The love for racing started when Gary was five years old. His parents took him to stock races in Toronto. Oakwood Stadium was the first track he watched races. Since then, Gary has raced on 47 different tracks.
His career started in Demolition Derby’s in the late 60’s. In 1969 it was time to start racing on oval tracks. Cayuga Speedway opened a small 1/8th mile track in the center of their huge oval allowing the formation of a Mini Stock class, a series Gary raced for three years.
Racing wasn’t easy for Gary. His only place to work on the car was in the backyard of his father-in-laws home. That meant the car was outside all winter. He painted the car with a roller, his first crew member, Dieter Roth lettered the car and helped with maintenance. Gary’s Dad, Merile, welded the roll cage for the Volkswagen and helped where he could.
In 1972 Gary moved to the Hobby class, now known as the Canadian Vintage Modifieds. Still without a garage, the work would be done outside or on their single axle trailer. In 1973 his first family home would be a true blessing, his first shop was a small 20 X 20 barn.
In 1974, Quaker State became an associate sponsor for Gary’s team. This partnership which is a world record with a corporate sponsor, has lasted over 50 plus years, the longest in racing history.
The time with the Hobby class lasted until 2005. During that time Gary won two Championships, 30 feature events, was President of the series seven times, won Best Appearing car a few times, Most Popular and other awards over the three plus decades competing in the very tough open wheel class.
In 1988 Gary’s son David started racing with the series, and daughter Shirley joined for one year in 1992. Shirley only raced one season with the Coupes and Coaches but would later dominate the lady’s races, winning 5.
Meanwhile, David would win 4 Championships and be the first driver in Hobby/CVM history to win three consecutive titles. After 16 seasons David moved to the Late Model series in 2004.
A year later Gary would race again with his son until 2018, the year David retired. During his career David won 14 Championships, over 60 features and has been inducted in both the CVM and the Flamboro Speedway Hall of Fame.
Gary is still racing today. His team has accumulated at least two world records. Both are quite amazing.
His relationship with Quaker State is now well over 50 years, making this milestone the longest driver/corporate sponsorship partnership in racing history. The second world record is his race night streak. His team has not missed a night since June 5th 1987. They reached 900 consecutive nights on August 11th 2024. (All his race stats are on the menu under Years of Stats.)
Gary has set a goal for his team to reach 1000 consecutive nights. His career average nights per year is 24.1. Since moving to Nova Scotia in 2019, where he was born, Covid took away quite a few nights dropping his average to 12 in the past five seasons. In order to reach 1000 consecutive nights, Gary understands he has to race as much as possible to do this challenge in 4 years. Gary will be 78 when season 57 starts. He has purchased a second car, a 1966 Beaumont, to race in the Heart of a Champion series in Nova Scotia to give him another 6 nights and will again travel to Ontario for three more in the fall.
A little friend came into Gary’s life in 2010. Buttons and Gary are an amazing love story, as she wants to be with him all the time. The feeling is mutual. There’s nothing like the love from a dog.
Known as Canada’s Ironman, his career has been one of dedication and commitment. Gary is one of the few drivers who puts his car on display 6 to 10 times a year, including high schools. Gary has been a Christian since 1988 and gives praise and thanks to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for allowing him to have good health, great support from friends in his crew, a loving family to encourage him and commitment from his valuable sponsors.
