RICK @ the RACES  ( 17 Jan 2009)

Sat 17 Jan        Motor Sports Expo Toronto, ON

Sat 17 Jan        Kawartha Speedway, Banquet On

Instead of standing in the cold watching ice racing, this past weekend I attended two indoor events. I decided quite a while back that I wanted to visit the Canadian MotorSports Expo in Toronto on Saturday (17 Jan) and made plans to go with www.rickattheraces.com  ‘webmaster’ Craig Revelle.

On Friday night I was contacted by another buddy, Jim Clarke of Belleville, the PR man and announcer at the Kawartha Speedway. It was the tracks annual awards and banquet on Saturday night and he was wondering if I could help them out. Their resident photographer Peter Brand, was unable to attend due to sickness in the family so he asked if I could fill in.

It was only a short distance out of our way, so I phoned track boss, Derek Lynch to confirm.

I left my place in Long Sault at 5-15am on Saturday morning, and met up with Craig at the Gananoque ‘Tim Hortons’ just before 7-00am. It was snowing when I left home, but by then it had ended. The next stop was at the 10 Acres Truck Stop at Belleville where we joined up with Jim for a chat over Breakfast.

We arrived at the INTERNATIONAL CENTRE on Airport Road in Toronto at about 11-30 am in good time for a quick look around before the big event on my days agenda.

Guest of Honor at the show was former World Champion racing driver Jacques Villeneuve. When we arrived he was busy signing autographs for the fans, but at noon a media conference was scheduled in the seminar room.

This was something I didn’t want to miss !

Of course most of the questions posed to Jacques, revolved around any future NASCAR SPRINT CUP plans ( if any) on his agenda, but of course I wanted to ask him something totally different !

By winning the F1 World Championship Jacques has already reached the highest level in the world of motor racing so I consider the NASCAR effort as ‘another challenge’. With this in mind, and the fact that WORLD OF OUTLAW events now take place in Quebec and Ontario I asked him if he’d ever considered trying dirt racing.

Well, I’m sorry to disappoint all my fellow dirt racing friends, but the answer was emphatically no. It is something he would have no interest in doing, not even for a bit of fun. When I spoke to him privately afterwards, he told me that for fun, his choice would be karting. I guess , this isn’t surprising when you consider his background and life-style in racings premier division , but I tried !

Jacques was a real nice guy, quiet, good in nature and had plenty of time for both fans and media alike.

Two other big attractions at the show were the cars of NASCAR SPRINT CUP drivers Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jnr.

While walking around the rest of the show we bumped into Chris Raabe and his team. The young 2008 SUPER DIRT SERIES SPORTSMAN Champion is about to compete in the NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES this coming season and was in conversation with top driver Kerry Micks.

I also chatted with Formula Ford driver Caitlin Johnson. She raced at the inaugural meeting at the Calabogie Motor Sports Park that I attended in 2007. Like me, she recalls the heavy rainstorm that occurred on the Saturday.

Anyone who knows me well would have no difficulty in guessing which was my favorite car in the show . It was on the Pinecrest and National Exhibition Speedway Reunion stand. It was a vintage modified that raced at those long gone tracks of Toronto. Why did I like it so much ? Well, because it featured a cut down Fiat Toppolino body complete with full radiator grille.

It looked so much like the stock cars that were raced in the UK back in the early the 1960/70’s. The Toppolino was a lovely little car and it’s body was put to use by many at the time. In fact my first BriSCA F2 stock car had one fitted.

As you’d expect from a show held in Toronto the emphasis was on ‘paved track’ racing with very little for the dirt racing fan, but Craig and I enjoyed it and will no doubt be back there next year. It’s a shame that when Ontario can boast two SUPER DIRT SERIES Champions, like Chris Raabe in the Sportsman and Pete Bicknell in the 358 Modifieds that their cars weren’t on display.

By mid afternoon we’d seen everything and it was time to head towards the Kawartha Speedway, near Peterborough.

The banquet was being held in the main bar below the grandstands at the track.

We met up with Jim again ( who had attended the Toronto show on Friday) and chatted with Derek Lynch about the evenings plans. After the delicious roast beef buffet it was time for me to go to work ‘snapping’ the award winners. I don’t get to Kawartha too often so as you’d expect many of the faces were unfamiliar, but there was one guy who I had seen in action last year .

It was the young Late Model driver Brandon Watson of Staynor (Ont). He not only topped the 2008 Kawartha points but the 15 year old also took the trophy for the Kawartha/Capital City Speedway Mini Series.

All of the time the banquet was taking place, snow had been falling quite heavily, which prompted a ‘speeding up’ of the awards. We were out of there by 9-30 for the four hour homeward bound drive in the snow. It was about 1-45 am in the morning when I pulled into Long Sault.

WEBSITE NEWS

In the last week or so we’ve had two more additions to the guest book.

First one was from Ron Barber who spent most of his life in the Hounslow Middx area of the UK before relocating to Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

I spent most of my ‘growing up years’ in the Dunstable area but moved away before Ron arrived. He told me , he was a big Spedeworth racing fan and even built a Midget chassis out of wood, which failed to get approval by the officials !

Second new signing of the Guest Book was from my friend Joey Ladouceur in Alexandria (Ont) . He is one of the top local DIRT Pro Stock drivers at the Cornwall Motor Speedway and throughout the year he keeps me very busy with “Victory Lane’ shots. I’ve known Joey and his family for many years, and was present on the day when he clinched the Pro Stocks SUPER DIRT SERIES at the Fonda Speedway NY.

I must also mention another message I got from fellow Short Circuit Magazine scribe Jerry Fisher in Argentina. At the weekend he was in Buenos Aires to see the finish of the Dakar Rally. Check out the photo’s