Togo’s Corner // By Tommy Goudge
LONDON, ONTARIO (May 17, 2005): As the saying goes, “what a difference a year makes!” It has been quite an interesting year since I sat down to write the first edition of Togo’s Corner, not just for me personally, but for Canadian short track open wheel racing in general. Some surprising young drivers have come onto the scene in the past year or so, and created a lot of excitement in the process. This year, I had to make some tough decisions to get my list down to just 12, whereas last year, 12 was probably a good place to stop. There are a few returnees to the list, but also some new names which, at this time last year, were virtually unheard of, even by yours truly.
Like last year, I really have no set ground rules for this list - these are just 12 of the most notable Canadian open wheel racers in my mind, although I have also tried to keep variety in mind when making the selections, instead of just sticking to one particular series. If you disagree, by all means send me an e-mail (tommygoudge@hotmail.com) or sound off on the Togo’s Corner message board on www.InsideCanadianRacing.com. Now that the disclaimer is firmly in place, without further adieu here are 2005’s “Canadians on the Move” (in alphabetical order in case you’re wondering):
Alain Bergeron, from Saint-Pie-de-Bagot, Quebec, is a regular on the very tough Empire Super Sprints 360 circuit. During his rookie season in 2000, Alain captured the ESS rookie of the year title, and became the first Canadian in ESS history to win a feature event. Since then he has racked up four more ESS feature wins, including one last year at Autodrome Drummond in his home province of Quebec. After last season, which featured both highs and lows, including season-ending injuries to his hand and knee at Granby, Quebec, but also the ESS Dash series title and the win at Drummondville, Alain is very excited about his chances of doing better this season. The team has a new Maxim chassis this year and are especially happy about having six events – three apiece – at what they consider to be their home tracks of Autodrome Drummond and Autodrome Granby, which are part of a total of 14 ESS events in Canada this season. Alain’s 2005 season got off to a bad start when he didn’t make the feature a couple of weeks ago at the Cayuga County Fair Speedway, but he bounced back this past weekend with a convincing win at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
Ryan Coniam, back on the list again this year, never really got going last season before he was replaced by Phil Gressman as driver of the Grove #70 sprint car which competes on the All Star Circuit of Champions, but this season brings new opportunities and a fresh start to the Burlington, Ontario native. Ryan is the son of Canadian Motorsports Hall of Famer and Supermodified legend Warren Coniam, and when you look at his paint job this year, this fact becomes even more clear: Ryan’s new team, Bancon Racing, has the car painted up in white with navy blue, and numbered 46, just like his father’s old Rutledge Rocket Supermodified ride, which was one of the most recognizable race cars in Ontario and New York in the 1960’s.
Coniam is now a sprint car veteran, and has three Southern Ontario Sprints feature wins on his resume, as well as four more from his time on the very tough Empire Super Sprints trail. In 2003, he made the jump from 360’s to 410’s, finishing 5th in the All Star Circuit of Champions points standings and capturing that organization’s rookie of the year title. 2004 was not as kind to Ryan, but this year he already has a 6th place finish at Ohio’s Attica Raceway Park to his credit, and also competed well with the World of Outlaws in April at Ohio’s famous Eldora Speedway - especially considering it was the team’s first weekend together - as Ryan qualified 14th and finished 2nd in his heat race out of a 50 car field, which was loaded with talent from top to bottom. The setup went away from Ryan and the team in the feature, but the potential was there for all to see. Ryan and the Bancon team are not running for points this year, but will run 40-50 events, mainly with the All Star Circuit of Champions and World of Outlaws series, although a return to 360 sprints for selected events could also be in the cards.
Cody Geldart, from Mossley, Ontario, quickly made a name for himself last season when he took home a season championship and 5 feature wins racing with the Southern Ontario Sprints. The 17 year old also received the very prestigious National Sprint Car Poll 360 Rookie of the Year award, and made his debut in a 410 sprint car, including competing with the World of Outlaws last fall. This year Cody and his family owned team, with crew chief Steve Moulton, have struck out on the very tough All Star Circuit of Champions tour, and competed in a few more World of Outlaws events. Moulton’s racing bloodlines run deep, as he is the son of Jack Moulton, who served as crew chief for legendary Ontario Supermodified driver Jack Greedy for many years. Steve himself has spent the last few years as a crewman on Erin Crocker’s sprint car team.
The highlight of this season so far for Cody has got to be time-trialing 6th in a 50 car field when he competed with the World of Outlaws at Ohio’s legendary Eldora Speedway in April. Cody failed to transfer from his heat that night, but made up for it by winning the B-Main in convincing fashion over some well known and very successful sprint car veterans like Joey Saldana and Kenny Jacobs.
Jeff Hodgson from St. Alberta, Alberta is back on the list again this year, and for good reason too. Jeff is a veteran of the Northwest and Alberta sprint car scenes, and has also made a few World of Outlaws starts over the years, including one at the famous Eldora Speedway a few years ago. Jeff spent last season making frequent treks over the Rockies to compete at Skagit Speedway and on the Northern Sprint Tour trail, but he’s going to spend this season a little bit closer to home, competing at Budweiser Motorsports Park frequently, as well as with the newly formed Alberta Sprint Tour. The new group features a 16 race schedule spread out over 4 dirt tracks in Wild Rose Country, and becomes the second dirt 360 sprint car group based in Canada, along with the Southern Ontario Sprints. Before the sprint car season got going in Alberta last weekend, Jeff competed with the World of Outlaws in Las Vegas in March, and also at the Skagit Speedway in Washington State. Back at home last weekend, he took the feature win in Bud Park’s opener, and followed that up with a solid 3rd place finish in the inaugural Alberta Sprint Tour event this past weekend, also at Bud Park.
Mike Lichty from Innerkip, Ontario is yet another on the list of teenaged drivers from Ontario who are racing in major US-based series this season. The 18 year old will compete in all the rest of the USAC Silver Crown series events on pavement this year, starting June 24/25 at the Richmond International Raceway in Virginia. Last season Mike took home a fine 6th place finish in points and the Rookie of the Year award racing on the ISMA Supermodified trail. This year he has his sights set on the ISMA championship on top of the selected Silver Crown races, and he would also like to try his hand at dirt sprint car racing by getting together with Ryan Coniam at the end of the season, most likely for a run at the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals, which will be held very close to his hometown.
Mike Ling, from Mount Brydges, Ontario, is yet another Southern Ontario Sprints alumnus. Before switching over to 410 pavement sprints in 2000, Mike won 8 feature races on the SOS circuit. Mike was lured over to the blacktop by Jim Brown to drive the #55 with the Auto Value/Bumper to Bumper Super Sprints series in 2000 and has been there ever since. He began his career with AVSS in by finishing second in points and was awarded the rookie of the year title that year. He then followed that up with 4 feature wins in 2001, including three in a row to end the season, driving the #61 for legendary owner/driver Marv Carman.
Mike has 5 feature wins total on the very competitive AVSS circuit and, this year, has perhaps his best chance ever at winning the championship: Mike has signed on as the driver of the Katz racing team’s #20 car which carried Tommy Fedewa to 11 feature wins and the AVSS championship in 2003. Incidentally, Tommy took a year off from AVSS competition in ’04, but will be back with a vengeance this season, taking over the reins of the well known #42 which was campaigned for many years by Tommy’s legendary father Gary. Mike opened the 2005 season with a fine 6th place at the tricky Auto City Speedway near Flint, MI, and will be racing in front of hometown fans at the Delaware Speedway near London, Ontario this weekend when the AVSS comes to Canada for the first time since 2002.
Ryan Litt, from Lyons, Ontario, is now a veteran of the USAC Ford Focus Midget wars, and has turned his attention on the USAC National Sprint Car series this season. As a result, the 18 year old normally competes exclusively on the south side of the 49th parallel these days, but he will be competing along with fellow area open wheel driver Mike Ling in the AVSS sprint car event this Friday (May 20) at Delaware Speedway. Although he has not competed with the AVSS series or in a winged sprint car before, Ryan does have experience racing at the Delaware Speedway, a track he last competed at during the 2002 season in the track’s Street Stock division, before moving to the USAC Ford Focus Midget Midwest division in 2003.
In 2004, Ryan started the season off with a USAC Midwest Ford Focus Midget Car feature win at Anderson, Indiana. He then reeled off 3 runner-up finishes in a row in the next three Midwest division events and led the points until midway through the season, when some bad luck and mechanical troubles slowed him up slightly. Ryan still finished the year with 14 top-ten finishes, 7 podium finishes, and third place in the Midwest points standings. He also took a feature win in the inaugural Ford Focus Midget Oklahoma region event at the Concordia Highbanks Speedway in Kansas last season, and made his debut in a USAC National Sprint Car at the Anderson Speedway in Indiana, and the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Tennessee. This season Ryan has his sights set competing in all of the USAC National Sprint Car series events on pavement, and has competed in selected Midget events over the winter during the indoor racing season.
Jack Pillon, from Belle River, Ontario, was yet another in a line of impressive and surprising rookies who have competed with the Southern Ontario Sprints over the last few years. The 18 year old took his lumps last season while facing a steep learning curve, but he was also very fast at times, and his perseverance paid off when he was awarded the 2004 Southern Ontario Sprints rookie of the year title.
This year Jack made his debut in the 410 sprint car division, as well as with the All Stars and World of Outlaws series, during Florida Speedweeks in February. Jack will not follow any particular tour this season, but will attend as many sprint car events in his area as possible in both 360’s and 410’s, while preparing for his assault on the World of Outlaws rookie of the year title in 2006.
Travis Rutz is a young up-and-coming 360 and 410 sprint car racer from Langley, BC. At only 16 years of age, Travis has already made a name for himself in the tough Pacific Northwest sprint car scene by winning two features at Washington State’s famed Skagit Speedway. Travis and team also traveled to Edmonton’s Budweiser Motorsports Park last August, where Travis pulled off the biggest win of his young career by taking Canada’s richest sprint car prize, the Gold Cup. What was most impressive about Travis’ performance in that event is not that he won it, but how he won it – by starting deep in the field and passing talented veteran Ricky Fauver – albeit not without some controversy (chronicled in a previous column) – on the last lap of the race for the win. Travis has already captured another feature win this season, taking the opener in the 410 division at Skagit Speedway.
Chris Schmelzle began his racing career at his home track – beautiful Victoria, BC’s Western Speedway (home to the WILROC Sprint Cars) – in the claimers division, but he’s come a long way since then. During his first year on the road with his sprint car a few years ago, he won the rookie of the year title at Washington State’s Skagit Speedway. Chris is one of the busiest and most versatile drivers on this list, and probably puts more miles on his hauler than anyone else on this list as well, all on a fairly tight budget. Already in this young season he has competed with the Bay Cities Racing Association (midgets on pavement in Northern California), and Skagit Speedway’s very competitive 360 sprint car class on dirt, as well as with the Northern Sprint Tour. Chris can also be found racing on pavement with USAC Western States sprint car and midget divisions, and in his midget on pavement with the Washington Midget Racing Association.
On top of all this, Chris also made his debut in a NASCAR West Series stock car at Phoenix International Raceway in January during the annual Copper World Classic weekend. In the past, he’s also run with the Northwest Sprintcar Racing Association, and the Vancouver Island-based WILROC sprint car group, both of which are winged 360 sprint car organizations which race on pavement out West. Chris finished off last season on a high note when he took home a 3rd place finish during the sprint car portion of Irwindale Speedway’s annual Turkey Night Grand Prix, and has put together a string of good finishes to begin 2005, including a 5th place at Williamette Speedway in Oregon in the NST season opener.
Glenn Styres makes the list as much for his track ownership and promotion as he does for his actual driving. The Ohsweken, Ontario-based entrepreneur is, among other things, a champion sprint car driver, Ohsweken Speedway owner and promoter, and an all around supporter of sprint car racing in Ontario. Glenn is definitely a “hands-on” kind of track owner, as his sits just behind the Speedway’s second turn! Ohsweken is set to host what might well prove to be the biggest sprint car race in Ontario ever, if not all of Canada this September – The First Annual Canadian Sprint Car Nationals which, it was announced yesterday, has Eldorado Logistics as a new title sponsor. The additional sponsor money will more than double the purse for the race and bring the winner’s share to a cool $5,000 USD.
On the driving side of things, Glenn was the 2003 SOS Champion, and finished runner-up to Cody Geldart last season. This year he is all set for another run at the championship with his familiar #0, and has already competed in Florida earlier in the season, where he made his debut in a 410 sprint car. Glenn also traveled to Las Vegas in March and made his debut on the World of Outlaws circuit in the same event that the aforementioned Jeff Hodgson also competed in. Glenn appeared poised to win the SOS season opener at Brighton Speedway on May 7 before a serious incident in one of Brighton’s weekly divisions forced the cancellation of all activities at the track for the evening. The SOS is back in action with a doubleheader scheduled this holiday weekend at Ohsweken on Friday, and “the new” Humberstone Speedway on Sunday.
Rick Wilson, a well known former DIRT Modified racer, has gained a reputation over the years of being one of the hardest chargers and most aggressive drivers you’re likely to find anywhere, and it is definitely deserved. The Joyceville, Ontario veteran won two sprint car features last season after starting dead last – one with the Patriot Sprint Group at Ohsweken Speedway here in Ontario, and the other with the Empire Super Sprints at Can-Am Motorsports Park in New York State. “The Joyceville Jet” doesn’t run for points with any particular organization, but generally splits his time between the Empire Super Sprints and Patriot Sprint Group, both of which are based in New York State. Rick was very fast in the PSG event at Ohsweken Speedway near Brantford, Ontario on May 6th, but suffered mechanical problems and faded at the end. His son Kyle stormed by both Rick and another very intense competitor in “Cobra” Chuck Hebing for the Ohsweken feature win 2 weeks ago.
Before I go, I would like to give an honourable mention to the dozens, if not hundreds, of other Sprint Car, Midget, and Supermodified drivers from the Great White North. Few of them are in this game for the money, and I have a great deal of respect for all of them. Have a safe and good season! Next week in Togo’s Corner I’ll have a review of all the great races that take place over the Victoria Day holiday weekend, including 2 Southern Ontario Sprints events, and the AVSS event at Delaware. See you at the track!
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