Oh yes!  We have GOOD News!

Subaru Canada has returned, all signed, sealed and delivered, back on board officiually as a Raceline Radio Network title co-sponsor and broadcast partner for 2012!

Helping us celebrate our 20^th anniversary season as Canada’s first and Canada’s only national motorsport radio show, Subaru has been with us for slightly less than half of our life on the air!

Subaru’s high performance message carried coast-to-coast on The Raceline Radio Network for their WRX brand has resulted in extremely successful and impressive sales figures since they signed on with us!

Subaru presents our Rally News every week in The Raceline Race Wrap each week.

As another key component of our 20th anniversary, Subaru also presents “Raceline Rewind”, where we will go back into the Raceline audio archives to replay interviews from our inaugural ’92-’93 season!

Huge Raceline thanks to Geoff Craig, Todd Sullivan, our old pal Brian Hyland and everyone at Subaru!  And to FAN/Rogers Sales wizard Tim Webb for assembly and paying for wing-ding lunches!!

Subaru joins Tissot Swiss Watches and the newest kids on the Raceline block, WD-40,  as title and presenting sponsors!

Thanks Soob! We couldn’t do this without you!

ET

On the next edition of Raceline Radio, Monday February 6th:

ED TRIOLO, the Vice President of Communications for the American LeMans Series that plays at Mosport, details their TV and Internet packages after repeated questions from Raceline listeners on where you go to watch their events on the haunted acquarium!

GREG MacPherson from Inside Track Motorsport News gives us a final preview of the 2012 edition of The Canadian Motorsports Expo, Feb 10th, 11th and 12th at the International Center!

And we do another round of our world famous Tissot/Raceline E-Mail Bag contest to win the watch!

Join us!

ET

Toronto’s Paul Tracy indicated Saturday at Daytona International Speedway  for the Rolex 24 he is on the verge of securing a contract with Michael Shank Racing for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season.

It would be the Canadian’s 22nd and final season in IndyCar, to coincide with the team’s first.

PT drove sports cars for ”Shank the Tank” not that long ago!

Tracy’s doing the Rolex in the Doran Racing Ford-powered Dallara DP car.

“Right now, my plan is to do a final season of IndyCar racing,” he said. “I made a statement on TV before I got in the car to end the speculation. I’m trying to do a deal with Michael Shank to start a team with him and AJ Allmendinger. We have a car, we have a sponsor. We need to put together an
engine program this week and tie up some other contractual stuff!

Should Paul get this deal done, it would mean 3 full time Canadians again for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar season. Fellow Torontonian James Hinchcliffe will drive for Michael Andretti, with Montreal’s Alex Tagliani tillering for Bryan Herta.

Cross yer fingers kids!

ET

Guests next week on Raceline Radio, Monday January 30th at 7:06 PM on Sportsnet 590 The FAN, and across Canada on the Raceline Radio Network:

Co-owner RON FELLOWS takes us on an audio tour of the recent and on-going renovations and upgrades going on at Canada’s most famous racing address, Mosport International!

Inside Track Motorsport News editor Greg MacPherson gives us a final preview of the 2012 Canadian Motorsports Expo, Feb 10, 11 and 12 at the International Center Toronto. How tough is it to land people like Carl Edwards and Robert Yates?

JIMMIE JOHNSON and Hendrick stablemate JEFF GORDON start ccommenting on the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season…

And we spin another round of our world famous Tissot/Raceline E-Mail Bag contest to win a totally top drawer Tissot Swiss-made T Race time piece!

Join us!

ET

The opponents to the Speedway and the developers could not come to agreement today on a date to start the actual OMB hearing to get approval to build CMS in Fort Erie, so dragging this thing out yet again, they will conduct a conference call next month ( earliest the OMB has available ) to decide what date they can work out.

It will be a four week hearing that could be done in two parts. God bless Ontario!

Since this is a public hearing, this is the process, as frustrating as it is.

They could start as early as May, or perhaps June, or yes, even the fall.

Do I think the opponents ( appellants ) are using the system to drag this out? Yes I do, but there’s nothing we can do to stop them. It’s a public hearing.

But understand this: The clock is now ticking for those opposed to the Speedway to come up with hard and fast evidence it WILL be too LOUD and it WILL create pollution.

To simply state they THINK it will be so is not going to fly with the OMB.

But the appellants can’t delay the process again once a date for the hearing is set.

CMS has had their studies and evidence as public record for months. Why the opponents haven’t bothered to come and see what they have ( and what they are up against ) is a mystery, but likely another stall tactic.

To this reporter, they ultimately HOPE the investor who wants to build something that will put some life back into the economy of the town and the Region, will give up and go somewhere else.

I can tell you the investors and the developers are not going to do that, and are determined to last through the process, and convince The Ontario Municipal Board this is a good development.

Every new speedway built within the last 20 years has had to go through this gut churn!

But if it was easy, everybody would be trying it!

All CMS coverage on The Raceline Radio Network and Sportsnet 590 The FAN is exclusive to The Raceline Radio Network!
ET Raceline

Coming up this Monday night, January 16th at 11:06 AM on Raceline Radio on Sportsnet 590 The FAN:

We will have both Alex Tagliani of Montreal and James Hinchcliffe of Toronto on the show next week.

Tag lands the Lotus-Judd factory ride with Bryan Herta’s new team, and Hinch lands on his feet again, signing on to replace Danica Patrick in the G0 Daddy entry at Andretti Autosport!

It’s the V6 turbo era!

AJ Allmendinger comments on kicking off the season in his Mike Shank ride at the Rolex Daytona 24, and his best shot at a NASCAR Cup win with Roger Penske!

2012 is our 20th anniversary season on the air as Canada’s national motorsport radio authority!

Join us!

ET

Mums the word y’all!

NASCAR has mandated that drivers and spotters will not be allowed to communicate with other drivers over their in-car radios in an ongoing effort to eliminate tandem racing at restrictor-plate tracks.

The decision was confirmed as teams prepared for the first of a three-day test at Daytona, a tuneup for the Feb. 26th Daytona 500.

In the past few years, drivers and spotters have had the ability to talk to multiple teams over their radios, using them to coordinate which cars would pair up and to help drivers switch from pusher to pushee.

By eliminating such communication, NASCAR hopes teams will have a more difficult time making deals and remaining in pairs. The driver doing the pushing especially needs this communication because he has little to no visibility. It was so refined that one spotter would communicate for both
drivers, even if one of them wasn’t with the spotter’s organization.

This is racing’s latest rule change to address the two-car tandem that surveys indicate fans would like to see eliminated. Although the rule was designed with tandem racing at restrictor-plate tracks in mind, it applies to all races.

Many of the veterans around Cup have maintained driver aids like spotters has taken the skill of passing and winning races out of the hands of the drivers.

Let’s see if this works!

ET

This week on Raceline Radio, Monday January 16th at 7:06 PM on Sportsnet 590 The FAN:

We talk to 2/3rds of the Canadian Power Trio in the IZOD IndyCar Series who have landed brand new rides for the 2012 season.

Toronto’s James Hinchcliffe, 2011 series Rookie of the Year,  talks up his new assignment at Andretti Autosport, taking over the green-and-black Go Daddy entry from Danica Patrick, his great chance to crack off his first win!

Alex Tagliani moves across the hall to Bryan Herta’s squad, as they work on the new Lotus/Judd powerplant as we head into the V6 turbo era.

But that’s not all: we also get comment from AJ Allmendinger who has a new NASCAR Sprint Cup position with Roger Penske with the banishment of Kurt Busch. AJA also talks about kicking off the season with the Rolex 24 at Daytona the end of the month.

Join us as we pop the top on our 20th anniversary season on the air as Canada’s first and only national radio motorsport authority!

Brought to you by Subaru, Tissot and WD 40!

ET