Fifth Gear

CASC Ontario Region Summer ‘07Touring Car Title Races Defined at Steelback Grand Prix of TorontoThe Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto provided the premiere event for this season’sCASC Ontario-sanctioned Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship. With thefield limited to fifty cars for the points-paying pro support race, this round would setthe tone for the championship’s late-season points race.New Book Focuses on CASC’s Beginnings,Successes and ChallengesWithin a decade of its foundation as Canada’s governing bodyfor motorsport, CASC multiplied in size, overseeing rapiddevelopment in venues, events, championships, and teams.Besides documenting this development in his new book, TheChequered Past: Sports Car Racing & Rallying in Canada1951-1991, David Charters highlights the struggle to balancegrowth and professionalism against the needs of the sport’srecreational grassroots, a dynamic that has been revisitedincreasingly as Ontario and Quebec emerge from the sport’sdismal nineties.Charters’ account includes interviews from past and currentmembers: some reached CanAm, WRC and Formula Oneunder CASC’s governance, others played pivotal roles infounding the nation’s first wave of international-grade circuitsand rallies. A host of names will be more than familiar with longstandingmembers of current clubs.Charters posits that the old CASC brought its own demise byfailing to rein in its professional aspirations, but glosses quicklyover Bernie Ecclestone’s active role in CASC’s ejection from theFIA, and the Labatt vs. Molson conflict that fueled it. In doingso, Charters not only falls short of such detailed accounts asthat in Terry Lovell’s Bernie’s Game, but treats Canadianmotorsport’s late-eighties’ cataclysm with a typically Canadianself-blame. As former FAQ President Pierre Compagna put it,‘the actions of FOCA, FISA and FIA showed a dictatorial disdainfor the grass roots of the sport.”As the future of Canada’s national championships now growanew from those same grass roots, The Chequered Past offersvaluable lessons for the coming years.With GT class rival Nick Majors absent due to a non-championship crash, RobertoSabato’s 6thGear/Strudwick Racing Corvette (#115, pictured) drew maximum GTclass points from the weekend. Likewise, Scott Nicol wheeled Velocity Motorsport’sHonda Civic (#45, pictured) to take maximum Super Touring points.The field was whittled to 37 cars by the end of the Sunday final, due in large part tocontact in the Saturday race, which 10 cars failed to finish. Alain Lauziere tookSaturday’s Touring class race, but a late-race bug would strike his Burger King MINIon Sunday, letting the DuraBond Civic of Robert Calisi through to win the TouringClass final. The Championship continues at Calabogie Motorsports Park on July 28,29, 2007.2008 Formula Drivers’ Meeting Planned For 2007 Post-SeasonA brace of new potential entrants has spurred planning of a fall/winter drivers’meeting for current and prospective Formula Libre competitors.Discussion will involve plans to motivate competition with sponsored awards inthe run group’s current Overall and Sports Racer categories, as well asprospects for a new Historic Formula category. A Non-Winged Formulacategory will also be considered if there is sufficient interest.A recent count identified over 50 eligible winged and sports racing cars in theregion, with a number more Formula Ford, F1rst and Vee cars eligible for nonwingcategories. Series proponents expect Historic Formula cars to representthe field’s greatest area for growth.Interested entrants should contact the CASC Ontario region office, or check theseries’ unofficial site at formulelibre.ca for updates.2