Committed racers arrive at the track days before an event. Practicing, trying different gears, new clutches, anything to give them a competitive advantage. But eventually the race is over. The tents are folded up and the trailers all roll out. What does a racer do for fun? Where do they go when they leave the track?

For Demaras Racing it was a a trip to the Stardust Drive-In movie theatre in Newmarket to keep the automotive-themed weekend going. . This weekend the double feature was Boss Baby 2: FAMILY BUSINESS plus a midnight showing of Fast & Furious 9: IT’S ALL ABOUT FAMILY.

When racers aren’t racing, they’re watching Dom Toretto’s flashback scenes of his dad driving a racecar.

Racing season in Canada is short enough. With the provincial shutdown these past few months, schedules have been greatly compressed. But it’s great to see that Toronto Motorsports Park (TMP) at Cayuga is finally coming to life.

It’s too bad there’s kart racing nearly every weekend this year. It would have been a blast to see a fire-breathing dragster burning down the dragstrip at Cayuga.

New images of the Formula 1 car for the 2022 season are circulating online thanks to liveGP.it. There have been renders, and even models, but this is the first time a full scale car has been seen , giving a clear idea of what the cars will look like.

A one-race sponsorship deal between Feld Entertainment and Stewart-Haas Racing has brought together two of the biggest symbols of American-ness. NASCAR and Grave Digger.

Kevin Harvick will race at Nashville Superspeedway this weekend with a Grave Digger paint job on his No. 4 race car.

For Demaras Racing this moment brings plenty of nostalgic memories. Chris has been dragging Daniel to monster truck shows since Daniel was a kid. It’s been a few years since the last one, but they always root for Grave Digger!

Good luck Harvick!

The wait is over for drivers wanting to book their G1 or G2 driver’s test in Ontario. As of Monday, June 14 2021, driver’s licensing offices have hired 167 additional temporary driver examiners to help clear up the backlog of tests since Ontario shut down in-car testing in April.

So as you’re motoring around Toronto, just keep in mind the driver in the next lane might just be on road test. Or still learning to drive. So RELAX…give some space, and be patient.

Remember, even that nerves-of-steel armored truck driver Leo Prinsloo who got away from the bad guys last month, was once a nervous teenager trying to get his D.L.

Since there’s been no racing in 2021, the Demaras family has found new ways to stick together. After all, the family that plays together stays together. So this year, it’s been all about camping! The family’s new Jayco RV is at a private campsite which is not impeded by provincial restrictions.

So, with an old Samsung TV and a high-speed internet connection, the family was able to watch Formula 1 qualifying live from Baku.

Three very interesting articles on Planet F1 this week. Alfa Romeo F1 team principal Frederic Vasseur stole headlines with his “Karting is the problem, not Formula 1” where he muses that the rapid ascension of drivers up through junior ladder series does not adequately prepare them for the difficulties of F1.

Interestingly, F1 rookie Yuki Tsunoda gave an interview to the same website in which he explained that the biggest surprise he experienced is the amount of media work required, leaving his lacking energy on race weekends.

Then, as if to show that history is doomed to repeat itself, an article about Mercedes signing 13-year-old kart racer from China to a driver development program. Interesting reads…especially side by side.

On Sunday, the Demaras Racing crew was ready. Not for competition. There’s no racing in Ontario. No…we were ready for TV. The Greatest Spectacle in Racing did not disappoint!

The cover art on the Indianapolis 500 program guide foreshadowed the event. A painting by retired racer and three-time Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford showed the winning cars of AJ Foyt (’61, ’64, ’67, ’77), Al Unser (’70, ’71, ’78, ’87) and Rick Mears (’79, ’84, ’88, ’91). These are the only men to have won Indy four times.

With his win on Sunday, Helio Castroneves has now joined one of the most exclusive clubs in racing history as a four time Indianapolis 500 winner.

And to think, when Daniel Demaras met him at Mosport a few seasons ago, he was only a three-time winner, but already a legend.

As usual, the news today was filled with Ontario’s second-dose strategy, and updates on where to get vaccinated in Toronto. But one news story, reporting on the number of new cases today, used a a picture of a man walking past a Toronto mural. It’s an incredible image (picture from The Canadian Press) that juxtaposes the stark reality of life during the pandemic against a colourful, contorted car. It needs a cool title like ‘racing to recovery’.

Apparently the green ‘hot rod’ graffiti is somewhere on Eastern Ave, in Toronto’s east end. The cartoonish Ford Model A is by Toronto artist dudemanart. What a great location for a photoshoot!