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Saturday 4 June 2016

Monday Morning Roundup: What is Jacques Villeneuve up to now? Lewis Hamilton comes to Toronto – again. And more.

Wheels Editor Norris McDonald reports on more off-season racing news, starting with CART and F1 driving champion Jacques Villeneuve and including Lewis Hamilton hanging out with the NBA’s Raptors.

Jacques Villeneuve was in Toronto several years ago to help promote the Indianapoilis 500 and, by extension, the Hondea Indy Toronto. (Toronto Star File Photo)

Years ago, I read a fascinating story in Sports Illustrated about a “couldn’t miss” baseball pitcher who suddenly lost his ability to throw the ball.

Written by the young man himself, the story traced his progress through Little League and high school and then college. He’d been signed by a major league team, cashed a sizeable bonus, and been sent to a Double A team in the Carolinas to learn how to pitch in the pros.

One day, he went to the park and went out to warm up and couldn’t throw the ball. When I say he couldn’t throw the ball, I mean he couldn’t get it anywhere near the plate. He still had the arm and the speed but he had absolutely no control. He eventually got most of it back but he never got good enough again to get out of Double A.

I tell you this because every time I hear the name Jacques Villeneuve, I think of this story.

Jacques had his father’s talent early on. He got into CART and was soon a star. In 1995, he won the Indianapolis 500 after being behind two laps at one point. He also won the CART championship that season. He went to Formula One with Williams-Renault and nearly won his first race. He finished second in the standings his first year and in 1997 became champion of the world.


It’s been pretty much downhill ever since. Every team or series or form of racing he’s attempted has ended in failure.

Now comes news that he’s signed to drive in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for a new outfit called Wing Nut Racing (no jokes please, and I am not making this up).

Wing Nut Racing – or WNR – says it’s a startup that plans to run in a “wide variety” of racing classes, from off-road to stock cars. Its primary sponsor is a Canadian company called Alsco (textile services worldwide), which plans to be the main sponsor in one race and an associate sponsor in five more.

Okay, although I think that Jacques lost the ability years ago to be a top-of-the-mountain racer he once was (like that baseball pitcher I told you about), if he still wants to race, then race. Take whatever money he has left and make a deal with one of the big NASCAR or IndyCar teams to give him a first-rate car and crew and then go to it. Quit teaming up with those never-wills or fly-by-night outfits that will never do anything but further tarnish whatever he has left of a once-stirling reputation.

Maybe this new team is serious (although, with a name like that, I doubt it). Perhaps Jacques is too. But if he falls flat on his face again, as he has a lot lately, he’ll be a joke instead of the hero he so obviously wants to be.

World driving champion Lewis Hamilton seems enamored with North America and, in particular, the Beautiful People and the top athletes you find here.

I reported several weeks ago that he was at the Air Canada Centre for a Raptors-Lakers game but after talking to a few people, the consensus was that he’d flown into Toronto from L.A. mainly to see Kobe Bryant play and there wasn’t anything more to it than that.

I was also assured by Mercedes-Benz Canada – the people you have to go through if you want to talk to anybody connected to the Mercedes F1 team, including the drivers – that he wasn’t in Toronto on company business.

But then a few days ago, here’s Lewis at it again. He tweets out photos of himself at the Raptors practice facility over at Exhibition Place. You can bet that somebody like Drake lined that up for him.

Lewis can probably wander around Toronto and not be bothered. Even if he’s recognized, people here give celebrities their space. It’s why the Toronto International Film Festival is so popular with the Hollywood crowd. They can go out and be left alone.

And, as we know, Prince lived here for many years. Not as well known is the fact that Mick Jagger keeps a place in Toronto and spends lots of time here in the summers.

What’s this got to do with racing? This.

Ever since Lewis showed up in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway for Jeff Gordon’s last race, there has been speculation that he wants to race in NASCAR someday. I would agree that a one-off in the Daytona 500 or the Brickyard or one of the two Sprint Cup road races could be in the cards sometime in the future. But a full season? Or seasons? Not on your life.

Monaco or Montreal are places where Beyonce and that crowd might show up to hang out with him. But Martinsville? Rural Michigan? Forget it.

Moving right along, the way FOX Sports and NASCAR itself are promoting Jeff Gordon’s gig in the play-by-play booth makes you wonder whether Gordon might turn out to be NASCAR’s biggest star even though he’s no longer racing.

I wouldn’t be surprised, you know. NASCAR became NASCAR when Gordon turned his back on CART Indy car racing in 1991 (they didn’t know who he was and weren’t interested in finding out) and “went south” to race in NASCAR. All sorts of things happened as a result of CART’s arrogance. NASCAR began its ascent to become the most popular form of racing in North America and a disgusted Tony George served notice that he was going to start the Indy Racing League.

Now, Gordon is retired. But the bloom is off the NASCAR rose and attendance and TV numbers have been declining. NASCAR still needs Jeff Gordon and that’s why he’s getting such an incredible buildup.

He pretty much propelled NASCAR on its way when he was on the race track. Maybe he can turn things around for them now that he’s taken on another role.

Meantime, two of FOX’s other booth personalities, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds, had thoughts about Tony Stewart’s latest injury and the fact that he’ll likely miss the Daytona 500:

Said Waltrip: “I’m looking for Tony’s story to go just like Kyle Busch’s did last year. Everyone said Kyle would be out six months, but they didn’t understand the resolve of an athlete like Kyle. Tony wants to get back in the car and finish his career strong. He will surprise you. He’s probably lying in that hospital bed right now thinking, ‘I’m going to be just like Kyle.’ Just watch.”

Then, reflecting on Stewart’s career, Waltrip said: “Tony has had an exceptional career. He has also had some exceptionally bad times during that career. But his passion for everything he does – whether racing Cup cars, sprint cars, Indy cars or owning race tracks – is the true picture of a racer; a throw-back to the racers of old. They don’t make them like Tony anymore, and they probably never will again.”

McReynolds talked about Stewart’s generosity:

“Tony Stewart’s legacy can’t be defined with one category. If there was a blue-collar racer Hall of Fame, he’d be at the top of the list because he embodies what a true racer is. The other thing that gets lost in the shuffle is how good of a person he is. Tony’s heart is as big as his race car. We don’t read press releases about him donating money to a particular charity or helping a family out, but for every time we don’t, rest assured there were probably four or five times he did it.”

Speaking of people named Waltrip, Michael Waltrip will attempt to qualify for his 29th Daytona 500 next weekend in the No. 83 Toyota for BK Racing. For a guy who didn’t win many races when he was driving, he was golden at Daytona, which he won twice.

Okay, here’s what else is going on.

- Ken Roczen won the Monster Energy AMA Supercross race before 53,000 fans at University of Phoenix Stadium Saturday night. Ryan Dingey was second and Eli Tomac finished third. Superstar James Stewart is suffering from concussion issues and didn’t race. The Supercross tour will make a stop at Toronto’s Rogers Centre next month.

- Shane Van Gisbergen, Alvaro Parente and Jonathon Webb drove a Tekno Autosports McLaren to victory at the Bathurst, Australia, Bathurst 12 Hour, the opening round in the new Intercontinental GT Challenge.

- Quebec driver Maxime Labrie and co-driver Robert Labrie won the first round of the 2016 Eastern Canadian Rally Championship at the weekend. Driving a Subaru WRX STI, the due finished first in the Rallye Perce-Neige, which was held in Maniwaki, Qué. This season, the Eastern Canadian Rally Championship will consist of nine rounds this season, spread out between Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces. The next round, the Lanark Highlands Forest Rally, will take place in Ontario on May 7th.

- Hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps as another American driver to make it to the Verizon IndyCar Series the “traditional” way (midget, sprint and supermodified oval-track racing), Davey Hamilton Jr., son of veteran Indy car competitor Davey Hamilton and grandson of Ken Hamilton who led the way into Indy cars, will drive for Jack McCormack and McCormack Racing in the 2016 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires Series.

- The Lucas Oil Canadian Vintage Modifieds will celebrate their 50th anniversary season this year and Lucas Oil Products will return for its 12th consecutive year as the title sponsor for the club. According to series president Dave Trendell, the club will travel to five race tracks across Ontario over a 15-race schedule. The season kicks off with the club’s lone date at Sunset Speedway near Innisfil on May 14. The series will visit Flamboro Speedway nine times in 2016, including the championship finale on Sept. 24. Delaware Speedway hosts the CVM on June 10 and then again on July 15 for the Mid-Season championship. Sauble Speedway will also play host twice, including a Canada Day special on July 1. The modifieds will race at Full Throttle Motor Speedway, near Durham, Ont., on June 4.

- Finally Cameron Hayley of Calgary will return to ThorSport Racing and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) in 2016, piloting the No. 13 Cabinets by Hayley Toyota Tundra. Hayley, who competed for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in 2015, finished sixth in the championship point standings, amassing four top-five and 13 top-10 finishes.

Hayley will complete the roster for the Sandusky, Ohio-based team. Rounding out ThorSport Racing's stable of drivers will be Ben Rhodes, driver of the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Toyota Tundra. Two-time NCWTS champion, Matt Crafton, who will pilot the No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra and Rico Abreu will pilot the No. 98 CURB Records Toyota Tundra.

The Camping World Series season will kick off on Fri., Feb. 19, at the Daytona Speedway, two days before the 500. All the action will be televised live in Canada on the FOX Sports Racing channel.

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