For Alberta’s Mageau Family Racing – the upcoming 2015 racing season will include some very special developments and a major celebration….
When the snow melts and the season begins next spring at Edmonton’s Castrol Raceway the very popular local racing team which has truly stood the test of time, will enter their 50th season (!) of involvement in drag racing.
With roots dating way back to 1965 when team patriarch Bob Mageau built his first race car (a ’57 Chevy Stock eliminator car), the upcoming season will seen a continuance of that DNA when both Bob’s son Jay and granddaughter Courtney hit the drag strip. And the 2015 campaign will be a special one with Jay and now Courtney both behind the wheel of Funny Cars.
“To celebrate the 50 years we are putting a third generation driver Courtney Mageau into a nostalgia alcohol funny car,” revealed Jay Mageau. “This is a ’55 T-Bird bodied car which will carry forward her “Girl Trouble” motif. We’ll be running Courtney’s car on alcohol and I’ll be back in our nitro-burning “Prospector” ’57 Chevy. We are planning to run both the family cars head-to-head at some point in the season and when we do that we hope to have Bob on the line — to ceremonially send his son and grand daughter off.”
Bob and Jay Mageau
Courtney Mageau, who has raced a 7-second bracket dragster for the last few seasons very effectively, is very keen to get behind the wheel of her new T-bird. She will be driving a car that was acquired just recently – purchased turnkey from previous owner, Canadian Tony Kupris.
“It had been run as a IBAA car between 2001 and 2007 before being parked,” Jay added. “We are running it with only a few modifications. Our focus is to learn the car and teach Courtney the right way to drive a funny car. Once she is comfortable we will look at expanding her racing schedule.”
At 24 years old, Courtney Mageau has been racing since 2004, starting off in a Junior Dragster. After driving there for three years she moved up to her rear engined dragster after getting her licence for that in July 2009. She proved to be a very capable driver quickly – evidenced by the fact she won her ET bracket eliminator during the 2010 IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals at Edmonton – her first venture ever into competition with that car! Courtney and the “Girl Trouble” dragster has gone on to win additional events ever since, throughout the 2011 through 2014 seasons.
Courtney & Jay Mageau will both drive Funny Cars this summer
Courtney graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 2013 and in addition to her love for drag racing is a frequent international traveller — including Europe recently and plans for South America this winter.
For Jay Mageau – he too is pumped about the upcoming season venture which will in fact be a re-emergence for him as a driver after a one year hiatus racing his ’78 Corvette nitro Nostalgia Funny Car.
Jay Mageau’s “Prospector” Corvette Funny Car
“The “Prospector” car is being upgraded,” Jay affirmed. “My objective is to eclipse our best career ET of 5.92 secs this season. Last year (when I turned 50) I took a bit of a step back from driving – but that turned out to be a wrong idea – worst summer of my life! Initially I was apprehensive about putting my daughter in a Funny Car but she handled the dragster well and is so pumped to do this — and that was contagious. We are working on a schedule now. We plan to run of course at our home track in Edmonton – but also at Mission, Spokane for sure and then hopefully further south (at Bakersfield) next fall.”
Post and photos by: Bruce Biegler
