The Scripture Union (SU) kids Race Camp was another successful venture that I was proud to be part of. This was the 3rd year for this Race Camp and it went well in every category. Awesome weather, lots of kids, lots of opportunity to ride go carts and my time with the different groups each day was excellent.
I would like to thank Sarah Chaudery and Scripture Union for having me involved again this year. Praise God for a wonderful sagfe and perfect week. I also want to thank Lloyd Lariviere, one of my crew members, who helped every day. Matt Smith, another crew member, also took time from his work to lend a hand in the tech garage helping to teach the kids some race car information. Our lesson on day one was safety, day 2 maintenance, day 3 practice and testing and on day 4 we talked about rules, playing by the rules, not cheating and racing clean. Day 5 was a barbecue and the kids got their awards for participating in the various games each day.
I hope we do this again in 2016…..I’m in for sure!
Category Archives: Late Model History
Race Camp Going Great At Sunset Speedway
The 3rd annual Race Camp put on by Scripture Union and hosted by Sunset Speedway is a great success. There are close to 25 kids and they having a blast on the go-carts, playing games and of course getting to go through the tech building to see our car and learn some aspects of racing. The camp goes until Friday.
Special thanks to Lloyd Lariviere and Matt Smith for helping me this week. We head to Full Throttle Motor Speedway on Friday with the Late Model and then Saturday we race at Flamboro Speedway in the Modified. Hope to see our friends and fans at the races.
Tough Outing At Sunset Speedway…But We Are Tied For Second in Mod Points.
Our Sunset Speedway outing was a disappointment. We worked hard on the car most of the day trying to get it to handle. We had some good help from Brad Pearsoll and Gary McLean. Unfortunately by feature time I wasn’t confident with our car and decided to take scratch. I only do that when I feel my car is a non contender and it sure was this day. We did take a 3rd in one heat and 11th in the feature. We are now tied for 2nd in the points with John Baker Jr #63. We race the Modified this Saturday at Flamboro Speedway. On Friday night we race the Late Model at Full Throttle Motor Speedway. Race nights #22 and #23 for 2015. Our consecutive streak continues, we have 744 nights in a row after this past weekend’s Friday and Saturday night races.
I am away this week to Race Camp at Sunset Speedway, hosted by our sponsor Scripture Union Sports. Thank you to Sunset Speedway for providing the facility…just awesome. The first 2 days have been great for us and the kids, it finishes on Friday. Special thanks to Lloyd Lariviere and Matt Smith for helping me.
Thank you to 
Ontario Oval’s Eric Uprichard for taking this great shot of me and Brian McLean #47 at Sunset on Saturday…..I will catch up on more posting and updates next week.
Thanks for visiting our site.
SU Kids Race Camp August 24th to 28th Sunset Speedway…Still Room For More Kids To Attend
The 3rd Annual Kids Race Camp is coming up next week, from August 24th to the 28th at Sunset Speedway. This great Camp is hoseted by Scripture Union and we are so thankful to Sunset Speedway for allowing us to do the Camp at the track.
I will be bringing the Modified for this years Camp because I race it this Saturday at Sunset and will be staying close by.
There is still room for kids to join, I have a few sponsors that have donated a total six spots for kids, three are taken right now.
I am also looking for any prizes or things for kids as give aways. I have 50 footballs donated by Permatex. My sponsors Timber Green and Uptown Sports Management have sponsored 2 kids each, and MacMaster GMC in Orangeville is sponsoring 2 more.
Please email me if you could donate prizes or sponsor a child. Here is my email: gelliot@cogeco.ca
Fan Appreciation Night……..Sauble Speedway
One of my favorite events at a race track is Fan Appreciation Night, or Meet The Drivers. It gives us a chance to give back to the fans by letting them see our car up close, maybe talk to some when time permits and sign one of our autograph cards for them. It’s a great night for fans because they get to see their favorite cars up close.
The announcer came on the track and talked to many of the drivers and when he talked to me he asked about our streak that started at 721 in a row at the beginning of this season and on this date, race #19 of 2015, it is at 740. It’s nice to be interviewed, gives me a chance to thank God for good health and a great sport, the track owner, fans and our sponsors.
Sauble gave the fans a deal on the front grandstand, so that was good as well. It was beautiful out weather wise and many fans came down to meet the drivers who brought out their cars.
Waterdown Dairy Queen Raises Over $10,000 For MacMaster Hospital
Our team was invited to participate in the Waterdown Dairy Queen Fund Raiser for MacMaster hospital. It was an awesome event. The DQ raised over $10,000 again for Mac. We were there from 11am until 10:30pm, almost a 12 hour day, but incredibly awesome getting to meet and mingle with so many people.
Special thanks to Peter De New for helping me all day, he was incredible with the kids and telling our story every chance he got.
Here Buttons and I get a picture with Almo and one of the Minions.
Sunset Return Fun…….But Ends With A DNF
We made our first visit to Sunset Speedway in our Late Model in 2015. We ran full seasons at Sunset in 2012 and 2013, but once in the OSCAAR Modified, missed the Late Model shows that were conflicting with the Modified.
It was the 3rd annual Family Faith Night, put on by 2 of my sponsors, Open Doors and Scripture Union, they gave away 500 pocket Bibles to the fans.
I must admit I do miss racing here. The atmosphere is awesome, lots of cars, lots of fans, lots of action and clearly lots of drama. But I still believe Sunset is the best race track in Ontaro in many ways, although running full time this year at Sauble Speedway has been fun, accept that we have no chance against the 400 HP built motors. The full report of the nights racing is on our Message Board, under Diary of a Season 2015.
Special thanks to Jerry Abramowicz for this photo.
Family Faith Night…….Our Return To Sunset Speedway Was Fun
This was our only scheduled visit to Sunset Speedway in 2015. We planned to come because two of our team sponsors got together to bring the 3rd annual Family Faith Night. We actually ran better than I expected and to be honest, I missed racing on this track. Very tough competition, but our car was handling very well and I felt comfortable all night…..we were short in our pit crew, only one person, but Lloyd did awesome. After 2 hot laps I made a simple adjustment and it worked good for us.
I was worried about making the feature with 27 cars, but we qualified 21st in time trials, so we were in no matter what. I wouldn’t mind going back there for the last race of 2015 the Velocity…..we will see, not sure I can do it but if I could get some help we would for sure, and race the Modified as well.
Thanks to Alain Thiboutot for this photo.
Running Hard At Peterborough….But Need A Tune Up
Our latest run was with the Modified at Peterborough Speedway. We thought for sure we could turn things around but had a disappointing night. The car was not right again, as though it was out of control. It wasn’t out of control, but there was little feel with entering and going through the turns. I felt as though I was on the edge all the time and when that happens I tend to bakc off because the end result of driving a car like that is getting spun and worse, getting spun and wrecked.
I hope we can turn it around for our next Modified race at Sunset Speedway on August 22nd. We are still holding on to 3rd in the points, but barely with some very fast cars behind and in front, and all of them handling better than us.
OSCAAR Top 7
Gary McLean……….415
Chad Strawn……….381
Gary Elliott………368
John Baker………..367
Corey Horner………366
Brian McLean………354
Mike Hearty……….335
The Six Day Warrior……3 Races & 2 Shows……Thank You Lloyd Lariviere……Battling With Glenn Schnurr #54 On The Final Night At Sauble
We had our first of two busy race periods in our 2015 race schedule. Lloyd Lariviere and I met at Jason Legges shop on Thursday July 23rd, worked on getting our Modified ready, and any final work on the Late Model. The schedule had us racing 3 times and doing 2 shows in six nights. It was a busy run for sure, but not my first, and not likely my last. We raced Friday night at Full Thrttle Motor Speedway, taking a 5th and 4th in the two 20 lap features. Then on Saturday we raced our OSCCAR Mod finishing 3rd in both heats and 5th in the feature. On Tuesday we spent the early afternoon 11 till 4 at the Quaker State Quik Lube in Owen Sound and then later that night from 5:30 till 9:15 on Sauble Beach promoting the “Dash for Cash” show on Wednesday night at Sauble Speedway, which was our final race event and we finished 6th in both heats and 7th in the 50 lap feature. The full story of the races will be on Diary of a Season 2015 hopefully early next week becasue I leave tomorrow for Cookstown to spend the day with my family and then head to Peterborough for the next OSCAAR show…….It was a hectice week but Lloyd and I had fun and faired okay on the track.