Grand Bend Motorplex’s 2024 edition WDRA Canadian Nationals plays out…

Cool cars and driving stars collected along the scenic shorelines of Southwest Ontario’s Lake Huron for the 24th edition of the (now) WDRA Canadian Nationals.

The exhibition heavy event (Aug 2-4) featured a mix of machines and racers who played out to a packed house during Saturday evening’s main event.

The potent Canadian Top Fuel cars of Paton Racing and Mercier Racing were showcased as those two NHRA calibre race teams lined up against once another – for the very first time.

Overall it Quebec’s Dan Mercier with the quickest run of the entire event (recording a 4.04 secs 1000′) – however it was Todd Paton (a native of nearby Paris ON) that collected both the match win lights with laps of 4.21 secs and 4.16 secs. Todd – driving the PDS/Fast Eddie SpeedWear dragster — also set top speed of the race at 285.71 mph.

Star Canadian racers Todd Paton and Daniel Mercier faced off in Top Fuel at GBM’s WDRA Canadian Nationals.

The event also included Canada’s quickest and fastest injected-nitro dragsters.

Jeff Veale (from Canfield ON) was the quickest A Fueler both days running 5.4217 at 268.34 MPH (Sat) and then Sunday at 5.3691 at 276.92 MPH. Jeff Chatterson was beside him on Sunday with his best pass running 5.62 at 249.58 MPH. Brian Peters (from Windsor) ran his A/Fueler on Saturday and hit a 6.22 secs at 235 MPH. Clif Bakx towed in from Manitoba with his “The Bull” machine with Todd Bruce driving. But unfortunately a test hit on Friday evening included a parachute failure and the car ending up in the sand trap — damage from which was severe enough to end that team’s race weekend plans.

Brian Peters (from Windsor ON) was one of 4 quality Canadian-based  injected-nitro cars attending the WDRA Canadian Nationals weekend.

Iconic team owner Larry Dobbs (Welland ON) had his Camaro TAFC out to GBM and that venture did see his driver Ryan Stack pilot to a best run on Sunday of 5.675 at 253.52 MPH.

Larry Dobbs

Ryan Stack made a best lap of 5.675 secs at 253.52 mph driving Larry Dobbs’ Camaro TAFC.

Exhibition jets cars included Jerry McCart’s “Homewrecker” Jet Truck running consistent 190 MPH as well as the Douthit family Jet Funny cars putting on a great show — The “Black Pearl” ran a best of 6.26 at 252 MPH while the “Quartermaster” had a best time of 6.45 at 239 MPH.

Local legend Neale Armstrong also impressed again while piloting his “Northern Warrior” Jet Dragster to a pair of 6.0’s at 265 MPH.

Jerry McCart’s “Homewrecker” Jet Truck

Neale Armstrong’s “Northern Warrior” Jet Dragster

Competition for the WDRA event titles included (on Saturday) wins for Owen Henderson (No Box) taking the final over Jack Almas. In the Box Class – it was dragster vs door car final with Kevin Knight’s dragster prevailing over Rodney Gomes. In Bike/Sled it was Trevor Rock rolling thru the field and defeating Stephen Payne in the final.

In Junior Dragster Keith Lindsay was the victor with a win over Noah Gomes while the Junior Consolation race Erin Pinylo was the victor over Josh Kniplfel.

Sunday’s event schedule included season race #2 for the Bears Performance PSDS series.

In Strange Engineering Top Sportsman Phil Sampson took the win over a red-lighting Wes Goddard. The #1 Qualifier was Paul Coull with a 4.24 at 169.24 MPH.

In Smokies Garage Top Dragster, Bill McKay won over Mike Swick, with Mike Kalin being the #1 qualifier at 3.89 188.05 MPH.

In Heads-Up Bikes Jesse Vanbetlehem took the solo win as his competitor broke. Jesse was also the quickest bike overall with the #1 qualifying spot 7.02 seconds at 197 MPH (1/4 mile).

The Outlaw Sled program saw Rob Lowe taking the win over Dave Marshal. Lowe too was a #1 qualifier (4.48 164 MPH – 1/8th mile).

Sunday bonus races for ET bracket racers saw Carmen Arquette win No Box over Arnold Fox, Nathan Parkhurst in Box over Mike Swick, and Steve Streatch in Bike/Sled over Colleen Albin Madison Dejong won Junior Dragster over Chrisander Ouelette, and in Junior Consolation it was Austin Gibson over Neveah Gomes.

The WDRA Canadian Nationals did include a Pro Mod class program with that final round on Sunday featuring a 1st ever class win for Claude St. Maurice (from Quebec).   (Editor’s Note: We will post more details on that portion of the event — to our Smokies Garage Pro Mod Portal subsection – coming soon)

Posted with files by Bruce Biegler & Paul Spriet
Photos by Steve Embling

View the LMLCMedia photo gallery from the WDRA Canadian Nationals: HERE