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A little over a year ago, Allan de la Plante and Bill Brack hatched a plan to bring as many old racing farts together as possible during the week of the Toronto Indy. The event was a complete success and included some of Canada’s brightest stars of racing from “back in the day”. It was such a success that it was decided that this should be an annual event on the eve of what is arguably one of Canada’s most important motorsports events.
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Matt Waldin at Mosport
2010 has been a year of ups and downs here in my corner of The Garage. Fortunately, on a professional level there were more ups than downs and those ups have helped open some doors that will be very important in the coming months.
It is hard to believe, but a year ago I was prepping for my first ever visit to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Having been involved in automotive media since 2001 and working in the auto industry for over 2 decades, you would think I would have made it there at some point. Last year, I went down as part of a social media project set up by the good folks at GM. I met some great people who I’ve previously only spoken to online. I’m looking forward to the same trip next week!
Returning from Detroit, I agreed to help out my friends at Porsche Canada by doing social media coverage of Canadian team, Bullet Racing at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. From my couch. For free. It has been something like 18 years since I was involved in a 24 hour race, so it was an honor to work with the team.
The Victoria Day weekend has traditionally been the first big road racing event of the season here in Ontario. I jumped at the chance to ride shotgun with Randy Pobst in the K-Pax Racing Volvo S60 for a couple of hot laps around Mosport. That beast is a machine I’ll never forget!
Thanks to Bridgestone, I had the opportunity to squeeze myself into a formula car for the first time. 900 lbs, 170 hp = the most intense driving experience EVER!
By far the biggest high of the year came from the discovery of photography, which happened as a result of my being prodded by Allan de la Plante. AdlP set me on a path that surprised the daylights out of me. I can actually take killer racing photos!
I’ve had the opportunity to work with teams racing with NASCAR, Indy Lights, Castrol Touring Cars, Playboy Mazda, World Challenge, ALMS and Trans Am. I became a member of the respected American Racing Press Association. This is the stuff dreams are made of and it is only going to get better in 2011 as I travel to more races outside of Ontario.
My photos have been published in 2 of Canada’s top national newspapers and several local papers around the GTA.
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We have a pretty incredible racing history here in Ontario, dating back to the late 1950’s. Fortunately, that is recent enough history that many early racers are still around to share their stories. Our own Allan de la Plante is one of those guys who was in the thick of the action in the Sixties and Seventies. A couple of weeks before the Honda Indy in Toronto, Allan had a spark of an idea to get a bunch of the old racers together for an evening. The next thing we knew, Allan had put together the above invite using his famed Four into Four image, while Canadian racing icon Bill Brack was scrambling to put together the guest list.
I was honored to be included in the list, as I had only been a little guy when these guys were racing past as I played in the sand at Mosport. There had been some discussion before the event as too what constitutes an Old Fart and it was deemed that one should have seen an original Can Am series race in person. I was indeed at a few of them, so I guess that qualifies me as old!
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