As mentioned in the March report, my hopes were to get back to doing more frequent up dates.
Since my health issues, last summer, the ‘Rick @ the Races’ reports have gone from weekly to monthly. although , I’m still a long way from recovery , I feel ready to make a step in that direction.
As you see, this is a mid-month edition, and the plan is to try doing two per month.
I’ll start this report on the last day of March, when I had an appointment in Ottawa with my MYASTHENIA GRAVIS specialist.
My appointment was at 2-30 pm , but I had other things to do in the city, so left home in Cornwall at 11-00 am. I got two blocks from home when disaster struck. The exhaust system under the hood of my Chevy HHR decided to break. It sounded like a farm tractor.
I quickly got the car back home and began making phone calls.
My buddy Don Simpson offered to take me to Ottawa, and he picked me up from SEAWAY GM in Cornwall, who would check out the HHR problem while we were out of town.
We got to my doctors appointment in good time.
As I expected, the additional health issues, I’ve recently incurred , due to my medication, and the continued presence of the MYASTHENIA GRAVIS symptoms, means I will not be returning to work for a while.
I’m so lucky that I’m still able to continue with this photography hobby of mine.
On our return to Cornwall, the diagnosis on the HHR , was a need for a new exhaust system which would of cost ‘big bucks’ , so I decided to get the old one repaired at another garage the following day. (Friday 1 April)
The repair job was done just after lunch and by 6-00 pm I was ready to join my friends Ron Morin and his good lady, Raine, for a trip to the Brockville Motor Speedway’s awards night.
Most of the drivers were there to collect their awards including my good friend Tabatha Murphy, who I was eager to chat with, and find out about her recent UK trip.
Her boyfriend Josh, plays hockey for a team in Coventry , England and ‘Tabs’ had been over there for a couple of months. While she was there I’d arranged , with my media friend Colin Casserley for her to be a guest at the Coventry Stadium for the BriSCA F1 races. I’m pleased to hear that she had a good time.
My buddy , Gage Morin ( Ron’s grandson) was in attendance to pick up his Ogilvee Series Modified Championship.
There were plenty of other friends to chat with in Brockville, as the various champions collected their awards. Danny O’Brien took the Modified Championship while Dylan Evoy took the Sportsman.
On Saturday (2 April) it was the turn of my local Cornwall Motor Speedway to have their annual Awards Night and Banquet. I was accompanied to this by my close friend Chantal Lesage. We were seated with her father Ted Lesage and his fellow Cornwall Tech man, Richard Bourassa and their wives.
Also joining us was my photographer buddy Sylvain Louwers and his partner. As you know, my health issues kept me away from the track for a number of nights during 2015, and Sylvain was good enough to cover for me.
As usual all the various track champions were given their awards, which included Carey Terrance (Modifieds) Corey Wheeler (Sportsman) Dave Bissonnette (Pro Stocks) Derek Cryderman (Semi- Pro) and J F Page ( Mini Stock)

My buddy Gilles Godard picked up the Ron Morin Award , for his services to the local racing community.

The big surprise of the night ( well it was for me ! ) was when Tim Baltz announced the recipient of the special ‘Mitch Jock Memorial Award’ .
I had no idea who was going to get it, but after listening to Tim deliver his intro, the person in question , became all too familiar.
I must say , I was humbled and shocked to hear that ‘yours truly’ had been given the honor this year. I was really taken back, and obviously not prepared to give the audience, a good acceptance speech. As us ‘Brits’ would say , I was ‘Gobsmacked’
I must thank Mitch’s family, the Davids and the track owners ,the Lavergne’s for this special award. I am honored .
Mitch was a young local driver , I knew very well before he was taken from us at such an early age.Mitch passed away suddenly in the summer of 2010, while I was back in England for my mother and fathers 60th wedding anniversary.
At the time, he was an up and coming driver , and had a great future ahead of him.

After a late night at Saturdays banquet, I was up bright and early on Sunday to watch the live coverage on TV of the F1 Grand Prix from Bahrain.
It was another win for Mercedes with Nico Rosberg taking the checkers, Raikonen second in the Ferrari, with Hamilton third in the other Mercedes…. Ricardo was fourth in the Red Bull and a good solid, drive by Grosjean for the new American , Haas team was fifth.
I thought I’d got a quiet week ahead of me, so on Tuesday 4 April , I decided to take a trip across the International Bridge from my home in Cornwall , to the Akwesasne Reserve in New York, USA.
As the ‘crow flys’ my destination was only about a mile from my house, but separated by the St Lawrence Seaway. At Saturday nights banquet , I’d been chatting with Carey Terrance and his crew chief, Jeff Marshall, and during our conversation I was given an invitation to visit their workshop and HQ of REZ X Racing. Like I said , the location of their very impressive premises are probably just ‘walking distance’ from my house , if it was possible to walk on water !
I met Jeff at their large purpose built work shop and was given a tour. This has to be one of the best equipped ( if not , ‘THE BEST’ ) Modified shops I’ve ever seen. There were six race cars inside the building, five of which, were parked in a tidy line in various stages of race-readiness.
Spare parts and engines were stored in tidy piles . There was kitchen area , a bedroom and also a fully equipped Gym to keep the team in shape.
It was an awesome place to see and I’m sure it would be the envy of any race team that saw it. Thanks to Carey and Jeff for the invite.
I was only over in the USA for a couple hours of visiting, and was back home having a relaxing evening at home when my phone rang.
It was my buddy Ron Morin, asking me if I was interested in joining him for a road trip.
He had some business to attend to at the DIRTCAR (World Racing Group) office in Charlotte , North Carolina and did I fancy a ride. The idea was also to catch some racing along the way.
He was leaving at 11-00 am the next morning (Wednesday 5 April) and needed to know a.s.a.p. A bad snow storm was expected in our area of the North East , and he wanted to get going before it began.
I had no doctors appointments until the following week ( Wednesday 13 April) but first, I needed to make sure if I had enough medication to take with me, so I said I’d let him know later that night. Before 10-00pm , I’d checked my meds and commitments, so phoned back to give the thumbs up.
First thing on Wednesday morning I was at my bank to get some US dollars in cash, and I was at Ron’s place a few minutes before 11-00 am.
I got into the passenger seat of his big Lincoln Town Car , and made myself comfortable. With him doing all the driving, this would be my place to relax for the next few days.
We were soon on the road and crossing the Canadian/USA border at 1000 Islands. We passed the notorious Tug Hill area of 1 81 which often suffers the ‘Lake Effect’ of the snow, just as the flurries began.
By mid-afternoon we were passing Binghamton , New York, and with the Five Mile Point Speedway being one of our racing options for our journey home on Sunday, we took a look at the track. There was no one around, but I’d already been in contact with promoter Andrew Harpel and he’d told me, he would keep me up to date on the status.
Another of our possible weekend races were at the Big Diamond Speedway near to Minersville , Pennsylvania.
We were passing the exit on 181 at around 6-30 pm so dropped in there too. We came across one of the track maintenance guys who was busy working on some of the equipment, so chatted for a few minutes. With the bad weather and bitterly cold temperatures expected, he tipped us off that the weekends races were likely to be called off.
We were soon back on the road again and heading further down I81.
Once we had reached Hagerstown , Maryland, we made our first over night stop, at Motel 6, conveniently located next to a Golden Coral Buffet . Perfect for a good supper and some sleep.
Next morning , we were back on I81, for that long stretch through Virginia, to Roanoake , then down I 77 and Fancy Gap into North Carolina.
After various stops along the way , at about 4-45 pm, we pulled into the Headquarters of DIRT CAR and the WORLD of OUTLAWS (the World Racing Group).
It was good to see the familiar faces of Tom Deery, Gina Fernez and Jeff Hachmann.
It was also great to meet Aaron Fiedler, who is filling the position of media man , since Chris Dollack departed from the organization at the end of last year. I’ve contributed to the media needs of the WRG for a number of years and it was nice to see the head office.
From the WRG office we went up the road to the two famous Charlotte race tracks. The NASCAR Cup track and the Dirt Track which we are more familiar with. We were quite amazed to see that grass was growing on the dirt.
From Charlotte, North Carolina, we moved on to South Carolina. After passing the famous Darlington Speedway, we drove a few miles up the road to Florence, where another Motel 6 became our second over night stop.
Our plan was to return to Darlington in the morning and check out the tracks Museum.
By mid morning on Friday we were at the door of the Darlington Speedway Museum, waiting to get in. It was only 5 bucks to get in and the friendly lady who took our money introduced herself as Nancy.
There were plenty of old race cars to see, as well as some interesting artifacts collected over the years. There was a Hall of Fame which featured drivers and racing personalities from the past.
I was able to compare myself to Harry Gant, who many racing friends have commented , is someone I resemble.
I never really knew what he looked like ( with me, not being a big NASCAR fan) but maybe now, I can see a little bit of a resemblance from how I used to look in the past . Not in my present state , I must add, where medication has filled out my face.
After looking around the Museum, Nancy told us we were welcome to drive to the end of perimeter fence and take a look at the track.
By now it was lunchtime, and as Nancy recommended , we decided to sample the good food at the Race Track Bar and Grill. I had a lovely ham steak, washed down with an ice cold Coors Lite, while Ron had a Hamburger Steak.
We’d already heard the news about race cancellations due to the cold and snow up north, so decided to stay south , and head for Myrtle Beach, SC.
On arrival at Myrtle Beach, our third overnight stay, became the Rodeway Inn, with a room overlooking the ocean. It was 5-30 pm at night and people were still relaxing on the beach.
Once we’d checked in to the hotel, we took off in the car again to take a look at the local track, the Myrtle Beach Speedway.
It’s a paved , slightly banked 5/8 mile oval that run NASCAR WHELEN SERIES Late Models.
There was no racing taking place there , this weekend, as they prepared for the Annual Fair, but we did manage to chat to the General Manage. He was in one of the food concessions getting things set up.
We told him about the bad weather up north and we were looking for some racing. He suggested the Southern National Motorsports Park at Kenly, North Carolina that was running the next night. That sounded like a good idea !Just as we were leaving the Myrtle Beach Speedway, we noticed that right next door , there was a small Muscle Car Museum with a mid seventies Plymouth Fury, Cop Car parked out side.
The place was closed for the night, so we had to give that one a miss.
We were now ready for supper, so ‘cruised’ down the South Ocean Boulevard , taking in the night life.
There were plenty of colored lights , people taking a stroll, and of course posers on bikes and ‘fancy Lincolns’ 🙂 We found the ‘Captains Quarters’ bar and grill , to sit outside and relax, before turning in for the night.
On Saturday (9 April) , I took advantage of the morning sunshine and relaxed beside the Hotel pool before strolling over to the beach for a paddle.
Just across the street from the hotel , there was restaurant serving buffet breakfasts, so that was the perfect way to set our selves up for the day.
The elderly lady that served us recognized my accent and asked where about in England did I come from. It turned out she was originally from England too, and was born in Ipswich, just like me.
Even more of a coincidence, her father worked for Ransomes , the lawn mower and farm equipment manufacturer based in the town, where my father also worked. She told us that she had married a USAF military man, from the near by ( to Ipswich) USAF Bentwaters base , the same place where my grandfather was a civilian worker . “It’s a small world ”
Once on the road again, we were heading north bound in the direction of home, and hopefully our first night of racing.
As we followed the coast road up into North Carolina there were plenty of seaside attractions to see.
When we reached Wilmington .N.C . we pulled off the road for a short break, to take a look at the battleship, USS North Carolina , permanently docked and used as tourist attraction.
From Wilmington we took the I 40 up to I-95, and by about 3-30pm , we were booked into another Motel 6 at Kenley N.C.
Just a few miles up the road, the Southern National Motorsports Park is located. It’s a 4/10 of a mile, high banked paved oval that , runs NASCAR WHELAN SERIES Late Models like the MB Speedway we’d visited the day before.
Qualifying had taken place in the afternoon, but we were there in good time for the 7-00 pm start.
We were made very welcome by the staff, and I spent most of the time on the middle.
There were two 50 lappers for the Late Models with the first one going to Chris Chapman.
Also on the program, they had the Bandolero division for the kids.
As you would expect at a paved track in the south, the Legends were also on the program, but my favorite division were the Vintage Cars.
It was quite a cold night, by southern standards, so after the Vintage Feature, we made our way back to the Hotel.
The Southern National Motor-Sports Park became TRACK # 223 on my TRACKCHASING totals.
We were on the road again early on Sunday morning , heading north on I 95 towards our next race. The bad weather had not left us many opportunities, but two tracks we found out that were still running, were the Susquehanna Speedway in Pennsylvania or the Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey.
With Dirt Modifieds being our preference, we decided to head for New Jersey.
After driving through, Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, and Delaware, on I 95 we took the I 295 up into New Jersey and exit 14 to the Bridgeport Speedway.
We didn’t realize it started at 4-00 pm, and as we pulled into the track the National Anthem was being sung.
We had hoped for some time to find a Hotel before watching the races, but figured we’d have to do that afterwards .
Once again we were made very welcome, and Ron was allowed to park the big Lincoln in the pits.
Most of the local top Modified drivers were there including Jeff StrunkDuane Howard
Ryan Godown and Jimmy Hortonbut it was Rookie Matt Kressley who took the checkers in the 25 Lap Feature.
The URC Sprint Cars were also on the program and their feature was won by Davie Franek
With no hotel booked for the night, we took off before the last race (Sportsman Feature) to look for somewhere to stay.
Quite by chance ( we had taken a wrong turning ! ) we came across another Motel 6 at Greenwich Township just off exit 17 of I 295.
Monday morning (11 April) , we left New Jersey, for the homeward bound stretch of our trip. From the I 295 we drove over Commodore Barry Bridge in to Pennsylvania, where we got on the I 476 from Philadelphia to the 1 81 at Wilkes Barre.
After a good lunch at the Iron Skillet ( PETRO) in Scranton, it was the I81 all the way to Canada.
Before crossing the border we stopped off at Brewerton , New York to check out the progress on the proposed replacement track for Super Dirt Week. It was a miserable rainy day ( hence the poor pics) but we saw heavy equipment at work, although from what we could see, there was still quite a lot to be done.
From Brewerton, it felt like we were almost home , with just three hours left of driving.
We had no delays at the border and we were back in Cornwall , Ontario at 7-00 pm.
A big thanks to my buddy Ron Morin, for being my chauffeur for the last six days.
Today , on Wednesday 13 April, as this report gets published, it’s been another day with the medics. Cornwall Hospital in the morning and my dentist in the afternoon.