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2011 was a very tough year for us. In the beginning of the seaosn we could not get our car to handle properly at our home track. The set up was off at Flamboro, just not working. Bob was my head spotter and watched closely to learn what he could with our chassis. By early June we were out of the points race, sitting 11th. In early July things started to turn around. Bob, Gerry and I and worked as a team and we could see the improvements week after week. We finally got our car working towards the end of July. We climbed up to 6th in poins but our efforts at Sunset Speedway were very good. The first time there we qualifed on the pole and the second visit produced a 5th fastest in time trials. The season was a combinaion of bad set up in the first two months and bad luck overall. The night this picture was taken we had a very serious wreck coming off turn four. The front frame was bent badly but with our crew and excellent help from Junior Hanley we made it back out the next week. Nonie and I are very thankful for Bob and Gerry, for working together and making 2011 a fun season.
Racing has been a major part of Gary’s life from his childhood. His family attended stock car races at Pinecrest Speedway, Oakwood Stadium and the C.N.E, allowing Gary to cheer for his favorite driver #36 Glen Schurr. The desire and love to race was fulfilled in1969 and remains strong today. In 1970, Gary married his best friend Nonie. Last year they celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. They have two children, David and Shirley and two grandchildren from Shirley, Gehrig and Lauren.
Our 700th consecutive night went well with the track, the fans and most of all the lucky kids who won bikes. It was even good for my team, family and fans. But once we walked off the stage of our on track ceremony things were not so good. Everyone of our team members knew what was going to happen. They wanted this night to be a success and see our car in the winners circle, and if not, right in the mix. Of course neither happened. We were in the winners circle as far as kids thought of us and fans. The track officials and promoters would have given us a thumbs up. Mark, Steve, George, Brian, Dallas, Ted and all the other awesome staff members. However, once our on track presentation was done, the next thing for us was to race, and go for the win. But all of us knew it wouldn’t happen and for my family and crew I felt very bad. We tried so hard, my crew tried several things to get our car right, but to no avail. We did make it out to race, and we did our best with what we had. A power steering failure that caused severe hydraulic lock when trying to turn the car was the symptom. I’m strong for my age, but I could not man handle that binding hydraulic resistance. It’s much heavier and forceful than standard steering and makes turning impossible. We lasted 11 laps and then it was over. It as a tough moment for us, sad but part of racing, and something our team has experienced through various failures in the past 45 years. Numerous engine issues, electrical problems, carb, fuel pump, throttle sticking or breaking, brakes, transmission etc have all been part of a bad night and this weekend it was a steering concern that would take the blame for us not being able to race………On Monday I called Ron Easton telling him I wanted to get the car fixed even if it meant ordering a new complere rack. I was desperate and did not want to have a night like this again. He said he would try to find a rack with a slave cylinder like ours. He was hoping we didn’t need the rack and was sure we did not. I unloaded the car and the tools from the weekend. He called to let me know he had a slave cylinder that looked like ours and felt quite sure the issue was with our slave because we replaced everything else. I got the car on jack stands, stripped it down and removed the sheet metal. Ron helped with getting the rack out. Once he did he took it apart and found no issues with the rack itself, it went side to side no problem. Ron showed me and let me know “it’s not the rack”. That was good because they are in the $800 range. However when he took the slave apart he found the culprit, a broken rubber seal. It was broken and damaged to the point that half of it was missing, likely from me trying to race it and putting extra stress on it…..well I was stressed to. The high pressure from the steering pump would have mangled the seal even more once it was broke in half. Ron left to have it fixed and I worked on other things. When he got back we assembled the steering components and put the car on the ground. I got in and started it up and I knew right away it was fixed. We had replaced the servo, PS pump, fixed the rack internally, replaced a bent shaft on the steering column and aligned the joints from the rack to the wheel, but none of that helped. What did help was a $5 seal inside the slave. On Tuesday night Bob and I went to Flamboro Speedway to test the car and by one turn on my first circuit we confirmed it was fixed………this weekend is Capital City Speedway. Race #6 of 12. We’ve dropped from 3rd to 8th in points and are hoping to run strong for the rest of the season to make our way back to the front. It starts on Saturday in Ottawa. Thanks to Ron Easton for spending the time with me to fix our car. I am happy now :)….I wonder if we could re run our 700th night!!!!!!
We ran our Late Model at Flamboro Speedway on Saturday night to support John Casale and the OMSR club was there as well, so we got to race our Mod with them. This was a very special night, Memorial Night to remember all the former Flamboro drivers who have passed away. Every drivers name was read out, with Amazing Grace playing softly in the background…………..It was a fun night for our team. Our Late Model was just there to help with car count. We are still running 180 lap tires with 70 heat cycles on them, but I had no expenses tire wise and we made money for a change, the car cornered great and we didn’t come close to getting lapped. Newer tires would have helped us for sure…..The Mod was much more competitive. Special thanks to Rob James for loaning me tires for this race. We had trouble getting through the ends in the first 2 sets of hot laps. A bunch of adjustments made the car faster but getting caught in traffic and taking too long to get by a few cars took away a top 4 finish, but we were damage free and no extra costs for tires……the full story is on our Message Board. Go to General Chat and then click on “Diary of a Season 2014″…..congratulations to David for another win in this awesome season he is having. He also won his heat race and leads Flamboro Late Model points……..Special thanks to Clarke Motorsports Communications for this Modified photo.
David, Jim, Mike Complete Final Scaling, Steering Geometry & Bump Stop…Mike Likes What We Have Now
It is with sadness that we announce the passing today of Hobby racing legend Fred Poets. Fred had retired from racing in the late 90’s but still attended many races before moving out west. There was no racer tougher back in the 70’s than the #54 of Fred Poets. He was dominant on the track, winning the Championship in 1970. He still holds the record of 17 feature wins in one season, a feat completed back in the day when running 30 nights was common……….Fred moved to Late Models in the mid 70’s where he had some success, but returned to the Hobby class in the early 80’s, continuing his winning ways. Fred influenced many young racers, convincing them to join the Hobby club, and giving them a helping hand. Fred took #58 when he returned to race with the Hobbies, because one of his fans took the #54 when he was racing Late Models……..It ‘s an honor for our team to have known Fred. He was a great encouragement to me when I first became President of the Hobby club in 83, and again in the late 80’s. Our current car body, the black 1933 Chev 3 window Coupe, was purchased from Fred in 1990……..In 1991 Fred was inducted into the Hobby Hall of Fame. His work with other racers, and his incredible ability to win were factors in him becoming a natural to be part of this historic and nostalgic fraternity of racers………In this 1985 picture Fred is waiting to head onto the track at Kalamazoo Speedway in Michigan. Behind Fred is Ken Jorgenson #96. At the end of the night, everyone was behind Fred when he held the checker for the feature win. It was our first trip of 12 to Michigan and Fred showed he still had the skill to win………Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to his family and friends who will miss him dearly. Thanks for everything Ole Fella’, we’ll miss you.
The season is slowly coming to an end. We still have 5 more race nights left, and our team will be doing at least 3 more shows. Next Saturday is the Garry Reynolds Memorial at Barrie Speedway, the Velocity 250 at Sunset on the weekend of the 28th, Octoberfest at Flamboro October 5th and the year finishes at Peterborough Speedway for the biggest of all, “Autumn Colors”, Thanksgiving weekend…..Tonight Sunset Speedway will be buzzing for lots of reasons. The Late Model Championship is up for grabs, although a smooth and patient Mike Bentley should have enough to win it as long as he stays within a few car lengths ahead or behind Tom Walters. I’m guessing he would prefer ahead…….we will draw for the winners of our contest, the 2500th Race Contest. Someone will win 4 tickets to the Velocity 250, plus our apparel, to be given out on the Velocity weekend……it’s Fan Appreciation Night and the kids big and small will get a final chance to see their favourite drivers up close and get an autograph card……It’s a potentially important night for our team as well. we are 12th in points, but only 8 out of 10th. Anthony Simone is 11th, one point ahead, and Ernie Fumerton is 10th, just 7 points ahead. Will be important for our team to salvage this season with a top 10 in the points. It’s been a dismal year overall, although our team has worked hard to get us better the past 5 weeks, where we gained 50 points. Finishing tenth would be a good end to a painful season……. It will be cold, but should be a fun night for fans, and a good night of hard racing. Don’t miss it.
Our team is excited to be participating for the 9th straight season, in the biggest race event of the year, the Autumn Colors Classic at Peterborough Speedway. It’s perhaps the most Carnival like atmosphere of all the special events throughout the year. Lots of classes, fast moving show, the end of the season, many drivers pumped, giving it all they got because they have all winter to fix their machines. Cars get wrecked, tempers flare and the packed grandstands make remind of the days of the Roman Colosseum with Chariots racing hard and wild…… We have had good and bad luck in this show, mostly bad, but that hasn’t deflated us to the point of giving up. We know our car is outdated compared to most of the field, but we also know a well set up car, new or older can be very competitive. This track is small but extremely fast for it’s size and is perhaps the fastest of all when comparing the intensity and room to move when things go crazy, and guaranteed they will. We carry a lot of speed into turn 3, then need to brake hard and get off turn four smooth as possible because the front chute wall comes up quick, all part of the Gladiator atmosphere for this awesome show…….we have made several changes to our car to make it as competitive as possible. We’ll be running against some very tough competitors with very good equipment, but we feel this years version of our Pro Late Model will be competitive. We’re going for the win, hoping for a podium finish……hope to see you there, bring a sweater.
There were lots of cars lined up to come into the pits, but the gates never opened as the show was cancelled due to the threat of rain. Sunday was forecast to be good, but with only 3 classes scheduled to race on Sunday, Late Model, Thunder Car and Mini Stock, the revenue lost by not running the OSS, OSCAAR Mods, Hurricane Midgets, Pro 4 and Pure Stocks on Saturday night could have been the reason to cancel it all. Saturdays show may have produced 70 cars and 300 people or more, that’s a lot of money to lose. I’m guessing that was the main factor in the decision to cancel rather than weather………..I think the Sunday show was possible on it’s own, start early, complete the qualifying and run the features. The problem is the cost for those 3 shows was very high and may have been too much of a gamble to run with little pit gate revenue……….the down side is the decision to call it this late. Flamboro may have upset lots of travelling teams. A fuel saving for all those heading to the track today, certainly would have been a positive had the show been cancelled Friday. The forecast for Saturday has been bad all week with not much hope of no rain. It’s also too bad for the race teams who use high octane gas and bought new tires, especially those who made changes just for this show, and don’t normally run those tires. Maybe if the tires still have stickers on them, the teams can return them, maybe, it doesn’t hurt to call and ask……Once again the weather didn’t help Flamboro Speedway, but it’s too bad the decision to cancel both days wasn’t considered more, and maybe it was. I agree that only so much money can be thrown away or lost. Most people would understand that, it’s how it’s handled that makes it a good or bad decision, it’s not a win win for anyone……….On a side note, with all the Global Warming we are suppose to be experiencing, why is it so darn cold? Maybe Global Warning wasn’t true, or maybe it’s come and gone…..next week is Frost Fest, that should be an exciting event, hopefully the weather is good.
There were lots of cars lined up to come into the pits, but the gates never opened as the show was cancelled due to the threat of rain. Sunday was forecast to be good, but with only 3 classes scheduled to race on Sunday, Late Model, Thunder Car and Mini Stock, the revenue lost by not running the OSS, OSCAAR Mods, Hurricane Midgets, Pro 4 and Pure Stocks on Saturday night could have been the reason to cancel it all. Saturdays show may have produced 70 cars and 300 people or more, that’s a lot of money to lose. I’m guessing that was the main factor in the decision to cancel rather than weather………..I think the Sunday show was possible on it’s own, start early, complete the qualifying and run the features. The problem is the cost for those 3 shows was very high and may have been too much of a gamble to run with little pit gate revenue……….the down side is the decision to call it this late. Flamboro may have upset lots of travelling teams. A fuel saving for all those heading to the track today, certainly would have been a positive had the show been cancelled Friday. The forecast for Saturday has been bad all week with not much hope of no rain. It’s also too bad for the race teams who use high octane gas and bought new tires, especially those who made changes just for this show, and don’t normally run those tires. Maybe if the tires still have stickers on them, the teams can return them, maybe, it doesn’t hurt to call and ask……Once again the weather didn’t help Flamboro Speedway, but it’s too bad the decision to cancel both days wasn’t considered more, and maybe it was. I agree that only so much money can be thrown away or lost. Most people would understand that, it’s how it’s handled that makes it a good or bad decision, it’s not a win win for anyone……….On a side note, with all the Global Warming we are suppose to be experiencing, why is it so darn cold? Maybe Global Warning wasn’t true, or maybe it’s come and gone…..next week is Frost Fest, that should be an exciting event, hopefully the weather is good.
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Junior Hanley Welds Broken Rack…”For Loading Only”…A Warning Because He Knows
We have the car so it will look good from the drivers side, the passenger side had a lot of damage to the chassis, suspension and body. Now that the suspension is in, the chassis can wait for the 2013 rebuild, and the body can be touched up one more time to be presentable……Bob and Matt came over on Saturday to get the front end secure and a few other little repairs done. We’re done to cosmetics now. This has been our longest season since 1995 when we ran 32 nights in the CVM….from 1983 until 1995 we had 7 seasons with 29 or more nights…..if the Frost Fest ride is a go, we will have run 29 races this season…..added to that will be our event at Clearview Community Church, our 19th special show giving us 48 times in 2012 that we raced or put our car on display, that’s almost a full year of racing and promoting. Thanks to all the sponsors and crew who’ve stuck by us in this hectic and tough season….more to come on Countdown to Clearview.
Bill Lasaline #22, Pacing This Pack[/head
The main frame damage is repaired, thanks to Junior Hanley. We still have a lot to do. Another update picture will be posted after Tuesday’s work is done.
Anthony and Danica
Larkin’s Tribute To Paul McIlroy