Ken's Korner| Spotlight on Robbie MacEwen

Posted Monday, January 9, 2011 @ 6:16 a.m. | 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 Robbie MacEwen, from Charlottetown, PEI, the 2011 Modified champion at Oyster Bed Speedway.

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

How did you get started?

R – I first got interested in racing from watching my uncle race street stocks at Raceway Park, which is now Oyster Bed Speedway.

Would that be Doug? He's a well known racer.

R – That's him.

I've watched you race your Modified at Oyster Bed, but you actually started with a 4 cylinder?

R – My first car was a 1991 Sunbird in the 4-Fun class, which is the four cylinder division. That was in 2006. I only raced half a season with that, then I sold it, and moved up to a street stock later in the year.

Tell me about the street stock? Did you build it, or buy it?

R – The first one was a '76 Malibu that I bought from Dylan Gosbee. I just ran that for the latter part of '06. Then, in 2007, I bought another car from Terry Bishop. My uncle Doug had a lot of success with that car in the mid 90's, so we decided to get it back and run it. That car worked good and we won a lot of races with it.

What happened to that street stock?

R – I sold it to my uncle Doug. He raced it in Shediac for the '09 season.

So then you decided to go with a Modified?

R – In the fall of '08, I bought Jonathan Hicken's Modified. He won the championship with that car in 2006.

I don't make it to Oyster Bed Speedway as much as I'd like, but when I do, I always enjoy it. You probably have some special races there that you won't forget?

R – I do. I'd have to say my most memorable moment was getting my first feature win in the Modifieds. Kent Livingstone and I ran door to door for the last several laps, and we got him by a car length in the end. That first feature win felt just as good as winning the championship in 2011. That's another day of racing I'll never forget.

You've run a few times at Center For Speed in Shediac, including last fall?

R – It's always fun going to Shediac for the Atlantic Championships in the fall. This past year, they had a Late Model Sportsman 100 which allowed our Modified cars to run against the Sportsman cars. The Sportsman cars could run our tires, a 4 barrel carburetor, and more left side weight.

I watched you that day, and you were the car to beat. What happened?

R – We unloaded fast, and had an awesome car all day, leading the first 75 laps of the feature. We broke a brake rotor with 25 to go. It was disappointing, but we still had a lot of fun, and met some new competitors.

Got some people you want to thank?

R – I really want to thank my mom, grandfather, aunt and uncle. They have been very supportive. My friends and crew members, Josh Morrison, Dave Weir, Kayle Ford, Ryan MacDonald, Tyler MacLean, Dean Livingstone, Mike Weir. All these guys work very hard and are dedicated. Also, we lost one of our crew members and good friends Reagh George on the night of our banquet. He always brought a smile and a laugh with him every week, and he'll be missed.

Any plans for this coming season?

R – We're going to run a full season again at Oyster Bed, and hopefully be a contender again for the championship. Really looking forward to getting back to the track.

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