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CBC
a minute ago
- CBC
Why Formula 1 romances have us racing to the bookstores
When Nova Scotian writer Amy James first attended the Formula One (F1) Canadian Grand Prix in 2019, she brought a book with her, thinking she would be bored for most of the race. By the time they waved the checkered flag, the book had never left her bag, but James left the track a fan for life. Now, six years later, a love for motorsport has inspired her romance novel Crash Test — one of the many books currently on the market that centre around the whizzing world of race cars. Crash Test is a second-chance romance set in the highly intense atmosphere of professional racing. The story centres around Jacob Nichols, who is involved in a massive crash. No one but Travis, the driver currently leading the championship, knows they've been secretly dating for a year. As the races trudge on and tensions grow, their love is tested both on and off the track. James' novel is right at home in a popular new subgenre of F1 romance books published in the past year. Along with titles like Simone Soltani's Cross the Line and Madge Maril's Slipstream, these stories imagine the winding road of an athlete's love life. As an author and a fan, James says she hopes to see more motorsport love stories pop up in bookstores. "Authors are really having fun playing with the traditional romance tropes, but just in the F1 world. I have a feeling that's going to continue to grow as the world's obsession with F1 grows," said James. The phenomenon of sports in romance fiction is not new. According to BookNet Canada's sales data, sports romance was one of the top selling subcategories of romance novels in 2024, accounting for five per cent of total sales in Canadian Romance. However, the majority of sports romances depict sports like hockey or football, with motorsports a more recent addition. James says she wrote Crash Test a year before writing her debut novel, A Five-Letter Word for Love, when F1 romance was not something editors were looking for. Picking the topic hadn't been a conscious decision at first, she says. But as she began to write, James says she quickly realized that F1 itself had all the elements of a thrilling romance. "High stakes, tension, adrenaline — those are the same things that you see in any sport…. I think it lends itself really well to romance novels or fiction in general," she said. Adding to the appeal, F1 takes place in beautiful locations, James said. "They travel all over the world, so you can really pick whatever location you want to." 'It's a soap opera' Long-time F1 fans and commentators have noted an increase in media attention for the sport in recent years, notably due to the popularity of Netflix's Drive to Survive, which has given fans unprecedented access to the personal dramas of the sport that go on past the pitwall. "It's a soap opera," said CBC Montreal's sports journalist Douglas Gelevan. "You talk about novels — it's character building. [Drivers] are characters and we're watching them play out in reality. Speed is one part of F1's appeal, he says, but so is its elite nature. "There's only 20 seats in the entire sport, and to get one and to keep one is so difficult and just the sheer amount of money and spectacle that goes into F1 is intoxicating in a lot of ways." As someone who has been covering F1 in Montreal for many years, he credits Drive to Survive, in part, for the new demographic of gearheads. "[The show] has brought in people who wouldn't have been traditional race fans in a way that has really blown my mind … And it's really peeled back the layers of the onion of the sport that were always there, but really weren't fully understood by the general public in a way that they are now." Canadian TikToker and romance book expert Lu Aburawi is one of the many people who became an F1 fan through the Netflix docu-series. "When I watched Drive to Survive, I thought, 'Whoa, exceptional storytelling.' There's so much more politics behind the money … it's unlike any other sport." Tangling with the tropes While the drama of motorsport lends itself to fiction, Aburawi notes that when it comes to romance books, "it's the responsibility of the author to take F1 as the backdrop and make it interesting," with the added task of representing those within the sport fairly, particularly the gender disparity. In the 75 years of F1 globally, only five women have ever raced in a Grand Prix, and as campaigns to involve more women in motorsport have gained traction, they are seeing themselves reflected in the main character of these novelizations. "A lot of these women who are playing these main characters are trying to be taken seriously. Whether they're journalists or photographers or they work for the team or marketing people, they want to be taken seriously in the industry," said Aburawi. "So what ends up happening is that there's a sense of desperation for them to not fall into their own trope and their own stereotype when [the main character does] date an athlete." Motorsports content creators like Montreal-based Nora Jo, or @norajooo, have even found themselves as the unintentional muse of F1 fiction. "Two years ago, I posted this picture of me in front of a Charles Leclerc car in Monaco and it ended up being the cover of one of the F1 fanfiction[s] … I think there are like two books currently using my name and my picture just casually out there. So sometimes I feel mortified by that fact…." Now with this summer's F1 The Movie, and legions of younger female F1 fans taking to social media to share their love of the sport, it's easier than ever to get introduced to F1. For her part, James says she wrote Crash Test so it would work "both for someone who loves F1 or someone who doesn't know anything about F1 and literally just wants to read a romance novel." As motorsport romance enjoys its heyday, James says she recognizes that trends in publishing move faster than Ferraris and sometimes you just have to appreciate the ride. "If you try to chase trends in publishing I think you will inevitably never catch up because it changes so fast…. Writing a book to actually seeing it on the shelves could be many years, so [it's] just luck. I hope that what I'm writing now becomes the next niche trend."
CBC
31 minutes ago
- CBC
Start-up Grand Slam Track struggling to compensate athletes
Grand Slam Track is struggling to compensate its athletes after pulling its final meet of the year in Los Angeles, CEO Michael Johnson said on Friday, adding that the start-up did not receive funding that had been committed to it. The track circuit lured in top talent with promises of massive paydays in its debut year but was forced to cancel the fourth and final meet on the calendar after trimming back another event in Philadelphia from three to two days. Last month, Front Office Sports reported that Grand Slam Track owed around $13 million US to athletes who had participated. "It is incredibly difficult to live with the reality that you've built something bigger than yourself while simultaneously feeling like you've let down the very people you set out to help," Johnson said in a statement. "We promised that athletes would be fairly and quickly compensated. Yet, here we are struggling with our ability to compensate them." The four-time Olympic gold medallist said the start-up was unable to meet dated payment timelines after it did not receive funding committed to it: "We saw circumstances change in ways beyond our control." Despite this, Johnson said Grand Slam Track has no plans to shut down and would move forward with a 2026 season after its athletes have been paid.
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
SIMMONS: Trader Cliff Fletcher turns 90: Maple Leafs legend still going strong
Everywhere Doug Gilmour and Mats Sundin go, they are associated as members of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Associated for life. Article content Both of them were brought to Toronto by general manager Cliff Fletcher in one-sided deals accomplished by the most astounding big-name and big-game trader in hockey history. Article content Everywhere Lanny McDonald goes, everywhere his moustache is shown across Canada, he is associated with the Calgary Flames, the face of that franchise even though he played just 492 of his 1,111 National Hockey League games there. Article content Article content He was brought to Calgary in 1981, the second season after the club moved from Atlanta, in the deal that enabled Fletcher to begin the reshaping of the transferred franchise. Article content All this — and so much more — will be talked about, laughed about and toasted over as stories will be told on Fletcher's 90th birthday on Saturday with 18 family members and friends gathering for the weekend and longer in Laguna Beach, Calif. Article content 'Has anyone else worked 70 years in the NHL?' asked his son, Chuck Fletcher, who still works as a senior executive with the New Jersey Devils. 'My dad started with the Montreal Canadiens in 1955. He's been drawing an NHL paycheque ever since.' Article content Fletcher is on the current payroll of the Maple Leafs in a role of senior advisor, although he admits it's not much of a role anymore. Article content He has trouble walking and difficulty hearing these days, but no trouble watching hockey, talking hockey, or certainly retelling the stories of his own remarkable Hall of Fame career. Article content Article content 'His memory is incredible,' said Chuck, who has worked in the front office of six NHL teams. 'He can tell you everything. You do all the things that he's done and to have the ability to recall all it in such vivid detail, it's very impressive.' Article content Article content What's impressive is the list of accomplishments for his dad along the way. Trading is almost a lost art in today's salary-capped hockey world. But, when it wasn't, Fletcher was a veritable master of the big deal. Article content He stole Gilmour from Calgary just months after he had left the Flames for the Leafs. He all but stole Sundin for 13 Toronto seasons from Quebec in an emotional exchange for Wendel Clark and others in one of the most difficult trades he ever made. He stole McDonald from what was then the Colorado Rockies to begin the Flames footprint in Alberta. Article content He did a lot of stealing along the way. Article content But that wasn't all. In Calgary, he traded for Hall of Famer Joey Mullen and traded away the Hall of Famer Brett Hull. He traded for Grant Fuhr in Toronto and then dealt the Hall of Fame goalie to Buffalo for Hall of Fame winger Dave Andreychuk. He brought Tie Domi to the Leafs, traded for and traded away Larry Murphy, traded Mike Gartner for Glenn Anderson. Article content He drafted Hall of Fame players Al MacInnis, Joe Nieuwednyk, Mike Vernon, Hull and Sergei Makarov with the Flames, while also bringing borderline Hall players such as Gary Roberts, Gary Suter, Theo Fleury, Kent Nilsson and Paul Reinhart to the NHL. Article content The resume has just one Stanley Cup — the 1989 victory by the Flames — and that seems wrong. It should have more. At least one more from Calgary. And who knows what might have happened had the refereeing turned out differently in the 1993 Leafs playoff series against Los Angeles. Article content Article content But when Fletcher looks back now at so many exceptional deals, he does so with a certain pride and reverence. Article content 'For 2 1/2 years, Gilmour was the best player in the NHL … I thought we brought instant credibility back to the franchise at that time,' Fletcher said in a lengthy telephone interview. Article content 'Lanny gave our franchise credibility (in Calgary) when we had this all-time juggernaut just 180 miles down the road in Edmonton and had to establish something to compete. Article content Article content 'Quebec had Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg as its top two centres. Mats was the third centre on that team and they had just lost a playoff series to Montreal getting outmuscled pretty badly. They needed toughness. They needed someone like Wendel. I always thought the best way to make a trade sometimes was to figure out what your opponent needed to make their roster better and, if worked for both of you, terrific. Article content 'That happened with the Brett Hull trade. I said when we dealt him, that he would score 150 goals the next three seasons. Turned out I was wrong, I think he scored 160. But we wound up winning the Stanley Cup (with Rob Ramage). You never want to trade a player like that away, but that's my only championship and I'll take that deal any day of the week to get a Stanley Cup. Article content 'You know, I was able to trade Brett because we had Joey Mullen, a 50-goal scorer at right wing. We had Hakan Loob, a 50-goal scorer and we had Lanny, all on right wing.' Article content Of all the famous deals made, the one that rarely gets mentioned is a deal close to Fletcher's heart. Article content Article content 'I won't call it my biggest trade, but it might be the most significant,' Fletcher said. Article content In August of 1987, Fletcher acquired defenceman Brad McCrimmon from Philadelphia in exchange for a first- and third-round draft pick. That was before his famous 'Draft Shmaft' line in Toronto became famous. But the importance of the deal remains with Trader Cliff. Article content 'We gave up a lot for Brad McCrimmon, but he did so much for us. He was our leader in the dressing room. He was our leader on the ice and a very physical presence. He ran the room. In a way he ran our team. You can't underestimate what he meant to us. Article content 'The Flames team that won the Cup in '89 had six Hall of Fame players on it, but we were almost eliminated in the first round to Vancouver, who finished 40 points behind us. If Vernon doesn't make two career-like stops in overtime, we're gone — there is no Stanley Cup. After that, we go on to beat L.A. in four, Chicago in five before beating Montreal in six. That's how close it can be between winning and losing. Article content 'In 1986, things were different then. They didn't schedule days off between playoff series. We played St. Louis in the conference finals and went seven games with them, even though we shouldn't have. The final started right after Game 7. We ran out of gas by about Game 3. The way they schedule things today, with more time off, we might have won that year.' Article content That was the year they knocked out the dynastic Edmonton Oilers, interrupting what could have been a run of five straight Stanley Cups. Those were the Oilers of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Fuhr and Paul Coffey. The Oilers they sometimes played 18 times a season. Article content 'You have to understand, we move from Atlanta, we're the nobodies trying to establish ourselves and there's this all-time juggernaut building just down the highway. It was an incredible challenge to build a team that could compete with them, let alone win. Article content 'I'm proud of what we accomplished in Calgary.' Article content The hockey in Alberta in the 80s may have been the greatest NHL hockey ever played. Article content Article content When Fletcher decided to leave the Flames, where he had begun as expansion general manager in Atlanta, after the 1991 season, he thought he would take a year off and enjoy Florida life. Article content Instead, he immediately was sought after by the two wealthiest teams in the NHL. Both the New York Rangers and Leafs offered him front-office control of their hockey operations. He listened to both pitches and he chose Toronto. Article content At the beginning of his second season with the Leafs, his first with full-time Gilmour, his first with Pat Burns coaching, the Blue Jays scored their first of two consecutive World Series victories. Article content 'Toronto was electric back then, sporting wise' said Fletcher, whose two children grew into adults in Toronto. (His daughter Kristy is the COO of the Juno Awards). 'What the Blue Jays did — we respected their operation so much — was incredible. Their excitement became part of our excitement.' Article content As Fletcher gets ready to celebrate his 90th birthday, he knows that Pat Gillick, the architect of those Blue Jays teams, has a birthday coming up in just a few days: 'He's just a few years behind me. I think he's turning 88.' Article content Article content When Fletcher came to Toronto, he got to know one of the board members of the Leafs — including a guy named Ted Rogers. Article content All these years later, Ted has long since passed and the Leafs are corporately owned by Ted's, son Edward. The board Ted was part of was tossed aside when Steve Stavro took ownership control of the Leafs. Article content And Fletcher, who had two different stints as GM, with Stavro and with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, has remained with the team through the past five general managers and, while he doesn't travel much anymore, he doesn't miss a game on television. Article content 'I know how seriously he takes this,' Chuck said. 'I've sat with him for a lot of those Leafs playoff games. And he's a diehard, He's all-in. And that Florida series last year, with all the highs and lows of that series, that was a tough one to get through.'
