The Web Master's Personal Review of 2005 Southern Ontario Racing

The 2005 season has already passed into memory and it was probably my personal best for number of tracks and number of races attended.

The season started poorly with lots of rain-outs in May. By the beginning of June the weather was fantastic and it continued thorugh out the summer. I can't remember another year with so many warm nights. For me, Saturday nights were split between Mosport Speedway and Brighton Speedway.

Brighton Speedway appeared to have a very good year, for both car-counts and spectators. Pit discussion indicated that all classes had the largest fields in memory for many people. The track also opened their new Corporate suites early in the season. They are located on the spectator side of turn 4.

Mark Rinaldi, the Promoter at Brighton, agrees with my assessment as he told CanadianRacer.com that the track had a rocky month of May but once June rolled in, Brighton had "one of the most successful seasons in recent years. Car counts and fan levels were at levels not seen since the mid '80s and our special events keep gaining popularity."

Glenn Styres, Southern Ontario Sprints, gets ready for his qualifer at Brighton

The Southern Ontario Sprints made several visits to Brighton and I made sure I was at them all. I love seeing the Sprint Cars at Brighton.

Brighton finished its regular season with a 358 Modified race under DIRT rules. The ImageFactor.ca Applefest DIRT 358 Modified Shootout was the first time in over 20 years that 358 Modifieds had appeared at the track. The event was meant for the Brockville, Cornwall and western Quebec drivers to have an extra event at the end of the season. There were eighteen 358 Modifieds and they put on a great race. I hope Brighton makes this an annual event.

Look for even more improvements at Brighton next year. Rinaldi stated that, "For 2006 we plan to keep evolving as an entertainment facility providing an action-packed evening for the whole family every Saturday night. Facility upgrades will continue in 2006 to make the Brighton Speedway more fan friendly."

Mosport Speedway started a new class this year called "6 or Less" which, as the name suggests, is for cars of 6 Cylinders or fewer. As is normal with a new class, the car counts started out low at the beginning of the year but grew as the season progressed. One of the most interesting things about this class was the wide-variety of cars. There was a Thunderbird, a Grand-Am, Cavaliers, Hondas, Mustangs, Sunbirds and more.

The OSCAAR Super Late Models made two visits to Mosport and I made it to both. I also saw the Ontario Legends, Hurricane Midgets and several nights of regular racing at Mosport.

Many Friday nights were spent at Kawartha Speedway. The car counts were definately up this year in all classes as well. There were 28 Limited Late Models one night. I saw the ALSTAR series, the Can-Am Midgets and the Canadian Vintage Modifieds at Kawartha.

Derek Lynch, promoter and Track Manager of Kawartha was pleased with the improvements that the track made this year. He stated: "Since the re-opening of Kawartha Speedway in the spring of 2004, we have continued to see incredible growth. Our 2005 season compared to our 2004 season saw a dramatic increase in both competitor support as well as fan support".

The Auto Value Super Sprints made their first-ever appearance at Kawartha and were blazingly fast. They set a new track record of 14.237, beating the old record set by an ISMA Super Modified. The AVSS are basically a Sprint Car with some modifications for paved track racing. I hope they return in 2006.

Regarding the AVSS, Derek Lynch told CanadianRacer.com: "Probably the biggest unknown for the speedway in 2005 was how the fan base in our area would react to the Auto Value Super Sprints. This series made its inaugural visit to Kawartha Speedway and the racing was like nothing seen before. The car count was great and the crowd response was incredible. It would be our hope to have the AVSS return in 2006 now that area fans have a sense for the show they put on".

358 Dirt Modifieds at Merrittville photo courtesy of Ernie Pothier

Rain affected the Kawartha Summer Sizzler on the weekend of Sept 16-18. The Late Model Triple 50's were rained out and rescheduled for the Saturday. This caused the CASCAR Power Water Sportsman race to be moved to the Sunday with the CASCAR Super Series. I made it to Kawartha for the CASCAR double-header where both series finished their 2005 seasons.

My favourite weekend of the summer was the long weekend in August - three nights, three dirt tracks. The weekend started at Brighton on Saturday night where the Southern Ontario Sprints were the guest series and put on a great show as always. We headed to the Niagara area for the rest of the weekend. Sunday night is the regular evening for Humberstone Speedway. The track reopened this year under new ownership after sitting idle in 2004. It appears that a lot of money was spent upgrading the track and its facilities over the winter. The Ontario Dirt Late Models made a visit that night. The sight of Ed Carley blasting down the straights with the left side of his car in the air was amazing. Finally, on Monday night we went to Merrittville Speedway for The Trevor Wilkens Memorial 358 Modified Tour. This was a 50 lap Syracuse qualifer race. Alan Johnson took the win in a brand new car. It was so new, it was not even lettered - just taped-on numbers. He beat out Brett Hearn and Pete Bicknell who took second and third. It was a fantastic race with only one caution flag in the whole 50 laps.

All the tracks that I visited run a tight show but Humberstone and Merrittville have it down to a science. Both tracks ran action-packed nights and had it wrapped up in less than 3 hours. Even though the night was short, I still felt as though I got my money's worth because it was all racing and not a lot of time spent on cautions.

Humberstone did something that I've never seen before. They had a guy with a wireless microphone who roamed the track on the back of an ATV. During a caution he would ride up to the drivers involved in the caution and get an on-the-track interview.

Don Thomson, Jr at Peterborough for the OSCAAR feature

I carried on a personal tradition of making it to Peterborough Speedway for the Autumn Colours Classic. The weather was beautiful and the pits were packed. There were features for 6 classes on the Sunday. The day started at about 1:00pm and was wrapped up by 8:00pm. CASCAR Super Series regular Don Thomson, Jr showed up with Zardo Super Late Model painted in his traditional colours and dominated the OSCAAR feature.

Ron Fellows on the grid, just before the start of the ALMS race at Mosport

I didn't make it out to as much road racing as I would have liked. I did make it to the Victoria Day and Labour Day weekends at Mosport for American GT and American Le Mans. I also attended the VARAC Vintage weekend in June and the Celebration weekend in October.







A few things I noticed this year:

Tracks Attended:
Mosport Speedway
Mosport International Raceway (the road course)
Kawartha Speedway
Brighton Speedway
Humberstone Speedway
Merrittville Speedway
Peterborough Speedway

Oval Touring Series Seen:
OSCAAR
ALSTAR
Auto Value Super Sprints
Canadian Vintage Modifieds
Hurricane Midgets
Ontario Legends Series
Ontario Dirt Late Models
Southern Ontario Sprints
DIRT 358 Modifieds
Can-Am Midgets
CASCAR Power Water Sportsman
CASCAR Super Series

Road Racing Series Seen:
American GT Series
American Le Mans Series
Star Mazda
Speed World Challenge Touring
Honda / Michelin Series


Best Firesuit: Dan Kimmerly, the #01 Limited Late Model at Mosport and Kawartha. Dan has had a Spiderman graphic on the hood of his cars for several years. This year he had a firesuit that looked like Spiderman's costume.
Weirdest Race: I saw a heat race that started with 6 cars and one-by-one five cars dropped out. It ended with 1 car circling the track by itself for the last two laps.
Best Food Prices: Brighton - $2 for a BBQ'd hamburger. You can't beat that.
Biggest Regret: Never made it to the Sprint Car Nationals at Ohsweken. I heard that there were over 70 Sprint Cars on hand, a packed grandstand and a some great racing. I definately plan on making it next year.
Coolest Sight: When Dick Mahoney flipped his car during his qualifier at Brighton on the Saturday night of Labour Day weekend, there were members of at least four other crews pitching in to help Dick get his car fixed for the feature.
Friendliest Series: The Auto Value Super Sprints. They were very friendly and open to conversation when approached by fans. They were letting kids sit in the cars. Things like this make life-time fans.

Your Turn

Let's hear about your 2005 season. What tracks did you visit and what series did you see? What was new, cool or interesting? What did you like and dislike? It would be great to hear from fans and drivers from across Canada. What was happening in the Maritimes or Quebec? What about the Prairies or the west coast?

Leave your comments here.

Autum Colours at Peterborough photos by the Web Master Mike Bricknell, OSCAAR Tim Watson, LLM   Mini Stocks lined up in the overflow pits Mini Stocks lined up in the overflow pits Darragh Moroney, OSCAAR TJ Woolsey, OSCAAR The Vanderwysts Drew Spicer, OSCAAR Michel Beyore, OSCAAR Jeff Hanley, OSCAAR The pits Super Late Models in the pits The pits Jim Sweers, LLM