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The 2007 racing
season is upon us in parts of Canada, so it's time for CanadianRacer.com's
annual review of the off-season news.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that NASCAR
has been big news this year. The Busch Grand National Series
is coming to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on August
4.
The sale of CASCAR, rumoured for at least two years, finally happened
in the fall. The new series is called the NASCAR Canadian Tire
Series. The sale was announced on September 13, 2006 and then
there was several months of no news. The no official schedule appeared
in mid-April. NASCAR did announce that they would not be running
either the Sportsman Series or the Western Series. The Series web
site is part of the NASCAR Local Racing site and is located
here.
The World of Outlaws sprint car series is returning to Canada
for the first time in many years for two visits. The 3/8 mile Ohsweken
Speedway in Ontario will host the Outlaws on Wednesday July
25. Tickets go on sale on May 1. Ohsweken is also the home of the
Canadian Sprint Car Nationals. The Outlaws return to Canada on August
17-18 for a two-day event at the 3//8 mile Castrol
Raceway in Edmonton, AB.
With the death of the CASCAR Sportsman Series, driver Ron Lethbridge,
his father Ted Lethbridge and Glenn Lloyd (Sunset Speedway owner)
formed the Ontario Sportsman Series. Six races are scheduled
for 2007. The rules are based on the 2005 CASCAR Sportsman rulebook.
More information can be found at the series' web site: http://www.ontariosportsmanseries.com/.
The racers in Western Canada have adopted a similiar approach with
Auto Clearing
Motor Speedway in Saskatoon, SK creating the Western
Elite Sportsman Tour (WEST). Four events are scheduled at the
track plus one at Race City
Speedway in Calgary. The events are also open to the local
Sportsman cars. Siemens Transportation Group Inc has been announced
as the title sponsor.
Barrie Speedway
in Ontario has adopted NASCAR sanctioning.
Grand Bend Speedway
in Ontario was completely rebuilt over the winter. Previously, Grand
Bend was a 1/6 mile oval. The track has been reconfigured into a
1/4 mile tri-oval with twelve degree banking. Photos of the new
layout and of the construction are available on the Track Facts
page of the Grand Bend website: http://www.jcarracing.ca/gbs/gbs-facts.html.
Autodrome Edelweiss
has added a set of 16 suites at the top of the grandstands. Each
suite can accommodate 8 people. The track plans to add a restuarant
next season. Autodrome Edelweiss is located on Highway 366, north
of Cantley, Quebec.
Autodrome St-Félicien
has new ownership. Martin Dubois, Frederic Beaudoin and Yves Pelchat
have partnered with original owner Louise Boulanger (if the translation
is correct). St-Félicien is a 1/2 mile oval combined with a 1 mile
road course and is located near
St-Félicien, Quebec.
Harold
Brown Memorial Speedway is the new name for Exploit's Valley
Speedway near Bishop's Falls, NF.
Red River Co-op
Speedway is the new name for Victory Lane Speedway, a 4/10
mile dirt oval near Winnipeg, MB.
Cayuga
Speedway Park- near Nelles Corners, Ontario - has changed
their plans somewhat. Originally they had intended to tear up the
old track and build new. CanadianRacer.com has a full story dedicated
to Cayuga's future plans here.
The Saskatchewan
Racing League Late Model Stock Tour is a new series for 2007.
It utilizes Street Stock chassis with Late Model bodies. The goal
of the seires is to have a professional-looking stock car at the
price of a Street Stock. The series web site has more information:
http://www.angelfire.com/planet/srl/index.html.
Visit the discussion
page for this article to tell us about any news that I've missed.
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