September includes some interesting aspects and appearances from within Canadian Pro car ranks…..

We salute the continuing determination for Ontario’s Ant Hill Mob Top Fuel dragster team! Despite the continued long odds posed by the pandemic and the restrictive expense of running the T/F class itself (they) Smax Smith and son Aidan Heatley-Smith attempted a couple pulls at Cayuga Dragway over the Labour Day Weekend. While the car didn’t exactly rotate the earth performance wise this time out — the team cannot be faulted for their efforts — and their education and progress towards 2022 continues.
TAFC racing legend and team owner Larry Dobbs (Welland ON) did manage some appearances with his potent class Camaro recently. Following a long layoff due to the pandemic — the team did have a licensing session at Cayuga (for new driver Craig Budd) and then headed over to Grand Bend Motorplex during the Labour Day weekend where they paired off a couple times versus Jeff Chatterson’s A/FD. At GBM it was Tyler Scott back in the cockpit and the team ran a best of 5.67 secs at 252.73 mph. The appearances also allowed the team to show off their new sponsorship — Hamill APS — which is owned by Larry’s son Kevin Dobbs. Hamill APS build and develop custom processing equipment for the hydroponic aquaponic and micro greens industries.
Quebec’s Daniel Mercier made some drag racing history this month when he took his Nostalgia Funny Car out to Miramichi Dragway in NB. That was the first time in that track history for a nitro-burning car — and Daniel thrilled a capacity crowd with some impressive and track record runs. You can link to more details about that very special appearance – posted to our co-production (NitroFCCanada): HERE
A couple of very cool previews within the highest level of Canada’s fast street car scene – did occur during the most recent Canada Heads Up event hosted in Sept at Cayuga. That did include the return to competition for “Little Ricky” Carlos – one of Canada’s most famous Fast Street Car racers. Ricky had his nitrous-injected ’69 Camaro out and looked good in it. Also in attendance was a rather mind-boggling all new Corvette C7 – built by the Chassis Stop (Mississauga) and owned and driven by Brent Stein. To say that Brent’s Corvette and engine tech employed is unique – is a real understatement! DragRaceCanada will post features with more details on both efforts – coming a bit later!

Posted by Bruce Biegler
Photos by Bruce Biegler and Chris O’Neill