Inside Track Motorsport News - Volume 26, Issue 07/08

IN THIS ISSUE

March/April 2023, Volume 26, Issue 07/08

INSIDE News

12 NASCAR Pinty’s Series Series unveils 14-race schedule

32 I.M.C.A. Modifieds

Justin McTavish crowned champion

34 Freiburger Racing Racing family reaches donation milestone

INSIDE Features

10 Canadian Rally Championship

Mailloux and Poirier win Overall title

14 NASCAR Pinty’s Series

Champion: Marc-Antoine Camirand

16 APC United Late Model Series

Champion: J.R. Fitzpatrick

18 Qwick Wick Super Stocks

18

Champion: Pete Vanderwyst

DIRTcar Sportsman Series

Champion: Cody McPherson

19 358 Modified Challenge

Champion: David Hebert

20 OSCAAR Hot Rods and Modifieds

Champions: Steve Book and Andy Kamrath

22 Qwick Wick Great Lakes Legends

Champion: Kenny McNicol

22 Canadian Vintage Modifieds

Champion: T.J. Marshall

24 Ontario Modifieds Racing Series

24

Champion: Alex Cuzzilla

Ontario Outlaw Super Late Model Series

Champion: Glenn Watson

26 Pinty’s Sprint Car Series

28

28

30

Champions: Mitch Brown and Jacob Dykstra

Ontario Pro Challenge Champion: Mike Norris

Canadian Legend Car Series

Champion: Parker Traves

Ontario Midget Series

Champions: Jessica James and Cory Whittam

INSIDE Features

36 Canadian Heads Up Streetcar Shootout

Profiling the 2022 class champions

38 Canadian Connection

Top ten Cdn. drag racing stories of 2022

40 Canadian Drag Racing Hall of Fame

CDRHF honours latest inductees

42 Formula 1

Ferrari versus Red Bull falls flat

46 IndyCar Rookies

Class of 2022 impresses

48 FEL Sports Car Championship

Pfaff wins GT4 title

50 CASC-OR Year in Review

Lafleur and Wang co-overall champions

52 Toyo Tires F1600 Series

Jake Cowden wins closely fought battle

68 Kenny U-Pull Victory Lane

Celebrating 2022 Canadian champions

INSIDE Opinions

04 The Inside Line

Greg MacPherson: Here’s to the champs

08 Shifting Gears

James Neilson: Fast Company

54 Technically Speaking

Larry Holt: Sportscars

58 Looking Back

Dave Mathers: Farewell, Bill Zardo Sr.

Erik Tomas: Unearthing Gems

ON

THE Cover: 2022 Canadian Racing Champions

Photos (clockwise from top left): Steve Traczyk (J.R. Fitzpatrick), Blake Farnan (Paul Bhawan), Richard Coburn (Ted Michalos), Peter Anderson (Cody McPherson), Rob Sztuka (Jérôme Mailloux & Philippe Poirier) and Richard Coburn (Marc Lafleur)

PAGE 10: CANADIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

Photo by Rob Sztuka

By Greg MacPherson

THE INSIDE LINE HERE’S TO THE CHAMPIONS

Motorama. We’ll do our best to shoehorn anyone else in, but as of now, the Racing Zone is full. The following tracks, series and sanctioning bodies have reserved their spots and are looking forward to connecting with fans and racers, at the show:

Welcometo our annual Champions Issue of Inside Track. It’s our last tribute to those who excelled last season, prior to turning our attention to the upcoming campaign. By now, we all know who won titles in 2022. But this is an opportunity to chat with them, gain some insights into why they were successful, and to find out a bit about their plans.

Thanks to the now officially retired Wally Nesbitt for his contributions, as well as to Bryce Turner, who connected with many of the champions who earned short track honours last season.

Congratulations to those who won championships last season and thank you to all who competed and entertained the rest of us.

Not all of the content in the issue is backward looking, as we have the schedules for the NASCAR Pinty’s Series and the APC Late Model Series. Both series are making off-season news and are poised to continue to rebound from the challenges of the pandemic seasons.

And please be sure to see Dave Mathers’ tribute to Bill Zardo Sr., who passed away suddenly a few weeks ago. The legendary stock car driver was a Hall of Famer, who came back to race last season – at the age of 80 – in the OSCAAR Hot Rod series.

It’s hard to overstate the size of the outpouring of emotions and support that followed Zardo’s passing. Once the news became public, it seemed like everyone in the Ontario short track community reacted

on social media, with stories about Zardo and what he meant them.

We offer our condolences to the Zardo / Shepherd racing clan and all their friends.

MOTORAMA

As I write this, we’re about six weeks out from the start of the eBay Motors Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo . The show takes place March 10, 11 & 12 at The International Centre, across from Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

As many of you know, the same company that publishes this magazine also puts on Motorama. You’re also likely aware that the show was cut short, in 2020, on the weekend that the pandemic exploded in North America. Motorama didn’t happen, at all, in 2021.

We were able to put it on last Spring, albeit on a warm weekend at the end of April, that coincided with the start of the Ontario short track racing season. Suffice to say, however, we’re ecstatic to be heading back to our traditional mid-March weekend – at the start of March Break – where it has been for most of its almost 50 years, albeit under several names.

I’m also pleased to report the Inside Track RacingZonePresentedbyStoneridgeSpecialtyInsurance is going to rock!

It turns out, the racing community is as excited about the show as we are. Never before have so many tracks, series and racers signed up, this far in advance, to be part of

British Auto Racing Club (BARC), Canada Heads-Up Drag Racing Series, Canadian Automobile Sport Clubs – Ontario Region (CASC-OR), Canadian Vintage Modifieds (CVM), Flamboro Speedway, Full Throttle Motor Speedway, Great Lakes Legends Series, NASCAR Pinty’s Series, Ohsweken Speedway, Ontario Sportsman Series (OSS), Peterborough Speedway, Sauble Speedway, Southern Ontario Modifieds Association (SOMA), Sunset Speedway, Toronto Motorsports Park (TMP) and the United Racing Series (including the APC Late Model Series, Qwick Wick Super Stocks, OSCAAR Modifieds and Hot Rods).

Similarly, the Racers’ Corral is sold out. All of the spots have been reserved, and will be filled with beautiful stock cars, drag cars and road racing cars, all set to take to the tracks in the weeks following the show.

Others exhibiting in or near the Racing Zone include racing equipment and clothing manufacturers and vendors, as well as companies selling collectibles and models.

Adding to the racing content is the Fast Eddie Night ofChampions . It takes place Saturday, March 11 on the main stage, in Hall 2. Starting in the late afternoon, racers who won championships last season, will be honoured, on-stage, in front of a packed crowd of family and team members, friends and fellow racers.

The Road Racing Night of Champions is first, followed by the Drag Racing champs, and then the Short Track champs (asphalt and dirt). To be eligible, the individual must have won a season-long points championship at a Canadian weekly track or in a touring series. As well, Canadians who won titles abroad are also able to register.

Upwards of 150 champions are expected. It’s an incredible, unique event, that – to our knowledge – doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world of racing. For more info, and to sign-up, go to MotoramaShow.com. IT

The Racing Zone, at Toronto Motorama, will be busier than ever before! Photo by Dave Franks

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PRI SHOW 2022

In mid-December, the racing community once again came together in Indianapolis, Indiana for the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show. Featuring more than 1,000 exhibitors showcasing their newest racing-related products and technology, the show is a must for industry members and racers looking to remain competitive.

PRI reports that the event drew “tens of thousands of dedicated professionals to the Racing Capital of the World.” For the first time, the show was an exclusive event for individuals with PRI memberships.

In addition to exhibitor displays, the Indiana Convention Center and the nearby Lucas Oil Stadium also played host to educational seminars, meetings, networking events, advocacy activities, VIP appearances, and autograph signings throughout all three days (December 8–10) of the Show. The next edition of the PRI Trade Show takes place December 7-9, 2023, in Indianapolis. Story

and Photos by Greg MacPherson, with files from PRI IT

SHIFTING GEARS

By James Neilson

FASTCOMPANY

SometimesI get overwhelmed with the volume of streaming content available online and end up browsing for hours, adding things to my watch list, and never actually watching anything. I can’t think of anything more counterproductive, but sometimes my aimless meandering uncovers a gem or two, and recently I discovered a 1979 Canadian movie named Fast Company , which piqued my interest.

It’s a drag racing film starring William Smith, who most notably played Conan’s father in Conan the Barbarian (1982), as well as having roles in films like Anyone Which Way You Can (1980) and Red Dawn (1984).

Smith’s character, Lonnie ‘Lucky Man’ Johnson, steals his team owner’s race car after he is replaced by a younger rival. John Saxon, star of Enter the Dragon (1973) alongside Bruce Lee, plays the team owner, Phil Adamson.

The film also features an early performance by Nicholas Campbell, who starred in the Canadian television series Da Vinci’s Inquest Shot in Alberta, the drag racing scenes were filmed at Edmonton International Raceway, but the most surprising part for me was who directed it. None other than Canadian horror master David Cronenberg directed the film in the same year as his horror classic The Brood and just two years before he went on to make the iconic Scanners (1981). Turns out Cronenberg is a car enthusiast and has even competed in vintage races.

“I’m a vintage racer myself,” he told The Independent in a 1997 interview while promoting the film Crash . “I race old cars from the 1950s and early 1960s in events for old guys who couldn’t afford those cars when they were younger.”

I guess it shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise since the aforementioned Crash was all about people getting sexual gratification in cars after crashing them, but that is way more in line with Cronenberg’s other films, while Fast Company seems like such an outlier. I kept waiting for someone’s head to explode or some other kind of body horror to happen, but it’s just a straight-ahead, well made drag racing movie with great visuals and excellent performances.

Fast Company is available on Tubi and is very well-reviewed, scoring an 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

DONNA CASTLEDINE

In December I heard the shocking news that Lincoln Electric Rally of the Tall Pines Routemaster Donna Castledine suddenly passed away. Donna lent her invaluable support to every Tall Pines Rally since 1971 and, personally, I worked with her on every event program Inside Track produced for the rally since I started with the magazine. I can definitively say we would never have completed any of them without her input and experience.

My deepest condolences to her family and friends. It won’t be the same working on the next program without her. IT

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For more than 50 years, the Lincoln Electric Rally of the Tall Pines in Bancroft, ON has been known as one of the toughest single-day events in the sport. The 2022 edition lived up to expectations. Under clear skies and unseasonably warm temperatures, 23 teams lined up to tackle sixteen stages featuring a mix of hard-packed gravel, snow and ice.

From the start, Test Racing’s Jerome Mailloux and Philippe Poirier were the favourites to win the event. They were looking for redemption after their 2021 championship run was derailed by these stages. Despite a focus on endurance over outright speed, they set the pace early in their wide-body Subaru WRX STI, building a lead of over a minute by the afternoon service. But a repeat of the gearbox issues from the previous event left Mailloux working with only fifth

Story Courtesy Carsrally.ca

JEROME MAILLOUX AND PHILIPPE POIRIER WIN RALLY OF THE TALL PINES AND OVERALL TITLE

gear for the remainder of the event. In the face of this adversity, the lead Test Racing driver showed his true talents, defending his position and increasing his overall lead by the end of the rally. Mailloux and Poirier took home the win and maximum championship points.

Another team looking for redemption, this time following a rally-ending gearbox failure at Rallye de Charlevoix, Alexandre Moreau and Ian Guité hit the stages determined to make it to the finish of the event. A battle quickly developed between Moreau, Martel, Drake, and Besner, the four drivers separated by just over twelve seconds after the first loop of stages. But as the day wore on and fatigue set in, Moreau managed fewer mistakes than his competitors, moving his Subaru up to second overall. Despite a hard push from Martel in the final loop of stages, Moreau and Guité prevailed, taking a well-earned second place.

Olivier Martel was back with usual co-driver Vincent Hubert for the Rally of the Tall Pines, and they made it their mission to not only finish this tough rally, but to better their fourth-place result from 2021. It was clear from the start that they were firmly in the hunt for the overall podium. Electrical problems prevented them from hitting maximum pace through the mid-day stages, but when the sun went down, Martel went to work. The team hustled their green BMR Subaru to the fastest times on the final three stages of the rally, accomplishing their mission by earning third place overall.

The Production All-Wheel-Drive class saw an intense battle between Trevor Pougnet and Matthew Ballinger, with the two Subaru WRX’s trading stage times back-and-forth throughout the entire event and posting several top-three overall stage finishes. After nearly two hours of competitive stages, Pougnet and co-driver, Ryan Rouleau, emerged the class victors by just 1.4 seconds.

In the Two-Wheel-Drive class, there was a clear star at the Lincoln Electric Rally of the Tall Pines, and that was the team of Kurtis Duddy and Matthieu Toupin. Fresh off the class win at the attrition-filled Rallye de Charlevoix, they applied the same long-game strategy to the stages in Bancroft. Despite maintaining a conservative pace, they won every stage, taking the win by nearly eight minutes over Charles Hammer and Guillaume Dozois. Crawford New and Zvonimir Bracika rounded out the Two-Wheel-Drive podium.

BIG WHITE WINTER RALLY

The season finale of the 2022 Canadian Rally Championship saw dramatic action in ideal winter conditions at the Big White Winter Rally. High snowbanks and fresh snow greeted competitors for the one-day event on the roads around Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna, BC. The event featured a morning loop of stages, followed by night-time action on one of the longest stages in the Canadian championship, featuring 36 kilometres flat out through tight snowbanks and hairpin turns.

Matt Dickinson, and co-driver Chris Kremer, were first on the road in their Subaru WRX STI. This was the American driver’s first time rallying on snow, with the intent to gain experience for the US season opener in February. Showing consistency and impressive speed right out of the gate, Dickinson took an early lead after the first loop of four stages and never looked back. By the end of the rally, the team won overall by a margin of nearly four minutes.

Relative newcomers to the sport, Ian Fry and Wesley Haas, held a solid grasp on second place throughout the event, until it all unravelled in the deep forest Gem-Falcon stage. Stranding their Subaru Legacy in a snowbank, the team lost minutes and tumbled off the podium.

This promoted experienced West Coast rally competitors, Ken Wawryk and Daniel Norkus up to second overall after driving a smart

rally to equal their best result. Despite his rally experience, it was Wawryk’s first time competing at Big White, and he successfully fended off several attacks by Roger Sieber through the midday stages.

Building up their speed throughout the morning, Sieber and co-driver, Garrett Mealing, stepped up their charge midday, knowing that any attrition ahead could put them in prime position to capitalize. When Fry went off, their consistency paid off to claim their first National podium.

In the Two-Wheel-Drive class, the anticipated battle between 2022 Class Champion Nick Wood and Dave Clark fizzled out on Stage 2 when Wood suffered power steering failure and his car was sucked into a snowbank. With a clear lead in the class early on, Dave Clark had to keep a calm head and keep his rear-wheel-drive BMW between the snowbanks. After claiming podium spots before at this event, Clark and rookie co-driver, Lisa Long climbed onto the top step of the podium for the first time. Behind them, a last stage drama saw Garth Ankeny spin and lose time, dropping them from second in class to third behind Matt and Dan

The Big White Winter Rally was the final round of the 2022 Canadian Rally Championship and offered double points, but no one could use that bonus to unseat Jerome Mailloux and Philippe Poirier, the 2022 overall Canadian Rally Championship winners, while Nick Wood claimed the 2WD Driver title. The eight-round 2023 Canadian Rally Championship kicks off again at Rallye Perce-Neige on February 4 in Maniwaki, QC. IT

Jerome Mailloux and Philippe Poirier, the 2022 overall Canadian Rally Championship winners, put on a masterclass performance at the Rally of the Tall Pines. Photos by Rob Sztuka

Bobyn.

(Above) Jerome Mailloux and Philippe Poirier (middle) celebrate their victory at the 2022 Lincoln Electric Rally of the Tall Pines. Photos by Rob Sztuka

NPS UNVEILS SCHEDULE

Twin races on the dirt of Ohsweken Speedway scheduled in August

APC CALENDAR ANNOUNCED

In early December, the United Racing Series (URS) released the 2023 schedule for its elite APC Late Model Series. The big news is that the tour, which has put on 100-lap feature races since its inception in 2015, will feature several longer races, this season.

The move, according to the press release published by URS, is in response to requests from the racers, teams and fans. While the bulk of the races will continue to be 100-lap events, three marquee features will see an increase. Sunset and Sauble will host 150-lap races, while the season-ending, championship-deciding race at Delaware will stretch out to 200 laps.

Story by Greg MacPherson

In mid-January, NASCAR unveiled its 2023 schedule for the NASCAR Pinty’s Series. The tour will consist of a record 14 races, at 11 facilities, in five Canadian provinces.

For the most part, the schedule looks very similar to last year, but a notable change is that Ohsweken Speedway – which hosted the tour’s first-ever dirt race, last summer – will have two races in 2023. They will take place on consecutive days (Monday, August 14 and Tuesday, August 15).

Last year’s dirt debut at Ohsweken –delayed two years by the pandemic – generated largely rave reviews from the racers and fans. Also returning to the schedule for a second year, is Eastbound International Speedway, in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In NASCAR’s press release about 2023, NASCAR Canada GM Tony Spiteri noted, “The NASCAR Pinty’s Series has delivered great racing and exciting events across Canada for 16 years and next season will be our best one yet.

“Last year was an overwhelming success for everybody associated with the Pinty’s Series with increased interest from fans, competitors and potential partners. The 2023 schedule will continue to deliver the thrilling side-by-side racing that defines NASCAR and the Pinty’s Series.”

Looking ahead, Spiteri told Inside Track, “Our real focus, now, is for our schedule to feature ‘events’ and not just races. On the technical, competition and marketing side, we’re looking at our schedule with a longterm vision, trying to figure out, ‘what are the key events that will become destinations

for people?’

“Our commitment is to have the 2024 schedule available before this coming July. You’ll be hearing things about some different tracks we’re looking at, but our real focus is on ‘events.’”

Talking about the continued rebound in car counts, following COVID, Spiteri added, “Questions about car counts are a thing of the past. If you talk to the teams and builders, the consensus is that business is brisk. There are a lot of new cars being built and some new teams are set to come to the series. I believe the car count is going to be extremely strong this year, especially at our marquee events.”

The season opens at Sunset Speedway (May 13) for the fourth consecutive year and concludes at Delaware Speedway (September 24). The schedule will once again offer a diverse challenge, with seven short track oval races, five road course / street races and two dirt track races.

Other highlights of the 2023 schedule include:

• Street course events in Toronto and the 53rd annual Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières (GP3R).

• Two races at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP), including the traditional Victoria Day weekend race on May 21, and the series’ penultimate race, on September 3.

• The mid-season ‘Western Swing’ will bring three races to Alberta and Saskatchewan, one at Edmonton International Raceway and twin features at Sutherland Automotive Speedway (Saskatoon).

All 2023 races will air on TSN and RDS. IT

Commenting on the change, URS President Luke Ramsay said, “Adding three extra-lap races – along with the six 100-lap events – will be exciting for our fans and competitors. We feel it’s a great time to continue to evolve as a series, as long as it makes sense for all involved. These events will add different strategies and will also give our fans a little variety. We can’t wait to get going.”

The series will kick-off on its familiar Victoria Day long weekend (May 20) at Sunset Speedway. This race will be 150 laps. From there, the APC series goes on a summer stretch of four, 100-lap events, beginning at Flamboro Speedway (June 10). A week later (June 17), the tour heads to Peterborough Speedway, followed by Delaware (July 1), before returning to Flamboro for its second and final APC date of the summer (July 15).

Next, the series heads north to ‘The Beach’ where Sauble Speedway will host its first of two races (August 5 and August 26), the first of which is 150laps, in length. Sandwiched between the Sauble dates is Sunset’s second APC race of 2023, on August 12.

The tour concludes on September 23 at Delaware Speedway, with the 200-lap race that will likely determine the championship.

In other news, the Qwick Wick Super Stock Series’ five-race schedule for 2023 was also recently released. It consists of races at Peterborough (June 17), Delaware (June 30/September 22), and Sunset (August 12). IT

(Above) On the heels of its successful debut last season, Ohsweken will host a pair of NPS races on consecutive August nights this year. Photo by Dave Franks

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MARC-ANTOINE CAMIRAND

VETERAN ACHIEVES DREAM NPS TITLE IN 2022

Story by Bryce Turner

Achieving one dream led Marc-Antoine Camirand to achieve another during the 2022 NASCAR Pinty’s Series (NPS) season. The St-Léonard D’Aston, QC driver changed his racing plans partway through the off-season, deciding to start a team with Jean-Claude Paillé, whose GM Paillé dealership sponsored him since 2016.

“I did have my own team when I was running in smaller series, like F1600 and GT car, but on that level, it was always a dream for me to have my own stuff,” said Camirand.

The team went to work building all aspects of a racing operation, hiring two-time champion crew chief Robin McCluskey. After a few months, the new Paillé Racing effort unloaded for the NPS opener, in midMay at Sunset Speedway. They tested at the 1/3-mile oval just days before the race but thought that the car was not totally ready.

“Let’s go to Sunset and try to survive, to finish the race,” said Camirand. “We showed up at Sunset and the car was really fast in practice…we said ‘oh, maybe the car’s going to be good, we’ll see what’s going to happen for the race’ and we qualified fifth and, after 20-25 laps, the car was crazy fast.”

Camirand led a race-high 203 laps and finished fourth at Sunset. After a tough 14th-place result at CTMP, the team had another strong outing on an oval, leading 92 laps and finishing runner-up at Autodrome Chaudière, despite a pit road penalty at the halfway break. The series then made its inaugural trip to Newfoundland, where Camirand led 138 laps en route to the victory at Eastbound Speedway. His next win came two races later, when the series started its western swing at Edmonton International Raceway.

Comparing the two wins, Camirand says that Edmonton was a turning point. Following rule changes made by the series, Camirand said that teams had an agreement to make just a few modifications due to the short turnaround; however, his crew was told at technical inspection that they’d have to make additional changes.

“We went in the parking lot to make the modifications to the back of the car, brought the car back just in time for qualifying,” said Camirand. “That win was huge, that was a team win for sure, we were not expecting that…that was one of the biggest wins of my career.”

Edmonton was the start of a dominant stretch that saw Camirand record five podiums and six top-five finishes in the last eight races. He returned to victory lane in the penultimate race, at CTMP, which gave the team full control in the standings.

They qualified on the pole before leading the most laps, which, along with the win, gave them maximum points. Camirand took a 33-point lead into the Delaware Speedway finale, where he clinched his first career championship by just starting the race.

“Even though we were really close to winning the championship,

it was not a done deal in my mind, the season was not over, let’s get through that last race and after that we can say that we’re the champion and enjoy it with the team and my family,” he said.

Camirand finished ninth at Delaware, capping off a season where he had a career-best three wins, seven podiums, nine top-five finishes, 803 laps led and a 5.6 average finish. He says the team didn’t expect to be that good so quickly and gives a lot of credit to his Paillé Racing crew.

“I think it was the best (year) of my racing career, to put that together, build two cars during the off-season, it was a crazy number of hours,” said Camirand. “The team did a hell of a job to do that, I’m really proud of the team.”

Having achieved his dream of winning a championship at this level, Camirand and his Paillé Racing crew are already hard at work preparing to defend their title in 2023. IT

(Above) Marc-Antoine Camirand earned three wins and seven podiums on the way to the 2022 NASCAR Pinty’s Series title. Photos by Steve Traczyk

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J.R. FITZPATRICK’S ENCORE

MATURING RACER WINS SECOND APC TITLE

Story by Bryce Turner

Witha re-kindled love for racing, J.R. Fitzpatrick ended 2022 with his second career APC Series championship. Fitzpatrick started the year with a fourth-place finish at Sunset Speedway, before grabbing three straight wins, at Flamboro, Peterborough and Delaware speedways. He considers Flamboro to be his home track and wasn’t too surprised about his first two victories, but he didn’t see the Delaware win coming, after surviving a late-race crash right behind him.

“When you win one you think ‘that’s good, I stayed out of all the trouble, had a good car,’” said Fitzpatrick. “Then you win the second and you’re like ‘oh, maybe we got lucky,’ then the third, you’re like ‘holy crap, we’re really on a roll.’”

Fitzpatrick gained a reputation for being an overly-aggressive driver early in his career, when he raced in CASCAR and the NASCAR Pinty’s Series (NPS), but his 2022 season saw more of a balance between aggression and patience.

The Cambridge, ON driver decided to start racing more conservatively after his early season success, to avoid putting himself in a bad spot in the championship battle. But after a fourth-place at Flamboro, that mindset changed with a rough day at the beach.

Fitzpatrick was battling with race leader Ryan Kimball at Sauble Speedway when he made contact with the left-rear of Kimball’s car, sending Kimball spinning. The series penalized Fitzpatrick by sending him to the rear; the driver battling back to finish tenth. Fitzpatrick felt that the conservative driving style ended up hurting him in that race, so the pressure was on for the next event, at Sunset.

“We went to Sunset on full attack-mode and, sure enough, we won that,” said Fitzpatrick. “Then we went back to Sauble and all we had to do was keep (Kyle Steckly) in front of us or behind us…sure enough, we go to Sauble, and the exact same situation happened to him that happened to me.”

Fitzpatrick finished third at Sauble, while Steckly made contact with another driver and finished 11th. That gave Fitzpatrick a comfortable points cushion entering the finale, at Delaware, where a blistered tire caused some stress as the laps wound down.

He started eighth and ran inside the top-five for most of the race before dealing with vibrations, which felt like a flat tire.

“The wheel was shaking so bad and I started thinking about everything,” said Fitzpatrick. “I started counting down myself, how many laps to go, and it takes forever when you’re waiting. I knew, with one to go, Kyle was one or two (spots) in front of me and I knew we would be fine, even if the tire did blow out, I could’ve made it still.”

By moving over every time that another driver got close, Fitzpatrick nursed the car home in seventh-place, good enough to clinch the title. The accomplishment was even more special after a rough 2021 season.

“Last year, with the season I had, I fell out of love for racing,” said Fitzpatrick. “I was frustrated, I felt like maybe I lost my passion for the sport a little bit, spending all the money and the time and just having no result, so it definitely affected me quite a bit.”

Thanks to the help of Taylor Holdaway, the spark was re-ignited in Fitzpatrick.

“When (Holdaway) called me to give feedback on his program, it really brought my spirit and passion back to life for racing because I just had a ton of fun and he was a great guy to be with,” said Fitzpatrick. “It just reminded me of what racing’s all about. It’s a community, it’s a family and it was all worth it; I’m really glad I came back.”

Fitzpatrick says he’ll defend his title in the APC Series next season, while he also hopes to do some road racing. He added that he’s always trying to find his way back into an NPS car. IT

(Above) After a difficult 2021 season, J.R. Fitzpatrick bounced back in 2022 and was rewarded with a second APC LMS title. Photos by Steve Traczyk

QWICK WICK, DIRTCAR & MORE

CELEBRATING CHAMPIONS ON ASPHALT AND DIRT

PETE VANDERWYST – QWICK WICK SUPER STOCKS

PeteVanderwyst completed an intense five-race schedule by winning the second official Qwick Wick Super Stock Series championship. The St. Thomas, ON driver started the season with finishes of fourth at Flamboro Speedway and fifth at Peterborough Speedway, before encountering issues in the middle race of the season, at Delaware Speedway.

“We had tested, we were in really good shape, then we had a rightfront spring collapse,” said Vanderwyst. “(That) was really disheartening for us, being our home track, we would’ve run really well there.”

Vanderwyst finished eighth in that event, where tire management became another challenge. The team wrecked a tire in that race but wasn’t allowed to replace it due to a tire shortage, which he says caused issues for a lot of drivers.

Following another eighth-place result, at Sunset Speedway, Vanderwyst entered the Delaware finale in a tight championship battle; he was third in the standings, despite being just two points back of leader Gerrit Tiemersma.

Vanderwyst ran second for most of the race, leading eight laps before crossing the start-finish line in the runner-up position. He was later credited with the win, after Rick Spencer-Walt was disqualified.

“(We had) a top-10 in all the races, finished all the laps and we were fortunate enough to end up on top,” said Vanderwyst. “At the end of the day, the goal at the beginning of the season was to win as many races as we could and let the points fall where they’d fall.”

While he doesn’t worry much about points when he’s racing, it doesn’t mean the championship was no big deal.

“It was a great feeling; it was a great accomplishment for our whole team and the program that we put together,” said Vanderwyst.

Vanderwyst plans to defend his title next season, while also running some of the specials.

CODY MCPHERSON – DIRTCAR SPORTSMAN SERIES

A strong Super DIRT Week performance highlighted a second DIRTcar Sportsman Series championship for Cody McPherson.

The St. Catharines, Ont. driver got off to a rough start in the Fall Championships portion of the schedule, at Fulton Speedway, before starting the prestigious Super DIRT Week with a win at Weedsport Speedway. He then led every lap of the Chevy Performance 75 at Oswego Speedway, the main Sportsman Series event during Super DIRT Week.

“When we got wrecked at Fulton, it put us behind the eight ball, we lost our points lead and lost a bunch of points to other drivers,” said McPherson. “Definitely made us work harder. We knew we had to have a good DIRT Week to even have a chance at the championship and, luckily, we had a good DIRT Week.”

A fourth-place result in the next race, back on home turf at the Brockville Fall Nationals, clinched the Sportsman Series title for McPherson.

“It felt great; winning (the championship) just proved that all the hard work paid off and that we were the best of the best,” he said.

Stories by Bryce Turner

McPherson finished 17 points ahead of Zach Sobotka, on the strength of 16 feature wins across the Fall Championships, Western Region and the Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly events. While he won the championship in 2012, there are a couple of key differences between the two titles.

“This is a first for me as being my own car owner,” he said. “Back then it was (also) more of a travelling series…this one was a little bit harder because you had to make sure you performed in your region shows; you want to max out on all your bonus points.”

McPherson says he’ll probably run a similar schedule next season, sticking with DIRTcar Sportsman.

KEVIN TREVELLIN – ONTARIO SPORTSMAN SERIES

It was a dream season for Kevin Trevellin in the Ontario Sportsman Series (OSS). The veteran racer entered 2022 searching for the first touring series victory of his 30-plus year career. After four top-five finishes in the first five races, he broke through for that maiden win at Peterborough Speedway.

“I had discussions with Mike McColl about some setup stuff…and I wasn’t too far off from where they would be,” said Trevellin. “I just made a few little adjustments and, at Peterborough, we were able to put four brand new tires on, which is something that I can rarely afford and haven’t done in a long time.”

While that first win was special, the people he knew at the track made it a little more meaningful when he scored his second career victory in the next race, at Delaware Speedway. He continued to reach new heights in his racing career just two events later, when he clinched his first touring series title.

“It was amazing; I’ve been at this for so long, (there were) so many disappointments and it was quite the relief to win,” he said. “I’ve got a picture of myself sitting on the car and I couldn’t believe it, everything just went so well the last part of the season, it was just wild.”

Trevellin says he’ll defend his OSS title next season, in the same car, and he’s also rebuilding his super stock for Delaware Speedway action. While it’s been a long time since his CASCAR debut in 1992, he finally enters an off-season as a champion.

“I’ve been told numerous times that I should just quit, give up – you don’t do very well,” he said. “Don’t ever give up on what you want… keep your passion up, keep trying, because one day you’ll persevere.”

DAVID HEBERT – 358 MODIFIED CHALLENGE

David Hebert won the inaugural 358 Modified Quebec-Ontario Challenge championship, in what could be considered a long-awaited title defense. Hebert was competitive out of the gate, winning the first event of the five-race schedule, held during the Quebec Bowl Weekend at Autodrome Granby. He then had his worst result of the season, finishing eighth at Cornwall Motor Speedway.

Runner-up finishes at Le RPM Speedway and Autodrome Drummond gave Hebert a five-point lead over Steve Bernier entering the finale, at Brockville Ontario Speedway. He finished third in the Brockville Fall Nationals event to clinch the championship.

Hebert credits consistency as his key to success, having finished on the podium in all but one race. He says that he’s considered a competitive driver at every event and that he had an excellent season overall, with 13 wins across various series.

Bernier finished fourth in the finale, capping off a season where both drivers had one win and four top-five finishes, finishing next to each other in every race. When asked about the biggest challenge that he overcame in his championship battle, Hebert cited the competition in the series.

“To fight race after race with Steve Bernier, who is always a great competitor and hard to beat,” said Hebert.

While this was the series’ first season, it’s not completely new. The promoters of the five tracks on the schedule decided to launch the tour after the return of the Canadian 358 Modified Series, which had not seen action in the last 13 years, was delayed to 2023.

Hebert won the last title in that formerly named Lucas Oil Canadian DIRT Series in 2009, following championships in 2006 and 2008. The Quebec driver says he’ll race at his local tracks in 2023, while competing in some big shows at various tracks. IT

(Opposite page) Qwick Wick Super Stock champion Peter Vanderwyst. (Top) DIRTcar Sportsman Series champion Cody McPherson. (Middle) Ontario Sportsman Series champion Kevin Trevellin. (Above) 358 Modified Challenge champion David Hebert. Photos by Dave Franks (opposite page), Alex & Helen Bruce (top), Jime Clarke (middle) and Rick Young (above)

OSCAAR HOT RODS & MODS

2022 CHAMPIONS STEVE BOOK AND ANDY KAMRATH

ANDY KAMRATH – OSCAAR MODIFIED

Andy Kamrath recorded eight wins and a runner-up finish in 11 OSCAAR Modified races – but that stat line doesn’t tell the full story of his championship season. After three straight wins to start the year, a wreck at Delaware Speedway left Kamrath with two broken toes and a heavily damaged car.

With another race scheduled for the next day, a pair of crew members came to the rescue, driving almost all night to drop off that car and pick up a loaner. Kamrath battled through the adversity to finish sixth in that race. The task then switched to repairing the wrecked car, with less than three weeks to go before the next event, at his home track of Sunset Speedway. Finding time to work in the shop, including doing a proper maintenance program, was a challenge for Kamrath all season.

“I work a full-time job, I’ve got a business to run with 200 employees and I don’t pay anybody to work on my car,” he said. “So just finding that time between the work-life balance...that was probably one of the bigger challenges.”

Despite the task at hand, Kamrath knew that he had no excuses after the efforts of his crew members on that Delaware weekend. With a rebuilt car ready to be unloaded at the next event, he returned to victory lane, putting his season back in the right direction.

The dominant close to the year gave Kamrath his first OSCAAR Modifieds championship, in his second full season. It’s also his first title anywhere in racing.

Turner STEVE BOOK – OSCAAR HOT RODS SERIES

Steve Book capped off a consistent season with his second consecutive Qwick Wick OSCAAR Hot Rods championship. Book had a win and seven top-five finishes in 12 races. While his worst result of the season was a finish of 22nd in race three, at Sunset Speedway, it was the hard work of his crew that was key to his success, allowing him to limit those bad results.

“When we got collected in the spin with Rob Bromley (at Delaware Speedway) it broke some stuff on my car, brakes and power steering,” said Book. “(The crew) got me back out on the lead lap, because of that caution, and we gained a bunch of positions back and I think that was a key.”

Book’s lone win came in the only standalone Hot Rods event, in mid-August at Brighton Speedway. His success on that track has been surprising, as he doesn’t consider himself a dirt racer.

“I’ve got a lot of luck at Brighton. We’ve been there four times since I’ve been running the series and I have three feature wins there,” he said. “I think the fact the track is slick and we don’t have an abundance of power, it actually helps at that particular track.”

Another highlight of that race was his father Ralph driving a race car for the first time in over 20 years; he finished ninth in a second car prepared by Steve. The two had raced against each other before, but the return of Steve’s “racing hero” made his championship season all the more special.

Book also pointed out the level of competition in the 2022 OSCAAR Hot Rods season, which had eight different winners. He plans to defend his title and is putting a new body on his Studebaker for the 2023 season.

“It felt pretty good, it’s something we’ve been wanting for 23 years,” he said. “Being able to get that done, it’s definitely a big relief.”

Kamrath is unsure of his 2023 plans but expects them to include racing locally at Sunset. IT

Stories by Bryce

(Left) OSCAAR Hot Rod champion Steve Book. (Below) OSCAAR Modified champion Andy Kamrath. Photos by Rod Henderson (left) and Dave Franks (below)

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MCNICOL AND MARSHALL

GREAT LAKES LEGENDS AND CVM CHAMPIONS

Stories by Bryce Turner KENNY MCNICOL

–

QWICK WICK GREAT LAKES LEGENDS

It was a year full of firsts for Kenny McNicol in the inaugural season of the Qwick Wick Great Lakes Legends Series (GLLS). The Exeter, Ont. driver started the season by winning the first race, at Grand Bend Speedway, in a Dan Russ Motorsports car.

“It was good to be able to jump into another car, that wasn’t mine, and be able to go out and win,” said McNicol. “We had good equipment.”

McNicol followed that up with a win in race two, also at Grand Bend. The GLLS then visited the dirt track of Southern Ontario Motor Speedway and the road course at Grand Bend Motorplex, where McNicol continued his strong start with finishes of second and third.

While he did not return to victory lane, McNicol continued to run consistently well, recording three additional podium finishes en route to the championship.

The penultimate race of the year, at Flamboro Speedway, was another highlight of the season. It was a unique opportunity for McNicol, as he was able to compete against the other three members of his immediate family in the same Legends event for the first time.

He finished third in that race, ahead of daughter Hailey McNicol (14th), stepson Zach Hatch (15th) and fiancée Jennifer Hatch (DNF). Kenny says the support of his family and team was key to his success this season.

“My fiancée and my kids, they supported me 100 percent,” he said. “And I couldn’t have done it without Dan Russ Motorsports and Rob Indig. They supplied the car and brought a good piece to the track every weekend for me.”

While he’s won a championship before, McNicol says the inaugural GLLS title ranks near the top of his list of career achievements. He plans to continue Legend car racing next season.

T.J. MARSHALL – CANADIAN VINTAGE MODIFIEDS

T.J. Marshall ended the Canadian Vintage Modifieds (CVM) season with his third series championship. The Brantford, ON driver had a dominant campaign, with a pair of fourth-place finishes in the first five features marking his worst results of the season. He went on to record 10 victories and 23 podiums in 25 features that he ran.

Marshall says that keeping the nose clean, keeping the wheels on the car and completing every lap were the keys to his success. While he consistently found victory lane, he did notice that drivers who joined in recent years were getting harder to beat.

“As they’ve been improving, working on their cars, working on their driving skills, they’ve been getting more challenging,” said Marshall. “The competition level’s getting better over time; that’s probably the biggest challenge, which is great for the series and great for spectators.”

Marshall says that the return of regular racing to Flamboro Speedway, where the CVM runs their full schedule, helped to build up the second lane last season, making passing easier and changing how drivers’ race.

Despite increased competition, Marshall considered himself a title favourite early on, with his lengthy experience in the series.

“Not to sound arrogant, but probably from the start, having the incumbent advantage – I’ve been with the club for 10 years,” he said. “I think we have a fairly well-sorted program…if we weren’t going out there to try to win week-in and week-out, I don’t know what the point would be.”

Marshall acknowledged that a fast car doesn’t always equal winning races, citing a rough 2021 season. He says that it’s easy to give up points but hard to make up points.

He’s building a new car for the 2023 CVM season and hopes to race in two to three OSCAAR Modifieds events. IT

(Below) Qwick Wick Great Lakes Legends champion Kenny McNicol. (Right) Canadian Vintage Modifieds champion T.J. Marshall. Photos by Peter Anderson

MODIFIED AND SLM CHAMPS

ALEX CUZZILLA AND GLENN WATSON TRIUMPH IN 2022

Stories by Bryce Turner ALEX CUZZILLA – ONTARIO MODIFIEDS RACING SERIES

Itwas a meaningful season for Alex Cuzzilla in the Ontario Modifieds Racing Series (OMRS). The Nestleton, ON. driver recorded a feature win and five runner-up finishes in 11 races to secure his first OMRS championship, in his second full season. He also completed every lap.

His win came in the inaugural Bill Pickford Memorial, a twin-feature event at Peterborough Speedway that honoured the long-time competitor and former official, who passed away in 2019. Cuzzilla led all 30 laps of the first feature and was tied for the overall event win with John Baker Jr. and Chad Strawn.

In addition to it being a notable event, it was also a turning point for Cuzzilla.

“It was near the end of the season and I was slowly starting to lose confidence, that I wasn’t going to be able to bring home a checkered flag during the season,” said Cuzzilla. “That definitely boosted my confidence and gave me a better pathway to follow to be able to win the championship.”

Cuzzilla says that handling issues faced by the team throughout the season were a challenge, but that their communication and time in the shop were keys to their success.

The championship was also meaningful for the family as it came on the anniversary of Alex’s grandfather, the late Tom Cuzzilla Sr., winning a title at Pinecrest Speedway.

“It was a great year to win it…it’s the 50th anniversary of my grandfather winning his first championship,” said Alex. “There were a lot of number 50s this year and it was very coincidental how it all worked out, but it meant a lot more just because it was the 50th anniversary for the No. 50 (car).”

Cuzzilla plans to defend his title next season, with the goal of winning more feature races.

GLENN WATSON –ONTARIO OUTLAW SUPER LATE MODEL SERIES

It was a dominant season for Glenn Watson in the Ontario Outlaw Super Late Model Series (OOSLMS). The veteran racer had a fast car everywhere he went, but faced some adversity before race two, at Delaware Speedway. A mechanical issue required work at the track, where he used parts from fellow driver Sean Grosman to get ready for the race.

The repairs did the job and Watson found himself contending, but a tight car on a late restart resulted in a runner-up finish, behind Grosman.

Watson then won three straight races, with a checkered flag at Peterborough Speedway sandwiched between a pair of victories at Sauble Speedway. The hot streak put him in a good points position entering the penultimate race of the season, but that assurance was short lived.

“We crashed around the 30 or 35 lap mark,” said Watson. “Going into that race we had a comfortable lead but after that race we were only four points in the lead, so going into the final race at Sunset (Speedway), it was going to be pretty tense.”

While the OOSLMS had a championship battle set for the 1/3mile oval, Mother Nature had other plans. Watson was declared the champion after the finale was rained out.

“It’s disappointing that we didn’t get to race it out,” he said.

“Brandon Passer was only four points behind and he’s a good racer and we thought we were going to really must battle it out for the championship in that last race. I’m glad that we won another one, but I would’ve really liked to have raced it out on the track.”

The title adds to Watson’s storied career, with this being his ninth championship since joining the series in 2006. He plans to make a run for title number ten next season. IT

(Below) Ontario Modifieds Racing Series champion Alex Cuzzilla (No. 50).

(Bottom) Ontario Outlaw Super Late Model Series champion Glenn Watson (No. 22) Photos by Peter Anderson

PINTY’S SPRINT CAR CHAMPS

MITCH BROWN AND JACOB DYKSTRA ON TOP

Stories by Bryce Turner

MITCH BROWN –PINTY’S KNIGHTS OF THUNDER 360 SPRINT CARS Mitch

Brown completed his return to racing with a championship in the Pinty’s Knights of Thunder 360 Sprint Car Series (KoT). After not racing anything in 2021, Brown returned to competition with new cars and other changes from what he was used to. He tackled the learning curve by running regular events at Ohsweken Speedway before winning the KoT opener, on June 30 at Humberstone Speedway.

Brown recorded five additional top-five finishes in the last nine features. He says that consistency was important in the KoT, especially when faced with larger car counts in the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals events.

A notable top-five came after some adversity at Brighton Speedway, where he “destroyed” a car in practice before night two of the Labour Day Classic.

“I wrecked just about every bolt and piece on that car; I think they said we got it back together within about 45 minutes…we just barely made the heat race by maybe 30 seconds or a minute,” said Brown. “We ended up finishing fifth with a bent car…if we weren’t able to complete that then we wouldn’t have been able to win the championship.”

Brown’s last title came in Ohsweken’s 360 Sprint Car division in 2016, which he ranks just ahead of his KoT triumph. He credits his crew as a key to success in winning this championship.

“It’s cool to get back there and be relevant; especially for a few years, not that we were terrible but it just didn’t seem the same,” said Brown. “To do it with your family team; I would say we’re one of the lower funded teams compared to what’s out there now, so to do that is pretty cool.”

With a newborn son at home, Brown plans to limit travel next season, where he’ll race at Ohsweken and in some Southern Ontario Sprints events.

JACOB DYKSTRA –PINTY’S ACTION SPRINT TOUR

It was a season full of new experiences that ended in a familiar result for Jacob Dykstra in the Pinty’s Action Sprint Tour. Dykstra recorded seven wins and 13 top-ten finishes in 14 races to claim his second straight championship, where he had a fresh start to the year. His familyrun operation partnered with a new team, where he didn’t know the cars or his teammate and had new shock packages to work with.

Despite the changes, Dykstra was quick to find victory lane, winning the opener at Merrittville Speedway. As the season continued, a highlight win came at Ohsweken Speedway’s first Canadian Sprint Car Nationals of the year, which he says is one

of the biggest races that he’s won in a crate sprint series.

Another win that stood out, for a different reason, came in the penultimate race, at Humberstone Speedway. Dykstra and Mike Bowman were declared co-winners of the event, though Dykstra is skeptical about the finish.

“I’ve been watching racing my whole life and I’ve never heard of that before and neither has my father,” said Dykstra. “It was just kind of breathtaking that little tiny transponders can pass (the start-finish line) at the exact same time.”

The Port Colborne, ON driver then finished in fifth-place the following night, at his home track of Humberstone, to clinch the title.

“Last year, we got a lot of hate for winning the championship, everybody said it was just a fluke,” said Dykstra. “That’s why we went back into crate again this year, to prove to everyone that it wasn’t luck…we know what we’re doing around a crate sprint car.”

Dykstra plans to race as much as possible next season, including winter races in Florida, 410s at Ohio’s Sharon Speedway and 360s at Ohsweken. IT

(Below) Pinty’s Knights of Thunder 360 Sprint Car champion Mitch Brown. (Bottom) Pinty’s Action Sprint Tour champion Jacob Dykstra.

Photos by Peter Anderson (below) and Dale Calnan (bottom)

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OPC & CANADIAN LEGENDS

NORRIS BECOMES YOUNGEST PRO CHALLENGE CHAMPION

MIKE NORRIS – ONTARIO PRO

Stories by Bryce Turner

CHALLENGE

It was a meaningful season for Mike Norris in the Ontario Pro Challenge (OPC). Despite starting the season with five top-two finishes in the first six features, Norris said he wasn’t doing the right things on track early in the year. He then decided to change his driving style after a season-worst fifth-place finish.

“(I was) just being more cautious and aware,” said Norris. “If I don’t get (the car in front) this lap, it’s not a big deal, I can work on him for another two (laps) and then I’ll pass him when the time is right.”

The Hamilton, ON driver followed that new mindset with a dominant stretch, recording seven wins and five runner-up finishes in the final 12 features to claim his first series title.

He also won the Pro Challenge National Championship, combining Canada and Alabama regions.

At 19 years old, he became the youngest Canadian championship winner in the 20-year pro challenge history.

But it wasn’t all easy this season. On May 28, Mike and his dad Tim went racing at Flamboro Speedway after Mike’s grandfather Jim Norris passed away in hospital that morning.

“I got to win the first feature and then my dad went out and won the second, so that was pretty big,” said Mike. “Having that many race wins…I really wish my grandpa was here to see this, but I know he’s there helping me out.”

Family was a constant throughout the season.

Mike and his sister Emma, along with their dad, all raced full-time. That created the opportunity for a highlight race on July 30, at Flamboro, where they filled the top-three in a feature; Tim winning, followed by Mike and Emma.

Mike says he’ll defend his championship next season and plans to stay in the OPC for a long time before eventually stepping up to another series.

PARKER TRAVES – CANADIAN LEGEND CAR SERIES

It was a dominant year for Parker Traves in the newly branded Canadian Legend Car Series, which merged the two Ontario Legends Series regions. Traves recorded eight wins and three runner-up finishes in 11 races that he competed in, using the other two events as his points drops, to win the championship by 121 points over Adam Cuthbertson.

“It felt really good (winning the title), definitely been a dream of mine to get it done,” said Traves. “I had lots of help getting there, so it was good. It’s very stressful, so after it was all done, it was just very relieving that I was able to put a season like that together.”

While he ran well everywhere that the series visited, the continued success also created its challenges for the early part of race day.

“Just trying to navigate through traffic every week (was a challenge),” said Traves. “The way the system works, they take an average, so if you’re leading the points and you’ve had good points races, you must start at the back in all the heat races. So just trying to be smart and get up to the front so hopefully, by feature time, I’ll get the invert.”

Of his victories, the race that stands out to Traves is the Canadian Asphalt Nationals, which took place on the Labour Day weekend at Sunset Speedway.

He swept both features to claim the overall event win.

Traves says the keys to his success this season were preparation in the shop and making sure the car was perfect, along with racing smart and not tearing up any equipment.

Traves is building a new Legend car this off-season and says he’ll start the year by running INEX spring and summer races in the US before competing here in Canada. IT

(Left) Ontario Pro Challenge champion Mike Norris.

(Right) Canadian Legend Car Series champion Parker Traves.

Photos by Dave Franks (left) and Melissa Smits (right)

ONTARIO MIDGET CHAMPIONS

JAMES MAKING SWITCH TO CVM AFTER 2022 TITLE

Stories by Bryce Turner JESSICA JAMES – OUTLAW MIDGETS

Jessica James won her first Outlaw Midgets championship in a dominant season. James started the year with nine straight victories, but that streak didn’t come without drama. In race two, at Peterborough Speedway, she burned a piston and missed the second heat, costing her a potential 30 points.

“If you did the math, whoever was running second, if they finished in the top-four all season, I might not be able to recover that 30-point loss,” said James. “That made us sharpen our pencils after that.”

More drama came in the eighth race, at Sauble Speedway, where her car wouldn’t re-fire at the end of a red flag delay. That issue highlighted the downside of being a frontrunner.

“The realization that all of the sudden your streak’s coming to an end, it felt awful,” said James. “Luckily it did fire, but at that point I realized just how much pressure I was starting to feel.”

The win streak came to an abrupt end at Sunset Speedway, when James was involved in a wreck that left the car with extensive damage and the driver with minor injuries. The team recovered from the DNF to win the last two races.

James says she contemplated whether to race anymore after losing her spouse. Ultimately, with the help of her crew, she decided to make a run for the title.

“I wanted (the championship) for all the guys on the team because I’ve been telling them since the day they started helping me that this is what we’re going to do,” she said. “They were kind of the ones who pushed me to get it done.”

James says she’s taking an offer to run full-time in the Canadian Vintage Modifieds next season and that she’ll run select events in other series.

CORY WHITTAM – QWICK WICK CAN-AM TQ MIDGETS

A self-proclaimed underdog, Cory Whittam won six of 15 races in the Qwick Wick Can-Am TQ Midgets to secure the championship. The third-generation driver can be compared to a one-man band; he builds the motors, fabricates the wings, and turns all the wrenches on his car. He says that he’s had help along the way, but that doing almost all the work himself has been a key to success.

“I’m just really particular on how I do things,” said Whittam. “I find that’s how I got my advantages because I know tricks that people don’t know, and I just use it.”

Finances have been a challenge for Whittam, but he says that his work ethic and driving skills have allowed him to run up front, despite spending a lot less than the competition. A win that stands out came on July 16 at Flamboro Speedway. He was disqualified after his heat race, forcing him to start at the rear, but he gained 12 spots in three laps before taking the lead on lap seven.

“I made all my passes on the high side. I actually made it four-wide on the first lap, both sets of corners,” said Whittam. “That race turned a lot of heads this year and a lot of people were impressed by it.”

Building up his program over time and adding a couple of sponsors allowed Whittam to race full-time for the first time in his career in 2022.

The move paid off with a title, which is still an overwhelming feeling.

“It’s a dream come true for me,” he said. “There are no words to say how excited I was to get it. I’ve had lots of tears over it; I’ve had lots of laughs over it, lots of people congratulating me, it’s amazing.”

Whittam says he’ll defend his title next season. IT

(Above) Outlaw Midgets champion Jessica James.

(Right) Qwick Wick Can-Am TQ Midgets champion Cory Whittam.

Photos by Dave Franks (above) and Peter Anderson (right)

MCTAVISH CROWNED I.M.C.A. CHAMPION

Stories by Robert K. Rooney

After 15 years of trying, Justin McTavish has joined his father, Barry, as an I.M.C.A. Canada Modified champion. The 32-year-old Onoway, AB, resident won the title on pavement, even though the majority – about three-quarters - of I.M.C.A. Canada shows run on dirt tracks.

There has never been any doubt about Justin’s ability over the years, but he hasn’t really been the luckiest racer on the circuit.

“This year, things worked out for him,” said I.M.C.A. Canada President Bruce Hampton. “Nothing went wrong.”

Racing 14 times at three Alberta tracks – Hythe Motor Speedway, Edmonton International Raceway and Medicine Hat Speedway – McTavish earned the track title at both Hythe and EIR. He also won two of three races in the SilverStar Challenge and then led flag-to-flag in the non-points Roy Ross Memorial 47 to put his name on I.M.C.A.’s biggest trophy.

Multi-time series champion Garth Dushanek earned far more points than any other racer by making no fewer than 21 races but didn’t run the complete schedule anywhere. Since the points system only counts a racer’s 12 best finishes, and counts track titles as maximum-points victories, Dushanek finished second to McTavish by five points.

Third place man Bill Stuart finished one

point back of Dushanek after contesting 19 races. At least he took the track champion at Central Alberta Raceway in Rimbey, Alberta. Johnny Beaumont, Jr. ran 15 races, all on dirt, this year. His efforts earned him fourth in the final standings and the track title at Taylor Speedway in British Columbia. The Dinosaur Downs champion was ageless Roger Bonneville, who ran 15 dirt races and finished fifth overall. The track champion at Swift Current Motor Speedway was Brody Crowe. Chase Guidolin is the SportMod division champion. Rookies of the Year are Mike Hanson in the Modifieds and Trevor Brown in SportMod.

In 2022, there were 59 drivers who earned I.M.C.A. Canada points. There were 55 races on seven different tracks – three paved and four dirt – in all three Western provinces.

“It was a good year,” said Hampton. “There were lots of racers, new racers and the tracks came on board. We didn’t even have many rainouts.”

THOMAS TAKES WESCAR SPOILS

The No. 19 Chevrolet of Kendall Thomas has always been there in WESCAR competition. In 2022, his years of effort were finally rewarded with the series championship. In five races on four paved ovals in British Columbia, Thomas had a worst finish of fourth. At the season opener in Penticton and at

the third race – Billy Barker Days in Quesnel – he scored the triple. Kendall took the pole, won his heat, and finished first in the main. In race two, at PGARA in Prince George, he finished second to Jarrett Bonn.

The Agassiz round was won by Korbin Thomas, but Kendall was fourth. Korbin won the final at Penticton, too, and this time Kendall was third.

Calvin Bagshaw was runnerup in WESCAR points and earned Rookie of the Year honours. Sheldon Mayert was third in the final standings.

O’CONNELL WINS SUPERTRUCK TITLE

Dusty O’Connell of Lloydminster, AB defended his 2021 Super Truck Racing Series Championship after a nine-race chase that extended over all three Western Provinces.

The Super Trucks had a doubleheader in Penticton, BC, another doubleheader in Hythe, AB and appeared three separate times in Saskatoon, SK.

The series also raced in Medicine Hat and finished off in Regina, where O’Connell capped off another championship year by winning the main.

Brian Sparks of Edgerton, AB was runner-up in the standings and Cam Medd of Spruce Grove, AB was just behind. Jacob Brownell of Red Deer is the 2011 Rookie of the Year and Heidi Dyck was honoured with the Most Valuable Player award. IT

In addition to his I.M.C.A. title, Justin McTavish earned track titles at Hythe Motor Speedway (above) and EIR. Photo Courtesy Hythe Motor Speedway

After more than a decade, racer follows in father’s footsteps with 2022 title

FREIBURGER RACING

Racing family reaches donation milestone in 2022

Story by Bryce Turner

TheFreiburger family started their 2022 season with a familiar objective – to raise money for charity. But unlike other years, the team was on the verge of reaching their original goal.

In 2010, Marvin and Angela Freiburger decided to start donating the race winnings from their Race Team No. 37. With modest expectations for their on-track success, they figured it would be best to pick a charity and donate their entire winnings, with a goal of reaching $100,000.

The couple chose Easter Seals, inspired by the story of Natalie McDonald, a thenten-year-old girl from West Grey Township, whose efforts to support the organization received local attention.

“Natalie McDonald, who is in a wheelchair, was making zipper pulls and doing various other activities to raise money to give to Easter Seals, so other kids like her would have a better life,” said Angela Freiburger. “If she could do all of that for others, we certainly could do that and more.”

Thirteen years later, Marvin in a super stock, his son Ben, in a mini truck, and his grandson Del, in a junior late model, raced their way to that initial goal – the team reaching a grand total of $100,312.83 that’s been donated.

On November 26, just days before Giving Tuesday, the team made its annual donation to Easter Seals, with Angela presenting the cheque to Easter Seals development manager Charlene Myke.

The timing of the donation had an extra impact as Motion, a long-time partner and supporter of Easter Seals, matched donations made to the organization on Giving Tuesday, up to the cost of three adaptive tricycles.

“Our donation, which is being matched by Motion, is going directly to Easter Seals/ Camp Woodeden in London,” said Angela. “At this summer camp, they can experience the freedom, joy and sheer thrill of riding a bike on their own. These bikes will be enjoyed year after year by hundreds of kids at camp. Easter Seals has a 100-year-long legacy of helping kids with physical disabilities be kids and we are happy to give to this cause.”

Easter Seals President and CEO Kevin Collins said that the goal was to raise $10,000 to purchase the three tricycles for the 2023

camping season.

In addition to their support of Easter Seals, Race Team No. 37 has donated to local individuals with serious illness, focusing primarily on children. Those efforts became more of a focus about four years ago, when Del started racing.

“Many individuals over these years have benefited from our race winnings because we give direct to the individual needing the help,” said Angela. “These individuals have used the money for fuel, parking, meals and other fees related to distant hospital visits.”

Keeping the family tradition going strong, 12-year-old Del presents all of the donations to the individuals, while also coming out of his “quiet shell” to speak with the recipients, as well as the crowds at race tracks.

On October 30, Del, joined by a large contingent from the Freiburger family, presented a donation to ten-year-old Tyler Sidle, who had recently been diagnosed with numerous vision disorders and needed to undergo a costly Comprehensive Functional Binocular Vision Assessment.

“If vision therapy is required, his family will also require some financial assistance with these costs,” said Angela. “His optometrist says his vision and symptoms will only get worse with time. This is incredibly hard on the parents.”

On November 13, Del and Angela

presented a donation to the Grey/Bruce Falcons special needs hockey team, which will be used for ice time, equipment, away tournaments and other costs. Falcons player Kyle Fortune, who wears a Marvin Freiburger Racing-sponsored jersey, accepted the donation.

“This special hockey foundation promotes an accessible and inclusive hockey experience, to develop individual and team hockey skills, promote a sense of teamwork and, above all else, to have fun,” said Angela.

The Falcons are part of the Grey/Bruce Special Hockey Foundation, a non-profit organization that started in 2008 to provide intellectually challenged athletes from Grey, Bruce and surrounding counties with an opportunity to play hockey, while encouraging sportsmanship and fair play.

Race Team No. 37 says they’re sincerely thankful to the owners of Sauble, Full Throttle, Sunset, Flamboro, Delaware and Peterborough speedways for allowing them to have so much fun raising the money.

With a milestone season in the books for the Freiburger family’s charitable efforts, Angela says there’s a life lesson learned.

“We are faced with a lot of challenges, but children with disabilities and individuals with serious illness have a daily deeper challenge and we are happy that we can and have helped,” she said. IT

(Above) After more than a decade of fundraising efforts, Freiburger Racing surpassed its original goal of raising $100,000 for Easter Seals. Photo by Dave Franks

OUR 2022 SEASON SPONSORS ON THE #37 SUPER STOCK -MARVIN FREIBURGER THE #37 JUNIOR LATE MODEL -DEL FREIBURGER AND #37 MINI TRUCK - BEN FREIBURGER

1. MARVIN FREIBURGER & SONS INC. - OWNER

2. Blair Buchanan Clan

3. Ross E. Young Bus Lines Ltd - Tiverton

4. Bill & Tom Kempton Cons. Ltd. - Ripley

5. Ann & Garry Gooch - North Carolina U.S.A.

6. Maurice Freiburger - Dayn & Lily

7. Loung Sing Restaurant - Walkerton

8. Summer House Park Ltd.- Miller Lake

9. Norm Paterson Aircraft Maintenance

10. Jim Van Veen - Sharpe Feeds Driver 11. Cuneo Interiors - Walkerton 12. Randall Gordon & Girls 13. Walkerton Meat Market 14. Kelly & Kelly - Barristers & Solicitors - Paisley 15. Marlin Travel - Walkerton 16. Dave Park - Engineer, Southampton

17. Andrew Holdings - Eric & Warren, Lucknow

21. LONDON DRIVE SYSTEMS INC.

Cargill Auction

Schaus

51. Plane Paint - Victor & Anne Dannielli - Paisley

52. Brian Stanley Trucking Ltd. - “Steamer” - Goderich

53. D.A.C. Checker Produce - Walkerton

54. Matcrete Contracting Inc. - Walkerton

55. ORR INSURANCE HURON INC. - Goderich

56. Hallman GM; Shawn Turner - Hanover

57. VERSA BANK; David Taylor - London

58. Chepstow Wing Nights

59. Luxury Woodworking ltd. - Walkerton - Luke Lorenz

60. Brucelea Poultry Farm Ltd. - The Scott’s-Ripley

61. Norman Campbell Construction Limited - Paul Twerton

62. Ronald Fleet - FLEETAIR

63. Pellow Pharmasave - Walkerton

64. Gerry’s Truck Centre Ltd. - Mike Wardoe

65. Paradise Property Maintenance - Walkerton

66. New-life Mills/Fischer Poultry - Hanover

67. 1st Class Capital; Kyle Freiburger - Guelph

68. Top Knotch Upholstery - Walkerton

69. Weber’s Electrical Service Ltd.. - Walkerton

70. Barry Tschirhart - “GO BART” BTKM Associates Inc. - Walkerton

71. Willie’s Electric - Walkerton - Brian & Theresa Dales

72. Lina Masonary Inc. - Elmwood

St.

GROUP INC.- Orangeville

32. Wilson Security Limited, Tom Redford, Nova Scotia

33. JC Welding Brockton/ Mike Hoskins - Walkerton

34. B & L Farm Services Ltd. - Chesley

35. Walkerton Auto Parts

36. Weiler’s Cleaning & Restoration Ltd. -Walkerton

37. Reuber’s Car Care Inc. - Walkerton

38. Skelton Memorials - Walkerton

39. Joy’s Source For Sports - Walkerton

40. LESLIE MOTORS INC. - Walkerton

41. Carson Supply - Port Elgin

42. Wayne’s Electric; Chris Kanters - Hanover

43. RPM-Ryan’s Performance Motorsport - Mildmay

44. Paul D. Colling Trucking - Ripley

45. Lang’s General Contracting Inc. - Walkerton

46. Voisin’s Home Services - Walkerton

47. Donnelly Transport Limited - Pinkerton

48. Gerald D’arcey Construction Limited - Harriston

49. Walkerton Golf & Country Club

50. Baker Tilley CPA; Cory Culbert - Walkerton

73. Bruce County Detailing - Walkerton - Andrew Widdes

74. Super Shine Car & Pet Wash - Walkerton 75. S.E.T.I. - Ecostar Autogreaser - Milton

76. Meulensteen Tire & Auto - Listowel

77. Ken & Lana Baldwin - Paisley

78. TRANSAXLE Parts Inc.; Gary Zwygers - Carnbridge

79. “The Bruder Boys” - Mildmay 80. S. Alexander Trucking & Distributing; Steve & Pat-Paisley

Redford/Freiburger - Walkerton

101. Bill MacDonald - Wellesley

102. Hanover Auto Centre

103. Andy’s Country Repairs - Andy & Jan Schmidt - Walkerton

104. Fountain Tire; The Ashmans - London

105. Struyk Energy Systems; Tyler - Durham

106. Tim Horton’s - Walkerton

107. WEBER CONTRACTING LTD. - Clifford

108. Al Reich’s Backhoeing & Haulage; Al & Cathy - Walkerton

109. Eileen & Don Muegge - Walkerton

110. Maple Hill Farms; Wayne & Wendy McKague - Teeswater

111. Glen Fischer/Parts@ MF&S - Walkerton

112. Potters Mobile Power Wash c/o Ben Potts - Walkerton

113. Sirius Solutions Canada Ltd.; Janine Henning - Kitchener

114. Freiburger Communications; Rod & Rebecca - Tara

115. Caldecott Millwright Services Inc. - Hanover

116. Full Throttle Speedway; Paul Trepanier - Varney

117. Sunbelt Rentals of Canada Inc. - Walkerton

118. CarFab; Chris Ruigrok - Durham

119. Frank & Linda Ruth & Family - Wiarton

120. Ace’s Towing; Paul & Bryce - Mildmay

121. Horne Hardware; Greg & Shelley - Walkerton

122. Pine Echo Campground; Ron & Lori - Belmore

123. Side Street Pizza; Paul & Brenda - Chesley

124. B & B Towing; Sherry & Dwayne Baker - Stayner

125. Time for Change Renov.; Brad McKeeman - Walkerton

126. McColl Racing Enterprises Inc. - London

127. The Battery Pro - Durham

128. Mighton Welding & Mechanic Services: Dan - Hanover

129. Harman Heavey Vehicle Spec.; Ian Johnston - Cambridge

130. HDTV and Electronics; Randy Saunders - Walkerton

131. Spitzig Framing; Ryan - Walkerton

132. The Guest House; Jesse Bates Kids - Walkerton

133. Qwick Wick; Dave Lloyd - Parkhill

134. 519 Table & Pour - Walkerton

135. One Promo/Epic Racewear - Hanover

136. Earl Lippert Trucking Limited; Brian Colling - Ripley

137. Davidson Custom Brokers - Waterloo

138. Just Foam It; Don Tremble; Candue Homes - Durham

139. MEG Computer Services; Mark & Suzie - Hanover

140. Ernewein Farms; Sean, Bert & Steve - Walkerton

141. Team Wilhelm; Pennie & Ron “SMOKER” - Chepstow

142. Edward Fuels - Teeswater, Goderich, Kincardine, Clinton

143. Thom Construction Ltd.; Jason Thom - Owen Sound

144. MEI Paving, Multiple Ent/APC - Hanover & Chesley

145. Dave Spitzig Construction - Walkerton

146. INSIDE TRACK NEWS; David Weber-Brights Grove

147. The Howorth Family & AMI Attachments - New Hamburg Plus: 10 Silent Sponsors

CANADA HEADS UP SERIES

PROFILING THE 2022 CLASS CHAMPIONS

With files from CHU

While Mother Nature spent much of the summer of 2022 cooling things down with sub-normal temps and rain, the point chase of Canada Heads Up – Shootout Series (CHU) presented by Speedwire Systems, Maxima Racing Oil and Nash Competition Engines managed to crank up the temperature with every race.

The CHU point series consisted of five races. Championship awards were funded with a mixture of the Points Membership fund and moneys collected from the series’ sponsors.

Each class champion receives a special, one-off, large plaque that features their championship vehicle.

The second- and third-place finishers will also receive a recognition award, at the year-end banquet.

Paul Bhawan won the VP Racing Super Street points series. The team’s blue Datsun qualified No. 2 at two races and won the third race of the season. Add those results to him going a few rounds at the other races and Paul narrowly clinched the championship by less than two rounds.

Sokoloff Injury Laywers EZ Street’s Rob Orafiamma and Team

DIRCAM had an outstanding season. They became the first nitrous-powered entry in the class to hit the 4.5-second range and set the class ET record, all en route to winning the points championship. In addition to winning one race, Team DIRCAM earned Top Qualifier honours at three events, and timed in No. 2 at another.

Chris Brohman drove the team’s ‘69 Camaro Pro Mod to the championship in the Bears Performance 4.20 Pro Mod class, last season. While this newly introduced class drew a limited number of entries, the Brohmans’ performance numbers were not limited, in the least. Chris drove to three No. 1 qualifier top spots and added a win to take the championship.

Bryon Treveld overcame the competition in what was probably one of the hardest classes to win, in the Pro categories, in 2022. Five Nine Motorsports Street275 is easily the largest class on the Pro category side of the ladder, and the top-five finishers were all within striking distance all-season long.

Treveld took the championship by twice taking top qualifier honours and a single event win. The effort was good enough to end up just one round’s worth of points over the runner-up.

Dylan Stevens drove the team’s Fox Body Mustang to the championship circle by posting No. 1 qualifier times on two occasions in 2022. He added a win and set the ET record in the Sokoloff Injury Laywer’s 5.0 Warriors class. Not only did Dylan drive to a record run, but the team nailed it, ‘dead on,’ with a 5.000 ET to lock up the record for all future races!

The RM Racing Lubricants King of the Streets class (KOTS) saw Jesse Vanbetlehem (Mr. 200 MPH) climb to the top of the points chase, at the season finale. After a consistent battle with his nearest challenger, Jesse and his team drove to the top powered by two event wins and three No. 1 qualifier efforts.

Nick Kempers’ rode the clutch to perfection in 2022. And the championship he won proves he is one bad-ass driver! Kempers qualified within the top-three at every event during the season. Throw in an event win and the class MPH record, and Kempers earned his trip to the champions’ photo shoot.

Mike Pereira tallied three No. 1 qualifier awards, two #2 markers, a pair of event wins and an ET record last season, collecting enough points to win the Crazy8s class by more than three rounds over his nearest rival.

Kory Staveley won his championship based on a season-long stretch of consistent runs. Boosted by one top qualifying spot and one win, Staveley was able to hold off the rest of the field to secure the title in the Low9s class. He also finished the season as the division’s MPH record holder.

The ICD Insurance Sportsman classes all grew in popularity in 2022. And aside from the 7.50 index, all the class champions dominated their respected classes.

The 7.50 championship was won with a four-point spread. Congratulations to the following racers on their division championships: 5.50: Dan Morrison; 6.0: Mike Thompson; 6.50: Joe Muro; 7.0 Chevy: Lightheart; 7.50: Peter Spinelli; and Priority Collision’s Jr. Dragster champion Cole Ferri. IT

(Opposite page) Five Nine Motorsports Street275 champion Bryon Treveld.

(Above) Sokoloff Injury Laywers EZ Street champion Rob Orafiamma.

(Above, right) RM Racing Lubricants King of the Streets champion Jesse Vanbetlehem. (Right) Priority Collision’s Jr. Dragster champion Cole Ferri.

Photos by Blake Farnan

CANADIAN CONNECTION

THE TOP TEN CANADIAN DRAG RACING STORIES OF 2022

Story by John Waldie

Last season was a memorable one in Canadian drag racing. In most cases, it was extremely positive with some incredible achievements taking place in Canada and some down south. That said there were also some sad but noteworthy events, as well.

With this in mind, we offer a listing of what were – in our opinion – the top ten Canadian drag racing stories of 2022.

As mentioned above, not all the top ten stories were happy ones. In fact, No. 1 was the sudden passing of Canadian drag racing legend Barry Paton. Known affectionately as ‘The Captain, Paton, 79, passed following the NHRA FallNationals, in Texas, in mid-October. He was a great racer, the patriarch of a great racing family, and was an all-around No. 1 fan of Canadian drag racing. Once again, we thank you, Captain!

Coming in at No. 2 on the list was the incredible Top Fuel performance orchestrated by Canadian Drag Racing Hall of Fame (CDRHF) inductee Rob Flynn, on the international stage, with Mike Salinas’ Indiana-based ‘Scrappers Racing’ Top Fuel team. During NHRA action, last season, the outfit – with Flynn as Crew Chief – scored four National event wins and a top-three finish in the competitive NHRA points chase. Congratulations to Rob on his great season.

At No. 3 are a trio of impressive performances, in the US, by Canadian racers. Top Alcohol Dragster pilot Jeff Veale earned his second NHRA National event win, in September, at Maple Grove Raceway. In that final, he bested fellow Canadian Shawn Cowie, who appeared in eight finals nationally and regionally in 2022, winning four times and finishing fourth in the final Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series TAD points.

And not to be overlooked, Scott Wildgust – from Stratford, ON –won his first National event when he took Pro Mod honours at the NMCA race in Bradenton, FL. Congratulations to all three of them for doing us proud, stateside.

Next on our list, at No. 4, were the NHRA National event wins, in Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series action, by Calgary’s Ken Mostowich and Al Kenny, on the international stage. Mostowich took the Super Comp win at the NHRA Nevada Nationals, in December. Kenny, originally from Kingston, ON, would finish runner-up in the final Top Dragster points after ending the season win a win at the Auto Club Finals. It was Kenny’s 50th season in the sport.

The No. 5 event was the return of the Canadian Drag Racing Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, in Montreal, following a two-year pandemic pause. You can read about the event and the new inductees elsewhere in this issue. An honourable mention goes to Canadian drag racing legend Ron Hodgson for hosting an inaugural Western Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame Induction Gala, which featured and honoured many of our western straight-line legends. 38 Inside Track Motorsport News

Coming in at No. 6 is the continued success and growth of the Can-Am Stock/Super Stock Series. Expanding beyond its southern Ontario roots, with the support and encouragement of Montreal’s John Scotti, the popular tour now encompasses events at Grand Bend Motorplex, Empire Dragway, Toronto Motorsports Park and St. Thomas Dragway, with a non-points date slated for Milan Dragway.

Next on the list, at No. 7 is the major renewal of the Nitro Nationals at Toronto Motorsports Park, as well as the local family and educational initiatives being offered by the legendary ‘Cayuga’ facility.

No. 8 on our list is the rejuvenation of the Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend Motorplex. Following a two-year absence, the event returned, last season, to excellent fan attendance and enthusiasm. The 23rd annual edition of this event – the longest running National event in Canada – is scheduled for August 11-13 in 2023. Over 350 race cars are expected. Similarly, we offer a ‘thumbs up’ to GBM’s sister track, St. Thomas Dragway, which is striking a popular chord with its racers and fans, featuring Nostalgia racing groups and CanAm racers.

The introduction of the World Drag Racing Alliance made big news last season. In addition to tracks all around the US, the newly created group became the official sanctioning body of several Canadian racing facilities – including Grand Bend, St. Thomas and Shannonville – earning the WDRA the No. 9 spot on our list.

Last, but not least, 660 Bracket – under the leadership of Can-Am event winner Drew Buckner – again proved the resilience of our local facilities and the importance of supporting them. Getting back to No. 1 on our list, Barry Paton would certainly approve!

Oh yeah, an an honourable mention to veteran Canadian drag racing journalist Bruce Biegler, who recently retired to Australia, leaving a huge void. He’ll be inducted into the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame, in late February. Congrats and thanks, Bruce! IT

The Nitro Nationals, at Toronto Motorsports Park, was one of the Top 10 stories in Canadian drag racing, in 2022, according to John Waldie.

Photo By Blake Farnan

CDRHF GALA INDUCTION CEREMONY

Canadian Drag Racing Hall of Fame honours latest inductees

Story by Brodie Elias Vandewater

OnNovember 19, the Canadian Drag Racing Hall of Fame hosted an evening of celebration in honour of those who have made significant achievements and contributions in the world of professional drag racing.

The sixth annual gala was held – for the first time – in the luxurious showroom of the Lamborghini Montreal dealership. In addition to some spectacular Lamborghinis, the room also featured two factory drag cars, a 50th Anniversary 2018 Mustang Cobra Jet, a 2021 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak, two hot rods, a 1940 Ford Deluxe Convertible, and a 1932 Ford Highboy Roadster built by Joe Lowbeck.

During the event, the CDRHF welcomed 17 new inductees, five of whom were honoured posthumously. Recognised by their supporters, peers and past inductees, induction into the CDRHF is the ultimate recognition for high achievers in Canadian drag racing.

Inductees were presented with custom-tailored, blue CDRHF blazers, and a personalized ring and display case. As is tradition, the inductees were invited to sign the CDRHF’s Book of Honour – as well as the ‘reunion hood’ – where their names will be memorialized beside those who signed at prior galas.

The families of posthumous inductees were presented with custom-designed plaques, duplicates of which will be displayed in the CDRHF museum.

To be eligible for induction to the CDRHF, nominees must have a minimum of 25 years experience in drag racing and must reside in – or be an expatriate of – Canada. Successful candidates must have competed at the top level of their category, or made a substantial contribution to the sport.

The November Gala was the first in two years, due to the pandemic. Congratulations to the 2022 inductees, whose achievements will forever be marked and celebrated in drag racing history. IT

2022 CDRHF INDUCTEES

(Main) The Induction Gala for the Class of 2022 for the Canadian Drag Racing Hall of Fame took place Nov. 19 at the Lamborghini Montreal car dealership.

(Above) The living inductees received personalized rings, while the families of the deceased new members were presented with plaques.

- Tim Boychuk, Racer (Edmonton, Alberta)

- Albert Branham, Racer (Sherwood Park, Alberta)

- Bill Clarke, Racer (Darmouth, Nova Scotia)

- John Fletcher, Racer & Track Promoter (Waterford, Ontario)

- George Foote, Speed Equipment Distributor & Retailer (Toronto, Ontario) *

- Charlie Kenopic, Racer (from Renfrew, Ontario)

- Arnie Malcolm, Track Promoter (Ottawa, Ontario)

- John Massingberd, Motorsports Broadcaster (Ontario) *

- Bob McJannett, Publisher / Speed Equipment Distributor & Retailer (Toronto, Ontario) *

- Richard Mowat, Racer (Kitchener, Ontario)

- Ken Murray, Racer (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

- Dick Panter, Racer (Edmonton, Alberta) *

- Tony Pontieri, Racer (Bolton, Ontario)

- Bill Richards, Track Announcer (Kitchener, Ontario)

- Jim Ronaghan, Team Mechanic (Alberta) *

- Bill Sheppard, Racer (Lakeview, Nova Scotia)

- Glen Stahle, Racer (St. Clements, Ontario)

* Posthumous

IT

induction.

(Left) CDRHF founder and chairman John Scotti (right) presents 2022 inductee, Arnie Malcolm (left), with his personalized ring. Photos Courtesy of CDRHF

FORMULA 1 DUEL FALLS FLAT

RED BULL RACING DOMINATES AS FERRARI FIZZLES

Story by Jeff Pappone

While the 2022 technical regulations promised to bring nonstop, wheel-to-wheel racing, the first Formula 1 season under the new rules turned out to be a case of ‘not exactly as advertised.’

Although the early going did deliver some good action at the front, the 2022 season soon devolved into the ‘Red Bull Racing Show’ with its driver Max Verstappen clinching a second consecutive world championship with four grands prix to go.

“It’s been a pretty special year and I think it’s something you really have to remind yourself of because these kinds of years you don’t have very often,” Verstappen said after winning the title in Japan. “But it’s also very important to look back at what the whole team has achieved. That’s why I think you really must enjoy the moment and really appreciate the whole team around you. We’re all travelling a lot, and everyone is working very hard towards the same goal. I’m pretty sure that it will be very hard to try and replicate a season like this.”

In addition to scoring a record 15 wins, along with seven poles and 17 podiums in 22 races, the Dutchman delivered the second widest gap ever between first and second in the drivers’ championship, falling just nine points shy of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel’s 2013 margin of 155. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Pérez added two wins and one pole to help Red Bull win the constructors’ title.

Although Verstappen netted a record number of victories, he did it in 23 races for a winning percentage of 68 percent, just off the 72 percent posted by previous record holder Michael Schumacher, who won 13 of 18 grands prix in 2003.

But the dominance wasn’t without controversy after the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) revealed Red Bull violated the new cost cap rules, somewhat tainting a stellar performance. And team boss Christian Horner didn’t help his team’s reputation much

with his over-the-top reaction after rumours of a cost cap breach surfaced in early October in Singapore.

“I would be intrigued to know where their source of information for these fictitious claims have come from. They are hugely defamatory, and we take umbrage to them,” Horner said. “Unless there is a clear withdrawal of those statements, we will be taking it incredibly seriously and looking at what the options available to us are, because it is absolutely unacceptable to be making comments of the type that were made.”

In the end, the only absolutely unacceptable thing turned out to be Red Bull’s accounting, which brought red faces all around when the governing body revealed it had overspent by about $3 million. The team paid fine of $9.4 million, but the bigger price may be the penalty of a ten percent reduction in wind tunnel or computational fluid dynamics time for its 2023 car design.

Things got worse when some team cohesion cracks began to show late in the season after Verstappen refused to let Pérez re-pass him on the final lap of the penultimate Brazilian Grand Prix despite the team asking several times. Pérez pulled aside earlier in the race to allow his teammate to try to gain more positions with the understanding that he would get the place back if Verstappen’s progress stalled. After he failed move up, Verstappen reneged on the deal and proceeded to admonish his team on the radio for asking him to honour it.

“I told you already last time you guys, don’t ask that again to me. Okay? Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it,” Verstappen said on the radio after being asked what happened.

When the team apologized to Pérez seconds later, he retorted: “Yeah. It shows who he really is.”

At the time, Pérez needed every point possible in his battle to

beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to second in the driver standings and secure Red Bull’s first ever one-two in points. When the dust settled, Pérez ended the year third overall, three points shy of second.

On top of that, Horner and Verstappen threw their toys out of the baby carriage a week earlier when they boycotted British Formula 1 broadcaster Sky during the Mexico Grand Prix. The move was in protest of commentator Ted Kravitz’s assertion during the previous Formula 1 weekend that Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was “robbed” of title No. 8 in the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Many might recall that Verstappen’s first championship came after former race director Michael Masi ignored the safety car regulations in the 2021 title decider, a move that many felt unfairly disadvantaged Hamilton and essentially gifted the crown to the Red Bull driver.

After battling tooth-and-nail to the wire in 2021, Hamilton and Verstappen rarely raced in closely a year later. In fact, the Mercedes driver experienced his first Formula 1 season without a win and spent most of it playing catch-up to his new teammate George Russell, who took the Sliver Arrow’s only win in Brazil.

The only real sparks between Hamilton and Verstappen came when the pair made contact early in that same Brazilian Grand Prix. The Turn 2 incident not only took Hamilton out of contention but also damaged Verstappen’s car enough to help set up the final lap drama with Pérez.

With Mercedes and several other teams struggling with “porpoising” where the cars bounce violently in high-speed sectors due to the aerodynamics repeatedly causing a rapid stall-release cycle under it, the early title favourite looked to be Ferrari’s Leclerc. He won two of the first three races and led the points for the first five races before the Italian team stumbled though multiple problems as the season wore on which ultimately saw team boss Mattia Binotto leave Maranello after the season.

“It’s difficult to rank them, but reliability has been a problem at one point of the season, which we paid the price for later on with penalties and other things,” Leclerc said after the Abu Dhabi finale. “Strategy, I think we’ve done too many mistakes at one point of the season…and we don’t seem to have the understanding yet of how to have a good tire management all the time.”

The close of the 2022 season marked the end – perhaps temporary for some – in Formula 1 for Canadian Nicholas Latifi at Williams and Haas’ Mick Schumacher. Ricciardo is out at McLaren but will return to the paddock in 2023 as a reserve driver for Red Bull.

Red Bull’s first champion, Vettel hung up his gloves at the end of the season for good after two years with Aston Martin that saw the German become outspoken and political.

He championed LGBTQ2S+ rights in Saudi Arabia and Hungary, he highlighted the plight of bees in Austria, and he wore a ‘Stop Mining Tar Sands’ T-shirt in Montreal that labelled the activity “Canada’s Climate Crime.”

Following the final race of 2022, Vettel offered an emotional goodbye before he began his new life as a retiree.

“The last two years have been disappointing from a sporting point of view, but very, very useful and important to me in my life. A lot of things happened, a lot of things I realized,” he said. “I think there are far bigger and far more important things than racing in circles, but obviously it’s what we love and through that if we can transfer some of the important values, that’s big. For that the last two years have been great for me. Thank you for the messages, the letters and all the love in general. I will miss that, but it’s been an absolute joy throughout my career.”

(Opposite page) Max Verstappen had a record-breaking season on the way to the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship, beating Charles Leclerc (below) and teammate Sergio Pérez (middle), who finished second and third.

(Bottom) Lewis Hamilton went winless in 2022, a first in his illustrious career. Photos by Ed Gatner

NICHOLAS LATIFI

When the checkered flag flew on the 2022 Formula 1 season, Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi reluctantly packed up his Formula 1 gear for the last time. The likeable Canadian didn't mince words about his exit from the pinnacle of motorsport after three years driving with perennial backmarker Williams Racing.

“I'm definitely leaving knowing that I haven't achieved what I wanted,” said Latifi who scored nine points for Williams in 61 starts with a best finish of seventh in the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.

“There's sadness and disappointment. Any driver who's left Formula 1 not on their own terms would be lying if they didn't say that.”

The unceremonious end came after Latifi went into 2022 hoping to build on the previous season where he slowly closed the gap to highly rated teammate George Russell. Over the course of 2021, Latifi averaged 0.567 seconds slower than Russell in qualifying after removing the five-second difference in the wet-dry Saturday session in Russia but improved significantly as the season progressed. In the last six races, he cut average deficit to 0.212 seconds and out-qualified Russell twice.

In equal machinery in 2022, Russell beat seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton in points and scored his Mercedes team's only win, although he was out qualified 13-9.

Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that Williams squandered its additional development time allotted under the new rules for 2022 and not only produced the slowest package on the grid – again – but also one that suited Latifi's style even less than previous challengers.

“The car was definitely a step back and I struggled to get on top of it,” he said. “I was relatively closer to George than to [2022 teammate] Alex [Albon] because the new car was so much more out of my comfort zone. I was never able to say to myself, ‘I feel like the car is doing what I want it to do’ and then have the confidence to push instinctively.”

Latifi wasn't alone in his battle with the 2022 car. Eighttime Formula 1 race winner Daniel Ricciardo struggled so much with his McLaren that the team dropped him at the end of the season.

While he remained unhappy about how his Formula 1 career ended, Latifi chose to look at the bright side of his time in the series.

“I got to be a Formula 1 driver for three years, and when I step back and think about it, I realize that a lot of drivers would give anything to do one grand prix, let alone three seasons,” he said. “There were some good moments and bad moments – definitely not enough good moments – but it's been very character building.”

CAREER STATS

STARTS: 61

POINTS: 9

HIGHEST FINISH: 7th (2021 Hungarian Grand Prix)

FIRST POINTS: 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix

LAST POINTS: 2022 Japanese Grand Prix (9th)

BEST YEAR: 2021 (17th in points) IT

Nicholas Latifi (above) bows out of Formula 1 after a disappointing year, while former teammate George Russell (below) earned the first win of his career in 2022. Photos by Ed Gatner

INDYCAR ROOKIES

2022

FEATURED AN EXCEPTIONAL GROUP

Story by Mary Bignotti Mendez

The2022 NTT IndyCar season presented the most rookie drivers since the integration of the 2012 Dallara chassis and the 2.2-litre twin-turbocharged engines. Six rookies started the season with all five season-long rookies returning next year with full-time rides.

To compare, six-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmy Johnson, 46, completed his second season driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. His highest qualifying position was 12th and highest finish was fifth on the Iowa oval. His highest road course finish was 16th, both at Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca, with an average start of 21.9 and finish of 18.6 over 17 races.

Johnson struggled to unlearn his stock car instincts and replace them with new, open-wheel skills. His biggest test was driving an IndyCar on the limit to wring out its maximum speed. The 2022 rookie class did a far better job at this challenge on super speedways, short ovals, temporary street, and permanent road courses.

Danish driver Christian Lundgaard, 21, made his debut for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team in August of 2021 on the Indianapolis road course, where he qualified fourth and finished 12th. Having competed in the 2020 Formula 2 season with two wins and six podiums, he had to learn about compensating for the differences between the black primary and red alternate tires as well as making pit stops. He so impressed the team that they signed him for the 2022 season, where his best result in qualifying was third – twice –and best finish was second, again at the Indy Grand Prix. His average start was 14.9 with a finishing average of 13.2 that included seven

top-ten finishes.

“The experienced drivers who have been with the same team for a long time are still competitive and win races,” said Lundgaard. “For a young driver to come in and be on that level is tough. For me, the difference between Europe and America is it’s more about racing than it is about politics. What I like about IndyCar is the feeling I have here, which is the feeling I got when I fell in love with go-karts. You put the car on the ground, you race, and you have fun. You compete, and once the helmet's off, everyone is best buddies. You don't see that in Europe. I also like that the street courses aren’t resurfaced. It’s challenging because the car is going to jump all over the place and you could hit the wall. European drivers think we're crazy.

“Having been part of the Alpine (Formula 1) academy, I learned how to analyze data and adapt quickly. I have the experience of looking after tires. The Firestones can take a lot more, so you can actually push the tires and still be fast. The cars (Formula 2 vs IndyCar) don't drive dramatically different, but you are able to hustle the IndyCar more. It's got a gentle slide to it. The cars handle pretty much the same.”

Although Lundgaard led the rookies in points all season, he had no oval experience nor familiarity with the tracks as the others coming from Indy Lights. The Rookie of the Year battle came down to the final race with his five-point lead over David Malukas. Lundgaard finished 14th overall with 323 points (just 22 points behind his teammate, Graham Rahal, in 11th with 345 points) to Malukas, who ranked 16th with 305 points.

“This season started off rough and I made a lot of rookie mistakes,” revealed Malukas, 20, a Chicago native and 2021 Indy Lights championship runner-up driving for Dale Coyne Racing. “It’s a tough time to be a rookie with so little test time. I kept on learning. The team was doing such a great job to get the connection and chemistry on what we needed and what I wanted. It was going so well I felt the car deserved a podium.

“I’ve learned a lot from my teammate, Takuma Sato. I have followed Will Power to learn his lines on track and see how he attacked the corners and bumps, which helped me a lot. In IndyCar, the competition level is so high; it’s the hardest formula. It’s a lot easier in that the car feels good if it’s in the window. Although Malukas was the highest finishing rookie in the Indy 500 in 16th place, the Rookie of the Year award, voted on by selected journalists, went to Jimmy Johnson, who finished in 28th after contact. Malukas’ best finish was second in St. Louis with an average start of 12.6 and finish of 14.0, including three top-ten finishes.

Callum Ilott, 23 of Cambridge, UK, who ranked second in the 2020 Formula 2 championship with three wins, competed in the three final races of 2021 for Juncos Hollinger Racing. For 2022, his starting average was 15.4 and finishing average was 17.5 in 16 races. His best start was second and highest finish was eighth, earning two top ten finishes as a single-car team. He ranked 20th with 219 points.

“These guys work so hard throughout the year,” stated Ilott, after qualifying on the front row alongside Will Power at Laguna Seca. “We knew sometimes we had the pace, but there's so much more to this series than just having a good car. You've got to put it all together.

“The IndyCar has a lot of power. It’s not easy but an enjoyable car to drive as is the racing. The variety of different circuits really challenges the driver and team. We are the underdog with no teammates. I have to guess the areas where to improve. I look in the mirror and guess what a better driver would do.

“We started the season with two and a half sets of dampers and one of them is for ovals. We finished with three and a half, and they're not much different to the first one. You have to optimize whatever you have. Our development was what we had to start with and then fine tune. It's a tough championship and experience is what counts.

Ranking 23rd overall with 206 points, Toronto native Devlin DeFrancesco, 22, earned his best start of ninth at the St. Louis oval, where he finished 12th. The Canadian’s season starting average was 19.2 and finishing average 18.5.

“I have a great team and teammates behind me,” explained DeFrancesco, resuming with Andretti Autosport for 2023. “We’ve had the best pit stops of all the Andretti team crews this year. I’ve had to learn patience. You can’t win the race on the first or second stint, but you can lose it.

“I work with my engineer and race strategist. We review data and video. I tell them what I feel the car is doing. They come up with a plan on what I can change on the driving side and how I can attack. It’s a team effort. I try to focus on the things I need to do, what I can control and execute. My goal was to finish a race in the top ten.”

Kyle Kirkwood, 23, the 2021 Indy Lights champion from Jupiter, FL, drove for AJ Foyt Racing, with an average start of 18.9 and finish of 20.2. His best start was ninth at Mid-Ohio and best finish was tenth at Long Beach. He ranked 24th overall with 183 points.

“With what I’ve done and with what is expected of me, I have exceeded my expectations,” said Kirkwood, who returns to Andretti Autosport next season. “But it hasn’t shown on track. No matter who you are with and whatever car you are driving, you can always learn. I have learned so much this year. A lot of guys I’ve beaten in Indy Lights have moved to IndyCar and done well. Sometimes it doesn’t happen just like that. Colton (Herta) was one of the exceptions. Pato (O’Ward) took a couple years to get going. I didn’t really have any expectations coming into the season. I knew I was taking on a big learning curve and strived to constantly get better. I wanted to get a top five or maybe even a win this season.”

Also driving for Foyt was Tatiana Calderon, 29, from Bogota, Columbia, who competed at the first seven road courses until her Rokit sponsorship stopped. Her best finish was 15th.

“My goal is to improve each time on the track,” said Calderon. “I’ve always been very competitive and want to be where the best drivers are.”

The challenge for these rookies was to learn what a competitive car should feel like on a variety of circuits and build up their confidence to push to its limits. Even a seasoned champion, Johnson, struggled to achieve this. Look for these experienced rookies to be contenders in 2023. IT

(Clockwise from opposite page) The 2022 IndyCar rookie class featured top rookie Christian Lundgaard, multi-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, David Malukas, Callum Ilott, Toronto’s Devlin DeFrancesco and Kyle Kirkwood. Photos by Ken Andersen and Neena Channan

FEL SPORTS CAR CHAMPIONSHIP

SOPHOMORE SEASON SEES CAR COUNTS GROW

Story by J. Wally Nesbitt

TheFEL Sports Car Championship Canada tour entered its second year of operation with a six-date, 12-race calendar with races scheduled for Canadian Tire (4) and Calabogie (4) Motorsports Parks, the Honda Indy Toronto, and the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières.

The May 21 derecho windstorm at CTMP forced the cancellation of the season-opening doubleheader, but the points were made up in the return to the Bowmanville-area track on Labour Day, with each race offering double points.

Boasting two racing classes for 2022, the GT4 division saw eight drivers score points this year while the TCR roster grew with 13 point scorers.

“I’m certainly happy from a Race Director’s point of view, I think we had a great buy-in from the competitors,” stated Rolf Von Engelbrechten. “We definitely had more entries this year, 20-plus fields were very attainable. I believe very strongly that 2023 will be a great show. We had a few bad moments on track, but we will use those as coaching moments, use them as building tools, to be better prepared for unpredictable incidents in the future.”

The 2022 GT4 championship was truly a two-car battle, but several ‘interlopers’ were on hand to keep the primary title protagonists, Zachary Vanier and Charles Robin, on the edges of their seats.

Reviewing the scoring charts, Vanier and his striking gold and white No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 570s held the upper hand this year, rolling up a total of six GT4 race victories and only finishing off of podium once (Toronto) on his way to the 2022 championship. A perennial shadow in Vanier’s mirrors was the No. 56 Mercedes AMG piloted by Charles Robin. The 21-year-old Quebecois driver was never quite able to break into the winner’s column, but his record of eight runner-up results, plus a pair of third place finishes kept the championship alive until the final rounds. Running a partial schedule this year but managing to finish in third place in the final tally was the father and son Polito duo. Father Anthony recorded a trio of third place finishes before handing off the controls of the No. 22 Ford Mustang to son Jack. On the final weekend of the year, the younger Polito notched two race victories, matching the achievements of interlopers Gavin Sanders (Toronto) and European Mercedes Factory Driver Romain Monti (GP3R).

For Vanier, it has been a fast rise to the top of Canadian sports car racing. A F1600 championship runner up in 2019, Vanier shifted focus and raced an Audi RS3 for Pfaff Motorsports in the 2020 Canadian Touring Car Championship, the sportscar novice earning the TCR class championship. One year, later the Sudbury, ON resident spent time testing a Porsche GT3 Cup car, eventually landing a one-off ride aboard a Multimatic Mustang in the FEL Sports Car Championship before returning to the Pfaff Motorsports banner in 2022, handling the driving duties for the No. 9 McLaren.

“I found the McLaren easier to drive. It simply felt more compact and more manoeuvrable. I really enjoyed my time behind the wheel,” stated the 19-year-old. “It’s funny. When I was racing a formula car, I never even considered sports cars. Now, I can’t see myself racing anything open-wheel.”

Vanier’s ability to adapt to different situations has been an asset in his rise in the sports car ranks. In regards to his 2022 campaign,

despite the many challenges thrown his way with visiting drivers and unfamiliar circuits, Vanier’s attitude never changed.

“My mindset never changed, we were always focusing of winning, and extracting the most I could get out of the car. When Romain and Gavin showed up, they were simply more cars to pass. But I am glad that Jack (Polito) didn’t run the entire schedule, he might have been trouble for us. Looking at the big picture, I knew that the guy I had to beat for the championship was Charles. The organizers changed the BOP (Balance of Performance) just before the last weekend, that made it a little more difficult for us, but the entire Pfaff team executed perfectly and ultimately, the big trophy was ours.”

Of the 13 point-scoring drivers in the TCR division, five of them were able to share in victory celebrations, but none as many times as did Jerimy Daniel. In ten races the Chateauguay, QC-based driver stood on the podium on eight occasions, while reaching the top step an amazing five times.

Daniel’s TRC teammate JF Hevey (No. 21 Audi) was a constant threat to the championship leader, but was forced to settle for the runner position in the final tally, with a record of two wins and seven top three finishes.

A former Porsche fanatic, Daniel stayed within the German automotive family and imported his No. 10 Audi RS3 LMS from Germany in 2017. Running selected raced with the Canadian Touring Car Championship, the 29-year-old jumped to the FEL SCCC when the CTCC folded.

“I raced a Porsche GT3 Cup car before this Audi, and what a difference between cars,” admitted Daniel. “The weight balance is different, it is front wheel drive rather than rear wheel drive, I now have to worry about understeer rather than oversteer. And if you get a little sideways, you have to remember to hit the gas and to try to pull yourself out of the spin. But I am adapting.”

He is obviously adapting well as he demonstrated in the season-ending doubleheader when he was able to score back-to-back, overall victories.

FINAL POINTS (TOP FIVE)

GT4: 1. No. 9 Zachary Vanier (429 pts), 2. No. 56 Charles Robin (405), 3. No. 22 Anthony/ Jack Polito (274), 4. No. 38 Vince Partap (140), 5. No. 8 Gavin Sanders (80). TCR: 1. No. 10 Jerimy Daniel (420 pts), 2. No. 21 JF Hevey (364), 3. No. 48 Ron Tomlinson (269), 4. No. 4 Justin Di Benedetto (225), 5. No. 84 Richard Boake (220). IT

(Above) 2022 FEL GT4 champion Zachary Vanier (left). Photo by Paolo Pedicelli

CASC-OR CLASS CHAMPIONS

CO-OVERALL WINNERS HEADLINE 2022 CLASS

Story by J. Wally Nesbitt

Thebest represented discipline in CASC-OR motorsports is the GT Sprints category. Boasting five racing classes (GT1 to GT5), the car count was sufficient this year to allow for split fields with the more powerful GT1 and GT2 machinery competing separately from the only slightly slower GT-3/4/5 entrants.

The power end of the GT Sprints racing enjoyed large, loud fields of race cars with 21 registered drivers scoring points over the course of the 18-race calendar.

While an assortment of Trans-Am TA2 cars were regularly found at or near, the front of the pack, it was the little BMW that could, and did, win the GT1 championship this year. Long-time GT Sprints competitor Rocco Marciello overcame a mechanical issue in his No. 53 RMP Motors BMW M235iR to claim the 2022 crown.

“At the first race weekend, I was two laps into the Friday test session when I blew the motor,” explained Marciello. “I found a replacement in the scrap yard that lasted the year. But we were in quite a hole because of missing those first three races.”

Despite the setback, Marciello rebounded with a season total of two class wins and six additional podium finishes.

“This championship came by being consistent, getting the best finishes we could, and scoring the most points in every race.”

When Daria Khachi and John Hansen decided to forego the July races at Shannonville Motorsport Park, it opened the door for the No. 23 BMW M3 of Patrick Cyr to grab the GT2 points lead, an advantage that the Enterprise, ON driver held on to until the end of the

season. Riding a record of three race wins and five runner-up results, Cyr survived a late season surge from Khachi to lock down the 2022 GT2 championship, his lead over Khachi in the year-end scoring, a mere 38 points.

Reviewing the box score for the GT3 Sprints class, it was a season of streaks.

The early scoring was dominated by Chantel Carter and her No. 123 Mazda Miata, as the Richmond Hill, ON pilot notched five race wins in the opening six races, only to lose her momentum with a blown motors. Bruce Wylie (No. 67 BMW M3) would win only the GT3 season finale, but his run of ten additional podium finishes allowed him the secure second place in the final tally.

Besting all comers – winning seven of the final nine races and the GT3 class crown – was motorsports novice Marc Lafleur.

“I had never raced anything before,” admitted Lafleur. “But when I sold my business, I made up my mind to find another challenge and that’s when I decided to go all-in with racing.”

Purchasing a partially finished BMW M3 E46 from a racer in Montreal, Lafleur leaned on his “newest, best friends” Bill and Demi Chalkias and EXO Performance to prepare the car and provide guidance and coaching as he hit the track in the No. 03 Harry Rosenbacked Bimmer.

“This year was a complete learning experience, I came off the track having learned something in every race. I know nothing about the technical side of the sport, but fortunately, Demi was able to translate what I was telling her about what I felt in the car into posi-

tive adjustments. Little by little, I was picking up my lap times by listening to the advice from the Chalkiases and that allowed me to build confidence in myself and to feel more comfortable in most situations.”

Unfortunately, the GT4 and GT5 GT divisions were sorely under-represented this year, although the numbers did not deter from the on-track action.

Earning top billing in the GT4 year-end scoring was Matt White who guided his No. 76 Porsche to four class victories. Claiming seven class wins allowed veteran Joseph Comacchio (No. 155 BMW 235i) to claim top billing in the GT5 category.

OPEN-WHEEL CLASSES

Loosely formatted under the Formula Libre banner, the CASC F-4, F-Libre/ Radical and Formula Vee 1200 entrants enjoyed similar track time as their GT kin, with all four classes crowning top scorers at year’s end.

OVERALL CHAMPIONS

In an unusual move, the CASC-OR executives have decided to name two drivers as 2022 Co-Overall Champions.

A 15-year veteran of the CASC F1200 battles, Phil Wang drove his No. 173 1996 Caracal C formula car to ten race wins plus seven more podium finishes and his record-setting eighth class title in 2022. A driving force behind the rejuvenation of the Formula Vee class, Wang leads by doing, entering as many races as possible, while assisting any class newcomer with their problems.

As previously detailed, Marc Lafleur, a true racing rookie, dominated the latter part of the season in the GT3 Sprints division, outscor-

ing his nearest rival by 165 points.

Their dominance on each of the racing disciplines made the choice to offer Co-Champions status to both a wise one.

Inside Track Motorsports News would like to offer congratulations to all CASC-OR competitors, champions or not.

GT SPRINTS FINAL POINTS (TOP THREE)

GT1: 1. No. 53 Rocco Marciello (373 pts), 2. No. 41/120/ 161 Blaise Csida (332), 3. No. 02 James Beaton (297) // GT2: 1. No. 23 Patrick Cyr (388 pts), 2. No. 199 Daria Khachi (350), 3. No. 30 John Hansen (228) // GT3: 1. No. 03/88/3 Marc Lafleur (483 pts), 2. No. 67 Bruce Wylie (318), 3. No. 123 Chantel Carter 252) // GT4: 1. No. 76 Matt White (218), 2. No. 213 Steve Barnett (65), 3. No. 126 Khalid Eidoo (62) // GT5: 1. No. 155 Joseph Comacchio (289 pts), 2. No. 16 Michael Bos (192), 3. No. 83 Kevin Glass (168).

OPEN WHEEL (TOP THREE)

CASC Formula 1200: 1. No. 173 Phil Wang (549.25 pts), 2. No. 49 Nathan Yiu (512.50), 3. No. 12/19 Daniel Demaras (386.50).

CASC Formula Four 1. No. 11 James Morton (384 pts), 2. No. 9 Richard Walker (245), 3. No. 55 Mike MacNeil (241).

CASC Formula Libre: 1. No. 141 Tyson Balbosa (108 pts), 2. No. 151 Norman C. Wong (104), 3. No. 29 Michael Cross (100).

CASC Radical: No. 342 Kenny Riedmann (87 pts), 2. No. 12 Mark Boyd (55), 3. No. 351 Yang Chen (51). IT

2022 CASC-OR overall champions Marc Lafleur (opposite page) and Phil Wang (above). (Right) GT1 champion Rocco Marciello. Photos by Richard Coburn

TOYO TIRES F1600 SERIES

JAKE COWDEN WINS CLOSELY FOUGHT BATTLE

ThePrey-versus-Predator scenario has moved from the natural world into the realm of motorsports as demonstrated by the 2022 title chase in the Toyo Tires Formula 1600 Series.

Aboard his No. 2 Brian Graham Racing Piper-Honda was the prey, soft-spoken Californian William Ferguson, while the Britain West Motorsports pack, fronted by series sophomore Jake Cowden, were his pursuers. Ferguson raised eyebrows in the season-opening tripleheader at Shannonville Motorsports Park by taking a pair of checkered flags with Cowden’s No. 66 Mygale-Honda crossing the stripe in a close second place in both instances.

When the Britain West team opted to race in Montreal at the Canadian Grand Prix instead of the second round of the Toyo Tires championship, Ferguson took full advantage, sweeping all three events on the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park circuit to open up a substantial points gap over his nearest rivals.

Recognizing the disadvantage that they now found themselves in, the BWM team refocused with team drivers Cowden, Connor Clubine (No. 6) and guest racer Megan Gilkes (No. 67) taking turns standings atop the podium at Round 3 at CTMP.

The next event saw the tour head to Calabogie Motorsport Park where Ferguson reclaimed his winning form capturing checkered flags in the first two races, while Cowden rebounded with a victory in the weekend finale.

That victory began a streak for Cowden as he then rolled off five race victories over the final six races on the calendar.

On a full-wet track at the season finale at CTMP, the championship was effectively decided in the penultimate contest when Ferguson aquaplaned off of the track and into the turn one tire wall.

“This is the first time I crashed on my own, I simply threw it all away,” admitted a dejected Ferguson, post-race. “To have led the points all season and to end it this way is frustrating. But each race I ran was hard, but fair, and I have learned a lot from my racing in Canada that I can take back home.”

For Cowden, his Toyo Tires season record shows eight race victories coupled with five runner-up appearances, the No 66 Mygale never finishing out of the top five. In the final score, the 18-year-old Aurora, ON driver claimed the 2022 Toyo Tires F1600-A class title by racking up 398 points, with Ferguson concluding the hunt a mere seven points in arrears.

“Throughout this year I tried to put in consistent finishes, trying for the podium every time but not wasting positions on sketchy passes,” explained Cowden. “It helped being a part of a team. We all shared information on track conditions and set up, and at places like CTMP, where the draft is so essential, we all worked together really well.

“The pieces really started to fall in place over the last two weekends. I was working on my physical fitness and really focusing on my concentration, making sure I hit my marks at every corner on every lap. I’m sure that the confidence that I’d built up with the experience I’ve gained this year had a lot to do with this success.”

If the F1600-A title chase was a scenario of the hunters versus the hunted, in the F1600-B division for older model cars was more

Story by J. Wally Nesbitt

like a high-speed game of automotive tag.

Over the 18-race campaign, an amazing nine different driver recorded B-Class victories with former champion Craig Willis (No. 99) notching five in just six appearances this year. Veteran Bill Tebbutt was next on the win list riding a record of three wins and seven further podium finishes to emerge on the top the scoring charts when the final points were tallied.

In what turned out to be a four-car battle for F1600-B supremacy, challengers Andrew Mason (No. 32), and Mike Lee (No. 25), both past champions, plus Steve Bodrug (No. 41) all took their turns leading the points, but second and third place finishes in the final two races of the year allowed Tebbutt to put his mark on the season’s scoring charts.

“I have been racing F1600s since 1992, I just took a long time to build up to this moment. I think the secret to this year was anger management,” joked the newly crowned champion. “And a lot of help from the other guys in the paddock.”

A heavy crash in the 2021 season opener sidelined Tebbutt for the year but it allowed the Mississauga, ON driver the opportunity to completely strip down his No. 82 RF90 Van Diemen-Ford for a rebuild.

“I went though the car thoroughly, finding little things that might just have helped this year. This car has never had a ‘ground-up’ before. And I think she liked it.

The talent pool in the ‘B’ class has gotten better and better over the years, I think you can see that by the number of different winners we had this year. The championship was never really on my mind until Labour Day when I won two of the three races and finished second in the other. I began thinking, ‘this might just really happen.”

FINAL POINTS (TOP FIVE)

F1600-A: 1. No. 66 Jake Cowden (398 pts), 2. No. 2 William Ferguson (391), 3. No. 6 Connor Clubine (305), 4. No. 35 James Lindsay (218), 5 (t). No. 23 Connor Wagland/ No. 65 Callum Baxter (214). // F1600-B: 1. No. 82 Bill Tebbutt (290 pts), 2. No. 41 Steve Bodrug (258), 3. No. 25 Mike Lee (230), 4. No. 32 Andrew Mason (189), 5. No. 99 Craig Willis (174). IT

(Opposite page) The 2022 Toyo Tires F1600 championship was a battle between Britain West and Brian Graham Racing. (Top) 2022 F1600-A champion Jake Cowden. (Above) Series runner-up William Ferguson.

Photos by Tim McGill and Richard Coburn

SPORTSCARS

Startingto write this from the T2 Lufthansa lounge at Heathrow, waiting on an early morning flight to Stuttgart to attend the Porsche Night of Champions in Weissach this evening. My attendance is nothing to do with us being champions, although our own Seb Priaulx attended a digital version of the event last year to pick-up his Porsche Carrera Cup North America trophy, but rather we’ve been invited as a valued supplier of the chassis (“spine”) of the new 963 LMDh prototype race car.

Time for a digression…for those that haven’t totally got their head around the recent magnificent rebirth of international sportscar racing, which debuts at the imminent 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona (the first race for LMDh), let me elucidate on what could be considered a confusing mess of acronyms and technical minutia. Just thinking where I should start. How about with a recap of where we have recently come from in the top tier of our sport (that being prototype racing cars that have a roof)?

In North America, sports car racing has most recently been led by the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) formula which started life as LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype’s second tier category). LMP2 had hitherto been LMP675 (the 675 being a reference to the car’s minimum weight) in the early years of this century, Multimatic Motorsports winning on the debut of that original category at Le Mans in 2000 (had to throw that in). Over time the class ultimately evolved into a kind of ‘spec’ series with four constructors (Ligier, Dallara, Multimatic and Oreca) building cars to a very tightly controlled rules set, all using identical Gibson 4.2 litre Zytec V8 engines (a nice affordable, reliable piece). Oreca has dominated the category through superior aerodynamics, competitive spare parts pricing, and outstanding customer service (this all enabled by reaching a critical

mass sales volume, something the rest of us never achieved). LMP2 has kept the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and Le Mans grids full while the high dollar wars in the top LMP1 class (latterly Hypercar) have been fought out amongst a small group of road car manufacturers.

At one point after the American Le Mans Series was taken over by Grand-Am (I won’t go down that rabbit hole, the “unification” happened in 2012) LMP2 briefly competed directly with the last (third) generation of Daytona Prototypes (DP), the top class in the North American championship for 13 years (2003-2016), a tricky balancing act for which Multimatic undertook all of the engineering work to create parity (the advent of the big rear wings and diffusers on the DP machinery). That era was short lived as a new formula was introduced for 2017 (debuting at that year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona) which somewhat convolutedly combined OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture…i.e., road car companies) body designs and production engine configurations with the existing four LMP2 constructor’s chassis (carbon tubs rather than the DP’s antiquated tube frame configuration). The resulting DPi class has provided some top draw racing for the past six years with Multimatic building and campaigning the Mazda RT24-P which achieved some considerable success running against the Cadillac (Dallara chassis), Acura (Oreca chassis) and Nissan (Ligier chassis) competition. However, the “i” really was lower case in that the formula never became “international” (ignoring the annual trip to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) as the promise of grid spots at Le Mans in the early days of the new era of cooperation between the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) and Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) – the sanctioning bodies for sportscar racing in North America and the rest of the world, re-

spectively – never materialized.

Back to the present, I’m now on my way to England from Germany after a stonking evening which was held in what I’m told is the Porsche R&D cafeteria/restaurant (The “Casino”) repurposed for the evening. It wrapped-up in the bar behind the stage area sharing stories with all the normal protagonists, including my all-time favourite Porsche racing character Alwin Springer (a true legend and a good friend, picture attached). It was a superb event complete with a big band, exclusively made up of Porsche employees, doing Tommy Dorsey and Glen Miller which was excellent and a little amusing when they all shouted “Pennsylvania 6-5000” in strong German accents. The theme was “We Are One” and despite being an old cynic I was totally bought-in by the end of the speeches and presentations. The event was full-on with all the main Porsche leadership in attendance (not just motorsports people) with both Dr. Oliver Blume (Chairman of the Board of Porsche and now, in parallel, of the entire Volkswagen group) and Dr. Michael Steiner (Porsche Board member in charge of Research & Development, and like Blume, also for the Volkswagen group) making strong speeches about the importance of motorsports at Porsche and how they are fully committed to balancing their factory efforts with customer racing. The latter aspect being well illustrated by the massive prize giving to all of the national champions; it went on forever (for two courses of the excellent meal, and at least six glasses of wine), as well as the 5000th 911 based ‘Cup’ car being prominently displayed (five thousand single make competition cars… any OEM thinking about trying to crack the customer racing market should consider that foundation!).

A highlight of the night for me was Roger Penske’s speech, he was in attendance to mark the beginning of a third chapter in Penske Racing’s Porsche history as they assume competition responsibility for the new 963 LMDh car in both WEC and IMSA. First off, he wasn’t scripted (most of the others were) and he began with a great story about being in Weissach in late 1971 with Mark Donahue to test the protype 917/10 Can-Am car. As we sat in the middle of the Research & Develop complex that now resembles a city, with 7,000 employees, he regaled us with his recollection of it snowing on the first day and that there were no buildings on the property (just the test track); difficult for me to comprehend. He went on to talk about the RS Spyder program in which Penske Racing dominated the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), regularly taking outright wins with an LMP2 car competing against the might of the Audi LMP1 machinery. He ended with a strong speech about his and the team’s strong commitment to the LMDh program and his desire to win Le Mans (something his team has never done). During the LMDh piece he complimented Porsche for selecting Multimatic as their chassis partner as he felt that we were technically the strongest option.

So back to my digression, how did DPi become LMDh (Le Mans Daytona hybrid, lower case “h”)? The answer being that when the

former did not ultimately win favour with the ACO and so no “international” aspect was realized, IMSA started working on a second generation of DPi (simply named DPi 2.0…believe me, I’m not making this shit up) which was ostensibly the DPi formula with the addition of a hybrid powertrain. Although that little adjunct makes all the sense in the new “Greta world,” and sounds trivial when considered in terms of full electric racing…it ain’t! Combining internal combustion engines (ICE) with supplementary electric power and all the related complexity of energy storage, braking regeneration, and how to keep everybody on the same competitive page (Balance of Performance already being difficult), the thing starts to become a bit of a monster engineering challenge. However, for context it must be remembered that the LMP1 cars running at Le Mans and in the WEC have been utilizing hybrid powertrains since 2012 (in Audi’s case, in conjunction with a diesel engine!) and the technology has been bleeding edge. But the budgets also bled money to the tune of up to $250M a year (while IMSA’s target is to be able to run a two-car team for around $10M…so that doesn’t square).

Multimatic was very close to the Porsche LMP1 program, and I can attest to the amazingness of the powertrain, the ICE being a diminutive 2.0 litre V4 that looked remarkably like the unit in my John Deere lawn tractor. It utilized the most complicated turbo configuration I had ever encountered (up until that point in time), festooned with actuators and utilizing two turbines, one to conventionally drive a compressor and the other being attached to a large electric machine (referred to as an MGU-H…Motor Generator Unit Heat, or in road car parlance, an eTurbo), which was activated to harvest exhaust energy when the other one was not required to spin the compressor stage (eg: off throttle), in fact the engine was run on throttle even when the driver was not demanding it with their foot, so as to continue charging the energy storage battery. Energy was also harvested, under braking, by the front electric drive (that electric machine being referred to as an MGU-K…Motor Generator Unit Kinetic) which also facilitated four-wheel-drive when the battery had enough juice available. I

could fill another page with the details, but I won’t

(Opposite page) The new Porsche 963 LMDh sports prototype. (Above) Larry Holt (left) with Alwin Springer (right), a Porsche sports car legend and current consultant for the German marque. Photos Courtesy of Multimatic

because this article’s acronym limit is fast approaching.

The moral of that LMP1 story is that it can all be done, but Audi and Porsche both pulled the plug (pun intended) on their programs in 2016 and 2017, respectively, because the financial demands were massive (oh, and they were in the middle of the diesel scandal). It left Toyota to soldier on alone as the only real OEM in the game which netted them five, rather hollow, Le Mans wins. For 2021 LMP1 became LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) with whole new rules that I won’t deep dive here (trying to focus on LMDh) but know that it is even more convoluted and includes non-hybrid cars based on road machinery (not really) …Toyota still dominates, because there is no other serious competition, but Ferrari is coming.

Back in North America DPi 2.0 became LMDh with the adoption of a common hybrid system, the development costs being burdened by the suppliers, Bosch for the MGU-K and controls, Williams Advanced Engineering for the battery and Xtrac for the gearbox required to accommodate the electric machine attached to its input shaft. A relatively simple system that adds a supplementary 50kW (67hp) to the ICE, that is additionally limited to a maximum of 470kW (640hp), the whole lot restricted to a total output of around 500kW (670hp). No four-wheel-drive, no MGU-H, and fairly simplistic controls to harvest the rear wheel energy under braking and deploy it when demanded (when I say “simplistic” it is a relative term). The power output will be monitored by IMSA via torque sensors mounted on the half shafts, so nothing to infer from other data, go over the specified power output and visit the pits for a penalty…no arguments. The all-new hybrid system weighs somewhere around 75 kg (it grows slightly every time a new release hits) and at 50kW doesn’t really hold itself up in the power-to-weight comparisons, but it is a step in the right direction and affordable enough to keep the programs in around IMSA’s guideline running budgets. What I would refer to as a good start to affordable sustainability. The chassis (“spine”) is based on the carbon tub and suspension of the next generation of LMP2 cars, which won’t see the light of day in that category for another couple of years, and so the same four constructors are supplying the OEMs. As Roger stated in his speech, Porsche chose Multimatic. This is a good deal for us as the program includes both factory and customer teams.

Could we make this any more complex? How about having another go at convergence between IMSA and the ACO, which was the goal when DPi 2.0 was conceived, but a misalignment in timing blew that up. The idea is to now allow the LMDh cars to compete at Le Mans (as well as in WEC) and the LMH cars in IMSA. But the former are miles apart from being common with LMH, which includes hybrid and non-hybrid powertrains as well as two-wheel- and four-wheeldrive, whereas LMDh is nicely jammed into a tight rules box using a common hybrid system and closely controlled engine power and

aerodynamic performance. Balance of Performance adjustment will continue to be made in both categories to assure a competitive landscape, but now there is a new concept: Balance of Technology (BoT), to make sure that the performance level is well matched between the LMDh and LMH categories. How do I explain that? Not sure that it’s cooked enough to take it on yet. It just feels all a little too contrived but how else to make it all work other than returning to a “run what you brung” approach and see how that turns out? I would predict badly because technology has outstripped our ability to keep it all safe so, hey-ho here we go. And now I have reached my acronym limit and need to wrap it up, hopefully my explanation has brought some clarity rather than creating further obfuscation. Oh, one more abbreviation (had to do it), IMSA has chosen to call its LMDh category GTP (Grand Touring Prototype), a nod to the previous golden age of North American prototype racing (1981-1993). And finally, I would highly recommend reading Gary Watkins’ article in this month’s MotorSport magazine entitled “Believe the Hype,” which runs down all the LMH and GTP cars that will be competing in the coming year(s). He is the undisputed king of sportscar racing journalism and the piece is full of great information on the competitors, but he didn’t really bother with all the minutiae of the new categories’ technical rules…hence me putting this explanation together.

Have a great 2023, the sports car racing will be interesting. IT

The Toyota GR010 Hybrid (top) was the first on the ‘Hypercar’ scene, but will be soon joined by Ferrari, who are returning to the top class of sports car racing with its new 499P (above). Photos Courtesy of Toyota and Ferrari

By Dave Mathers

LOOKING BACK FAREWELL, BILL ZARDO SR.

BillZardo Sr. – ‘The Big Z’ – was a racing legend in Southern Ontario. Starting from his humble beginnings at Pinecrest (aka ‘PineCRASH’) Speedway, in 1961, Bill was encouraged to race by his friend, Jimmy Hallahan, another Canadian Motorsport Hall of Famer.

His racing career initially ended in 2001 with a run that spanned 40 years and saw him accumulate countless wins and several championships along the way. He was also one of the patriarchs of the Zardo / Shepherd racing clan, which is pretty much stock car royalty in Ontario.

On December 13, Bill passed away suddenly. He was on his way out to his garage, to work on his race car. Last summer, he came out of retirement to drive an OSCAAR Hot Rod, and by all accounts, he was planning to race it again in 2023.

But getting back to his first career, Bill won the inaugural CASCAR Super Late championship, in 1981. He was also a regular, weekly competitor at Flamboro Speedway, winning the Molson Series championship in 1984, the Late Model championships in both 1984 and 1986 as well as the Triple 50s title in 1987.

Bill bought his race cars from Junior Hanley. He joked that, over the years, he ‘invested’ about three million dollars with Hanley Enterprises.

During the ‘80s, Junior had been running the ASA circuit, but decided to switch to Tom Curley’s American Canadian Tour (ACT) on a full-time basis, in 1989.

Zardo decided to tag along, and he quickly became one of the favourites to win on ‘any given Sunday.’ He scored a huge series win, at Flamboro Speedway, during an ACT

doubleheader weekend at Flamboro and Sauble, in the early ‘90s. ‘Dizzy’ Dean Murray promoted the race at Flamboro, and the place was packed!

I had a deal at Motion for any racer –drag, stock, sportscar, motorcycle, whatever – where I would take $1,000 off the selling price if they would run a Motion decal on their race vehicle.

Zardo, of course, jumped at the chance and took advantage of that offer on several occasions.

In one of our transactions, Bill had a Hutter Ford motor and wondered if he could trade that in. Yup… deal. I needed a spare for our Super Late, which had a Prototype for power. I had sold a couple of custom-built cube vans, and Bill wanted one.

We shipped the chassis to Gary, Indiana… and had it built. Bill and I drove to Gary to

(Above) The recently deceased Bill Zardo Sr. was the first CASCAR champion, in 1981. Photo by Dave Franks

pick it up. During that trip, I learned a lot about Bill that hadn’t known before.

He joked that he was a ‘pilot’ and loved ‘flying under the radar’ with his very successful Zardo Scrap Metal business. It was tucked away in an industrial area of Brampton, up against some train tracks.

Bill was very proud of his children and grandchildren and supported them in their racing endeavours.

Junior and I both felt that his daughter, Sharon, was the best of the bunch, but motherhood took the place of her racing career.

Sharon’s husband, Pete Shepherd, Jr., had a successful racing career of his own. And their son, Petey, went on to become part of the Jack Roush ‘Gong Show’ a few years ago, taking part in several ARCA and NASCAR Truck Series, before returning home to the NASCAR Pinty’s and APC Late Model series. Petey’s grandfather, Pete Shepherd, Sr., was also a racer, back in the day, as well as crew chief for Rich Grady.

Bill’s son, Bill Zardo Jr., was a good racer in his own right. His sons, Billy Jo and Lane, are also successful, with Billy Joe competing in the APC Series, while Lane won the 2021 Qwick Wick Super Stock title.

Finally, Bill’s brother-in-law, Jim Collison, was a long-time Flamboro racer. He was calm, quiet and easy going, so pretty much the polar opposite of Bill.

One of the best stories about Big Z is better told by others. In this case, Ken Rockwell relates what happened when he and ‘Dizzy’ Dean Murray – who also put on the popular Motion Car Show, in Toronto – encountered Johnny Cash during a trip to Jamaica.

Cash had written and performed a song entitled ‘One Piece at a Time’ regarding a GM employee who had smuggled enough assorted parts out of a Cadillac plant to build his own car.

Having fun with the song, Cash commissioned a bizarre car to be built, and here’s the rest of the story.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Dizzy convinced Cash to let him display the car at the Motion show, in Toronto. According to Rockwell – Dizzy’s righthand man – the Toronto appearance was the first time the car had ever left Nashville, TN.

Dizzy hired Zardo to drive south to pick up the car. Apparently, the car had been sitting outside, in front of the Johnny Cash Museum, and needed some work.

As part of convincing Cash to go along with the deal, Dizzy promised to pick up the car, drive it to Toronto, do a restoration on it, show it at Motion, and return it back to Nashville. Bill Zardo drove it back south, too. This all happened because of a chance meeting on a Caribbean Island.

Looking back now, it was a legend towing a car – owned by another legend – thanks to a deal set up by a third legend! It just doesn’t get any better.

I had the honour of conducting The Big Z’s funeral service, in front of a packed room filled with family and friends. In his coffin was placed beer from a case dropped off during a visit to the family’s home by Junior Hanley. And as they took Bill from the room, when the service was over, the assembled crowd waved checkered flags at him, one last time. IT

(Top) Bill Zardo was one of the patriarchs of an Ontario racing dynasty that is going strong to this day. He’s shown here with his daughter, Sharon. Photo by Dave Franks (Middle) In 2022, Bill Zardo Sr. got back behind the wheel of a race car, in the OSCAAR Hot Rods series. He won a race at Peterborough Speedway. Photo by Ashley McCubbin (Above) During his career, Zardo won many big races and competed in several elite series. Photo by Dave Franks

By Erik Tomas

TOMAS TALES UNEARTHING GEMS

Aswe slide into 2023, our season-long celebration of our 30th Anniversary on the air in 2022 fades into our rear-view mirror. It was actually our daughter Katelyn who came up with the idea of taking the back end of the Race-Wrap News portion of each show last year for a selection of the best interviews from three decades as Canada’s National Radio Motorsport Authority and replay a portion of those interviews as 30 Years of Raceline Radio audio flashbacks.

As I mentioned in previous Tales, it meant finding and opening dusty boxes of cassette and CD recordings of Raceline Radio shows going back to May 7th of 1992.

I would say this almost 70-year-old memory of mine still fires decently, but I have to admit going back through our deep audio archive, we plugged back in some stuff I had just plain forgotten about.

A list of examples would be far too long for the boundaries of this article, but one interview that slipped my mind was a standout segment from June 21st, 2009 when a conversation with IndyCar’s Marco Andretti to pump the return of the Toronto Indy that year included a surprise second voice on the recording, Marco’s dad Michael, a seven-time winner in Toronto, who made the

trip to Canada at the last minute.

Our first father and son interview was historic. And access to grand Andretti patriarch Mario on Raceline Radio would have to be the crowning achievement of the show so far.

Our 30-year-old-plus partnership with Subaru Canada was hinged on our road rally coverage, so it was extra special to hear multi-time rally champions Tom McGeer, Trish Sparrow-McGeer, Pat and Natalie Richard, Frank and Dan Sprongl and Antoine L’Estage again.

That rally sound replay had special meaning as we lost Subaru’s Brian Hyland just before Christmas. Brian put the original Raceline deal together, and we would simply not exist without Brian’s vision and friendship. So yes, it was also a sometimes-emotional trip back through 30 years of shows, hearing some of the voices that shaped our timeline.

The late John Massingberd, co-founder of Promark Motorsport, the parent company of Raceline Motorsport Television and eventually The Raceline Radio Network with still good friend and colleague Bruce Mehlenbacher was the original co-host of Raceline Radio.

Hearing John’s voice again on those

recordings was surreal to say the least.

We called the season wrap-up shows in our early years our “Night of Champions.” broadcast from the old ‘Chariots’ auto racing themed restaurant in Stouffville, ON. The shows featured live interviews of all-star guests who had won titles.

Radio the old fashioned way in front of a live audience was a delight to hear again.

That all comes full circle as our friends and print partners at Inside Track Motorsport News stage their version of ‘Night of Champions’ at The Motorama Custom Car and Motorsports Expo in Toronto, ON Saturday, March 11th.

It’ll be sponsored by Fast Eddie Racewear. Full circle here too, as Fast Eddie’s Ed Hakonson was the proprietor of the aforementioned ‘Chariots’ restaurant. You see good ideas never die, they just evolve.

We received more than a few kind notes from listeners who enjoyed our 30 Years of Raceline Radio audio flashbacks. A few remembering their original airing, the younger listeners hearing them for the first time.

The next 30 years will have us adding many more notable names to our very long list of auto racing all-stars.

All set? Let’s go! ET

Raceline Radio’s flashback segments celebrating its 30 years on the air re-invigorated Erik Tomas’ love of live radio in front of a crowd, and he will get his fix once more at the 2023 Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo when he appears on the ‘Meet the Media’ panel once again and partakes in the annual ‘Night of Champions’ event (above) at the show. Photo by Paolo Pedicelli

WEATHERTECH KINETIC RECOVERY ROPE

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This product is perfect for both the fearless hobbyist and the everyday driver. If you’re exploring uncharted terrain, you’ll be glad to have the rope stashed in your cargo area for when you’ve met your match with

Speed with Purpose

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The Kinetic Recovery Rope is proudly North American made, with a lifetime guarantee, which means you’re getting the highest quality, most durable rope and shackles available. For more information and to order yours today, visit www.WeatherTech.ca. IT www.multimaticmotorsports.com

Since 1992, motorsport has provided Multimatic with a high-speed laboratory where innovative engineering, creative thinking and rapid problem-solving have not only led to multiple championships and outstanding race successes but also significantly enhanced the company’s overall approach to product development.

SPEEDWAY TRAILERS

Focusing on cargo utility trailers and heavy-duty, custom powersports trailers, Speedway Trailers in Cambridge, Ont. carries a variety of brands in both the enclosed and open categories. They have plans to expand with overland campers in Spring 2023.

Speedway Trailers offers ALCOM all aluminum trailers, which builds to a high-quality standard, and offers an extensive variety of choices.

Whether you’re a vintage car collector, own ATVs and snowmobiles or are a powersports enthusiast who wants to go to the track, these trailers are perfect for that prized vehicle that you want to show off.

ALCOM’s High Country car haulers are great for race teams.

They come in gooseneck and bumper pull and have everything a team will need. They can be ordered with many custom features or ready to go off the lot.

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leaving happy and staying happy. They want to stay reputable and maintain their family feel throughout their growth.

Visit speedwaytrailers.com to browse inventory (if it’s on their website, it’s in stock) and contact the company at 519-658-0444 or tonys@speedwaytrailers.com. IT

SUPERSPEED WHEELS

Introducing the all-new Superspeed FlowForm Series RF01 Progressive. This retro racing-inspired wheel inherited the split seven-spoke mesh from the previous gen RF01. Paired with a classic lipped edge and the center-lock style lug cap, the RF01 Progressive retains the retro design while being modernized with the advanced FlowForm manufacturing process.

With the option to change to colored caps and to use either low-type or hightype center caps, we’ve made it possible to customize your own style. Inspired by retro-racing, we’ve created a lipped edge to pair up with the modern mesh seven-split spoke to give it a modernized classic look. Thanks to the floating spokes and face design, the RF01 Progressive is capable of taking big brake calipers no matter it’s from an aftermarket upgrade or OE equipped.

The FlowForm RF01 Progressive is now available to order from your local dealers and the online store. IT

BRIGHTON SPEEDWAY

Steve Baldwin won the Late Model championship at Brighton Speedway in 2022. The Trenton, ON resident was former drag racer and won this title ten years after switching disciplines.

BRIGHTON SPEEDWAY

Tommy Bailey was the class of the Comp 4 field at Brighton Speedway, last summer. The Cobourg, ON racer started racing in 2019 and collected a total of 33 checkered flags in 2022.

CORNWALL MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Alexandria, ON racer Chris Raabe won 358 Modified crowns at Cornwall Motor Speedway, Brighton Speedway and Mohawk Int’l Raceway in ‘22. He also won countless big money races.

DELAWARE SPEEDWAY

Ray Morneau, from Windsor, ON, took the Delaware Speedway Late Model title last season. He won four features during the season, as well as the track’s Sportsmanship Award.

FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY

Troy, ON Mini Stock racer Bobby Mercer was the driver to beat, in his ‘93 Honda Accord station wagon, at Flamboro Speedway in 2022. It was his third career championship at the track.

GRAND BEND SPEEDWAY

Dylan Graham, from Glencoe, ON, won his second career Jr. Micro Sprint championship, at Grand Bend Speedway, last summer. He won 11 races. He’s moving up to Mini Trucks for 2023.

Photo courtesy Rod Henderson / CanadianRacer.com

Photo courtesy Bobby Mercer

Photo courtesy Graham Racing

Photo courtesy Rod Henderson / CanadianRacer.com

Photo by Rick Young

Photo by Thompson Photography

FULL THROTTLE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Walkerton, ON racer Del Freiburger won the Jr. Late Model title at Varney, ON’s Full Throttle Motor Speedway, last season. As well, the team continued its amazing charity fundraising efforts.

FULL THROTTLE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Veteran racer Junior Farrelly, from Guelph, ON, earned the Late Model championship at Full Throttle, in 2022. The busy competitor is also active on the Can-Am TQ Midget Club tour.

OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY

Lucas Smith won the season-ending Crate Sprint Cars race at Ohsweken Speedway, last September. The victory secured his second career track championship at Ohsweken.

OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY

Dave Bailey added to his impressive career title haul by winning his sixth Ohsweken Speedway Thunder Stock crown, in 2022. The Hagersville, ON racer has 35 career feature wins at The Big O.

PETERBOROUGH SPEEDWAY

In his first full season back racing, since winning the 2018 Super Stock title at Peterborough Speedway, Duoro Dummer, ON’s Bailey Jacobs earned top spot in the points, again, in 2022.

PETERBOROUGH SPEEDWAY

Jeremy Kelly, from Ennismore, ON, won the Peterborough Mini Stock championship last season. It was his fourth title in eight years of racing. His late grandfather also raced at the track, in the ‘60s.

Photo by One Nine Marketing

Photo by April Wilson

Photo by Peter Anderson

Photo by April Wilson

Photo by One Nine Marketing

Photo by Peter Anderson

SAUBLE SPEEDWAY

Orangeville, ON racer Ryder White boosted his career win total to more than 50 en route to earning Sauble Speedway’s Jr. Late Model crown in 2022.

SOUTHERN ONT. MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Steve Shaw, from Merlin, ON, drove his Camaro Thunder Stock to the championship at Southern Ontario Motor Speedway in 2022.

SUNSET SPEEDWAY

Pontypool, ON racer Danny Benedict won the Pro Late Model championship at Sunset Speedway, south of Barrie, ON, in 2022.

SUNSET SPEEDWAY

The Limited Late Model title, at Sunset Speedway, went to Dustyn Mombourquette in ‘22. Hailing from Tiny, ON, Dustyn has come a long way since starting in the Super Stock division, in 2015.

CANADA HEADS UP DRAG SERIES

Paul Bhawan won the Canada Heads Up – Shootout Series Super Street points championship in 2022, narrowly edging his closest competition. Bhawan’s Datson won one event last season.

CANADA HEADS UP DRAG SERIES

Peter Spinelli came out on top of the Canada Heads Up – Shootout Series’ Sportsman 7.50 class in 2022, following what was another tight championship battle.

Photo courtesy Ryder White

Photo by Blake Farnan

Photo by Blake Farnan

Photo courtesy Steve Shaw

Photo courtesy Danny Benedict

Photo by Motorsports Alley

SNONOW

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