Merrittville Speedway Memories

  After alot of preparation, our countdown to the 50th Anniversary took place with the celebration of our 46th anniversary last Saturday.
   All day, Mother Nature was wreaking havoc with everyone's nerves, however at 6:00 PM it was gratifying to see those who attended and no rain in sight.
   While all season long it has been my task to reflect upon some of the people and events that occurred over the past 45 years, it was very gratifying to see and talk to them in person, I wish I had more time.
   The Mid State group attended with their small group of cars along with the many members of the Canadian Motor Racing Historical Society's contingent of fine authentic race cars. Our group headed up by myself, Mark Lovell, Bruce Swartz and Ted Renshaw felt it was not only important for the fans to meet our guests, but also to get a feel for the sights and sounds of years gone by with the appearance of the coupes on the track.
   Merrittville Speedway's Bryant Irvine & family were very lenient in giving us free reign in trying to organize the reunion. I hope that the race fans had a chance to visit with some of our guests both from the US - such as Cam Gagliardi, Chuck Boos, Ed Ortiz, Merv Treichler and Ken Meahl - the 1997 Inductee into the DIRT Hall of Fame, as well as some of our Hamilton guests - Bob Davidson - whose family has 5 decades of Stock Car involvement & Henry Shivak from Ryckman's Corners and of course the Nicholls family - who can forget the #43 Chevrolet racers piloted by John Bezanson & Alex Gunn - that 'Wimpy' tuned.
   Our local contingent of guests - It was also gratifying to see those who made the effort to attend, such as Anne Willard whose family still has a love for the sport, the MacPherson family headed by Sandy and Bob; whose father Ed MacPherson constructed Merrittville Speedway for John Marino and George Cullen in 1951 & 1952. The many local car owners and drivers who attended such as Don Ledingham who came with his #31 Chev Coupe. For former track owners John Marino, George Cullen, Ken Kavanagh and Dawn Russell and all their families - it was a reunion for us as we haven't gotten together for many years and it was gratifying to see John & George inducted into the Wall of Fame along with former drivers Tommy Cook #24 of St. Catharines and Bruce Van Dyke #88 of Stoney Creek - a well deserved honor for all.
   The awards by the Canadian Motor Racing Historical Society's Hall of Fame to Ivan Little, Ray Stevens and Bruce Van Dyke were well deserved and suited the atmosphere of the evening. My thanks to all the members for their efforts - especially Rick Wales, Mark Lovell and Fred Smith - for their participation.
   We had over 170 guests for supper and we would also like to thank Terry St. Amand and Swiss Chalet for their participation in supplying Chicken Dinners for the event.
   A sincere thank you goes out to the car owners and drivers who arrived at the Speedway early to put their modern racers on display inside the gates to not only meet with their fans and sponsors but also so that the race fans could see and compare the racers of the present with those from the -past.
   Thanks to Neil Sharp, Ken Sharp and Doug Gordon for bringing their gleaming #8D with associate sponsorship from Little's Haulage and main sponsorship from the Balancing Act. Pete Bicknell #42 - Bicknell Racing Products our 1996 Champion, Don Turner #39- veteran of 4 decades of racing and still going strong - the 'Blue Streak' from Binbrook, Brian & Ray Stevens #68 - the Wendt's LP Gas Modified, Harry Sittler #37S - Slick 50 Modified and the Mercer Family carrying on the 'Willard' racing tradition. Tom & Jay Mallory #20 - the Mongrel is back, the Chevron/Best Fuels, Plumtech, Mr. Mattress sponsored Sportsmen. It was especially interesting to see not only Tom Mallory's red #20 coupe piloted by former driver Terry Edwards on display but also to see that gold #15 Lloyd Holt Coupe that was one of the early cars that Neil Sharp owned presently owned by former driver Denny Lindberg.
   We hope that all of our guests and fans had an enjoyable evening- despite the weather and we hope to see you all back next year for an even better organized event.
   If there is anyone who wishes to be included on our alumni list that was associated with Merrittville Speedway - please don't hesitate to contact the Speedway management since we will need it to up-date our mailing list. Finally if there are any suggestions on how we can improve the event - please let the Speedway know or call Rick personally.