Canadian Racer

NASCAR in Canada - Part 1
The Grand National Races

This article will evolve over time as more research is completed.

The 2004 season saw the first year of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series at Delaware Speedway and Autodrome Old Milwaukee. In addition, "NASCAR Canada" was announced in June and CASCAR's partnership with NASCAR in the fall. With these events many stock car fans are saying to themselves, "Well, it's about time NASCAR recognized Canada."

This isn't the first time Canada has been on NASCAR's radar. Some fans will remember the NASCAR North Series from the late 1970's and early 1980's. Slightly older fans will remember the first NASCAR-Canada sanctioning body from the mid 1970's or the Winston West series events in British Columbia. Even older fans will remember that the NASCAR Grand National Series (the old name for the Nextel Cup) came to the CNE in 1958 but for NASCAR's first foray into Canada we have to go back even farther, to 1952.

1952 Grand National Race
Stamford Park Race Track, near Niagara Falls, was the site of Canada's first NASCAR race on July 1, 1952. Stamford was a flat, half-mile dirt horse track that occasionaly ran stock car races beginning in 1948. About 4,000 fans were on hand to see the 100 lap event. Buddy Shuman, from Charlotte, NC, driving a Hudson Hornet won the race by 2 laps over second place finisher Herb Thomas. Shuman took the lead on lap 71 and led the remaining laps. Seventeen cars started the race but the rough track caused high attrition with only 6 drivers finishing. Admission was $1.75 for the event.

July 1, 1952 Stamford Park Results

Fin	Qual	Num	Driver	Car	Laps	Status	Winnings
1	8	89	Buddy Shuman	1952 Hudson Hornet	200	Running	$1,000
2	1	92	Herb Thomas	1952 Hudson	198	Running	$700
3	7	44	Ray Duhigg	1951 Plymouth	193	Running	$450
4	14	421	Jack Reynolds	1951 Plymouth	183	Wheel	$350
5	13		Perk Brown	1950 Ford	176	Running	$200
6	10	52	Neil Cole	1950 Plymouth	168	Engine	$150
7	16		Fonty Flock	1951 Henry J	163	Running	$125
8	5	118	Bucky Sager	1951 Hudson	154	Wheel	$100
9	12	93	Ted Chamberlain	1950 Plymouth	134	In pits	$75
10	17		Albert Lemieux	1950 Mercury Meteor	121	Running	$50
11	11		Charles Barry	1951 Ford	87	Overheating	$25
12	3	120	Dick Rathman	1951 Hudson	78	Engine	$25
13	2	91	Tim Flock	1951 Hudson	59	Accident	$25
14	9	1	Eddie Lenz	1950 Oldsmobile 88	55	Accident	$25
15	6	3	Hershel McGriff	1952 Oldsmobile 88	45	Engine	$25
16	4	42	Lee Petty	1951 Plymouth	40	Engine	$25
17	15		Jack Hauher	1949 Ford	26	Engine	$25
Time of Race: 2 hours, 11 minutes, 33 seconds Average Speed: 45.610 mph Pole Winner: Herb Thomas, 52.401 mph

1958 Grand National Race
The next visit for the NASCAR Grand National division was on July 18, 1958. The track was the 1/3 mile oval at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds in Toronto. Over 9,700 fans were in attendance for the evening which also included the regular CNE modified stock car division (early version of a super modified). There were three heat races with the winners being Shorty Rollins, Lee Petty and Cotton Owens. In the 100 lap feature Lee Petty took over the lead on lap 72 and held on for the victory. The event was fairly incident-free except for some minor spins due to the track still being somewhat wet from a heavy rain earlier in the evening. The purse for this race was $4200.

Of interest, is that this was Richard Petty's first Grand National race. He had previously competed in a few NASCAR Convertible Division races. In an event that is now famous in Petty lore, Richard crashed out of the race after being bumped by his father.

Another interesting note on this race was the attitude that the local Toronto papers took toward it. More coverage was given to the regular CNE Speedway Modified Division races and the papers took the view that the NASCAR race was boring.

July 18, 1958 CNE Speedway Results

Fin	Qual	Num	Driver	Car	Laps	Status	Winnings
1	3	42	Lee Petty	1957 Oldsmobile	100	Running	$575
2	4	6	Cotton Owens	1957 Pontiac	100	Running	$480
3	2	7	Jim Reed	1957 Ford	100	Running	$305
4	5	99	Shorty Rollins	1958 Ford	100	Running	$275
5	6	23	Johnny Mackison	1957 Mercury	99	Running	$220
6	8	57	Billy Rafter	1957 Ford	99	Running	$210
7	1	44	Rex White	1957 Chevrolet	98	Running	$190
8	12	79	Tiny Benson	1957 Chevrolet	98	Running	$175
9	11	711	Bill Poor	1956 Chevrolet	97	Running	$180
10	17	95	Bob Duell	1957 Ford	96	Running	$150
11	10	17	Howard Phillippi	1957 Ford	94	Running	$160
12	9	74	L.D. Austin	1956 Chevrolet	93	Running	$120
13	16	93	Ted Chamberlain	1957 Chevrolet	92	Running	$115
14	14	33	Al White	1958 Ford	86	Running	$105
15	18	13	Peck Peckham	1956 Chevrolet	86	Running	$95
16	15	41	Neil Haight	1956 Chevrolet	69	Running	$105
17	7	142	Richard Petty	1957 Oldsmobile	55	Crash	$115
18	13	83	Lennie Page	1956 Ford	22	Ignition	$90
19	19	18	Dick Walters	1956 Ford	18	Read End	$65
Time of Race: 46 minutes, 16 seconds Average Speed: 43.184 mph Pole Winner: Rex White, 51.406 mph

Winston West
The Winston West tour was a regular visitor to British Columbia in the early 1970's.
. The tour rolled into the Westwood Racing Circuit on July 8, 1973. Westwood was a 1.8 mile road course located near Coquitlam, British Columbia .

Winston West Race Winners

Date	Driver	Track	Car	Event
July 13, 1971	Hershel McGriff	Langley Speedway		150 laps
July 2, 1972	Hershel McGriff	Langley Speedway		150 laps
July 3, 1972	Dick Bown	Western Speedway
July 8, 1973	Ray Elder	Westwood Racing Circuit	73 Dodge Charger	Westwood 150
Sept 5, 1973	Jack McCoy	Western Speedway	72 Dodge Charger	Victoria 150
June 23, 1974	Ray Elder	Westwood Racing Circuit	74 Dodge Charger	Westwood 150
June 26, 1974	Sonny Easley	Western Speedway		Victoria 150
June 30, 1978	Ron Eaton	Langley Speedway		100 laps
July 8, 1981	Jim Bown	Western Speedway		Juan De Fuca News 150

NASCAR-Canada
Sanctioned the Export A series in 1974. Jerry Makara was Export A Champion and NASCAR-Canada Champion.
For 1975 they sanctioned the new Western Canada Export A series and the Eastern Canada Export A series. (see Feb 27, 1975 TorStar). Also was the sanctioning body for Carling O'Keefe Series in 1975. Cars were Late Model Super Stocks.

In September 1975 Carling announced it was dropping auto racing sponsorship. By the end of the year, Export "A" announced they were also dropping their auto racing sponsorship. Both of the major stock car series were gone for 1976. Also before the end of 1975 NASCAR-Canada had folded. Long-time racer and Delaware promoter Jack Greedy tried to rescue NASCAR-Canada to no avail.

NASCAR North