In the eighth inning of the Blue Jays-Yankees game at Skydome Sunday, the people in the packed grandstands were doing The Wave, which suggests to me that they were bored.

At Jukasa Motor Speedway outside Hagersville Saturday night, where the last race of the 2017 NASCAR Canada season was taking place, somebody tried to get a Wave going and it went as far as the person sitting next to him. The other people in the packed grandstands looked at the poor guy as if he was from Mars.

That’s the difference between auto racing and most other sports: it’s fast, it’s furious. And if you take your eyes off what’s happening out on the speedway for even a second, you’ll miss something. No time or place for a Wave there.

And Saturday night was a visual reminder of the above paragraph. Two-time NASCAR Pinty’s Series champion D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas won the pole for the Pinty’s Fall Brawl 200 at what used to be called Cayuga Speedway with a blistering speed of 121.111 miles an hour around the freshly repaved 5/8-mile track - which is really motoring, folks - and then defending series champion Cayden Lapcevich of Grimsby won the race with a little bump-and-run that left Donald Theetge of Boischatel, Que., less than a little happy.

And when the smoke had cleared, 24-year-old Quebec driver, Alex Labbe, was the new, 2017 Canadian national driving champion who promptly told the Star in an interview that he was leaving.Canada to run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, one step below the NHL of stock car racing in North America, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Theetge led 134 of the 200 laps and really dominated the race from start to almost-finish. Driving the No. 22 car entered by team owner Scott Steckly of Milverton, most eyes were on the Quebec driver - who was quick right out of the gate - most of the race.

Lapcevich, who brought out one of the five caution flags when a tire went down and he clouted the first-turn wall early in the race, only led three laps but he was in front for the all-important last lap and that, as we all know, is what counts.

“You would have done the same thing to me,” said Lapcevich to Theetge, after the race. “I hate doing that (putting the bumper to someone for a bump-and-run) but I’ve been on the receiving end a few times myself,” said Lapcevich, adding that he was proud of himself and his team for getting back on the lead lap after falling behind early in the race.

Theetge, who is three times as old as Lapceivch (51 vs. 17), was not convinced. “We had the fastest car tonight,” he said. “When I ran the AC Tour (American-Canadian Tour Series), that sort of thing is not allowed. You had to pass on the inside or the outside - not push another competitor out of the way.”

L.P. Dumoulin of Trois-Rivieres, Que., finished third in the race Saturday while Kevin Lacroix of Saint-Eustache, Que. and J.F. Dumoulin, also of Trois-Rivieres, rounded out the top five. The rest of the top ten: Alex Tagliani of Laval, Que., Larry Jackson of Oakville, Donald Chisholm of Antigonish, N.S., Noel Dowler of Sherwood Park, Alta., and Andrew Ranger of Roxton Pond, Que.

Twenty cars started the last of 13 races - eight on ovals and five road/street circuits - held in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. In the end, the national championship went to Labbe, of Victoriaville, who only had to take the green flag for the final race to lock up the championship. Lacroix was second in the title chase while Lapcevich finished third.

Labbe told the Star as soon as his championship was confirmed that he would be moving on to race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2018.

“That is where my sponsors (primarily, Quebec-based Bombardier or its subsidiaries) want me to go,” he said. “It is better for me and for my career to move up at this time. The Pinty’s Series is a great series but my ambition is to drive in the NASCAR Cup Series so I have to prepare myself for that.”

Labbe (pronounced la-bay) told the Star in an interview that the hiring of auto racer Mario Gosselin as crew chief, plus some other changes in team personnel, is what put him over the top in 2017

“Racing in the Pinty’s Series has been a lot of fun,” he said. “I had pretty much a dream season with five wins. We raced on a good variety of tracks and I was successful because of the changes we made last year in the off-season. Having Mario join and the other changes we made meant our pit stops were faster and my car was better prepared generally. It paid off.”

It was apparent almost from the start that Labbe had the talent to make it to the top; it was just a matter of consistent execution. When he first took at crack at the NASCAR Canada national series, it was 2014 and he showed up at Circuit ICAR for a race. He started last but finished sixth. Then he went to Trois-Rivieres for the race there and ran in the top five all day.

“He goes for the win every time,” said Joel Robinson, whose film and video company prepares Pinty’s race programming for TSN. “He never gets rattled. And there’s another thing: when Alex first started, he couldn’t speak English very well. Now he’s fluently bilingual, which is perfect for sponsors.”

There is no doubt that motorsport - of all kinds - is more a part of the cultural fabric in Quebec than it is in the rest of the country, particularly Ontario. It is always interesting to find young Quebec drivers striving mightily to learn English in order to better represent Quebec-based companies when the Pinty’s Series is racing in other Canadian provinces.

At least half the field at a Pinty’s race is from Quebec, which suggests there are sponsorship opportunities there. And because trying to find sponsorship dollars in Ontario and elsewhere is as hard as pulling hen’s teeth, it might better serve young English Canadian racing drivers to learn to speak French, or some French.

At the least, it couldn’t hurt.

The Pinty’s Series will be a part of what New Hampshire Motor Speedway is calling a Short Track Extravaganza next September. The three-day weekend, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 21-22, will include the longest-ever NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race, a K&N Pro Series East race and the first-ever NASCAR Canada race to be held in the United States.

“This is going to be the ultimate short track showdown with regional and global stars from NASCAR’s touring series,” said David McGrath, executive vice-president and general manager of the speedway.

“NASCAR is very excited to partner with New Hampshire Motor Speedway on this tremendous event,” said George Silbermann, NASCAR vice president, regional and touring series. “This unique tripleheader will bring the best of NASCAR’s touring series to the New England fans in an unprecedented fashion.

“Bringing the NASCAR Pinty’s Series to the U.S. is a natural extension of the action-packed, hard-nosed racing that entertains fans across Canada.”

Okay, so that’s next September. To watch Saturday night’s Fall Brawl 200, tune in to TSN next Sunday, Oct. 1, at 11:30 a.m.

Okay, just before we get to the results of the rest of the weekend’s racing, I want to pass on a delightful bit of information I received at the weekend following the publication of my Wheels section column on the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix and a conversation I had about it with 1970s Formula One driver Howden Ganley. To read it, please click here.

So, I received an email from Rob Dickinson, who wrote:

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“I was there and witnessed that crazy race. You mentioned the crash between Cevert and Scheckter. I saw that crash. I was sitting on the hill between 2 and 3 on the south side of the track. There was a loud crash, screeching of tires and bits of blue Tyrell flying as I think Scheckter drove Cevert into the aemco barrier. Back then of course, the runoff area to 2 was all grass and we watched as both cars slid to a stop, the McLaren farther down the hill than Cevert’s car. They spun to a stop, steam and fluids leaking, tires askew. I saw Cevert get out first. He ran towards Scheckter and I though, Wow, look at that, what Esprit de Corps, racing to support his fallen comrade. He gets to Schecter’s car and just starts beating the hell out of him while he is still strapped in the car.”

That sort of thing went on a lot more in the old days than it does now. These days, racing drivers (in particular, of all professional athletes) are contractually bound to behave. No bench-clearing baseball brawls for them, or hockey fights. I’m sure, for instance, that Max Verstappen probably wanted to whack either Sebastian Vettel or Kimi Raikkonen after the start-line crash at Singapore a week ago put him out of the race but if he did anything, other than perhaps to glare, he would be in big trouble with his team and the sponsor.

Anyway, thanks Rob for passing that on.

NEWS ‘n NOTES

Many NFL players demonstrated in one way or another Sunday over President Donald Trump’s suggestion that those who refuse to stand during the playing of the national anthem be fired, There was no question where NASCAR’s team owners stand on the subject. For years, drivers, wives, children and owners have lined up at attention during the anthem (this was the case at Jukasa Motor Speedway Saturday night when the U.S. and Canadian anthems were played prior to the running of the final NASCAR Canada Pinty’s Series race of 2017). Sunday, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. (whose state motto is, “Live Free or Die”), none of the participants broke ranks.

“Get you a ride on a Greyhound bus when the national anthem is over,” team owner Richard Childress responded when asked what he would do if one of his employees protested during the anthem. “I told them anyone who works for me should respect the country we live in. So many people have gave their lives for it. This is America.”

And the King, Richard Petty, said he would fire any employee who didn't stand for the anthem. “Anybody that don’t stand up for that ought to be out of the country. Period,” Petty said. “If they don’t appreciate where they’re at … what got them where they’re at? The United States.”

Kyle Busch won the Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with Kyle Larson second, Matt Kenseth third, Brad Keselowski fourth and Martin Truex Jr. fifth. For details, please click here. Chrstopher Bell won the Camping World Series truck race at New Hampshire and Tyler Reddick won the Xfinity Series race at Kentucky Speedway.

Olivier Bedard won the Nissan Micra Cup for the second time in three years at the weekend when he finished first in the Saturday race, the first of two scheduled this weekend at Le Circuit-Mont Tremblant in Quebec. After winning the pole Saturday, Bedard led from the start to the finish of a race that was stopped for an accident involving King, who was the only other driver in contention for the title. Stefan Rzadzinski and Valérie Limoges rounded out the podium The last race of the 2017 Nissan Micra Cup season took place on Sunday and Xavier Coupal was the winner. His victory saw him finish second in the points standings, one ahead of King.

This is why people have a hard time cheering for Lewis Hamilton. Lewis says he is not interested in trying to beat Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world championships. Who does he think he’s kidding? Of course he wants to beat it. He wants to retire at the top of the heap.

Of course, now that Lewis has said he wants to stop eating meat in order to do his bit to save the planet, he will soon have to stop driving fossil fuel-powered cars. Formula E would be the perfect category for someone who feels that strongly about Mother Earth, don’t you think?

Brittany Force (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), Bo Butner (Pro Stock), Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) and Jeff Veale (Top Alcohol Dragster) collected victories at the Dodge NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa., the second of six events in the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship.

Renger van der Zande and Marc Goossens in a World Endurance Championship P2 chassis powered by a Ligier motor won the IMSA Weathertech Championship race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Sunday. John Edwards and Martin Tomczyk in a Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan BMW were first in GT Le Mans while Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan were first in GT Daytona driving a Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488.

If anybody needs reminding of just how dangerous auto racing continues to be, I invite them to look up the casualties from the weekend’s 4-Crown Nationals that were run off at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway. Nobody was killed but three drivers were taken to hospital. Sprint-car driver Tyler Esh was the worst hurt, with bleeding on the brain and lung and back injuries. Tiny Rico Abreu didn’t have anything broken but plans to sit out for a couple of weeks to catch his breath and collect his thoughts. Rico has nothing left to prove - he’s a tough guy who’s won his share of races - and I wish he would just say farewell and go away and enjoy life in the family wine business.

Finally, congratulations to Guelph’s Robert Wickens for a couple of great drives for Mercedes in the German Touring Car Series (DTM) races in Austria. He finished fourth on Saturday - he somehow managed to get his badly damaged car to the checkers - and was tenth on Sunday. Of the six Mercedes drivers, Wickens is second in points. He’s eighth overall.

It would be great for Wickens to land at IndyCar but he would have to arrive with money and he’s being paid to race now so why would he even consider such a move? Yes, I know, Mercedes says it is dropping out of the DTM after 2018 but - you never know - that decision could be reversed. Also, although the IndyCar bandwagoners are trumpeting that now is a great time to enter a team in that series, things are not looking all that rosy this days. Chip Ganassi Racing used a good chunk of the money that Tony Kanaan brought to that team to pay No. 1 driver Scott Dixon’s salary. Now Kanaan has gone to A.J. Foyt’s team and Ganassi - who laid off 40 employees the other day and will only run two cars (down from four) next year - is having a hard time finding a primary sponsor for Dixon. There are three major owners in IndyCar and if they can’t continue to operate at the level they’ve been operating at for years, what chance does anyone else have of being competitive and being successful?

And why hasn't there been an announcement about James Hinchcliffe re-signing with Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports?