Ignition - 19.08

19.08 Cover (4 Wheel).pdf 11/29/2007 10:56:00 AM

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The 2007 season may be over, but the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is off to a great start. We’d like to thank all the fans for making the first year of racing north of the border such an unforgettable one. See you next year!

canadiantire.ca The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series marks are used under licence by Destination Motorsports LP and Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited. NASCARÂŽ is a registered trademark of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc.

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NEW

features

NANOWASH & WAX

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Exceeding Expectations

2-in-1 Solution

Lewis Hamilton

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Scott Pruett

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40 Years of Success

Scott Pruett

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Better Days Ahead

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Toyota’s NASCAR Debut

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Back-t0-Back

Jimmie Johnson

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His Time Has Come

TIRE DETAILER

Doug Brown

Lasts 2X Longer

Toyota’s NASCAR Debut

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Spengler Second Again

Backing the Champ

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Antoine L’Estage

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2007 National Champions

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Jimmie Johnson

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Lewis Hamilton: Exceeding Expectations

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Cover Photos by: LAT Photographic (Hamilton), Lesley Ann Miller/LAT (Johnson)

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Bruno Spengler

© 2007, Ashland Inc.

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premium protection columns / events

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From the Editor’s Desk

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Kimi Raikkonen

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Inside Racing

Champ Car Needs Direction

Champ Car Needs Direction

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Canadian Horizon

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World Rally

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2008 IndyCar Schedule Announced

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Loeb Back on Top

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SuperGT

Champions Crowned at Season Finale

Superior protection

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SuperGT Champions Crowned

NHRA POWERade

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Countdown Reaches Conclusion in Pomona

IHRA Knoll Gas Nitro Jam

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IHRA “Rocks� North Carolina

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Canadian Drag Racing

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Atchison Comes Close at IHRA Finale

2007 Points Standings

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Top 10 Drivers in 2007 Championships

100 YEARS UNDER THE HOOD. TM

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NHRA POWERade Conclusion

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IHRA “Rocks� North Carolina

Loeb Back on Top: World Rally Championship

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© 2007, Ashland Inc.

100 YEARS UNDER THE HOOD.

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From the Editor’s Desk Story By Neal Jones Executive Editor

Deserving

Champion

D

espite all the accolades and headlines McLaren received in 2007, it was Ferrari that stole the show at season end when Kimi Raikkonen emerged as the new World Champion. The Finnish star has been on the cusp of being number one for a few years, and now he finally has the elusive title.

For most of this decade it has been Ferrari that grabbed the spotlight in each season, even in the years Fernando Alonso won the title for Renault, the story was also about Michael Schumacher and the red team. But with Schumacher gone in 2007, the focus shifted to McLaren and its potent line-up of two-time World Champion Alonso and his rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton. As time went by, media and organizers alike could be seen as favouring the highly marketable Hamilton in the championship chase. Given the choice, the F1 power brokers wanted the Brit on top as he is personable and outgoing, a trait very few would link to Raikkonen.

So, throughout the year Raikkonen quietly went about his business and then stormed to the title with four straight victories to earn the title. The biggest problem most people have with Raikkonen is that he isn’t an outgoing, charismatic driver who compels people to watch. Instead, he keeps an even keel demeanor and goes about his job driving a race car. No one ever said talent behind the wheel was dependent on a personality off the track.

In his years at McLaren Raikkonen was in the chase for the title several times only to have mechanical problems get in the way of his championship dreams. In fact, the 2004 season may have been the worst car McLaren put on the track in terms of reliability. However, through all the ups and downs, nary a word came from the Finn as he did the best he could with the equipment he was given.

That’s also made the 2007 season so compelling. After years of trying to find the right set-up, McLaren finally got it right this year but Raikkonen was not around to benefit. He moved to Ferrari this year and expectations were not high as there were major changes within the red team’s hierarchy and most figured it would take time for the new team members to build some chemistry.

8

Photos by LAT Photographic

Full marks to Kimi Raikkonen for his 2007 World Championship

In fact, despite all the talk about how great McLaren was, in the final results Raikkonen’s seven wins were as many Alonso and Hamilton combined Raikkonen threw that theory out the window when he romped to the win at the season opener in Australia. From there he was consistently in contention, winning at France and Britain before the four-race winning streak to end the season. In fact, despite all the talk about how great McLaren was, in the final results Raikkonen’s seven wins were as many Alonso and Hamilton combined (and Ferrari won three races with Felipe Massa as well).

In the end, Raikkonen’s patience at McLaren was rewarded, it just happened to come when he moved to Ferrari. But the results show that he didn’t win because of the internal battles at McLaren, he won because he was the best driver in 2007 and the World Championship was a fitting reward for one of the most skilled drivers on the planet today.

See you at the races!

Performance Racing News

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“Iron Man” Cal Ripken smiles for the camera before taking his spot as the honourary Pace Car Driver at the 2007 Daytona 500

Arguably the greatest receiver in NFL history, Jerry Rice, talks with arguably the greatest race car driver in history, “The King” Richard Petty at Infineon Raceway

Performance Racing News

9

Inside Racing with Todd Lewis

Champ Car needs direction

Photo by Phil Abbott/LAT

The Champ Car season came to a close with Sebastien Bourdais’ victory at Mexico; the series needs to take some major steps in 2008, especially with the four-time champion moving to Formula One

10

Performance Racing News

T

he Champ Car World Series finally came to an end… and not a minute too soon.

With events and teams falling away by the minute, let the speculation about what happens for 2008 begin.

I know next season’s schedule has been released but as we’ve seen the last few years that doesn’t mean much.

This is a series ripe for a take over. I will absolutely give Kevin Kalkhoven, Gerry Forsythe and company credit for all they have done rescuing a company from bankruptcy a few years ago. But the goodwill on that gesture has run out. They seem to be hanging around, propping up the business and trying to keep their noses above water, losing as little money as possible while waiting and hoping that somebody else comes in and buys Champ Car. The circumstances are not unlike CASCAR a few years ago. It had some good talent in the field and a few solid events, but the business hit a ceiling and without investment and expertise it would never break through. As we’ve seen with the sale to NASCAR, the now Canadian Tire Series has thrived in a very short period of time. Kalkhoven and Forsythe will obviously never allow a Tony George take over, but the scenario does make sense.

Under the department of what doesn’t make sense, scheduling your pre-season test session on the same weekend as the Super Bowl. That is unless you don’t want anyone to know that you’ve begun preparations for the new season.

I will stop picking at the Champ Car scab to offer congratulations to Sebastian Bourdais and the best wishes for his Formula One career. Regardless of the depleted talent pool and small fields, what he accomplished in the series in only five seasons is astonishing. I will put his talent and ability up against anyone.

How do we like this expanded field of 12 drivers in the Chase for the Cup to decide NASCAR’s top prize? Not any better than before if you ask me. It’s the whole playoff format that isn’t right. A better, season-long points system with a premium on winning is still the right answer. I know the Chase is here to stay, but I do not like the way the series is trying to manufacture competition and excitement.

It never works.

As for the argument that other major sports like hockey or football have playoff formats and NASCAR has to have one to remain competitive, that’s ridiculous. It’s the only major racing series that has this type of championship where the standings are reset prior to the end of the season. And in those other sports, the playoff teams don’t have the rest of the teams in the league on the same playing surface when they’re trying to decide who gets the title.

Everybody who says they are not worried about Sam Hornish and Dario Franchitti leaving the IRL because it will give a good opportunity to young up-and-coming drivers is lying.

Superstars in any sport draw attention.

NASCAR is happy to have both of these now former open wheelers along with Patrick Carpentier and Jacques Villeneuve. It’s an opportunity for the series to expand sponsorship opportunities internationally with the different driver backgrounds.

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Performance Racing News

Photos by LAT Photographic

Exceeding

Expectations Lewis Hamilton arrived in F1 with plenty of fan fare, but even his biggest supporters could never have envisioned the phenomenal results he produced in his rookie campaign. Dan Knutson looks at the debut season for the British driver and where the future may take him.

Performance Racing News

13

Exceeding Expectations

Hamilton has been a part of McLaren since he was 12 years old and it’s a marriage that has the team looking at numerous World Championships in the future

L

ewis Hamilton remembers visiting the McLaren factory in England one year ago after the team had confirmed that he would race in 2007. Back then, never in his wildest dreams did he think that he would have the incredible season that he has had.

“It was difficult to know what to expect,” he says now. “I just hoped I would do a good job.”

Boy did he do a good job. Nine straight podium finishes in his first nine races, one of the many rookie records he set, four wins, and a championship contender right up until the final race of the season.

“Every driver has a lot of self belief in himself, that is for sure,” he said, “and I had belief in myself as a driver. But never in a million

in December 1995 when a 10-year-old Lewis walked up to McLaren boss Ron Dennis at an awards function, shook his hand, and said that he would like to drive for McLaren one day.

Two years later McLaren and Mercedes began controlling Hamilton’s career that went from go-karts to Formula Renault to F3 to GP2 with a string of wins and championships.

McLaren has a policy of not hiring rookies but made an exception in Hamilton’s case and the well thought out gamble paid off.

“I was very impressed with Lewis in his first season, fighting for the championship, leading the championship for most of the year,” said Nick Heidfeld, another McLaren Mercedes protégée, but one who got passed over in favour of Kimi Raikkonen when the team needed a driver in 2002.

“It has to be remembered that he had a very good schooling,” Heidfeld added of Hamilton’s rookie F1 season.

“Still it is unusual.

But on the other side he is one of the very few drivers who had the chance to join a top team in his first year. That is very unusual.”

Hamilton was indeed in the right place at the

“Every driver has a lot of self belief...

But never in a million years did I think that when I came here in my first year that I would be challenging for the World Championship...” years did I think that when I came here in my first year that I would be challenging for the World Championship. So it is a big surprise.”

It’s now part of F1 lore how is all started 14

Performance Racing News

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Exceeding Expectations

Lewis Hamilton’s meteoric rise in F1 has made him a huge star in his home country; it’s gotten to the point that the 22-year-old is planning a move to Switzerland so he can live a somewhat normal existence in daily life right time, just as Jacques Villeneuve was at Williams Renault in 1996 and 1997 when he, too, had an amazing F1 rookie season and then followed it up with winning the title the following year.

The 2007 McLaren MP4-22 was one of the best cars the team has ever created. It’s almost hard to remember that McLaren did not win a single race in 2006. Still, no matter how talented Hamilton is, not every season will be like 2007.

“He will (get better) but he is going to have some shit boxes on his hands in the future,” observed Mark Webber. “You don’t have a McLaren (like this) every year.

“He will be fifth, sixth, seventh on the grid in the future. That’s what happens. So he will have some sheds to drive and we will see how he deals with those. That is the game we are in.”

Hamilton dealt with his rookie season with a composure and maturity that made you forget that he was only 22 years old. While he has been a member of the McLaren family for 10 years, this was his first season as a member of the F1 team.

And that relationship grew throughout the year.

“Through the rough times that I had in life they stuck by me,” he explained. “And through all the sun and good times we had this year we have worked extremely hard to improve the car and challenge for the World Championship. We have gone through some hard times and we have all stuck together. So for sure the bond has grown and we get on as good as ever. I am going to continue to try and do a good job for them and stay in their good books.”

The fairy tale relationship with the team and teammate Fernando Alonso changed forever, however, in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton’s refusal to let Alonso go out on the track first, as ordered by the team, had far reaching consequences. It led to a sharp exchange of words between Lewis and Ron Dennis, which has to have put a new twist on their relationship.

And it led to Alonso revealing that he had illegally obtained Ferrari data on his computer, evidence which eventually helped cause the FIA to fine McLaren US$100 million and kick the team out of the Constructor’s Championship.

It was a sign of Hamilton’s maturity that it was he who made peace overtures to Alonso after 16

Performance Racing News

Hamilton’s journey to F1 began with an introduction to Ron Dennis 12 years ago when a 10-year-old British kid told the team boss he would like to race for McLaren one day

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Exceeding Expectations

the Hungarian affair. The pair had an up and down rapport throughout the season, not helped by the fact that there is no way Alonso ever anticipated that a rookie would be so fast out on the track.

Yet at the final race of the year they were smiling and chatting and seemed to be the best of mates.

“I think it’s as good as ever,” Hamilton said when I asked him in Brazil about his relationship with Alonso. “I think we have got on quite well all

“We never had problems with each other. We are obviously fighting on the track but off the track we have had a very good relationship from day one and it’s still the same.”

-Fernando Alonso

year, despite what the media said. They always try to make a big gap between us and they haven’t really succeeded. We just get on quite well and got on with our jobs and we continue to do that.”

Alonso concurred.

“As Lewis said, the media has been saying many, many things about us that weren’t true,” he said. “We never had problems with each other.

18

Performance Racing News

We are obviously fighting on the track but off the track we have had a very good relationship from day one and it’s still the same.”

Alonso’s connection with McLaren formerly ended on Nov. 2 when the team released a carefully worded statement saying Alonso was leaving after the first of what should have been a three-year contract. Both sides said it just didn’t work out.

Asked about his teammate for 2008, Hamilton said it’s McLaren’s decision but he hopes for a “team player,” which is something he clearly believes Alonso was not.

While Alonso was embroiled in the espionage affair, Hamilton was first oblivious to the Ferrari secrets, as Alonso, Pedro de la Rosa and Mike Coughlan kept him out of the loop, and then basically an innocent bystander as the whole thing escalated. Still, it was one of the many hassles, controversies and distractions that swirled around Hamilton during the season.

Hamilton said it was pretty easy to keep from being distracted by it all.

“You take no notice of what is being said,” he explained, “and keep on looking down the road you are on and stay focused. It was extremely difficult for all of us because all the distractions can be extremely intense, but I don’t focus on it. I just

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Exceeding Expectations

“I’m going to be World Champion one day. I didn’t win it this year. I’m going to work hard to win it next season.”

-Lewis Hamilton

Raikkonen Confirmed As Champion Kimi Raikkonen has been confirmed as the 2007 World Champion after the FIA’s International Court of Appeal ruled that the appeal lodged by McLaren Mercedes regarding the results of Brazilian Grand Prix was inadmissible.

McLaren questioned the way the stewards in Brazil handled the issue of the cooled fuel in the Williams and BMWs being below the temperatures allowed by the rules. Had the drivers of those two teams been disqualified, then Lewis Hamilton could have been elevated to fourth place and become champion. But McLaren said that was not why it appealed.

“In the interests of rule clarification and rule consistency we lodged our appeal,” Martin Whitmarsh explained.

Because McLaren was not directly involved in

20

Performance Racing News

the stewards ruling in Brazil concerning BMW and Williams, the ICA declared the “the appeal lodged by (McLaren) to be inadmissible on account of the lack of direct interest in the decision under appeal.”

Furthermore, the ICA stated that McLaren did not follow the correct procedures laid out by the rules, which would have been to file a protest within 30 minutes of the race results in Brazil being posted.

Hamilton is happy with the appeals court’s ruling. “As I have said all along, Kimi deserved to win the 2007 World Drivers’ Championship,” he said, “and neither I nor anyone at McLaren Mercedes had any desire to take it off him in court. That was not the purpose of the team’s appeal.”

-Knutson

put it out of my mind and focus on the fact that I am enjoying myself and this is where I have always wanted to be. And nothing is going to stop that.”

It was perhaps because Hamilton’s season was so perfect that his rare errors were so apparent.

“Whenever there have been big decisions to be made he has been poor, very poor — he has had a couple of howlers — but when there have been no decisions to be made he has been exceptional,” Webber said.

The big decisions were ignoring the team orders in qualifying in Hungary. And not ignoring the team in the Chinese Grand Prix when they told him to stay out on massively worn intermediate rain tires. A touch of conservatism there would have made Hamilton the World Champion instead of him ending up n the gravel trap.

In the end, it was a brief software gearbox glitch in the Brazilian Grand Prix that finally cost Hamilton the championship.

The hype, especially in England, surrounding Hamilton’s rookie season was so overboard that he can’t walk a street or go to a store or a restaurant in his home country without attracting attention. Hamilton plans to move to Switzerland where, like Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Nick Heidfeld and Alonso, he can lead a peaceful and private life.

Of course, Hamilton wanted to win the championship, but he is still thrilled with his season.

“I’m going to be World Champion one day,” he said. “I didn’t win it this year. I’m going to work hard to win it next season.”

In all, it was an amazing rookie season for Hamilton. And he is going to be a faster, more experienced and a more rounded driver and person next season. And that does not bode well for the competition.

“Lewis has done a brilliant job,” Webber said, “and unfortunately for us guys he is going to learn from his mistakes, and he is only going to get better.”

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40 Years of

Success

Since his earliest days in karting, 47-year-old Scott Pruett has seen and done it all in his driving career. From karts to sedans to open wheel, stock cars and sportscar, Pruett has competed against the best in the world. David Hatter looks back on the storied career of the veteran driver.

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Performance Racing News

F

than they should have,” said Pruett. “He (Fogarty) races into the back of me and breaks the rear wheel. All I did was breathe on him (Gurney) a little bit and he got a little high (off-line). It’s up to the governing body to enforce the rules and there is no way that they did. I am hugely disappointed.”

Full Trophy Case Still, Pruett already has a lot of championship trophies. He started collecting them almost 40 years ago when he took up karting at age eight.

“I come from a typical middle class family and was never thinking about where my career would go,” he said. But he progressed from local to national and international events. He won 13 amateur and 10 pro championships, culminating in the Professional Karting Association world title in 1981. He was later inducted into the World Karting Hall of Fame.

His karting exploits caught the eye of some high-powered motorsports executives, notably Michael Kranefuss of Ford, who arranged for him to test a Zakspeed Mustang. While most of his karting contemporaries moved into open wheel competition, Pruett found himself racing a variety of sedans and sports cars throughout the 1980s, mostly in the IMSA series (International Motor Sport Association, predecessor to the American Le Mans Series), but also in the Trans-Am. He enjoyed his greatest success during a threeyear association with team-owner Jack Roush from 1986 to 1988. He drove a factory-supported Ford Thunderbird to the IMSA GTO title in 1986, then claimed the first of his three Trans-Am championships in a Mercury Merkur in 1987 before

Photos by LAT Photographic

ew drivers in North America have ever had such a long, varied and successful career as Scott Pruett. The 47-year-old Californian has claimed half-a-dozen major championships in sports prototypes, GT cars and sedans over the past quarter-century, has more wins than anybody at the Daytona 24 hours, has scored some notable triumphs in Champ Cars and is always a threat whenever NASCAR visits road courses.

“It’s hard to believe I have done what I’ve done.

I’m living the dream. It’s been one hell of a ride,” said Pruett in a telephone interview from California. And it’s a ride that is not going to end any time soon. “I enjoy it (racing) and I want to continue to do it. I’m still one of the guys to beat. As long as I am competitive, I want to race wheel-to-wheel.”

For the past four years, Pruett has been plying his trade in the Daytona Prototype division of the Grand-Am Sports Car Series, driving a Lexus-Riley for Chip Ganassi. He was series champion in 2004 and has finished as runner-up every season since, although he feels he should have had a second title this year.

The 2007 championship ended in controversy at Miller Motorsport Park in Utah. While leading, Pruett was clipped from behind by title rival Jon Fogarty and had to pit for repairs. He charged back and, in the closing minutes, passed Fogarty’s co-driver, Alex Gurney. But there was slight contact between them and Grand-Am officials decided to give him a pit drive-through penalty. That effectively handed the championship to Fogarty and Gurney.

“Grand-Am influenced the outcome a lot more

Performance Racing News

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40 Years of Success

Just when his CART (Champ Car) career appeared to be over, Firestone brought Pruett on board for testing as it re-entered the series in 1995, and he gave the tire company its first win since the ‘70s at Michigan; that relationship lasted through the 1998 season

At the turn of the Century, Pruett moved to NASCAR with Cal Wells but he struggled in his only full season of Cup competition, but he continues to contend at every NASCAR road racing event each year

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Performance Racing News

taking a second GTO crown in 1988.

It was during this time that he also had a taste of Formula 1, testing a Ford-powered Larrouse at Estoril, Portugal. “I had high hopes to get to Formula 1, but it’s difficult for an American driver to

A brake failure at the end of a long straight hurled him into a cement barrier. It took 90 minutes to extract him from the wreckage. His ankles were shattered and he also broke his knees and back. He spent the summer in a wheelchair and on crutches, but never lost his motivation.

“It was horrible, but all I wanted was to get back racing again. That was the biggest thing that kept me focused — working hard to get back. I treated rehab like a fulltime job, six days a week. When something like that happens, either you never come back or you come back stronger,” he said. By November, he was behind the wheel of a Jaguar GT-prototype.

Pruett returned to Trueman’s Champ Car operation for two more seasons, but the team struggled somewhat as it tried to develop its own “Truesport” chassis. He then ran a limited program for the fledgling ProFormance team in 1993.

But just as it looked like his Champ Car career might be winding down, he received an intriguing proposition for 1994.

Firestone was preparing to return to Champ Car for the first time since 1974, in partnership with team-owner Pat Patrick, and they needed an experienced driver to develop the tires. They hired Pruett, who duly logged 12,000 test miles. Also in 1994, he won his second Trans-Am title, driving for Chevrolet, and took the overall victory at the Daytona 24 hours. He now has a record seven class wins in the Florida sports car classic, including another overall triumph this year.

All of the testing for Firestone paid dividends in 1995 when Pruett gave the company its first

“It’s hard to believe I have done what I’ve done.. It’s been one hell of a ride...I’m still one of the guys to beat. As long as I am competitive, I want to race...” get that opportunity and I didn’t see it as reality.”

Indeed, Pruett was so successful in sports cars that he was now being typecast. “My career was based on go-karts, but people looked at me as a sports car driver and I had to break that,” he said.

“So I took all the money I had — and more — and bet it on one IndyCar race.”

Champ Car That race was the CART event at Long Beach in 1988. He qualified a respectable 13th in his rented car and was running well in the race until engine problems intervened. He impressed enough that when Kevin Cogan later broke his arm, he was chosen to replace him on the Machinist Union team. At year’s end, he had offers from two teamowners — Al Holbert, with his fledgling Porsche Champ Car operation, and Jim Trueman. He took the latter.

Pruett finished eighth overall in his first full season in Champ Cars in 1989. He was named Rookie-of-the-Year at the Indy 500 and had his first podium, a second place, at Detroit. But his career almost ended in March, 1990, when he had a huge crash during pre-season testing at West Palm Beach, FL.

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40 Years of Success Champ Car win in 21 years — and, of course, his own first victory — at the Michigan 500. He outdueled Al Unser Jr. on the last lap to win by 0.056 second. He had three other podium finishes that year and was seventh overall in points.

Pruett spent three more seasons with Patrick and Firestone. He took his second Champ Car win in Australia in 1997, had an additional eight podiums and four pole positions and finished a career-high sixth in the championship in 1998.

In 1999, Pruett switched to Cal Wells’ PPI team, which was developing the relatively-new Toyota engine. In the finale at California Speedway, he gave Toyota its first-ever pole position (but retired early from the race). As it turned out, that was his last Champ Car start as Wells was preparing to enter NASCAR and wanted him to be part of the deal.

“At first, I told Cal I had no interest, but he started talking to me more and more about it,” recalled Pruett. “I said, ‘The only way I’m interested is if it’s a guaranteed three-year program.’ I knew that with a new team and driver, the first year was going to be highly difficult.”

Canada has been very kind to Scott Pruett during his career; in addition to being undefeated in five starts at Mosport, he also helped Lexus take its first-ever Grand-Am victory at MontTremblant in 2004 with Max Papis

New Millennium

Scott Pruett first caught the attention of race fans in the 1980s while racing Trans-Am, he returned to the series in 2003 and won 8 of 11 races for his third series title

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Performance Racing News

Pruett’s prediction proved correct. For the first time in his career, he struggled, at least on the ovals (to this day, he remains a strong contender at virtually every NASCAR road course event). Despite Wells’ three-year promise, he found himself out of a ride by the end of 2000.

For the next couple of years, Pruett sat mostly on the sidelines. He helped Corvette win at Le Mans in 2001, took another GTS class win at Daytona in 2002 and did a couple of NASCAR road course races for Chip Ganassi. But most of his time at the tracks was spent as a TV commentator. And he did not enjoy it.

“I was frustrated. I had to get back driving,” said Pruett, who did just that in 2003 when he was offered a factory-backed Jaguar ride in the Trans-Am series. He dominated, winning eight of 11 races and his third Trans-Am championship.

Meanwhile, Ganassi was preparing to enter Grand-Am’s new Daytona Prototype class in 2004 with backing from Lexus and invited Pruett to join the team. It was on Canadian soil that he and co-driver Max Papis gave Lexus its first-ever DP victory — at Mont-Tremblant in May, 2004. They won three more times that year to take the title.

Canadian circuits, by the way, have often been good to Pruett. At Mosport International Raceway, he has five wins in five starts (four in Trans-Am and one in GT).

Paired with various co-drivers — Papis, Luis Diaz and Memo Rojas — Pruett now has a record 14 DP wins, including Daytona this year. He has also become known for his unique television manner, which has inspired a line of T-shirts.

No matter what the question, he always begins every TV interview by saying, “Hi to my family back home.” This summer, fans started wearing T-shirts that read: “Hi to Scott’s family.” Finally, his wife Judy and their eldest daughter Lauren showed up at the Utah finale with T-shirts reading simply, “Scott’s family.”

If Pruett should ever retire, he has another profession to keep him occupied. He and Judy, who have three children, have co-authored a series of books, beginning with “Twelve Little Race Cars,” that introduce kids to motorsport. “There’s not many racing children’s books and I’ve had a lot of mechanics tell me their kids appreciate it,” he said.

But for now, driving remains the priority. He has already started testing in preparation for next season when he hopes to become the first-ever two-time champion in Daytona Prototypes, a distinction he thinks he should have had this year.

THE EVOLUTION OF TRACTION ON ICE.

A BREAKTHROUGH IN WINTER TIRE TECHNOLOGY.

a tire to slip on ice? They discovered the most formidable challenge in winter driving is a thin film of water on icy surfaces that causes micro-hydroplaning. But the real breakthrough came when they found that a film as thin as ten one-thousandths of a millimetre is all it takes to completely lose control. And that the danger is at its worst as the temperature rises to the freezing mark. Armed with this information, they created Yokohama’s

Danger Zone

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engineers set out to solve a fundamental problem – what causes

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Before designing the latest generation of winter tires, Yokohama

Braking from 40km/h Braking from 20km/h

-15 -10 -5 Temperature on ice °C

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Traction loss due to water film

Edge Pattern traction New snow

Packed snow

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The film increases as the temperature enters the traction danger zone, usually between -6° and 0° Celsius.

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Over a billion absorptive carbon flakes sponge away water.

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More than 5 billion resin-coated shelled microbubbles then suction away remaining water and eject it behind the tire, providing gripping contact between Yokohama’s advanced winter tire tread and ice.

www.Yokohama.ca

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Canadian

T

Horizon and will wrap up at Chicagoland on Sept. 7. For IndyCar fans in central Canada who want to see a race live, the most convenient venues are the Watkins Glen road course in upstate New York (July 6) and the Belle Isle temporary circuit in Detroit (Aug. 31).

Changes for 2008 Besides the 2008 schedule, there have been a number of other post-season announcements from the IRL, including a new financial structure for the teams and some technical changes to the cars.

In an effort to bolster its car count, the IRL is offering more appearance money — at the expense of prize money. In effect, it will be rewarding simple participation more than results. All teams that commit to running the full schedule will receive $1.2 million per car just for showing up under what the IRL is calling its TEAM program — Team Enhancement and Allocation Matrix, a tortuous title to form a cute anagram.

But on the other hand, prize money is being slashed. A win, previously worth a little over

Ryan Briscoe, who raced at this year’s Indy 500 in a third Penske car, has been confirmed as Sam Hornish Jr.’s replacement with the team in 2008

Photos by LAT Photographic

he IRL IndyCar series should be coming to Canada in the next few years. In announcing the 16-race 2008 schedule, IRL commercial president Terry Angstadt said: “Looking to the near future, we see our schedule growing to 20 events, with the west coast a priority an d potential events in Canada and Mexico.”

There was no indication where a Canadian race might take place, but Mosport International Raceway would seem one possible option. It already hosts a round of the American Le Mans Series and the IRL currently runs three races in conjunction with the ALMS. In 2006, officials from Quebec City talked to the IRL about the possibility of staging a street race there, but nothing concrete seems to have emerged from those discussions.

As for the 2008 schedule, it essentially mirrors the past year’s calendar, with 16 of the same venues on more or less the same dates. The only change is the absence of Michigan Speedway.

The IRL was hoping to find a new venue, preferably in California, for the former Michigan date in early August, but that did not happen.

The IRL runs mostly on the Eastern seaboard and in the Mid-West and has only one venue in populous California — Sears Point. It is one of five road course or street circuit races on the schedule. The other 11 events are ovals, including the IRL’s only current non-American stop, Motegi in Japan.

The 2008 season will begin under the lights with a night race at Homestead, FL, on March 29

2008 IndyCar schedule announcement hints at Canadian date in the future, while numerous changes will take place next season. By David Hatter

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Performance Racing News

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Canadian Horizon

$100,000, will now pay just $35,000 and only the top five finishers will receive money. The one exception is the Indianapolis 500, where the purse is being increased by almost 40 per cent, with the winner potentially earning $1.76 million.

Despite the changes, it seems likely that the IRL field — typically 18 or 19 cars at most races last season — will continue to shrink. Vision Racing, which ran cars for Tomas Scheckter, Anthony Foyt IV and Ed Carpenter, is reportedly cutting back to just a single entry for Carpenter. And this is the team co-owned by IRL founder Tony George. Carpenter is his stepson.

Whatever the technology, the usual players were at the front of the pack. Andretti-Green Rac-

After finishing as runner-up in the IndyPro Series in 2007, Hideki Mutoh got the prized ride at Andretti-Green as he takes over behind the wheel of Dario Franchitti’s car ing’s Tony Kanaan was fastest, followed by Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves and Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon.

Meanwhile, Castroneves now knows who his Penske teammate will be in 2008. Ryan Briscoe has been confirmed as the replacement for Sam Hornish Jr., the three-time series champion and 2006 Indy 500 winner who has now gone to NASCAR. The selection was widely expected after Roger Penske’s supposed first choice, Tony Ka30

Performance Racing News

naan, turned him down. The 2004 champion preferred to remain with Andretti-Green, for which he won five races this past season.

Briscoe, a 26-year-old Australian, has been driving for Penske’s successful ALMS team, taking two overall victories in his Porsche RS Spyder with co-driver Sascha Maassen. But he also drove a third Penske entry in the Indy 500 and finished fifth. The 2003 European Formula 3 champion had previous stints in the IRL with Ganassi in 2005 and with Dreyer & Reinbold in 2006, finishing on the podium at Watkins Glen.

The other vacant seat on the IRL’s three powerhouse teams has also been filled. Hideki Mutoh will join Andretti-Green as replacement for Dario Franchitti, the 2007 champion and Indy 500 winner, who has also defected to NASCAR. Mutoh reportedly has strong backing from the IRL’s exclusive engine-supplier, Honda, which is eager to see a Japanese driver succeed in this series. About half-a-dozen Japanese drivers have raced IndyCars in the past decade — most recently, Kosuke Matsuura, the 2004 Rookie-of-the-Year — but none has had stellar results.

Like Matasuura, Mutoh is a protege of F1 team-owner Aguri Suzuki. The 25-year-old was the 2007 runner-up in the IRL’s development division, the Indy Pro Series, and made an impressive IndyCar debut in the season-finale at Chicagoland for Panther Racing. He qualified 13th in the 22-car field and finished

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Photos by LAT Photographic

Better days

ahead

After a disastrous debut campaign, Toyota is licking its wounds and going to back to work for 2008. Monte Dutton reflects back on the difficulties of Toyota’s first year in NASCAR Cup competition and how it can change things for the future.

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Performance Racing News

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oyota’s first year in NASCAR’s top series, Nextel Cup, was a disaster. Given the business sense and plain old wisdom that has marked the Japanese manufacturer’s every move, in racing and elsewhere, this inescapable conclusion is almost impossible to refute.

That having been concluded, another characteristic of Toyota is to learn from its mistakes. The ignominy of NASCAR 2007 hasn’t been lost. Better days are ahead.

This isn’t a matter of catching up. This is a matter of team building. Toyota hit the ground crawling because it arrived in NASCAR with lousy teams.

“In Nextel Cup racing, all you have to be is off a little bit, with the way the setups are now, and you’re not going to be able to hit that target you’re aiming for,” said David Reutimann, one of two rookie drivers in the Toyota program. “Be off just that little bit, and you’re not even going to be in the top 30. That’s what we’ve found this year.

“Miss the target a little bit, and you’re done.

We’ve got to make that target bigger and easier to hit. Hit it consistently, you know?”

Bill of Goods Toyota bought a bill of goods from Michael Waltrip and signed him to combat an image of being alien to NASCAR. Waltrip makes fine commercials.

So does Dale Jarrett, the aging ex-champion.

While waiting for Toyota, Waltrip languished in 2006 and when the logo changed from Dodge to Toyota, he continued to do so. Jarrett will retire after just six more races next year with Toyota.

Team Red Bull hired Brian Vickers, fresh off his first Nextel Cup victory at Talladega in the fall of 2006. This team was wed more to marketing than race strategy, and when it predictably languished from the very outset, no coherent plans were in place to facilitate improvement. Vickers was a talent wasted in 2007.

Bill Davis? This well-liked, gregarious owner has, during the course of his NASCAR career, been exceeded in underachievement only by the nowtrivialized Felix Sabates. Davis once had Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Bobby Labonte under contract. Of that threesome, all but Labonte left before reaching the Cup level. The entire measure of Davis’ modest success was five victories with Ward Burton, beginning in 1995 and concluding in 2002. With anyone other than Burton behind the wheel of his cars, Davis is zero-for-413. With him, he was five-for-272 (.018).

Jacques Villeneuve, now rumoured to be buying Davis out, was the 20th driver to drive one of his cars at the Cup level. From Ford (in the Busch Series) to Pontiac to Dodge to Toyota, the results have been pretty much the same.

There’s no doubt Toyota got some great work from Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett in the commercials, but on the track the two veterans didn’t do much to help Toyota’s cause Performance Racing News

33

Better days ahead

Dave Blaney put together the most top-five finishes for a Toyota driver in 2008, but he still sits outside the top-35 in points

“I don’t think the COT has anything to do with.

It just cost more money the first-year because we had to split the program... It’s the car, and you’re going to have to learn to race with it, just like everyone else.”

-Lee White

The men behind Toyota’s entry into NASCAR – Lee White (Senior Vice-President of Toyota Racing Development) and Jim Aust (Vice-President Toyota Motorsprots and President & CEO of TRD)

34

Performance Racing News

In fairness, though, it must be conceded that one of Davis’s drivers, Dave Blaney, did produce the best numbers, modest though they were.

Blaney’s No. 22 was the only Toyota team to finish in the top 35 in owner points, thus making it the only one with an automatic spot in starting fields early next year. His four top-10 finishes were second only to Vickers’s five.

Toyota is stuck with three holdover teams: Bill Davis Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing and Team Red Bull. It’s stuck with AJ Allmendinger, the former Champ Car standout who needed at least a season in trucks or Busch to make the difficult adjustment from open wheel to stock cars. It’s stuck with Waltrip, the split personality whose love for a camera is matched by the arrogant tone he takes the moment the red lights go off. Jarrett, stripped of all but six ex-champion provisionals by a NASCAR rule change, never finished better than 17th in a race, and that was at the season finale in Hoemstead.

But the Waltrips — TV commentator Darrell is also on the payroll — and Jarrett did their jobs.

They made damn fine commercials.

Publicly, Toyota officials admit to no mistakes.

They contend their first season in NASCAR was exactly what they expected.

“We’re right on plan,” said Lee White, Senior Vice President of Toyota Racing Development USA.

Basis for Success Some say the Car of Tomorrow was designed in part to blunt any attempt by a manufacturer to gain an unfair advantage by sheer investment of resources. Ironically, the COT’s implementation occurred during the year in which Chevrolet compiled more victories than any year in its history and more than any manufacturer has piled up during NASCAR’s so-called “modern era” (1972-present).

“What made Chevrolet successful this year wasn’t Chevrolet,” said White. “It was their teams.”

What confounded Toyota in the first season may prove to be its blessing in the second. It won’t be “Car of Tomorrow” next year. It will be merely “car.”

They’re almost identical, the main difference between Chevy, Ford, Dodge and Toyota being decals designed to fool the undiscerning.

But, said White, “I don’t think the COT has anything to do with (Toyota’s performance). It just cost more money the first-year because we had to split the program (between two kinds of chassis designs).

There’s no advantage or disadvantage.

“It’s the car, and you’re going to have to learn to race with it, just like everyone else.”

Allmendinger disagreed.

“It’s only going to help us,” he said, “because we’re obviously 20 to 25 years of experience behind a lot of these teams and now with this (full implementation), we’re still going to be behind, but at least, I think, we’ll shorten that gap up a little bit.”

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Better days ahead

Brian Vickers (83) was the best Toyota driver in 2007 as he finished in the top-35 in points and will be the only Camry driver holding provisionals based on 2007 points Toyota was somewhat handicapped by the teams and drivers in its line-up this year, but there’s no question that will not be an excuse in 2008 as Joe Gibbs Racing joins the fold with Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch

Former Champ Car star AJ Allmendinger proved he wasn’t ready for Cup competition in 2007, but he will be back for another kick at the can in 2008

Jacques Villeneuve has already raced a Toyota in Cup competition and rumours have him buying Bill Davis Racing, which would hopefully take the team beyond its modest success thus far in NASCAR

Even the difference in engines is greatly overstated. Why, for instance, did NASCAR allow its most dominant manufacturer, Chevrolet, to introduce a new power plant in 2007? The answer is one of the sport’s more carefully concealed secrets because no manufacturer wants to admit to anything that would undermine brand identity.

The Chevrolet R07 engine was introduced as a step toward compliance with the basic configuration of all the other engines. It is fundamentally derived from the engine specs granted Dodge in 2001 and used to determine what the Toyota teams could place beneath their hoods. It has little in common with any production component used by General Motors.

Catching Up What in NASCAR is referred to as “tightening the box” may prevent Toyota from securing an unfair advantage, but it also makes it infinitely easier to catch up.

Which brings us to Joe Gibbs Racing in general and Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch in particular.

By wooing one of Chevrolet’s premier teams, Toyota guaranteed that there will be glory in

36 25

Performance Racing News

2008 that may wind up equaling the humiliation of 2007. Hall of Fame Racing, by the way, comes as part of the bargain since it is virtually a satellite of JGR and provided a place to farm out JJ Yeley and make room for Kyle Busch with the big club.

Doesn’t it seem odd that, even in the midst of record Chevrolet success, hardly anyone complained of an unfair advantage?

“I don’t think it has much to do with the auto manufacturer,” conceded Dodge driver Kurt Busch, a former champion. “It’s a strong indication that Chevy is competitive and has the most chances of winning each weekend. … Hendrick Motorsports has been unstoppable.”

Well, not completely. The team that stopped Hendrick most often, as witnessed by Stewart’s three victories and Hamlin’s one, was JGR, which is now adding a considerable talent in Kyle Busch, who was expendable at Hendrick once Dale Earnhardt Jr. became available.

“If you added up all the numbers of that team (JGR) and applied them to our teams this year,” noted White, “we would finish third in the manufacturers’ championship, and our current teams would only contribute 10 points.”

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focal

point

Photos by David Oliver

The season long battle between Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon came down to the final race of the season. Gordon looked to be in control with five races remaining, but then his younger rival got hot as Johnson took four straight victories. Then, at the season finale at Homestead, Johnson cruised to a seventh-place finish and his second straight Cup championship.

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Performance Racing News

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SPECIAL FEATURE Photos by Ramesh Bayney

I

HIS TIME

By Jaime Mauldsley

HAS COME

After steady progress up the ladder, Doug Brown has become a driver to watch in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. Jamie Maudsley looks at Brown’s success the past two seasons and what the future holds.

Photo by Jamie Maudsley

Doug Brown first grabbed attention at the Cayuga opener in 2006 when cold weather had everyone, including his crew member Drew Spencer, trying to stay warm and Brown has been on a roll ever since

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t was a bitter cold weekend at Barrie Speedway in May, 2006 as the CASCAR Super Series kicked off. The feature was originally scheduled to run on Sunday, but was postponed until Monday because the temperature was lower than Michael Waltrip’s confidence after Daytona this year. It was during qualifying on Monday morning that Doug Brown first became a frontrunner in the National series.

Brown had a career day. He parked his Pontiac on the outside of the front row and ran in the top-five all afternoon long, en route to a tremendous fourthplace finish. In the follow-up visit to Barrie on Canada Day weekend it was more of the same for Brown.

That weather featured the usual summertime heat, and Brown was again able to survive on the tight bullring for another fourth-place finish.

Those two drives at Barrie propelled Brown and his HB Motorsports team to a narrow miss of the top10 in the championship standings, as he recorded a career best seven top-10 finishes. Brown spoke about 2006 season, his finest while on tour with the best in Canada, “2006 was an awesome season for our team. We’ve never ran that consistently at that level before.”

CASCAR was sold and renamed the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series in 2007. For Brown, as good as ‘06 was, ‘07 was just as challenging as he saw numerous competitive runs end far too early. “We had a lot of uncontrollable problems this season. We had flat tires, and a couple of times we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. There were a couple of times late in the season when the race was winding down and I was asking myself, ‘what’s going to happen now?’”

Brown was also racing for the first time in a Dodge after driving GM products his entire career. “We were pleased with the switch to Dodge. We had good horsepower and reliability out of the motors, and when we went to the track we qualified well, and had good speed, which was positive. We just couldn’t finish races.”

Brown’s season derailed at Cayuga when he totaled his blue No. 10 Haldex Dodge. “We weren’t too pleased after that race.” That led Brown to rent a car from DJ Kennington to finish the season, which resulted in a white paint scheme as opposed to blue, his primary colour since he started racing. “We liked it, and of course we still like blue, so next year we’re going to make the car blue and white.”

Brown and his main sponsor are already looking towards 2008. “We’ve got Haldex locked in for two

Performance Racing News

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THE OFFICIAL AUTOMOTIVE RETAILER OF NASCAR IN CANADA.

Photo by Jamie Maudsley

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series marks are used under license by Destination Motorsports LP and Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited. NASCAR® is a registered trademark of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc.

Doug Brown had to rent a car to finish the season after his blue No. 10 was totaled at Cayuga, and the resulting white scheme will now be worked into his new look for 2008

more years. This is the earliest I’ve ever known what kind of budget we have for the following season.

Usually we know in February or March, but this year we knew in September.”

That has taken some of the burden off the team for the off-season, allowing them to focus on next year. “We have one full-time employee working on the cars. We have a new oval track car coming, and are going to do a lot of work on the road course car.

I’m also going to take the Bondurant Racing School during the off season. Road courses have been our biggest weakness and I think if I can learn as much at the school as others have, it will really help me both understand what the car needs and make me a better driver on road courses. With four of our events on road courses, it’s just that much more important.”

Before the season, Brown mixed a new workout regimen in between his other love, hockey. “I still play once a week, and both my boys play travel hockey, so we’re busy in the winter as well. But last winter I started seeing a personal trainer three times a week and it’s really helped. I think I’m in better shape at the end of the races and it helps me focus and keep a clear mind. I’ve been working with a nutritionist as well, and it just helped me feel healthier overall.”

Brown started at Delaware Speedway in the mid‘90s, and after spending two seasons in a Street Stock moved into the competitive Sportsman class.

Brown raced in the CASCAR Sportsman division for a number of years before splitting time between his home track of Delaware and the Super Series. He finished in the top-five in both Delaware and Sportsman

points a number of times, winning a pair of features along the way, including one 100-lap special and one regular Friday night feature.

While it’s been a number of years since Brown last captured a checkered flag, he’s sure to be in the mix next season, but is unsure where his first taste of checkers will come, “I would love to win at Cayuga. That’s my home track and that would mean the most to me. But it seems like I run better at the tight tracks. We run well at places like Barrie.”

Brown then paused and answered the same question in a different matter, “Come to think of it, I don’t care where we win our first one, I just want to win!”

Based on his past runs, and his competitive spirit, his time in the spotlight will come.

Performance Racing News

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11/28/07 9:12:01 PM

Spengler Second Again Rough start to 2007 DTM Championship proves costly as Bruno Spengler finished just three points shy of winning the title.

David Hatter looks at the superb campaign by the Canadian as he continues to pursue his F1 dreams.

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Photos by McKlein/LAT

F

or a second year in a row, Canada’s Bruno Spengler has finished as the overall runner-up in the world’s toughest and most competitive touring car series, the German-based DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisters). Again driving a factory Mercedes, he finished just three points, 50-47, behind Audi’s Mattias Ekstrom, who took his second title in four years.

“For sure, I was happy to fight for the championship to the last race, but I am a bit disappointed to end up second,” said the 24-year-old from St-Hippolyte, QC, in a telephone interview from his current home in Strasbourg, France.

“I didn’t score any points in the first two races, so unfortunately those (lost) points cost me the championship. But it’s behind us now and I have to look forward to the future. I am going to give everything to win the title next year.”

The 10-race DTM series began with some controversy. In the opening race at Hockenheim, Spengler started from the pole, but tangled with his Mercedes teammate, five-time DTM champion Bernd Schneider, on the last lap as they fought over second place. Schneider spun, while Spengler crossed the finish line in third place, worth six points. But he was subsequently penalized 50 seconds for the altercation, dropping him to 14th.

“It was a 50/50 racing incident. I would have had six more points and I would be champion, so it’s disappointing,” said Spengler.

Fender-banging is fairly common in the DTM and Spengler feels he has been the victim more often than not, particularly from the Audi drivers, citing incidents with Timo Scheider and Christian Performance Racing News

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For the second straight year Bruno Spengler won the biggest event of the DTM season at Norisring

For sure, I was happy to fight for the championship to the last race, but I am a bit disappointed to end up second... But it’s behind us now and I have to look forward to the future. I am going to give everything to win the title next year.

Abt at Zandvoort, Holland (one of four races outside of Germany). For its part, Audi withdrew all its cars from the penultimate race at Barcelona, Spain, to protest what it deemed to be rough driving by the Mercedes squad — an “overreaction,” according to Spengler.

“It is rough because the DTM is so competitive and everything is so close,” he said. “There is a bit of tension (between the two manufacturers). People are spending a lot of money to win.

The stewards are trying to be a bit more careful about it, but they are not as careful all the time for everyone.”

Spengler’s troubled start to the season continued with a power steering failure, while running third, in Round 2 at Oschersleben. But in the final eight races, he never finished worse than fifth.

He had four podiums — a third in Round 3 at Lausitzring, seconds in Rounds 8 and 9 at

the Nurburgring and Barcelona and a win at Round 5, the biggest single event of the year at Norisring, a tight street circuit in the town of Nuremburg, which traditionally attracts a crowd of about 150,000.

It was his second straight win at Norisring and he largely dominated the weekend, taking pole position in the rain and leading the dry race virtually all the way to finish 1.8 seconds ahead of teammate Schneider. It marked the mid-point of the season and the victory put him back in championship contention after his earlier frustrations.

“To win at Norisring, it’s the biggest race. It’s a street race and it’s really a lot of people. It’s a track I like a lot. I always enjoy driving there,” he said.

Following his runner-up finishes at the Nurburgring and Barcelona, Spengler went to Performance Racing News

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Spengler Second Again

“It’s a shame. Mika is going to be missed,” Spengler said of the retirement of teammate Mika Hakkinen the season finale at Hockenheim trailing Ekstrom by only two points. He gridded just sixth, one of his worst qualifying performances of the year (he had three poles). He climbed to fourth in the race, just behind his Swedish rival, but could not find a way past.

There are two mandatory pit stops per race and Spengler contends that Audi deliberately kept some of its older, slower cars out on the track longer than usual, so they could be in position to block and delay him.

“I was going to Hockenheim with the target to win the championship and I was giving everything to win it at this last race, but Audi had more of a team strategy. I lost nine seconds behind the slower Audis,” said Spengler, who finished 7.7 seconds behind the race winner, Mercedes teammate Jamie Green.

This was Spengler’s fifth season as a Mercedes-contracted driver. He spent two years driving Mercedes-powered cars in the Euro F3

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Series before joining a private Mercedes DTM team in 2005 and then switching to the factory HWA squad in 2006. He remains under contract to the German auto giant for two more years.

“I won’t lie, my dream is to go to Formula 1,” he said. “But there’s nothing at the moment (on the F1 front) and I feel good in the DTM. It’s a competitive, professional championship with good drivers. I’m really happy to be there with Mercedes and to have a car to win races. I am motivated and I would say I have a chance to win the title next year.”

In 2008, Spengler will again be teamed with Schneider and Green, although Mercedes’ bestknown driver, two-time F1 champion Mika Hakkinen, is retiring. “It’s a shame. Mika is going to be missed,” said Spengler, who does not yet know who will replace the famed Finn. He expects the team to start testing its new 2008 car sometime in January. The season will kick off, as usual, at Hockenheim in April.

Performance Racing News

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By Neal Jones

With new support from Hyundai Canada, Antoine L’Estage captures North American title and is closing in on a second Canadian crown

Photo by Vincent Fortin

Backing the Champ

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Photo by ESPN Images/Shazamm

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f you’re going to make an impact on the Canadian Rally Championship scene, you might as well hook up with a long-time driver of your brand and the man poised to win a second consecutive Canadian title. And that’s exactly what Hyundai Canada did when it joined with Anotine L’Estage’s rally team.

L’Estage has been behind the wheel of Hyundai cars since 2002, starting his career with an Elantra before he received some help from good friend John Buffum. A multi-time rally champion, Buffum took L’Estage “under his wing” in 2004 and the native of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC moved into a Tiburon for the first time.

After missing out on the Canadian title in 2005 because he didn’t finish the last event of the year and lost the bonus points, L’Estage stormed back last year to win his championship. And outside of a third-place run at the 2007 season opener at the Rally Perce-Neige Maniwaki, he has dominated the Canadian scene with four straight victories heading into the season finale, the Rally of the Tall Pines.

L’Estage was already well on his way to defending the Canadian championship when Hyundai Canada stepped in at mid-season with new support for the remainder of the season. He quickly shed the red paint on his Tiburon and took on the company’s flagship blue and white colours. The new look didn’t change the outcome of the races as L’Estage has taken victory at both events since signing the deal.

“We had some long discussions and finally they decided to do half a season,” said L’Estage.

“Hyundai is very enthusiastic and everything has been very positive. It really helped a lot in order for us to finish this season.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen for 2008,” L’Estage continued, “but I think they will continue. I think they are happy with our results and the exposure they are getting. I hope it will

continue for at least another year, it would make sense for maximum exposure.”

The support from Hyundai does not just come from the Canadian arm of the company, as Hyundai USA was also very helpful during the 2007 season. L’Estage picked up a wild card spot for the X Games with his finish at the Rally America event in Maine, which he always does out of respect for his mentor Buffum, who promotes the event. Of course, once he had a spot he still needed to find the resources to head west.

With backing from Hyundai USA he entered the event, but fell victim to the jump entering the stadium (not the big jump in the middle of the stadium) in practice. Thankfully, Hyundai re-built the car in time for competition, but the end result was not what L’Estage was hoping for. Still, he enjoyed the experience.

Antoine L’Estage qualified for the 2007 X Games, but he encountered a few problems along the way at the all-star exhibition event “It was not a good weekend for us, but I’m not too disappointed,” he said. “It’s not a championship event, it’s more of an exhibition.”

Throughout his many adventures, it should be noted that L’Estage didn’t win the title until he teamed with his girlfriend and co-driver Nathalie Richard in 2006. Through eight career events as of press time, they had won six times and, of course, took the 2006 championship. The sister of former Canadian Rally champion Pat Richard, Nathalie has earned a reputation for her skills in the co-pilot’s seat. “She’s one of the best co-drivers in the sport,” L’Estage said.

The Quebec driver has already clinched the North American Rally Championship for 2007, which combines results from events in both Canada and the United States. With that title secure, L’Estage is now poised to continue as Canadian Rally Champion for another year as well.

All the ingredients are in place: a John Buffumprepared Tiburon, a top co-driver in Richard and solid backing from Hyundai Canada.

Performance Racing News

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2007 world RALLY EVENTS

Loeb Takes

Advantage

Back-to-back DNFs for Marcus Gronholm opened the door for Sebastien Loeb, who is now poised to win his fourth World Rally Championship.

By David Hatter | Rally Editor

After failing to capitalize on Marcus Gronholm’s DNF in Japan by suffering his own DNF, Sebastien Loeb took control of the WRC title chase heading to the season finale with a win in Ireland

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Performance Racing News

Photos by McKlein/LAT

S

ébastien Loeb is heading to the final round of the World Rally Championship in Wales with a fourth straight title virtually in his grasp. After trailing Marcus Gronholm for most of the season, the Frenchman moved ahead in the standings by winning the penultimate event, the Rally of Ireland, while his Finnish rival crashed out.

Loeb now leads Gronholm by six points, 110-104, and needs only a top-five finish in the Welsh finale to secure the crown.

Gronholm’s crash in Ireland was the second time in a row that he had crashed out of a rally on the opening day. He also made an early exit from the preceding Rally of Japan, but there Loeb failed to benefit. He too crashed the next day.

“In Japan, we were unable to take advantage of Gronholm’s retirement, but this time we seized on this new opportunity that presented itself. It’s super,” said Loeb in Ireland. “I gave Marcus a gift in Japan and there was no question of giving him a second one. Now we’re back in the lead of the championship for the first time since Argentina (in May).”

coverage brought to you by

Back-to-back DNFs in Japan and Ireland gave Marcus Gronholm plenty of time in the hospitality area and now the Hollywood-ending the Finn hoped for in his final WRC season has slipped away

Petter Solberg confirmed he will return to Subaru in 2008, but warns that the Britishbased ProDrive team must step up its game to satisfy the Japanese manufacturer and the 2003 World Rally Champ

Still, Loeb and Citroen team director Guy Fréquelin did have a scare at the start of the third and final day of the Irish event. When Loeb first tried to start his Citroen C4, it fired on only three cylinders.

“I said to Guy that if the motor had died during the night, it wasn’t even worth going to Great Britain (Wales) because that would tell us it definitely wasn’t our year,” said Loeb. Happily for him, all cylinders fired properly after his mechanics changed out the electrics, although the delay in leaving the parc fermé did result in a 10-second penalty.

Even with the penalty, Loeb finished the event some 53 seconds ahead of teammate Dani Sordo. It was the third 1-2 finish by the Citroen team this year, although Mikko Hirvonen’s fourth place secured the Constructor’s Championship for the factory BP Ford team for a second straight year. Ford now has an insurmountable 194 points, vs. 173 for Citroen.

Hirvonen was not even the top Ford finisher. That distinction went to rising star Jari-Matti Latvala, who claimed his first ever podium by finishing third in his private Stobart/M-Sport Ford Focus. The 22-

eran lost control under braking for a right-hand corner and side-swiped a stone wall.

“It was extremely slippery and the car got away from me. I managed to throw it sideways before we hit the stone wall, but it was still a violent impact,” said Gronholm, who admitted to some memory lapses about details of the accident. Both he and co-driver Timo Rautiainen were taken to a local hospital for precautionary CAT-scans, but were soon released.

The Irish rally was new to the WRC calendar this year and was a rare event in that it crossed national borders, with stages in both Northern Ireland (part of Britain) and the Republic of Ireland. A ceremonial start took place at Belfast in the north, but rally headquarters was at Sligo, a coastal town in the south.

Loeb had prepared for the event by taking part in two Irish national rallies — Donegal and Cork — earlier this year and was glad that he did. “The road conditions were a lot more treacherous, but the experience of those two rallies was helpful in setting up the car,” he said. “Conditions were hellish.

If I’d had to attack all weekend, this would have been the most difficult rally I’ve done. But after Gronholm’s exit, it was okay. I just had to be careful not to make a mistake.”

Besides Gronholm, the conditions caught out several other top drivers including Subaru’s Chris Atkinson and Xevi Pons and Latvala’s M-Sport teammate Henning Solberg.

Behind Hirvonen, Petter Solberg (Henning’s

The conditions caught out several other top drivers including Subaru’s Chris Atkinson and Xevi Pons and Latvala’s M-Sport teammate Henning Solberg year-old Finn is widely tipped to join Hirvonen on the factory squad next year, replacing Gronholm, who is heading into retirement.

It was on just the fourth stage that Gronholm, trailing the two Citroens, made his mistake. Road conditions were damp and tricky. The Finnish vet-

Performance Racing News

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Loeb Takes Advantage

Jari-Matti Latvala helped Ford clinch the Manufacturer’s title with his first career podium finish at Ireland

usually more successful brother) took fifth place for Subaru. The 2003 WRC titlist has confirmed that he will honour his contract and stay with Subaru next season — there had been talk he might seek an escape clause — but he is clearly unhappy with the performance of the team run by British-based Prodrive.

“I hope that things are going to change at Prodrive,” said the Norwegian. “It’s three years now that things have not been right. The Japanese are really unhappy with the work of the English, who have to react. It’s disheartening. It’s only on the short stages of a couple of kilometres that I can put up decent times.”

Three weeks earlier, it was Hirvonen who benefitted from the accidents of both Gronholm and Loeb to win the Rally of Japan. Actually, although he trailed Gronholm early on, he was ahead of Loeb when the Frenchman crashed out on day two. Gronholm went out on stage four while leading. Loeb and also Latvala — who was running third at the

Gronholm’s crash in Ireland was the second time in a row that he had crashed out of a rally on the opening day. He also made an early exit from the preceding Rally of Japan time — both crashed on stage 13. Other accident victims included all three Subaru drivers — Petter Solberg, Atkinson and Pons.

Hirvonen emerged from the carnage to win by 37 seconds from Sordo. Henning Solberg was third, ahead of Wilson — his best-ever result — Argentina’s Luis Perez-Companc (Ford Focus), Austria’s Manfred Stohl (Citroen Xsara) and Federico Villagra (Focus), another Argentinean who managed to win three short (1.35km) “super-special” stages. Local driver Katsuhiko Taguchi was eighth in a Group N (limited modifications) Mitsubishi Lancer.

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Performance Racing News

Mikko Hirvonen took full advantage of Loeb and Gronholm’s mistakes in Japan to take the win

2008 Schedule The FIA released the schedule for the 2008 World Rally Championship and there is a pleasant surprise for North American fans.

The continent’s only WRC event, the Rally of Mexico, is back on the calendar. It was widely expected that the Mexican round would be dropped next year. It will take place a couple of weeks earlier than usual, starting Feb. 28.

The schedule contains 15 events, down from 16 this year. Norway, Portugal and Ireland — all new additions this season — have been left off the 2008 calendar, but may return in 2009. Turkey, which was left off this year’s schedule, is back in 2008 (June 13-15), while a new event is being added in Jordan (April 24-27).

While the FIA has yet to officially adopt a proposal from its president Max Mosley to alternate rallies from year to year, it seems that this is happening to some extent, anyway, at least with the newer events. Mosley had proposed that there be a total of 24 world rallies, but each counting for the championship only every other year in order to limit the annual schedule to 12 rounds.

You can find the full schedule for 2008 at www.prnmag.com.

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BIGFINISH Photos Courtesy SuperGT.net

The battle for the GT300 title came down to the final lap as the 2007 SuperGT Championship comes to a close

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n Nov. 4, the Fuji GT 300km, the final round of the 2007 Autobacs SuperGT series, took place at the Fuji Speedway. In the GT500 class the No. 32 Epson NSX (Loic Duval/Fabio Carbone) ran to its first victory of the season. The GT300 class winner was the No. 26 Yunker-Power Taisan Porsche (Nobuteru Taniguchi/ Dominik Farnbacher), its second victory of the season. GT300 also crowned its champions as Kazuya Ohshima and Hiroaki Ishiura (No.101 Toy Story Racing apr MR-S) took the title with a second-place finish.

GT500 The start saw the top qualifiers go through the first lap in order. After the tires got warmed up, however, the No. 32 began to pick up the pace.

Just before the first turn of lap seven, Duval got past the No. 17 Real NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi) and moved to second. On the last corner of lap 19, No. 32 finally caught up to the pole sitting No. 12 Cal52

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sonic Impul Z (Benoit Treluyer). The two machines went down the straight side-by-side and by the entrance to the first curve No. 32 pulled ahead to take the lead.

With the track temperature warmer than expected, some of the teams had begun preparing for a tire change after the 12th or 13th lap. It was at this point that there was a collision between the No. 3 Yellow Hat YMS Mobaho! Tomica Z (Sebastien Philippe) and the No. 23 Xanavi Nismo Z (Satoshi Motoyama). No. 23 ran off the track as a result, and on the next lap it was forced to return to the pit for a tire change. Meanwhile, No. 3 was given a drive-through penalty.

After 22 laps, the machines began to make their pit stops, beginning with the No. 25 Eclipse Advan SC430 (Takeshi Tsuchiya > Manabu Orido). Also making early stops and driver changes were the No.100 Raybrig NSX (Dominik Schwager > Shinya Hosokawa), the No. 38 Zent Cerumo SC430 (Toranosuke Takagi > Yuji Tachikawa) and

the No. 1 houzan Tom’s SC430 (Andre Lotterer > Juichi Wakisaka). After being passed by No. 17 on lap 26, No. 12 made its stop, changing drivers to Kazuki Hoshino. The leader at this point, No. 32 (Duval > Fabio Carbone) stopped two laps later and the No. 17 (Toshihiro Kaneishi > Katsutomo Kaneishi) made its stop five laps later. After the stops were completed, the top three were the No. 32, No. 12 and No. 17. The No.17 tried to chase the No. 12, but with its handicap lifted by two performance (restrictor) allocations, No. 12 proved faster on the straights and pulled away on its pursuer. Meanwhile, the No. 32 maintained a fast pace and opened up a big lead.

There were no changes in the order of the top three for the remainder of the race and they took the checkered at the end of lap 66. For No. 32 (Duval/Carbone), it was the first win of the season and the first since the final round of last year’s series.

Class champions Daisuke Ito and Ralph Firman

Performance Racing News

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Loic Duval and Fabio Carbone repeated as winners of the season finale for their first GT500 win of 2007

Nobuteru Taniguchi and Dominik Farnbacher took their second GT300 win of the season at the finale

The No. 101 of Kazuya Ohshima and Hiroaki Ishiura did what it needed to do by finishing ahead of the No. 2 to clinch the GT300 title in a tiebreaker in the No. 8 Aarta NSX managed to finish eighth despite a brush with the No. 22 Motul Autech Z (Michael Krumm/Tsugio Matsuda) on the last lap.

As a result, the team title also went to Autobacs Racing Team Aguri.

GT300 In the early stages, class pole sitter No. 101 (Kazuya Oshima) held station, followed by the No. 43 Arta Garaiya (Morio Nitta). Behind them, the No. 2 PrivĂŠe Kenzo Asset Shiden (Hiroki Katoh) and the ensuing pack were blocked by the No. 43, allowing No. 101 to build a lead. But, moving up at a faster pace was the No. 26 (Nobuteru Taniguchi) and the No. 88 Aktio Murcie RG-1 (Marco Apicella). Starting seventh, the No. 26 passed four machines in the first three laps. On lap four it also passed the No. 43 to move into second while the No. 88 also moved up to take third.

On the hairpin of lap 13, No. 101 had its brakes lock when cut off by a GT500 machine while running in the lead. No. 26 took advantage to slip past and opened up a lead of its own. This set the top three of the No. 26 in the lead followed by No. 101 and No. 88. Tire wear then hit the No. 101 as the No. 88 and No. 2 both moved ahead. Pressed

by the need to finish ahead of the No. 2 to win the title, No. 101 stopped at the end of lap 30. In just 29 seconds the machine returned to the track with second driver Hiroaki Ishiura at the wheel.

In contrast, the No. 2 waited as long as possible before stopping. At that point it held a one-minute lead. Meanwhile, the leading No. 26 stopped on lap 33 and switched to Dominik Farnbacher, with the lead still effectively in hand.

On lap 42, the No. 2 finally stopped and Kazuho Takahashi returned to the track between the No. 26 and No. 101. But, with his tires not yet warmed up, Takahashi was unable to prevent No. 101 from getting by.

Knowing that this order of finish would give No. 101 the title based on number of wins, No. 2 needed to get past No. 101 no matter what.

Takahashi rose to the occasion with a magnificent display of driving. He narrowed the gap to within less than one second and over the last two laps there was an intense battle that almost involved contact. But, Ishiura in the No. 101 held his position to the checkered to clinch the title.

The class victory went to the No. 26 (Taniguchi/ Farnbacher) for its second win of the season. Finishing second was the No. 101 (Oshima/Ishiura).

For Ohshima, this gives him titles in both the SUPER GT and the All Japan F3 Championship. A 20 years of age, he has rewritten the record for the youngest driver to win a SuperGT/JGTC title. Third went to the No.2 (Takahashi/Katoh). Although this was the second year in a row the drivers lost the title in a tiebreaker, the Shiden squad still won the team title.

Performance Racing News

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coverage BROUGHT to you by

Countdown to Competition

NHRA’s inaugural season with its all new “Countdown to the Championship” format wrapped up in very successful fashion with exciting back-to-back event weekends at Las Vegas and Pomona.

Story and photos by Bruce Biegler Drag Racing Editor

At Las Vegas, Tony Pedregon’s timely victory, combined with the shocking early exits of his rivals proved to be key for the 2007 Championship

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D

uring Las Vegas’ ACDelco Nationals, hometown racer “Hot Rod” Fuller enjoyed an absolute career weekend in Top Fuel. The 36year-old driver of David Powers’ Caterpillar-sponsored dragster enjoyed his most lucrative event ever — winning two major Top Fuel titles.

On Saturday, Fuller took the prestigious $100,000 payout in the Technicoat Top Fuel Shootout winning a spectacular final over Melanie Troxel on a slight holeshot — 4.527 secs at 329.99 mph to 4.526/326.40. Then on Sunday, Fuller “doubled up” by winning an equally impressive final over Doug Kalitta.

Fuller’s CAT-sponsored dragster won over Kalitta’s Mac Tools machine 4.531/327.82 to 4.537/331.36.

Funny Car saw the planets align perfectly for Tony Pedregon, whose fourth win of the season driving his Q-Racing Chevy Monte Carlo put him into an ideal position for the 2007 Championship.

Pedregon denied a history making bid by John Force’s daughter Ashley in the final when he used a holeshot to earn victory

4.871/318.47 to 4.829298.93. If Ashley had won, it would have marked the first time a lady racer won a national FC title.

Pedregon combined his ACDelco Nationals victory with shocking first round exits by all three of his “Countdown to One” competitors — Gary Scelzi, Robert Hight and Ron Capps, allowing him to leave with a 91-point lead.

At Las Vegas, John Force Racing fielded four cars and in addition to the runner-up finish by Ashley, team highlights included low ET by Robert Hight (4.763 secs) and a strong qualifying effort by newcomer Mike Neff, who ran 4.784 secs for the seventh slot in his driving debut. Phil Burkhart Jr. was behind the controls of the Castrol High Mileage Ford Mustang usually driven by Force.

Greg Anderson beat Jeg Coughlin for the Pro Stock title.

Driving his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GTO, Anderson overcame a slight holeshot by Coughlin to win a 6.731 secs to 6.771 secs decision. The victory gave Anderson the points lead heading into Pomona.

Performance Racing News

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Photo by Matt Polito

Rod Fuller enjoyed a career weekend during the ACDelco Nationals, collecting two major Top Fuel titles

David Connolly’s bid for a sixth straight win ended in round two when he lost a razor thin decision to teammate Coughlin, 6.773 secs to 6.775 secs. Connolly did set both low ET and top speed at 6.725/205.57.

Andrew Hines earned his fifth Pro Stock Bike win of the season, wheeling the Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle past the Drag Specialties S&S Buell of Chip Ellis. Both riders had similar reaction times, however Hines won convincingly at the stripe 7.073/187.34 to 7.144/185.41.

NHRA’s AMS Pro Mod Challenge series concluded at Las Vegas. On Saturday, Ford Mustang driver Tim Tindle prevailed in the $25,000 Pro Mod Clash presented by ProCare RX. Tindle won that title with a 6.691/229.98 while opponent Jay Payne went into violent tire shake.

Sunday’s eliminations featured a much overdue victory by Toronto’s Tony Pontieri, regarded as one of Canada’s most skilled drivers. Pontieri combined some very sharp driving with great race day consistency to score his first NHRA victory. Pontieri

drove Rob Sporring’s Quality Plus Compressors-sponsored ‘57 Chevy past the ‘63 Corvette of Steve Engel in the final, using a superior .027 RT with a run of 6.159/230.57 to beat Engel’s quicker and faster 6.119/237.50.

Pomona Finals As he did at this event last season, Chicago’s Tony Schumacher entered the Top Fuel final with the event title and World Championship on the line. The driver of the US Army car responded once again, and when the win-light came on against Bob Vandergriff Jr., a third consecutive championship was secured. Schumacher saved his best effort for the final; his 4.486/328.30 run was low ET. In the end, Schumacher edged out Fuller by 19 points.

Fuller entered Pomona after dominating at Las Vegas and as the points leader but suffered a devastating first round loss when his Caterpillar dragster went into instant tire-smoke while racing Vandergriff. That opened the door for Schumacher.

Canada’s Tony Pontieri broke through for his biggest victory so far, winning the AMS Pro Mod Challenge event at Las Vegas

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Countdown to Competition

Tony Schumacher’s propensity for dramatic wins included another “victory at the final bell” in Top Fuel

Schumacher’s win over Brandon Bernstein in the semis was also a super consequential confrontation. If Bernstein had won that match he would have been the 2007 champvailed.

Funny Car saw Robert Hight win for the third time this season and that sewed up second in the points standings. Hight beat teammate Burkhart in the final when he ran low ET at 4.731 secs and 326.71 mph in the AAA Auto Club Ford Mustang. The all JFR final did provide the team, sport and fans worldwide with some closure and final justice following all the team’s problems this past season.

Hight’s win at Pomona fell just short of securing championship, which was won by Tony Pedregon. As was the case in Top Fuel with Fuller, Pedregon (the points leader coming in) lost out in round one (to Canada’s Jeff Arend) and was on the sidelines waiting. His championship was se-

Sportsman “all-star” racer Dan Fletcher collected his milestone 50th NHRA national event victory at Pomona 56

cured after the semi-final round when it became mathematically impossible for Hight to reset the ET record, which he needed to in order to pass Pedregon in points. Pro Stock (car and motorcycle) eliminators also included high drama with the event winners also claiming World Championship titles.

Jeg Coughlin, driver of the Jegs Mail Order Chevy Cavalier owned by Victor Cagnazzi, enjoyed a fantastic weekend to claim his third career title.

Coughlin defeated the Pontiac GTO of first-time finalist Justin Humphreys when he ran low ET at 6.638/207.98 to take the win.

Coughlin entered Pomona trailing Greg Anderson in points, but got the break he was looking for when Humphreys knocked Anderson out in round one on a timely holeshot. Humphreys combined a superior .034 RT with a run of 6.669/207.18 to beat Anderson’s 6.658/208.42.

The battle in the Pro Stock Motorcycle produced another dramatic final round featuring Buell riders Matt Smith and Chip Ellis. In a nutshell, whoever won also won the Championship!

North Carolina’s Smith moved first in the final (.033 to .101) and held on to win it all at 6.944/191.08 to 6.947/192.17. The win was Smith’s fourth of the season in nine finals while the championship was his first.

Smith benefited from an unexpected second round loss by defending and three-time World Champion Andrew Hines who had a blatant -.341 red-light racing Antron Brown.

On Sunday, during pre-final round activities, the capacity crowd remembered NHRA founder and drag racing icon Wally Parks, who recently passed away. It was a moving tribute that included a truly fantastic “cackle fest.” Not only were an impressive series of nostalgia cars started together,

Robert Hight helped give some positive closure for John Force Racing following a troubleplagued 2007

Performance Racing News

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VP Fuels 19.08.indd 1

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Countdown to Competition Jeg Coughlin showed incredible confidence while taking a comefrom-behind Pro Stock World Championship at Pomona

they were joined by numerous NHRA class cars, both Pro and Sportsman.

The Top Alcohol titles featured a couple of marquee winners with defending World Champion Bill Reichert and California’s Jay Payne emerging victorious.

Reichert sped to low ET in the TAD final at 5.192 secs to defeat Nevada’s Duane Shields, who smoked his tires. Shields had set top speed at 277.43 mph in earlier action.

Payne won his 33rd event title when he beat Von Smith in the TAFC final. Payne’s Valvolinesponsored ’07 Mustang sped to a 5.607/267.24 while Smith had a red-light foul start.

The season ending event at Pomona also included the Summit Racing ET Championship Finals.

Those overall world titles were claimed by David Scigliuto (Super Pro), Dennis Clark (Pro), Greg Dreher (Sportsman) and Micheal Nash (Bike/Sled).

Sportsman racing was highlighted by a milestone 50th career event win by New York’s Dan Fletcher. Fletcher rolled his Valvoline-sponsored Chevy Camaro past Michael Iacono in the Super Stock final.

Second generation rider Matt Smith clinched the Pro Stock Motorcycle title when he won the final round at the AAA Auto Club Finals

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International

Summit

IHRA’s 2007 season came to a dramatic conclusion during the 12th Annual World Finals at Rockingham Dragway, an event jointly presented

by UTI Technical Institute and the US Air Force. The event featured the crowning of 2007 World Champions in four of five Pro categories as well as some unexpected winners.

Story and photos by Bruce Biegler

I In Nitro Funny Car, North Carolina’s own Bob Gilbertson prevailed to win the biggest IHRA event of his career so far

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ndiana’s Bruce Litton, one of the IHRA’s most dedicated racers, enjoyed his finest hour in the sport as his event title he clinched his first career IHRA World Championship title. Litton ran a final round time of 4.606 secs at 318.92 mph driving his Lucas Oil sponsored dragster, which denied opponent Scotty Cannon’s bid for a third event title this season.

The Top Fuel points leader going into the event, TJ Zizzo, saw his championship hopes go up in smoke literally in round one when he lost in a major upset to Kevin Jones. When Litton advanced to the second round, the championship was his.

Nitro Funny Car produced a popular victory for local racer Bob Gilbertson. Driving his “Trick Tank” sponsored Chevy Monte Carlo, Gilbertson saved

his best effort for the final, as his low ET effort of 4.877/314.53 took the title. Gilbertson’s third career victory denied a strong first-time appearance

by Cory Lee, the new driver for Jeff McGaffic’s Monte Carlo Funny Car. Driving a car sponsored

by Original MetalWood Bats, Lee came close in the final with a 4.977/303.30 effort.

Gilbertson’s victory came over the quickest eight-car Nitro Funny Car field in IHRA history (5.075 secs bump) and included four-second runs in round one (over Dale Creasy Jr) and two (over Mitch King). He was also credited with top speed at 315.86 mph.

Rockingham’s Pro Modified program was an outstanding affair, featuring a Can-Am final between New York’s Mike Janis and Manitoba’s

Performance Racing News

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Mike Janis was clearly convincing while winning in Pro Mod during the IHRA’s season ending World Finals

Kenny Lang. Janis prevailed when he ran this Eaton-sponsored 2007 Chevy Colbalt to a great 5.995/239.31 to hold off Lang’s determined 6.080/235.27 effort.

Janis’ superb showing, his fourth win of the season, came up just short of clinching the 2007 Pro Modified World title. He lost that chase to Scott Cannon by only 22 points. Cannon clinched when he advanced to round two via a rather controversial win over Toronto’s Tony Pontieri. That race saw Pontieri leave well before the tree was activated, assuring the World title for Cannon.

Lang’s final round appearance marked his third career final and solidified a sixth-place finish in points.

Pro Stock saw Virginia’s Robert Patrick clinch his first career World Championship, winning a hard fought season-long tussle over defending World Champion Pete Berner. Patrick benefited from a shocking round one -.004 red-light by Berner, who qualified on the pole at 6.281 secs.

When Patrick won his first round match over Dean Goforth, he was assured the title.

Patrick advanced to the final but was gunned down on a holeshot by late season sensation Jeff Dobbins, who won for the second time in three events. Dobbins combined a superior .017 RT with a time of 6.313/221.34 driving his Ford Escort to turn back Patrick’s quicker 6.304/221.05 in his Purvis-sponsored Ford Cobra.

Canada’s Rob Atchison finished on a high by winning his milestone 20th career Ironman in Alcohol Funny Car. Atchison won a classic final against Mark Thomas, also on a holeshot. Atchison took the win at 5.922/241.80 compared to Thomas’ 5.910/243.06. The Ontario-based team prevailed at Rockingham using the Erickson-sponsored Pontiac Firebird body instead

of the Monte Carlo body they used most of the season.

While Thomas did not win the event he did prevail in the hard fought World Championship. He clinched his second in a row and seventh overall when he beat a red-lighting Neal Parker in the semis. Thomas edged Atchison by 15 points in the final standings.

Alcohol Funny Car was easily the strongest class showing of the year and probably the best in the last few years. Seventeen cars made qualifying attempts and produced the quickest bump spot in history at a swift 5.833 secs.

Laurie Cannister set both low ET and top speed

at 5.669 secs and 246.89 mph during qualifying before being shut down by Atchison in round one; 5.748 secs to 5.833 secs.

Sportsman racing featured the conclusion of the 2007 Summit Super Series for IHRA Bracket racers. The two big winners were Chad Hedgecock (Box) and Canadian Will Steckly (No Box) (See Canadian Drag Racing Update for more).

The Sportsman highlight reel included a barrier breaking, quickest and fastest time ever recorded in Top Dragster history. North Carolina’s Ed Careccia drove his supercharged dragster to an incredible 5.865 secs (the first “five” in the class) at 236.92 mph while pacing the 48-car field.

Genuine “good guy” Bruce Litton finally got his due in IHRA “Top Fuel land” - his victory at Rockingham gave him the 2007 World Championship

With his event runner-up effort, Ohio’s Mark Thomas secured his seventh career Alcohol Funny Car title

Performance Racing News

IHRA 19.08.indd 3

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11/29/07 6:13:59 PM

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Performance Racing News

Jarvis Dominates Macau The 54th Annual Macau Grand Prix weekend took place on the weekend of Nov. 15-18, 2007 and it was Britain’s Oliver Jarvis who controlled the field. Jarvis started on pole in the premier Polytec Formula 3 class race and led wire-to-wire for the biggest memory of his young career. “It is the biggest race win of my career,” he said. “I’ve won some big races and also the McLaren/Autosport Award, but this tops them all I think.”

focal

Photos by Drew Gibson/LAT

point

Performance Racing News

63

proudly sponsors

canadian drag racing update Story and Photos by Bruce Biegler I Drag Racing Editor

Milestone Ironman Ontario’s Rob Atchison and Erickson Manufacturing team closed out 2007 in style. Led by his skilled tuner and engine building father Bob, the team had yet another stellar performance during the IHRA’s season-ending World Finals where they collected their 20th career win and third of the season.

The victory came over the all-time quickest Alcohol Funny Car field in IHRA history (5.833 secs bump) and he shot down newly crowned World Champion Mark Thomas in a spectacular head-to-head final round confrontation. In that race, Atchison combined a better starting line reaction time to take a holeshot victory; 5.922 secs 239.31 mph to 5.910/243.06.

That final outcome did provide the team with some solace as their quest for a 2007 World Championship ended when Mark Thomas beat Neal Parker.

Canada’s ET Elite Will Steckly, Grand Bend Motorplex’ 2007 Super Pro champion, earned what is arguably the most significant Sportsman title of the season by a Canadian.

While competing at the IHRA World Finals within that event’s highly prestigious Summit Super Series, he took top honours in the “No Box” category racing his ultra reliable 1980 Dodge Omni. Steckly combined some deadly reaction times with uncanny consistency to win the IHRA Summit 2007 ET World Championship.

For his victory, Steckly collected some significant prizes including a cheque for $10,000, a brand new Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a holiday to Aruba.

“To get here I won five events at Grand Bend and then at the Divisional Championships,” said Steckly, who lives in Milverton, ON. “I feel fortunate about that and it was both great and a real honour to be here.”

Steckly was nearly joined in victory lane by another Canadian, Burlington, ON’s Steve Ferstl. Driving his 1978 Chevy Monza and representing Toronto Motorsports Park, Ferstl advanced to the championship final.

His final round effort was narrowly edged out by Tennessee’s Chad Hedgecock. It was Ferstl’s first career trip to the IHRA’s Summit SuperSeries event. “There is no doubt this event is the highlight of my career so far,” said Ferstl. “Just to get to this race was a real struggle – all year.”

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Performance Racing News

“Our plan going into Rockingham was to win the race, pure and simple,” said Atchison. “That was really all we could do with regard to controlling our own destiny. We did what we had to do but the Championship didn’t work out for us this time. In reality we just about had it all — if Parker had not red-lit racing Mark in the semis — we might have won the championship too.”

Atchison’s year end points total was 984, 15 behind (less than one round) to Mark Thomas.

Fast Finish for Arend Canada’s Jeff Arend finished up his latest NHRA fuel Funny Car driving assignment in impressive style during NHRA’s AAA Auto Club Finals at Pomona, CA. The former Toronto resident made what was his last apparent appearance as the driver for the Worsham Racing/C.S.K.-sponsored Chevy Impala. That team, which also features driver Del Worsham, will race only one Funny Car in 2008 due to sponsorship cutbacks.

Arend made the best of his final ride as season he qualified on the pole. At Pomona, the team came out flying as their 4.781/324.90 in Thursday’s first qualifying session stood the test of time.

During Sunday’s eliminations, Arend put a bit of a temporary kink in the eventual World Championship title quest by Tony Pedregon when he beat him to the stripe in round one: 4.849 secs to 4.853 secs. Arend, however, was eliminated in round two when his car overpowered the track.

The season saw Arend complete a lifelong dream. For the first time in his career he contested the entire season. He finished a solid 11th in Funny Car points.

“Overall we had a great year with a lot of highlights,” he added. “It seemed however, we just couldn’t catch a break when we needed it. I feel confident that with a couple hundredths here and there last season we could have easily been a top five or six car. There are of course always a lot of what-ifs. Now, going forward I remain focused on doing what I can to continue racing. But in this class of course funding is the big key.”

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Best of the Best Photos by Mark Weber and John Steflik/SCCA

T

he 44th Annual SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by AT&T came to an end in October and 25 classes crowned champions at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas. The racing took place from Oct. 8 to 14, with the championship races held on the weekend. As usual, the event was packed with excitement and each champion walked away secure in the knowledge that they had truly earned their National Championship.

FRIDAY Race One - Sports 2000: John Fergus, of Powell, OH, captured his fifth Sports 2000 SCCA National Championship with a last lap pass on Nick Mancuso, of Libertyville, IL. Mancuso finished third, behind Marc Mercer, of Aurora, CO. On the white-flag lap, the three entered the final corners in a tight pack. Contact between the nose of Fergus and the bumper of Mancuso sent the No. 61 into a spin in Turn 14.

Race Two - GT-Lite: Local driver Chris Bovis put on an impressive driving display in front of his hometown fans to win his first GT-Lite National Championship. Joe Kristensen, of London, ON, finished second, while Peter Zekert, of Maryland 66

Performance Racing News

2007 SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by AT&T

Heights, MO, was third.

Bovis spent much of the race building a lead, but Kristensen cut it to under a second with three laps left. Unfortunately, the first and only caution of the race came out on lap 17 to remove Dan Hall’s No. 77 from the Turn 14 wall. The race ended under caution giving Bovis his first SCCA National Championship.

Race Three - Showroom Stock C: John Heinricy, of Royal Oak, MI, captured his 11th career National Championship today, his first in Showroom Stock C. Joel Lipperini, of Pittston, PA, and Joe McClughan, of New Braunfels, TX, completed the top three.

The excitement lasted until the final lap, when things got very interesting at the front. Lipperini slid wide in Turn 9, giving Heinricy a small gap. Two corners later, Heinricy clipped the inside of the curb and went up on two wheels, allowing Lipperini to gain back some ground. In the end, Heinricy’s Cobalt beat Lipperini’s Honda to the finish by 0.922-second.

Heinricy now has 11 National Championships in 14 attempts, with a record career winning percentage of 78 percent. “This win ranks up at the top with just one or two others because it was such a close and hard fought win. Tight racing, close wheel-to-

wheel, and tight racing all the way.”

Race Four - H Production: Tom Feller, of Atlanta, GA, took his fourth-consecutive H Production National Championship after a race-long battle with Brian Linn, of Hermosa Beach, CA. Ron Bartell, of Madubry, NH, finished third.

A light sprinkle began to fall on the H Production field as the cars made their way onto the course. When the green flag few, it was the No. 28 MG Midget of Don Barrack, of Waterloo, S.C., who zipped into the lead down the front stretch. By the exit of Turn Two, however, polesitter Feller was back in the lead, followed by Bartell and Linn. As Linn led Feller into Turn Ten on the final lap, Linn got too distracted by the yellow Spitfire filling his mirrors and spun into the grass. Feller breezed by and continued to the checkered flag for the victory.

Race Five - C Sports Racing: Hans Peter, of Overland Park, KS, nearly lapped the field en route to winning his second-consecutive C Sports Racing National Championship. Jacek Mucha, of Laval, QC, and Ken Davis, of Escondido, CA, completed the top three. Although Mucha qualified fifth, he had to start from the rear because he was late to the starting grid. Undaunted, Mucha maneuvered his way through 16 cars to finish second.

Race Six - Touring 1: Andrew Aquilante, of Chester Springs, PA, earned his first-ever SCCA National Championship with a win in Touring 1. John Buttermore, of Pontiac, MI, and Mike McGinley, of Overland Park, KS, completed the top three.

Race Seven - Formula Ford: Polesitter John Robinson, of St. Cloud, FL, earned a hardfought second Formula Ford National Champion-

2007 SCCA Formula 500 National Champion Brian Novak

ship ahead of Tony Coello, of Palmyra, CA, and Steve Oseth, of Leesburg, VA. Coello led for the first six laps before relinquishing it to Robinson, who did everything he could to shake Coello from his rearview mirrors, but Coello regained the lead on lap 14. With one lap remaining, Coello looked well on his way to winning his first title until he drove off course coming out of Turn 6 and gave the lead back to Robinson for good.

Race Eight - GT-3: Pete Peterson, of Lumberton, NC, came back from an opening lap incident to claim his sixth GT-3 National Championship. Larry Hansen, of Eureka, CA, and Tom Thrash Jr., completed the top three.

Peterson grabbed the lead early but collided with polesitter John Black in Turn 5, sending both into the grass. Peterson continued, while Black remained parked. Peterson fell to sixth, but made quick work of the field, moving into third by lap four and into the lead on lap seven.

Race Nine - Formula 500: Brian Novak, of Dearborn, MI, led all 18-laps to win his first Formula 500 National Championship. Jason Knuteson, of Danville, IN, and Jim Libecco, of Bedford, OH, completed the top three.

Novak, a Chicago Region SCCA Triple Crown winner, got a good jump at the start and never looked back. He led the entire 18-lap race, winning by 4.576-seconds.

SATURDAY Race 10 - Touring 3: Robert Huffmaster, of Rochester Hills, MI, earned his first Touring 3 Championship, beating Rick Gilhart, of Cincinnati, OH and Dwight Faitz, of Trenton, IL to the finish line.

Polesitter and 10-time Runoffs Champion John Heinricy led the first 10 laps and was pulling away from the field before being black flagged because he was over the sound limit. As a result, Huffmaster inherited the lead and held off a hard charging Gilhart for the final four laps. Gilhart completed a pass in Turn 6, and the defending Champion thought he had the race won, but between Turns 9 and 10 he missed a shift, allowing Huffmaster to retake the lead for good.

Race 11 - Formula Atlantic: Hans Peter, of Overland Park, KS, went two-for-two by taking the Formula Atlantic Championship a day after winning a title in C Sports Racing. Tonis Kasemets, of Mundelein, IL, and Patrick Witherspoon, of Lincoln, NB, completed the top three.

At the start, SCCA Chicago Region Triple Crown hopeful Kasemets took the lead into Turn 1, with polesitter Peter filling his mirrors. Peter shadowed Kasemets for the next three laps before finally getting the job done in Turn 7 of lap four and then cruised away to victory.

Race 12 - American Sedan: Andy McDermid, of Grand Ledge, MI, captured his thirdcareer American Sedan title after his chief rivals crashed on the final lap. Bill Schepergedes, of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, and Jim Wheeler, of Lenexa, KS completed the podium.

Race 13 - G Production: Jay Marlowe, of Hendersonville, NC, led every lap in the G Production race to capture his first National Championship. Chuck Mathis, of St. Jacob, IL, and Woody Deatherage, of Boca Raton, FL, completed the top three.

An early black flag bunched the field, but when the race resumed on lap five it did not take Marlowe long to open up a lead on defending GP Champion Mathis. But, in the end, Marlowe won by 7.049-seconds.

Race 14 - Spec Miata: After finishing runner-up in last year’s Spec Miata race, 2007 was sweet redemption for Brad Rampelberg of San Jose, CA, who took the win over defending Champion Andrew Caddell, of Graham, WA. Steve Ott, of Missouri City, TX, finished third.

Polesitter Caddell took the early lead with Rampelberg hot on his tail. For the next two laps, the pair circulated the track glued to each other’s bumper. On lap four, heading onto the front straight, Caddell had a slight bobble, giving Rampelberg the momentum into Turn 1, where he would take over the lead. Caddell waited until the last lap to make his move for the win, attempting to take advantage of a slide by Rampelberg in Turn 9, but ended up mirroring his competitor

2007 SCCA Showroom Stock C National Champion John Heinricy Performance Racing News

67

Defending champ Andrew Caddell (l.) couldn’t stop Brad Rampelberg (r.) from becoming the 2007 SCCA Spec Miata National Champion

in more spectacular fashion, sliding completely off the track.

Race 15 - Formula Continental: Chas Shaffer, of Catlett, VA, won his first-ever Formula Continental National Championship in front of John LaRue, of Muncie, IN and Russ Lindemann, of Longmont, CO. Shaffer inherited the lead when polesitter Nick Coello had mechanical difficulties, but his mirrors were filled with LaRue’s No. 5. On the last lap, both Shaffer and LaRue were side-by-side, but LaRue could not complete the pass.

Race 16 – Showroom Stock B: Ken Flory, of Commerce Twp., MI, captured his first Showroom Stock B title in his first try. Lee Niffenegger, of Delaware, OH, and Toby Grahovec, of Chicago, IL completed the podium. “It hasn’t sunk in yet but it feels pretty good,” said Flory, a crew member for Team Cadillac in SCCA SPEED GT competition. “This is my first Runoffs and to be on the podium is great.”

Race 17 - GT-1: Tony Ave, of Mooresville, NC, collected his first SCCA National Championship by dominating the GT-1 race. Defending Champion Philip Simms, of Orlando, FL, finished second, followed by Michael Lewis, of Poway, CA. Simms immediately jumped into the lead, but polesitter Ave retook the lead in Turn 3. Simms 68

Performance Racing News

managed to keep pace with Ave for several corners, but when they started lap two, Ave was already nearly two seconds ahead. Ave continued to extend his gap throughout the race, crossing the line with a 9.835-second margin of victory.

SUNDAY Race 18 - GT-2: Wayland Joe, of South Barrington, IL, won his second consecutive Valvoline GT-2 National Championship, holding off Jim Walsh, of Redmond, WA and Jeff Moore, of Houston, TX. Polesitter Joe got a great start coming down the front straight heading into Turn One and took the early lead in his No. 1 Porsche GT-3. Goughary spent most of the race trying to catch Joe, but sustained a flat right side tire on lap 14, ending his day. From there, Joe was never challenged for the lead.

Race 19 - Touring 2: Don Knowles, of Pittsboro, NC, won his fourth National Championship by dominating the Touring 2 race. William Ziegler, of Stamford, CT, and Edward Zabinski, of Hallandale Beach, FL, finished second and third, respectively. Knowles powered into the lead at Turn 1 and from there, never looked back, as he steadily pulled away from the field. It was the first Touring 2 SCCA National Championship for Knowles, who is a three-time Showroom Stock B Champion.

Race 20 - E Production: Thomas Thrash Jr., of Houston, TX, led all 18-laps of the E Production race to claim his first SCCA National Championship. Tony Rivera, of Missouri City, TX, and Bob Neal, of Harbor City, CA completed the top three.

After starting on pole and finishing second last year, Thrash took no chances in 2007, grabbing the EP lead from polesitter and defending Champion Lawrence Loshak at the start.

Race 21 - Formula Vee: Steve Oseth, of Leesburg, VA, used a late last lap pass to win his second-consecutive Formula Vee National Championship. Michael Varacins, of Burlington, WI and Bob Neumeister, of Pueblo, CO completed the top three.

2007 SCCA Formula Continental National Champion Chas Shaffer

Best of the Best

2007 SCCA F Production National Champion Jesse Prather

2007 SCCA D Sports Racing National Champion JR Osborne Oseth led only one lap – the last lap. Oseth spent most of the race mired in second, trying to chase down then race leader Varacins. Oseth finally caught and passed Varacins on the last lap going into Turn Alpha and never looked back.

Race 22 - Spec Racer Ford: Mike Miserendino, of Los Angeles, CA captured his secondstraight Spec Racer Ford title in front of Brian Schofield, of Lakeland, FL and John Black, of Olympic Valley, CA. Miserendino grabbed the lead immediately but, before the entire 37-car field could even cross the line, several cars came together to bring out a full-course yellow. Miserendino promptly pulled away from the rest of the field on the restart, while Schofield, Jordon Gore, and Black commenced a fight for the final podium spots. With a battle raging behind him, Miserendino cruised to his second-consecutive title.

Race 23 - F Production: Local driver Jesse Prather and Brian Linn, of Hermosa Beach,

2007 SCCA Formula Mazda National Champion James Goughary CA put on one of the most exciting races of the weekend when Prather narrowly beat Linn to win his second-consecutive F Production National Championship. Harold Flescher, of West Palm Beach, FL finished third.

The side-by-side battle between polesitter Prather and Linn began just seconds after the green flag dropped. For the final 13 laps of the race, Prather and Linn exchanged the lead several times before Prather finally took the lead for good on lap 16.

Race 24 - D Sports Racing: JR Osborne, of Castle Rock, CO led flag-to-flag to capture the D Sports Racing National Championship. Mark Jaremko, of Spokane, WA, and Jean-Luc Liverato, of Alpharetta, GA finished second and third, respectively, after an exciting late-race shootout.

Starting from the pole, Osborne was untouchable, holding off his competitors in Turn 1 and never looking back. All the action was unfold-

ing behind Osborne, where the Jaremko and Liverato were dueling for the runner-up spot.

Liverato got a great start, going from fourth to second by Turn 1, while defending Champion Jaremko slotted into third. Jaremko eventually took the lead in the closing laps until lapped traffic allowed Liverato by to take the runnerup spot.

Race 25 - Formula Mazda: James Goughary, of Jupiter, FL cruised to his second-consecutive Formula Mazda National Championship in the final race of the weekend. Sam Stuard, of Shippensburg, PA and Juan Marchand, of South Haven, MI completed the podium.

Polesitter Goughary grabbed the lead on the start and was never really seriously challenged.

Goughary powered his way to a 3.495-second win over first time Runoffs competitor Stuard.

With the win, Goughary also won the Chicago Region SCCA Triple Crown.

Performance Racing News

69

gearing up

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CRC Canada Co. has launched a group of grease products to supplement its existing line of maintenance chemicals. Long known for producing high-quality solutions for automotive technicians and “Do-ItYourselfers,” CRC Canada introduces the Canadian aftermarket to the above products.

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Performance Racing News

gearing up

Rearview Camera The new improved wireless rearview camera features a larger 3.5” colour LCD screen that is 40% larger than the previous model. Powered by plugging into your vehicle’s 12V jack (cigarette lighter) you can now back up with confidence avoiding hazards or just squeezing into a tight spot and eliminates blind spots. The camera attaches to your rear license plate and the monitor is only displayed when the reverse lights are activated. With the addition of an adjustable camera to dramatically improve your view, you can now back up safely. The adjustable camera is also great for hitch and trailer needs. Universal fit makes installation easy. All accessories are included to mount monitor on your vent, dash or visor. One-year warranty.

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Moose Racing Ice Tire Wrap Are you in desperate need of the perfect accessory to keep your bike tires in top shape over the long harsh winter? Check out Moose Racing’s Ice Tire Wrap! Keep your ice screws sharp with the burliest tire wrap on the market. Outer shell is constructed from heavy-duty 1200/600 PVC coated rip-stop nylon. Interior core has 4” wide webbing, thick enough to prevent metal studs from losing their edge.

Side-walls are constructed with an elastic cord to create a formed fit around tire. Metal grommets and heavy-duty hooks included for easy and secure closure. Universal fitment for all motorcycle ice tires 5” wide up to 21” diameter.

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Rescue Booster Packs The Rescue Booster Pack individual unit features include battery status indicator, air compressor, built-in work light, extra-long cables, LED clamp lights, audible signals, and much more. One unique model comes without the battery. This allows you to “customize” the model 3000 Booster Pack based on putting a battery of choice in the unit at the time of sale. Each unit also provides a 12volt DC power source that allows you to operate cell phones, lap top computers, vacuums and other electronic devices.

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Zox Supercomp Mechanicalamity Helmet Zox Innovation makes the Supercomp a premium and affordable full-face sport helmet. Constructed from state of the art mold tech shell utilizing advanced polycarbonate thermo alloy resin technology. Has two shell sizes, two EPS and seven sizes for the perfect blend of fit, function and style. Comes with a complete highly effective ventilation system, rear top stabilizer air exhaust fins, 3D fully removable, washable and replaceable interior and a Coolmax lining fabric that absorbs moisture. Cheek pads are available in multiple sizes for a custom fit. Includes the latest advanced optically corrected polycarbonate shield Anti-Fog, Anti-Scratch and UV resistant. Available in Matte Black/Red and Glossy Dark Silver/Blue.

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Performance Racing News

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2007 MOTORSPORTS POINTS STANDINGS THE OFFICIAL AUTOMOTIVE RETAILER OF NASCAR IN CANADA. The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series marks are used under license by Destination Motorsports LP and Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited. NASCAR® is a registered trademark of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc.

FIA FORMULA ONE 2007 final

1 Kimi Raikkonen........................................... 110 2 Lewis Hamilton........................................... 109 3 Fernando Alonso......................................... 109 4 Felipe Massa................................................. 94 5 Nick Heidfeld................................................ 61 6 Robert Kubica............................................... 39 7 Heikki Kovalanien......................................... 30 8 Giancarlo Fisichella....................................... 21 9 Nico Rosberg................................................ 20 10 David Coulthard............................................ 14

CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES 2007 final

1 Sebastien Bourdais..................................... 364 2 Justin Wilson............................................... 281 3 Robert Doornbos......................................... 268 4 Will Power................................................... 262 5 Graham Rahal............................................. 243 6 Oriol Servia................................................. 237 7 Bruno Junqueira......................................... 233 8 Simon Pagenaud......................................... 232 9 Neel Jani..................................................... 231 10 Alex Tagliani................................................ 205

IRL INDYCAR SERIES 2007 final

1 Dario Franchitti........................................... 637 2 Scott Dixon.................................................. 624 3 Tony Kanaan............................................... 576 4 Dan Wheldon............................................... 466 5 Sam Hornish Jr........................................... 465 6 Helio Castroneves....................................... 446 7 Danica Patrick............................................. 424 8 Scott Sharp................................................. 412 9 Buddy Rice.................................................. 360 10 Tomas Scheckter........................................ 357

CHAMP CAR ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP 2007 Final

1 Raphael Matos............................................ 341 2 Franck Perera............................................. 310 3 Robert Wickens........................................... 255 4 James Hinchcliffe....................................... 224 5 Jonathan Bomarito..................................... 207 6 Giacomo Ricci............................................. 188 7 JR Hildebrand............................................. 140 8 Alan Sciuto.................................................. 140 9 John Edwards............................................. 125 10 Carl Skerlong.............................................. 114

IRL INDY PRO SERIES 2007 final

1 Alex Lloyd.................................................... 652 2 Hideki Mutoh............................................... 481 3 Wade Cunningham...................................... 423 4 Bobby Wilson.............................................. 393 5 Mike Potekhen............................................ 379 6 Jaime Camara............................................. 373 7 Logan Gomez.............................................. 368 8 Robbie Pecorari.......................................... 344 9 Stephen Simpson........................................ 340 10 Chris Festa.................................................. 313

STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP 2007 final

1 Dane Cameron............................................ 450 2 James Davison............................................ 389 3 Ron White.................................................... 360 4 Nick Haye.................................................... 348 5 Jonathan Goring.......................................... 346 6 Alex Ardoin.................................................. 345 7 Devin Cunningham...................................... 344 8 Lorenzo Manadrino..................................... 329 9 Marco Di Leo............................................... 319 10 Russell Walker............................................ 293

AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES 2007 final

1 2 3 4 5

1 2

LMP1 R. Capello/A. McNish.................................. 246 Marco Werner............................................. 210 Emanuele Pirro........................................... 175 Clint Field...................................................... 95 Chris McMurry.............................................. 89 LMP2 R. Dumas/T. Bernhard................................. 239 S. Maassen/R. Briscoe................................ 186

3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

A. Wallace/B. Leitzinger.............................. 128 G. Smith/C. Dyson....................................... 124 D. Brabham/S. Johansson........................... 115 GT1 O. Gavin/O. Beretta...................................... 246 J. Magnussen/J. O’Connell.......................... 184 Max Papis..................................................... 52 F. Lienhard/D. Theys...................................... 38 Ron Fellows.................................................. 35 GT2 M. Salo/J. Melo........................................... 202 J. Bergmeister/J. van Overbeek.................. 170 Wolf Henzler................................................ 126 T. Milner/R. Kelleners.................................. 107 Dominik Farnbacher..................................... 91

GRAND-AM SERIES 2007 final

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

DP A. Gurney/J. Fogarty................................... 408 Sott Pruett................................................... 406 Max Angelelli.............................................. 395 Memo Rojas................................................ 381 D. Law/D. Donohue/C. Braun....................... 338 GT Dirk Werner................................................. 375 K. Collins/P. Edwards.................................. 365 Bryce Miller................................................. 363 RJ Valentine/A. Lally................................... 348 L. Reese/T. Lewis Jr.................................... 316

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES 2007 final

1 Jimmie Johnson....................................... 6723 2 Jeff Gordon............................................... 6646 3 Clint Bowyer.............................................. 6377 4 Matt Kenseth............................................. 6298 5 Kyle Busch................................................ 6293 6 Tony Stewart............................................. 6242 7 Kurt Busch................................................ 6231 8 Jeff Burton................................................ 6231 9 Carl Edwards............................................. 6222 10 Kevin Harvick............................................ 6199

NASCAR BUSCH SERIES 2007 final

1 Carl Edwards............................................. 4805 2 David Reutimann....................................... 4187 3 Jason Leffler............................................. 3996 4 Kevin Harvick............................................ 3993 5 David Ragan.............................................. 3739 6 Bobby Hamilton Jr.................................... 3667 7 Stephen Leicht.......................................... 3603 8 Marcos Ambrose....................................... 3477 9 Greg Biffle................................................. 3466 10 Matt Kenseth............................................. 3451

NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES 2007 final

1 Andrew Ranger......................................... 1896 2 DJ Kennington.......................................... 1793 3 Peter Gibbons........................................... 1770 4 Don Thomson Jr........................................ 1739 5 Derek Lynch.............................................. 1713 6 JR Fitzpatrick............................................ 1710 7 Kerry Micks............................................... 1696 8 Mark Dilley................................................ 1688 9 Jason Hathaway....................................... 1631 10 Scott Steckly............................................. 1630

FIA WORLD RALLY After 16 of 17 events

1 Sebastien Loeb........................................... 110 2 Marcus Gronholm....................................... 104 3 Mikko Hirvonen............................................. 89 4 Daniel Sordo................................................. 61 5 Petter Solberg............................................... 42 6 Henning Solberg........................................... 34 7 Jari-Matti Latvala.......................................... 30 8 Chris Atkinson............................................... 29 9 Francois Duval.............................................. 12 10 Manfred Stohl............................................... 12

NHRA DRAG RACING SERIES 2007 final

1 2 3

TOP FUEL Tony Schumacher..................................... 3186 Rod Fuller.................................................. 3167 Brandon Bernstein.................................... 3149

4 Larry Dixon................................................ 3135 5 Bob Vandergriff......................................... 2358 6 Doug Herbert............................................. 2292 7 JR Todd..................................................... 2273 8 Whit Bazemore.......................................... 2182 9 Melanie Troxel........................................... 1173 10 Doug Kalitta.............................................. 1045 FUNNY CAR 1 Tony Pedregon.......................................... 3178 2 Robert Hight.............................................. 3159 3 Gary Scelzi................................................ 3092 4 Ron Capps................................................. 3067 5 Jack Beckman.......................................... 2358 6 Mike Ashley............................................... 2337 7 John Force................................................ 2191 8 Jim Head................................................... 2163 9 Del Worsham............................................. 1050 10 Ashley Force............................................... 960 PRO STOCK 1 Jeg Coughlin............................................. 3217 2 Greg Anderson.......................................... 3173 3 Dave Connolly........................................... 3126 4 Allen Johnson........................................... 3086 5 Jason Line................................................. 2292 6 Kurt Johnson............................................. 2278 7 Larry Morgan............................................ 2233 8 Warren Johnson........................................ 2180 9 Richie Stevens Jr...................................... 1056 10 V. Gaines................................................... 1025

IHRA DRAG RACING SERIES 2007 final

TOP FUEL 1 Bruce Litton................................................ 948 2 TJ Zizzo....................................................... 907 3 Scotty Cannon............................................. 864 4 Bobby Lagana Jr......................................... 712 5 Terry McMillen............................................ 558 6 Jeffrey O’Neill............................................. 387 7 Doug Foley.................................................. 299 8 Jack King.................................................... 292 9 Jim Cavalieri............................................... 182 10 Clay Millican............................................... 179 PRO MODIFIED 1 Scotty Cannon Jr......................................... 759 2 Mike Janis.................................................. 737 3 Pat Stoken.................................................. 639 4 Ed Hoover.................................................... 583 5 Quain Stott.................................................. 571 6 Kenny Lang................................................. 567 7 Matt Hagan................................................. 481 8 Danny Rowe................................................ 477 9 Jason Hamstra............................................ 426 10 Shannon Jenskin........................................ 383 ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR 1 Mark Thomas.............................................. 999 2 Rob Atchison............................................... 984 3 Terry Munroe............................................... 927 4 Paul Noakes................................................ 514 5 Larry Dobbs................................................ 490 NITRO FUNNY CAR 1 Dale Creasey Jr......................................... 1108 2 Jack Wyatt.................................................. 768 3 Bob Gilbertson............................................ 735 4 Terry Haddock............................................. 721 5 Andy kelley................................................. 645 PRO STOCK 1 Robert Patrick............................................. 858 2 Pete Berner................................................. 808 3 Frank Gugliotta........................................... 777 4 Brian Gahm................................................. 668 5 John Montecalvo......................................... 643 6 Steve Spiess............................................... 606 7 Robert Mansfield......................................... 519 8 Rickie Smith................................................ 479 9 John Nobile................................................. 477 10 D. Gorforth/C. Goforth................................. 436

FIM MOTOGP CHAMPIONSHIP

2007 final

1 Casey Stoner............................................... 367 2 Dani Pedrosa............................................... 242 3 Valentino Rossi........................................... 241 4 John Hopkins.............................................. 189 5 Marco Melandri........................................... 187 6 Chris Vermeulen.......................................... 179 7 Loris Capirossi............................................ 166 8 Nicky Hayden.............................................. 127 9 Colin Edwards............................................. 124 10 Alex Barros................................................. 115

AMA SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP 2007 final

1 Ben Spies.................................................... 652 2 Mat Mladin.................................................. 651 3 Jake Zemke................................................ 468 4 Aaron Yates................................................. 465 5 Tommy Hayden........................................... 454 6 Jamie Hacking............................................ 403 7 Eric Bostrom............................................... 362 8 Miguel Duhamel.......................................... 360 9 Jason DiSalvo............................................. 359 10 Roger Lee Hayden....................................... 344

CANADIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP 2007 Final

1 Jordan Szoke.............................................. 298 2 Steve Crevier.............................................. 290 3 Clint McBain................................................ 254 4 Kevin Lacombe........................................... 247 5 Brett McCormick......................................... 224 6 Francis Martin............................................. 164 7 Andrew Nelson............................................ 161 8 Pascal Picotte............................................. 148 9 Jean-Paul Tache......................................... 133 10 Frank Trombino........................................... 125

AMA SUPERSPORT SERIES 2007 final

1 2 3 4 5

Roger Lee Hayden....................................... 297 Jamie Hacking............................................ 294 Josh Hayes................................................. 261 Steve Rapp.................................................. 247 Tommy Hayden........................................... 216

AMA SUPERStock SERIES 2007 final

1 Ben Spies...................................... 292 2 Ben Bostrom............................................... 264 3 Aaron Yates................................................. 231 4 Geoff May.................................................... 229 5 Scott Jensen............................................... 207

AMA FORMULA XTREME SERIES 2007 final

1 2 3 4 5

Josh Hayes................................................. 324 Steve Rapp.................................................. 279 Anthony Gobert........................................... 247 Larry Pegram.............................................. 244 Ben Attard................................................... 231

CANADIAN PRO 600 SPORT BIKE SERIES 2007 final

1 2 3 4

Jordan Szoke.............................................. 311 Steve Crevier.............................................. 287 Andrew Nelson............................................ 224 Francis Martin............................................. 203 Brett McCormick....................................... 203å

CMRC MOTOCROSS SERIES 2007 final

MX1 1 Paul Carpenter............................................ 368 2 Colton Facciotti........................................... 272 3 Jeff Gibson.................................................. 271 4 Marco Dube................................................ 238 5 Jean-Sebastien Roy.................................... 233 6 Simon Homans............................................ 223 7 Mason Phillips............................................. 188 8 Kyle Keast................................................... 179 9 Ryan Lockhart............................................. 168 10 Jeff Northrop............................................... 154 MX2 WEST 1 Jimmy Nelson............................................. 148 2 Ben Evans................................................... 140 3 Kyle Beaton................................................. 132 4 Gray Davenport........................................... 125 5 Eric Nye....................................................... 123 MX2 EAST 1 Michael Willard........................................... 179 2 Tim Tremblay.............................................. 128 3 Tyler Medaglia............................................. 124 4 Freddy Karrle.............................................. 116 5 Jacob Saylor............................................... 109

standings as of dec. 1, 2007

Performance Racing News

75

Atchison Racing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Bell Racing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Beyond Digital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Canadian Tire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Castrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Eagle One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Gatorz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 G-Force Racing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Grand Prix Imports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Hans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Jiffy Tight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Krown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Lincoln Electric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Lucas Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Mobil 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 NGK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Nitro Moose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Performance World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Redline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Rocket Rally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Toyo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Valvoline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 VP Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Yokohama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Toronto Monster Jam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Suzuki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 St. Onge Recreation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29, 39 Royal Distributing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 HarleyDavidson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 GP Bikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Angel Wings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Alberta Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2-wheel news