Get ready to rev your engines Sunday
This weekend marks the beginning of what will be a frantic month in the world of motorsport.
On Sunday, the three biggest races in the world happen on the same day: the Formula One Grand Prix du Monaco will be run through the streets of Monte Carlo, the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 goes at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the iconic Indianapolis 500 will get the green flag at about noon, back home — again — in Indiana.
(Whew! Just reading that sentence makes me feel tired).
I, of course, am in Indy as you read this and I will be reporting throughout the weekend on my blog at thestar.com/autos and in the sports pages of the Star.
It’s such a shame that Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe will miss the 500 because of that massive crash he was in last Monday. But the good news is that he’s going to be OK. It will take a while to recover, but he’ll be back.
And Alex Tagliani of Montreal qualified to start 22nd, so the Dominion will still be represented on Sunday.
Two weeks from now, I’ll be in Montreal for the annual F1Grand Prix du Canada and then, in three weeks, I’ll be covering the Honda Indy Toronto June 12-14 (which is being held a month earlier this year because of the Pan Am Games).
(Now I’m starting to feel exhausted.)
And in four weeks — are you ready for this? — is an event not to be missed: the Canadian Historic Grand Prix (CHGP) weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The CHGP is Canada’s biggest and best vintage-car race meeting. There will be three full days of exciting racing for six groups of cars in- cluding Monoposto (single-seat, open-wheel, vintage and historic race cars), small-bore vintage and historic cars (under 2000 cc), bigbore vintage and historic cars (over 2000 cc), wings and slicks (purposebuilt racing cars running on slick tires), and G70+ and G90 cars (cars dating from 1973 to 1994) that include all kinds of Alfas, Corvettes, Porsches and Mustangs.
You know, back in the day, about a decade after Mosport (as it was then known) first opened, the most exciting racing you could see anywhere went on out there in the Formula Ford series that was sponsored by the Bulova Watch Co.
Top-shelf drivers such as David White, Gary Magwood, David Loring, Brian Stewart, Clive Rayman and a young guy from Quebec named Gilles Villeneuve went noseto-tail, season after season, and it was — in a word — enthralling.
In a salute to those glory days, Formula Ford race cars will be the “Featured Marque” at this year’s festival. A huge reunion of drivers, crews, hangers-on and spectators is planned (and if you ever had anything at all to do with FF racing in that era, even as a spectator, you’re invited to attend).
In addition to historic Formula Ford racing, those attending will also be able to see today’s young guns competing in a round of the Toyo Tires F1600 Series.
Yes, those early pioneers of openwheel, open-cockpit racing were good, but the modern generation can give them a run for their money when it comes to speed and guts. Don’t believe me? Go see for yourself and then tell me if I’m wrong.
For more information, please go to varac.ca.
And, yes, I’ll be out there. I’ll see you at the track that weekend. nmcdonald@thestar.ca