Ken's Korner| Spotlight on Tony Leonard

Posted Monday, February 6, 2012 | Source - CTW.com, by Ken MacIsaac

Maritime motorsports archivist and photographer Ken MacIsaac is doing a series of regional racing driver spotlight features - with this edition featuring Tony Leonard, from Halifax, NS, a veteran multi-division racer who calls Scotia Speedworld his home track.

Ken's interview follows, along with his photo gallery profiling Leonard's racing career...

You've been at this for quite a while. Do you remember when you first got interested?

T – I got the racing bug early. I used to go to Atlantic Speedway and watch guys like Rollie (MacDonald) and Frank (Fraser). Then, a few years later, my friends built street stocks to race at Onslow Speedway. Then, when Scotia Speedworld opened up in 1988, I really got the bug.

Did you build a street stock when it opened?

T – In '89 I built a Duke (6 cylinder) car, and ran it a full season. But the next year, I built a street stock.

Whenever I hear your name, I always think of you in a street stock.

T – Ya, I ran my street stock for 6 or 7 years at Scotia. When the track at Exhibition Park opened up, I ran there for 4 seasons as well. I won a lot of races there, and back to back championships in 2000 and 2001.

I remember you racing in a 'street stock open' at Riverside in 2002. You wrecked in a heat, yet still came back and won the feature.

T – I remember that. It was late September, and all the other tracks were closed for the season. When we got to the track, there was a large car count. The car was fast in practice. I got turned around by another car coming out of turn 2 in my heat race. I took out about 10 or 20 feet of the inside guardrail, which were wooden railway ties. The car was junk after that hit. But the crew went to work on it, and before the feature lined up, I had 4 wheels back on it. I started at the back of the feature, and after a few more spin outs, I ended up winning the race. It was quite a day.

What happened to your street stock? Did you sell it?

T – Well, the first car was an Impala, and I sold that to Kenny Ryan who raced it at Riverside. The second one went to Corey Breen, also from Riverside, and the last car went to someone in Sydney.

When did you start running a sportsman?

T – In 2002. I built a car to run at Scotia. In fact, it's the same car I'm running today.

Any races that stand out?

T – There is one. And I didn't win it, but probably had the most fun. John Flemming and I went to Speedway 660 for a Sportsman 200 lapper. Think it was in 2004. We took 2 cars, and I think the car count was like 75 that day. We both made the race, but John wrecked on the 4th lap, and I lasted to about lap 160. It was a lot of fun.

You've been to the Atlantic Championships in Shediac a few times.

T – I always ran good there, just had no luck.

Got some people you want to thank?

T – I'd like to thank Brent, Keith, and my kids, Stephen, Corey and Stephanie.

Any plans for 2012?

T – I'm going to run the bigger lap Sportsman races, and I'm going to help my son Corey race his truck at Scotia.