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 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