Introductory
February 5, 2013
I would just like to tell a bit about myself and my involvement in Ontario auto racing, other provinces, and USA if asked. Anything I write will be the truth as far as I know it. If anyone can prove me wrong, I have no problem being corrected. As we all know, just looking at an incident from two different angles, the results can be altogether different.
I had always wanted to get an education and join the RCAF in any capacity, just to be around aircraft. I had piles and piles of military books on planes, and built numerous Balsa Wood models that actually flew. But, then, one Wednesday night back in 1952, a neighbour asked me if I would like to go to the Stock Car races in Ancaster about 25 miles from where I lived in St. George. I had 50 cents to get in, so I asked my parents, got a yes and went, and so did my wanting to get into the RCAF.
From that dusty night, my whole life changed. I never got past grade 8, as I wanted to get a job and then use the money for a race car. That first year, I got to go to two more races at Ancaster and the two final races at Mohawk Park in Brantford. That was 1952 not 1956. The only automobile events at Mohawk Park were the Hell Driver Shows in ’53 and ’54, got me to all the races at Ancaster, plus a few at Bridgeport, the CNE, Pinecrest and one at Speedway Park (next to Pinecrest). Sometimes I would beg my Dad to take us, (us being my younger brother Don and myself). Don got into racing as a driver (a good one), but, his heart was set to be in music and still is to this day.
When my Dad couldn’t make the trip, I would jump on my bicycle and ride to Ancaster and back, plus hanging out in the pits till the last car had gone, then a lap around the 1/2 mile dirt track on my bike and then home. This was a bike that had no lights, the batteries wouldn’t last long enough, and I couldn’t afford one of those expensive power robbing generator/light combinations. Besides, Stock Cars didn’t have lights. Also in this era, I got to go to Delaware in London (Brodie’s Delaware Speedway), but I had to ride my bike to Princeton, then ride in the back of a pick up truck, watch the races, then return home, still with no lights, this was on Hwy 5 before the 401, so there were lots of trucks on the road, I am still alive at 74.
In 1955, I drove my first race in a ’38 Pontiac Coupe, in what was called the Jalopy class at Bridgeport Speedway. This was wild racing, they had to run our race after the Stock Cars, as there was so much oil, water and parts, plus wrecked cars. It would have been impossible to get the track cleaned up for the Stock Cars. This was the Saturday night of labor day weekend, on the Monday morning my brother Don drove in the Soap Box race in Brantford. He got a 2nd, on the Saturday night I raced I got a 26th, maybe more on these two races another time. I will have to jump back a wee bit to my first trip to Delaware. One amazing thing was that there were 58 cars entered, all trying for one of only 24 starting spots in the main and I am quite sure that the Thursday nights purse was $500.00, correct me if I am wrong on this issue… But there were 58 cars, I wrote them all down. Who won? …I don’t know! But another thing I discovered was the wonderful aroma of Pop DeGraws food, smothered with fried onions. Years later when I had my model car display, there was a food truck in honor of Pop DeGraw.
There, that’s a bit about my getting into auto racing and I have no regrets as I met some of the greatest people in the world, got to travel to a lot of tracks and had a damn good time…
Now, my little part in Rick Sharples’ venture “Yesterday’s Speedways” is to do with race tracks and speedways in Ontario.
The way I got interested in all the tracks in the province since day one! It started by accident, In my early years of racing I had a big mouth, I never cheated or wrecked anyone on purpose, well, almost never. But I was always complaining about small pay offs and the way a lot of tracks would look down on lesser classes. There was no respect for the little guys that many times put on a hell of a better entertaining show than the big boys. WE NEEDED ALL THE CARS AND DRIVERS, so don’t get me wrong. So the Pit Stewards or even the promoters/owners would say “Well Dunham, if you don’t like it here, go someplace else”, so I did and found that I really enjoyed seeing other tracks, meeting other racing people, and everything was much better. And if I did go back to the other tracks, well, I had grown a bit as well as the other guys.
I never got a chance to race Ancaster or Mohawk and I never won at Pinecrest. I did get wins at Nilestown, CNE and Bridgeport. These were, are and will always be my favorite tracks, even over tracks that I won a lot at, worked or promoted at, all physically gone except for Nilestown Speedway and I miss them very much. Last year, 2012, was the first year that I missed getting to a race from the beginning at Ancaster in 1952. I do plan on getting to some every year from now on.
Over the years, I have collected names, locations and info on over 430 tracks in Ontario. I did not find them with my butt in a soft chair, a beer in one hand and a mouse in the other. I found them from asking questions, looking up old newspapers in libraries, museums and climbing lots of fences, plus, I went to a lot of these places, many times with a race car in tow.
As of February 2013
- I have seen 74 tracks (no racing).
- I have seen races at 85 more.
- I have entered cars in or raced myself at 50 more.
- This includes: Auto Crosses, Ice Racing, Mud Plugs, Motor Cross (cars), Adult Gravity Races and on and on, just in Ontario.
I hope the above gives me the permission to write more on what I know about the history of Auto Racing in this great province.
They Really Were “The Good Old Days”…
Courtesy of Jim Dunham
