During the years surrounding World War 2, thousands of Canadian and American soldiers discovered the joys of sports car racing while stationed abroad. Upon their return home, many of them decided that racing should continue here. The only problem was there were no race tracks here. The solution? Old air bases. The Canadian and American governments had these little training fields all over the landscape that were no longer needed. Sports Car racing as we know it in North America was born.

Edenvale was the first such track in Ontario. Hosted by the British Empire Motor Club, sports car races were first held at Edenvale in 1950. By 1955, the track owner had decided to start promoting his own events and BEMC moved to Harewood Acres. Renamed the Stayner Speedway in 1956, the highlight of Edenvale’s existance as a track must have been hosting 2 USAC races in that year. 57 & 58 were quiet at Edenvale and one more attempt was made in 1959, with bikes and cars. Apparently there are still some timing lines from the drag bikes on one of the infield taxi ways.

Stayner is on the way to Collingwood, so this week’s road trip was a perfect excuse for a visit. There are few clues that the Edenvale Aerodrome was once a car racing facilty, but the airport manager is more than happy to tell what he knows of the history. He is quick to pull out historic land surveys to show what the property used to look like. He even showed where I could walk to see the old drag bike starting lines. “Just be careful crossing the runway, as it’s live”. Yeah. As I approached the runway, there was a Cessna of some sort running on the taxiway, right at my destination. I like my scalp intact and had no intention of crossing a live runway on foot. I went exploring instead.

Audrey is a deHavilland Tiger Moth that was built by none other than Morris Motors in Cowley, England. After a short stint with the RAF, she moved to France and worked there until the Seventies. Another short hop in the British Isles puts her in Ireland for a couple of years before moving to Texas in about 1976. In the early Eighties, Audrey moved to Canada and I suspect she’ll stay here at her current home in Edenvale with the Collingwood Classic Aircraft Foundation. The orange plane in the background is a 1946 Aeronca Champ that served as a trainer in the Toronto area.

Edenvale is the Canadian distributor for an ultralight plane called the Sport Star. Of note to racers is the fact that the Sport Star is powered by Rotax. I would assume this thing is pretty quick.

This Fleet Canuck was built in 1946 in Fort Erie and has been with CCAF since 1986.