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RACE NEWS 2024 |
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| COVER: ASHLEY OGILVIE FORMER SUPER TRACK CHAMPION SHOWED HER STUFF THIS WEEKEND | |||||
 PIT
BITS MAY 27/24*Well the season was VERY SLOW, do too weather when we started but things have picked up considerably and we now start to shift to high gear for the rest of the season. With four rain outs in a row (never happened before in 43 years) we where very pleased to get the opening weekend for our points chases in, and now we have our first super tour race in the books under sunshine, and next week is he 2nd Annual Wayne Young Memorial Car Show and street races at the track. Last years event attracted almost 200 cars and was a huge success, and the word on the street is this years go will be even bigger "if the weather man cooperates" lets hope he does. *One of the things that still amazes me too this day is how drag racers always come to the  aide
of a fellow racer when they need help to fix something on the drag car at the
races. And that was once again evident when Kyle Jessup Broke a ring gear on his
last qualifying pass on Saturday of the Tour Race. Lewis Gagne, Dave
Rennie, Randy Bellefeuille, Mike Ogilvie, Derek and Troy immediately trashed to
get the car repaired and back to running condition before the first round. Over
the years I have seen this happen so many times and it once again shows the
special relationship that the drag racers have that I have not seen in any other
motorsports.*SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS: Some time changes Next Saturday June 1 track will not open until 3 pm so we may attend Claire Thompsons (drag racer at Luskville since 1969) celebration of life. |
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| SUPER TOUR
TOUCHES DOWN IN NAPIERVILLE FOR RACE #1: MAY 27/24 It was a long and weird winter, with hardly any snow many still thought it was fall and became lulled into a situation where most thought we still had lots of time to get ready for race season? And then all of a sudden it was upon us and the weather man turned nasty making for no test sessions before opening weekend for Luskville Dragway's points series and one week from the first super tour race. However with the luck of the gods the weather man gave us two decent days for the drivers to race, sort out their cars, and get the season finally going. Friday Morning we headed out to Napierville with Dave and Pam Rennie and battled the wind all the way to Montreal, but wind is better than rain and no rain was the forecast for the weekend. Cars where already on the grounds when we rolled in, with many making some test hits before the gamblers race.  Mike
Chenier would show why he is considered one of the best as he marched he
corvette to the finals and the winners circle in the Friday Night event. Robbie
Martel was the runner up and looked like he could be the car to beat this
season.Saturday dawned with plenty of sunshine and pits that where full, but it was easy to see that this would be a challenging season. With talk that two of the major tracks in Southern, Ontario not attracting big car counts (12 super pro at Cayuga) on the long weekend in May, and the tours semi pro list being much smaller than previous years, it was easy to see that everyone better take a look at what is happening. Time trials got underway right on time and everyone got their licks in before eliminations started at 1 p.m. and the 3rd round with buy backs all done around 4 p.m. As eliminations rolled into the finals it was Maverick Anger picking up the win in Jrs. in Semi Pro Martin Brideau took his Mustang to the winners circle for his first super tour win. Super Pro would see Phil Harvey take yet another final round win this time over Max Gauthier. The $250 High Roller saw Kyle Jessup and Serge Marino go to the finals with the door car of Marino coming out on top.
with plenty of sunshine and some new faces as well. So in the Jr. Dragster Class
Parker Sequin got his first big win of the summer and picked up some points for
the tour championship. Semi Pro was a great story as Ivan Grenier of Royan
Norando has become part of our racing group and has had some ruff times the last
two years, but
 never
gave up. And after two engines it all paid off with a big first time win in Semi
Pro over Mike Reynolds. Super Pro was also a great story as Ashley Ogilvie
showed why she is a former Luskville Dragway Super Pro Track Champion as she met
and defeated Darren Frasso. All in All it was a good weekend, weather was great
at Napierville, and the turn out was pretty good for the first race of the
season, 70 Super Pro, 57 Semi Pro and 16 Jrs. shows that even with the bad
economy and the ridicules gas prices the racers showed up. |
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PRO ONE SAFETY ADDS ITS NAME TO A LIST OF
ADVERTISERS WHO BACK LUSKVILLE: MAY 27/24 Canada's  Oldest and Richest Bracket Race, The Bracket Bonanza is more
than just a race, its a happening that has a lot more than just drag racing,
which is a serious part to the weekend. The event which happens every year
on the long weekend in August has lots of big dollar racing going on, and in
2024 it will have even more than normal, but it also has a variety of things
that makes this event a must attend whether you are a competitor or a fan.
There is the traditional racers B-B-Q, The Golf Cart Race, the Fireworks,
the live bands, the pre event gamblers race and this year PRO ONE SAFETY
will back the event by sponsoring the $5000 to Jr. Dragster Race. Pro One Canada
is distributed by Jerome Bealieau of Quebec city who also happens to be the
Marketing Manager for the Canadian Bracket Super Tour. |
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| PIT
BITS MAY 20/24 INTERSTATE BATTERIES STAGING LANES CHARGING STATION: MAY 20/24 How many times have we seen it happen, a racer is in the staging lanes and his car w  on't
start, the crew is "charging" around to find a jump start or a buster, while the
competitor waits. Well thanks to James Locke and the good folks at Interstate
Batteries that will be no more, as we have installed the interstate Battery
Charging station on the wall at the starting line. This Station will consist of
a Top of the line Interstate Jump Starter that will be located on the Pit side
Guard wall at the starting line. This will allow a racers who needs a jump
start to have his crew guy go right to the start line instead of all the way
back to the pit spot. We would like to thank James and the good folks at
interstate for helping out with this project, and we hope the racers app rove.*We have talked many times about the great group of racers we have at Luskville Dragway and how much they do for the track, well that was shown loud and clear once again this week. As we have talked about a lot this off season was some of the new track equipment we were adding, well one of those pieces had to be put together and Once again Dave Rennie came to the rescue, completely building the new scraper, having to have to redesign much of it to fit the tractor. A lot of the stuff was bought state side and not much help with putting it together so Dave had to pull out all of his MacGyver" ability to get er done, and that he did after 8 hours of working on it. |
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| THE STABLE
ADVERTISING PROGRAM "STABLE" WITH LUSKVILLE DRAGWAY IN 24: MAY 20/24 Drag Racers h  ave
long been known for being some of the most ingenious people on this planet,
and people who seem to make things work, and work real well. I think that
adage is more than appropriate for this story as the move that Jamie Clarmo
did a couple of years ago, has turned out very, very well. Jamie and Sherri as many of
you know are drag racers, and the owners of Clarmo Auto Repair a company
that has supported Luskville Dragway for a long time. The Shop that they own
sits in a complex (plaza) that they also own, and had a restaurant that was
leased to another party. When covid hit, the leasee hit the road leaving
Jamie with an empty restaurant. Now it doesn't take a brain surgeon to
figure out there was not a line up of potential new renters, with the Covid
Pandemic and all. So the decision to take over the operations of the
facility themselves seemed like the only think they could do. Well as it
turns out, it was a great decision as the Restaurant has become a "Stable"
place to eat in the Metcalfe area, and has attracted many a drag racer over
the last year as well. In his own words Jamie is very, very pleased with the
outcome of "The Stable" Restaurant and is looking forward to the
future. So we are very pleased to announce that The Stable has signed on as
an marketing partner with Luskville Dragway for 2024 and beyond. One of the
things we already have planned is a drag race, hot rod car show and party on
August 11th in the parking lot of the restaurant, and we hope EVERYONE will
come out and support those that support us. If you follow Facebook at all
you will see that Jamie has done a masterful job of promoting the new
venture on Facebook, and no doubt has played a big part in the restaurant
having a "Stable" clientele. I should also point out that the name for the
shop came from their daughter who as many of you know is very big in horses. |
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| MALCOLM
CARPENTRY OPENING WEEKEND, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: MAY 20/24 Heading into the long weekend in May, the weather man had not treated us very good so far, with four of the previous four test and tune dates pretty much rained out everyone had their eye on the forecast. So as racers made plans to go racing, many had not been down the track yet, in fact most had not been down the track at all, but this did put everyone on a equal playing field. So as the beginning of the 2024 points season edged closer all eyes where on the weather and what the weather man was saying for sure. As Thursday rolled around it was surprising to see a number of race teams show up stating they just wanted to get back to the their summer cottage after a long winter LOL.  So
with Friday once again being cancelled because of rain, it put a lot of pressure
on the Guys and Gals to get their stuff sorted out on race day, and some did and
some did not. So with an extra time trial added to the race it did make for a
long day before we got to the finals of all class's. Nostalgia was the zone of
Attilo and his Malibu over Bruce Evans and his Chevelle. Junior Dragsters was
the winner circle picture for Cohen Gagne taking his first win over Julia
Malcolm. Semi Pro saw Steve Ballantyne and Stephen Pichette in the finals with
Ballantyne taking yet another victory. Super Pro saw the fastest dragster on the
property go into the finals which says a lot for the track prep. Mike Ogilvie
would face off with Phil Harvey with Mikes great day coming to an end with
Harvey going to winners circle. SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY and the weather man gave us the BEST day of the season so far, and the racers took advantage of that to put on a great show of driving, on a track that Derek had set  on
KILL. I have been doing this for over 50 years have watched many pretend they
know what they are doing, but all they do is spray on day long, Derek prepares
the track sprays it and its on kill ALL DAY. Just ask Mike Ogilvie who drove the
fastest car at the track and went to the finals on Sat, and the Semi Finals on
Sunday. The super pro winner on Sunday was Russ Adams over the hard charging
white Vega of Dave Rennie. Semi Pro saw Mike Reynolds install a motor on
Saturday come out and win on Sunday over Kendall Giroux of North Bay. Jr.
Dragsters would see Haley Anger beat up on Julia Malcolm for the Jr Title. All
in All it was a great weekend even though we had to put up with iffy weather on
Friday and a long drying process Saturday Morning, Sunday was what i remember
drag racing at Luskville Dragway was all about, Sun Shine, Great Cars, Great
People and Great Racing. Time Shots and Cruise Night next Saturday. |
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| PIT
BITS MAY 13/24 *Well the weather man has not been kind to us and many other race tracks across North America, yes the rain has had an impact everywhere, and I guess we have been lucky compared to some as we got one street day in. That doesn't make it any easier as the bills keep piling up and the gates keep getting closed because of the weather, it will turn around and we all hope it does next weekend as we cross our fingers and pray for Opening weekend in our points chase's get under way. Brandon Barker had posted a great article on Facebook a week ago pointing out just how bad it has been and how tough its been for drag strips in particular. So yes its been a little depressing to say the least, you still have to cut the grass, and do all the regular work, plus any improvements. I guess the best way of explaining it would be if you owned a garage and did oil changes all week, but did not get paid for them LOL. But unlike some places we have not been flooded, we have not had the grandstands flipped on the track from the wind, so in some ways we should consider ourselves lucky. *The Second Annual Wayne Young Memorial Car Show, which is part of the Larry Way Summer of Cars events is fast approaching (June 2) and this year will see some special added to the event that Wayne would give a thumbs up too for sure. There will be a 8 car Nostalgia Shootout for the 1st Annual Wayne Young Memorial Nostalgia Cup. Yes many will run time trials but a group of 8 will run off for the very special trophy. The Show is free to the public and the competitors and a cost of $20.00 is charged to those that want to burn some ru  bber and get some fast E.T.s Last years events attracted over 200
cars and more are expected this time around.*Quick reminder to have your race car all shined up and ready for the Movies as Song Wind Studios will be at the track this Saturday May 19th. to film a couple of scenes from their upcoming film, 'HOMETOWN MYSTERIES 3- MURDER UNDER THE HOOD. This could be your chance for Hollywood so don't miss out on this experience. *We wrap up this weeks news with yet another shitty wet Saturday at the track, we are  definitely
paying for the lack of snow this winter as we are getting it all now as rain. We
did manage to get the track sprayed and some cars down it, but by 4 pm the rains
came in earnest and the end was called. Showers had hampered us most of the day
but when the rain hit a 4 it was all over in a few minutes. We will run test and
tune on Friday of the long weekend and any street cars that want to run CAN.
This has been the worst start to a season in my 43 years lets hope it gets
better and better soon. |
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LEWIS GAGNE TRUCKING KEEPS ON TRUCKING WITH LUSKVILLE DRAGWAY:
MAY 13/24 the Owner  Lewis Gagne Trucking has been one of the
best things to happen to the sport of drag racing and in particular too Luskville Dragway.
Since Lewis Gagne became a
regular at the track and on the tours the fun level has risen GREATLY. A racer who made an impact from his
first appearance until this day, also makes a difference when it comes to
helping, and helping Luskville Dragway he does. Nick named “Screwy Lewy” for
a reason, you would have to look pretty far to find anyone that has more fun
than Lewis does, and he has everyone else having a good time as well. Lewis
Gagne Trucking is located in North Bay Ontario but Lewis will be first to
say Luskville Dragway is his home track. 2019 saw this team also start the
career of a second generation Gagne drag racer, as young son Logan began his
Jr. Drag Racing career,
 then in 2023 Logan's younger bros
started their drag racing careers also as all three of the boys compete in
the Speedy Auto Service Jr. Dragster Championship. Once again in 2024 we are
proud to announce we will once again be having the Lewis Gagne Racers
Appreciation weekend, which features bonus purses, a free racers breakfast on
Sunday Morning, and the induction ceremonies for the Wall of Fame. Lewis Gagne
Racers appreciation weekend will go into its sixth year in 2022 and will once
again take place the third weekend in Sept. which is the 14-15. This years inductee's
is the largest number we have ever had and its only May, Rolly Doucet the second
half of the original D&D Performance, Chris Collins, and Claire Thompson.
Although this day is a celebration there has with out question been too many
going on the Wall of Honor at the track. |
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STITTSVILLE TRAILER SALES CONTINUES ON
WITH LUSKVILLE DRAGWAY: MAY 13/24 Stittsville 
Trailer Sales locate in Stittsville, Ontario is a family owned business
that has been around a long time and has continually supported the community
that it lives in and in particular Motorsports. Orville Hartwick and his
family have been doing business and supporting the local community for
decades and this shop is a fixture on main street in Stittsville. They
signed on with Luskville Dragway at the beginning of the 2000 season and has
been part of our marketing program ever since.Stittsville Trailers is the one-stop shop for all your trailer, truck, hitch, accessory, sales, rental and service needs in Ottawa and the surrounding area. Whether you represent a large commercial or are an individual consumer, you can count on receiving the personalized service you deserve. Benefit from the expertise of our full-time team of 12 licensed mechanics, welders and experienced sales and service professionals all here to serve you. |
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| PIT
BITS MAY 6/24 *Some dates to mark on you calendar, we will have SFI Inspection available on June 29th rain date June 30th. this is the same weekend as the Super Tour event so mark it on your calendar. And of course make sure you mark May 18-19 2024 as that is our official points opening weekend for this season, many people committed to being there so we could pay BIG BUCKS so lets hope all those that added their name to the list do just that. *With yet another pre season rain out forecast for our third attempt for test session it was with smiles we woke up Saturday Morning with wall to wall sunshine, weather man WRONG again. It did however affect the turnout as everyone watches the same forecast we do, and like most other plans where made. However we did get the day in, cars down the track and for those that ignored the forecast fun for all. With out question this puts lots of pressure on the race teams as well as the track to get some testing in prior to the opening points race which is only two weeks away. The race teams are all trashing as well as a number of teams are working hard to get ready, in some cases one team helping out another team to get ready, unheard 
of in any other type of motorsport but not drag racing. We would also remind
everyone that we will have a full prep test session on the Friday of the May
Opening weekend, the track will be sprayed and prepped as if it is
a race day. As we all know by now the cost of traction compound went through the
roof last summer so it will affect how we do things. Once again I can not point
out how lucky we are to have the advertising support that we do, as bills still
have to be paid and when your not open, or being affected by weather (which many
tracks are) there is not much coming trough the gate, THANK YOU. |
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MISTER TRANSMISSION NORTH BAY & SUDBURY RETURNS AS MAJOR ADVERTISER
FOR 2024: FEB 12/24 We can not  emphasize enough how humbled we are with the support we get from our
advertisers and how lucky we are to have them. This weeks announcement is a
perfect example of just that as Bill Harling the owner of Mister
Transmission locations in Sudbury and North Bay has resigned for 2024 and as
added to his program. Bill and his Father Gord (and now Daughter Sarah) have been a big part of
Luskville Dragway and the Napa Money Tour for many years now and have been
some of the biggest supporters of what we do and for that we will be forever
grateful. 2024 will see Bill and the North gang not only take all their parking spots and more, memberships, and their big grand stand bill board, but will also see them be the $1000. sponsor for the Jr. Dragsters on the Sunday of the Bracket Bonanza, PLUS. Bill and the Mister Transmission will also back the $5000. to win Semi Pro Race on Saturday of the Bracket Bonanza, as well as the Mister Transmission Foot Brake Challenge even %20(1).jpg) t Saturday evening the
Bonanza. This is huge for the kids and the Semi Pro cars as it will allow
the Bonanza to once again raise the level of prize money to unheard of
heights for these two class's.. The Harling Family is a perfect example of
the racing family, with 3 generations of them racing together at the same
time. Much like my family who is also a 3 generational drag racing family,
the Harling's spend their weekends together racing many weekends at
Luskville Dragway or other
venues we put on.
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PARA PERFORMANCE THE OFFICIAL SPEED SHOP OF
LUSKVILLE DRAGWAY : MAY 6/24 In a day and 
age when speed shops are becoming a thing of the past it is nice to see that
one of them is not just surviving but it is getting bigger and better as the
years go by. Its a tuff deal for independent speed shops, as the times
changed and many people starting supporting on line shopping when it came to
high performance, which was a death nail for many, but not Para Performance
of Montreal which is still going strong. It was only a little while ago that
we talked about Ottawa's oldest running speed shop "Young's Speed Shop"
closing, so it is great to here that Para Performance is doing well. Doing
well enough, that the owners have once again thrown their support behind
Luskville Dragway and the 2023 racing season. Owned by François Paradis and the Anger
twins Fred and Frank, it is quick to
see that this is a racers speed shop to say the least. Para carries a complete
supply of high performance products, and if they don't have it on their shelves
they can get it the next day. They are also a supplier of Abruzzi Racing
Transmission and once again in a day and age when our Canadian Dollar is not
well, this is the place to shop. They can also get you what ever size and type
of drag slick you want and have been doing so for a number of this area's drag
racers. Many years ago there was many speed shops, many of them have bought
advertising at Luskville Dragway over those years, but today Para Performance is
one of the few that is around and is growing, so please remember to support
those that support us. You can find out more about Para Performance by clicking
on their Logo in our advertisers page.
paraperformance.ca |
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| 2024 APRIL | |||||
