https://canadianracingonline.com/community/stock-car-racing-of-ontario/ CanadianRacingOnline.com Discussion Board en-US Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:24:16 +0000 wpForo 60 https://canadianracingonline.com/community/stock-car-racing-of-ontario/emo-speedway-emo-ontario/ Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:06:34 +0000
    In 2009, the dirt track celebrated its 55th anniversary of the original opening.  The first racing season started on July 30, 1954 and (cars with all types of engines raced) only one class competed. The season started out with thirteen competitors and the number fluctuated very little until the end of the season in September. "King Al" Gerald of International Falls, Minnesota won the first championship.  In 1959, interested dropped and lack of fan support led to the shut down when the track ran out of funds.  The track was closed at the end of the 1959 season but reopened in 1964.  In 1971 saw the introduction of Hobby Stocks, cars similar to the Canadian Vintage Modifieds.  Within two years, the track once again were plagued with lack of support. The races are run at the track at Emo District Fairgrounds and local groups felt the Fair is the most profitable part of the year, and when the Fair Board decided to drop the stock cars for live entertainment, the money needed to run dwindled forcing racing to be suspended. There were no points in 1974 due to a shortened season and 1975 had only a few events.  Emo Speedway would shut down until its second revival in 1981.

    After five years of exhibition racing, the Borderland Racing Association became the operating body of the Emo Speedway. The first full season started in 1986 with two classes running, Modifieds and Street Stocks.  In 1989, the Modifieds became sanctioned with WISSOTA,  allowing the class to have to ability to travel to other WISSOTA tracks and also compete for a National Championship.  WISSOTA Auto Racing takes place at about 60 race tracks located in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta.  In 1992, a third class was added, the Thunder class.  They were similar to Street Stocks but the engines were no bigger than a 305 and had an unlocked rear end differential. The cars were slower than the Street Stocks but offered an affordable class for younger people to get into racing.  The class would run until the end of the 1995 season and were removed due to low car counts.  In 1994, the Mini-Sprint class came to Emo Speedway. The class was much different than what had been seen at the Speedway before. The cars had a short wheelbase, two wings (on top and in the front) and ran a snowmobile engine that turned out a maximum 600cc.

    Many great racers have graced the 3/8 mile dirt oval over the years but perhaps the most successful has been Steve Arpin of Fort Frances.  Arpin won every feature race at Emo from 2001-2003. Since 2004 Arpin has been tearing up tracks all over the Mid West and even into Florida.  He still turning heads and currently races in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and was the 2008 USAC Rookie of the Year. Check Steve's website.  Not to be out done there have been and still are many great drivers at Emo like Greg Ferris, Kendal Gamsby, Ken Perry and Gavin Paull, just to name a few.  The Borderland Racing Association currently hosts three different classes that includes Street Stocks , the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and WISSOTA Modifieds. Check out the action on you tube

    Also check Emo out on Facebook and the track website.  Thanks to Anthony Leek, President and Promoter of the Borderland Racing Association.  He was very forthcoming with information about the track and it's people like Anthony that has made Emo Speedway a great success.  This is a cozy little track,  the front and back straight are 335 feet long and the corners are banked 15 degrees.  The lack of walls surprised me but I'm sure that can add to the excitement.  There is also a Go Kart track located in the middle of the dirt track. They race Friday nights at 7:30 pm.  If you're ever in Emo, check out the races every Saturday night at 7:30 pm and is located at the Fairgrounds on Colonization Road.]]> Stock Car Racing of Ontario mostwanted2005 https://canadianracingonline.com/community/stock-car-racing-of-ontario/emo-speedway-emo-ontario/ https://canadianracingonline.com/community/stock-car-racing-of-ontario/capital-city-speedway-ottawa-ontario/ Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:05:08 +0000 Racing in the Ottawa rea, by all accounts, began in 1949 as a dirrt track 30 miles south of Ottawa in a town called Carsonby. Racing back then was not like today. It wasn't that popular and due to lack of support the track closed after one season in operation.  A few years later another attempt was made in a field just west of the village of Bells Corners, just a few miles outside of Ottawa, called Meadow Parks Speedway.  This track like the one in Carsoby were not very people friendly. Lack of seating, parking, lighting and the fact that they weren't to accessable to the racing fans led to the demise it racing once again.

Racing arrived back in Ottawa, this time for good in 1955, when a 1/4 mile dirt track  opened at Lansdowne Park Stadium site, also home to the Ottawa Roughriders and the Central Canada Exhibition.  The first night of racing was june 1st and an impressive crowd of more than 5000 people were in attendance. The track was so successful that race promoter Gerry Bisson made many improvements and changed the name to Lansdowne Speedway. 

The track was lengthened from 1/4 mile to a 1/3 mile and the dirt oval was now a paved oval. The corner banking was increased, extensive safety rules were incorporated and a guard rail was built to surround the track.  The new and improved track opened the 1957 season and quickly became one of Eastern Canada's premier race facilities attracting race fans and drivers from as far away as Montreal and upper New York State.  It was home to Late Model racing, Sprint races, Demolition derby's and Powder Puff Derby's.  Racing which normally took place Wednesday nights was expanded to Friday's and Saturday's as well.  However the growing interest also a down side. Like in many racing communities, noise complaints were on the increase.  Pressure would also comefrom Lansdowne's other main tennants, the Ottawea Rough Riders and the Central Canada Exhibition Association (CCEA).  Although racing was a lucrative and generated lots of income for the CCEA, they wanted to construct more seating for the footbal stadium and with other planned improvements, the race track could no longer be accomodated.  The last night of racing at Lansdowne was August 17, 1960.

Promoter Gerry Bisson, got to work immediately on a new race facility in the town of Stittsville, located southwest of Kanata, about 20 miles from downtown Ottawa.  The new "State of the Art" facility was a 3/8 mile paved oval and also included a dragstrip. Bisson would continue as promoter at the track until the end of the 1973 season. Peter Warren and Fred Byers bought the track in 1974 and changed the name of the track to Ottawa Valley Speedway. The surface was changed to a clay surface but would be changed back to asphalt the next year. In 1976, Gerry Bisson returned to head the track and did so unitl his death in 1977.  During the mid 1970's, the race track enjoyed some of it's greatest years. Several well known racers from the United States like "Barefoot" Bob McCreadie and Richie Evans wuite often made the trek north to conquer the fast track. In 1994, Penny Bell bought the track and the name was changed back to Capital City Speedway.  She owned it until 2002 when David Melamed took over the track operations and the name changed once again, this time to the Ottodrome International Speedway. Three years later in 2005, the track changed hands again and was bought by the Drummond Family, and they inturn changed the name back to Capital City Speedway.

Arnie Malcolm, longtime operator of the Luskville Dragway, took over in 2006 and was in charge until this past weekend. Jeremy Coulter, who races in the Legend Car series at Capital City, recently took over as the track's new marketing manger and big changes are in store for 2010.  He will also be running JM Motorsports Arrive and Drive Legends race schools in 2010 at the track. The weekly race card consists of the Kenyon Racing Products Late Models, Drummonds Gas Thunder Cars, Lentech Automotive Legends, Autovation Inc. Mini Stocks and the Crilly Chassis Works 4 For Fun cars.
Check the website for more information. Racing takes place Wednesday nights with other events scheduled on Fridays and Saturdays. Racing starts at 7:30 pm.]]> Stock Car Racing of Ontario mostwanted2005 https://canadianracingonline.com/community/stock-car-racing-of-ontario/capital-city-speedway-ottawa-ontario/ https://canadianracingonline.com/community/stock-car-racing-of-ontario/ryan-litt-canadian-racer-in-usac-and-auto-value-super-sprints/ Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:59:09 +0000
Ryan Litt likes to drive fast!!  When you want to drive fast...what better series to race than the Auto Value Super Sprint Series. According to the series website, they are the Fastest Short Track race cars in the world! Over the past five years, they Super Sprints have raced at 27 different tracks and hold track speed records at 22 of them. Litt, a 22 year old native of London, Ontario who now resides in Lyons, holds the track record for his "home" track, near London, Delaware Speedway, a blistering 15.682 seconds set June 6, 2009.

Racing is in Ryan's blood.  He group up around it, so it was natural for him. The sights, the sounds and the smell of racing got the best of Ryan and he knew that it was something he wanted to do.  He followed in the footsteps of his grandfather who was the first in the family to show interest in motorsports. He was involved in Drag Racing and was a successful crew chief for a NHRA Top Fuel Dragster in the 1960's.  Ryan's dad raced Midgets and Super Modifieds and Ryan was by his dad's side and travelled to all the tracks.  In 1994 at the age of 6, Ryan began his racing career. His dad set up a one time deal with a family friend to race a Junior Dragster at St. Thomas Dragway. He actually made it through to the final round and in the end finished second to a 16 year old.

In 1998 Ryan's dad bought him a Jr. Sprint car and that got the ball rolling to a successful racing career. His first year of racing Litt won numerous heats, three feature races and was named Rookie of the Year.  During the next three seasons, Ryan gained valuable experience and won 28 feature races and won ALL the Indoor Heat and Features races in years three and four.  In his final season in sprints, Litt took the experience to another level and tested a Jr. Cascar, tested a Pepsi Street Stock at Delaware Speedway and raced a Legends car in Fort Wayne Indiana, winning one race and finishing 5th in points. Ryan raced a season of Street Stocks at Delaware in 2002, took rookie of the year honors and finished ninth in points.  He would get a lot of seat time in Practicing a 440cc Outlaw Microsprint, drove 600cc Winged Midget Indoors in the Rumble Series in Indiana and Won 50 Lap Go-Kart Race at Quest Speedway.
 
A new year and lots of new challenges in 2003 took Litt to the USAC Ford Focus Midget Car Series and was third and fourth in Mid West Points and won 2 races.  At that time Ryan was the only Canadian Competitor in USAC and obtained his USAC and SCCA license at the age of 16. He also tested 60 Laps in USAC Pavement Sprint Car.  By 2004, Ryan was gaining notoriety and was the featured article in Sprint Car and Midget Magazine.  He won several races around the Mid West that summer and ended up finishing 3rd in USAC Midwest Focus Midget Series and got his first taste of the bigger USAC Sprint cars racing twice.  2005 was another successful year for Ryan as he finished 4th in Inaugural USAC Indoor Focus Midget Racing Championship held in DuQuoin, Illinois, was Nominee for Inside Track Motorsport News Up and Coming Driver of The Year, Finished 7th in Famous (57th Annual) Little 500 at Anderson Speedway (runner up for rookie of the race) and startd his career with the Auto Value Super Sprints.  In 2006  Ryan raced for the most part with the AVSS winning races at Baer Field and Delaware Speedways as well as a heat and feature win at Berlin Speedway in Michigan.  Ryan finished a successful first season in the Super Sprints 4th in points and runner up as rookie of the year.

The 2007 & 2008 season brought several more heat and feature wins and a new track speed records at Toledo Speedway, Auto City Speedway and a fastest lap of 11.50 seconds a the Little 500. Ryan would try a new venture into the Super Modifieds where he finished in 2nd place at Delaware Speedway in only his third ISMA start.  He finished 2nd in points for 2008.
2009 brought more success, several top qualifying times, track records and several heat and feature wins.  For the upcoming 2010 season, Ryan will be running with the Must See Racing Sprints, racing in 12 events at tracks such as Salem, Winchester, Anderson and O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.  All 12 races will be on Comcast on a delayed basis. Ryan will also run with the AVSS, USAC and ISMA.  His long term goal like any other open wheel racer, to run an Indy Car but without the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to race that series he won't be there. He did mention to me, "I'm pretty comfortable staying where I am at now, they are the fastest Circle Track Cars in the world next to Indy Cars so I can't complain !"
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