1986 Mosport Players Challenge

Horst raced in another series this summer driving an IROC Camaro.

Approximately 90-100 cars were built by GM each year for this race series and were raced by drivers from across Canada.

1986 Mosport Can Am

What great weather for a race!

That's Horst Kroll at the start line with Paul Tracy in our spare car #38.

We started in 2nd and finished in 2nd place 47 seconds behind Paul.

That's me steering the car into the pits.
No, the engine was not running...

1986 Mosport Can Am in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

That's me making repairs to our Frissbee-Lola T332 after a shunt at corner 9 in qualifying.

The 1986 Can-Am season was the nineteenth and final running of the Sports Car Club of Americas prototype series.

Despite the repairs we won the race!

1986 Molson Indy

This was the first racing event held on the streets of Toronto was in 1986.

Bobby Rahal won the race sponsored by Budweiser.
I actually spent a night at his home with his lovely wife a few years earlier.

Below is Danny Sullivan sponsored by Miller.
He won the Indianapolis 500 the year before in 1985.

My first job

McKerlie-Millen Auto Parts was my first employer.

I delivered auto parts to local repair shops and restocked the shelves.

They are now known as Carquest.

Watkins Glen

This is the same race in Watkins Glen.

I'm chatting with Willy T Ribbs beside his race car. This is before the big race. He's all dressed up for the media.

1985 Trans Am Series

We were running the Can-Am series when the Trans Am series shared the same race track one weekend at Watkins Glen in New York state.

Yup, that's me...and Paul Newman!

Camaro

My friends awesome 1969 RS SS Camaro in Texas! 

It has the hidden headlights and a V8 under the hood.

I did get to drive it briefly!

BMW M1

This BMW M1 race car was owned by a friend of mine in Dallas Texas.

Between 1978 and 1981, there were 455 BMW M1's manufactured by BMW Motorsport.

Just take a look at that inline 6 longitudinal engine!

1983 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Canada

This is Manfred Winkelhock in his ATS-BMW race car at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

He qualified 7th but finished in 9th position, 3 laps behind the winner.


I volunteered with the CTA Canadian Timing Assn as a manual backup timer in case the automatic system failed or went down.

We had a birds eye view from inside a trailer elevated above the ground looking down at the start-finish line.

The Racetrack

That's me on the right, helping Horst Kroll out of his race car at the Mid-Ohio racetrack in 1982 in Lexington, Ohio. At the time, the track was owned by the late Jim Trueman, founder of Red Roof Inns

This fabulous yellow car is a Can Am Lola with a 350 cubic inch engine, standard of course!

The Lola is actually a re-bodied Formula 5000 car modified from an open wheel into a closed wheel, but still single-seat sports car racing category.

Lola was based in England who specialized in carbon fibre production and one of the top chassis suppliers in the 1960s.

1982 Porsche 924 Turbo

I actually learned how to shift a standard from the passenger seat of a car that looks identical to this silver one!

Only until I had mastered the VW Rabbit was I allowed to drive this baby.

I was a little short for this car even with the seat pulled forward I had to sit low down in the seat with my head glued to the headrest.

I put a lot of miles on it but found it heavy in the rear end with about 60% of the weight in the back. A real eye catcher!

1980 Audi 5000

This looks very similar to the one I drove in the 80's. It was an automatic and it was a red 4 door.

Not much fun driving an automatic but it got me places.

1st car that I drove

It was definitely a standard and a 2 door. 

I would practice driving in the snow in behind Zehr's in the parking lot at night although I can't remember the color.

In second gear on a straight stretch I would yank on the hand brake with my right hand, hit the clutch with my left foot and spin the steering wheel hard in whichever direction I wanted to go!

Being front wheeled drive, this car was great to drive in the rain.
After entering one of those perfectly circular on-ramps you can find, instead of slowing down I would speed up to get the front tires slipping into over-steer! What fun.

A real bike

Forget the training wheels, here's the real deal!

A brand new CCM bike for my 6th birthday.

I recall peddling around the block a hundred times.

A training bike to start off with

Little did I know that this was the start of a world of wheels for me.

That's me on the left, with my kid sister in 1969.

Check out my Mom's car on the right. A beautiful yellow 1968 Ford Galaxy 500 2 door hardtop.

On the left in the garage is my Dad's car.
Does anyone recognize this car, let me know!

It looks like I ditched the 4 wheel flyer pretty fast.