and the DAYTONA TT will be rescheduled on a future date. “

24 Hours of LeMans: POSTPONED to September 19-20, 2020.

Sonora Rally 2020: Ran as planned.

It should also be noted that outside of motorsports, the New York International Auto Show has been POSTPONED from April to August 2020. The Dallas Auto Show has also been postponed. Concrete dates for both will be announced soon.

NYIAS in PHOTOS: Race Cars

April 22, 2019 by ponycargirl Leave a Comment

While there was a curious lack of rally cars on the show floor of the 2019 New York International Auto Show, there were still a few race cars to drool over.

StarCom NASCAR Team at NYIAS

April 19, 2019 by ponycargirl Leave a Comment

For the first time at the New York International Auto Show, a NASCAR Cup Series team has set up a booth. StarCom Racing [SCR] is based in Salisbury, North Carolina with driver Landon Cassill. At the age of 18, Cassill was signed to Hendrick Motorsports as a test driver for Jimmie Johnson for five years, and has driven for other teams since in the Xfinity (Rookie of the Year 2008), K&N Pro Series, and Arco Re/Max Series since. The team’s parent company, StarCom Fiber, is a New Jersey based regional telecommunications that runs fiber throughout the region, so setting up a presence at NYIAS made sense not just to build a fan base and get their name out there, but to network and attract more sponsor partnerships. “We feel like this is a tremendous platform being that there’s going to be a million people walking through this building,” said Cassill in the Thursday press conference. “We feel like we have to stand out in a little bit different way than other race teams… NASCAR teams don’t really come to the NY Auto Show, and for the place where we’re at and the size that we have, there’s no reason not to be here.”

Led by team manager and 1990 Daytona 500 winner Derrick Cope, the chartered team will race the full 2019 season with Cassill driving the number 00 Camaro. “…our northeast race fans are some of the most passionate and well educated race fans about NASCAR that we see all over the country. Tracks in Pocono, Dover, New Hampshire, Watkins Glen are the racetracks where I sign the most hero cards, the most letters and trading cards, these are fans that really pay attention to what we have going on.”

Cassill will be in the booth signing autographs Tuesday, April 23, 4-6 pm and Wednesday, April 24, 11 am-1 pm, and Derrike Cope will also sign autographs Saturday, April 20, 2-4 pm.

Reboot: 2017 Ram 1500 Sport

September 7, 2017 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

Regular readers know that BBQ plays a big part in the other side of my business. Whenever we cater an automotive themed event, we do our best to incorporate an appropriate tow vehicle for the event trailer that we borrow from the good folks at DCS Appliances. On Labour Day weekend we were cooking up some BBQ for up and coming NASCAR driver Gary Klutt from the hit TV show Legendary Motorcar. Gary drives a Dodge in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, so it only made sense that we should arrive with the event grill attached to the back of a RAM pickup.

For this event, the folks at RAM Trucks Canada set up up with a bright green RAM 1500 Sport. This truck was basically the same truck as we towed with back in the Spring, so we really shouldn’t have anything additional to report. There was however one really big difference: the colour.

With the red truck, people either didn’t notice the truck or if they were truck people they commented on it being a nice truck. The bright green with matte black hood striping caused people literally to stop what they were doing and stare. I watched a little kid ride off the sidewalk because he was craning his neck to watch the big green truck drive by!

Even while driving, the sporty element of the RAM 1500 Sport seemed more enthusiastic. It felt like a truck that you wanted to have more fun with, instead of just cruising on down the road.

That sporty influence behind the wheel was also somewhat evident at the pump, as our observed fuel economy was a bit more hefty than it was with the red truck. Last time we towed almost daily and the truck consumed 14 L/100 KM for the full week. This time, we only towed one day and we saw 14.7 L/100 KM for the week. I will attribute that to my right foot being a bit more sporty!

: The fold flat floor feature of the RAM 1500 makes the rear seat area really usable for daily tasks like grocery shopping. Even more so when picking up food for fifty!

: They say you never know you need a pickup until you actually have a pickup. We took advantage of the RAM’s bed space to pick up a used freezer for our catering kitchen.

Whether or not you would choose a safe colour on a pickup or something that screams “hey, look at me” is totally a matter of personal preference. At the end of the day however, colour choice can totally affect the way you appreciate a vehicle and the way it is perceived by others. Personally, given the choice, I would be driving the screaming green!

Racecars at New York International Auto Show

April 21, 2017 by ponycargirl Leave a Comment

New York International Auto Show has once again rolled into town with automakers bringing their shiniest, most innovative cars to to dramatically pull cover from and show off. Scattered amongst the concept, halo, and current production vehicles are the unattainable to many of us – the race cars.

The Saratoga Automobile Museum has a display of some classic and curious cars, and brought a few classic race cars from their collection. Included in their display are a Midget Racer from the 50’s, a 1909 Alco-6 Racer, 1950 Allard, and the 2009 Miller Lite Dodge driven by Kurt Busch.

Fresh from winning the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship BUBBA Burger SportsCar Grand Prix at Long Beach, the Cadillac V-Performance racing team Konica Minolta DPi-V.R drew admiration on the show floor, still with grit from the race on the wheels.

The Ford GT was the NYIAS poster car, and is front and center in the Ford booth on a rotating palette.

Formula e will race in Brooklyn this summer and there are two Formula e cars at the show. Jaguar now has an electric vehicle in the series, and Formula e also has a booth with champion Nelson Piquet’s car. Not to be outdone, BMW recently announced entry into the series with Andretti Formula e in 2018.

Subaru Rally Team USA has two new drivers in Red Bull Global Rallycross this year, having poached the Patrik Sandell from Ford and bringing on Chris Atkinson after he raced a limited schedule in the series last year. Atkinson’s GRC car is shown in the booth.

Alexander Rossi was the first rookie winner of the Indy 500 in 16 years, winning the 100th running of the race in 2016 in this Honda-powered Indycar.

Probably the dirtiest race car on the show floor is, of course, a rally car. This 1990 Audi 80 Quattro, 5 in line 10v 2.3 turbo has been raced in rallies in the US and Canada such as Tall Pines and Snow Drift since the 90’s, and is currently being restored to rally shape.

There are a lot of racing as well as classic gems on the show floor – here’s a full gallery of some of my favorites.

: 1909 Alco-6 Racer (Alco Black Beast)

: 1950 Allard

: 1950 Allard

: Midget Racer from Saratoga Automobile Museum

: Kurt Busch 2009 Miller Lite Dodge

: Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R

: onica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R

: onica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R

: onica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R

: Acura NSX

: Ford GT

: Jaguar Formula e

: Jaguar Formula e

: Jaguar Formula e

: BMW i8 Safety Car

: BMW

: 2018 Camry – Kyle Busch

: Subaru Rally Team

: Honda Indycar

: Lexus

: Mazda

: Venturi

: NASCAR

: 1990 Audi 80 Quattro rally car

: 1990 Audi 80 Quattro rally car

: 1990 Audi 80 Quattro rally car

: Audi

: Classic Volvos

: Classic Subaru

: Nissan Rogue One with Death Star

The truth comes out following the Wahta Springs 300

September 16, 2014 by Gary Grant 9 Comments

Alex Tagliani’s car slides backwards down the track following contact on a late race restart, but contact with whom?

As the second last event of the year for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, the Barrie Speedway round is always exciting and there is always a lot of bumping and banging. There is usually some off track excitement following the race as well as tempers run hot. Occasionally, competitors who are eager to find someone to blame end up running off at the mouth, only to end up with egg on their face when they are proven wrong later.

In the closing stages of the Wahta Springs 300, the #95 of Anthony Simone appeared to be holding up the #25 of Joey McColm, as the pair battled for lap after lap. Simone experienced a drivetrain failure, which left oil on the track, causing McColm into the back of the 95, spinning him into the wall. Simone didn’t see it that way, and blamed the failure to be a result of the hit.

As expected, the restart following the clean up of that incident proved to be hard fought. Moments later, as the pack continued to battle, the #18 of Indycar and NASCAR regular Alex Tagliani got very loose and bounced around between the #25 and the wall, before spinning backwards down the front straight. If I recall correctly, there were 6 laps left at this point.

That mess was cleaned up and the green, white, checkers dash to the finish took place, with Jason Hathaway taking the win following a clean and fast race.
[Read more…]

The anatomy of a NASCAR punt

May 23, 2014 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

After I posted the above image the other day, someone suggested that this sequence was just waiting to be turned into an animated gif. A bit of poking about and it would seem that I have taught myself how to create one. So, here you have it: DJ Kennington getting into the back of Stefan Rzadzinksi in the closing stages of the first NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race of 2014.

It wouldn’t be NASCAR without a bit of carnage

May 22, 2014 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

Earlier this week, I told you about our man Russ Bond’s adventure in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. While Russ made it out more or less unscathed, others were not so lucky.

In the first third of the race, the track went full course yellow when the #22 of Scott Steckly got into the tires, ending his race. I was shooting from the top of turn 4 and could see the clean up efforts taking place in 3, when suddenly the #59 of Ryan Klutt appeared with its back end caved in. When Steckly’s car came by on a flatbed, the front end was all messed up. Coincidence? I haven’t spoken to either driver, so I’m not sure.

Not long after the race went to green flag again, Ryan’s Dad Peter’s #42 lost its hood somewhere. This is not the first time I have shot photos of Peter without his hood.
[Read more…]

Russ Bond has a great first NASCAR race!

May 20, 2014 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

Regular readers will recognize Russ Bond from our World’s Fastest Car Review series. He is also the host of the Two Minute Test Drive at the wildly successful Motoring TV. What you might not know is that Bond has been part of The Garage Blog family since before TGB was even thought of. Russ and I were guest hosts on a radio show called Guy’s Garage, a show which steered me towards a second career in automotive media. It’s hard to believe that was 13 years ago!

Collectively, we’ve done some pretty cool stuff over those years, but I’ve gotta say that Rustye entering his first ever NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race might be the coolest.
[Read more…]

Camping World Truck Series test day at Canadian Motorsport Park

May 10, 2013 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

I’ve been so busy over at Wheels.ca that I didn’t get around to posting this here. Of course I actually loaded the pics, I just didn’t get around to adding any words.

So, a couple of weeks ago, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series folks and a gaggle of media types invaded the brand spanking new events centre at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Fresh off his boot to the nuts incident, Nelson Piquet Jr. was on hand as an “impartial” test driver to lay down some baselines for the teams when they arrive on Labour Day weekend.

[Read more…]

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