With Canada's first taste of a NASCAR Busch Series race just days away at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, it's only fitting we line up the home-grown talent who will take on -- and may even win -- against the array of NBS and Nextel Cup drivers expected to qualify.
Ron Fellows: The Toronto native will be among the pre-race favourites to take the checkered flag in the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc, Chevrolet. Fellows has three Busch series wins and the No. 33 car knows it's way to Victory Lane. Tony Stewart won three times with it last season. And Fellows has a victory at Montreal's Formula One track back when he was racing in the Player's GM series.
Michael Valiante: The open-wheel racer from Vancouver was passed over for a ride in the Champ Car series in 2004 after winning five races in Formula Atlantic championship but has gone on to a respectable career racing sports cars in the Rolex Grand Am series. The 27-year-old will be driving a Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge from the same garage that prepared Juan Pablo Montoya's winning car at Mexico City earlier this season. That, and his credentials at turning both left and right, will make him a contender right off the trailer.
Patrick Carpentier: One of the most popular race car drivers to come out of Quebec, Carpentier also knows how to win at the 4.361-km permanent road course that is home to the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix. -- Toronto Sun
http://torontosun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2007/07/31/4381904-sun.html
Ron Fellows: The Toronto native will be among the pre-race favourites to take the checkered flag in the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc, Chevrolet. Fellows has three Busch series wins and the No. 33 car knows it's way to Victory Lane. Tony Stewart won three times with it last season. And Fellows has a victory at Montreal's Formula One track back when he was racing in the Player's GM series.
Michael Valiante: The open-wheel racer from Vancouver was passed over for a ride in the Champ Car series in 2004 after winning five races in Formula Atlantic championship but has gone on to a respectable career racing sports cars in the Rolex Grand Am series. The 27-year-old will be driving a Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge from the same garage that prepared Juan Pablo Montoya's winning car at Mexico City earlier this season. That, and his credentials at turning both left and right, will make him a contender right off the trailer.
Patrick Carpentier: One of the most popular race car drivers to come out of Quebec, Carpentier also knows how to win at the 4.361-km permanent road course that is home to the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix. -- Toronto Sun
http://torontosun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2007/07/31/4381904-sun.html