NASCAR's Kenseth, Tracy at Expo

Show at International Centre `bigger, better;' top Canadian rally stars honoured at luncheon

Jan 16, 2010

Motorsport writer

Four years ago, Glenn Butt – who had previously been Mosport's marketing manager – promoted the first Canadian Motorsports Expo in a little hall at the Toronto Congress Centre.

There were a few displays and a few seminars (Chris Economaki, the dean of North American auto racing writers, was the headliner at one of them) but it was pretty much low-key.

Next weekend, at the International Centre, the fourth Motorsports Expo will be held and to say it's bigger and better would be an understatement.

To wit:

NASCAR star and defending Daytona 500 champion Matt Kenseth will be the featured guest next Saturday afternoon. He'll answer questions from fans and sign autographs from 2 p.m. till 4 p.m., so don't be late.

(Jacques Villeneuve was the Saturday star a year ago and was still feverishly signing autographs when time ran out, although he stayed on to finish the job. Matt likely will too, but there are no guarantees.)

Paul Tracy will conduct a question-and-answer session next Sunday afternoon, starting at 2 p.m., and will also sign autographs. The second half of Paul's session will be devoted to kicking off Mosport's 50th Anniversary Season.

(Can you believe that they started racing at that track north of Bowmanville in 1961? Me neither – and I was there!)

Ex-Formula One and Indy Car driver Derek Daly will conduct a seminar on Advanced Driver Development on the Saturday from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.. Daly is particularly interested in youngsters starting out in the sport (his son, Conor, started in karts when he was 10 and now, at 17, is coming off a third-place finish in the 2009 Star Mazda Championship) and believes in starting a proper motorsport education early.

For two-wheel fans, Canada's first family of motorcycle racing, Yvon Duhamel and his sons Miguel and Mario, will be making two appearances to answer questions and sign autographs. They'll be at the Canadian Tire stage next Saturday for an hour starting at 5:45 p.m. and then again on Sunday from 11 a.m. until noon.

Canadian racing legend Ron Fellows, a strong supporter of the Expo since its beginning, will hold a "Fellows and Friends" forum next Saturday from 11 a.m. till noon featuring some of Canada's top racing personalities. They'll discuss the state of the sport in Canada and where it's heading.

Scott Atherton, CEO of the all-green-powered American Le Mans Series, will participate in an Alternative Fuels Forum next Saturday from 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m., which will also feature Liberal MP Dan McTague, who's best known here for predicting the daily price of gasoline.

Several years ago, Butt took on a promotional partner, Inside Track Communications, and according to Inside Track magazine editor Greg MacPherson, next weekend's show will be well worth the price of admission.

"In addition to our headliners, we will have the NASCAR Sprint Cup cars of Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on display. The car driven by Andrew Ranger to the 2009 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series championship will be there, too – and we hope Andrew will also be able to come.

"All of Hall 1 at the International Centre and part of Hall 2 will be full of other racing cars and bikes, booths promoting Ontario speedways, parts and accessories manufacturers, safety equipment – you name it and it will be there.

"And there will be other autograph sessions, in addition to the ones already announced. For instance, Canadian Tire series drivers Mark Dilley, Kerry Micks, J.R. Fitzpatrick and Derek Lynch, for sure, will be available for autographs Saturday afternoon from 4:45 to 5:30."

And Robert Wickens, who finished second in the 2009 FIA Formula 2 series, is expected to be on hand Saturday evening to collect at least one of the magazine's Reader's Choice awards.

Admission is $15 for adults but if you go to the Inside Track magazine website, there's a coupon you can download that will get you $2 off. Seniors and youths between 10 and 15 can get in for $10 while children under 10 won't have to pay.

The show opens next Friday at 1 p.m. The big deal Friday night will be the Spencer Lewis Ontario Short Track Power Ranking grassroots racing awards that will be handed out to the top late-model stock car drivers in Ontario.

There were smiles all 'round last Saturday at the Delta Toronto Airport West Hotel when Subaru Canada, Yokohama Tire Canada and Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada all announced their continuing support for the Canadian Rally Championship in 2010.

And while it seems like yesterday that the Rally of the Tall Pines in Bancroft in November put an end to the 2009 season, the first event of the 2010 season, the Rallye Perce-Neige Maniwaki in Maniwaki, Que., will be held in a mere three weeks.

There really is no off-season in motor sport, is there?

Before starting the new season, the Canadian Association of Rallysport and ASN Canada FIA, as well as officially signing agreements with the sponsors, honoured the 2009 champions during an awards luncheon at that Mississauga hotel.

Pat Richard of Squamish, B.C, and Alan Ockwell of Toronto received trophies for winning top driver and top co-driver championships, respectively. For Richard, it was his second consecutive championship and his fourth in total.

Antoine L'Estage of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., was second in the driver's championship, followed by Simon Losier of Ste. Thérèse, Que.

While Andrew Comrie-Picard of Toronto finished in fourth place in the driver's championship, he was honoured for winning the North American Rally Cup driver's title – awarded for most points won in a combination of Canadian and U.S. rallies.

Finishing second to Ockwell in the co-driver category was Nathalie Richard (Pat Richard's sister) of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu with Francois Morin of Lac-aux-Sables, Que., third.

The Canadian Rally Championship is made up of six events starting in Maniwaki in February and ending in Bancroft next November. In between, there are rallies in Calgary (May), New Richmond, Que. (July), St.-Agathe, Que. (September) and Merritt, B.C. (October).

All are telecast on TSN.

For more information on the championship, you can go to www.carsrally.ca.

And to read an interview with Pat Richard (did you know that 10 years ago he got the idea to go rallying by watching TV and now he's a four-time national champion?) and his sister Nathalie (who lost, with her partner l'Estage, just about every championship imagineable during the very last stage of the very last rally of 2009?), please go to my blog at wheels.ca.

Toronto Star