Auto racing in 4th place for popularity, poll suggests

On occasion, I go on and on about how auto racing is ignored (mostly) by the mainstream media.

And I say, it’s to our peril. I mean, we’re in enough trouble without annoying people even more by refusing to even acknowledge the things important to their lives.

This week on Tuesday, the Globe and Mail published a story on a marketing deal Pepsi made with the NBA and, in a graph accompanying it, reported on what Americans consider to be their favourite sport.

In a survey conducted in December, the respected Harris Poll discovered that 32 per cent say pro football is their favourite sport, followed by baseball (16 per cent), men’s college football (10 per cent) and — tad-da! — auto racing at 7 per cent.

Tied — tied — for fifth were men’s pro basketball, men’s soccer and ice hockey at 6 per cent.

Although hockey would be substantially more popular in Canada than down south, I think the findings would otherwise be somewhat similar.

So I rest my case. Hinchcliffe optimistic I had a great chat, albeit a short one, with Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe Wednesday afternoon and he’s optimistic that he can do as well in this weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of (sunny) Long Beach as he did last Sunday in soggy New Orleans, La., when he won.

“We still have some work to do (on the Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports car),” Hinchcliffe said. “But we’re making progress.”

He said the team is continuing to develop the car with an eye on improving qualifying runs. “If we qualify well, I think we have a decent chance to not only run well in the race but win (at Long Beach).”

Hinchcliffe said after the race Sunday that he felt sorry for the spectators because there wasn’t a lot of green-flag racing. But he told me Wednesday: “On the other hand, I thought if it’s going to be a bad race, why not win it?”

The Mayor of Hinchtown was in Toronto for several days, filming two commercials for Honda. He says they’ll be as amusing as the one shown last summer and fall, when he was challenged to a drag race and couldn’t respond because he was trapped in a parking spot.

“At least, I hope they’ll be as amusing,” he said. Fellows’ karting challenge Motorsport star Ron Fellows is continuing to contribute to the development of young Canadian racers by joining with Champion Spark Plugs to promote the 2015 Inter Club Karting Challenge, which will now be known as the Champion-Ron Fellows Karting Challenge.

“Our goal is to bring additional profile and support to entry level kart racing,” said Fellows, who is co-owner of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

“We have a great legacy of kart racing in this country and now that Canadian Tire Motorsport Park has — essentially — a new karting facility, we’re excited.”

Added Michael Proud, director of marketing in North America for Federal-Mogul Corp.: “Teaming with Ron Fellows for this karting series is a natural for Champion and fits well with our grassroots motorsports interests.” TV Guide (all races Sunday)

IndyCar, Grand Prix of Long Beach, Sportsnet 1, 4 p.m.

Formula One, Grand prix of Bahrain, TSN, 10:55 a.m.

NASCAR Sprint Cup, Bristol, TSN and FOX, 1 p.m.

P.S. Want to watch F1 on a big screen and help raise money for a good cause? Wegs, at 2601 Rutherford Rd. in Vaughan, is showing the Bahrain GP Sunday morning. Doors open at 10:30, the race is at 11 and $20 will get you in to watch Lewis Hamilton win. Door prizes and snacks included. Proceeds to the Canadian Cancer Society. nmcdonald@thestar.ca