Celebrating 25 Years of Maritime Stock Car Racing
Posted June 6, 2008; Photos by Ken MacIsaac

This Saturday June 7, Riverside International Speedway, in parternship with CheckersToWreckers.com and Pointe Design Group, is celebrating a quarter-century of touring series stock car racing in the Maritimes - by paying homage to the 10 men who captured championships over those 25 years.

Maritime race fans will not want to miss this event, being held in conjunction with the Ron MacGillivray Chevrolet 100 - round two of 11 for the 2008 CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour. The tribute will be the theme of the entire show with...

• The unveiling of "Champions Alley" where fans can view storyboards featuring the career of each champion...
• A chance to meet and greet the champs...
• A chance to support the Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame with the purchase of a special limited edition "25 Years & Going Strong" t-shirt, create especially for this event...
• Memorable moments from the career of each champ - recalled by veteran motorsports announcer and promoter Jerry Lawrence...
• Photo opportunities...
• And more...

In alphabetical order...

Terry Clattenburg ~ MASCAR 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991
Hailing from Dartmouth Nova Scotia, Terry Clattenburg started his racing career as a drag racer - winning the 1968 Drag City ¼-mile championship. In 1969 he made the switch to stock cars where he made quick headlines by winning the Halifax Dartmouth International Speedway sportsman title in 1970. 1977 saw Clattenburg win the Honda Series Championship at the AMP Road Course. Clattenburg became known as one of the top racers in the Maritimes and New England as he traveled to tracks far and wide. In '83 he joined the new-founded MASCAR and went on to become a four-time champion (1986, 89, 90 & 91). Terry Clattenburg was inducted as a member of the Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007.


1984 MASCAR Champion


1989 MASCAR Champion


1990 MASCAR Champion


1991

Dave Gorveatt ~ MASCAR 1997
Dave Gorveatt started racing in 1986, honing his driving talents at Raceway Park not far from his home in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He moved to MASCAR in 1991 and captured his first series win in 1997 en route to the series title - which he captured by a mere three points over second-place Scott Kelly - the closest point battle in the 25-year Maritime touring series history. He is also the first and only "Islander" to win a Maritime touring series title. In 2001 he shifted gears to compete on the New England-based PASS SLM tour - winning a feature in May 2002 - and where he raced through 2006.


1997 MASCAR Champion

Paul Hebert ~ MASCAR 1988
Paul Hebert drove his first race car in 1968; his last in 2002 - and perhaps best known because he used an automatic transmission in his cars - and drove a Dodge "when Dodge wasn't cool" according to Hebert. One of the founding members of MASCAR in 1983, Hebert switched to his home track in Shediac New Brunswick in 1985 (the old track). Then when it closed moved to the Modified division at River Glade Speedway, then back to MASCAR - and some times all of the above - in the same week. "I raced every chance I got," he says. In 1988 Hebert became the first and only New Brunswick native to ever win the MASCAR title - and stayed with the series full-time until 1995. A limited schedule satisfied his quench for speed until 2002, when he last competed.


1988 MASCAR Champion

John Flemming ~ PST 2002, 2003 2006
Halifax Nova Scotia's John Flemming began his racing career in 1984 when he entered a demolition derby - and won! Later that year he made his first stock car start in the street stock division. In 1994 Flemming made the move to MASCAR, In 1998 he won the Debbie Hallahan Memorial Trophy as the series most sportsmanlike driver. The 2000 season saw John win the NEPSA Rookie of the Year title and visit Victory Lane in the Atlantic CAT 250 at Scotia Speedworld. After going the first five years of his pro stock racing career without a win, Flemming has gone on to win dozens of feature races, is a fan favourite and the only three-time CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour champion.


2002 CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour Champion


2003 CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour Champion


2006 CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour Champion

Scott Fraser ~ MASCAR 1996, 1998
Shubenacadie Nova Scotia's Scott Fraser was just 16 when he started racing in the Street Stock division at Onslow Speedway - where he holds the record for the most wins in a single season. He soon moved to the Open Wheel division at Scotia Speedworld winning the division title and runner-up for Rookie of the Year honours on the MASCAR circuit - in the same year. At 20 he finished third and fourth in back-to-back ACT races, his first foray into international competition. Three years later, at just 23 years of age, Scott won his first ACT race. Between 1993 and 1998 he dominated the annual Riverside 250 with six consecutive wins. In 1996 he won 12 of 15 MASCAR races en route to his first touring series championship. In 1998 he repeated the MASCAR title. In 1999 he won the International Pro Stock Challenge championship and was named the Nova Scotia Male Athlete of the Year. In 2000 Scott stunned onlookers by qualifying second and leading several laps in his American Speed Association (ASA) debut. In 2002 and 2003 he blazed the short tracks of the Maritimes and New England picking up wins at 12 of the biggest shows in the region; his last win came September 27, 2003 - just six months before his tragic death in a snowmobile accident. Scott Fraser was inducted to the Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2008.


1996 MASCAR Champion


1998 MASCAR Champion

Junior Kelly ~ MASCAR 1985
Junior Kelly started racing in the street stock division at the old Nine Mile River track when he was just 16 years old. He soon moved to the sportsman ranks at what was then a new Drag City facility close to his hometown of Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. After it closed he went to Atlantic Speedway where he won the 1979 sportsman championship. It wasn't long before the need for more speed saw Kelly in the modified division. When MASCAR was formed in 1983 he joined the series as one of the charter members - and two years later, in 1985, won the series title. Junior Kelly retired from driving racecars in 1993 to help his son Scott with his MASCAR career - which started in 1994 by winning the series Rookie of the Year title; in '95 they were second in MASCAR points; in '96 they finished third in the Oxford 250; and in '98 they won the inaugural International Pro Stock Challenge title. Since Scott's passing in '99 Junior has remained involved in racing through sponsorship and by lending a helping hand and expert advice to other racers.


1985 MASCAR Champion

Rollie MacDonald ~ MASCAR 1984; PST 2005
Rollie MacDonald's love for racing has kept him going around in circles - literally - for over 40 years, since 1965. He started his racing career at Mountain Raceway, a dirt track not far from his home in Pictou Nova Scotia. In the four decades since then MacDonald's racing career has grown to be one of the most diverse in the Maritimes, having raced at tracks throughout North America - as both the driver and the car owner. MacDonald's longest winning streak was an amazing 22 races-in-a-row at Atlantic Speedway, ending in 1977 when he sustained the worst wreck of his racing career. In 1984 he won the MASCAR title; in '86 he won Quebec's QUASCAR title and was third in MASCAR; in 1994 he raced in the NASCAR Busch North Series. In 1998 he forged a partnership and friendship with Scott Fraser that saw MacDonald in the car owner's role and Fraser in the driver's seat. The two blazed highways throughout North America making their mark on the ASA circuit. MacDonald returned to the driver's seat in the CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour following Fraser's death in 2004 - winning three races and the series title in 2005. Rollie MacDonald was inducted as a member of the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2005.


1984 MASCAR Champion


2005 CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour Champion

Greg Sewart
A native of Halifax Nova Scotia, Greg Sewart started racing in 1976 in the Atlantic Speedway Sportsman division where he picked up dual honours as rookie of the year and the divisions points champion, which he also won in '77. In 1980 he moved to the Modified division, winning that title. In 1982 he was the Late Model Points champ at Onslow Speedway. In '83 he moved to MASCAR, and the rest is history; he is the only five-time series champ, a three-time winner in the MASCAR division of Halifax's Moosehead Grand Prix (1991, 92 & 94), a two-time Riverside 250 winner (1986 & 93), winner of the only 300-lap feature ever run at Scotia Speedworld - and the top finishing Maritime racer in the Oxford 250 - second in 1994…


1983 MASCAR Champion

1987 MASCAR Champion

1992 MASCAR Champion

1993 MASCAR Champion

1995 MASCAR Champion

Wayne Smith ~ MASCAR 1994, 1999, 2000; PST 2001
Wayne Smith, from Timberlea Nova Scotia, started his racing career at Onslow Speedway in 1981 driving a Pony Class car. In 1986 he moved to the sportsman division, and in 1988 ran two nights a week at Onslow and at the "new" Scotia Speedworld - where he won the division championship, and was third overall at Onslow. The move to MASCAR came in 1989 - when he became the first rookie to ever win a MASCAR feature. Wayne's aggressive driving style earned him the nickname "the Oval Outlaw" - many fans -three MASCAR titles and the inaugural CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour title.

1994 MASCAR Champion

1999 MASCAR Champion

2000 MASCAR Champion

2001 CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour Champion

Shawn Tucker ~ PST 2004, 2007
Shawn Tucker, from Fredericton New Brunswick, has been a pro stock division racer since the first time he got behind the wheel of a racecar in 1990. He spent the first five years of his racing career as a competitor at short tracks in Maine. In 1995 he moved his racing a little closer to home and became a regular competitor at New Brunswick International Speedway, where he won the pro stock title in 1996. In 1999 he moved to the MASCAR Tour and was the Rookie of the Year. Shawn has been with the CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour since its inception in 2001, winning the series title in 2004 and 2007.

2004 CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour Champion

2007 CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour Champion