NASCAR? In Canada? Les Habitants are ready

Oh, Canada! Does the Great White North understand what it's getting into with Monday's announcement of a Busch Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in August?

A NASCAR race in Montreal? Sacre bleu! That's like a hockey team from North Carolina, of all places, winning the Stanley Cup.

	MARK AUMANN •   E-mail Mark •   Opinion archive

Take off, eh!

After exporting Shania Twain and Celine Dion, Michael J. Fox and Mike Myers, Peter Jennings and Lorne Greene to us, at what point did somebody in Canada decide, "Hey, let's get NASCAR?"

That's like trading Tim Horton's for Krispy Kreme.

I know the country's bilingual and all, but when track organizers heard a France was coming to talk about racing there, did they mistakenly expect a field full of Renaults and Peugeots?

Yes, I'm well aware there are millions of racing fans in Canada. The Canadian flag flies proudly at Michigan Speedway and the Canadian anthem always gets a rousing cheer.

Nearly all my relatives on my mother's side of the family are Canadian. I know how to pronounce Mississauga and Penetanguishene. I can make a mean batch of butter tarts. I own CDs of Great Big Sea, Buddy MacMaster and Sloan.

But still, I have to wonder what all the fuss is all "aboot."

ALSO NASCAR made it official Monday: The Busch Series will race in Montreal in 2007.  "We know we're at the right venue," NASCAR chairman Brian France said of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. "We know that the fan interest in Canada will soon be rewarded with the live NASCAR-style side-by-side racing we're famous for."  •   Complete story, click here •   2007 Busch Series schedule

There's one sport that drives Montreal, and it's not racing. The place is hockey-mad. It always has been.

The Canadiens. Les Habitants. Twenty-four Stanley Cups. The Forum. Jean Beliveau. Jacques Plante. Guy Lafleur. The Rocket, Maurice Richard.

OK, NASCAR has a Rocketman, and Maurice and Richard ... Petty. So I'll give you one, there.

You think NASCAR fans are unruly when they throw seat cushions and trash on the track? When the Rocket was suspended for the rest of the 1955 playoffs for assaulting an official and a Boston player, Canadiens fans rioted in the streets, forcing the Habs to forfeit a game against the Detroit Red Wings.

Still, I think it'll work out just fine.

Aug. 4 falls right in that one week between the the Stanley Cup Finals and the start of NHL training camps. Now, if they can just figure out how to make a Zamboni that goes 150 mph.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.