by Dave Cook
On Saturday, July 15, 1989, the dream of Mosport Parks President Harvey Hudes became a reality with the opening of the Mosport Ascot North Speedway, a one-half mile dirt track oval, named in honour of the late J.C. Agajanian, the legendary race car owner and founder of California’s Ascot Park.
Construction of the oval in the north-west corner of Mosport Park’s 450 acre site began as a result of Craig Hill planting the seed that created Harvey’s interest. Craig, the Advertising and Promotions Manager of Castrol Oil Canada, and at the time, one of this Country’s most versatile racing drivers, arranged the laying out of the welcoming mat at two U.S. speedways, Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio and then Gardena, California’s Ascot Park. Among those traveling with Harvey were Myles Brandt, now the President and General Manager of the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Jerry Priddle, who is now the head of Accelerate MarCom company.
It was after the visit to those two tracks that Harvey made the decision to create a dirt track speedway and name it after the famous Ascot Park. Shortly after Harvey finalised details to construct the track, he hired this writer as its General Manager.
Track construction was done by the track manager at that time, Myles Brandt. Myles not only supervised the construction of the facility but he often stepped in and did a great deal of the physical work himself.
The opening event for the track, set for July 15-16, 1989, was going to make North American racing history. Mosport Ascot North negotiated an event never before held, a “Shootout” between the United States Auto Club “USAC” sprint car division and the World of Outlaws “WoO” sprint cars, with a purse of $30,000. The one rule was that the USAC cars had to install wings on their sprint cars. USAC often ran events wingless.
In the official race magazine published for the opening event, Harvey was quoted saying, “it is our intention here at Mosport’s Ascot North to continue the Ascot tradition by bringing in top names in oval racing for competition that will undoubtedly prove no less than spectacular.”
A USAC midget race was scheduled as a preliminary to the USAC-WoO Shootout. The teams arrived and set up for the practice session. Then tragedy struck. The first couple of cars on the track showed the soil was nowhere near the clay needed for this type of auto racing. It was loaded with rocks.
Harvey Hudes employed an Ascot track employee from California to travel the Bowmanville country side to find clay for the track. What he found obviously wasn’t up to par for racing. After an on-track meeting with all officials involved, the weekend was cancelled. The drivers were assured they would have their appearance money paid.
Shortly following this, Harvey Hudes decided to pave the oval and the wheels were set in motion. A USAC sprint car race, the USAC Canadian Sprint Car Nationals, and a USAC Midget race were set for September 16-17, 1989.
Immediately following the paving of the circuit, two of Canada’s top supermodified drivers were contracted to do a “track test.” Stouffville’s Gary Morton and Buttonville’s Dave Hooper spent an afternoon driving the circuit. Everything proved to be in working order for the upcoming September event.
It had been 11 years since the United States Auto Club, USAC, sanctioned a race on Canadian soil and it was certainly appropriate that the return of USAC came with the opening of Ascot North. It was June 23, 1962 that USAC stock cars thundered through the turns on Mosport’s road course. Since that day, Mosport has hosted 19 of the 29 USAC sanctioned events held in Canada.
Michigan’s Benny Rapp holds the honour of being the first driver to take a checkered flag at Ascot North by winning the opening midget heat race on September 16, 1989. Gene Lee Gibson of Richland, Ohio, bested the field to win the feature that night. Sunday September 17, 1989, saw Michigan driverGary Fedewa capture the sprint car feature.
The USAC midget championship was basically wrapped up by Rich Vogler of Indianapolis, Indiana, despite only finishing 19th in Saturday nights run and fifth on Sunday. Vogler had engine trouble Saturday night but his points placed him in a solid position which led to his championship that year.
In 1990, Ascot North was contracted out to Peterborough businessman Paul Heffernan and began several seasons of Saturday night racing featuring street stocks, sportsman as well as late model events. The Nascar Canadian Tire Series was a regular event at Ascot North.
Mosport Ascot North closed after 24 years of weekly racing to make way for the expansion of the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s Driver Development Center.
