A wild variety of cars race in the Heart of a Champion Hot Rod Classics Vintage Race Car Series. The tour travels to tracks around the Maritimes region of Canada, such as Petty International Raceway in River Glade, New Brunswick, and Riverside International Speedway in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia. In two years since the series’ formation, the field has grown to nearly 20 cars.
“This is a class in which you can race a rat rod if you wanted to,” said Cy Harvey, 70, of Elmsdale, Nova Scotia. “There aren’t many rules.”
Harvey races a 1949 Chevrolet Torpedo-back coupe (pictured in lead photo). It sat in a field behind his house for more than 25 years. When he heard about the series, he enlisted the help of veteran car builder Frank Fraser. Fraser took that Chevy coupe body and placed it on a Lefthander pro stock chassis. Others turned to Fraser for their vintage creations as well.
“We took a Five Star body off and put a real ’68 Camaro body on [a GM metric sportsman chassis],” Fraser, 76, of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, said. “Right now, there’s a rare ’68 Beaumont [a Canadian GM make in the late 1960s] in the yard, and four or five other cars being built for the division.”
The series showcases cars built before 1980. With so many different years, makes, and models of cars, Fraser acknowledges the struggle for parity.
“Sure, there are some discrepancies in speeds,” said Fraser. “We’re still figuring things out. But, right now, you can buy a roller chassis for $3,000 Canadian, put a junkyard body on it, and go out there to play. It’s a good time for vintage cars. Older racers are still around and young people are fascinated by the old-style bodies.”
Pat Lawrence founded the series. He came up with the idea for the series after a strong response to his restoration of a 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle once driven by Halifax, Nova Scotia, racer Greg Stewart. Lawrence also campaigns a former pavement modified.
“I was always fascinated with pavement modifieds since I saw them race at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine,” Lawrence, of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, said. “I constantly looked on Craigslist for cars, and last year I found the car of my dreams.”
That car from Rhode Island bore the number U2. However, its owner said it once had the number 134 (pictured in lead). Roland Lapierre Jr. won with it in the NASCAR Busch 100 at the defunct Westboro Speedway in Massachusetts. Nicholas Teto, Lapierre’s grandson, viewed photos of the car.
“My grandfather has never laid eyes upon it to confirm how authentic it is since it has been restored,” said Teto, of Johnston, Rhode Island. “If it is that car, it is very interesting that a car with such historical significance is being raced again. It makes me squeamish thinking something could happen to it while racing.”
Just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Lawrence knocked on Roland Lapierre Jr.’s door. Lapierre invited him in to have a conversation.
“I felt like I was a seven-year-old again, meeting a driver for the first time and getting his autograph,” Lawrence said. “He’s one of my idols.”
The Hot Rod Classics Vintage Race Car Series serves as a bridge between today and yesterday. It is also a fountain of youth for racers yearning to experience the “good ole days” again.
“Race cars can keep an old man young,” Harvey said. “Age doesn’t mean a thing in this division, and that’s a good thing.”
Photo Credit: Tanya Everett
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
