weekly racing there seemed to be most successful when it and Rochester's Spencer Speedway both ran late models and ran as a two track circuit.
A number of Canadians ran at Holland, going way back to when Oakville's Ken Reimer was champ, right into the 80s when guys like Robbie Thompson (sp?), Trevor Warren, Larry Prickett, Rick Woolner, Ken McNicholl,
Dean Ferri (cousin of 358 mod driver Adam Ferri) and 358 mod driver Scott Wood all ran there. Pavement mod guys like Buck Catalano, Dave Catalano, Tom Keyes all had late models. Even sprint car star Chuck Hebing had a late model.
It seemed to spiral downhill when the track decided it could no longer afford to bring in any tours and Spencer went back to mods as the top division. Lake Erie took away a lot of the remaining late models.
See if this sounds familiar, to bring in more revenue, they added two mini stock divisons which lengthened the program.
Car owner Gord Trank (owns the Johnson 99) started the LAMOT division 5 years ago and I admire its' cheap shock, hard tire policy but don't like only being able to buy the 602 from one dealership!!!!
With the Buffalo area's declining population, I really can't see two Saturday night paved track co-existing
t
Mike,
I really appreciate the response. It looks like a great facility. I've never been to either track. The tracks look like fantastic venues. It's too bad that there's a struggle between the two like we have here.
I didn't realize that so many Canadians were past regulars at both tracks. It would be a blast to recreate Can-Am tours with late models and other classes. I suspect that would be a tough deal these days due to economics, Border hassles and plain ol rule variations.
thanks again!
Doug
Doug-for us fans in the Hamilton area, a trip to Holland didn't take much longer than going to Delaware if the border and the QEW was good. (In those days, the 403 also wasn't finished to Woodstock) I'm an old phart now (60) but go back to the days also when a number of Holland lm drivers ran at Cayuga at Friday shows which I think piqued our interest about Holland and once we saw the high banks, we were hooked.
Hanley, Biederman and Bob Senneker all won specials at Holland. At Cayuga, we used to see Art Clark (who won a couple of Cayuga's biggies), Mike and Rich Wrobel, Chuck Boos, Don Wylie, The Evil 1-Ron Williams and his partner-the 2 cents of Phil Edwards, Dick Flaig, Gail Barber, Doug Hewitt, Stoker McGurk (love that name) and a number of other New Yorkers.
The circuit at that time was Cayuga-Holland and Perry (now Wyoming County)
I'll give you the economics and the rules variations but the border hassle tag is not only wrong but only perpetuates the completely wrong impression. I have crossed regularly with several diferent types of cars and teams and found it to be a breeze provided you actually show up prepared. Even when we had absolutly no proof of where we were going and the owner of the car was not there the guards were very good about co operating with us and letting us go even making us a hazmat label for the drunm of fuel we shouldn't even have had. Any griping about passports and customs to cross the border to go racing is based on a lack of experience or info.
I wouldn't even go to the border without my passport nowadays