153 replies to this topic

[Louis Mr. F1]

That is, with Jacques Villeneuve seemingly on his way out of F1, sooner or later, (I know a lot of people are going to dispute this) is there any young good Canadian racing driver that will move onto the international race scene? I really want to have a fellow young Canadian driver to cheer for, and if Jacques retires, the Canadian media will probably go quiet on F1 coverage (not that it makes a lot of noises now)........so anyone have any idea? btw, capentier, tracy don't count.

[Bex37]

I've heard the Canadians have some good chess players.

I feel for you Louis. Its been tough being an Aussie fan without a driver for all these years, so I really hope you find someone to cheer for.

[jonovision_man]

Originally posted by Louis Mr. F1
That is, with Jacques Villeneuve seemingly on his way out of F1, sooner or later, (I know a lot of people are going to dispute this) is there any young good Canadian racing driver that will move onto the international race scene? I really want to have a fellow young Canadian driver to cheer for, and if Jacques retires, the Canadian media will probably go quiet on F1 coverage (not that it makes a lot of noises now)........so anyone have any idea? btw, capentier, tracy don't count.

There are lots of young Canadian drivers, but none of them are looking good for F1.

Losing Greg Moore was big, he could have been a star, he did a lot before he was killed. Such is the sport, though.

Tracy will obviously never go to F1, more likely NASCAR if he decides to leave CART.

Carpartier and Tagliani are good enough for CART, but not cut out for F1.

Michael Valiante was really good last year in Toyota Atlantics, almost won the championship (lost it at the last race). Jonathan Macri has been there for a couple of years and is pretty good too. I think they're both there this year again, maybe they could move up to CART and then who knows?

I don't think there are any Canadians doing anything in F3 or F3000, which is where you get noticed by F1. And having a name like "Villeneuve" doesn't hurt matters either... :-)

jono

[Gordo]

I don't think the future looks too bright. The world economy sucks and these guys need big corporate backing which just isn't going to be forked up right now. What we need is a good talent and some good timing. With the situation at Air Canada we'll be lucky to keep the race.

[CDNgrl]

It's not like Canadians didn't support f1 between Gilles and Jacques. i wouldn't worry about it, the sport is bigger than any one person.

[cheesy poofs]

Two names stand out...

Mercedes-Benz backed Bruno Spengler will contest the F3 EuroSeries for ASM.
16 year old Andrew Ranger, also from Quebec, will take part in the Fran-Am ( F.Renault )
series in North-America.

[GasPed]

I agree that Spengler has some talent and has looked promising - but isn't he out with an injury for a while? I think he's going to miss the first part of the season because of it...

[tifosi]

Hey quit complaining. What do us Yanks have to look forward too? Sarah Fisher and Andretti's nephew or whatever he is. Gawd talk about no hope

[Louis Mr. F1]

at least you have the Red Bull program........we don't even have that, I am going to contact Yellow Pages for a Yellow Pages Program, White Rose for a White Rose Program or Green Lawn for a Green Lawn Program

wish me luck ....... .... ..

[cheesy poofs]

Originally posted by GasPed

I agree that Spengler has some talent and has looked promising - but isn't he out with an injury for a while? I think he's going to miss the first part of the season because of it...

Unfortunately, Spengler will be out of action due to a testing accident at Dijon. His return is not expected until this summer ( July ).

I will be not available for racing in the next 2 or 3 months, since my accident on March 18 on the circuit of Dijon. I lost the control of the car in “Pouas”, the fastest corner of this circuit that we negociate at more than 200 km/h. I had a big oversteer, I managed to keep the car on the track but then the car went straight on the other side, to the wall.
The impact was very violent and straight away I felt an intense pain in my back. Markus Winkelhock who was following me, imediatly stopped his car on the track and got out to come and help me. This is something I will not forget.

I never lost consciousness but the pain was so strong that I was not able to go out of my car myself. I have quickly been transfered to the hospital of Dijon, then to the hospital of Illkirch near Strasbourg thursday, where I stayed four days before going out.
I feel alot better now. I can stand up and walk normaly, but I can’t seat down on a chair. I have to wear a corset for 1 or 2 months. The X ray I will do in mid-april will tell me how much more time I have to wait before driving again.
Of course the hardest for me is to miss the first races of the season but I hope to be back for the race of Le Mans in July or even earlier!!!
I want to thank very much all the MERCEDES people who took care of me after my accident, and particularly Norbert Haug who phoned me from Malaysia to support me, also Frédéric Vasseur and all the ASM team.

[aportinga]

Be lucky you're not an American. We stink so bad that we had to create our own series in 1996...... okay okay I'm just playing around.















not really.........

[Todd]

Didn't many of the Canadian drivers appearing on the open wheel scene in the '90s come out of the Players driver development program? It seems to me that the chances of new Canadian drivers have been lessened substantially by anti-tobacco legislation.

[KinetiK]

Originally posted by Todd
Didn't many of the Canadian drivers appearing on the open wheel scene in the '90s come out of the Players driver development program? It seems to me that the chances of new Canadian drivers have been lessened substantially by anti-tobacco legislation.

Yeah, Moore & Lee Bentham were sure beneficiaries of the program even though one is gone and the other is well... whereabouts unknown by myself.

[cheesy poofs]

Of the top of my head...

Jacques Villeneuve
Claude Bourbonnais
David Empringham
Greg Moore
Patrick Carpentier
Alexandre Tagliani
Lee Bentham
Marc-Antoine Camirand
Jean-Francois Veilleux

[dbltop]

When Ashley Taws heals from injuries suffered in a road accident ( she was a passenger ), she is going to be one to watch.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Ashley needs to get into a much more competitive series.


Spengler looks really good. He did it the right way too, coming up in European karting and single seater ranks so he's got the system in his blood.

[cheesy poofs]

The one guy that could...and would have made it big was Bertrand Fabi.
Unfortunately, he died testing at Goodwood in 1986.

WSR's Dick Bennetts rated him higher than...Senna.

[ruther]

I liked Greg Moore, but...

[jonovision_man]

Originally posted by Todd
Didn't many of the Canadian drivers appearing on the open wheel scene in the '90s come out of the Players driver development program? It seems to me that the chances of new Canadian drivers have been lessened substantially by anti-tobacco legislation.

Yup. Might also jeopardize the Canadian GP in the future, as it looks like F1 is bound and determined to continue with tobacco sponsorship. They've even taken it to the EU.

What about Ron Fellows? :-) OK, not F1 material, but he's certainly been a very successful Canadian driver, won GTS at Le Mans several times now.

As for the Americans, don't worry guys, you'll have an F1 driver before you know it... there are so many good young Yanks out there it's just a matter of time before one comes good. Forget the "Herta to Minardi" rumours, look to the young guns, there's talent there. Not to mention the fact Bernie wants it very badly...

jono

[Turbo]

I think Michael Valiante might be the real deal. I've been watching him for several years in Barber Dodge and Toyota Atlantic and I think he has a real racer spirit and natural focused aggressiveness. His pass for the lead at Long Beach last year was awesome!

[mp4]

IIRC, David Empringham was a fantastic driver who managed to win the FA title as well as Indy lights twice.
I may have it all backwards. He may have won FA twice and Indy Lights once... Please don't yell at me for getting it all wrong...
My point is this: He was a champion three years in a row and never progressed from there.
This really annoyed me because he could have been another great Canadian hope in the world of open wheeled car racing.
From what I remember, he was a heck of a driver who, given the right backing, would have made it into F1

[Turbo]

Agree it is a damn shame about Empringham not getting a chance. Also would have liked to see Bentham get a shot.

[Leo]

What about Billy Asaro? Had a couple of win in British Scolarship F3 last year, but I never saw him race and I don't know what he's doing this year.

It seems to me that the chances of new Canadian drivers have been lessened substantially by anti-tobacco legislation.

Much like what happen(s/ed) in France? Franch teams and drivers have a great record at the international F3 events, yet only very few drivers find their way up. See how long it took for guys like Bourdais and Montagny to make a name.

[KenC]

I've always liked Valiante's chances as a promising young Canadian driver.

[cheesy poofs]

When Moore announced he was leaving for Penske in 1999, three drivers were considered for the drive: Bentham, Empringham and Tagliani.

A shoot-out was organized and, if I'm not mistaking, Empringham was the fastest, but the drive still went to Tagliani. The reason: he was younger. Davis was well in his 30's whereas Alex was still in his 20's.

Agianst all odds, David did beat the heavily favored Forsythe-Green cars of Claude Bourbonnais and Jacques Villeneuve for the 1993 Toyota Atlantic title. A feat which he repeated the following season before moving on to IndyLights in 1995.

AFAIK - He is still involved with an Atlantic team ( ?? ) as a driver coach.

[cheesy poofs]

If anything, Valiante will eventually reach ChampCars while Spengler is the obvious choice to make it in F1. As Ross pointed out, Spengler has chosen the right route to achieve his goal of making it into GP racing.

[bear]

Ashley Taws, what is the story with her? She looks very young. I saw a blurb on TV one day at Mosport. That's all I know.

mark

[SeanValen]

Michael Villeneuve

Rising star, but in highschool at the moment, saw some impressive stuff in his karting days, the lines he was taking.

[mp4]

Do any of you remember Alan Berg?
Molson, the beer company, put out about 600000 clams to see him in F1 in 1986.
Sadly, he made his debut with Osella and did nothing to write home about.
I actually met him in 1987 at Detroit. We were wandering around and I saw him. I flagged my buddy down to say hello.
He admitted he had no current chances available. He DID think Ayrton would probably win. That's one smart Canadian!!!
Alan went on to some pretty good things in Mexico. He won some titles.
As a completely different aside, his girlfriend was kinda hot.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Berg now owns/runs a race team out of San Diego called Scuadra Fortia. Ran Toyota Atlantics last year, now doing North American Formula Renault

[Rob29]

Originally posted by bear
Ashley Taws, what is the story with her? She looks very young. I saw a blurb on TV one day at Mosport. That's all I know.

mark

See www.ashleytaws.com/ Currently recovering from bad road accident sustained as a passenger.

[RJL]

Originally posted by cheesy poofs
The one guy that could...and would have made it big was Bertrand Fabi.
Unfortunately, he died testing at Goodwood in 1986.

WSR's Dick Bennetts rated him higher than...Senna.

Stefane Proulx was another to come out of Richard Spenard's program. I worked there the year Stefane won it all, and he certainly kicked my butt (of course so did lots of other people such as Christian Van Dal). Proulx went on to Europe to F3000 where he won one event, I believe, before returning home to Canada and passing away due to complications from HIV.

RIP Bertrand & Stefane, your potential went sadly unfulfilled, and you left us far too young. Thanx for the reminder cheesy p. It was a long time ago for me.

[Cociani]

You will have to wait about 19 years for the F1 ride to come through but my wife is expecting in September....;) I am already saving up for the first Kart!

[Fastcar]

It doesn't matter, just support the driver who you think is good.

[CFD Dude]

I hope that Ashley Taws makes it back to racing. I saw her at Montreal and Mosport last year. She could have won both Mosport and Toronto if she had of made better starts. She always started on the first or second row, but lost out on the standing starts. It made for good racing though, this girl knows how to pass! Seeing her pass two cars through Moss at the same time, just wow! Hopefully she makes it into something more competitive (Atlantics?) soon.

The last I hear of David Epringham was that he was contracted to Team Player's to run Lights, but with that series canceled they were holding his contract so he wasn't allowed to race anywhere else. I know he raced one of Klaus's Porsche GT1s at Daytona last year, but I haven't heard anything else about him.

What ever happened to David Rutledge? The commentators on Speed mentioned him today during the Atlantics race. After leaving Atlantics Lynx said he was headed to Europe, but I've never heard of him racing over there.

[Ross Stonefeld]

He was trying to get a CART ride with Newman-Haas but didnt have the money (or the resume in their eyes)

[CFD Dude]

Interesting, I had heard rumours that he was trying to get a CART ride last year, but nothing concrete. Do you know if he did any racing last year?

[FordFan]

Mike Weir's pretty damn good. Plenty of talent there.

[vtpachyderm]

Originally posted by FordFan
Mike Weir's pretty damn good. Plenty of talent there.

good one!

[cheesy poofs]

Originally posted by RJL

Stefane Proulx was another to come out of Richard Spenard's program. I worked there the year Stefane won it all, and he certainly kicked my butt (of course so did lots of other people such as Christian Van Dal). Proulx went on to Europe to F3000 where he won one event, I believe, before returning home to Canada and passing away due to complications from HIV.

Proulx got the chance of a lifetime when Player's put up a program to do F3000 in Europe.
A talented driver in the Atlantic series, Stéphane made his European debut with GA Motorsport in 1989. His best finish was a 5th place at LeMans.

I remember meeting Stéphane in the Montréal paddocks in 1993 and let me tell you my heart just sank when I saw him. I cannot describe the way he was that day....that's not the way I'll remember him. At home, with his mother beside him, he passed away in November 1993.

[Berner]

Were there not 2 Canadians in the Barber-Dodge series (St Pete's race was on Speed) and another 2-3 in this weekend's Atlantics? I would check out one Mr. Green in B-D, from Montreal, you may know his dad.... and a Mr. Macri from the west coast I believe. And don't overlook touring cars (I know, not necessarily the best route to F1 or CART) and of course rallying where traction control is simply "not on". Don't despair. Othere companies may step in to help.

[cheesy poofs]

Originally posted by Berner

Were there not 2 Canadians in the Barber-Dodge series (St Pete's race was on Speed) and another 2-3 in this weekend's Atlantics? I would check out one Mr. Green in B-D, from Montreal, you may know his dad.... and a Mr. Macri from the west coast I believe.

Chris Green and reigning Canadian FF1600 champ, Antoine Bessette are running the Barber Dodge series this year.

There's also Philippe Gélinas who is running the other Barber Dodge series. He was selected in a Skip Barber run-off last year to compete in this series.

[Ross Stonefeld]

So who's Chris Green's dad?

[cheesy poofs]

Hey Ross,

Here 's some info on his dad.

[alan_owens]

http://www.juliana.ca/main.htm

Juliana Chiovitti is the hotest Canadian talent, although her website doesn't do her justice

[Ross Stonefeld]

Must be a Canadian thing, like the Tim Horton's Grand Prix

[berlinetta]

Well does Mike Weir have a son?

[BPTCCWSPBF]

Bentham was .2 quicker than Tagliani in the 1999 shootout. Empringham only tested because Players owed him. Following Moore's crash Empringham decided that with a young family he would hang up his helmet.

[metz]

What's this looking to the future stuff...
I'll take this weekend as one of the best for Canadians.
Won Long Beach.
Won World Curling championship.
Won the Masters.
Edmonton beat Dallas in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
And the Leafs.?... well, 4 of 5 .?....not bad..!!!!

[cheesy poofs]

Andrew Bordin was another Canadian driver that was part of the Player's program.