I OPINION
CANADIAN CONNECTION By John Waldie
A BUSY SUMMER S
ince last checking in, we’ve enjoyed the heart of the Canadian racing season as many of our homegrown teams have performed admirably, both locally and internationally. During Ontario’s Civic Holiday Weekend, Grand Bend Motorplex attracted an outstanding crowd of cars and fans for the facility’s 23rd running of the Canadian Nationals. The event featured eight Nitro Dragsters, Nostalgia Funny Cars, Neale Armstrong’s Northern Warrior Jet Dragster, and the spectacular three-engine, Freightliner Jet Truck. The show also included the very colourful Alcohol Nostalgia Flopper show. The highlight was an incredible Top Fuel matchup pitting the Paton family’s threesecond, 300 MPH Top Fuel dragsters against each other. They were piloted by Todd Paton and local Pro Mod star Spencer Hyde. They both posted 3.9-second ETs and eclipsed 500 km/h (300+ mph!) using the NHRA 1,000-foot standard. It was a Canadian first in side-by-side action.
BC racer Justin Bond was part of a thrilling Final at the US Nationals. Photo by John Waldie
68 Inside Track Motorsport News
CANADIANS AT BRAINERD Speaking of speed, in mid-August at the NHRA event in Brainerd, Minnesota, the Mike Salinas owned and driven Top Fuel Dragster recorded a 338-mph speed. The pass was the third-fastest in NHRA history. The car is tuned by Edmonton native Rob Flynn. At the same event, the KB/Titan Pro Stock team of Canadian Eric Latino and Jim Whitley featured finalists Dallas Glen (winner) and Kyle Koretsky. They field six of NHRA’s top ten Pro Stocks. Following Brainerd, Pro Mod event winner Jason Lee held a slim championship lead over British Columbia’s Justin Bond, who had led the standings since his Gainesville victory, in mid-March. And a ‘call out’ to another BC racer, Alcohol ‘hitter’ Shawn Cowie and his Guelph, ON crewman Pat Brown who are still going rounds and in contention for their first Lucas oil NHRA championship. After their recent NMCA Pro Mod victory at Martin, Michigan Scott Wildgust and Mike Clark were prepping for Sienna Wildgust’s debut in NHRA Pro Stock, with Eric Latino and team KB/Titan. At 17, Scott and Stacey’s daughter would become the NHRA’s youngest professional driver. Recent events at Empire Dragway in New York featured Canadian Pro Mod participants Kenny Lang, Al Matorino and Jay Santos and Top Sportsmen Kayden and Kevin Wickie, Mike Wagg, Jeff Gable, Wes Goddard and others. Very special congratulation to Richmond, BC’s Rick McKinney and his Super Stock victory at the recent NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle! Rick’s GT/MA ‘96 Camaro was also the ‘number one’ qualifier in a field that also featured Canadians Darrel Stokes’ ‘64 Chevelle, Darcy Clarke’s ‘64 Savoy, Don Thomas’ ‘04 Grand-Am and Ken Perkin’s Mission, BC Super Stocker. We’re very proud of our coast-to-coast Stock/Super Stock competitors who recently enjoyed a record number of participants and events during their east coast swing!
Popular Canadian Top Dragster racer Tony Positano will be sorely missed. Photo by Blake Farnan
INDY In addition to the exploits of the big names at the US Nationals, in Indy, there was plenty of Canadian content. Matt Hartford scored an emotional win in one of the seven Eric Latino (Canadian!) / Jim Whitley KB / Titan Pro Stocks … Stratford, ON native Kenny Lee saw three of his Quadro family Pro Stocks in the field, with Fernando Jr. advancing to his first Final … In Pro Mod, BC’s Justin Bond qualified ‘number two’ and advanced to the final before defending National champion Kris Thorne won on a hole shot. They ran 5.82 seconds to a quicker 5.77 seconds for a difference of 6/1000ths of a second at the stripe. The Larry Dobbs / Ryan Stack Alcohol team made the Funny Car field at Indy … Canadian Stock and Super Stock racers David and Guy Desjardins both advanced in eliminations, as did Venice Perno, and Wendell Howes (in the Hemi Shootout) and son Mark, The Gaffney brothers, Dan Velenoso, Frank Federichi and Charlie Kenopic all made us proud! … Jason Kenny was runner up in Super Comp at Indianapolis.
TONY POSITANO While we were at Indy for the amazing US Nationals, Canadian drag racer Tony Positano died as a result of injuries suffered while competing at Toronto Motorsports Park in his supercharged Top Dragster. During the pre-race church service at Indy, on the Monday, there was a special tribute in Tony’s memory. Tony was – without question – one of the most popular and highly regarded drag racers in all of Canada. He will be sorely missed, and we extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends, on behalf of the entire drag racing family. IT
