The final laps have spun on the native racetrack, however the Victoria Auto Racing Corridor of Fame carries the flame with new inductees coming throughout an April occasion.
The brand new inductees embody the racing pioneering Currier brothers; a Cowichan enterprise dedicated to the game for greater than three many years; a racer who began his profession on a mud monitor in Cobble Hill; and a racer who grew up on the monitor and joins his dad and brother within the Corridor.
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The Currier Brothers are inducted into the Corridor of Fame as pioneers of the game.
In keeping with the racing Corridor of Fame, the eldest brother Mike began racing in 1958, engaged on automobiles pushed by Wall Lum, two of his brothers and Ronnie Hancock.
By 1963, all of the Currier brothers have been concerned – John, Invoice, Pat and Mike.
At one level, John and Pat have been on one automotive – the Daffodil Stomper – and Mike was on one other – the Tulip Tornado.
John and Invoice have been well-known by means of driving inventory automobiles, determine 8s and later Outdated Timers. Mike and Pat each labored on the again gate. Invoice, Pat and Mike have been all concerned as assistant pit bosses by means of the years. Away from the monitor, they have been concerned within the Vancouver Island Monitor Racing Affiliation (VITRA) and its govt. Mike was inducted into the Corridor of Fame in 2000. Though John stays in Victoria, Invoice moved to the Kootenays the place he was concerned within the Cranbrook monitor, Pat moved to Kelowna and Mike is now in Oliver.
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Additionally inducted this 12 months as a pioneer is Chuck Gust’s Mid Island Engine and Machine Ltd.
The Duncan store owned by Chuck Gust has been serving to the racing neighborhood for greater than 30 years.
As one of many few outlets with a dyno machine – used to tune a car with particular horsepower, torque and different elements in thoughts – the parents in that store have dynoed many race engines on the Island and mainland.
The store additionally works on home, import, industrial, marine and their very own race engines.
Inductee Don Cummins began racing in 1954 on the age of 10 on the filth monitor in Cobble Hill, based on Corridor of Fame information.
After racing there, he would go to the Western Speedway with Reg Midgley to observe inventory automotive racing with drivers akin to Dick Wilouby, Dick Varley, Dave Cooper, Gerry Sylvester and Ray Pottinger.
In 1963 Cummins and classmate Ross Surgenor and Cummins heard anybody who needed to race may simply carry a automotive with a seatbelt and no home windows. In a category at Mt. View Excessive College, the pair determined to present it a shot, and acquired a ’38 Buick from a pal’s mother – every paid $15 – and dragged it again to Cummins’ dad’s farm.
The automotive was mint and ran nice, they painted it crimson and put No. 17 on it.
They joined the Vancouver Island Monitor Racing Affiliation (VITRA) and completed second in factors however the automotive was fairly tough by the top of the 12 months.
In 1966 a break up between the speedway and VITRA noticed some drivers race in Nanaimo, the place Cummins completed first in factors and held the monitor file.
In 1967 Cummins grew to become president of VITRA and was again at Western Speedway working to get racing again on monitor. He raced the No. 1 automotive and was voted member of the 12 months.
In 1968 Cummins married and VITRA members purchased him tickets to the Indianapolis 500 as a present, later that 12 months he retired from racing to focus and household and work.
Over his profession, he would race Evergreen (Washington State), Yakima, Haney Vancouver, Langley and Penticton.
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Inductee Jeff Montgomery joins his dad Neil and brother Trevor within the Victoria Auto Racing Corridor of Fame.
Jeff Montgomery instructed the Corridor of Fame workforce that the game has given him relationships with the veterans he watched and realized from in his youthful years; the youngsters he grew up with that he nonetheless calls buddies immediately; and others by means of his profession who share the fervour of racing.
The pursuit of pace has been part of Montgomery’s life since earlier than he was sufficiently old to sit down behind the wheel. He grew up on the monitor within the ’70s and ‘80s watching his dad, the late Neil Montgomery, race. As a baby, Jeff remembers the nice occasions operating across the grandstands cheering on his favorite drivers.
Jeff’s profession began with racing BMX bikes in 1982 earlier than competing with Staff Canada in ’86. In 1987 he received behind the wheel of an enduro automotive and gained the $1,000 prize.
It sparked a ardour for racing.
in 1990-91 he ran within the claimer division with a number of wins. The 1992-93 season noticed Montgomery driving a inventory automotive owned by Marty Block and Ron Simpson at Western Speedway. For the 1994 season, Montgomery purchased his personal inventory automotive that he ran on the filth at Cassidy Speedway. The next 12 months, he ran the Russ Lejuene and Neil Montgomery spring automotive at Cassidy.
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In the course of the mid-Nineties, Montgomery raced a inventory automotive at Western Speedway. In 1998 his first actual break got here when he was requested to drive the No. 11 thunder automotive owned by Rocky Horne; it was the 12 months he received the nickname The Hurricane. Montgomery drove the No. 33 sportsman automotive for Horne in 1999 and 2000.
His first dash race was the 2001 Strawberry Cup and led to a wreck destroying the automotive, which was repaired in time for that 12 months’s Daffodil Cup in 2001. The following 12 months he raced Horne’s No. 33 dash automotive and continued to race that automotive beneath new proprietor Jeff McLeod by means of 2006.
Montgomery and workforce had many accomplishments through the years however probably the most memorable moments was his first time profitable the celebrated Daffodil Cup in 2004.
One other spotlight a number of years later was when the workforce ran its first 12 months within the NSRA and gained the general championship.
In 2007, he started driving for his dad and two years later Neil Montgomery Motorsports constructed a brand new 33J automotive with A&A Efficiency that was run till the top of the 2019 season when Jeff Montgomery retired.
In 2023 he got here out of retirement.
When Gerry Vantreight requested him to drive his dash automotive, Montgomery discovered it a possibility to share his love of racing with with grandson Beck.
The Victoria Auto Racing Corridor of Fame induction ceremony is about for April 13 at Parts On line casino.
Doorways open at 1 p.m. with this system starting at 2 p.m.
Reserve tickets, $60 every, by responding to George Jenson’s submit on the Victoria Auto Racing Corridor of Fame Fb web page.
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