RICK @ the RACES (13/14/15 JULY 2007)

Fri 13 JUL        Autodrome Granby, QUE

Sat 14 JUL      Autodrome Drummond QUE

Sun 15 JUL     Cornwall Motor Speedway, ONT

I guess, you can’t expect things to run smoothly when you make plans to go racing on ‘Friday the thirteenth’ and my trip to Autodrome Granby for the start of the LUCAS OILS CANADIAN DIRT SERIES was no exception.

I got away from work early and was just pulling off at the Granby exit on Autoroute 10 , at about 5-00pm when my cel phone rang. I’d arranged to stay at the track overnight with friends in their motor-home, and the call was from them, saying, they’d just arrived at the track and found it canceled.

My first reaction was to turn around and go home, but because I was so close to the track I decided to carry on. Once there I met up with my friends and a lot of other disappointed race-goers who’d not heard about the early cancellation, apparently due to an rainstorm earlier in the day.

Granby was the opener for for the CDS with Autodrome Drummond ( located about an hour away) scheduled for the following night, so after several discussions, a convoy of race haulers, cars and motor-homes set off in that direction.

Once at Drummond we found the parking lot/campground already filling up, with other long distance travelers, obviously with the same idea. After a good feed at the local ‘East Side Mario’s’ the rest of the night was spent chatting and supping the occasional beer, around an open campfire with the Laurent and Lee Ladouceur DIRT Modified Team.

Saturday morning dawned with beautifully warm and sunny weather, and the day was spent relaxing in the heat and watching the various race teams arrive. I chatted to past racing Legend “the Flying Frenchman’ Ovide Doiron and he showed me the artwork and murals painted on his motor home parked nearby. The design that features everything from picturesque rocky coastlines, to wild animals, and of course his famous # 40 DIRT Mod took the artist three months to complete.

This was obviously the best turn-out of ‘visiting’ drivers to Drummond since the CDS first started, a few years ago. Joining the locals, there were 14 long distance travelers from Ontario, New York and other parts of Quebec. Once the pit gates had opened and the teams were assembled the bi-lingual drivers meeting was held.

This coincided with the arrival of a large black cloud in the sky and some slight drizzle in the air. It wasn’t long before the drizzle got heavier and everyone rushed for shelter. The shower only lasted a short while and the ‘packers’ had the track dried out just after 7-00pm. All divisions came out for warm-ups and the racing was set to commence….. which was the queue for the next bout of rain. This time, the downpour was set in for the night, so the inevitable postponement was made.

The make-up date for the lost Granby race from the previous night had already been announced for Tuesday July 7, so Drummond was then slotted in, on the day before, Monday July 6.

With the rain still falling heavily , I was out of the gate and heading for home.

The next day was Sunday and my local Cornwall Motor Speedway was the destination. Although there were plenty of clouds in the sky, the prospects of a dry night looked good. The stands were packed as usual, and the pits were full with ESS Sprint Cars DIRT MODS , ProStox and Rookies.

Following the warm-ups, just like Drummond the night before,  a huge black cloud arrived on the scene and dumped all of it’s contents on the track. Again, like Drummond, the shower was short lived and after considerable work by the packer-trucks and race cars, the surface became race-able around 9-00pm. As usual the Rookies were the first on the grid for their heats which were turned around pretty quickly. The mods were next, which managed one lap, before a massive thunder storm halted the proceedings. The abrupt ending denied race fans the chance of seeing former track favorite, Dale Planck make a return in the # 1 Troyer Modified, as well as guest driving the # 73 Sprint Car.

So my total race count for the weekend of 13/14/15 JULY was four Rookie races !

The re-make for this ‘ESS Sprint Special’ has been given as Aug 19.

Prior to the Cornwall rain-out, one of the attractions in the display area behind the main stands was an antique Stock Car # 67. I just had to get a photo of this machine, as the # 67 is a bit special to me. When I was living in the UK, # 67 was my registered number for 15 years or so while I was racing on the BriSCA F1 Stock Car circuits. I also had the same number in BriSCA F2 for a few years too. Strangely enough, this weekend , I had an e-mail message from one of my old racing buddies, Ian Hall , a former BriSCA F1 driver (ex # 381) , who I’ve know for about 30 years. While I was getting soaked at the DIRT tracks of Ontario and Quebec he was attending the European F1 Stock Car Championships at the Northampton Raceway ( Brafield) in the UK . Here’s what he had to say…

<< Hi Dick,
another year another European meeting over, where has summer gone!  During the meeting we had a few rain showers, when I got home 21:00 it had been dry all day and was a lot warmer. Although looking at the line up for the race, it  had  many familiar old faces (it could have been 1990 race) but we are now getting a new breed of younger racers, their racing style is a lot smoother and I think it will not be long before these will  be take up the mantle & be regular race winners. By the way the best foreign driver in the race was # 67 from Belgium, I noticed  two drivers from there.

By the way I have been catching up with my e-mails & notice you frequent many fast food places to & from the track, watch your health! As your track chasing could come to a sudden end.

Hope to see you soon if not next year at Ipswich for a beer

Ian C Hall >>

Thanks for the update Ian and it’s good to know you’re thinking about my health !  … the trouble is the fast food in Canada is so much better than what I remember in the UK.

Ian also sent me a photo of the # 67 F1 Stock Car from Belgium, which sure looks good.

As you see Ian also mentioned Ipswich … It has been announced that the 2008 BrISCA F1 STOCK CAR WORLD FINAL is going to be held for the first time at my ‘home town’ track, the  Foxhall Stadium , Ipswich ( 20/21 SEPTEMBER 2008) and I’m already making plans to be there. So if there’s any of my North American friends who feel like a trip to see UK style ‘full contact’ F1 Stock Car racing next year, let me know. It would be great to organize a party of us. BriSCA F1 is the ‘Big League’ of UK oval racing.