Before we get into plans for our 30th anniversary season as Canada’s national radio motorsport authority come the turn of the New Year, let’s wrap up a very entertaining racing season.
Until this week, 2021 saw us slowly emerge out of smothering COVID-19 restrictions, particularly at the regional and local track level. If we can calm down this current re-spike in case numbers, and capacity restrictions are lifted yet again, we can hopefully get back to full grandstands and facilities come next spring across the board.
The Formula One World Driving Championship: The best and hardest fought title-fight we’ve seen in decades! Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen beat the heck out of each other at every GP, and we didn’t declare a champion until the very last race of the season at Abu Dhabi only 13 days before Christmas.
What a terrible tragedy it was tarnished by horrible officiating.
I will not re-hash what happened at Abu Dhabi. If you’re reading this, you are well aware of what went down at the finish.
We know Hamilton was working for his record-breaking eighth championship, while Verstappen was battling for his first.
Allow me to paraphrase a quote from former driver and current SkySports F-1 commentator Martin Brundle that sums up my feelings and the feelings of many, “ … it should have been one of Formula One’s finest moments. Instead it ended with anger and confusion.”
Martin is dead-on. Race director Michael Masi, used existing rules he has interpreted differently in the past, to manipulate the finish of the Abu Dhabi GP. Manipulation influenced by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner that permitted Max Verstappen to do something he wasn’t able to do on-track for 57 of the races’ 58 laps.
Catch and pass race dominator Lewis Hamilton to win the championship.
That’s just plain wrong in my opinion and experience.
Masi implored both drivers to race clean and decide the championship on track.
Too bad Masi and Formula One didn’t follow their own directive.
An automobile race should be allowed to start, develop and end naturally on-track, not hours later in an official’s room.
Mercedes contemplated taking an official protest of the result to the FIA, but decided not to, as F-1 will set up a commission to re-write the rules to prevent this type of injustice from happening again.
Verstappen had a fantastic season and is full value for it.
But I cannot congratulate him on the championship because in my opinion he didn’t win it fair and square.
Formula One experienced a global explosion in popularity thanks in part to the Netflix Series: “Drive to Survive” that played up the human drama in the sport. Fans latched onto the characters. Hamilton Vs Verstappen. Christian Horner Vs Toto Wolff.
It’s a shame that drama ended in discord. F-1 fans, teams, drivers and sponsors deserved better.
Much better.
The NASCAR Cup Series: Kyle Larson stole this show. Fired by Chip Ganassi and suspended by NASCAR for inappropriate language, he was picked up by Rick Hendrick and winning 10 races and dominating the playoff, Larson, the best driver all season, won the Cup title. Not only that, his prowess in sprint cars on dirt tracks was unmatched, winning 24 World of Outlaws features.
NASCAR Trucks: He might have finished 6th in points behind champion Ben Rhodes, but Canada’s Stewart Friesen locked down his best Truck season yet. A second at Phoenix and a large handful of top-5 finishes form a solid base for a return in 2022 for the Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario pilot. Stew also won a ton of DIRT Modified races as well, carrying on his family legacy.
NASCAR Canada Series: a compressed schedule due to the ravages of the pandemic, Quebec veteran L.P Dumoulin collected his 3rd career championship.
IndyCars: As the WHO would sing, “The Kids are Alright!” The IndyCar youth movement took over. 24 year old Spaniard Alex Palou out-pointed 22 year-young Mexican Pato O’Ward and veteran American Josef Newgarden to win the title in his just his second season and his first for Chip Ganassi. James Hinchcliffe’s replacement at Andretti Autosport is 21 year old fellow Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco. Hinch deciding to back away from full-time IndyCar assignments, to take over from fellow canuck Paul Tracy in the NBC TV booth. He’s also going to do some selected IMSA Sports Car events. And of course depending on the Covid numbers, we look forward to the return of The Toronto Indy after two dark summers.
Rallying: The amazing Sebastien Ogier won his 8th World Rally Championship as the Frenchman retires from the sport. The Canadian Rally Championship, presented by Subaru, went to the brother duo of Andre and Rene LeBlanc from New Richmond Quebec aboard their Subaru WRX STi.
Drag Racing: Steve Torrence, Ron Capps and Greg Anderson won the NHRA Top Fuel, FunnyCar and Pro Stock titles. Biggest story: NASCAR’s Tony Stewart forming his own drag racing team with wife Leah Pruett driving his Top Fuel dragster and Matt Hagan steering his FunnyCar in 2022.
SportsCars: Splendid to see Canada’s Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911-GT win IMSA’s GTD crown with Canada’s Zach Robichon and Belgian Laurens Vanthoor driving. We look forward to IMSA’s return to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Toronto in 2022, Covid restrictions permitting.
DIRT Tracks: Brad Sweet won his 3rd consecutive World of Outlaws Sprint Car championship. Matt Sheppard claimed his 8th Super DIRTCar Series Big Block modified crown.
2022 Marks a Milestone!
Huge for us, it’s our 30th anniversary season on the air as Canada’s National Radio Motorsport Authority!
From our start in 1992 as a radio spin-off of our Raceline Motorsport Television/TSN series to the present, where Raceline Radio is heard on 11 major and medium market radio stations from Vancouver to Halifax 14 times a week, year round, plus podcasts.
It’s been one fantastic adventure, culminating with my induction into The Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame. A very proud moment!
Into year 30 we’ve interviewed thousands of the biggest stars and news makers of our sport from wide ranging pursuits, male and female, with an original mandate to showcase Canadian racing talent and events.
The fact Canada continues to produce some of the best drivers and personalities in the sport means we don’t have to stray too far afield to interview the best!
It cannot be stated too frequently that Raceline Radio would not have lasted this long without the loyalty and support of the sponsors and broadcaster partners we’ve had the pleasure of working with.
We are truly blessed to have Subaru Canada as a headline presenting partner since our very first broadcast. Their rallying platform and high performance brands are what make us tick.
Such long-standing and loyal sponsorship for long-form niche radio programming is simply unheard of!
We have been so proud to help Subaru Canada achieve record sales numbers monthly and yearly.
Thank you Sara Pimentel, Don Gill, and the now retired Geoff Craig and the man who put our original deal together, Brian Hyland.
General Tire Canada is run by fantastic people who totally “get” what we do and fully understand the role tires play in our sport, and how that translates to the building of superior tires for the track and the street. Thank you Okan Sen and Nicole Ruggiero for your loyal support!
Fast Eddie, Ed Hakonson, was with us at the start of our run in 1992 and he came back to the family just in time to celebrate 30 years with his Fast Eddie Speedwear elite line of apparel and racing safety equipment.
In 2022 we look forward to having Ron Fellows, Sam Fellows, Myles Brant, Jerry Priddle and our good friends at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Toronto, Canada’s most famous racing address back on the air with us.
Our Sportsnet sales team, Kevin Tracey and Dan Gibbons get a hearty shout-out of course, as does Lynn Buzby in Sportsnet Traffic who handles our scheduling.
Certainly special appreciation goes out to our Network affiliate programmers and staff who air Raceline, Radio, fully understanding auto racing’s value and national fan and listener appeal. We thank their local sponsors too of course.
Co-flagship affiliates Sportsnet 590 The FAN Toronto and Global News Radio 900 CHML Hamilton, where we do the show from every Sunday night, make sure the electronics and operations are right so the program reaches fans across Canada.
We are forever in your debt.
And to the fans and listeners…. Without your loyal support and feedback, Raceline Radio would have been parked long ago.
We launched this program three decades ago to provide radio coverage of the sport of auto racing with a Canadian perspective.
The most sincere thank you we can manage to all mentioned here and those we may have missed unintentionally.
Our dream came true in ‘92 and we’re still full bore, throttle to the floor… 30 years later!
Bring on 2022!
Erik Tomas, The Raceline Radio Network
