For 2019 — Ontario’s drag racing scene appears well set to benefit from some newly found common ground….
While we will not go into specifics — we all recognize there is a history of instances for conflicting event dates within the narrow summer band of available preferred weekends within Southern Ontario — which in the end may have been a detriment to the overall health of the sport.
But during the just past off season there were some important inter track negotiations and from that some fresh cooperation and plans have emerged, specifically involving Ontario’s two most prominent facilities – Grand Bend Motorplex and Toronto Motorsports Park.
And yes – we know you may have heard this line before — but this time we really mean it (LOL!)
We can confirm that management teams from both those race tracks as well as racers themselves appear to be taking the high road this summer. That did give birth to (another) brand new series — the PSDS (Pro Sportsman Dragster Series).
While obviously still within it’s infancy — the PSDS is taking forward some of the remianants of previous series’, adopting what did work and recognizing and rejecting what did not.
So going forward in 2019 racers within this geographical area’s most traditional class strengths — Pro Mod, Top Dragster and Top Sportsman — fans will see a mix of 8 races — split evenly between Grand Bend Motorplex and Cayuga Dragway.
“Our series will run at both Grand Bend Motorplex (GBM) and Toronto Motorsports Park (TMP),” confirmed Paul Spriet, the President of Grand Bend Motorplex. “It provides competitors the opportunity to race at multiple tracks – without conflicting dates — and earn points towards guaranteed year-end payouts.”
Pro Mod class cars will race at five of these events and TS and TD class competition will be presented at six of them. Additional events are possible — to be announced later.
Funding for this series will initially come from the race track’s themselves with the event purses determined by the number of entries — but this time — very importantly — at guaranteed minimum levels. But as the series gets closer to a start (Victoria Day Weekend at TMP May 17-19), negotiations with a number of presenting sponsors continue. As those are firmed up specific event payouts as well as year end prizes will migrate.
“All our payouts are the minimum levels that the two tracks have committed to,” Paul elabourated. “Basically the thought process was it makes sense for us to join forces and come up with a series at a cost level that we could both live with. So in consultation with various racers and from past experiences we came up with the entry/payout programs that work. But as additional sponsorship develops we expect that dollar values will go up.”
Right now, LowDown Hot Rods (Cambridge ON) and Corriveau Concrete Forming (Fonthill ON) have signed on to sponsor the Top Dragster and Top Sportsman classes respectively.
And in some very important and late breaking news — negotiations for an overall series sponsor for the Pro Modified class are now completed with — Pennzoil — stepping up to the plate for that high profile position!
The principal people directing this new series, in addition to track owners Paul Spriet and Uli Bieri will be Steve Martin and Korey Herman (at Grand Bend Motorplex) and Neale Armstrong (at TMP).
DragRaceCanada will report event results from all of the PSDS circuit races this season.
To link and communicate for more information on the series — visit: HERE
Post and Photos by Bruce Biegler
(Editor’s Note) : To view our previous/initial related post on this developing series click: HERE
