8 minute read
Crusin' keeps the classics rolling
BY JOSH PERRSON
Hop in the hot-rod and take a cruise to A&W for Cruisin’ 2023! Every Thursday starting the fi rst week of May and ending on the third week of September the Ladysmith A&W hosts Crusin’, a car focused meet-and-greet for car enthusiasts of all kinds. It starts at 5pm and goes until 8pm. Don’t have a hot rod? That’s okay! There is live music, and you can go get a good burger at A&W and enjoy the plethora of cars on display. And why wouldn’t you, the event is free!
Cruisin’ started in 2012, and the fi rst ones were on a Sunday. “We didn’t have any speci fic time for them to be here, and they would look around and go, where’s the other cars?” mentioned Jason Kelland, business owner of the Ladysmith A&W. Soon after, it was swapped to Thursday and given a proper time frame. Things ramped up from there, and they decided to give out A&W coupons, free pop, tea, and coffee, and even hand out some prizes as well.
“It just grew every year from then. I think the average cruise now gets about 60 cars plus.” said Kelland. Not every A&W does a Crusin’ event, and the Ladysmith Crusin’ is one of the more popular ones that happens. The event is so popular that they have started to present loyal members with a Crusin’ royalty status. If you come to 20 events in the year (there are usually 25 or so), then you become a Cruisin’ royal.
Ever wondered why the Cruisin’ event ends in the third week of September? It’s because that is Kelland's birthday. “We just thought, let’s just wrap it up on my birthday. My wife brought a big cake down. So now it’s tradition. Every year on my birthday we hand out a cake and we then present all the Cruisn’ royalty. We have jackets, which we present for them.” says Kelland.who thanks his staff for their support.
Drive on down on Thursdays this summer and show off your hot-rod or admire these metal beauties. awladysmith.ca/cruisin
Ladysmith Days Soapbox Derby
Kelland originally from South Africa and had a bit of a cultural shock. In South Africa people are wary of strangers. But he quickly got used to the open friendliness of the people and jumped in supporting many events such as Hill Dash where they served up free burgers to the public.
With all his previous car experience, it isn't surprising that Kelland who is also a Ladysmith Kinsmen is helping to organize the Ladysmith Day's Soap Box Derby. It has been a few years since Ladysmith last saw this event but when Kelland heard all the stories about "how cool it was," he couldn't resist.
The Soap Box Derby is on August 5 in downtown Ladysmith for 6-12-year-olds. To register for this free event, please email ladysmithsoapboxderby@gmail.com There will be 17 carts available and the track will be from Gatacre to Kitchener Street. Kelland thanks the business community for their support with a special shout-out to Big O Tires for providing the tires for the lining of the course.
The event, organized by the Ladysmith Kinsmen in conjunction with Ladysmith Days Committee and the Ladysmith Downtown Business Association will also accept registration on-site starting at 10 am with the races beginning at 11 am.
So come cheer on the kids and get their motor running.
John Cordts, Race Car Driver
BY ROB JOHNSON
If you are sitting in the Ladysmith McDonald’s and see a distinguished almost 90-year-old man in a black leather jacket drive up, get off a sporty motorcycle and head for the table by the fi replace, you are looking at John Cordts, one of Canada’s premier race car drivers. A man that has lived one hell of a life.
John Cordts came to Canada from Sweden in the early 1950s, when he was 18. While living in Sweden as child, he did some racing on ice before he came to Canada. Within a few years of his arrival, he started racing again. This time road racing, he bought a brand-new MGA. It wasn’t long before he became well known in amateur racing community.
The start of his racing career began when bought his first Corvette — a car that he knew he had to race. John and his Corvette won almost every race he ever entered. That first year, he competed against David Billes, of the Canadian Tire family. Billes also drove a Corvette, so soon a friendly rivalry developed between them. Over the years, John did well. He won the Canadian championship for Big Bore sports cars against some pretty stiff competition. His success showed his friend Billes that John had what it takes to become one of Canada’s best race car drivers.
The following year, Billes decided to give up driving and sponsor his own car, a new McLaren. Now, he needed a topnotch driver to drive this powerful and fast machine, John was the obvious choice. In 1966, Billes entered his McLaren in the famous Can-Am series with John as his driver.
Now, as part of the Can-Am series, money was more plentiful during that time, but neither was not in plentiful supply. Regardless, the team did well in those early years. In 1968, John became a driver to be reckoned with, as he set a track record of 101.8 mph at Harewood Acres — a record that is unbroken today, but the track closed down.
John’s ability to keep his Can-Am cars on the track and in the money became legendary. One magazine wrote: “If I had a Can-Am car, I would want John Cordts to drive it.”
In 1969, he was offered a once-in-a-life time opportunity to race in a Brabham-Climax Formula One car in that year’s Grand Prix of Canada at Mosport. This was an experience of a lifetime, as he became only one of five Canadian drivers in the 60s to have raced in the Canadian GP. He qualified in the 19th position and was doing well, moving up to 16th position by lap 10 before an oil leak forced him out of the race.
The life of a professional driver is not all fame and glory. There are lots of low points in a driver’s career as well as the danger of a career-ending accident. At one point during John’s racing career, he had a very tough go of it. He was living on next to nothing for a long time. John had built a log cabin in the bush and ate turnips and rabbits that he was able to catch. He talks about his in time in his book Blood, Sweat and Turnips. Things were so bad that sometimes, he couldn’t even afford a hotel room where he was racing, so he lived in a pup tent behind the racing pits.
Sure, some of the times were hard, but John’s heart was in racing, so he did whatever it took to continue his driving career.
When asked if he had any bad accidents, he shares one particularly scary moment: “I was caught inside an upside-down car that was on fi re in the engine compartment. I thought for certain I was going to die. Both fuel tank lids opened up, and the gas was running all over me and the ground. I was just waiting for the big boom!” Then, he thought, “Well, I’m not dead yet.” He undid the safety belts and, with great effort, managed to crawl out of the wreck before any explosion.
Regardless of the hardships and the accidents, John still loves the sport. “You had to have a total lack of fear of the car. I’m afraid of everything else in the world, but I was never scared of driving at 350 km/hr. To me, that was just good fun.”
A race car driver career is often a short one, so too was it for John. His last adventures were in the early 70s, when he drove in the Trans-Am series for BF Goodrich. John Cordts left motorsports shortly after and eventually retired to Ladysmith.
In his retirement, he went back to something he had dabbled in over the years: wood carving. It was something he started when he was just a kid; he would carve faces in a bit of wood with a jackknife. It was an interest he played with over the years. In fact, during quiet periods of his racing career, he would often be seen carving something with his trusty knife.
Now, he has time to carve and reflect on his past career and a full life. As a bonus, he is being recognized for his talent as a professional wood-carver as well as a driver.
John was inducted into the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2003.
