What a great finish for the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour series. After 11 events we finished the series in 10th place in the point standings. This was our 47th top 10 points finish in 55 years racing.
The day went very well for our team. I was determined to run hard in the warn ups then go easy in the heat and be careful in the feature. We couldn’t gain on anyone and we could not lose 10th no matter what the outcome.
After 2 sets of hot laps I wanted so bad to beat our best lap time at Scotia Speedworld….14:539 in 2021. We got a 14:896 in the first set on old tires and then a 14:582 on new tires on the 3rd practice session, 1/2 a tenth off our best. I told my crew I wanted to go out again to see if we could get down to a 14:499 if possible, and so we went out again.
On our final practice session I drove very aggressive and we got down to a 14:500…..beating our best time. Now I’m not saying that’s a really good lap time, though it was 13th fastest for that practice session of 21 cars, but it is really good for a 76 year old. Being a little over 2 tenths off young men from well funded teams is good for anyone.
My crew and I were very happy.
We started 6th in our heat race and finished a strong 4th by 3 car lengths and turned a 14:520 on the final lap, beating our previous fastest lap for the second time today.
The feature was 200 laps and my thoughts were to take it easy because we were heading to Ontario and did not want to take any chances in getting wrecked or beat up.
The race was fast. We avoided a few multi car spin outs not getting any damage though we were right on top of the mayhem.
We got lapped by 55 but got the lucky dog on the next caution, putting us back on the lead lap.
We battled all race, twice spinning out going deep into turns….need to fix that. We go lapped again but a caution came out again fairly quickly and we were back on the lead lap, being the only car a lap down.
When the checker fell we crossed the line in 15th on lap 200. This was out first feature race at Scotia Speedworld finishing on the lead lap, it was also our first time finishing on the lead lap in a 200 lap feature. We were very pumped.
We left the track with a top 10 in points, setting a new fast lap for us and completing all 200 laps…..oh, and no damage.
We head to Ontario soon for a visit with my children and grandchildren, practice at Flamboro Tuesday September 26th, an event on Wednesday September 27th at Glendale Secondary School tech class, show and tell with our car, then Grisdale Triple 50’s on October 1st. Can’t wait, so thankful tonight was a success.
Thanks for visiting our site, God bless you all.
Category Archives: 2023
Last Points Race For East Coast International Pro Stock Tour September 23rd at Scotia Speedworld….200 laps
This Saturday will be the final race for the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour. We showed up every race and will finish 10th no matter what happens this weekend.
I wanted to finish better but we did good considering the year we had and I am good with a top 10, so is my crew.
I want to thank Shannon Riley, Bob Landry, Chris White and Jack Lynds for their amazing support this year, it was fantastic and we had no issues with any faulty repairs. we learned more about our car and took the gamble to race the season with no “bump stops”, a clear advantage for those who have them and can get the car right.
The reason we took them off was because we didn’t have the Gale Force equipment to test them all the time, it was a very expensive piece of equipment, needed to set these shocks up week after week and at the track. I decided to go old school and set the car up the way we use to from 2007 until 2012. Once bump stops were allowed, anyone on them lost easily 2 tenths.
Half the time we didn’t even know if we were on them or not.
I replaced my 125lb springs with a 200 and 250 from spring combination. It worked okay and smaller tracks but not so much at the very fast high banked Riverside International Speedway.
Even though we are still off, here are some highlights from this year.
* Twice we finished on the lead lap at RIS in 150 lap races, the first time in 4 years we finished on the lead lap there.
* On June 17th we went to Oyster Bed Speedway and were 12th fastest of 26 cars
* On July 22nd at Petty Speedway on lap 56 we moved past 3 cares into 5th and stayed there for 40 laps, was 6th until lap 121, 7th until lap 138, ended up 9th in that race
* At 76 there were two other racers in my age group….one was 52 and the other 61…..everyone else was 40 and under.
I want to thank all our precious sponsors for their incredible support. They are listed on this flyer prepared by Inscapes Creative Design & Print.
We leave early Sunday morning, heading to Ontario. We will stay with my son David and his wife Jeannie. Practice on Tuesday late afternoon at Flamboro Speedway to get ready for their October 1st Grisdale Triple 50’s. On Thursday morning we will head to Peterborough for the Autumn Colors Classic on Thanksgiving weekend, we will stay with Shirley and Derrick that week.
If we ran all 9 APC races and finished on the lead lap each race we would completed…….. 900 laps
If we raced 5 nights at Flamboro in their regular features we would have completed…….. 350 laps…a combined total of 1250 laps
We have 12 nights so far this year, all 150 to 250 laps, two DNF’s and have completed…….1,700 laps, not including this weeks race. I’m ready for Ontario.
This should give us 15 races for the year but we may have one more, October 14th in New Brunswick at Center for Speed in Shediac, if we survive Ontario. I am sure we will.
Thanks for visiting our site. God bless you all.
Riverside Race A Success In Ways For Our Team——-Finishing On Lead Lap A Victory
We did it. Finished on the lead lap….all 150 laps …..and first in our age group 🤣. What a great night. The car was working well. No issues. I was a little tired but kept pace with the back 5 cars. Such a relief to drive that hard and not put a mark on the car. We made a few changes throughout the day during practice and the car was good.
We did get lapped once but got the Lucky Dog….that was the only time we needed it. We ran fairly even with the back 5 cars staying within 2 car lengths mid race. By lap 140 I was
tires, its been a long tiring past few weeks, but we had good brakes and no overheating. Note the nose in this series photo…right on the track but not hitting hard.
Thanks to my crew for their awesome support and work this week and tonight. Shannon Riley, Chris White and Jack Lynds, and of course Buttons was there as always.
Big thanks to our dedicated sponsors who make this possible for us.
After tonight we have 1330 total nights and 887 consecutive. we won’t hit 900 in a row this year but we are still there every week and that’s what counts.
I thank God for all I have and this much needed night. 🙏❤️
Two Shows This Week…Maybe three….Then 250 Laps At Speedway 660
We’ve had a very busy past 2 weeks getting the car ready after a series of mechanical issues that I believe are all fixed now. This Friday I am doing a show at Canadian Tire in Truro from 11:30 until 3. Then I head to the Rath Eastlink Community Centre, home of the Truro Bearcats, from 4:30 until 6:30.
Saturday morning we head to Geary New Brunswick for the Speedway 660 250 Lap invitational on Sunday September 3rd.
We are set to go, this will be our 3rd visit to this track since 2000.
Thanks for visiting our site.
God bless you all
Riverside International Speedway Sees Us Suffer Another DNF….But No Body Damage
They say bad luck comes in threes. That theory applied to us this past weekend when we suffered our 3rd DNF in a row, this time from a brake pedal going to the floor over 100 mph. The brakes were bled during our weekly maintenance on the car, and the pedal was rock hard, just what you want, and only needing to push it an inch to get full brake power. However on lap 35 of 150, the brakes started to fade, by lap 48 they were almost to the floor forcing me to pump the pedal to get any braking.
The yellow came out on lap 50, the first caution of the day. I headed to the pits but would need to stay there to avoid wrecking us or anyone else.
This week we will install new master cylinders. I believe strongly it has to be masters, and my son David agrees.
It was a tough night again but the work load won’t be too bad this week.
Here is the points standing after 9 of 11 Championhip nights
1st…Craig Slaunwhite………….1859
2nd…Jarrett Butcher……………1810
3rd…Russell Smith………………1792
4th…Nicholas Naugle…………..1785
5th…41 Mike Rodgers………….1769
6th…25 Ryan Vanoirschot……1703
7th…11 Jordan Veinotte……….1695
8th…0 Matt Vaughan…………..1671
9th…30 Stephen Lively…………1664
10th..36 Gary Elliott…………….1605
11th..51 Mike LeClair…………..1275
12th..89 Donald Chisholm…….1167
I will post more pictures this week of the repairs.
Thanks for visiting our site
Summer Clash 250……We Were Doing Well…..But It Was Summer Crash 250 For Us
We were doing great in the Summer Clash 250 at Scotia Speedworld on Saturday the 12th….sorry for the late response, did get our show and race reports done though.
We stayed in the top 14 all race, even looking like we could get a top 10 in this long tough race.
On lap 234, we were done a lap or two, but next to get the lucky dog, when the RR trailing arm let go causing the car to go into a wild spin entering turn 3. Most cars got around us but two were unable and hit us on the drivers door and front nose.
I was okay but the damage was extensive. We finished 16th.
Sone of the parts included: the radiator, left upper control arm, left tie rod, heim end, all the front end brackets, hood pin bracket, RF rotor, and rad air box.
Once all the parts were gathered, we worked hard and long getting the body back together. It was the second wreck in a row, and the same damaged parts.
We fixed all we could, but the cost for this one would be double or more, than our crash in PEI.
Bob Landry was a huge help coming over every day to help fix the body. It’s now Thursday and we just finished the slugging and other than cleaning, ready for Riverside International Speedway’s Summer Sizzler, the East Coast International 150.
Special thanks to all my crew. Bob of course, plus Chris White, Jack Lynds, Shannon Riley and Gabriel Lattie. Buttons roamed the shop always finding and pawimg me to pick her up…and you know I did.
Our next race is this Saturday, hoping we get it in, lots of rain AGAIN in the forecast.
Pray for those poor souls in Hawaii.
Thanks for visiting our site…..God bless you.
Quaker State Team On Display At Scotia Speedworld’s Thursday Show & Shine
We had our car on display this past Thursday for the Summer Clash Show & Shine event held at Scotia Speedworld. There were big trucks, food trucks, Classic cars and lots of race cars. We stayed from 4 until dark. I got to meet lots of fans and mingle with my racing buddies. Here is a picture with a little fan who got one of our autograph cards.
It was a good night. More on the Summer Clash 250 later this week.
Thanks for visiting our site
Remember Jesus loves you.
Good Progress Being Made On Repairs
We have put a lot of hours in so far to get our car fixed. My excellent crew have been a huge help as always. Though this wasn’t a severe wreck, these cars are so sophisticated, it doesn’t take much to make the repairs a long process.
So far repairs and parts have included:
*Radiator repair
*Both left upper and lower ball joints
* New LF Fender
* Rad duct (fixed last years)
* Hood repair
* Many body braces
We are making great progress though and I am truly thankful for the help I am getting from my awesome crew.
God is good.
Thank you for visiting our site
BJ’s 150 At Oyster Bed Speedway….Very Disappointing For Us
It was one race I was really looking forward to. Short track, love the atmosphere and run well here. After struggling to get the car set up we finally were flying by our heat race and feature. We were using 180 lap tires for practice, a budget thing. We couldn’t get to the lap times we had the last time here on June 17th, not at first. But with many changes after each set of hot laps we were getting closer but still not where we wanted to be.
In our heat race we started 5th and finished 6th. That put us 16th of 18 in the 150 lap feature. I called my son David who was watching the race by paying for it and streaming it on line through Tim’s Motorsports. David called me after the heat race verifying what we knew, that our car was pushing, hurting us getting a good run off the corners.
We agreed on a few changes our team had already made but one David added was something I hadn’t tried on this car. We increased the stagger and were going to raise the pan hard bar to help the car turn better. David agreed with both of those things and suggested raising both sides of the pan hard. I had never raised the inside before but decided to take his advice, plus he is a pro and had many championships and feature wins.
After raising both sides we were ready for the feature.
Our car was very fast, allowing me to drive deep into the turns and get good bite coming off the turns. Unfortunate3ly it only lasted 6 laps. Driving hard into turn one one the bumper of the field of rockets, a sudden crash happened right in front of me and I had no where to go. We took the worst hit of the year, putting us out of the race.
The damage is repairable, naturally, but I was heartbroken wanting to do good on this short fast oval in a car that was very quick.
We have a lot to do this week, but work has already begun and we should have the car ready by Thursday.
This Ashton Reekie picture was 4 laps before the accident…racing with Stephen Lively…whom I got into when he had to stop quick.
Thanks for visiting our site and remember Jesus loves you.
We Finish 9th at Petty International Raceway…Plus Win “Hard Charger”
We also won the Hard Charger Award sponsored by Kenny U-Pull. God is so good.