During today’s IndyCar race at Barber Motorsport Park, a mannequin fell off a bridge and landed next to the track, bringing out the yellow flag. Check out the video below to see one of the weirdest moments in motorsports history. The track was built by George Barber, and some of his eccentric ‘decorations’ include sculptures of giant spiders, bison, and a mannequin named ‘Georgette’ positioned precariously on a bridge overtop the track, looking like an over-enthusiastic fan. Oh yeah…the race. Team Penske finished 1-2 with No. 3 Scott McLaughlin taking the win (and completing his redem ..read more

Every other member of Team Penske was disqualified from the first race of the IndyCar season, except Will Power. A technical infraction (a cheat code) on the Penske cars gave them the ability to use the turbo-boosting ‘Push 2 Pass’ during start/restart when the button is de-activated by series officials. No. 2 Newgarden was stripped of his win and No. 22 McLaughlin was booted off the podium. But Will Power, who’s car had the same ‘cheat code’ activated, was actually moved up to second place from his original finishing position of fourth because he showed the integrity to follow the rules an ..read more

Here are the first views of the No. 12 Formula 1200 car as its new look takes shape. Sitting in the paint booth at CARTSAR Scarborough Centre, the BRD race car’s fiberglass body now wears a pearlescent coat of World Rally Blue paint. The subtle curves are really visible now. Next step will be to transport the body of the race car up to C17 Media up in Thornhill to apply the Impreza WRC-inspired graphics. All the cracks in the fiberglass have been repaired, and the Formula 1200 car looks as good as the day it popped out the mould in 1999. Who would expect anything less from CARSTAR. Th ..read more

This is supposedly the earliest hot rod / juvenile delinquent film. Released only 2 years after WWII, the scourge of street racing had already devoured America. Some consider this teensploitation movie nothing but an hour long Public Service Announcement against street racing, but it is darker and more complex than that. These ‘B-movie’ makers didn’t have the Hot Rod / JD formula down-pat just yet. ‘The Devil on Wheels’ lacks the cool rock ‘n roll soundtrack of later films. The movie doesn’t even show fun places mid-century teens went to, like sock-hops and malt shops. For fun, these tee ..read more

They’re larger-than-life, silly and complete overkill. Kids love them, gearhead are amazed by them, and you’d have to be a real stick-in-the-mud not to love monster trucks…because everyone else does. This past weekend at the First Ontario Place in Hamilton (just east of Toronto) Monster Jam sold out four shows at the 19,000 seat arena. If you still think monster trucks are just for ‘rednecks’ then think again; the place was filled with young families, teenagers out with friends, old hot-rodders and every other demographic imaginable. Those old ‘intermission shows’ with lifted pickups dri ..read more

Not satisfied with competing only in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series, SRO GT4 and GR Cup North America, it looks like JMF Motorsports is adding one more racing discipline to their lineup: karting. This past weekend, the newly minted JMF Karting competed at Mosport Karting Centre just east of Toronto. With six racers under the JMF tent, it was hard not to notice the big new team in their red and white ‘Factory Karts’ which are new the Canadian racing scene. Sure there were some hiccups, but the team managed two podium finishes, which is a great result for the first weekend ..read more

Here’s an interesting series that might have you selling off your Miata; the GR Cup North America series. Sanctioned by SRO Motorsports Group, the GR Cup features a large field of competitors in identical Toyota GR86 machinery. The fourteen-race calendar travels to seven racing circuits including Sebring, Circuit of the Americas, Road America and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With the naturally-aspirated, inexpensive ‘spec’ cars, the GR Cup is an excellent entry level sports car series for drivers looking to move up in their careers. But GR Cup cars are no slow pokes. They’re race=prepped ..read more

Tesla design features that could potentially kill their drivers make me nervous. Like the way the Cybertruck gas pedal can get stuck at full throttle. A little nerve-wracking. A motoring enthusiast recently took his Cybertruck out to a local California drag strip, wanting to experience all 845 horses powering the Tesla. While Jose Martinez waited at the start line, the Cybertruck ‘unintentionally accelerated’ without the driver doing anything. Jose slammed on the brakes and shut the car down. Gosh, just imagine if this vehicle was at the end of an 11 second quarter-mile run, doing 119 mp ..read more

Racers can share improvements and celebrate victories via social media, It allows friends to experience the highs and lows of climbing the motor racing ladder. Competing in Formula 1200, Time Attack and Stock-Car racing doesn’t allow much time for drivers like Daniel Demaras to visit the old kart racing track where he got his start as a kid, but social media is perfect for seeing how old rivals’ seasons are going. Racers can also use social media for good causes. Being a race car driver brings exposure. Drivers get their picture in magazines and thousands of people watch the races. The t ..read more

The classic ‘Two Lane Blacktop’ is a legendary existential road movie. The star of the show is a race-prepped 1955 Chevy 150 ‘Gasser’ the protagonists use to race across the country. The car is as stripped down as the movie. The main characters are the Driver and the Mechanic, who remain nameless enigmas throughout the run time. The filmmaker doesn’t tell us who they are, or what they’re after, and isn’t concerned with motivation. They just travel from one drag strip to another fleecing Corvettes and hot rod Ford for cash. Hardy a word is spoken between them that doesn’t involve adjustin ..read more