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In the Groove March

March 2005

March 2nd 2005 - Auto Racing is about more than Speed
March 9th 2005 - McColl Racing Enterprises, Inc.
March 16th 2005 - Stock Car Racing History
March 23rd 2005 - Are Drivers Athletes?
March 30th 2005 - Scott Lindsay, 2004 Champion

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March 2nd 2005 - Auto Racing is about more than Speed

My fifteen years in auto racing began in 1989 when I responded to an early season ad in the local paper looking for concession sellers, parking attendants and a photographer for Delaware Speedway. I was a photographer and the fact that I knew nothing about auto racing didn’t stop me from sending a resume.

A week later, on a Friday evening in early May I met with Tony Novotny, owner of Cascar and, at that time the track operator. The sound of street stock engines roaring through heat races and the tinny blare of the race announcers reporting the action made talking difficult as we worked out a deal for me do photography work at the race track and also for the then fledgling Cascar Super Series.

At the time, I thought that I would move on from racing; leave it behind as my photography business grew. Instead, I became more involved; writing stories for racing magazines as well as taking photos and later managing a race team and becoming a performance consultant to individual Cascar Series Teams.

I discovered what most racers, team members and fans of the sport already know. Stock car racing is about far more than just cars on the track. Ultimately, racing is about people. It is a tight, continent-wide collection of individuals all with different life stories, talents and interests; all with a common obsession for the art and science of going fast.

Racing is also about community. A team with a broken race car can often get back in the race using parts or equipment on loan from other teams and a family with a sick child can count on support, caring and often financial aid from others who are friends as well as competitors.

Racing is a lifestyle. Most drivers and teams work at full time jobs before they meet at the race shop to put in the many hours needed to repair, maintain and prepare their equipment for the next race event. For me, fifteen years of racing has meant thousands of hours of travel, hundreds of hotel rooms, long hours and sleepless nights all balanced by the laughter and comradery of time spent with people who see more of each other than they do their families during the summer months.

The Daytona 500, which ran February 20th, marked the beginning of the 2005 race season all over North America. Even though the weather in southern Ontario is still wintry, practise day at Delaware Speedway is only a month away. Sure, there are teams that take the winter off racing and drag the race car out from behind the snow blower in time for the season opener but most race teams, warmed by woodstoves and portable heaters, work through the winter. There are new cars being built and finished, old equipment being rebuilt, updated, painted and decaled. There are deals with sponsors to negotiate.

It is harder to stay focused in the winter. Teams are fuelled only by their dreams for the season ahead; anticipating the moment when the race car engine fires up in the chilly spring air and they watch their car zip around the race track once again.

Delaware Speedway is one of Canada’s top race facilities and the London area is home to a large and enthusiastic base of fans and race teams. For this reason, the Londoner has given me the opportunity to bring to you the stories, the people, the events and issues behind the sport. For those of you for whom this column may be a first introduction to racing, it will provide a glimpse into the unusual and fascinating world of this increasingly popular sport.

I cannot say with any certainty what the upcoming season will bring but I know that, like the ones before it, it will be full of interesting characters, racing action, conflict, heartbreaks and victories. I welcome your feedback and comments, your stories and suggestions.

So, drivers start your engines and let the green flag drop.

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March 9th 2005 -
McColl Racing Enterprises, Inc. Where race cars begin life

Where do you go when you want to shop for a new late model stock car? You know, when the old one is out of style, ratty looking and definitely needs to be replaced?

When it comes to buying race cars, there are no stores with showrooms and glossy ads for next years latest and greatest. And despite the name “stock car”, which suggests that perhaps an ordinary street car with some modifications might be a place to start, a late model stock car actually bears little resemblance to its street running relative and these days, is entirely fabricated.

Last October, when Delaware Speedway closed for the winter, the center of the local racing world shifted to McColl Racing Enterprises, Inc. Located in an industrial area in London’s southwest corner, McColl Racing builds race cars and sells all the parts and pieces that teams need to rebuild or refresh their equipment in preparation for the next season.

Before the award galas and the team thank you parties were even over, the staff of 7 welders and fabricators at McColl’s was busy building cars. When the name of the first customer to order a car went up on the white board in owner Mike McColl’s office, the “building season” officially began. By May 2005, the staff here will have completed 25 race cars, primarily late models for the Nascar Dodge Series at Delaware, the Allstar Series and the Cascar Super Series.

Beyond the basics, which are to meet the rules of the racing division they intend to run in and to keep the driver from harm when on track incidents occur, each race car is as individual as a snowflake.

At this time of year, the 5000 square foot shop at McColls is a maze of chassis in various stages of production, some stacked on top of each other as they wait to be completed. Among them, the brightly coloured and decaled bodies of existing customer cars waiting for repairs and upgrades are scattered through the work area. In the background is the constant hum of the overhead heaters and air cleaners punctuated by the metallic screech of the band saw and the crackle and sputter of welders at work.

Cascar Super Series driver Kerry Micks is in the shop this afternoon. He has come to pick up a partly finished car and enough parts and pieces so that his team can complete the car in their own shop in New Market, Ontario. He and McColl’s staffer Mike Galajda are looking over a dry sump tank; an external device which will filter oil and hold it until it is pumped back through the car’s engine. The dry sump looks like a slightly smaller version of the Star War character R2D2 with various inputs, outputs and add-ons. Apparently it also needs a heater; the placement of which is the subject of the current discussion. It is this sort of creativity and solution oriented problem solving which makes each race car an individual work of art.

Long time London resident and Nascar Dodge Weekly Series driver Doug Stewart arrives; winding his way through the race cars in search of Mike McColl. He wants a price on a fuel cell which is currently needed for his car. His big project over the winter was to increase the size of the shop that houses his race cars and to add a hoist, which will be used to move equipment around and lift engines in and out of the cars.

Mike Galajda returns with the heater now welded into the dry sump. He and Kerry look it over once again and then the unit is added to the box of parts Kerry is taking with him. It will be 8 o’clock in the evening before everything is ready for Kerry to leave.

Ron Sheridan who also competes in the Nascar Dodge Weekly Series and will run selected Cascar Super Series Races as well, is the next customer to come in. While he is waiting to talk with Mike, Ron cruises among the cars in progress checking for new ideas which will either improve his car’s performance or make it easier for his crew to work with or adjust the car. Ron is “on the list” to have a new car built this year and with the first practise day in April fast approaching, he is here to check on its progress.

On the white board in the office, there are still 8 names on the list of cars waiting to be built. Mike and his staff will work the hours needed to get them all done but, at this point, they cannot promise any more cars for this year. So if you are in need of a new late model, it will be for the 2006 season and you might want to get your name on the list now.

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March 16th 2005 - Stock Car Racing History

According to “the King” Richard Petty, automobile racing began the day that they built the second automobile. It was much later, in the early 1930’s, that organized stock car racing really got started. And it happened in the most unlikely way.

The first competitors were “whiskey trippers”; moonshine runners who transported illegal liquor from the small backwoods stills in the south eastern United States to big cities such as Greensboro and Winston-Salem.

In those days there was very little work in Wilkes County, the heart of moonshine country, and a single delivery run of illegal liquor was worth about $240 dollars. The money was good but it was a dangerous business. Whiskey trippers became experts at enhancing their cars to improve their speed and handling on the twisty mountain back roads in order to outrun the authorities who were constantly looking to shut them down.

It didn’t take long before these speed demons, the most famous of whom is Junior Johnson, began competing with each other to prove who had the fastest cars. There was money to be won as well as bragging rights and, as the early competitions evolved into more organized events, spectators by the thousands showed up to watch.

In Canada, race tracks began to appear in the 1940’s and despite the short duration of the racing season here, the sport has thrived. The Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame is tucked in beside the Sports Hall of Fame on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds in Toronto. Like its sporting neighbour, the Motorsport Hall of Fame houses memorabilia of many types of motor sports. Speed boats, motorcycles, planes and race cars are scattered or hung throughout the hall.

Overhead banners are emblazoned with names of the winners of Indy races in Canada and a maze of display boards, each dedicated to an individual inducted into the Hall of Fame since its inception in 1993, winds through the center of the gallery.

Among the 112 inductees so far, such Canadian stock car icons as Don Biederman, Junior Hanley, Earl Ross, and Jean Paul Cabana have made the list, as well as dozens of lesser known individuals all of whom have made significant contributions to the development of motor sports in Canada.

The Motorsport Hall of Fame has a book available containing photos and bios of all the inductees to date. It is a fascinating tribute to the history of motor sport in this country and can be purchased for $25.00 through the Hall of Fame website at www.cmhf.ca.

One of those inducted into the Hall of Fame at a gala event January 29th 2005 was St Thomas native Doug Kennington. A name familiar to many as the father of Cascar Super Series driver DJ Kennington, Doug was honoured for being the driving force behind the creation of St Thomas Dragway near Sparta, Ontario which is now owned by Dave and Linda Mathers.

In addition to the hard work of starting up and overseeing the dragway, which received its NHRA sanction certificate and hosted several major events, Kennington was also one of the most successful competitors at the facility.

After many years away from racing to tend to family and business concerns, Kennington returned to racing when son DJ began racing go-karts. Not one to live in his past successes, Doug put his heart into his new role; overseeing the racing program at DJK Racing. Always good with the mechanics of engines, Doug currently builds the power plants that keep DJ's Super Series cars competitive.

Doug Kennington’s history and accomplishments reflect the passion and diversity of life stories that can be found in the Motorsport Hall of Fame. It brings into focus the continuous change that is an important part of auto racing. Always propelled by the relentless evolution of technology, particularly at the higher levels of the sport, racing continues to speed into the future, inspired by its past.

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March 23rd 2005 - Are Drivers Athletes?

Last Friday was Delaware Speedway Night at the John Labatt Centre. It was the final game of the London Knights Hockey season. As I watched Scott Lindsay, the current Nascar Dodge Late Model Series champion, drop the puck for a face off between two big, brawny hockey players; I was pondering the age old question. Are stock car drivers athletes?

There are two sides to every issue worth debating and this one is no different. On the one hand are those who argue that because they do not skate, bat, run, toss javelin or lift weights, race car drivers are not athletes. I have seen drivers throw helmets in frustration, kick tires when things don’t go their way and brawl like hockey players when they believe another driver is responsible for putting them out of a race but these physical activities don’t really put them in the same athletic category as Wayne Gretzky or Vince Carter.

The fact is, race car drivers sit in vehicles and drive; a rather unathletic activity which most of us participate in on a daily basis in order to avoid any activity which might be construed as athletic; such as walking, running or bike riding.
However, racing a car is as different from driving a car as running a marathon is from dashing to catch a green light at an intersection. Stock car drivers who consistently finish at the top of their divisions, possess, as other athletes do, a combination of natural talent and learned skills.

Essential are quick reflexes, excellent hand eye coordination and the ability to constantly shift focus between the “big picture” and the tiny details. Top drivers also require physical stamina to withstand the often extreme heat inside a race car and the G -forces produced by the car’s speed while manuvering a 3000 lb vehicle through traffic on a racetrack. Like tennis players, stock car drivers need to maintain intense focus and concentration over extended periods of time. Failure to do so can have devastating consequences.

In addition to natural talent, stock car drivers, like other athletes need practise and learned skills to become their best. They need to discover the quickest “line” around a race track, how to run a car through traffic, how to pass a tough competitor on the track and what to do to when they lose control of the car.

Many successful drivers, like other athletes, began learning their chosen sport as children. For example, Mt Brydges driver Cole Pearn, who will return to Friday night action this year in the Nascar Dodge division, was very successful in go-karts. He moved to the Cascar division when he was in his late teens.

St Thomas native and Cascar Super Series competitor, DJ Kennington remembers driving an old car around and around an orchard near his home when he was only 4 years old. He also grew up racing go-karts. His father created a track in the back lot for him to practise on.

Other drivers, such as Strathroy’s Ron Sheridan, learned the ropes in Delaware’s Street Stock division before moving to Cascar in 1998.

These and many other drivers talk racing, watch racing and practise racing; always passionate about improving their driving ability. As racing gets increasingly competitive, more and more drivers are considering fitness programs and race car driving schools as ways to upgrade their performance. It takes physical stamina and ever improving skills to be successful. And that, in my book, makes many stock car drivers athletes.

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March 30th 2005 - Scott Lindsay, 2004 Champion

Winning a championship in stock car racing is not easy. They are won by accumulating points, and race teams must be on top of their game at each event ready to do battle against every other team in the division on the same race track at the same time.

Only one team, out of the twenty to thirty who show up, will win the event, so the competition is fierce. It can be high speed chaos with flat tires, mechanical failures, spins, crashes, overheating (both driver and car) and penalties thrown in just to make the event interesting. Drivers, some of the most competitive people I know, have to make instant decisions about whether to go for one more position on the track and risk tangling with the driver who currently holds that spot or stay back, settling for the points they will currently earn. Often it is a delicate balance between the huge desire to win a race and the long term possibility of winning the top prize at season’s end.

It takes an almost flawless season to come up with a championship. Teams have to work harder than, be more determined than, and luckier than, all the other teams they race against.

That kind of season can be an exhilarating experience. And St. Mary’s Scott Lindsay would know. Scott won the first ever Nascar Dodge Weekly Racing Series title at Delaware Speedway in 2004.

“It was a fantastic year for us” Scott told me. “Pretty well everything went our way other than one bad night. We had a shoestring budget; one car, one motor. Everything held together and we won the big money at the end. It was really something”.

However, the team’s “one bad night” could easily have taken away their chances of success. The car developed a flat tire in an event about six races from the end of the season and got into a wreck with several slower cars while on its way to pit road for a tire change. The damage which incurred prevented the car from finishing the event and left the team more than 20 points behind leader Steve Robblee.

“It is hard to catch up to Steve when he gets a (points) lead on you” Scott explains. But the team did not give up. “We came back with 2 wins and 3 second places in the last five races” says Scott. “So that’s what put us back in the hunt.”
Going into the final event, Scott was one point behind the leader and determined to do what he could to come out on top.

With 7 laps to go in the final race, an on track incident damaged Steve’s car and prevented him from finishing the race; sealing up the championship for Scott. “So basically, I just had to finish the race after that” Scott says. “And it was a lo-o-n-n-g seven laps.”

Winning the championship gave Scott, his team and sponsors the opportunity to attend the gala awards event in Nashville, Tennessee put on by Nascar for all its regional race series champions. “It was overwhelming” he says “Definitely a career highlight.”

After that, Scott, who has won over 55 features in his racing career, and his team set to work getting the car and equipment ready for the 2005 season. “We basically went from bumper to bumper on the car, and rebuilt it from the ground up.” Scott says of the work during the off season. “We have never been able to win two championships in a row. So that is our goal for next year”.

Admittedly, it will be tough. The Nascar Dodge Late Model division has some rule changes for next year which will shake up the competition a bit and a half a dozen new drivers, all with late model experience will be joining the field. However, Scott and his team are doing everything they can to prepare. “We’ve never really worked at it this hard, to improve our whole program after a winning season” he explains. “We are trying to do everything we can do”.

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