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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]
Barry Paton (2002)
Barry Paton has been involved with race cars since the mid-1950s. As a teenager, he took a turn at stock car racing but soon found out that ``turning left'' was not for him. In 1964, he began running a '58 Plymouth Fury at the drags, honing his driving skills. In 1969, Barry ordered a new 1969 Chevrolet Nova with a powerful 396 big block. With his wife Lynne's encouragement, Barry began racing the Nova, which he quickly named "One More Time." "One More Time" quickly became one of the most-feared Super Stockers of its time. Running in SS/IA trim, the Nova obliterated the NHRA record of 11.08 with an unreal 10.83 and won hundreds of trophies. In 1978, Barry felt the urge to go a little quicker. After a brief search, he found the old "Fighting Irish" Nitro Funny Car which fit perfectly into B Econo Altered in NHRA's Competition Eliminator, with a de-stroked 383 cu. in. Chevy for power. This allowed him to move into the 8-second range at over 150 mph. It also seemed to whet his appetite for funny cars. In 1986, Barry took delivery of Paul Smith's "Entertainer" nitro funny car and outfitted it with all the running gear from the Vega. At a Division 2 Points Meet in Warner Robins, Georgia, his fourth event behind the wheel of his new Camaro, Barry eliminated Bogie Kell, Terry Mullins and then-Division 2 champion Steve Group to claim his first title in Alcohol Funny Car. In 1989, Barry became the first Canadian to qualify #1 at the Molson GrandNational in Montreal, Quebec, where his 6.06 paced the 16-car field. During the winter of 1990, Barry put Todd, the older of his two sons, behind the wheel of the family funny car. Barry tuned Todd to a run of 6.01 seconds at his very first national event, the 1991 Gatornationals. They went on to win the Can-Am Nationals that year in St. Thomas, Ontario. The following year Barry, along with Todd's younger brother Tony, tuned him to a runner-up finish at the IHRA Winternationals. In June of that year, just three months later, the Paton family earned their first national event win when Todd defeated Scott Weis in the snow-delayed(!) IHRA Summer Nationals. In 1993 the team won the IHRA World Championship despite missing the season-opening Winter Nationals. In 1995, the team again used record-setting performances to return to their winning ways, and became the only Canadian team to capture two IHRA World Championships. In 1996, Barry and his family shifted their focus to the NHRA. Using a new combination designed around a screw-type supercharger, the team became the first alcohol funny car to break into the 5.70's at Indy, and used a string of consistent 5.8-second elapsed times to eliminate the likes of former world champions Pat Austin, Randy Anderson and Tony Bartone to win the biggest drag race of them all: the U.S. Nationals. 1999 was the team's best season in the NHRA's Alcohol Funny Car division. The team won the Mac Tools Gatornationals. They quickly followed that victory with another win at the Lone Star Nationals in Dallas, Texas and a divisional victory in Reynolds, Georgia, earning them a top 5 finish in the NHRA's season-long points chase. Barry has since kept himself busy guiding the career of son Todd in a nitro funny car. But just before the season-ending NHRA World Finals last year, Barry climbed back in the cockpit of a funny car for the first time in 12 years and the first time ever in a nitro funny car during a test session at the Strip in Las Vegas. He made two perfect 300-foot checkout passes, leaving his future plans wide open. Maybe he's ready to go quicker "One More Time".
More about this member :: Back to top Al Pease (1998)
It is doubtful that any other driver in the history of Canadian motorsport has collected more trophies than Al Pease, winning a steady stream of regional and national championships in a variety of cars for almost 30 years. He drove a Gurney Eagle in the first Formula1 Grand Prix of Canada at Mosport in 1967, and he won the last race ever at Harewood in a Brabham BT21 in1970. He was also instrumental in getting the CASC to allow sponsors' names on the side of racing cars, paving the way for a whole new generation of professional Canadian racing drivers.
More about this member :: Back to top Ross Pedersen (1998)
For 15 years, from 1978 to 1983, Ross Pedersen soared like an eagle, dominating Canadian Motorcars and Supercross racing like no one before or since. In 1978, he was 250cc and Open Senior Motorcross champion. From1980 until he retired at the end of the 1993 season, Ross collected a total of 42 national championships, including all eight of the Supercross championships ever held in Canada. Ross went out in style, winning his final Supercross at the Olympic Stadium in 1993.
More about this member :: Back to top Jean-Paul Perusse (2004)
Jean-Paul Perusse became interested in rallying in the mid-1960s when he was studying engineering. His first major rally was the Shell 4000. Fiat gave him a Fiat 128 to enter in the 1972 Canadian Winter Rally and he beat his teammate, rally superstar Andrew Cowan. He won the Winter Rally again in 1973 and '74. Then began what can only be called a Perusse domination of the rally scene, winning the Canadian Rally Championship in 1975 and '76. Included in his victories was the 1976 Winter Rally, his fourth in five years, and he beat rally legend John Buffum in the process. He switched manufacturers and drove a Saab for several years but, in late 1976, he moved to British Leyland and ran a Triumph TR7 in 1977. Not long after, Perusse cut back on his rallying and went ice racing until he was called back to the scene by his old friend, John Buffum. Jean-Paul drove a Volkswagen GTI to win the 1987 Group A class in the North American Rally Cup, which combines results from both Canada and the United States. In the early 1990s, he again left rallying and returned to ice racing, winning two Quebec championships. By the turn of the century, he was rallying again in his old VW GTI. He showed the younger generation how it was done in 2001 by finishing tenth and fourth in a series of Quebec rallies. The came the 2002 Percce Neige, where he was faster than many of his opponents, eventually finishing sixth overall and first in his class. Today, he is still in the driver's seat, planning on even more seasons, proving that you can't keep a superb rallyist down.
More about this member :: Back to top Kay Petre (1995)
Kay Petre raced huge Delages, Alfa Romeos and Austins in Europe before World War II. She was dubbed "Queen of Brooklands" for her daring and speed on the famed British oval. Born Kay Defries in Toronto, but educated and married in England, she regularly drove in the 24-hours of LeMans from 1934 until 1938. She was the first woman ever to become a regular 'works driver' when she signed to race for the Austin factory team in 1937.
More about this member :: Back to top Ted Powell (2006)
Competitor/Builder Road Racing
Born in Quebec City, Ted Powell's love affair with motorsport began at an
early age and after obtaining his electrical engineering degree in England,
he and a friend entered a hill climb in a Fraser Nash and finished second.
After the Second World War, Ted returned to Canada (by way of Malaya with
the British Colonial Service) where he joined the Department of Transport
and the Ottawa Light Car Club (later the MCO). At Mosport in 1962, Ted
watched an exhibition race featuring a field of new Mini Coopers and
starring many of the top drivers of the day. Grand Prix pilot Innis Ireland
rolled the one he was driving and Ted promptly purchased it. Displaying his
No. 30, that Mini became his stepping-stone to circuit racing, which he
attacked with a passion. When not racing himself, he volunteered to help
other teams and he devoted a considerable amount of time to the
administrative and regulatory side of the sport. In all, Ted raced for 10
years, entering 123 road races (he won five regional championships), 12 ice
races, 15 rallies and 15 solo events. He was president of the MCO, president
of the CASC Quebec Region and vice-president of CASC-National. He organized
national races and a stage of the Shell 4000 rally. His experience, logic
and diplomacy was very much in demand during the creation of the CASC
Pro-Racing Division - the forerunner of today's ASN Canada. When he retired
from competition, he served as race steward for the Rothmans Porsche Cup in
1987-'88 and the Formula 2000 pro racing series in 1989. He also pitched in
at club events as a scrutineer, marshal, judge-of-fact and race instructor.
He died in 2001.
More about this member :: Back to top
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