Mod Taking Shape

OSCAAR Mod

Mike Westwood Doing Finishing Touches To Our New Ride

When I bought the Mod off Mike he had some work to do on it before he gave it to me. A new seat, front and rear bumpers, a few body panels and raising the fuel cell were just some of the things completed. I have the panels now and will get them painted by mid January. Once that’s done and the panels assembled the car will come back to our shop get a thorough going over before heading out to get lettered…..more on the Mod progress as it happens……..meanwhile our Late Model is set to go to Ron Easton’s as soon as he has room for it. He is working on other projects right now and will get our car in before the Mod comes home……our 2014 schedule is taking shape, but some things will determine exactly where we race this year with the Late Model. Our plan is to take the car to Sunset Speedway to give the first few nights a chance to get the car set up. If we are a non competitor like we were in 2013 we will only run a few races at Sunset and go to other local track where we can be more competitive. If we can run with the pack, we’ll stay. There is nothing worse than going to a race track knowing you have zero chance to win, and in 2013 we had zero chance to finish in the top 5. It was the most discouraging year ever for me. I’ve had some bad ones where we thought we would be good and we’re not, but the reason was luck, not ineptness. No one is cheating at Sunset, not even suggesting that, but for some reason we cannot compete with these cars at this track. I think I know why, HP, and we’re making changes to that now. If we are still not able to be a top 5 car, we need to run another track and we will, but still run a few shows at Sunset because of our commitment to one of our sponsors for Family Faith Night as well as kids camp. Not one of my crew members, family, fans, sponsors or me, wants to repeat 2013, and it won’t happen. We are making changes to improve the car, and we will go up during the week a few times to practice (like Mark Dilley suggests) and we’ll see how good we are. If not our schedule will be limited at my favourite track…….On a positive note, we are looking forward to running a full schedule with the OSCAAR Mods, that is our first commitment and we will run lots of Sunset if we can keep up.

Show Car 2014

2013 Camaro

Denny Snider Donates Camaro Late Model……Quaker State & Project Track Champion Show Car

In 2009 I sold our spare Late Model, David’s 2006 Championship car, to Jason Legge to run as a Limited Late Model at Sauble Speedway. After time Denny Snider bought the car from Jason and ran it up until 2013 in a limited number of races. Denny donated the car to Gary Elliott Motorsports to use as a show car and compete in some races if possible…..our primary use for this car will be as a show car for Quaker State at GM stores. The Camaro body will work perfect for on sight GM events……..Quaker State supports our connection with Project Track Champion and we hope to have it in some shows by late March, not sure if it will be ready for the Mega Speed…….there is not much to do for shows, but a lot to put it in competition, namely the engine. It is basically a stock motor that would not compete locally the way it is. We will decide what to do with the engine before shows begin…………our Mod is close to being ready. We will have paint and supplies to get the panels done soon. Then we can take the panels to Mike Westwood, have them installed and bring the car back home, hopefully by the 20th of January. Then it goes to Steve Lyons at Creative Edge for lettering……….Meanwhile our Late Model, the one to be raced at Sunset Speedway, will not be confirmed on it’s schedule until the 2nd week of May. Our team and family, and most sponsors agree it is pointless to race where we are a non-factor and last year we were at Sunset. I won’t put my crew through that again. I love the track, but as some of our crew have suggested, that even if we bought a brand new state of the art Late Model, it would be missing a lot to be competitive. That’s something we have not faced since our early years in the Hobby Club. I was over the top discouraged from our results in 2013, and won’t run there steady if we are as inept as we were last season. However, we will race against other LM drivers, at Barrie, Flamboro as well as Sauble Speedways’. I’m not saying we can catch them either, but we just might not perform as poorly as we do at Sunset……We will be going to Sunset for testing and give our car every chance to be competitive and if it is pre season we will try to stick it out, if not we will only run a few shows at my favorite track……….We will be taking our LM to get some welding and the body mounted at Ron Easton’s shop, Oakville Trailers late next week. …….more on our progress as things happen.

Mike Held Master Piece

Cayuga Mini Stocks

Wow….These Little Mini Stocks Are Great…Thanks Mike Held

When I first started racing Mini Stock in 1970 I met the greatest people. It was the start of a long career that was obviously about racing, but what made it so joyful was the many people we met week after week. Bill Held and his family were one of many. Mike Held, Bill’s son, has beautifully painted many cars from back in the very beginning of the Mini Stock introduction into Ontario at Cayuga Speedway. Here are a few cars he has done, and I am thankful to have raced with all of the men here, and many more. #17 Stan Pocupec, #16, Larry Benjamin, #47 Doug Sutton and #93 Bob O’Hara.

OSCAAR Modified #36

Mike Westwood Shop

Our 2014 OSCAAR Modified Getting Ready For Lettering

Our 2014 Mike Westwood prepared Modified is taking shape and will be ready for us to pick up by the weekend. Mike does awesome work and we are very excited to be running with OSCAAR and hope to be competitive in this very impressive, fast growing club…….This will be the first time, since 1986, that we will have chrome bumpers, side bars and chrome wheels on our car. The black wheels may get some ice time but I don’t think so…….Our Mod was painted by Mike Almond and has a beautiful black finish. The paint and chrome should help us competition wise. How??? Well I think the glare coming off the car should keep the competitors back….I think……The next stop will be Creative Edge in Kitchener. Steve and the boys will finish it off and make it look awesome. They are making decals now to be ready for our Mod when it arrives……Then it’s back home for final glamour touch up to be ready for the CME show in Mississauga from February 7th to 9th………Thanks to our crew, sponsors and Mike Westwood and Mike Almond for getting us this far…….Meanwhile our Late Model is out being worked on at Oakville Trailer, getting welding done and the body mounted. Ron should have the car ready for paint by mid to late February…..thanks for visiting our site and please support our sponsor and race tracks whenever possible.

Quaker State Press Release

Matt Smith Creation

Quaker State Back For 41st Season

In Good Hands At Oakville Trailers

Ron Easton Shop

Late Model Gets Chassis Face Lift…..It’s Way Out

We are very proud to have Oakville Trailers our newest sponsor. I have known Ron Easton, owner/operator of this busy place, for many years and have come to appreciate his knowledge and understanding of race cars. Ron Easton has become a great fabricator and in recent times learned a lot about Late Model chassis and set up. Of course once any car is put on a plate, like this one at Oakville Trailers, (that he made) problems are easy to spot. Ron asked me if I had an accident near the end of the year. He knew we qualified well at Autumn Colors, but found sound “out to lunch” readings and wondered if an accident happened, that would explain it all. There was an accident, but it was on opening day, not at the end of the year, and all the chassis parts that were bent were replaced. We removed them all, took them on a nice country ride to Mike McColl’s and he examined and replaced $1800 worth of parts including body panels. Mike did not have the opportunity to look at the chassis until 3 months later, in late June. He explained to me then, that our bump steer was out, mostly due to the type of rack we had in the car. Mike suggested the next rack I get should be a Sweet, then we would get the proper bump steer. Mike knew we were trying to survive the season, and could have suggested a new rack, but an $800 plus bill was out of the question at that time…….Ron on his inspection found many problems with the car, not just bump steer, but that was one of the serious issues. He will fix what he can with what we have, in other words, fabricate or redesign what we have to get it corrected so it can be set up properly…….I have been taking my race cars to Ron since the early 2000’s and he has always done excellent and reasonable work. I’m glad he is going over this car with a fine tooth comb, so that I can enjoy racing this car. Though the plan is to run a full OSCAAR Mod schedule, we do intend on running 20 Late Model races in 2014…………our Mod is at Creative Edge getting lettered and should be done early next week. A picture of that will go up soon………our 2014 schedule is also completed and will be posted next week.

Lettering Completed

OSCAAR Mod

Creative Edge Get’s A Homerun!!!!!!

We are very thankful for the awesome lettering job done by Creative Edge on our OSCAAR Mod. They have been lettering our cars for the past decade and have done awesome work. Since 2009 we have won Best Appearing car with Creative Edge and really appreciate not only their work, but the fact they try so hard to do exactly what we want. I give them liberties with some things like numbers and trim and they never me down, always doing fantastic work to make their customers happy………..we will take this car to the CME show this coming weekend and will be part of the Lincoln Welders display. Lincoln has been with us for 12 years and we are very excited to have this car a Lincoln Welders and Quaker State car primary sponsored car…….we still a have a few things to do and will post another picture of the car on here tomorrow featuring a different look but exciting……..thanks for visiting our site, hope you can make it down to the show.

Chrome Wheels

OSCAAR Modified

Chrome Wheels Accents This Modified Like Crazy

I think the black rims make the car look mean, fast and tough. But when the chrome is put on, it accents the rest of the car, the lettering comes alive, the different colors look awesome and the car still looks fast and furious. There is unison with the chrome bumpers and side bars, as the chrome allows the total paint scheme design flow nice. The chrome wheels are a “Homerun” to me, and it is the way we planned on doing the car………..We have a few hours work to prepare for the CME car show and then we will load it tomorrow night……..come down to the International Center in Mississauga and see all the exhibits, stop by and see our car up close. We will be in the Lincoln Welders display.

Canadian Motorsport Expo

CME

Canadian Motorsport Expo….This Weekend

This weekend is the annual CME show featuring NASCAR stars, Richard Petty and Ryan Newman. There will also be a presentation dedicated to the Champions of 2013, as well as a Young Guns panel with up and coming young racers…….The Lincoln Welders, Quaker State OSCAAR Modified will be there for the weekend. We hope to see our friends and fans make it to the show……thanks for visiting our site.

CME Show A Success

Mark McCullough Photo

Quaker State, Lincoln Welders OSCAAR Modified Looking Good In Lincoln Electric Display

This car show has come and gone and was a great success with our new OSCAAR Modified. We had many visitors to the booth and everyone really liked our car. Even some of the Modified drivers and crew dropped by to encourage us and give us some tips. Mike Westwood got a lot of recognition as well, many knowing he put the car together. We had the easy part of making it look good…….special thanks to Creative Edge for their awesome work, and their job was made easy after we presented the car with a very shinny and smooth paint job done by Mike Almond…….Also want to thank my crew chief Bob Pereira for making the trip for the weekend, and crew member Matt Smith and his son Andrew also dropped by……..our next show is Mega Speed and we do have a lot of work to do to get our Late Model ready for that event…..thanks for dropping by, we will keep our site up to date on the progress of our Late Models

2014 Schedule

33 Races

33 Races For 2014…..Our Modified To Support 100% OSCAAR Mod Schedule……Late Model 20 Shows

As we head into our 46th year of non stop racing, this season has a few exciting things to look forward to. We are very close to a milestone of 700 consecutive nights racing. We have a total of 1136 nights prior to the start of this season, and of those, 687 have been a consistent streak since June of 1987. Our first priority this year is to hit the 700 night mark, and it will happen on the 13th race of 2014 schedule. If there are no rain outs, that special night will fall on July 5th at Capital City Speedway. This could be a double historic night for us if the 700th night happens at Capital City because it will also be our first ever race at this track near Ottawa. We plan to have Frisbees for the fans and competitors for that night, highlighting the 700 nights……….We will be giving our full commitment to the 13 race OSCAAR Modified schedule. Our plan is to race all the Modified shows to compete for the Championship and “Rookie of the Year” honors. Our Mod will be the fastest car ever brought to the races by Gary Elliott Motorsports……….We will dedicate most of the Late Model races to Sunset Speedway, however, we will not be points contenders because of the conflict in scheduling with the Modified. There are 4 nights where both the Mod and Late Model compete, and we will be supporting the Mod series first. However, it is possible to get a replacement driver for 2 of the 4 races we will miss, that is the max a replacement driver can fill in to accumulate points. At this time we hope our grand son Gehrig can run 2 of those four, possibly more……….we also plan to continue our streak of perfect attendance seasons with the Modified. We are at 37 seasons now and the goal is to reach 40 before we do our final lap in this awesome sport 5 years from now, God willing………Our grand children will race in 2014. Lauren will compete in the full Mini Stock schedule at Sunset Speedway and Gehrig will compete in all the special events at all tracks, including the OSCAAR Mini Stock shows………Our schedule for 2014 includes all tracks in Ontario that are running and we are excited to get the season going.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins Daytona #2

Daytona Win

Happy For Our Favorite Driver, Dale Jr. After Winning His 2nd Daytona 500

It was an exciting finish to a long day of watching 38 laps of racing and then 6 hours of rain delay. When the race resumed it was crazy, faster speeds with closer hard racing. We had always wanted Junior to win, as often as possible, and we were getting discouraged for a long time with very few wins and in some cases not even being a factor in many races. His drought came to an exciting end with his victory in this years Daytona 500. We (Shirley and I) agreed he may be in trouble leading the final few laps, thinking someone would get a run on him and get by. It didn’t happen and we were screaming with joy in the final 200 yards knowing he was going to win it. We were happy for him as well, happy for us to. We got to see our favorite driver win this most exciting race……….We were also overwhelmed with pride and admiration when he got out of his car and with the TV commentator ready to interview him, ignored her temporarily and immediately began to hug every one of his crew members in appreciation for their efforts in this awesome win. We had never seen anyone do that ever. That was a very selfless and thoughtful act by our awesome favorite NASCAR driver.

GEM Pre Season Kick Off Event

2014

Come By For A Fun Day

We will be hosting this fund raising event at our home in Waterdown. There will be a barbecue, door prizes, games for adults, horseshoes and darts and a 50/50 draw. Kids can get their pictures in our cars. The drivers and some of our crew will be glad to answer questions as well as help kids in and out of our cars…..we hope you can come out for this exciting pre season event…..if you have any questions please call me on my cell 905-928-8086. Hope to see you there.

Oakville Trailers Does Paint Work

2014 Camaro

Camaro Gets New Look……Ron Easton Paints His First Late Model

Ron Easton is a fabricator and builder of racing cars, trailers, equipment, anything at all. He was a little reluctant to paint our Late Model but we needed his help to get it ready for Mega Speed this coming week end and he did an awesome job……the car went for lettering right after this picture was taken where Steve, Bevin and the boys of Creative Edge did their magic……more pictures soon.

Mega Speed Car Show March 21st to March 23rd

Denny Snider Display

Quaker State Late Model Part Of Project Track Champion Display

We have 2 of our cars at the car show this weekend. The OSCAAR Modified is in the Lincoln Electric booth and our Quaker State Late Model is in the Project Track Champion display. We will be there all 3 days. It should be a great show with lots of race cars and race tracks represented. Hope to see you all there.

Mega Speed Car Show Firday

Camaro

Warnes Family Drops By To Wish Us Well

The Warnes family, huge race fans, dropped by, paying a visit and encouraging us as they always do. In this picture from let to right are, Ron, sister Cheryl, her husband Bill and Ron’s son Jeff. It was go day weather wise, but not as busy as it will be Saturday and Sunday…….it was good to see many of the race promoters and racers at the show. Looking forward to a great day again tomorrow.

PTCAM Team

Denny Snider

Some Of Denny’s Race Team’s Support Project Track Champion Access Motorsports

We are proud to be part of the many teams supporting PTCAM this coming year. In this photo 3 teams are represented. Front row beside me is Mrs. Jackson, beside her son Dustin, then Gloria Elliott, wife of Bob Elliott, then Denny Snider and beside him is Mr. Jackson, Dustin’s Dad……the back row from left to right are Denny’s friend Marcel, then Bob Elliott a member of the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame, Matt Smith and Bob Pereira……..the show was awesome, very busy Saturday and Sunday but then very cold on Sunday getting out. The good memories and fun with the many people we met made it an overall awesome weekend…..we will be reporting more often on here now that all our cars are in some kind of transmission for the race season…..special thanks to all our sponsors and crew for helping prepare 2014 to be one of our most exciting seasons…..thanks for visiting and stay tuned.

Progress On Late Model

Sunset Late Model

Bob Pereira Sets Hoist For Engine Placement

With time the issue right now, Bob and I got some work done on Saturday, namely the engine and transmission in, as well as the headers and some of the bolt on things like the rad and hoses and starter…..On Sunday I spent much of the late afternoon and early evening preparing the hubs, bearings and brakes for repacking and sanding…..on Monday I took advantage of a beautiful day to get many more parts installed on the car, plus all the fluids, hooking up linkages, lines etc. Now the engine was ready to start. It sounded so good, but Bob noticed the drivers side exhaust was leaking, it turned out being a defective gasket, we’ll replace that tomorrow. The drive line is all in, and the hubs are back on the car. We found a few things worth replacing, a brake line with a kink, and other small things……the car goes to Jim Sweers on Thursday for paint and then to Steve Lyons of Creative Edge for lettering. We are right on schedule with this car…….The show car will get an engine soon, and the Mod heads to Oakville Trailers next week for final set up, shocks and scaling. Gehrig and Lauren have done the finishing touches on the Mini Stock, so it to will be race ready with a few hours of work. New tires, some engine and chassis work should let the kids have some fun this year…….It was such a nice day, and really nice to hear the birds chirping. Perhaps it was the combination of the birds, warm sun and the melting snow that would encourage the neighbors to think spring was finally here, or maybe it was the sound of our race engine humming in the shop that validated winter was over…..We love hearing the race engine after being silent for six months. Another week on the cars, then the trailers then have a fun day on April 13th for our Pre Season Kick Off, some last minute checks on all the cars, a practice day or two and we’re ready for our 46th season……Thank you for visiting our site.

Late Model Ready For Paint

2014 Late Model

Jim Sweers Ready TO Paint Our Late Model

After Ron Easton finished the welding, installing the body and front end work for our 2014 Late Model, we sent it to Jim Sweers for paint. Ron painted our show car and did an awesome job, and Jim will once again paint our racing Late Model. Jim was away or would have painted both cars, although this long severe cold winter has put things behind a little for everyone and painting can’t be done in the cold………once Jim is finished the car will come back home for our Pre Season Kick Off event. It won’t be lettered but it will be ready for show that day and then head to Creative Edge for lettering. It is unlikely it will be able to be lettered this week because of the time to paint the 3 colors and the delay because of the cold to get the car to Jim’s for paint…….the Mini Stock is almost ready, a few hours and it will be race ready……Our Mod just needs shocks and a final set up, plus thorough going over on a hoist nut and bolt wise. There is an oil leak from the quick change area that will be fixed as well…..we are also preparing our home for our Pre Season Kick Off next Sunday, race season #46 getting closer.

Paint Scheme Finished

Jim Sweers

Three Color Paint Scheme Done On Late Model

Jim Sweers finished the paint on our Late Model on Friday. It was a different paint scheme this year, 3 colors, more difficult, but he did it the way I wanted and I am very happy with how it looks. Jim also painted the inside of the car as well making it look clean. More pictures to come….I have been crazy busy getting caught up and preparing for our big event this past weekend, more on that soon as well.

Just Like A Model Car

April 12th

Jim, Chris Randy and Bob Slide Body Over Chassis….I Take The Picture

While the body was off Jim and Bob got three items of welding done, easy access and then the chassis was power washed by Jim. Once that was done the boys installed the body and I got a good picture of it….I didn’t take too long so I could run back and help :)…….there are more pictures of the paint and assembly on Diary of a Season 2014…….I will start posting pictures of our event later today. It was an awesome success, thank you Lord.

Late Model Makes Our Pre Season Kick Off

April 13

Pre Season Kick Off, LM Not Lettered, But Joins The Rest Of Our Cars For Special Event

What a hectic week getting ready for our Pre Season Kick Off. The hard work paid off, it was a great day, I will post pictures on that soon……..Meanwhile, our Late Model got a fantastic paint job by Jim Sweers and will head to Creative Edge next Monday, the 21st for lettering. I have posted some pictures of the painting of our LM on “Diary of a Season 2014″…….Our Modified is at Oakville Trailers and will get a suspension set up from Ron Easton. We have new shocks coming, I didn’t get the shocks that were on the Mod from 2013, I knew they were not part of the deal, but thanks to Jeff Walt and Brian MacDonald, we will be geared up by the end of the week with shocks for the Mod. It also needs the brakes bled and some other things, but Ron wants to scale it and set it up for us, and I’m good with that, he raced these cars for 4 years in the U.S. The Modified also has a different style sway bar that we will need to learn how to adjust and Ron will show us that as well……Tonight the LM was scaled, not permanent, but for total weight and left side. Rule changes for 2014 allow us to go from 55% left side to 55.5% and our totals have been reduced 25 pounds from 2850 to 2825 after a heat race and 2800 after the feature. We are close right now, the led has to be bolted in and then final scale done by the end of the week. Then we load the LM for lettering……More pictures like this one, from Sunday, will be on our Message Board by tomorrow night

Easter Blessings

Jesus Did It All

God Loves Us This Much

Easter is one of two Christian events that millions around the world celebrate. Christmas is the first, a time when we rejoice at the birth of the King, our Savior. However, He came to bring us life and that life was only possible through His death. We all sin and fall short, but through Jesus obedience, even unto death on the cross, He has paid our transgressions against God. He was referred to as the “Lamb of God”, in John 1:29 when John the baptizer said “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”…….The Jews when to the temple at Passover to sacrifice animals to atone for their sins, but their sins were never taken away, only covered over. Jesus was the final sacrifice, who would remove the sting of sin, the spiritual death. He was perfect, unblemished and therefore the only One ever qualified to satisfy God’s desire in the cleansing of this evil world. What He did on the cross was to show His love for us, His resurrection showed His power over death, that the grave could not hold Him, and because of Him, because of what He did, and His power over death, if we follow Him, we can live forever in Heaven, that’s His promise! Happy Easter 🙂

Late Model In Make Up Room

2014 Late Model

Creative Edge To Letter Our Late Model For Wednesday.

I’m a little late on this post, it’s 2 days old, but been crazy busy with so much going on. Buttons and I dropped off our Late Model at Creative Edge on Monday for Steve and the boys to do their magic. It will be very similar to our Camaro show car………. Steve will make your race car look the way you want, and if you’re not sure what you want, he and his team will make something awesome to show case your car, sponsors and sport……..this weekend is practice day at Sunset, but our car is a long ways from being ready, still a lot of things to do and not sure they will get done by the weekend. Going to do what I can and if we get the car ready 100%, we’ll go, if not we will make it for Sunday or Opening Day and practice then. I like to make practice, it’s a great opportunity to shake the car down, but there isn’t enough hours in the day to get it all done………..We will keep our site up dated with the latest if we make practice in the Late Model………..Laruen is pumped to get some practice in the Mini Stock and I’m hoping to take her to Flamboro so she can get oriented to her new surroundings. The Honda will be much different than the Go-Cart :)……..Gehrig will be driving the Mini opening night and then Lauren takes over for all the regular races, Gehrig will drive in all the Invitationals and other specials in Ontario throughout the year…………Our Mod is getting some much needed work done to it, brakes, and suspension, things I knew had to be addressed, pictures on that will be up soon. We have a little more time before things start to move with our OSCAAR hot rod……thanks for dropping by, please support our sponsors whenever possible

OSCAAR Mod Gets Pre Season Going Over

Oakville Trailer

Ron Easton Getting Geometry Set For Modified

I knew I would need to get some things done to the Modified before it was raced. I had gone over it quite thorough prior to Mega Speed and found a few things that needed to be changed for me. The bearings were repacked, hubs cleaned, pads sanded and rotors checked. There were a few things I wanted to check and Ron Easton offered to help us because he raced them for 7 years and plus may want to build them in the future. Of the things I wanted to change or look into were important to me, some little issues and some not so little. Brake calipers, a new throttle linkage, check bump steer, and the steering geometry and new shocks and springs were a few things to look into. I love the car and these are things I want to do to be ready to have a shot at running with the pack. I don’t have a lot of time, like a few years to figure it out, so the car needs to be right from day one, even if it means investing a few more dollars, and I will…..our Late Model is done, and back home, pictures of it will be tomorrow night……Lauren will hopefully get some practice this week, she needs some quick understanding of shifting and a race car much bigger than her go-cart and I feel she will catch on quick……Gehrig is ready to race the Invitationals and Lauren will run all the regular points nights at Sunset Speedway…..more on our progress soon, thanks for visiting.

Creative Edge Complete

2014 Late Model

Late Model Lettering Complete….Creative Edge Does Another Awesome Job

Not only were they quick, but the boys at Creative Edge in Kitchener did another excellent job on our Late Model. This paint scheme is slightly different than last year, but the creation, designed after the full synthetic oil bottle that is black green and gold, and approved by Quaker State, turned out great. I am so thankful to deal with Steve, Bevin and the staff because as picky as I am, they not only listen to what I want, but add their own flare to make it look even better for our fans and sponsors…….we start practicing this weekend, I hope we can make it, the car is not ready, needs a lot of things to get it to the track and maybe not enough man hours to pull it off. Tonight and tomorrow will tell the tale for making Sunset this weekend, but right now it looks like a 50/50 deal……I am okay with not making it, though I really want to go, but I would sooner have the car completed and a new set of tires on it so we can justify the trip to Sunset……I will know more for sure by Friday night………the Modified is getting closer, a new rad and some chassis changes have been upgraded and we are waiting for a sway bar. It should be ready for scale next week……Lauren will get her first time in the Honda tomorrow in a parking lot. The purpose will be to teach her how to shift and get use to braking and down shifting for entering or exiting the track, and for restarts under yellow etc…….there is no doubt all our cars will be ready for opening night at Sunset Speedway and that is most important to all of us…..thanks for coming by, more on our progress tomorrow.

Car & Crew Chief Ready To Go

2014 Late Model

Team Ready For Season #46….Bob Proudly Poses With Our 2014 Addition

Our car has finally got to the stage that it is ready for practice. We hope to get out Wednesday depending on the weather. There is about 3 hours work left to have everything done, car, trailer, etc……Wow, imagine starting in November and all that has gone on since then , and now we have 3 hours left to be at the gate for opening day. I wonder how many hours in total, yikes!!!!! forget it…….Special thanks to Bob Pereira, (beside the car), my crew chief who has been an incredible help for me and I appreciate him so much. I appreciate my crew, and know they can’t make every race, but when they do come, they get right into it. I appreciate all they do when they can make it to the races. love them dearly………this year the focus is on fun and nothing else. Last year we thought we did all the right things to be a good runner but something was missing and it messed up our entire season on and off the track. If I hadn’t had such high expectations it wouldn’t have been so bad, but with the crew we had and all the upgrades done to our car, we figured we would be a contender. We worked very hard on our stuff all season to show up and be a non factor almost every night we ran. Our best races were Sauble and Peterborough Speedways with Autumn Colors our best night of 2013. So, I don’t have any expectations this year but these, have fun and do the best we can every week. If we are competitive, that’s all we can ask for, if not, there will be a place that we can fit in and do our best. It has to be fun in 2014 and I will need to be the one to lead that charge, and I know it. My crew, like me, will still want to be a strong runner, but the key will be having fun doing it, even if we are out of the top 10 like in 2013………the Mini Stock has a few things to do, nothing too serious, and the Mod should be ready this week and maybe some testing early next week…..the next picture here on our site, will be on Laurens two day practice session and she was awesome……….thanks for visiting and please check out our sponsors on the right side of our site, please support them when you can.

Sunset Pracitce Session Good For Granddaughter

Lauren Halliday

Lauren Has Awesome Testing At Sunset Speedway

On Friday night we headed to Flamboro Speedway for the purpose of finding room for Lauren to learn how to drive a standard transmission. The pit gate was closed so I headed to the spectator side and found room to park the truck and trailer, and plenty for Lauren to drive around on the dirt roads leading in off the 5th concession. It was raining and freezing cold. Gehrig went around with her for the first while, then he got cold and went to the warmth of the truck. I wanted to jump in with Lauren and do a little more teaching and when it was done she came away knowing how to let the clutch out, and up and down shift. She was ready to at least get on Sunset’s fast oval and get much needed practice and ice time in her car. She took it easy the first two times out and followed instructions very well. Matt Smith came out both days, Saturday and Sunday. He felt she was doing well on Saturday but when he showed up Sunday, close to the final hot lap practice, he turned and asked “is that Gehrig driving”. We laughed because we were so impressed with her improvement. Lauren has shown a very quick ability to learn her car. She naturally needs more practice and then needs to learn how to pass high and low, and that will come. I suggested she needs to know her own car and it’s characteristics, then she can start passing other cars. I stressed comfort for her as well, and to let us know when and if she has any pain while driving, but she gave a thumbs up telling us she was good to go. She will start at the back of all her races for the first few weeks and then when she’s ready she can take her starting spot. Overall I would give her an A+ for her efforts and improvements.

2014 Season On The Horizon

2014 Late Model

The Goals Of Our Team In 2014

This time last year our team was incredibly excited with the potential we felt our team had to compete in the Late Model class at Sunset Speedway. I had an awesome crew, David took the year off his own racing to be my crew chief and head spotter, plus my crew were top notch, and we spent the money on the car we needed to make us competitive……so we thought……. In 2012 our feature finishes included a 3rd, two 4th’s, 5th and two 7th’s, and we had 3 heat wins. Our goal for 2013 was to get the front end replaced on the car so we would have the same basic set up as all the top cars. We were assured the up grades would make us competitive, because our basic chassis structure was not obsolete. I made the decision to spend $14,000 for the upgrades that included the chassis clip, control arms, spindles, a-arms, new exhaust, new pulley belt system and alternator. As most of you know, those who read our weekly reports here, last year was a disaster for us. We were anything but competitive. Our best feature finish was 8th and not until the end of the year did we get a runner up in a heat race, most heats were 4th at best. Our issue was the car was pushing all the time. We worked hard on the car to get it to turn, it wouldn’t, pushed no matter what we did. We tried getting the driver to slow down in certain spots, wait longer before getting on the gas but all that showed us was how far off we were. We had nothing for the top 8 cars, maybe top 9. Our feature finishes were mostly 10th to 13th….Mike McColl offered us to come to his shop for a set up. He felt bad we were struggling and wanted to help and I appreciated that and took him up on it. We came late in the day mid week and Mike stayed with 2 of his staff and we tore the car apart. There was one error we were making, we thought ride height was with driver in, and it was driver out, that was a big deal for sure, but Mike found a few other things as well. He asked why I had such a heavy RR spring, 750. I said “to get the car to turn”. Mike laughed and agreed that would do it but also knew that wasn’t right. He did the complete set up, bringing the RR spring down to a 500 and made other changes to the front end including changing the RF shock from a 1031 pound rebound, to a 665. He said 1031 was way too high. But I reminded him that he suggested that shock in April when our car was completely rebuilt. Anyway he put that shock in because that was the shock most were going with. He did make one observation regarding “bump-steer”. He couldn’t get what he wanted. He said it was out and wished we could replace the rack but he knew I just put the existing Woodward rack in at the end of 2012, Mike wanted a Sweet rack…..anyway the car was better after this visit, we were fast at Sauble and Peterborough for Autumn Colors, but when the dust settled we had our worst year since 1979. In fact if it wasn’t for Dave Hodgkinson letting me drive his Outlaw Pro 4, I would not have won any races in 2013, and that night we won 2, including our first ever feature win at Delaware Speedway …….. Over this past winter, Ron Easton, of Oakville Trailers, made a huge discovery on our car. He asked me if I wrecked the car or replaced parts since the season ended and I said no, what he found was what Mike McColl mentioned, the “bump steer”. I told Ron to do whatever he wanted to make it right. He found a few other things as well. His workmanship is the best, and his knowledge is very good, so I am thankful he worked on our car. David came over to help with pre season scaling. The car is set up exactly like it was last year when we were running not bad at the end. But what does this all mean? It means that I don’t expect too much at this point, even Ron isn’t sure how it will be, but should be better. I was so distressed last year from running so poorly after thinking we’d be fast, high expectations, I have simply taken the attitude just to run and see how the car is. If it’s good I will be happy, if we can’t keep up with the boys at Sunset we may take out the bump stops and go to heavier springs and if we still can’t do it, we can try Barrie Speedway or even the new Full Throttle track on Friday nights…..maybe some Flamboro races as well. I don’t have to win to be happy, but we do need to have a chance and this car sitting here in this picture, is better (we think) than last year, but we won’t know until we get on the track. I love Sunset but neither me or my crew will enjoy being in the way of the Late Models. Time will tell, but I’m not worried about it, if we’re competitive good, if not we make a couple attempts to close the gap and if we can’t we need to try another track………..The Mod however is a different story, we do have high hopes for it, more on that later……thanks for dropping by, see you at Sunset Speedway this weekend if the sun comes out 🙂

Lauren Takes Checker At Sunset Speedway

First Win

Lauren Gets Her First Stock Car Win On Her First Night

Wow, what a pleasant, but unexpected surprise, for all of us to see Lauren take her first career stock car victory. She had been driving her car so smooth since first getting in it. She has caught on to racing a big car (compared to a cart) very quickly and is driving aggressive and seemingly without fear. She won her heat by half a track, quite an accomplishment in only her 2nd race out. Congratulations to Lauren and her crazy wild team, well they were after this win for sure, we all were. The full story will be on our message board under Diary of a Season 2014, hopefully before the weekend………………Special thanks to Ron Easton for getting my Late Model fixed and turning in the corners, something we couldn’t figure out in 2013. It is a totally different handling car than last season. Perhaps David said it best. “Dad, your final lap on that 100 lapper was better than any last year at Sunset”….and he was right. That story will be included of course along with Laurens on our Message Board………….Been very hectic this week, my Mom passed away on Sunday morning and have not had a chance to update our site. I am doing it now late at night because it’s the only time I have right now. I want to do a story on my Mom and I will very soon, she was a great woman and I loved her very much. She is now with our Lord in Heaven.

Cars Ready To Go

GEM

OSCAAR Modified Ready For Testing…Late Model Ready For Pro Late Show At Sunset Saturday May 10th

As many of you know, my Mom passed away last Sunday morning. We had a great memorial service for Mom today at my nephew’s home, lots of family and friends to reflect on this precious lady. I will be doing a story on my Mom in the next few days………..Thanks to the hard work of Ron Easton and the boys at Oakville Trailers we got our OSCAAR Modified ready for it’s first practice session. It will be sometime next week, possibly Flamboro on Tuesday night and then we’ll take a run up to Sunset later in the week to get this rocket ready for the OSCAAR Modified season opener. We made a lot of changes on the car. Some I wanted to make on my own, but after going over it quite thorough, we decided some wholesale changes needed to take place. They included brakes, suspension, cooling system, shocks and other smaller things, like the throttle and windshield. The battery was replaced and the thermostat housing. I am confident, as long as the engine is good, that we will have a chance to run with the faster Modifieds and we’ll know soon enough……….OSCAAR announced Mod practice for Mothers Day, but we will do a shake down at Flamboro on Tuesday then some hard lap testing at Sunset on Wednesday or Thursday, that’s the plan if weather works in our favor………our Late Model has had a serious make over from last weekend…a Pro Late make over. We’ve taken out some weight, gained left side, added 10″ rims, a 4 barrel and some other important changes that will hopefully get our car in the top 10 in qualifying. Our next move will be getting more horsepower, but that might be a little down the road, I hope I can do it for this year because we are lacking for certain. I am still driving in hard to compensate for slower straight-away speeds, nothing like last year, but still slow compared to some of the top runners. Our Late Model was very good in last weeks 100 lap season opener. It handled much better than most all of 2013. It felt great to drive a race car that wasn’t pushing all the time when I wanted to get on the gas. My crew were also very happy with our performance last week, and though we finished 17th, we could see much greater potential………..The story from the first nights racing will be posted soon on the message board “Diary of a Season 2014………Sunset is hosting the huge APC 100 lap race tomorrow night. They are expecting maybe 40 Late Models, should be crazy, and I am pumped that we could have a good car for this race. I would like to qualify in the top 10 and we are ready to do just that. Hope to see you there, thanks for visiting our site

Pro Late Qualifying

Dave Franks Photo

Qualifying Not So Good….Practice Makes Perfect….Another Decent Outing, In Spite Of Poor Finish

There is much to be said about getting to the track early and practicing. I understand that fully but it’s not always possible, and for this race, we were simply without crew. David called me and asked how the car was and I told him I had not got on the track yet, that was after 2 pm. I arrived early, 10:45, set up the pits, got fuel, tires switched and my pit tools etc ready to go, but with no spotter I was unable to get any practice. I did finally get Phil Bullen to spot for me around 2:30 for one set of hot laps on the tires from the season opener. The car was loose and David wanted to help me from his phone because he was working. To be honest, I don’t want to miss a race and would sooner be at the track alone then at home because no crew could make it, but David told me outright “Dad, you can’t race in this class with no crew”. The problem isn’t so much that I had no crew, it’s the fact that with no crew I would still want to go to the race and do all the stuff myself and find a spotter, but it was tough and I was tired for sure, but pumped just the same. A crew is very important, but being at the track is the most important to me………Matt arrived by 3:30 and then Marty, I was changing gears when they came and once I had 2 crew to help I was good to go and appreciated their help very much……Qualifying was not good (we weren’t really ready) tires still had stickers on them and even though they were set, they were not perfect size wise. We qualified 2nd last and finished last in the consi, but in the race the car was good, and no damage, making this our best start at Sunset even though the finishes were poor, the car is showing potential…..I hope to have Diary of a Season 2014 updated by tonight for both the May 4th and this show. Thanks for visiting our site……PS, anyone interested in working on our car at Sunset or anywhere else we race, send me a note on my email gelliot@cogeco.ca I know my crew would appreciate anyone to help us make it through this season.

Opening Night OSCAAR Mods Sunset Speedway

Dan Little Photo

Modified An Awesome Fun Ride……..Can’t Wait For Our Next Race

We had a busy weekend running the Late Model on Saturday and the Modified on Sunday. I knew I would like racing the Modified, and I wasn’t disappointed. I wasn’t happy with the finish, but we sure had a great car. Our crew and driver were very happy with the performance of our car. Ron Easton helped us tremendously with some things I wanted to change and others he suggested. The bottom line was an awesome debut in this fast and well handling machine. The car performed so good that I was prompted to say this was the best race car I had ever driven. I may need a few more nights to confirm that, because we had some strong runs in the Vintage Mod in the late 80’s, 90’s and 2004. However, I have never raced a car that I could put it where I wanted and it stuck so well. The handling and engine performance were A+………We had lots of trouble with the LM including a wreck in our semi. Matt and Marty worked hard to get it ready for the feature, we ran decent until a flat tire put us down a lap…..I will post stories on Dairy of a Season 2014 this week, it has been very hectic in my world the past few weeks, but I want to get the stories done……thank you for visiting our site.

Full Throttle Speedway Opening Night

Thompson Photography Pic

OSCAAR Modified Heading To Varney For $1000 To Win Modified Twin 25’s

Gord Bennett and his family have purchased the former Varney Speedway complex and tonight is there season opener. In our already busy schedule I have added 6 Modified and 1 Late Model shows to our own schedule to bring our total race nights to 38. I wanted to support Full Throttle, but I was afraid I could get throttled if I added any more races to our 2nd busiest season ever. We ran 39 nights in 1990, but I was only 20 then so it was no issue :)……..We hope the weather holds off and the new promoters get some sun and a big crowd and lots of race cars to kick off their debut as race track owners……Hope to see many of our fans there….also hope to take a checker in our OSCAAR Lincoln Welders, Quaker State Cavalier…..I started to do our race reports on Diary of a Season 2014. We are in the midst of putting our home up for sale and it’s been kind of nuts trying to get everything done, sorting, packing, throwing stuff out, working on the cars, getting race reports to sponsors and keeping this site updated. I will work extra hard next week to get more nights posted, so far one of four is complete, and we have 2 more races this weekend. I will type fast and maybe shorten the stories, and then again maybe not, but I will get them done soon…..thanks for visiting our site.

Race Car’s Get TLC

Elliott Racing

Mod & late Model Prior To Double Header Weekend

This is what our cars looked like on Tuesday night. Both needed work before competition. The Mod needed front end work from the wreck at Sunset, plus brake issued fixed, and the Late Model needed body work done, some fabrication and maintenance. We had them both ready by Thursday night, with the Mod loaded for Full Throttle Speedway and the Late Model waiting to be loaded Saturday morning. Special thanks to Bob, Marty and Ron Easton for getting our cars ready for racing.

APC 100 Lap Feature….. Flamboro Speedway

Pic by….Thompson Photography

David Wins APC 100 Lap Feature

What a night for David and his team, as they won the first of six APC features between Flamboro and Delaware Speedway’s. This was David’s first race since he ran the full season at Delaware Speedway in 2012, and he won the feature on his last night at that track, making this win 2 in a row for him. David took the lead on lap 70 but had company with Shawn Chenoweth, the Flamboro ace all over him until lap 90. Shawn did all he could to get by. David not only held on, but pulled ahead by the end of the 100 lap event……congrats to David and his team for an amazing victory in the 20 car field of top running Pro Late Model competitors…….David’s niece, Lauren also won her second race of the season, taking the Mini Stock consi at Sunset Speedway Saturday night, at about the same time David was fighting his battle at Flamboro. I will post a picture of Lauren’s win very soon…….all the stories on Diary of a Season 2014 are done now but one, the Pro Late Model race on May 10th, and that will get done this week as well……..thanks for coming by to visit our site…..I guess it’s soon time for me to hold a checker!!!!

Double Header Weekend

Image Factor Design

Late Models Sunset Speedway May 31st…….OSCAAR Modified Kawartha Speedway June 1st

Our new autograph cards are a perfect advertising creation for this coming weekend, a double header at Sunset and Kawartha Speedways. I will post more on the Summer Sizzler later in the week. Both our cars are close to ready. The Late Model had serious problems on the weekend but the fix was simple. The Modified only needed a battery repair, gears changed and maintenance. Looking forward to racing both cars………we will be on display this weekend at MacMaster Buick GMC. It’s a tailgate party from 10 until 4 and we will be there for the day, until 3. Drop by and see us.

Kawartha Speedway

Ashley McCubbin Photo

Kawartha Hot Laps Awesome…….Bad Luck Hurts A Good Night

We were pumped about racing at Kawartha Speedway in the Modified. The last time here was 6 years ago in the Late Model and the last time in an open wheel car was in 2002 with the Vintage Modified. On that night we finished 2nd in the feature right behind TJ Woolsey. Unfortunately he did not pass tech and we got the win….After hot laps we knew we had a fast car, it was very strong on the tires I got from Jesse Kennedy. Prior to the heat race we figured we’d fill it up because we were 2627 when scaled. Filling the car would be our demise for the night. On lap 4 of the heat race, while running 2nd we were black flagged for leaking fuel. Instead of finishing 2nd and getting an up front start for the feature, we would start 18th of 19 cars in the 25 lap main event. The full story will be on Diary of a Season 2014 later tonight…….As one good friend pointed out, “at least the car is in one piece”. I agree with that, but I would love to hear “awesome win Gary”….hopefully that will be soon with the OSCAAR Mods.

Full Throttle Bound

Dave Franks Photo

Modified Heading To Full Throttle Speedway

This will be our 2nd visit to Full Throttle Speedway. Hoping for a bigger car count and lots of fans. We sure have a great day for racing. Special thanks to Bob Pereira for helping again this week as well as Marty, and to Marty and Paul for helping in the pits tonight…….happy anniversary to Bob and Liz, have a great night away.

McLeans Hard At It

Ashley McCubbin Photo

Full Throttle Speedway……..Great Crowd To Enjoy Family Feud Part 15

I really like the McLean family, all of them. I find them very friendly, very competitive as well. We haven’t had the opportunity to race with any of them yet, because our car has had an issue somewhere or somehow during the qualifying of the first two OSCAAR shows. At Full Throttle Speedway the tires were an issue, and separated us a ton, especially in the early going of the race. I was able to match Brent in the first feature, staying with him for the first 14 laps until the caution. My tires cooled down and his Gloosiers stuck instantly and he was gone, same with Paul Milligan’s car, he’s also on Hoosier tires. We hope to correct our problem by the next race…………In this photo everything seems civil between the McLean’s, but not so much in the feature. There was body checking, banging and racing determination that nearly took out half the field, 4 cars, but the cars at the back checked up letting the cars dancing at high speed get collected……I thought the Hatfield and McLean’s were the feuding families, but at this track it looks like it’s the McLean and McLean’s. We wait with anticipation to see if this continues next time out at Full Throttle Speedway, or maybe even at Barrie this coming Saturday for the 3rd OSCAAR show of 2014……..the full story of Friday night is on our Message Board, under General Chat and on Diary of a Season 2014…….Congrats to Full Throttle, the crowd was decent and the Late Model show was okay as well………We ran our 696th night on Friday, four more to hit 700 in a row. It looks like the milestone will take place at Sunset Speedway on June 28th or 29th…..hope all my fans and friends can be there.

Sunset Speedway Spin

Dave Franks Photo

Lauren Body Slams Front Straight Wall…Spins & Gets T-Boned In One

Lauren had a great run Saturday night in the 25 lap, 28 field Mini Stock feature. Her qualifying races were strong with a 7th and a 4th. Her consi run was a very strong effort but trouble hit during the feature when she hit the front chute wall. Laruen was running just outside the top 10 when she hit the front chute wall coming off turn four so hard that she spun out going into turn one. The pack following her try to get by but were running side by side making it impossible for Lauren to get away unscathed. Lauren was okay but she suffered a lot of front end damage. She made a pit stop where Gehrig and Don taped up the bumper and she returned to the track. It was obvious she had severe damage to the suspension. Her to get back out was awesome but it was soon apparent she couldn’t race anymore and soon went down a lap. The car is stripped apart now and will hopefully be ready by this weekend…….the Late Model goes o display this week at John Bear in St. Catharines and our Modified will get a going over to be ready for the next OSCAAR race this Saturday…..thanks for visiting our site.

Modified On Display

West Highland Baptist Church

Fathers Day Event For OSCAAR Modified….Then Off To Barrie Speedway

We were invited to bring our race car to the West Highland Baptist church Fathers Day event on Saturday June 14th. Bob Pereira and I will be there until about 1 and then head north to Barrie Speedway for the 3rd event of the OSCAAR Modified Tour. I know we’ll have a great morning, looking to have a great night at Barrie as well. There will be lots of classic cars tomorrow morning for the Fathers Day event…….the Mini Stock is repaired thanks to a great team effort by Shirley, Don, Gehrig and Lauren. Gehrig worked hard once the parts were dropped off and the Mini is ready to battle tomorrow night at Sunset Speedway. This will be my first miss at Sunset Speedway since we went there in 2012. I made my commitment to the Modified for 2014 and will run 100% in that short schedule. The next few weekends are all Modified, so I hope we can move from 10th to the top 5 or better by our next Kawartha show……..we are at 696 nights raced, tomorrow night will be 697, and by our schedule and no rain, we should hit 700 at Sunset Speedway on June 29th….thanks for visiting our site.

Barrie Speedway Heat Win

Ashley McCubbin Photo

First Win In Our Modified…..Awesome Feeling…..Finish 2nd In Feature, Great Night For Our Team

What a night for our team at Barrie Speedway in the Modified. We were fast from practice, and made a few changes after the first heat race and then again for the feature. It was awesome to take our first win in the OSCAAR Modified. Bob and I work so well together, and though Matt Smith was there he didn’t get to the track in time but cheered from the grand stands. Our feature was almost the dream come true leading most all of the laps but a failing power steering unit hurt us on the last restart. However, the 2nd place finish was awesome. The full story will be on Diary of a Season 2014 on our Message Board later tonight……Congratulations to Gary McLean for the win…..also our prayers go out to Tommy Robb who was hurt in the feature with an arm injury. We hope it’s not too serious and he has full recovery……this was race night 697, we celebrate 700 on June 29th at Sunset if there is no rain outs between now and then.

The Podium……Gary McLean #8 Max Beyore #91

Ashley McCubbin Photo

Barrie Speedway Feature Winner #8 Gary McLean…Max Beyore #91 Finished 3rd

I was disappointed to lead the first 27 laps only to lose it on a restart with 3 to go. Our power steering was causing us trouble from lap 17 but as long as we were in the lead and able to take a different line into the corners we could not only hold onto the lead, but pull away……a late race restart, one of five from lap 17, allowed Gary to take advantage of my steering issue and get the lead. Max tried to get us as well but we were able to get in front of him and take the line we needed…….it was an awesome night for us finishing in the top 3 in all the races. This was our best finish in one of our own cars since 2010, and we sure loved it. The full story is on the Message Board, click on General Chat and go to Diary of a Season 2014…….our next race is this Friday at Full Throttle Speedway……we are at 697 consecutive starts now, looks like the big night will be June 29th at Sunset Speedway.

2014 Schedule

37 Nights

2014 Revised Schedule….Most Race Nights In One Season Since 1990

This is our official 2014 race schedule, with one error, June 21st Sunset Speedway. There will be no races that night at Sunset because it was set aside as a rain date only, and since there were no rain outs prior to the 21st, the night is cancelled…….also, I had originally included all the Full Throttle shows on our schedule, but realized just a week or so ago that July 4th was not going to happen because we are off to Capital City in Ottawa on July 5th. I am already avoiding men in white suits lugging a straight-jacket around because I want to race a lot, so when my crew seen I planned on racing the Friday night before the Ottawa journey they all fainted……but no fear, I simply forgot about the July 5th show being so far away. I can run 2 in a row or 3 in a row, but we had planned to go to Ottawa early Friday so we would all be rested after the long drive. Plus, we are very much looking forward to the challenge of Capital City Speedway, so the last thing I need is to be wore out from Friday night, or worse, get beat up and have to work on the car before making the trip to Ottawa. My crew are looking forward to that show, and the track is giving us an extra $125 per car for tow money……the only changes that I see are after our 700th consecutive night. I might run a few more specials with the Late Model at Barrie or Flamboro……The most races we have run in one year was 39, in 1990. This will be the second highest in 46 seasons, if we get all 37 race nights in. I hope so and wouldn’t mind hitting 40 if possible……our consecutive streak is currently at 697 nights, without a miss, and we will be having a special event for that night, at Sunset Speedway, for the fans and a few lucky kids.

The Black Bull Today

Burlington

Late Model On Display Today From 10:30 Until 3:PM

Drop by and see us at The Black Bull today for a barbeque, live music and bring a donation to the local Food Bank. This will be our 9th show of 2014. Hope to see you there.

John Bear St Catharines

3 Day Show

Quaker State Team At John Bear Customer Car Care Clinic….June 18 to 20

Our Quaker State Late Model was on display for 3 full days at John Bear GMC in St. Catharine’s. The dealership held a customer car care clinic, bringing back customer who had not been at the dealership for the past 18 months. The event was successful with 32 appointments on the first day. We were racing on Friday at Full Throttle Speedway and could not pick the car up, but our good friend Glenn Reulens got our car and then took it to the Black Bull for another big event at the restaurant pub on Guelph Line just north of the QEW on the west side. More on that tomorrow……we will post the race results and story from Full Throttle Speedway by tomorrow night……..there was no racing today, wow, it was weird not to race on this incredibly beautiful Saturday. Sunset Speedway had the day set aside as a rain out fill in but there have been no rain outs to date and that was a great gesture on their part to stick with that, although I was surprised we didn’t run a regular night of racing. I already have 11 race nights this year already, and today did our 8th show, so we are okay because we have over 24 more race nights to go and many more shows……..our streak is at 698 and counting. Two more to go for 700!!!!!!

BLack Bull Fundraiser

June 21st

Quaker State Late Model Supports Food Bank Drive At Our New Sponsor “The Black Bull”

One of our new sponsors for 2014, The Black Bull invited us to attend their first annual Charity Barbeque. We arrived around 10:30 in the morning and stayed until 7pm. It was a great day of music, food, door prizes all under the umbrella of awesome weather. There were many items donated to the local Food Bank, my charity of choice. Glenn Ruelens was a huge help for me. I raced on Friday at Full Throttle and had no way to get the LM from St. Catharine’s for the show early Saturday morning. Glenn offered to pick the car up for me and take it to his house Friday night and then took it to the restaurant Saturday morning. Thank you so much Glenn, and of course Patrick his son, who helped load the car and then both stayed with Marty and I at the show until noon and they left because they were racing Saturday night at Flamboro…….There was no racing at Sunset Speedway on this night. The date was set aside as a rain out for any Super Series race that was lost to rain. No rain outs happened from May 3rd until June 14th, so the track simply closed for the night. Running at Flamboro for me was out because, a) it was not one of the races we planned at Flamboro for 2014 and b) none of our crew could be there to help.

Tommy Robb #88

Thompson Photography

Sunset Speedway Double Header OSCAAR Super Late Models and Modifieds This Saturday & Sunday

This coming weekend we will be running a double header at Sunset Speedway. It’s the Don Biederman Memorial on Sunday for the Super Late’s with full shows both days for SLM and the Hanover Holiday Modifieds….If the weather co-operates we will reach our ‘700th Consecutive Night’ on Sunday. We have some things to give away that night and look forward to doing as much as possible for the fans….more later this week on the 700 streak.

700th Sunday Sunset Speedway

OSCAAR Double Header

700 Nights In A Row……This Sunday If The Weather Is Kind

This weekend is exciting for me for many reasons. I get to race 2 days, at the same track, no travelling plus I get to race the OSCAAR Modified both days.. I really enjoy racing this car, kind of like a my best Hobby car on massive steroids. The big event this weekend will be our streak of 700 consecutive nights. I didn’t even know we had so many weekends without a miss until I was checking our total races last year when we had the 2500th race contest. I happened to add the nights with the races and then realized we had 650 plus race nights without a miss. I didn’t know really what that meant until I realized that in todays racing, most classes only run 14 nights and a team would have to run 50 years and not miss a night to get to that milestone. We did it in 28 years because we ran an average of over 25 nights per season. It would not be possible if it were not for my family, crew, sponsors and friends. I am very thankful to my family for their encouragement and support. All our crew members since 1987 who helped during the week to get our car ready and make it to the races to help. My sponsors have been awesome, and Quaker State has been with us throughout this entire journey to 700 nights. My deepest heart felt appreciation goes out to all those making it possible………If it rains out Sunday, calling for rain as of now, the 700th will be at Capital City Speedway in Ottawa on July 5th…….Our team will be silent in terms of milestones for the next few years. We will race hard like always, trying to win races and support our sport. The next one could be 50 consecutive years, but that requires quite a few more laps to reach that level….four more years to go…..thanks for visiting our site…please support our sponsors whenever possible.

Bikes Make For Happy Kids

Dan Little Photo

700th Presentation A Great A Great Night

I need to write a story on our 700 milestone and how it came to be, and I will do that because there are so many people and businesses to thank. My family for their on going support and encouragement. Friends who became pit crews and worked on the cars during the week and at the track, and even at times staying up all night to get ready the next day. Other teams for lending me parts, or an engine to make the next race. Suppliers for opening up on days off to get me a part. Businesses who fix cars for getting mine ready on time so we wouldn’t miss a race. Others for letting me take the car or engine and pay the next week, just so I could get back out, all knowing even 15 years ago that I did not want to miss a night. Of course my sponsors for supporting me year and year and more than anyone, GOD for sending me these wonderful people. Without them I would never be celebrating this milestone……..Our 700th night was incredible off the track. My team were there to present bikes to kids, to hand out Frisbees and to join in on the fun for the fans, track and our milestone. Here are two of the four winners and I will post more pics on this soon……the reason for the delay was because our car was broken on two fronts. The steering took us out of the weekend but our engine was a close second although the jury is out on the exact failure in that part of our chaotic and disappointing on track performance. I will post more on that soon as well on Diary of a Season 2014…..more to come on this great night.

700th Night….Kids Get Bikes & Frisbees

Dave Franks Photo

Kids & Their Families Were Very Happy Winning Bikes

Our 700th presentation of bikes and Frisbees went over well with the fans, kids and promoters of Sunset Speedway. I want to thank the bike sponsors again. Marvin Frieburger (Late Model racer at Sauble Speedway). Gord Coates (long time race enthusiast, track owner, Chrysler Dealer Principal), Denny Snider (Project Track Champion Access Motorsports CEO) and Quaker State……also to my crew who worked so hard on our car trying to get it ready to compete. We couldn’t get the parts we needed, or fix the steering, so the night turned out disappointing for us on the track, but off the track it was a home run for the kids, fans and track owners and promoters…..our next event will be Capital City near Ottawa on Saturday July 5th, races start at 2pm.

Getting It Fixed For Capital City

Canada Day Work

701 On The Horizon…..We Want To Win

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!!!!!!

First Time Ever…Captial City Speedway

Race #14

OSCAAR Modifieds Heading To Capital City Speedway

Our crew, Bob, Matt, Marty and I will be heading to Ottawa to race at Capital City Speedway for the 6th OSCAAR Modified race this year and our 14th race of the season. We are looking forward to the challenge of this track we’ve never been on, but mostly the fun being with the other Mod teams and meeting some new people from the track and of course the fans……we will be giving away some of our 40th Anniversary Quaker State books and a few 700 Consecutive Night Frisbees. We hope to take the checker in the feature, or maybe a heat, or both…..now that the steering is fixed and our engine is good we are going to have fun. I hope for lots of cars and fans for the promoters of Capital City Speedway.

Capital City Racing

Thompson Photography

Our First Time To Capital City Speedway….This Was Our 38th Different Race Track In 46 Seasons

Bob, Matt, Marty and I headed to Capital City Speedway on Friday. It was a great trip, lots of fun for my team and I. We ran decent, picking up a 4th overall. The full story is on Diary Of A Season 2014 on our Message Board. Congrats to the winners of the events. Dustin Jackson was fastest qualifier in time trials. Gary McLean and Max Beyore won the 2 features, we finished 3rd and 6th. We headed home right after the race, making it to Waterdown just after midnight…….our next race is this Saturday at Flamboro Speedway and then off to Kawartha Speedway in the Modified for the 7th of the 12 race mini series on Sunday July 13th.

Schedule Change

2014 Schedule

GEM Racing Flamboro Speedway On Saturday

When I put this schedule together, it was my goal to make every race possible in 2014. Our average for the past 45 seasons has been just over 25 nights per year. This year I kind of went nuts and our schedule is 37 to 38 races, maybe more. My streak could not be intact if I missed this Saturday’s race at Sunset, but I was planning on going as shown here on our 2014 schedule. The problem hit me last week when I happened to ask Sunset promoters for some things to give away at a show we were going to be doing on Saturday in Vaughan from 9 until 1. I explained that I was supporting the Vaughan Food Bank and would be heading to Sunset Speedway once we were done. Well guess what, this weekend is the Home and Home with Sauble and there are no Late Models at Sunset on Saturday. Going to Sauble from the show in Vaughan was not a big deal, we would be there by 5 no problem maybe 4:30. But, I was planning on heading to Kawartha Speedway for the Mod show after the races Saturday night…………….The dilemma enters the picture with the long drive home from Sauble, we wouldn’t be home until 3 in the morning, and would have to unload the LM and load the Modified, then leave immediately, or grab 3 hours sleep and leave at 6 in the morning to get to Kawartha by 8:30 when the gates open, no way to that. So after some consideration the following plan came up. We are not 100% at Sunset this year because we are following the OSCAAR Modified schedule as our series to run 100%. We have already missed 2 regular nights at Sunset Speedway, June 14th and July 5th, so to keep our streak going it was decided to run Flamboro Saturday night, and be only 15 minutes from home. Head back by 10:30 or so, unload the LM, load the Mod and get on the road before midnight and stay over in Peterborough….so that is our schedule change for this weekend. No less race nights, just a change……hope to see some of our fans at Flamboro Speedway.

Return To Flamboro Speedway

July 12th

Flamboro Return Did What It Was Suppose To

We were on display on Saturday in Vaughan to support the local Food Bank and had intended to go to Sunset Speedway right after. That wasn’t going to work because Sunset Late Models, Thunder Cars and Mini Stocks were at Suable for the first in the Home and Home series. On Sunday we were scheduled to go to Kawartha with the OSCAAR Modified and it made more sense to go to Flamboro and be home early so we could leave early Sunday morning for the long trip to Peterborough. So during the week David mounted his 8″ American Racer tires, the ones he won with on May 31st, and Adam Lockwood at Grisdale’s gave me 4 discarded 8″ American Racers so we would have spares. Our intent was to not miss a night we had scheduled, although we changed the location, and being at Flamboro meant we could help support their Late Model car count that was getting very low….we found out Saturday during the Food Bank drive the races at Kawartha were cancelled due to the threat of rain, and the weather man was calling for rain all day. We could have went to Sauble after all, but I had told a few friends we would be at Flamboro, but I warned them we would be way off the mark in terms of competition. Our car was too under powered, too heavy, too high, not enough left side %, wore out tires and a smaller carb, so as tough as it was to race like that, it was kind of better than Sunset racing because up there we are almost struggle to keep up being so low HP wise. Anyway it was a good night, we finished 8th and did not get lapped and how we didn’t I don’t know. Our best lap time was a 15:8 and the leaders were 15:3. I have turned that track in 15:1’s but not with this set up. We accomplished what we wanted and many people thanked us for coming. We may return for the final Grisdale race, but with the same set up because it would cost us too much at this point to get the car competitive with the current Late Model field………my awesome crew for the night were Jim, Marty, Jason and Paul…..next race is this Friday at Full Throttle in the Modified, then Saturday at Sunset in the Late Model.

Full Throttle Speedway Friday Night

Ashley McCubbin Photo

Brent McLean #7 Fast At Full Throttle

We head back to Full Throttle Speedway Friday for Twin 20’s. Gary McLean has pretty well dominated the 3 nights we’ve been there this year, although his cousin Brent has given him a run a few times. We have struggled trying to race with American Racers, that are just not near soft enough. I think if the races were 50 laps, they would be better but in a short run they get eaten up by the sticky Hoosier tires…….we will be using Hoosier tomorrow but not sure how it will help us. Hoping to do better tomorrow night but staying out of trouble is our race program right now. We don’t want to get beat up here with the biggest race of the year next weekend for the Mods………..We will be racing our Late Model at Sunset Speedway on Saturday July 19th and Lauren will race her Mini Stock. Hope to see our friends and fans at one or both of these races.

Rick Woolner Memorial July 26th

Rick Woolner

Sauble Speedway To Host OSCAAR Modified Rick Woolner Memorial 50 Lapper

This Saturday, July 26th, at Sauble Speedway, will be the biggest race of the year for the OSCAAR Mods. Rick Woolner, a long time racer at Varney and other Ontario tracks will be remembered in this annual race designated to the OSCAAR Modifieds. I am proud and privileged to be part of this memorial event and working hard on our car so we can bring the Quaker State Lincoln Welders Mod to victory lane……The Woolner family has gone over the top to make this annual event the best yet. They have spear headed the selling of laps to sponsors and teams to make this the richest purse of the season. There are many bonuses in this race to fastest qualifier, the race winner, certain lap leaders, hard luck, slowest lap time and a hard charger for the car that starts in their qualified spot and passes more cars than anyone else………The format for this special race event is time trials to determine starting spots for heats and then cars passed in the heats to determine the starting spot for the feature. The race is 50 laps so it will give lots of time for the faster cars to get through the traffic, unless they are up front….We are looking forward to this coming weekend, as we do for all races, but this one has a special meaning and therefore the race of the year for most OSCAAR Mods and myself……hope to see many of our fans there, and if you would like to sponsor a lap, you can email me at gelliot@cogeco.ca….Thanks for visiting our site

Rick Woolner Memorial July 27th Sauble Speedway

Dan Little Jr. Photo

A Night To Remember For Our Team At Sauble Speedway……..Heat Win #2 In The Modified

What a great night we had at Sauble Speedway on July 27th. After this race was rained out on Saturday night, we decide to go to Flamboro Speedway for the APC 100. It turned out bad for us with a blown engine early into the race, but by the end of the night we had one donated to us by Jason Legge…….There were no sad faces from our team at the Rick Woolner Memorial the next day. We had an awesome night with a 2nd in the 50 lap feature, to cap off our Top Qualifier award for two strong heat finishes, winning the first and finishing 2nd in the next heat. This was our 2nd win of 2014 in the Modified, and our 2nd runner up feature finish. This night will help us in the points chase for certain, although there are still 6 shows to go…….Special thanks to my fantastic crew and sponsors, and to the Rick Woolner family for all their hard work in making this race a success as well as the OSCAAR people who also worked hard making this a fun and rewarding day……next up is our show on the beach with the Late Model Tuesday night, and then we are on display again on Wednesday prior to the Dash for Cash at Sauble on Wednesday night……special thanks to Jason Legge for making it possible for us to attend this show by loaning our team an engine, and to Marty Hagen and our grand son, Gehrig Halliday for helping me get the engine back in the Late Model. We should be heading north by 1:30 tomorrow 🙂

Heat Win Sauble Speedway

Tw Robarts Photo

First Late Model Checker In Two Years

The last heat race we won in a Late Model was at Sunset in 2012. The next year we couldn’t keep up to any of the big HP Limited Late’s. Even at Sauble most every car is running a built engine, but we were able to sneak one. It sure felt good to win. Last year we had 2 checkers, but not in our cars. This year so far we have 3 and this is the first in the Late Model. The car handled very well, we could have used more gear, and did put more in for the feature but still not enough. We also ran one new tire but overall our HP was down for sure. Our hope was to finish in the top 8. We had a crazy battle with Shawn McGlynn for most of the race, we passed each other a few times but in the end we got knocked slightly into the wall trying to squeeze through a wreck and finished 13th. He got wrecked as well but not sure if it was in the same one that we were in. Our car needed a rack and we were fortunate to get one from Derrick Tiemersma……I am trying to get a good picture of this win, but so far no luck, when I do I will post it……this weekend we have a double header. We will be running Peterborough in the Mod on Saturday with OSCAAR and the Late Model at Sunset on Sunday.

Sauble Speedway Heat Win

Dave Franks Photo

First Late Model Heat Win In 2 Years

Peterborough Heat Win August 2nd

Dan Little Photo

Third Checker In 8 Days……Two In The Modified, One In The Late Model…..Nice

Wow, win #4 this year, and three of them in the Modified, and within a week. It sure felt good to hold the checker again. We won 2 races last year, and 3 the year before. It’s been 4 seasons since we won 4 races, 2011. In 2008 we won 5. This was a great win for us, in a very competitive field of cars. We finished 5th in the next heat and had a 4th in the feature, making this an awesome night for Marty and I, and our team in general, an awesome points night. The race had everything, and I will write about it on Diary of a Season 2014 on Tuesday………On Saturday July 26th we began a short but grinding schedule of 5 races nights within 9 days. The journey began at Flamboro in the Late Model on July 26th the APC 100, where we blew the engine. Then we headed for Sauble on July 27th for the Rick Woolner Memorial in the Modified. We picked up an engine for the Late Model just outside of Sauble, thanks to Jason Legge. We installed the engine on July 28th. Then headed for Sauble on July 29th to do a show at the Beach, and then another show July 30th at a Quik Lube, both to promote the Dash for Cash at Sauble Speedway in the Late Model July 30th. During the Wednesday night race we broke the rack and pinion main body and internal parts. On Thursday July 31st we put out the need for the rack and in a short time got word of a rack for sale and picked it up in New Market thanks to Derrick Tiemersma. On Friday August 1st I installed the rack and had help from Ron Easton with the bump steer later in the evening. On August 2nd we raced at Peterborough and the saga finished on August 3rd in the Late Model at Sunset Speedway. Our team had never done a string like that ever, not 5 races and 2 shows in 9 nights. I know, that was crazy, but during that run, we got 3 wins, and that was awesome……….I want to thank Marty Hagen who was incredible, being with me for every race and show, as well as helping with the engine. He was my only crew member for all of this journey. Our regular crew made the July 27th race, and then many were on holidays after that. It was tough at times, but we got through it no problem……..thanks to Dan Little for this awesome picture…….our next race is Saturday August 9th, Family Faith Night at Sunset, then on Sunday we head to Kawartha Speedway for the OSCAAR Modified rain date race from July 13th…..We have raced 21 nights so far this year, and have lots to do still…….thanks for visiting our site.

Podium Finish 3rd In A Row

Ashley McCubbin Photo

Terry Baker Wins Feature…Declines Tech….Get’s DQ But Keeps The Win…We Finish 3rd….WHAT???

We raced hard on Sunday at Kawartha Speedway and got beat by the #26 of Terry Baker and #77 Chad Strawn. During this photo shoot, the driver of the #26 told Chad and I he was illegal and wouldn’t be going through tech. We found out later, he had an illegal transmission. I thought we would move up, and was kind of taken back when I heard the #26 keeps the win. I don’t agree with that, but it’s the rule and could only be changed next year. I think it’s one thing to be deemed illegal at tech and keep the win but lose points and money, but he knew he was illegal before the race and therefore should not qualify for the win. Anyway, as of today, we finished 3rd and Chad 2nd…….it was still a great run for our team and we hold on to 3rd place in the points, maybe padding our lead over 4th just a little…….next race is Friday at Delaware Speedway.

Delaware Tonight….Hoping for Another Win

Delaware Photo

Modified Heads To Delaware Speedway

On July 26th of 2013 we had our only checkers of the season, driving his Pro 4 Outlaw Modified. It was an awesome night for me and my crew pictured here, Matt, Cheryl and Don……We will try to repeat this night win with our OSCAAR Modified and my crew and I are pumped……A bonus tonight is the ISMA Super Modified and we’re looking forward to see them race and very proud to be on the same card with those rockets….hope to see my friends and fans at Delaware this evening….weather looks good.

Kids Camp Sunset Speedway

August 18th to 22nd

2014 Kids Camp A Great Success

Last year the Racing Camp, run by Scripture Union Sports at Sunset Speedway was considered a success, even though there were only 5 children. This year, with more promotion earlier in the summer, we were excited to have 32 kids join us. They raced go carts every day, and had a 45 minute hands on seminar with me each day. I did 3 classes in the afternoon. The kids also played other sports in the morning and had spiritual time, doing devotions and of course after every session with me there was a Bible message that related to racing…..we are doing a review of how it went, and with the expected cooperation of the local church, we will do the camp again in 2015…..7 kids gave their lives to Jesus and many parents inquired about going to church and took Bible’s and were very pleased with how things went for their child…….special thanks to Timber Green Landscaping, Uptown Sports, MacMaster Buick GMC, Ideal Supply and Kyly Batty for sponsoring kids for this event. Some could not have made it without the sponsorship.

Racing With Brent McLean

Dan Little Jr. Photo

Brent McLean #7, One Of The Young & Talented Drivers In OSCAAR Mods

We had a great run in both our heats on Saturday night at Sunset Speedway. Here I am battling with #7 Brent McLean. I would beat him by one spot in this race, but he would get even by taking 3rd from me in the feature….we finished the race with a bent spindle and our front end toed in an inch after making contact with Davey Terry late in the feature. I guess as disappointed as I was with 4th, it was a great finish really……..our next race with the Modified is Friday at Full Throttle Speedway, then Saturday at Flamboro in the Late Model.

Lauren Wins 3rd Race of 2014

Dave Franks Photo

Glen & Debbie Join Lauren For Her 3rd Win In 2014

While David and I were racing at Flamboro Speedway, Lauren was having a blast at Sunset Speedway. She won her 3rd race of the season in the Quaker State Honda. Glen, a crew member for the Zardo racing family and Debbie, Laurens great Aunt, joined Lauren for this victorious moment…..Lauren and I now have 3 wins each and David is way ahead with 8 wins including 4 features. David also won one of his heat races at Flamboro on Saturday night, and leads the 2nd half Flamboro Speedway points.

Full Throttle August 29th

Donna Tolton Photo

Racing With Modified Legend Gary McLean

We made our 5th trip to Full Throttle Speedway on Friday night. There were 10 cars including Gary McLean #8. We had the lead in this feature for about 4 laps until the yellow came out. On the restart Gary took the lead from the outside lane, but we were able to stay close to him for the rest of the feature, finishing 2nd, our best feature finish there this year…….we are currently 2nd in points, just ahead of Paul Milligan……we return to Full Throttle, formerly Varney Speedway with the Modified on September 12th, but head up there this week end with our Late Model. Hope to see some of my fans and friends there on Friday.

Full Throttle Friday Night

Eric Uprichard Photo

Late Model Returns To Varney, To Race At Full Throttle September 5th

We will be heading to Full Throttle Speedway this coming Friday to race in the Late Model class. It will be our first time back since July 2013. Looking forward to trying to run with the boys up north. The 602 should be okay because of it being such a small track, handling will be most important. Dave Hennessey and Paul Douglas will come with me, so far, I have called others but no word yet. Then Bob and Marty will head to Flamboro to help with the Late Model and maybe the Mod so I can race with OMRS as a test for Octoberfest…..we will hit 29 nights racing after this weekend, matching our last 2 seasons. Once we hit 33 nights raced, it will be the second most in one season, dating back to 1990 when we raced 39 nights. Hope we can be somewhat competitive at Full Throttle, looking forward to being able to race there.

Memorial Night At Flamboro Speedway

Clarke Mtrsprts Communications

Good Night In The Mod With OMSR and The Pro Late Models…David Wins 6th Feature in 2014

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.

Full Throttle Feature Win

Denny Snider Photo

First Feature Win In One Of Our Own Cars Since 2008

What a night, we won our first feature in 6 years last night at Full Throttle Speedway holding off Modified legend, Gary McLean for an exciting hard fought checker. It was our 5th win of the season, our 4th in the Modified and now we have won a feature in every class that we have owned a race car. It was our career 37th feature win, and combined with our 3rd in the next race, gave us 2nd in the point standings at Full Throttle Speedway. Our team, most pictured here, Paul Dave and Marty, as well as Jason, were also over the top excited, thanks to them and the rest of crew who could not be there, for all their help throughout the season to help get us here. This win was such a confidence builder because not only was it so good to win the main event, but to beat Gary Mclean was an honor. He won the Championship at Full Throttle for 2014……our next race is tonight at Sunset Speedway, our 30th night of racing……Big thank you to all our sponsors who have been so awesome in 2014 as well………we could not compete for the full Sunset schedule because of the conflict with OSCAAR, the series we committed to in 2014, but we did make many of the shows and look forward to racing there tonight………..hope to see our friends and fans there.

Full Throttle Feature Win……..Career #37

Donna Tolton Photo

First Feature Win In 176 Nights….First In Our Modified

The feature win at Full Throttle on September 12th was our first in 6 years, accumulating 176 nights of racing. Pictured with me are Paul Douglas, Dave Hennessey and Marty Hagen. Crew member Matt Smith was racing his tractor on this night and won both his heat and feature, and Matt and his son Jonathan came to the track after their event. Bob Pereira was not present but was catalyst in helping keep are Mod in top running form………It sure was nice to win, and to beat Gary McLean, one of the best short track racers in Ontario, and the top Modified driver without a doubt………we also finished 2nd in the Full Throttle Open Wheel Modified points series and look forward to racing there again for the final Mod race of the season, October 3rd……our next race is with the Late Model, tonight at Sunset Speedway for the Limited Late Model 125 Lap Championship race. Hope to see all a full house of fans at the track.

Limited Late Model Invitational 125 Lapper

Alain Thiboutot Photo

Thursday September 18th 125 Lap Invitational for Limited Late Models Sunset Speedway

Tonight will be the final race of the season at Sunset Speedway before Velocity, with the running of the first Limited Late Model Championship Invitational. Our hope is to finish in the top 10 with our car and stay out of trouble. We plan on running at Barrie Speedway on Saturday for the Garry Reynolds Memorial so staying out of trouble and finishing in the top 10 would be awesome. This race will attract a lot of good cars, and should be an exciting race….hope to see all our fans there.

Velocity Heat Win

Eric Uprichard Photo

OSCAAR Modified Making My Year……We Reach 6th Win Of 2014…Most Since 2007

Well 2014 has been our best year in a while. The Modified has been a true blessing to me and my team and all of us are having a blast racing with OSCAAR. We ran the Velocity 250 this weekend and had an awesome showing finishing 3rd and 1st in our heat races and 2nd in the feature. Max Beyore, who is 2nd in points got into a weird wreck on Saturday night and it took him out of the feature on Sunday. He still made 20 show up points but we gained a total of 42 points on the Rookie. Max and I will be 11 points a part for Autumn Colors, but I think he is fairly safe, as long as he doesn’t run into any more bad luck. We have a fairly safe cushion of 24 points over 4th, Davey Terry, but just like Max, I can’t afford to have any trouble for the weekend…..Our team was awesome again and we got some good help from Scott Wylie, who helped us with our Late Model at Barrie last weekend. I will be writing more about this weekend on Diary of a Season 2014, located in our Message Board under General Chat……special thanks to my dedicated hard working crew for getting us the 3 podiums this weekend……Next weekend we race both cars at Flamboro Speedway, in the final Late Model APC race and the Modified with OMRS on both Friday and Saturday. Looking forward to it.

Octoberfest Weekend….Flamboro Speedway

Clarke Mtrsprts Communications

Schedule For Octoberfest Altered to Saturday and Sunday

The Octoberfest Classic weekend is upon us and like too many times in the past, weather is the main story for this hard luck promoter. Friday’s show has been cancelled and will run on Saturday, with Saturday’s show moved to Sunday……I will be driving our OSCAAR Modified with Rick Warnes OMRS Modifieds both days. They have 2 full shows scheduled for the weekend…….Trevor Monaghan will drive our Quaker State Late Model on Sunday for the final APC 100 lap feature…..hope to see all our friends and fans at Flamboro Speedway this weekend.

Youth For Christ…..Open House

Dave Hennessey Photo

No Rain At The Waterdown YFC Grand Opening

We were invited a few months ago to come to the open house of the brand new Youth For Christ facility in Waterdown. That event was today. We thought at first we would only be there until 11am because this was the weekend for Octoberfest at Flamboro Speedway, and we were to race both our Modified and Late Model. However, by early Saturday morning the races were cancelled for the entire weekend and we were able to stay until 2:30 before heading back home, which was only a quarter mile away. We had one small bit of rain but it soon cleared up with no more rain all day…….the ceremony was awesome with some politicians, many of the donators, and YFC head office staff on hand to welcome those who came to see this amazing facility. Local teens can drop in for fun and games and to inquire about church, Jesus, the Bible, and what it says about them, our lives and our future. Marcel Knot is the manager of this location and would gladly accept new members who would like to make any size monthly commitment to help cover the costs to run this good thing in the center of Waterdown……..our next race event is in Peterborough for the Autumn Colors Classic a 3 day deal. This will be our 10th year in a row to support this giant race extravaganza.

Youth For Christ…..Open House

Dave Hennessey Photo

No Rain At The Waterdown YFC Grand Opening

Modified Feature Autumn Colors

Eric Uprichard Photo

Racing Hard With Brent McLean…Check Out The Tires

Brent McLean would go on to win the last OSCAAR Modified race of 2014, his only win of the year and a big one for sure. Our car was pushing, and I could not hold him back. We would end up finishing 5th, still a strong run and take 3rd overall in the points standing, our best point finish since 1999….I will be posting more pictures of our AC race, just getting caught up on some things and not a lot of time on the computer…this awesome shot was taken by Ontario Oval’s ace photographer Eric Uprichard. he has supplied many good shots for me over the years…..I am currently working on sponsors for 2015, trying to get some back. We have lost a few, but the majority are back with us. I will know soon about Quaker State, hopefully by the end of the month and will post it on here……just a note…not sure how he did this, but there appears to be no window net on the drivers side….but there definitely was, cool shot though.

Modified Win Autumn Colors

Dan Little Jr. Photo

6th Modified Win….Our 7th of 2014 Including Late Model Win….Most Wins Since 2007

This was a great night for our team. Only Marty and I were at the track for this race, the rest of our crew made it late in the night, and were there for the races on Saturday and Sunday. This was race win #6, 5 heats and a feature for the Modified and a heat win in the Late Model at Sauble Speedway…..Our cars are resting right now until our sponsors are all on board, most are right now but we are waiting a few more thumbs up and then we’ll start working on the cars. It’s been a long season with 34 race nights and 19 shows including the one we will be doing this Friday at Markville Chev in Markham, a Halloween promo for the dealership and Quaker State. More on that later this week……special thanks to my crew Bob, Marty, Matt, Dave, and Jim for making as many races as they could. Overall it was our best season since 1999, so I am very happy with that. I will post more on 2014 soon and also update our 45 Years of Stats very soon as well. It will become 46 years of Stats.

“Spooky Great Deals”

Show #18

Quaker State Event At Markville Chevrolet Buick In Markham On Friday October 31

We will have our Quaker State 2013 Impala on display Friday October 31st for a special promotion event at Markville Chev Buick GMC in Markham Ontario. There will be ballots to fill out to win 4 snow tires as well as an opportunity to win one of 5 Quaker State Full Synthetic Oil changes. Customers must be at the Dealership for the draw at 2pm. My crew and I will be there and supplying the staff with crew shirts for this event. Hope to see some of our fans and friends at the Dealership…hey!!! maybe you will get a “Spooky Great Deal”.