STOCK CAR VETERANS GET TOGETHER

Former Ontario Racers Look Forward to Monthly Meetings

By Tim Miller

Thispast February, a group of individuals –most of whom were senior men – gathered in Hamilton, Ontario for this first time in three years. And most of them were beside themselves with excitement.

Every month, a few dozen former oval track racers meet up in the dining room of the Hamilton Police Association building for a bite and to talk about old time racing. The February meeting was special as it was the first one in three years, due to the pandemic. And they were ready to play catch-up.

These men, mostly in their 70s and 80s, plied the dirt and asphalt ovals around Hamilton and the Niagara Peninsula. Most of them drove at the long-gone Speedway Park on Hamilton Mountain, including Lorne Overholster and Larry Woods, who have organized this monthly event for several years. Overholster also manages a Facebook page about the history of local racing with a wealth of photos.

First on the agenda for this first meeting of 2023 was a tribute to drivers who passed since the last time they met. Then it was on to bacon and eggs and swapping photos and telling tales about driving their late 1930s Chevy coupes on the dirt.

But Al Banyard goes back even further, and talked about his exploits with a Flathead-powered Ford coupe (almost all race cars were Fords) on the Ancaster Fair- grounds in the early 1950s. Wayne Ready, a regular at Speedway Park, dug out a feature article on his racing from an International Harvester house publication, dated 1965.

Other photos passed around included a great shot of the late Eric Brandt with his 1937 Ford Coupe at his Locke Street garage in Hamilton. Other racers present, such as Don Deagle, Jack Hollis and Bill Daniels, spoke about the racing, certainly, but beating up each other and their cars on the track was only part of the talk. The drivers chatted about about how the cars progressed in technology over the decades, flat-towing to the tracks, and how paltry the payouts were.

The get-togethers have returned to monthly events, (last May’s was special as the meeting was held at Randy Slack’s race garage and graciously catered by the Slacks) and all the racing veterans look forward to the Wednesday meetings. This is a big social event for them, and while they may scoff at the suggestion, their meetings at the Police club are a part of the sport’s history.

But they’ll tell you they were just out there having fun. IT