Photos from the pits - 07 Nascar Canadian Tire Series - Cayuga

I join Joe Hamilton in the pits at the Cayuga Speedway Park in Ontario for the May 26, 2007 Nascar Canadian Tire Series. Joe provided the following picture of me on the track in front of the line of race cars.

This is the view from the entrance of the pits looking into the pits.

Joe is helping to cover the Nascar north race on behalf of Inside Track Motorsport News.

Greg MacPherson, the editor for Inside Track, was also present for the race. Greg was told to go a few places to get his press pass and when we arrived on site we found him being chauffeured around on a golf cart. I had attended a car event at the Toronto Congress Centre and had won tickets to the Cayuga Race by answering a question (what magazine did Greg work for?) and for $10 upgraded the ticket to a pit pass.

Also joining Greg were his photographers Chris and Pierre. I had met Chris while photographing at the 2006 Toronto Grand Prix.

Ramesh, Chris and Joe (left to right).

Michael at the far left and Pierre at the far right.

We also met photographers Ramesh and Michael from another magazine covering the race - PRN. I met Michael at the Grand Prix as well. Also in attendance were about 15 other photographers and TSN (The sports Network). The coverage was high because this was the first race of the new Nascar racing series running in Canada (it used to be called CASCAR until the recent takeover).

Ramesh at the pit exit.

TSN gets some video footage of one of the drivers.

The gathering of the photographers was great and I look forward to meeting them again.

Michael and Joe during a lull in the action.

Nascar Canadian Tire Series at Cayuga Speedway May 26, 2007

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series began their season at Cayuga Speedway on Saturday May 26, 2007 where Don Thomson Jr (car #4) claimed victory over the 23 car field.


While it was not a large showing of vehicles, neither was the crowd watching. Which was too bad as the first showing of the season brought plenty of crashes and other excitement which quickly led to about half the cars out of the race.



The first surprise for me was seeing Andrew Ranger driving the 27 car (he finished 4th) after he moved from CHAMP car as, unfortunately, he couldn't bring the needed level of sponsorship dollars at this point in his young career.

The crews spent the early part of the day getting the cars ready for racing in the pits across from the main grandstands.




Then it was time for inspections and time trials. After a smaller race was run (Pro Cup Lites) then the NASCAR north cars take to the track.




Then the drivers lined up for introductions and the National Anthems were sung, afterwards the drivers and VIPs cut the ribbon on this important first event.




They also had three parachutists make a landing on the field.

Then the racing began - it was more intense than previous Cascar races as they have removed the mufflers. The race close and they like to nudge each other and one by one the field starts to thin as more and more laps are run under the caution.



Then it was all over and Don Thomson Jr had finished his victory lap and climbed out of his car and waved to the crowd.

Frankie Muniz - to race the Steelback Grand Prix

I was surprised to receive notice that Frankie Muniz, star of movie and television - including Malcolm in the Middle, has been racing and will compete in the 2007 Toronto Steelback Grand Prix.

Frankie will be in Toronto today (May 16, 2007) for an autograph session. To see information regarding the session just follow this link to the Toronto Grand Prix website.

2007 Fashion Cares - PEEP

I caught a bit of the 2007 Fashion Cares PEEP event held at the historic Toronto Distillery District on Saturday May 12 and besides the fabulous models I ran into George Stroumboulopoulos, host of CBC's The Hour.



The gala tickets were sold out and they were mega bucks! One of the headliners was Dita Von Teese, former wife of Marilyn Manson. Ahhhhhhh - Youtube removed the video that I shot because of copywrite violations, sorry.



The event is held to raise money to fight HIV/AIDS.

Can You hear me now Scott?

I have long been a fan of Scott Adams' sense of humour and his famous comic strip - Dilbert and also of his Dilbert Blog.

Scott has set up a Google Alert for when his name is used on the net so I thought it would be cool to talk to him through my webpage. Instead of sending him an email of appreciation I thought this would be a novel way to communicate - when this page is posted to the internet he will be sent an alert with a wink to this webpage. Besides he probably has to wade through tons of crap email in his inbox and he might delete mine by accident! Well he didn't respond to the website post at www.imagesbythehamiltons.com/photoblog5.htm so I thought I would try again on this blog 'o' mine.

As an added bonus I have drawn a Dilbert frame with the idea that Dilbert has attended a Elbonian management training course by accident and has let it go to his head. Dogbert and Ratbert have to stage an intervention to bring back Dilbert - away from the darkside.

The Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto

The Toronto Grand Prix released it's new name with the following announcement.

After 21 years, we made history today by announcing that Steelback Brewery has signed a multi-year agreement to become the Grand Prix of Toronto’s title sponsor. From this day forward our new name is the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto.

“This is a momentous occasion and we’re proud to have Steelback Brewery as our new title sponsor,” said Charlie Johnstone, President and CEO, Grand Prix Association of Toronto. “We’ve been working to build this event into the top open-wheel racing event in North America. In Steelback Brewery, we’ve secured a dedicated, enthusiastic title sponsor who shares our vision of what this event can be and who will work hand-in-hand with us to make the vision come to life. This title sponsor, combined with our securing some of the best on-track action to ever race on the streets of Toronto, will make this a truly great year attend the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto.”

Luckily I like beer so it seems like a good name to me!

YouTube - Fight Network Girls

Those battlin' bikini girls of the fight network put on a great show. Tag team wrestling was an exciting diversion between practice runs on the track.

Ramping up for the 2007 Toronto Grand Prix

Driver Katherine Legge was in Toronto on Feb 21, 2007 for an autograph session. The race training will be underway soon with the season's first race in April in the great city of Las Vegas.

Here are some more pictures of the 2006 Toronto Grand Prix.

Andrew Ranger readies himself prior to running some practice laps. The picture below shows him in his race car - protected by the umbrella guy.

AJ and Lynne drive to their pits.

Some of the drivers walk from the paddock to the track, some use bicycles or scooters.

AJ doesn't wait for no stinkin' traffic signals.

Paul waits in the race car.

Paul in the pits - checking with the crew.

The popular driver Katherine Legge was a sunshine girl and was also placed on the front page of the Toronto Sun newspaper. She walks by the newstand and notices her picture, stops and checks it out.

Won a prize

I won something! While at the Toronto Grand Prix website I filled out a survey - they contacted me by email and said I was one of a 100 people that won a prize of GP merchandise.

I hope it is either a race car or tickets to the 2007 race!

UPDATE: Well I received my prize in the mail - it was a crummy 2006 Toronto Grand Prix hat and it was cheesy!

What's Up

The season ground on - Paul T crashed into a few people and Sebastien remained in top spot. Here is a random girl that wandered around the race track and asked me to take her photo.

Edmonton's race - Justin Wilson

Justin Wilson, winner of last years (2005) Toronto Grand Prix has won the 2006 Edmonton Grand Prix race and has moved into second place in the CHAMP standings. Sebastien remains at number one in the point standings and finished in second behind Justin at Edmonton. A.J. Allmendinger who finished at three is also now in third spot in the points standings.

Paul Tracy who's qualifying time had him in the first row along with Sebastien for the start of the race failed to hold his position and finished outside of the top three spots at number 5.

It would appear that the top points holders seem to have a lock on the CHAMP car series races and the apparent lack of competition may keep the excitement down and the crowds away. Attendance figures for 2006 are not being released - which can only be seen as a negative. For race fans they need to increase the events held during the weekend race - bring CASCAR back and continue with items like drifting. Fill out the Thunder Alley with more promotion and more presence. I loved the fight network attractions so I hope they are back next year.

Summer in Ontario

The extreme heat of July and August in Southern Ontario has been tempered by cool nights and plenty of rain in recent weeks. With the temperatures cooling at night I have not even put up the inflatable pool. It does make it easier to sleep at night since we have no air conditioning.

During the weekends we love to get away on day trips to explore some of Ontario's beautiful sights and last weekend we visited our friends who live in Montreal. The have a family cottage on Pikes Bay in the Bruce Peninsula. We stopped in Wiarton on the way up and hugged Wiarton Willies statue (white groundhog who predicts spring) down at the beach, then hung at the cottage and swam in the bay on the first day. The next day we head over to Bruce National Park - Cyprus Lake to play in the cold green waters of Georgian Bay and hike down the cliffs of the grotto. Later we stop at the flat rocks on a point just north of Pikes Bay on Lake Huron. The wind rolls in and the waves pound against the massive boulders and ledges of the flat rock and of course my kids are out swimming in the waters. I can only take so much and I get the girl (she is younger than the boy) out and a few minutes later I make the boy come out. He is swept under by the currents, almost crushed against a boulder, climbs on the boulder and gets swept off it, then manages to get onto land with a bruised wrist and he wonders why he had to get out.

This week we intend to go to Lake Erie and explore the area near the wind farm along the shores of Lake Erie near Tillsonburg. Ann was up there recently on a girls night out camping trip and really liked the area and loved the landscape full of wind turbines. I had also just been up to the Bruce Power site where a small windfarm is located outside the power plant property.