Better than Shakespeare
If you want high drama, forget the theatre&emdash;racing's the
place to be
It's 187 laps into an exciting race, and after five yellow flags
and countless delays, it's finally looking like there's going to be a
battle for the finish. Kerry Micks, who has barged up from
thirty-first place into second, is closing in on the race leader,
Jack Monaghan, driving the 03 Dodge Avenger.
A battle it turns out to be too&emdash;Micks charges Monaghan,
perhaps touching him a little on the rear end. In an effort to fend
Micks off, Monaghan swerves a bit back and forth, the white-and-red
Avenger streaking along in a wobbly line.
Swerves perhaps a little too much. Suddenly, Monaghan's car is in
a spin, careening towards the tire-surrounded pole where at the
beginning of the race, Sean Dupuis had slammed his Thunderbird. The
car hits, but there's not much damage; Monaghan is able to rejoin the
race.
Where, under the yellow flag, he charges on Micks, ducking in and
out of the slow moving traffic, cutting him off, slowing down to a
crawl. As the line of cars makes its way towards the starting line,
Monaghan's given a black flag&emdash;which means that he's been given
a stop-and-go penalty. He continues around the track again, as if he
hasn't noticed.
It's two more laps before Monaghan pulls into the pits for the
stop-and-go, and when he gets back onto the track, he's down a lap,
and Micks is able to finish first; Monaghan ends up in 17th. The
three top cars&emdash;Micks' Thunderbird, Jim Lapcevich's
Thunderbird, and Alex Nagy's Monte Carlo, come to a halt in front of
the tractor pulled podium, where they're presented with their awards.
Micks is booed loudly from the crowd; there are many that believed
he should have been penalized for causing Monaghan's crash, but it's
been ruled a "racing incident." Monaghan's crew isn't happy, and
start crossing the grass towards the podium, sleeves rolled up, and
even a tire iron in somebody's hand. The officials restrain them, but
not before they are able to trade a few barbs with Micks' crew from
farther down pit row.
It's a fitting end to what has been an exciting Castrol/McKerlie
Millen Classic 200, a race that has far surpassed my expectations of
excitement for the day. I came in thinking, thirty-five cars going
around in an oval&emdash;how exciting can that be? Having sat through
the entire race on the edge of my seat, not only can I declare that
CASCAR racing is exciting; I can also (as an avowed theatre-goer)
declare that it's as dramatic as anything you'll find onstage at the
Royal Alex, in Stratford, or on Broadway.
What rock opera, for instance, could give you such a varied cast
of characters? In the starting roster, I found everybody from
old-time veterans to drivers as young as I am&emdash;19. Paul Jakes
has started in 80 consecutive CASCAR races and Earl Ross, after being
the league's 1974 champion, is still racing away. D.J. Kennington,
the Castrol supported Avenger driver, despite being a "veteran" of
the sport, has only had his license for three years. There are the
champions&emdash;such as Dan Shirtliff, who drove the majority of the
race without a hood and finished well back in the pack&emdash;and the
underdogs, such as Micks, who started in thirty-first spot, and only
after qualifying for the "last chance" race.
No rock opera could do better to provide such interesting
character dilemmas either. Whenever there was a crash&emdash;and
there were many, as the total of 8 cautions attests&emdash;there was
yet another ambiguity. Whose fault was this one? Who should be
punished? Should there have been any punishment?
The plot, if you want to call it that, of the McKerlie-Millen 200,
was a match for any musical, with infinite ups and downs, epic duels,
tragedy, and even a smidgen of comedy. From the barrage past the
starting line at the wave of the green flag, through the eight
caution periods, and until the chaotic end, the race was filled with
action.
This year's race was the scene of one of the most spectacular
crashes that CASCAR has ever seen, a lap-37 spin by Dave Whitlock,
who was leading the race; he was tapped from behind by second-place
driver Al Turner. Sean Dupuis tangled with John Gaunt around turn 1,
losing the front of his race car; Duke Sawchuk's Monte Carlo leaked
oil all over the track, requiring a caution and the spreading of a
sand compound over the track, which wreaked havoc with the cars all
afternoon.
But there was a glimmer of triumph under the veil of the accidents
and slowdowns, and it was this that made for some truly exceptional
racing. First and foremost was of course the come-from-behind win of
Micks, which overshadowed a couple of stellar performances by Pete
Vanderwyst and Al Turner, both of whom were trading first place
through much of the race. There was an incredible five-car battle
between Micks, Lapcevich, Turner, Nagy and Monaghan for fourth
through sixth places throughout much of the middle of the event. The
number of cars on the lead lap of the 200 neared a record for CASCAR,
as more than 50% of the cars running were still on the lead lap at
the halfway mark.
Theatregoers would also love the underdog element in races such as
this one&emdash;not only did Micks start near the back of the field
to win, but the Titans of the sport, such as last year's champions
and runners-up, along with last year's event winner, were all toppled
from their thrones, plagued by crashes and mechanical problems. In
their place were Micks, Lapcevich (who started in unlucky spot 13,)
and Nagy, who sprang from mid-pack. Rookie Kennigton moved up from
behind to capture a 13th-place finish, and Pete Vanderwyst, who
started 19th, led the race for 23 laps.
Not only was there tragedy and triumph, though&emdash;there was
even comedy at this race, a rare occurrence, or so I thought, in
races fought at such serious speeds. Take, for example, the four cars
that finished the race without front ends, or the cartoonish warm-up
routine that the cars go through at the beginning of the race,
weaving back and forth like Donald Duck. Or the podium that's pulled
to the center of the track by an orange lawn tractor.
Comedy too, in the way that big business has so completely
permeated this sport. Not that it's a bad thing&emdash;without the
cash being infused into it, CASCAR would have died quite the death a
long time ago&emdash;but it is occasionally humorous just how deeply
business has its hooks in racing. When being congratulated at the
podium, drivers spew forth the names of their sponsors like a geyser,
before reporters even have a chance to catch their breath.
But the business element is a small price to pay for the
excitement that races like the Classic 200 generate&emdash;besides,
what drama would be complete without a bit of business intrigue? With
title sponsor Castrol, and a supporting cast including DeWalt,
McKerlie-Millen (for whom this race was named,) along with the three
major North American manufacturers, there's big money involved, and
when big money's involved, there's always a story.
This year, the story is that this is the last
Castrol/McKerlie-Millen 200. Next year, the traditional
orange-and-white logo that's found plastered above the stands, around
the track, on the back wall of the podium, will be replaced by the
red-white-and-blue of the American company that Millen has merged
with; a fact that brings "aaaws" and boos from the local crowd, for
whom it is a point of pride that CASCAR has remained so Canadian for
so long.
Despite the coming&emdash;perhaps inevitable&emdash;American
involvement, CASCAR remains a uniquely Canadian venture, with
Canadian drivers (only one of the competitors at the 200 was from out
of the country, and then only from across the border in Michigan),
mostly Canadian sponsors, and a uniquely Canadian attitude. An
attitude that allows the sport to be a lot more fun than I'd ever
expected it to be, and an attitude that welcomes fans with open arms.
Boring it isn't, and for twenty bucks, you get more drama than you
would in a stuffy, elitist theatre costing twice as much.