Some positives to report as horizons for Canada’s drag racing scene begin to show for 2021!….

Fix Compete! — After his 2002 model Pontiac Grand Am endured an unfortunate towing trailer malfunction a couple years back – Canada’s favorite drag racing “Aussie” Wally Clark is poised for a comeback this season — with that car. Wally, and his co-driver daughter Chelsea (from Niagara Falls) have completed all the necessary repairs (mostly body and cosmetic) for their potent Super Stocker. And now just recently after receiving an expert new paint scheme and look from Dan “The Sign Man” Delaney (Tonawanda, New York) — things are good to go. The race car which was built by FJ Smith and which features a motor program by Brian Tilburg (327 CID) will be back to competition and a primary attraction within the Can-Am Stock/Super Stock Series this summer.
New Nitro News — A coming attraction this summer of 2021 is the debut of a new Nitro-burning Nostalgia Funny Car, based from Port Rowan Ontario. Husband and wife Jason and Sandi Hardie are nearing the final stages of construction for their very interesting new pet project – a 1957 Thunderbird bodied car – currently housed at the Paton Racing facility near Paris ON. Driver Jason Hardie hopes to make some licensing runs in the car which will be dubbed “Celtic Thunder”. This T-Bird will feature a spectacular scheme applied by Kenny Kroeker & Zack Gottvald. While we are still sworn to secrecy on those details — we can assure you it will be a “stunner” including House of Colour Organic green and Pagan gold. The Hardie’s Funny Car will feature chassis upgrades by Mark Morris and it has a supercharged TFX 92 motor acquired from Doug Cadman. DragRaceCanada will feature more of a “reveal” when the project hits the track this summer.
A Top End Top Up — The aggressive upgrading project at St. Thomas Dragway in Ontario continues. Track owner Paul Spriet provided some images of the shutdown area after recent completion for a centre lane paving program. “Since the majority of our racing is 1/8th mile and the entire surface is paved guardrail to guardrail to the 1750 ft — it’s didn’t make sense to do the same in the shutdown,” Paul stated. “But each side of the new pavement was ground flat and was smoothed already — so now it’s smooth all the way down.” The St. Thomas Dragway surface now sits at the ready – awaiting season action to commence in Ontario (post health restrictions) — which thankfully now appears to be on the horizon!

Posted by Bruce Biegler