RICK @ the RACES ( 21 Jan 2011)
22 Jan The Canadian Motor Sports Expo, International Centre, Toronto
If things had gone to plan, I would have had three events to report about this week but once again ‘Mother Nature’ reduced my schedule. As the weekend approached my Sunday plans were shelved when a lack of ice caused the FSAQ sanctioned races at Lac St-Pierre a Point-du Lac (Trois Rivieres, Que ) to be postponed. This would have been a new track for me, so I’m now hoping to attend the remake scheduled for 20 February.
On Saturday I had two events planned, which would include the Canadian Motors Sports Expo in Toronto (Ont) during the day and the ‘Dirt does Top Karting’ event in Gatineau (Que) in the evening.
I set off at 5-30 am from my home in Cornwall, Ontario and soon after 7-00am was pulling into the HUSKY Truckstop at Joyceville where I met up with www.rickattheraces.com webmaster Craig Revelle. His Mum works at the HUSKY as a cook, so after an excellent breakfast Craig and I were heading down to Toronto.
We arrived at the International Center , close to the airport at about 10-30 am and it wasn’t long before we started bumping into our racing friends. Isn’t the great sport of Auto Racing such a wonderful thing, when you can travel hundreds of miles from home and meet up with friends from all over.
One of the first people we met was Patrick Mulligan, a long time supporter of www.rickattheraces.com who was busy working on the Sunoco Race Fuels booth. Patrick who also runs his own business PM Promotions is the son of Cornwall Motor Speedway announcer Brian Mulligan.
I chatted to Danny O’Brien , one of Eastern Ontario’s top 358 Modified drivers who was there with his new Global Warranty backed 2011 ride.
Other exhibits of interest for the dirt racing fan included a Late Model and a couple of Sprint Cars on the Oshweken Speedway stand.
At the Kawartha Speedway booth I found my buddy Jim Clarke along with track boss and Canadian Tire Series driver Derek Lynch. Other CTS drivers I spotted in the hall included Kerry Micks , J R Fitzpatrick and Mark Dilley. Dilley was there promoting the Sunset Speedway (Inisfil, Ont) which he runs.
Drag racing doesn’t normally interest me too much, but the abundance of ‘Pretty Faces’ around the dragsters attracted me over to their display. As well as beautiful model posing beside the cars there were two very pretty female racers were on hand. 
I met and took photos of Top Dragster driver Shawna Woudstra and Alcohol Funny Car pilot Cassie Simonton.
Star Guest at the show was Scottish/Italian, Dario Franchitti, the two times Indy 500 winner. He started with an autograph session for the fans, which is where I bumped into another couple of friends, racing photographers, Alex and Helen Bruce. They’re now based in St Catherines (Ont) but are originally from Glasgow, so were anxious to meet their famous fellow countryman.
Following the autograph session Dario met members of the media for an informal chat. He was asked various questions regarding his forthcoming Indy Car season which he answered both well and informatively. I found him to be a very likeable person.
After attending Dario’s media meeting, the time was marching on so with my evening plans in mind, Craig and I made our exit. Soon after leaving the International Centre it became obvious I wasn’t going to make it to Gatineau for the Karting event. Snow was coming down quite heavily and the Hwy 401 was at a crawl. It wasn’t until after 8-00 pm that I reached the Hwy 416 split where I would need to branch off towards Ottawa (Gatineau) . There was no chance I’d make it before the races were over, so I reluctantly decided to stay on the 401 and head home to Cornwall.