KHR presents more Canadian drag racing tidbits — a late February edition…..

Time Travel to Vega! — One of the more familiar local names from Southern Ontario’s drag racing scene in the past has revealed an interesting race car renaissance project – currently within early stages.

Bruce Ziegler’s supercharged Chevy Vega was a fan favourite within Southern  Ontario’s drag racing history spectrum.

Area fans will most certainly recall a super cool and supercharged ’73 Vega which was campaigned by London Ontario’s Bruce Ziegler which was a frequent runner at what was then London Motorsports Park during the 1984-2000 era.

Ziegler is in the midst of building another and more modern version of that fan favourite ’73 Vega effort.  Plans are for it to be a big tire car with potent BBC and a Hutch’s 400 turbo and targeted to some drag and drive events.  Some dips into the world of Ontario’s Canada Heads Up circuit races could also be on the radar.

“I sold that original car back 2002,” Bruce confirmed. “This second Vega is still a shell and on the jig and will be developed further over the next few months.”

Expectations are that another supercharged Atchison Machine engine program will be employed.

Bruce Ziegler has also been busy in recent times building and assembling a fast “street only” machine — a very creative Chevelle powered by a 555 CID motor. That project car is near completion and will include body and paint work done in-house by Ziegler and his good friend Justin Bowman.

Saskatchewan Super Gasser! —  After  an impressive “top 10” placing within NHRA’s Northwest Division LODRS points last year (8th), Saskatchewan’s Lyons Pride Racing team plan to up the anti for 2026.

Racing what is certainly a rather pedigree Dodge Daytona, driver Lee Lyons will be expanding his racing presence even further this summer.

The tried and true Lyons Pride Racing Dodge Daytona.

Lee, with his wife Shannon will hit the trail with plans to run hard for the Division 6 championship in 2026 – attending events including at Boise ID, Billings MT, Mission BC, and Woodburn OR.

“We’re based from Silton Saskatchewan (30 minutes from Regina), Lee revealed. “This car was originally built in ’89 (an Alston Chassis) — and I’ve had it for about 25 years.”

The reliable and consistent car is now a 1991-bodied Dodge Daytona showcasing sponsorship from The Stripe Shop and from Budweiser. Currently the engine is a 605 CID all aluminium Indy of Dodge 440 design, equipped with Predator heads and which produces about 1250 HP.

“Finishing 8th in Division 6 Super Gas last year was my best placing yet,” Lee added. “This year thanks to “On The Stop Workshop” — I plan to run in all Division 6 races this year to chase the championship.”

Black Cars Update! —  As drag racing’s mid-winter 3-race cirucit (Drag Illustrated Winter Series) winds down — for it’s final round this coming weekend (Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod at Bradenton Motorsports Park) Canadian fan eyes should be fixated on a Canada-based late round leader – GTA’s Nick Agostino — for the Pro 10.5 class category.

Heading into WSOPM, Agostino (owner of Nash Competition Engines) is on the points podium with his turbocharged, small-block-powered “Cannoli Express” ’69 Camaro, after placing well at the first two races for the series – including a runner up.

Nick Agostino could be poised to become the first ever — DI Winter Series – Pro 10.5 class points champion.

Some big money is on the line for sure to decide what will be the inaugural DI Winter Series (presented by J&A Service) Pro 10.5 champion. If Nick can prevail, in addition to the event prize money ($10G to win), he could collect a lucrative $5,000 bonus and a massive custom baseball bat from Victus Sports as a one-of-a-kind trophy.

After points leader Agostino, in the close group, it is Jerry Morgano sitting second and Fletcher Cox third, followed by Bill Lutz and Joel Wensley Jr – rounding out the top five.

…..At last weekend’s uber popular Lights Out #17 event held at SGMP (South Georgia Motorsports Park) another evil looking Canadian Camaro made quite an impression.

Ian Hill’s ever improving X275 Camaro qualified #1 at “Lights Out #17”.

Ian Hill, (owner of Dilts Pistons) and who it the creator and director for Ontario’s vibrant Canada Heads Up circuit racing (now held exclusively at Toronto Motorsports Park), starred within that event’s headlining X275 class division with his ’67 model Camaro.

For the 30 cars entered, Ian was the #1 qualifier at 4.117 secs. While he did not win the rain delayed event (completed just today) he did notch up a superb “final four” placing.

The SGMP star studded and super cool X275 class did in fact attract a number of racers from Canada to the mix, including: Chris Gould and Jordan Brandon (towing in all the way from (Alberta) and Eastern Canadian drivers Nick Kokkas (Ontario) and Gilles Valiquette (Quebec) — all of who qualified in the 4-secs zone.

Posted by Bruce Biegler
Photos by Bruce Biegler – Courtesy of Lyons Pride Racing/Anvil Digital, Blake Farnan and Drag Illustrated.