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Index by last name:
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Index by year:
[1993] [1994] [1995] 1996 [1997] [1998] [1999] [2000] [2001] [2002] [2003] [2004] [2005] [2006] [2007]
Molson Breweries (1996)
Molson Breweries has sponsored just about every kind of auto racing in Canada for more than 25 years, including Can-Ams, the Molson Grand Prix du Canada, Molson Indys in Toronto and Vancouver, plus numerous stock car, motorcycle and drag racing events
More about this member :: Back to top Warren Coniam (1996)
Warren 'The Warrior' Coniam starred in super modified racing for more than 25 years, twice winning the famed Oswego Classic ? the only Canadian to do so ? and twice won the Oswego Track Championship. Coniam raced in the early days of the CNE and Pinecrest Speedway, but stayed with super modifieds when those tracks switched to late models.
More about this member :: Back to top Doug Duncan (1996)
Doug Duncan was Canada's most innovative and successful race car builder. He built cars for Ted Hogan (super modifieds and stock cars, including the first tube-frame stock car in Canada), Warren Coniam (the super modified that won the 1987 Oswego Classic) and many top Canadian oval racers. He also built cars driven by Danny Shaw, Grant Clark and Peter Ryan for the fabled Comstock Racing Team.
More about this member :: Back to top Bernie Fedderly (1996)
Currently Co-Crew Chief of John Force's Castrol GTX AA fuel funny car, Bernie Fedderly is one of the most respected crew chiefs in drag racing. Fedderly's Canadian career culminated in a top fuel victory by driver Terry Capp and the Canadian "wheeler dealer" team at the 1980 U.S. Nationals. From 1982 to 1992, he was crew chief for owner Larry Minor, winning championships with top fuel driver Gary Beck and funny car driver Ed McCulloch
More about this member :: Back to top Frank Hawley (1996)
Frank Hawley won back-to-back NHRA Winston World Funny Car Championships in 1982 and '83 at the wheel of the famed Chi-Town Hustler. He won a total of seven NHRA Nationals enroute to his two championships. In 1985, Hawley started the first ever drag racing school in Gainesville, Florida. He later replaced the injured Darrell Gwyn in the Coors Light top fuel dragster, adding two top fuel National wins to his records.
More about this member :: Back to top Craig Hill (1996)
In a driving career that spanned almost 40 years, Craig Hill raced and won in almost every type of racing car, from midgets and super-modified stock cars to sports cars and sophisticated open-wheel formula cars. He was Canadian Formula B champion in 1969 and '70, driving a Formula Ford he modified to formula B spec. He co-drove with Ludwig Heimrath to win the Sundown Grand Prix in 1973 and 1974. As advertising and promotions manager of Castrol Canada, he was instrumental in that company's wide involvement in all forms of motorsport.
More about this member :: Back to top Ted Hogan (1996)
Ted Hogan was Canada's best known stock car racer in the rough-and-tumble days of the sport. Known as "Terrible Ted" or "Mighty Mite", Hogan chalked up a record 37 feature wins and a number of track titles at the CNE between 1954 and his death in plane crash in 1960. Although there was racing at the CNE for five more years, no one ever matched Hogan's mark.
More about this member :: Back to top Harvey Hudes (1996)
Harvey Hudes was president of Mosport Park for more than 25 years. He guided Mosport through its most successful years when it hosted the Grand Prix of Canada and highly successful Can-Am races. Harvey kept Mosport going strong through some tough times, giving Canadian racers an opportunity to learn on one of the most challenging circuits in the world. He also built an oval to make stock car racing a regular feature at Mosport.
More about this member :: Back to top Graham Light (1996)
Graham Light successfully raced both top fuel and funny cars in his 15-year driving career, which ended in 1978. In 1977, he reached the final round of the 1977 NHRA world finals in the bubble-up top fuel dragster. During and after his driving career, he also managed Edmonton International Speedway until it closed, then accepted a full-time position with the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and became vice-president of racing operations.
More about this member :: Back to top Bill Sharpless (1996)
Scrambles, Enduros, Trials, Road Racing, Dirt Track and Ice Racing - in a career that spanned 22 years, Bill Sharpless rode them all. And he wasn't just a dabbler. He tackled each motorcycle discipline with panache, verve and winning form, earning himself the handle "all-rounder", not to mention a trunkload of championship titles. He started racing in 1953 when motocross went by the name "scrambles" and few serious dirt bikes were available. Most off-road competition then was done on motorcycles that were little more than modified street machines. Compared to today's state-of-the-art motocross weapons, they were heavy, (weighing up to 180 kilograms), technically unsophisticated, and far from dirt friendly. Bill Sharpless may well be considered a motorsport anomaly, and not just because he was a master of several disciplines. Unlike most of his peers and successors, who sacrificed post-secondary education for a career in racing, Bill studied mechanical and aeronautical engineering at the University of Toronto, and spent those summers taking pilot training in the RCAF. Bill modestly credits his success in racing not so much to talent, but to a passion for motorcycles, and the fact that he rode street bikes as a chief means of transportation for 30 years. His love affair with motorcycles not only translated into "ace competitor," but "event organizer" as well. He was a founding member of the competition- oriented Nortown Motorcycle Club in 1953. From '54 to '65 (except for a 2-year stint in the Air Force) he served the club as either president or treasurer and spearheaded the organization of more than 100 motorcycle events. Motorcycle competition, however, is where Bill excelled above all else. He won his first Canadian Championship in Enduros in 1955 on his modified 650cc street bike. 1956 and '57 were spent in the RCAF in New Brunswick, where he organized the Maritimes' first Road Race and first Enduro. Then back to Toronto to an engineering job at De Havilland Aircraft, and to begin motorcycle competition in earnest. And what success he had. 1958 was the first of 4 consecutive years that he laid claim to the coveted "White Trophy", (named after Ron and Eve White, early CMA officials who are also members of the Hall of Fame). The trophy was awarded to the rider who accumulated the most points in Canada in the various disciplines, and with it, the overall championship. During this period, Bill's successes included the 1959 Canadian Trials, the '59 and '60 Canadian 500cc Scrambles, and numerous Regional Championships. Although road racing championships escaped him, Bill was recognized as one of its top competitors, both in Canada and in the Amateur Class in the United States, where in 1961 he was sponsored by the Triumph Corporation. But then in March of '62 disaster struck. While leading the 125 mile road race at Daytona, Bill suffered a crash that left him in traction for 6 weeks with a multiple-fractured leg. Problems with the leg and mounting family responsibilities forced him into semi-retirement, now competing only in Trials and Enduros, and refereeing at Road Races. The operative words are ``semi-retirement'' because Bill won the Canadian Enduro Championship in 1966 and '67. In 1969 at age 35 he decided to go overseas to ride his first International Six Day Enduro, but one week before leaving he was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in his left hip. Since his motorcycle had already been shipped, and with a prescription of an anti- inflamatory drug that seemed to work, he left for Germany anyway. He did not finish his first ISDE, but he had to try again, so off to Spain in 1970 where he finished with a Bronze Medal, then to England's Isle of Mann in 1971 for a Silver. In the spring of '72 Bill again won the Canadian Enduro Championship, but further trips to the ISDE in Czechoslovakia in '72 and the USA in '73 did not produce the elusive Gold Metal he longed for. By 1974 arthritis in Bill's hands prevented him from further ISDT attempts, but it didn't stop him from trying the new sport of studded- tire ice racing. It did, however, finally put an end to his competiton career in 1975. But he still does score- keeping at enduros as his interest has never wavered.
More about this member :: Back to top Ted Sturgess (1996)
Ted Sturgess roared out of Hamilton, Ont., in 1938 to become Canada's most successful road and dirt-track motorcycle racer. His early exploits earned 18-year-old Sturgess an invitation to ride for Britain's West Ham racing team in the English National League. Sturgess returned to Canada at the outbreak of WWII. In 1940, he won every track championship in Canada. He served 4-1/2 years in the RCAF, resuming racing after WWII and winning even more Canadian titles.
More about this member :: Back to top John Williams (1996)
John Williams has been world motorcycle hill climbing champion five times (72-77-79-80-81), 10 times Canadian champion, six times U.S. Champion and has won many state championships. Williams made the Guinness Book of Records in '82 after winning or placing second in 25 consecutive races. Since retiring in 1983, he has carried on the tradition, acting as team manager for his two hill-climbing sons.
More about this member :: Back to top Walter Wolf (1996)
As a Formula 1 owner, Walter Wolf gave Canada a presence in Grand Prix and Can-Am racing in the late '70s. In 1977, Jody Scheckter drove a Wolf-Ford to a win in Argentine in its first race ever, then followed with wins at the Monaco and Mosport. Wolf's cars also competed in Can-Am with Gilles Villeneuve driving and in European Formula 1. Austrian-born Wolf became a Canadian citizen in 1967 and always carried the Canadian flag on his cars.
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