The Canadian Motorsport Hall of fame is going to induct Michael Andretti into the ranks

at their gala din-din in April.

A quarter of Michael’s 40 CART/ChampCar wins came on Canadian soil including a cosmic 7 wins of the Toronto Indy, going back to back with wins 3 times!

I do my bit for the Hall, voicing the biographies of the 7 other inductees from scripts compiled by Tim Miller of the Hamilton Spectator.

Norris McDonald of the Toronto Star MC’s the splashy affair.

This year’s plate-rattler features James Hinchcliffe as the guest speaker, the night his new boss goes into the Hall so it should be a right old knees up!

I think Miss Janice will join me at the the due this year.

Ok, let’s get silly with the crystral ball!

Give me your winner pick for this Sunday’s 54th running of the Daytona 500.

I’ll go with Carl Edwards.

You?

ET

Join us at 7 PM after another one of Alex Sixiero’s nifty update sign-off’s for this week’s offering of Raceline Radio!

Azhar Mohammad gives us a comment on the June 18th OMB hearing start for the historic Canadian Motor Speedway Development in Metro Niagara…

Our Daytona 500 preview continues with the man who’ll lead ‘em of from the pole in Florida next Sunday, Carl Edwards, recorded last week at the Canadian Motorsports Expo!

“Flipper” is one of the sports great interviews and good guys!

To celebrate our 20th anniversary on the air, it’s episode one of our brand new “Raceline Rewind” feature, brought to you by Subaru.

We go back into the Raceline audio vault to re-air our interview with our very first guest from May 7th, 1992, with NASCAR TV pioneer Ken Squier.

Squier revolutionized the way stock car racing is televised and how we view it today, when he pursuaded CBS Sports to televise the Daytona 500 live, flag-to-flag back in 1979.

He was also the first to borrow in-car or in-boat TV cameras from Australian TV, and use them to give us the athlete’s view of the action, along with the first use of in-car radio’s to speak to the drivers during cautions!

And we spin another round of our world famous Tissot/Raceline E-Mail Bag contest!

Raceline Radio, show # 8 for the season, tonight after the update at 7 on Sportsnet 590 The FAN!

ET

Day 3 at the Canadian International ( Toronto ) Auto Show, 800 level, South building, Metro Toronto Convention Center!

Stop by!

Win an always decent Tissot watch and/or a VIA Rail trip for 2 from Toronto to Vancouver.

And back again of course.

Here at the Sportsnet 590 The FAN booth doing live cut in’s until 4, then off to CHML Hamilton for Raceline Radio!

Another Daytona 500 preview show featuring:

Carl Edwards from The Canadian Motorsports Expo!

NASCAR TV pioneer Ken Squier, our new “Raceline Rewind”  feature brought to you by Subaru to celebrate our first 20 years on the radio! Ken was our very first show guest, May 7th, 1992!

Azhar Mohammad, chief developer, Canadian Motorsport Speedway announces the Ontario Municipal Board hearing start date, a huge step forward for the project…

And Ron Fellows talks about The Canadian Tire naming rights for Mosport International!

Raceline Radio on Sportsnet 590 The FAN Monday night at 7!

Join us!

ET

Developers have told Raceline Radio the start date for the critical Ontario Municipal Board hearing on the Canadian Motor Speedway complex in Fort Erie will be June 18th.
The clock is now officially ticking for those opposed to the track to come up with hard technical evidence the complex is not a good idea for the area and region, while the developers of course have to prove the opposite.
We are one BIG step closer to Canada’s first one mile high-banked oval for NASCAR and IndyCar designed by Jeff Gordon, and a 2.6 mile road course designed by Derek Daly.
Stay tuned to the Raceline Radio Network for the latest news and exclusive radio coverage of this historic Canadian Motor Speedway story!
ET Raceline

Hmm… isn’t this how we do it every week at our neighbourhood speedway?

Get a load of this:

The IZOD IndyCar Series will use heat races for qualifying at Iowa Speedway this year.

First-year race director Beaux Barfield, a recent Raceline Radio guesty says the heat races are a trial balloon for something the series could implement at certain ovals in 2013.

The IndyCar Series currently uses single-car qualifying on ovals, and 3 rounds of qualifications on road and street courses like Toronto and Edmonton.

Qualifying for the June 22 race at Iowa will consist of three 30-lap heats, the field in each heat will be set by practice times.

One heat will determine the top 10 starting spots, the other 2 heats will determine odd-numbered starting positions 11 to 31 and even-numbered starting positions for 12 to 32.

The series will revert to single-car qualifying for the season finale at Auto Club Speedway in California.

Should we make these guys draw for position too? Man the water bottles!

I think this is a GREAT idea!

You?

ET

We kick off our Daytona 500 preview with the most powerful and successful owner currently operating in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, RICK HENDRICK, our one-on-one recorded at the GM plant in Oshawa!

Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski offer their own Daytona thoughts….

Who is discovering and training new Canadian open wheel talent? BRIAN GRAHAM and his Formula 1600/Formula Ford driver’s scholarship that’s getting international attention!

And we play another round of our world famous Tissot/Raceline E-Mail Bag contest!

Thanks to all who came to visit our Sportsnet 590 The FAN/Raceline Radio display at the Canadian Motorsports Expo over the weekend!

We gave away every last bottle of WD-40 we had!

Nobody is squeaking today!

Up next for the road show: two weekends at the Canadian International Auto Show, south building, 800 level.

We’re giving away a trip for 4 on Via Rail, and a darn decent Tissot time piece!

Come on over and bench race!

ET

ET

Day 3 and the final day at the 6th annual Canadian Motorsports Expo, International Center, Airport Road, Toronto!

We’re set up across the aisle from the Canadian Motor Speedway display!

Good time yesterday with the media forum and interviewing NASCAR legend Robert Yates!

Fascinating guy- what a techno-brainiac!

MC-ing James Hinchcliffe at 12:45 on stage for a fan Q&A and autographs!

Show’s open 10AM to 5 PM!

Come on down y’all!

ET

Damn the weather, full speed ahead!

It’s Saturday at the Canadian Motorsports Expo, Int’l Center on Airport Road!

Until 9 tonight!

Coming up: Scrum interview with NASCAR’s Carl Edwards, then some time with engine wizard Robert Yates!

Already in the can: Randy Lajoie, Trevor Knowles ( IndyCar’s engine development guy ) and Ron Fellows on the new Canadian Tire/Mosport deal.

Tomorrow: IndyCar rookie of the year James Hinchcliffe. I have the pleasure of MC’ing his stage appearance first!

Join us! The 2012 Canadian racing season has begun!

ET

Tomorrow: Jams

Set up in building 6 at the 6th Annual Canadian Motorsports Expo, International Center, Airport Road.

My car Nav tells me we’re in Mississauga, not Toronto!

Open 1 PM to 10:00 tonight, Saturday 10:00 AM to 9 PM, Sunday, 10:00 to 5 PM.

We’re right across the “road” from our friends at Canadian Motor Speedway!

Drop by to bench race a while!

Cut in’s LIVE on Sportsnet 590 The FAN this afternoon from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM.

Bigger and best Expo yet!

We have WD-40 product and Network call-cards for ya! FREE!

More good news?

Canadian Tire buys the naming rights to Mosport!

Way to go wee Ronnie and Myles!

Almost good news?

Paul Tracy’s latest tweet as he tries to put together the IndyCar ride with Shank:

“What appears to be the end of the road, may simpy be a bend…”

Cross yer fingers kids!

Expo bound all weekend, then the Auto Show!

Lookin’ for ya!

ET

My friend Dean McNulty at the SUN beat me to it this time!

I don’t think he’s mind me re-posting this here.

Tracy had hoped to make the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season a  farewell tour with Michael Shank Racing but that deal is now in  jeopardy.

The road block is a $1.3 million U.S. IndyCar “Leaders Circle”  payment that MSR team owner Michael Shank said is necessary if Tracy is  to drive for the team.

IndyCar officials told the Toronto Sun in an e-mail Tuesday that a  decision on the MSR request will be made within the next week.

But sources close to Tracy say the 42-year-old Toronto native is not hopeful that the funding will come through.

IndyCar boss Randy Bernard is on record as opposing subsidies for  teams and has said that IndyCar teams need to make the grid on their own  financial merits.

Without the Leaders Circle money Tracy and MSR would have to raise  the $1.3 million and that would be on top of the reported $2 million in  sponsorship money Tracy has already brought to the table.

Shank was on the road Tuesday attempting to drum up more potential  partners to make the Tracy deal work, but in an interview with veteran  motorsports journalist Gordon Kirby late last week Shank said he was not  prepared to start the season at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
without full funding in place.

“We’ve bought a lot of the equipment already and we’ll pull the  trigger on the rest without an issue once we know the money is there,”  Shank said. “I need to make some sizeable contracts with the tires and  the motor, so I want to make damn sure (we have the funding) before we  make the move.”

Even if Shank is able to get the Leaders Circle money, with only six weeks until the start of the IndyCar season it will be touch and go to make that first race.

The team already missed the first unofficial test of the season at Sebring a week ago and certainly won’t be ready for the first full test at Alabama’s Barber Motorsports Park the first week of March.

“We’re really pushed right now to say we can make it to St. Petes,” Shank said. “That’s our goal, but I’m not sure. Certainly that is my intention but we’ve got to get everyone on the same page. We’re waiting to hear about the details of the Leader’s Circle program.”

Tracy’s management team, headed by Brain Marks at Top Speed Communications in Indianapolis, also hopes a fully funded program can be worked out.

“We are hopeful that Shank will get a Leaders Circle share, if not it would put a rather tight noose on his IndyCar team,” Marks said in an e-mail.

The whole scenario could change if only Tracy was able to get some Canadian corporate support. Tracy is believed to have the backing of Honda Canada for IndyCar’s two events in this country — the Honda Indy Toronto and the Edmonton Indy — but needs a similar deal for races in
the U.S.

“We just need a couple of things to happen and we’re going,” Shank said. “We are trying very hard with one of Paul’s sponsors to get them on board.

“We think we’ll have some backing but we’re not sure what that will look like. It looks like we’re going to have to puzzle the pieces together to make it work.”

PT normally shows up at the Canadian Motorsports Expo, the 6th annual version this weekend in town.

We’ll grab the mic for his take on these developments.

ET