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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]
Eldon Rasmussen (2001)
Eldon Rasmussen was the second Canadian (after Billy Foster) to race in the Indianapolis 500. Eldon and Billy were supermodified drivers who went on to the big time after competing in the old CAMRA series (Canadian-American Modified Racing Association) that promoted races in British Columbia, Alberta and throughout the western United States. Eldon was a successful driver and continues to be a race engineer, designer, builder and fabricator. He started building at the age of 9 when he put together a soap box derby car. He then fashioned a go-kart out of part of an old Model T frame and a lawn-mower engine. He started racing seriously in 1952 on the dirt tracks of Southern Alberta. Racing on pavement in Edmonton and Calgary, he went on to make more than 600 starts with the touring CAMRA series. He won local championships on many occasions and finished second once in the CAMRA series, a circuit that boasted the likes of Foster, Art Pollard, Jim Maloy, Tom and Jerry Sneva, and Cliff Hucul of Prince George, B.C., who followed Billy and Eldon to the big track at Indianapolis. Eldon served on the CAMRA board of directors and was president of the Edmonton Auto Racing Association for many years. He moved to Indianapolis in 1967 but never gave up his Canadian citizenship or Edmonton as his racing address. He ran more than 50 USAC sprint car races before concentrating on the Indy cars. He qualified for three Indianapolis 500s in 1975, '77 and '79 (he renewed acquaintances with Sneva in 1975 when they came together in Turn 2 at the Brickyard, leaving Sneva's car a twisted, smoking wreck). He qualified for 10 other 500-mile races - at Pocono, Pa., and Ontario, Calif. - and 36 other USAC short-track races for Indy cars. He retired from driving in 1979 when he was injured after cutting a tire and crashing during the Pocono 500. But Eldon is better remembered as an engineer, designer, builder and fabricator. (He says one of the reasons that he didn't start driving the Indy cars sooner was because his other talents were much in demand. He had to wait four years after moving to the U.S. before he started to drive Indy cars because he was too busy building, tuning and repairing crashed cars for other drivers and teams.) He updated cars for various teams and designed and built his own Indy cars. A visionary, Eldon designed and built some of the first wings for the Indy 500 cars. He designed and built the wing for Gary Beck's top-fuel dragster in 1972 that contributed to Beck's first Top Fuel U.S. Nationals victory, and designed and built the first tall wing in NHRA racing for Joe Amato. He also designed and built the top North American Ice Racing car for Hall of Fame member Tom Jones of Thunder Bay in 1975-76, not to mention the racing motorcycle and sidecar be built for Greg Cox and Bill Davidson of Ottawa in 1975. From 1975-'80, he designed and built 172 Ras-Car rent-a-racer cars for several Mario Andretti Grand Prix International tracks and 380 Ras-Car Can-Am-style go-karts. Eldon continues to be involved with, as he puts it, ``anything on wheels'' and to this day he is busy building exhaust header systems for Indy cars and various types of pit equipment. And are you ready for this? Much of Sylvester Stallone's racing film Driven was filmed at last year's Molson Indy here in Toronto and the person who did the powerplant conversions for the three cars the actors drove in the movie was - you guessed it - Eldon Rasmussen.
More about this member :: Back to top Chuck Rathgeb (1993)
The head of Comstock Canada, Rathgeb built the most successful racing team Canada has ever seen. Comstock Racing gave many promising Canadian drivers a chance to compete in major North American races- and win. A true sportsman who has competed in many of the world's toughest rallies, Chuck Rathgeb also financed the building of the Comstock-Sadlers, which helped to put Canada on the racing map.
More about this member :: Back to top Gordon Reelie (2004)
Gordon Reelie represents a sub-culture of automobile racing that often goes unnoticed: that of the car owner. Gordon Reelie was such an owner. From B.C. to California, his midget race cars were instantly recognized and admired for their preparation and presentation. In fact, one was once displayed at the Vancouver Art Gallery. His infatuation with motorsport began in the 1920s when he first heard the roar of racing engines at Vancouver's Hastings Park while standing in the backyard of his family's North Burnaby home. But it wasn't until after World War II that his career took off. Gordon tried driving once, won and promptly retired. From then until his death in 1994, Reelie's cars were always contenders for feature wins, if not season championships. He was instrumental in laying out the dimensions for both the Digney and False Creek Speedways - he patterned them exactly after Seattle's Aurora Stadium - and he was president of the B.C. Midget Auto Racing Association (BCMRA) for several years. He raced up and down the west coast, winning as far south as the famed Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles with Hank Butcher driving. Other famous drivers like Rich Vogler took turns behind the wheel of Reelie's cars. Palmer Crowell drove for Reelie for 20 years and racked up more than 50 Washington Midget Racing Association victories and several WMRA championships. Dennis Kitts, who wasn't born when Reelie started racing, won him his last championship, in 1992. Over the years, his cars were powered by Ford V-8-60s, Offenhausers, VWs and whatever else would get them around the track and to the front, including - on the odd occasion - a little nitro.
More about this member :: Back to top Brian Robertson (2005)
Brian Robertson first went road racing in 1964 after attending the CASC drivers school at Harewood Acres. In 1967, he won both the Ontario Region and Canadian Formula Vee championships. He went Formula B racing in 1968 and had success both at home and in SCCA events in the United States. In 1972, despite tough competition from Craig Hill, Ric Forest and John Powell, he won the Player'S Challenge Series and the Canadian Driving Championship. Following a serious accident in the Grand Prix of Singapore in 1973, he developed vertigo and was forced to retire at the age of 33. In 1969, he and American importer Fred Opert became partners in Fred Opert Canada. From '69 to 1977, the company imported, serviced and supported FB Brabhams and Chevrons. That year, 1977, saw Brian start his own company. For the next 20 years, he was the North American importer for Ralt, which dominated North American Atlantic and Super Vee racing, and he also was one of the continent's biggest suppliers of racing motors. Among his team drivers were Michael Andretti, who won the Atlantic title in 1983, and David Empringham (1994). As a driver, importer and team owner, Canada's Brian Robertson was one of the most important figures in North American open wheel racing.
More about this member :: Back to top Earl Ross (2000)
Still racing after all these years, there are those who will say that the name EARL ROSS is what put Ailsa Craig, Ontario, on the map. Still racing and still competitive, Ross's career stretches back to 1970. Along the way, he became the first (and so far, only) Canadian to win a NASCAR Winston Cup race (then Grand National), became the only Canadian to be named NASCAR Winston Cup (then Grand National) Rookie-of-the-Year, as well as becoming the first Canadian to race in the Daytona 500. After a career in stock car's ``small-time,'' Ross first made his mark in 1970 when he won nine of 10 international stock car races held in Ontario that featured drivers from across Canada and the United States. In 1973, Ross won the Export A Series, a stock car series that was run in Eastern Canada. He qualified for his first Daytona 500 and finished third in his first superspeedway start, the ARCA Daytona 200, a race he thought he could have won. In 1974, a banner year, he competed in 21 Winston Cup races, won the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway and was named Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. In '75 and '76 he qualified for his second and third Daytona 500s. In 1982, he won the inaugural McKerlie Millen 200 at Delaware Speedway Park. In 1994, he finished second in the CASCAR Performance Fibreglass Series and in 1995 qualified in the top 12 at most CASCAR events and finished 13 in points. In 1996 he finished 13th in the CASCAR Eastern Series points and in 1997 he finished 15th in CASCAR Super Series Points. Like Ludwig Heimrath, Junior Hanley and other ``old dogs,'' Earl Ross shows no signs of ever slowing down.
More about this member :: Back to top John Ross (1994)
John Ross never raced himself, but he worked every bit as hard for the sport he loved as any racer ever has. He helped to create the Can-Am series and was deeply involved with the building of Le Circuit Mont Tremblant, even serving on the track design committee. He was also the organizer of the first-ever Can-Am race that was run at Le Circuit in 1966.
More about this member :: Back to top Mark Rotharmel (2004)
Mark Rotharmel made a name for himself in a sport where the penalties for making a mistake are abrupt and serious: high-level powerboat racing. He started racing at 17 when he entered his first professional race in Peterborough. He won his first title - the Vee-bottom (FE) Canadian championship - in 1972. He was then recruited by Mercury Marine to join their factory racing team. He won the restricted Unlimited One (U1) tunnel boat Canadian and High Point championships and sent a Canadian record in the class. From 1974 to '79, Mark raced for Mercury in the unlimited outboard categories, earning four more titles and another speed record. When Mercury withdrew from competition, he was hired by Outboard Marine Corporation, and continued?his winning ways with?back-to-back Championships in 1980. In 1984, Mark entered several U.S. and two European races with his Evinrude-sponsored V-8-powered Formula One tunnel boat and then he competed in the full 1985 nine-country world tour. He also continued to race in Canada, winning the 1985 North American Mod U championship and he set the fastest recorded average lap time at the Gold Cup course in Picton, Ont., of 116 miles an hour. Shortly after, Mark retired from the cockpit - but he wasn't finished. After announcing at national races and hosting regional cable TV specials, Mark co-hosted Power Boat Television, a long-running series on TSN and Speed channel. He's written about the sport for numerous publications, hosted and produced the American Power Boat Association's offshore races held in Toronto and co-hosted Canada's largest F1 Powerboat Grand Prix. He has been chairman and secretary of the Performance Boat Club of Canada. He is a member of the Canadian Boating Federation's Hall of Fame.
More about this member :: Back to top Peter Ryan (1993)
If Canada had a chance of landing a driver in the big times in the early days of auto racing in this country, it was Peter Ryan, the first Canadian to compete in a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Peter Ryan was born in Philadelphia, PA. He grew up at Mont Tremblant, PQ and always raced as a Canadian. He caught everyone's attention by winning the 1961 Canadian Grand Prix in a Lotus 19. He drove a Lotus Climax in the 1961 US Grand Prix on October 8,1961. He started 16 of 19 starters and finished 9th. His drive impressed Lotus sufficiently to land a factory drive in 1962. In 1962, at Riems, France, Peter was killed when his factory Lotus Formula junior rolled violently. He was just 22
More about this member :: Back to top
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