The competition was seeing “orange” last season following the debut of a formidable 2-car racing team based from Northern Ontario…

Louis Ouimette and his wife Diane Thiffeault, who are the founders and co-owners of a very successful automotive body shop and towing service (Active Collision Services) made their debut with a pair of equally impressive “Top” classed cars earlier in 2016.

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Louis Ouimette and his wife Diane Thiffeault have built a serious 2-car racing operation.

First on the scene was Diane’s new Mike Bos-built supercharged Top Dragster and that was followed a bit later by Louis’s G-Force Race cars constructed 1970 Camaro Top Sportsman car – which is also supercharged.

After an initial shakedown period – both Diane and Louis began dipping their toes into competition, primarily within Southern Ontario’s Napa/Autopro Ultimate Showdown Drag Racing Series.

“Both cars are brand new – finished this season,” said Louis Ouimette. “We got the dragster out first (at Cayuga) and got that running consistently with Diane driving. For the Camaro, I did all the assembly as well as the body. The Stratford Spectacular USDRS event at Grand Bend Motorplex was our first time out with that car and we had help from Scott Wildgust who made some shakedown runs for us with it first.”

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Louis's G-Force built Camaro has run in the 6.5 secs zone at 220+ mph so far.

Louis’s G-Force built Camaro has run in the 6.5 secs zone at 220+ mph so far.

For Diane, this dragster is her first race car. Louis’s history in the sport dates back further. After doing some mud and swamp car racing earlier in his career he switched to drag racing about five years ago.

“I did have a ’67 Chevy II with a blown small block,” he revealed. “But with that car it seemed I was always on the bubble with regard to qualifying. I realized I needed to bring a bigger gun to these gunfights – so I went ahead with this new car.”

Diane’s dragster features an alcohol-burning Chevrolet configuration at 410 CID, however Louis’s Camaro has a supercharged 522 CID Brad Anderson Hemi engine program.

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After making some initial shakedown runs at Cayuga last spring – Diane entered some Napa/AutoPro USDRS event races.

After making a couple of appearances within the Province of Ontario, Louis did try his luck outside of Canada when he entered the Camaro in the now infamous “Shakedown at the Summit” event held at Norwalk Ohio mid September. And at that race he did record his career best times – including at 6.548 secs at 220.58 mph — which qualified him 5th for 38 cars entered in TS.

Needless to say with the two premium race cars and all the supporting equipment that goes with them Louis and Diane’s investment into the sport of drag racing is — very significant.

“Yes – we’re pretty serious about doing this – to go drag racing seriously I guess you need to hate money and try to get rid of it?” he joked.

Diane and Louis fund their operation 100% independently while showcasing their Active Collison Services company, however they do receive valued associate support from the Diamond Pistons company.

Post and photos by: Bruce Biegler