(Above) Getting ready to go out onto the track for practice: in red, Dave Elliot (#5), in white, me (#25). In the yellow shirts: Al McRory (left), Paul Joinette (right). September 19, 1976 — By the time I was 20 years old, I already knew I was late getting into the game of being a…
After completing the Jim Russell school in the summer of 1975, my attention turned to college — but I was still so fixated on getting into karts that some of my classmates suggested I should quit college and go racing instead. If only… But I was in my last year and I would graduate in…
A friend recently described a photograph as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone. When I posted several photos of karting days-gone-by on Facebook a few months back, many long-lost former colleagues and competitors suddenly appeared to comment and respond. Clearly, getting a “return ticket” was important to more people than I had thought…
One of a series of posts about the racing antics we got up to before arriving in competitive karting. Check the overview for links to other posts in the series. THIS is what I’d been waiting for. I’d played with model cars, crewed for a Canadian championship race car, driven my road car in slaloms…
One of a series of posts about the racing antics we got up to before arriving in competitive karting. Check the overview for links to other posts in the series. If you spend time in Canada, sooner or later you’ll drive on snow and ice. It’s just part of being Canadian. And if you’re a…
One of a series of posts about the racing antics we got up to before arriving in competitive karting. Check the overview for links to other posts in the series. My eye-hand coordination with radio-controlled racing cars was not something to brag about. Technically speaking, 1970s RC cars were interesting – they had tiny two-stroke…
One of a series of posts about the racing antics we got up to before arriving in competitive karting. Check the overview for links to other posts in the series. I vaguely remember the first time I saw Bruce Malanka. He was driving a very loud half-naked Formula B car on a public street in…
(image above: this is not David’s beetle, but I recall seeing David’s legs appearing from underneath his VW in much the same way that these legs do! Sadly, no photos exist of our mythical Golden Beetle…) The Golden Beetle was my best friend’s first car. All of us — David, the VW bug, and I…
(image above: this is not David’s beetle, but it is the same year and looks the same except for the paint. David’s was more of a “spray bomb gold” — so not quite as clean as this one. Sadly, no photos exist of the mythical Golden Beetle…) The Golden Beetle was my best friend’s first…
One of a series of posts about the racing antics we got up to before arriving in competitive karting. Check the overview for links to other posts in the series. Think of a seminal moment in your life that changed everything. For me, one of those moments was when David pulled out his Scalextric slot…