Race#7
20 Cars
Robbie MacEwen wins
#898 Consecutive
Heat-6th
Feature- 20th crashed
Our visit to Oyster Bed Speedway in PEI was one I was really looking forward too. I love this little track and seem to run not too bad here. Our crew were fantastic, making many changes to get us better but we couldn’t get below 13:693. Most fast cars were in the 4’s and 5’s.
Jack was amazing again both spotting and making changes on the car with me. Bobby, Emily and Ray all did their part, especially in the feature when we were handling so bad, right front the start pretty well. I came in on the competition yellow, but was down one lap. The crew took air out of the LR tire to help the car turn better and I went back out.
We got the lucky dog. The cars were doubling up when I went back out and to my shock I couldn’t drive the car it was so loose I was almost spinning out at 30 mph. It was then I realized my RR tire was going down. I messaged to my crew, as we were still going around under the yellow “I have a RR flat tire”. I headed back into the pits and they changed it getting me back out before the restart. We had 4 practice tires we were allowed to use in case of a flat. I marked their depth before we put on the new tires. The best tire was a 5 in depth. It was our RF spare. I went back out and made the restart before the green. However the car still would not turn. The race went green until another yellow when a car needed towing, and again we were down a lap.
I went into the pits and asked them to check the rear stagger. It was less than 3″…not enough variance, should be 3 to 3 1/4″. The spare we put on was only 85 1/2″ and needed to be bogger to give us the stagger we needed. They rotated the tires on the outside because the the RF tire was bigger and that would give us what we needed.
I returned again to the track with 121 laps remaining. But it wasn’t to be this time, our night would end with a bad crash on lap 121 restart when the field got together going into turn one. I couldn’t stop and the track was completely blocked. I hit #11 Jordan Veinotte very hard on the RF, doing lots of damage to the car. Congrats to PEI’s Robbie MacEwen on his win, his 2nd Tour race in his career.
Here are some of the parts we know we need so far:
RF-spindle
RF–strut
Front steel bumper’
Front nose
Braces for the front bumper
Body braes
We have started work on the car and should have it ready by Thursday. Lots of dollars and hours again for this repair.
Our next race is back to Oyster Bed Speedway next Saturday August 3rd. My Ontario crew chief Jim Hulzinga and his wife Marie will be there.
Thanks for visiting our website
God bless you all
Gary Elliott
Three Nights To Go
We are now just three nights away from our 900th consecutive night, a streak that stated on June 5th 1987.
So many people have made this happen, family, crew, friends, sponsors and of course our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Thank you and God bless you all for visiting our site
IWK 250 Draws 31 Cars….We Finish 19th
It was a hectic night of racing, starting early Saturday morning and ending at 10:30 in the evening. Our team worked hard to be competitive but I was exhausted from being up most of the night with my poor Buttons being so sick. We avoided trouble in the heat race, a wreck on lap one coming off turn two on the green. Unfortunately Dwayne Baker, who came from Ontario didn’t survive the wreck and was out for the rest of the night.
Two other Ontario drivers were here, Danny Benedict and Josh Stade and both didn’t finish the race. We were the last running car to cross the finish line in 19th place.
We finished the race with no damage and an exhausted driver…..250 laps on the toughest track in Canada.
Our nest race is this coming Saturday in PEI at Oyster Bed Speedway.
We have now completed 897 consecutive nights with 3 to go to reach 900 in a row since June 5th 1987.
Thanks for visiting our site.
God bless you all.
Photo courtesy of RYE “Grizzly” Chapman
Four Nights To Go….IWK 250 Up Next
Here is an update…a little late, the past week was hectic. More coming soon.
Thanks for visiting our site. God bless you all.
Journey To 900 Consecutive Nights
We have raced a total of 1339 nights since May 1969. WE had a streak of 151 consecutive nights up until the long weekend in May of 1987. However a 2 week suspension ended that streak. I was reinstated on June 5th 1987 and since then we have not missed a night of racing that we were scheduled to run.
After Petty on July 7th we have 4 more nights to go. Here is the flyer before the Petty Raceway night…5 Nights To GO.!!!
Thanks for visiting our site, God bless you all.
Petty Race July 7th….Proved All Our Work After Riverside Crash Was Good….Easy week Now For The IWk250
We worked hard on our car after the June 29th huge wreck at Riverside International Speedway. I hate having my crew come over more than once a week but some did and I appreciate their support very much. Some live an hour away and I respect the cost to travel to work on the car, so one night a week is the norm unless we tear the car up.
he repair parts were over $2,000 but doing the work out selves saved thousands more.
Special thanks to all my crew Shannon Riley, Chris White, Jack Lynds, Bobby and Emily Sanford, Bob Landry, Ray Doucette and Buttons.
We were rained out on Saturday the original date of the race, but it was rescheduled for the Sunday. I was exhausted but wanted to get the car on the track to make sure it was good and after two sets of hot laps we were satisfied the car would be good for Riverside’s IWK250, the biggest race of the year with 28 drivers registered so far.
We finished 8th in our hear race and 14th in the feature. I pulled off on lap 68 because I was down a lap, no chance for the lucky dog, the car was good, I was very tired after the past weeks work and the money was the same from 14th to 9th.
Our next event will be the 250 lap race at Riverside International speedway on July 20th
Thanks to Rye “Grizzly” Chapman for this photo.
God bless you all and thank you for visiting our site.
Best Finish Ever…Riverside International Speedway June 29th
We had our best finish ever at Riverside Speedway on Saturday taking a 6th in the heat race and 7th in the150-lap feature. We ran well all day staying in the top 10-12. A huge wreck on a restart involved every car but one. We were right in the middle of it and sustained a ton of body damage but lucky our rad was not busted, though it had a severely bent tank.
I drove to the pits and told my crew to strip the font end I wanted to get back out. They did that and we finished 7th completing 150 of 151 laps.
WE have been working on the car all week and will make out next race at Petty International Raceway on July 6th.
We are now tied for 8th in the standings.
Thank you for visiting our site God bless you all.
Our Team Has Best Run At Scotia Speedworld In 5 Years
Since coming to the Maritimes I have had a huge learning process trying to figure out the best way around each oval. We have done well at the short ovals Petty Raceway and Oyster Bay Speedways but struggled terribly at Scotia Speedworld and Speedway 660. I did have some experience at Riverside International Speedway in 2016 and 2017 but both times has issues, a mechanical failure in 2016 and a gas cap coming off in 2017 that resulted in our car catching fire on lap 3 and then going down 10 laps looking for a replacement fuel cap.
Riverside is a great track, but a very physically demanding oval. I struggled with Scotia for 3 years then in 2021 had my fastest lap their a 14:538. We finally broke that in the final race of 2023 with a 14:500.
Each track is much different than any in Ontario although combining a few would bring similarities to both Peterborough and Sauble Speedways. The first time on Oyster Bed I fell in love with the track, my kind of oval. If this was 2010 I could win there, and at Petty as well. I say 2010, but even 2014 would be close to take the checker. }
It seemed that over the past few years I would be lucky to finish 149 of 150 laps. But this past weekend we had a very good handling car and it showed with a 9th in the feature and finishing on the lead lap. We also finished 8th in our heat race, last, but we were 4th fastest.
What made us better this weekend? I would say confidence and learning to drive the car smart by avoiding both bumps off turn 2 and 4. I was able to do that and run smooth laps keeping us in the hunt with a few cars, battling for a top 10 position.
At the checker I was very happy to finish 9th and complete all 150 laps with no damage to the car. My crew were very happy as were both my son in law Derrick and daughter Shirley. They came so Shirley could spend a belated Fathers Day with me.
My crew Chris White, Jack Lynds, Bobby and Emily Sanford were awesome and Bob Landry was there, but mostly for moral support, and Shannon Riley came after work.
We had a great day, though I did get into #33 Tylor, spinning him out. I didn’t mean to, and called and apologized the next day. He said not to worry his caliper was seizing.
We are now 9th in points after three East Coast International Pro Stock Tour races.
We will be at our 4th Tour race this coming weekend at Riverside with the NASCAR Canada Series.
POS CAR DRIVER NAME PRIMARY SPONSOR HOMETOWN PTS
1 54 Jarrett Butcher Superior Foundations Porter’s Lake, NS 618
2 25G Gage Gilby CKG Elevator Enfield, NS 597
3 13 Austin MacDonald King Competition Pictou, NS 593
4 41 Mike Rodgers Rodgers Apartments Moncton, NB 586
5 08 Nicholas Naugle Brycon Construction Dartmouth, NS 585
6 11v Jordan Veinotte Veinotte’s Trucking & Auto Porter’s Lake, NS 582
7 0 Sam Rogers Lower Onslow, NS 573
8 88 Russell Smith Jr Nova Construction Lakeside, NS 566
9 36 Gary Elliott Quaker State Murray Siding, NS 556
10 30 Stephen Lively East Coast Financing Shubenacadie, NS 549
11 25 Ryan VanOirschot Ron MacGillivray Chev Antigonish, NS 496
12 89 Nova Racing Nova Construction Antigonish, NS 395
13 51 LeClair/Smith M&K Construction Brackley Beach, PE 382
14 33 Tylor Hawes Mackinnon & Olding Porter’s Lake, NS 367
Thank you for visiting our site God Bless you all
June 8th Petty International Raceway…….. Rained Out…..Rain Outs 2….Races 2
We headed to the track around 8:30. I did a show in Moncton the day before and dropped the trailer off at the track. Shannon was with me at the show but could not make the race due to work. Bobby and Emily Sanford
were away and also could not make it out.
After being at the track from 11 until 8PM we could not out due the rain. It would rain, then stop, the track would be dried so we could practice and then rains came again.
It looked like things were good until around 7 when it rained hard and ended the night.
The car was good, I had too much gear in it but Chris White changed the gears and it was much better with 562 rather than 573.
We were 10th fastest of 16 cars and happy with how we handled.
We’re off this week coming, but return to Scotia Speedworld on June 22nd.
Thanks for visiting our site. God bless you all.
Race #3 Petty International Raceway…….MR :LUBE 150
We hopefully will get this race in. It’s calling for rain Saturday and Sunday. Such a terrible summer so far….cold and rain.
Looking forward to this short fast high banked oval, one of my favorite no doubt.
Thank you for visiting our site. God bless you all. 