Lewis Hamilton underlined his prodigious talent and stunning car control during this weekend’s rain soaked Japanese Grand Prix. In an event that evoked memories of the equally sodden debut Japanese GP at the same venue 31 years ago, Hamilton was easily the class of the field, consistently running at least a second a lap faster and making far fewer mistakes than his much more experienced rivals. If Hamilton goes on to win the World Championship in his rookie year (as is looking more likely) he can point to this event as his defining moment. It may have been his fourth win, but it was clearly his best.  This one was simply a classic drive.

While even a Robert Kubica invoked spin couldn’t slow down Hamilton, while his championship rivals looked like amateurs. The Ferrari team seemed to be the only team unaware of a new rule that meant they had to replace tires once the race was under way. Both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen faught back towards the front of the field, but not without several off track excursions for both.  Raikonen’s frustration came through in surly post-race body language, Massa’s came out in a breath-taking last lap on-off road wheel-to-wheel battle with Kubica.

Hamilton’s team-mate Fernando Alonso literaly threw his world championship hopes away with a lone spin into the wall that wrecked his McLaren in spectacular style.

It is said that rain is the great leveller promoting natuarl driving talent over technology, so it was perhaps no spurprise to see great drives from the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Adrian Sutil and Jensen Button, even if they didn’t all get the result they deserved in terms of final placings.

The Top 10 finishers were:

1. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2. Heikki Kovalainen (Renault)
3. Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari)
4. David Coulthard (Red Bull)
5. Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault)
6. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
7. Robert Kubica (BMW)
8. Adrian Sutil (Spyker)
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi (STR)
10. Rubens Barrichello (Honda)

Reigning NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson took his fifth win of the season with a strong perfomance at his “home” track in Fontana California. Johnson led 84 out of the 250 laps, dominating the last part of the race.

Last week’s winner Carl Edwards had another strong showing, finishing second. Kyle Busch, who lead most laps, finished third after a brush with the wall. Dale Earnhardt Jr. kept his slim hopes of making the Championship Chase alive with a fifth place. The race was relatively incident free although one wreck ended with veteran Ricky Rudd, making his 900th start, being taken to hospital for precautionary x-rays on his arm.

The most spectacular exit of the day was by Michael Waltrip who had a burst tire cut an oil line which engulfed his car in flames. It also appeared that Waltrip had some difficulty extricating himself from the burning vehicle once it had come to a rest.

The Top 10 finishers were:

1.  Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet)
2.  Carl Edwards (Ford)
3.  Kyle Busch (Chevrolet)
4.  Jeff Burton (Chevrolet)
5.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Chevrolet)
6.  Martin Truex Jr. (Chevrolet)
7.  Matt Kenseth (Ford)
8.  Brian Vickers (Toyota)
9.  Kurt Busch (Dodge)
10.  Kasey Kahne (Dodge)

AGR’s Tony Kanaan just beat team mate Marco Andretti to the line for victory in what appears to be the last IRL race held at the ultra fast Michigan International Speedway. But this race will be remembered for the spectacular crash with points leader Dario Franchetti’s car getting airborne after touching wheels with Dan Wheldon’s car at well over 200 mph and bouncing twice before coming to rest inverted.

Luckily Franchetti and all the other drivers involved emerged unscathed from the scary looking incident. Earlier in the race another crash had taken out Helio Castroneves and Vitor Miera which resulted in a harsh exchange of words between the two.

With just a few laps to go it appeared that the race may also grab headlines as Danica Patrick’s first victory as she clearly had the fastest car and was making a good run on both Kanaan and Andretti, but a cut tire meant a last minute pit stop with an eventual seventh place finish for Patrick.

The Top 10 finishers were:

1. Kanaan
2. Andretti
3. Sharp
4. Matsuura
5. Rice
6. Hunter-Reay
7. Patrick
8. Foyt IV
9. Hornish Jr.
10. Dixon

No in car footage this week. Instead a special clip in memory of Bill France Jr. The amazing finish of the 1976 Daytona 500, carried live on TV with commentary by  Jackie Stewart. One of the pivotal moments that helped secure NASCAR’s future as a major television sport.

Current NASCAR driver Robby Gordon during his single seater days racing in the 1994 Indy 500. Watch and wait for the pass in traffic at around the  1:04  mark. It doesn’t get much closer.