Compiled By Erik Tomas, The Raceline Radio Network.

Weekend of:  May 27, 2012

2012 is Raceline’s 20^th anniversary!

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IZOD IndyCar Series:

Last Race: Sunday May 27^th: 96^th Indianapolis 500: On a sweltering afternoon, Scotland’s Dario Franchitti was dead last on the first pit stop, even got spun in the pits on that first stop by EJ Viso, but climbed back with superior Honda fuel mileage to duel back and forth with team mate Scott Dixon. Dario then held off Takuma Sato who almost crashed him out on the last lap to claim his 3^rd career
Indianapolis 500. Scott Dixon 2^nd, Tony Kanaan 3^rd .  Excellent race! 35 lead changes among 10 drivers… a new Indy 500 record!

Canadians: Toronto’s James Hinchcliffe 6^th with some untidy pit stops … Montreal’s Alex Tagliani, 12^th with electronic glitches that made shifting gears difficult! It also bunged his rev limiter and he was penalized for speeding in the pits.

IndyCar Points: Will Power leads Helio Castroneves and Toronto’s James Hinchcliffe ( tied for 2^nd
) by 36.

Next Race: Sunday June 3^rd, the return of the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. The race was not held last year!

____________________________________________________________________________

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:

Last Race: Sunday May 27^th, Coke 600 Charlotte: In his 300th Sprint Cup Series start, Kasey Kahne posted his first victory of the season, his first since joining Hendrick Motorsports and the 13th of his career. Kahne held back Denny Hamlin over the final stint. Kyle Busch ran 3rd.

Cup Points: Greg Biffle ( 4^th ) leads Matt Kenseth ( 10^th ) by 10. Greg Biffle has led points 10 weeks in a row!

Next Race: Sunday June 3, Dover Delaware. Last year’s winner: Matt Kenseth

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Formula One World Driving Championship:

Last Race: Sunday May 27^th, Grand Prix of Monaco, Monte Carlo: F-1 sets a new record, 6 different winners of the first 6 races off the start of the season! Aussie Mark Webber, the former
Raceline Radio guest wins it for Red Bull. Mark Webber kept a 5-car train at bay in a late race drizzle. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was 2nd, Fernando Alonso completed the podium for Ferrari.

F-1 Points: Alonso leads Sebastien Vettel by 3 in Drivers. Red Bull leads McLaren by 38 on the
Constructor’s side!

Next Race: Sunday June 10^th: Canadian Grand Prix Montreal. Last year’s winner: Jenson Button in the rain!

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American LeMans Series:

Next Race: July 7^th, Lime Rock Connecticut.

Last Race: May 12^th: Monterey CA:  Muscle Milk Pickett Racing cruised to its 2nd straight Prototype victory. Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner also took their 2nd consecutive class win.  Canada’s Kyle Marcelli, 7^th in PC.                                                 

Mosport Toronto: July 22^nd.

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Rallying:

Canadian Rally Championship presented by Subaru:  Last Rally: May 26^th, Rocky Mountain Rally, Calgary: Antoine L’Estage won his 5th Rocky Mountain Rally, by a margin of more than one minute, 30 seconds. Second place Pat Richard and his Subaru WRX STi, and “Crazy” Leo Urlichich in his Soob 3rd!

Next Rally: June 30: Rallye Baie des Chaleurs, New Richmond PQ.

World Rally Championship: Last Rally: May 27^th: Acropolis Rally, Greece: Sebastien Loeb

extended his WRC lead to 31 points as he clinched his 4^th win in 6 starts. He finished 40 seconds

ahead of Mikko Hirvonen. Next Rally: June 24^th: Rally New Zealand.

_________________________________________________________________

COMING UP ON RACELINE RADIO on Sportsnet 590 The FAN!

Monday May 28th 11 PM after the Jays: Indy 500 wrap up with Toronto SUN columnist DEAN McNULTY .. a preview of the return of the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix with event GM BUD DENKER… and the Tissot/Raceline E-Mail Bag contest!

Monday June 4th: A preview of the F-1 Canadian Grand Prix Montreal with Inside Track F-1 specialist RUSS BOND… ALEX TAGLIANI reports in after the IndyCar Detroit Belle Isles Grand Prix, and our Tissot/Raceline E-Mail Bag contest!

-Guest scheduling is subject to change.

Compiled By Erik Tomas, The Raceline Radio Network.

Weekend of:  May 20, 2012

2012 is Raceline’s 20^th anniversary as Canada’s National Radio Motorsport Authority!
________________________________________________________________________

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:

Last Race: Saturday night May 19^th, non points All-Star race, Charlotte Motor Speedway: Jimmie
Johnson won the stand off for  3^rd time, tying him with Dale Earnhardt and team mate Jeff Gordon for most victories in the event. Junior. won the preliminary Sprint Showdown.  Johnson claimed the first 20-lap segment after passing polesitter Kyle Busch for the top spot on Lap 15. In winning the
first segment, Johnson earned the right to lead the field to pit road before the final 10-lap dash.  JJ made frequent pit stops and ran behind the rest of the field to save his car for the finish.

Cup Points Unchanged: Greg Biffle ( 12^th ) leads Matt Kenseth ( 6th  ) by 2. Biffle has led CUP points 10 weeks in a row!

Next Race: Sunday May 27^th, Coke 600 Charlotte. Last year’s winner: Kevin Harvick

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IZOD IndyCar Series:

Next  Race: Sunday May 27^th: 96th Indianapolis 500. Last year’s winner: The late Dan Wheldon. Pole: Canada’s Alex Tagliani.

Indy 500 Pole Qualifying: Penske’s Ryan Briscoe will start the Indianapolis 500 from pole after edging out James Hinchcliffe by an eye-blink. Penske Racing has been perfect so far this season winning all the poles and races. Briscoe laid down a 4 lap average of 226.484 miles an hour, a scant 3 one-thousandths of a mile per hour faster than Canada’s James Hinchcliffe who will start the 500 from the middle of the front row. Montreal’s Alex Tagliani 11^th, to go from the middle of row 4. Ganassi duo  Dario Franchitti, a 3 time Indy 500 winner, and Scott Dixon start 15th and 16th respectively. F-1 veteran Rubens Barrichello will start his first oval race 10^th.

IndyCar Points: Power leads team mate Helio Castroneves ( 4^th ) by 45. Hinchcliffe is now 3^rd in points, just 12 back of Helio!

_______________________________________________________________________

Formula One World Driving Championship:

Next Race: Sunday May 27^th, Grand Prix of Monaco, Monte Carlo. Last year’s winner:
Sebastien Vettel.

Last Race: May 13th: Spanish Grand Prix: Little known Pastor Maldonado scores his very first Formula 1 win and ended a Williams victory drought dating back to the  2004 season! The Venezuelan, showing unflappable poise, defeated local hero Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari in the bargain! Maldonado
was able to edge away and secure his maiden victory!

F-1 Points: Drivers: Sebastien Vettel, 6^th in Spain and Alonso are tied for the  lead with 61
each! Constructors: Red Bull leads McLaren by 11!

____________________________________________________________________

American LeMans Series:

Next Race: July 7^th, Lime Rock Connecticut.

Last Race: May 12^th: Monterey CA:  Muscle Milk Pickett Racing cruised to its 2nd straight Prototype victory. Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner also took their 2nd consecutive class win.  Canada’s Kyle Marcelli, 7^th in PC.                                  

Mosport Toronto: July 22^nd.

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Rallying:

Canadian  Rally Championship presented by Subaru:

Next Rally: May 26^th, Rocky Mountain Rally, Calgary. Last Rally: season opening Rallye Perce Neige, Maniwauki Quebec.  Defending champs Antoine L’Estage/Natalie Richard win.

World Rally Championship: Next Rally: May 27^th: Acropolis Rally, Greece.

Last Rally: April 29^th, Rally Argentina: Sebastien Loeb for Citroen wins his 70^th career WRC
event!_____________________________________________________________________________

COMING UP ON RACELINE RADIO on Sportsnet 590 The FAN!

Monday May 21st, 11pm after the Jays: All Stars galore in our official preview of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, the 96^th running of the Indianapolis 500! We speak to the legend, MARIO ANDRETTI about the race, his history and his family’s history at the Brickyard… Canada’s ALEX
TAGLIANI, who sat on the pole for the 500 last year, 11th this year, details his team’s new Honda engine deal, a fresh start to the season!.. And we do another round of the Tissot/Raceline E-Mail Bag contest!

May 28th: Our Indy 500 wrap up with Toronto SUN columnist DEAN McNULTY.. a preview of the return of the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix with event GM BUD DENKER… and the Tissot/Raceline
E-Mail Bag contest!

-Guest scheduling is subject to change.

NASCAR has fined Kurt Busch $50,000 and placed him on NASCAR probation until July 25 for his actions during the May 12 race at Darlington.

Kurt Busch was involved in an altercation with Ryan Newman that we’ll get to in a second!

But what’s clear, Busch, who’s immaturity and big mouth killed two prime assignments with Penske and Roush has blown his stack again!

Craig Strickler, a Busch crew member has been fined $5,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31 for actions detrimental to stock car racing and for interfering with a member of the broadcast media.

Tony Gibson, crew chief for Ryan Newman’s #39  has been placed on NASCAR probation until June 27 since the crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of his team members.

Andrew Rueger, a Newman crew member has been fined $5,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until June 27 for failing to comply with a directive from a NASCAR official.

Several of Newman’s crewmen confronted Kurt Busch on Saturday night at Darlington following a stupid decision by Busch to do a burnout through Newman’s pit box.

After Busch had a flat tire and crashed with six laps remaining – an incident which also collected Newman – the Phoenix Racing driver lost his cool and began yelling on the team radio.

When Busch completed his pit stop to fix damage shortly after the wreck, he did a long, smokey and dangerous burnout while leaving his pit box, his temper out of control.

The burnout startled fans in the stands and put up a huge plume of smoke, an expression of Busch’s frustration at a promising night gone bad.

But while doing the burnout, Busch drove through Newman’s pit box as well – and several Newman crew members were still over the wall after recently completing service on Ryan’s car.

Among the angry crewmen was Newman’s gas man, Andy Rueger, a giant of a man who went to Busch’s hauler to confront Kurt.

But Busch’s team knew Newman’s crew was upset, and so crew chief Nick Harrison instructed Busch to stop at the entrance of pit road and leave the car there instead.

Kurt was livid on the radio ( what else is new ) and had been screaming obscenities during the final few laps, and the team felt it would be a good idea for him just to get off the track.

Words were exchanged between the crewmen and Busch, and a NASCAR official fell onto Busch’s hood in the process.

Though contact with Rueger sparked the official’s tumble, NASCAR’s Robin Pemberton said the official just lost his footing.

Ah Kurt… will you ever learn?

ET

A number of Formula 1 team personnel are being treated by medical staff at the  Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona Spain for burns and smoke inhalation following a major fire in  the Williams garage after the Spanish Grand Prix.

Shortly after a team photo was taken to celebrate Pastor Maldonado’s victory, around 90 minutes after the end of the race, it is believed that fuel exploded while it was being prepared for transport.

The explosion filled the garage with black smoke, which poured into the pits and paddock, and personnel from a number of teams as well as track officials  moved quickly to put the fire out.

A number of team members were caught up in the incident, with those suffering burns and smoke inhalation rushed to the medical centre.

While there has been no official confirmation of the number of F1 personnel  involved in the incident or the extent of their injuries, Williams, Force India  and Caterham have confirmed that their staff members are being treated.

Williams reported four of its crew are being looked at in the medical centre, although the extent of the injuries is unknown.

Force India has confirmed that one of its team members was being treated for  smoke inhalation, while Caterham has issued a statement confirming that four of  its crew are being attended to too.

We hope all will be OK…

ET

“All the team’s employees have been accounted for and four people have been
taken to the circuit medical centre for examination; one with a minor hand
injury and three with respiratory issues.

Compiled By Erik Tomas, The Raceline Radio Network.

Weekend of:  May 13, 2012

2012 is Raceline’s 20^th anniversary!

________________________________________________________________________

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:

Last Race: Saturday night May 12^th: Darlington SC Raceway: Jimmie Johnson shut his engine on and
off during late cautions to save fuel, and he saved just enough to out-leg Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart to score the 200^th team win for Hendrick Motorsport. Hamlin 2^nd, Stewart 3^rd. Johnson ended his own winless streak at 16 races. The victory was Johnson’s 56th, breaking a tie with Rusty Wallace
for 8th on the all-time win list.

Cup Points: Greg Biffle ( 12^th ) leads Matt Kenseth ( 6th  ) by 2. Biffle has led CUP points 9 weeks in
a row!

Next Race: Saturday night May 19^th,  non points All-Star race, Charlotte Motor Speedway.

________________________________________________________________________

Formula One World Driving Championship:

Last Race: Sunday May 13^th:  Spanish Grand Prix, Cataluyna/Barcelona: The shockers continue in Formula, some welcomed unpredictability! On the pole because McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was DQ’d from  qualifying because of a fuel sample violation, little known Pastor Maldonado scored his very first Formula 1 win and ended a Williams victory drought dating  back to the  2004 season! The Venezuelan, showing unflappable poise, defeated local hero Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari in the
bargain! Maldonado was able to edge away and secure his maiden victory!

F-1 Points: Drivers: Sebastien Vettel, 6^th in Spain and Alonso are tied for the  lead with 61
each! Constructors: Red Bull leads McLaren by 11!

Next Race: Sunday May 27^th, Grand Prix of Monaco, Monte Carlo.

________________________________________________________________________

IZOD IndyCar Series:

Next Race: Sunday May 27^th: 96^th Indianapolis 500. Last year’s winner: The late Dan Wheldon. Pole: Canada’s Alex  Tagliani.

Last  Race: Sunday April 29^th, Streets of Sao Paulo  Brazil: Will Power dominates claims his 3^rd series win in a row! It  also gives Team Penske and Chevy power their 4^th series win in a row!

Canadians: Toronto’s James Hinchcliffe 6^th. Alex  Tagliani/BHR skipped the event to concentrate on Indy 500 prep. Tag has a new Honda engine program for Indy and the rest of the season!

IndyCar  Points: Power leads team mate Helio Castroneves ( 4^th ) by 45. Hinchcliffe is now 3^rd in points, just 12 back of Helio!

__________________________________________________________________

American LeMans Series:

Last Race: May 12^th:  Monterey CA:  Muscle Milk Pickett Racing cruised to its 2nd straight Prototype victory. Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner also took their 2nd consecutive class win.  Canada’s Kyle Marcelli, 7^th in PC.                                                 

Next Race: July 7^th, Lime Rock Connecticut.   Mosport Toronto: July 22^nd.

____________________________________________________________________________

Rallying:

Canadian Rally Championship presented by Subaru:

Next Rally: May 26^th, Rocky Mountain Rally, Calgary.

Last Rally: season opening Rallye Perce Neige, Maniwauki Quebec.  Defending champs Antoine L’Estage/Natalie Richard win.

World Rally Championship:

Last Rally: April  29^th, Rally Argentina: Sebastien Loeb for Citroen wins his 70^th career WRC event!

Next  Rally: May 27^th: Acropolis Rally, Greece.

_____________________________________________________________________________

COMING  UP ON RACELINE RADIO on Sportsnet 590 The FAN:

May 14th:  11 PM after the Jays: A preview of the  2012 NASCAR Canada Series season with TV commentator TODD LEWIS… BRUCE BUCHANAN  with WD 40 Canada talks up their involvement in the Canadian Tire Jump-Star  charity helping kids get into organized sports… and our world famous  Tissot/Raceline e-mail bag contest!

May 21st: All Stars galore in our official preview of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, the 96^th
running of the Indianapolis 500! We speak to the legend, MARIO ANDRETTI about the race, his history and his family’s history at the Brickyard… Canada’s ALEX TAGLIANI, who sat on the pole for the 500 last year, details his team’s new Honda engine deal, a fresh start to the season!.. And we do another round of the Tissot/Raceline E-Mail Bag contest!

-Guest scheduling is subject to change.

He sounds happy, and he should.

It’s just nice to hear our friend sounding UP again!

For frequent Raceline Radio guest Alex Tagliani of Montreal, his IZOD IndyCar season starts now.

At Indianapolis.

After a disasterous start with Lotus power, an engine supplier they have since severed ties with, Bryan Herta’s team has secured a Honda motor program, and will try and score the pole and win this year’s Indianapolis 500 with the same engine that got him there with Tagliani and the late Dan Wheldon last year, Honda.

A little more than two weeks after Herta’s team was released from its  contract with engine-manufacturer Lotus, Bryan Herta Autosport announced today thet will use Honda engines for the rest of this season.

The move comes two days before practice opens for the 500 and a little more than two weeks before the May 27 race.

“My time as a Honda driver in both the IndyCar Series, as well as the time spent driving factory Acura LMP2 in the American Le Mans Series, were among my most rewarding and memorable years in racing,” Herta said.

“So it is with great personal pleasure that we are returning to the Honda family for the remainder of the 2012 season.”

Problems had been building between for Herta and Lotus since the opening round of the season.

Tagliani failed to complete a lap at Alabama because of a bad throttle, then dropped out after completing only 46 of 85 laps at Long Beach because the engine overheated.

The team skipped Sao Paulo Brazil as it shopped for a new engine-manufacturer.

Tagliani’s best finish this season was 15th in the season-opener at St. Petersburg.

While the Honda engines have been more competitive than those from Lotus, Chevrolet has dominated.

Roger Penske’s team has driven Chevy to the pole and the win in each of the first 4 races this season.

But Honda will now have 15 cars trying to make the 33-car Indy field, including Tagliani’s No. 98 car. Wheldon drove that number into Victory Lane for Herta last season after passing race leader  JR Hildebrand out of the last turn of the last lap.

It’s just another setback for a Lotus team that has struggled mightily all season.

It’s obvious to most Lotus/Judd was not ready for competition this season.

After getting a later start than its two competitors and producing sub-par results, teams that had been complaining started leaving.

Lotus released Herta’s team and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing from their contracts April 24, and now it’s facing a lawsuit from Dragon Racing, which is owned by Roger Penske’s son, Jay.

The filing seeks $4.6 million, claiming Lotus has damaged the reputation of the two-car team and drivers Sebastien Bourdais and Katherine Legge.

Both drivers are former Raceline Radio guests!

The departure of all 3 teams leaves Lotus with only one driver still using its engine to qualify for the 500 — Switzerland’s Simona de Silvestro for the one-car team of HVM Racing.

Alex Tagliani will have a comment on his new engine deal this Monday night ( 11 PM ) on Raceline Radio on Sportsnet 590 The FAN, with the full interview airing a week later in our Indy 500 preview!

Join us as we celebrate 20 years as Canada’s National Radio Motorsport Authority!

ET

I had been huffing and puffing on Facebook about the ridiculous amount of time NASCAR and FOX TV wasted Sunday to get the race at Talladega started!

The endless repetition!

Did we need to hear 50 times that ‘Degas’s fast, it has plates, it can have big wrecks, and that this might be the day Junior Breaks the losing streak?

The Waltrips need to shut up now too!

A 6 MPH national anthem….

Dr. Dick’s stupid hat!

Drivel!

Somebody else was not happy about Talladega and NASCAR’s rules that govern activity on the 2.6 mile monster.

Tony Stewart.

After the race, Smoke used sarcasm to shred NASCAR and the Talladega race.

Yes, it is most likely in violation of the rules that say you cannot utter anything detrimental to the sport, and that could mean fines.

But I agree with just about everything he said.

A sample:

“We didn’t quite crash half the field, which is what we normally look to do here. I was excited about it. I thought it was a pretty good race. I made it further than I thought I would before I got crashed. I call it a successful day.”

“The racing was awesome. It’s fun to be able to race and have to watch the gauges at the same time. It makes us as drivers have to do so much more.”

That of course is reference to the overheating problems because of the smaller grill/cooling opening to stop the tandem racing and the fact a load of guys ran out out fuel maintaining track position. Some more than once.

Stewart said he ran out of gas twice.

Tony also thinks NASCAR should just tape up the grills completely and run the cars until they blow up.

“Being able to make yourself run on the apron and everything else to try to get clean air, it makes it fun!”  “I’m sorry we couldn’t crash more cars today. We didn’t fill the quota for today for Talladega and NASCAR.”

“Honestly, I think if we haven’t crashed at least 50 percent of the field by the end of the race, we need to extend the race until we at least crash 50 percent of the cars, because it’s not fair to these fans for them to not see any more wrecks than that and more torn-up cars.”

“I’m upset that we didn’t crash more cars!”  “I feel like that is what we are here for. I feel bad if I don’t spend at least $150,000 in torn-up race cars going back to the shop. We definitely have to do a better job with that.”

Here’s the best one…

Stewart was asked if he preferred the pack racing NASCAR created with rules packages that resulted in cars overheating when pushing in pairs to tandem racing.

“I think we ought to make it a figure-eight!”  “I mean if we could make it a figure-eight it would be perfect. … That is going to be my vote next week, is that we make it a figure-eight and/or we can stop at the halfway, make a break and turn around and go backwards the rest of the way.

Thanks to ESPN for the quotes.

Tony’s tongue-in-cheek rant might get him in trouble ( again ), but he’s right in that NASCAR needs to make some changes before the next run at Talladega.

And they need to make the pre-race TV show one quarter of the length!

And they wonder why the ratings are down!

ET

“Then with 10 to go we split the field in half, and half go the regular direction and half of them go backwards.”

To Stewart’s point, as great as Brad Keselowski‘s move to escape Kyle Busch on the final lap of the green-white-checkered finish was for the win, several issues must be addressed.

The overheating that ended the day early for Jimmie Johnson and Stewart teammate Ryan Newman with blown engines has to be fixed even if it means the return of tandem racing.

So does the issues that caused cars to run out of fuel early. Catastrophe can’t be avoided when that happens while running three-wide in packs at 200 mph.

This all may have created some excitement for fans, but it left drivers angry.

“Some people call that exciting,” Juan Pablo Montoya said after the Lap 142 crash led to his 32nd-place finish. “I don’t. It sucks.”

Stewart apparently felt that way, too. He just explained it in a way that made fun of the sport instead of using constructive criticism as Gordon and others did.

“I think that would be nice next time we come back here to have a little concession for Talladega,” Gordon said.

Stewart went right to the heart of Section 12-4-A of the NASCAR rulebook, which if correctly enforced means a fine should follow.

Bring back the secret fine?

That’s sarcasm. Those have been eliminated.

Stewart’s biggest fault is he may have overused sarcasm. According to wikiHow, rule No. 6 in the seven steps to being sarcastic is “don’t overuse your talent.”

“Absolutely, I had a blast,” Stewart concluded when asked if he had fun. “It would have been a lot more fun if I could have gotten caught up in one more wreck. If I could have done that, it would have been perfect.”

Compiled By Erik Tomas, The Raceline Radio Network.

Weekend of:  May 6, 2012

2012 is Raceline’s 20^th anniversary!

________________________________________________________________________

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:

Last Race: Sunday May 6^th, Talladega Alabama: Restrictor plates! Brad Keselowski got a push into the lead by Kyle Busch, but instead of being a sitting duck on the last lap, Keselowski was able to stretch the gap enough for his 2^nd win of the season, 2^nd at Talladega and 6^th of his career. It was also the first Dodge/Mopar win at Talladega since Dave Marcus in 1976, 36 years ago! Kyle Busch 2^nd,
Matt Kenseth 3^rd.

Cup Points: Greg Biffle ( 5^th ) leads Kenseth by 7. Biffle has led CUP points the last 8 weeks in a row!

Next Race: Saturday night May 12^th: Darlington SC Raceway. Last year’s winner: Regan Smith.

________________________________________________________________________

Indy Racing League IZOD IndyCar Series:

Next Race: Sunday May 27^th: 96^th Indianapolis 500. Last year’s winner: The late Dan Wheldon. Pole: Canada’s Alex Tagliani.

Last Race: Sunday April 29^th, Streets of Sao Paulo Brazil: Will Power dominates again from the pole, and leads flag to flag to claim his 3^rd series win in a row and his 3^rd win at Sao Paulo in a row! It also gives Team Penske and Chevy power their 4^th series win in a row!

Canadians: Toronto’s James Hinchcliffe 6^th. Alex Tagliani/BHR skipped the event to concentrate on Indy 500 prep.

IndyCar Points: Power leads team mate Helio Castroneves ( 4^th ) by 45. Hinchcliffe is now 3^rd in points, just 12 back of Helio!

_____________________________________________________________________________

Formula One World Driving Championship:

Next Race: Sunday May 13^th: Spanish Grand Prix, Cataluyna/Barcelona. Last year: Vettel.

Last Race: Sunday April 22^nd, Grand Prix of Bahrain: No social and political unrest problems! Back to normal! Vettel wins and leads points! From the pole, Vettel held off stern challenges from Lotus team mates Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Gosjean for his first win of the season. China winner Nico Rosberg 5^th.  The McLarens were never in it!

F-1 Points: Vettel back on top in Drivers by 4 over Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull back on top in
Constructors, by 9 over McLaren!

______________________________________________________________

American LeMans Series:

Next Race: May 12^th: Monterey CA.

Last Race: April 14, Long Beach CA:  Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr win when they stopped twice during the race’s only caution, and ran the final hour without another stop. Canada’s Kyle Marcelli- 16^th. Mosport Toronto: July 22^nd.

____________________________________________________________________________

Rallying:

Canadian Rally Championship presented by Subaru:

Next Rally: May 26^th, Rocky Mountain Rally, Calgary. Last Rally: season opening Rallye Perce Neige, Maniwauki Quebec.  Defending champs Antoine L’Estage/Natalie Richard win.

World Rally Championship: Last: April 29^th, Rally Argentina: Sebastien Loeb for Citroen wins his 70^th career WRC event!

Next Rally: May 27^th: Acropolis Rally, Greece.

_____________________________________________________________________________

COMING UP ON RACELINE RADIO on Sportsnet 590 The FAN:

Monday May 7th, 7:06 PM: Drivers at the top! GREG BIFFLE, NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader discusses his fast start to the season… HELIO CASTRONEVES is back to talk about The Penske/Chevrolet domination in IndyCar… and our Tissot/Raceline E-Mail Bag contest!

May 14^th: A preview of the 2012 NASCAR Canada Series season with TV commentator TODD LEWIS… BRUCE BUCHANAN with WD 40 Canada talks up their involvement in the Canadian Tire Jump-Star charity helping kids get into organized sports… and our world famous Tissot/Raceline e-mail bag contest!

-Guest scheduling is subject to change.

Toronto’s Paul Tracy has rejoined Doran Racing for 3 more Sports Car races in the Rolex Grand-Am Series.

The Thrill from West Hill, a multi-time guest on Raceline Radio, who’s had efforts for one final full-time campaign in IndyCars hit a dead end,  ran for Doran Racing in this year’s Daytona 24 Hours, and
will be reunited with the team for next week’s round at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

He will also race at the Watkins Glen Six Hours in June and on the Indianapolis road course in July.

“I’m really excited to get back behind the wheel with Doran,” said Tracy, who will share the car with Dr Jim Lowe.

“We had a good run at the 24 hours at Daytona and the team has had a chance to prepare for the upcoming races. I’m looking forward to a great weekend with Jim and the rest of the Doran crew.”

Tracy had hoped to put together another IndyCar Series programme this year, most recently with Mike Shank Racing, but plans, mean that funding, fell through.

Shank can’t even get a engine deal to run the Brickyard!

PT won the ChampCar championship in 2003 and with a colourful and often controversial style, was one of the most impactful drivers in the history of IndyCar Racing.

Paul scored 31 wins in his 17 year open wheel career.

And we add that up knowing the door is by no means closed on the IndyCar side of Paul’s career.

It’s just good to see our friend active in the sport… where he should be!

ET