[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”300″]
[/media-credit]When the NASCAR Nationwide Series chose to go to Montreal, everybody knew of the city and believed in the decision. However, when it came to NASCAR choosing Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, many questions began to enter the minds of fans. However, as a Canadian Motorsports fan, I can assure you that this is the right track for a NASCAR race in Canada.
The announcement was made last weekend as the 2013 truck schedule begins to take shape.
“We at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park are thrilled to be able to bring the Camping World Truck Series to Canadian motorsport fans,” Myles Brandt, President and General Manager of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, said. “We’re looking forward to creating an unforgettable experience for both fans and drivers alike this Labour Day weekend as we mark yet another milestone in the history of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.”
“We’re excited to announce the addition of a world-class facility like Canadian Tire Motorsport Park to our NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule for 2013,” Steve O’Donnell, Senior Vice President of Racing Operations for NASCAR, said. “We’re looking forward to working with Canadian Tire Motorsport Park as we introduce the truck series to our great fans in Canada. Their enthusiastic response to our sport has helped grow its popularity in Canada significantly throughout the years.”
CTMP, formally known as Mosport, has hosted many big races in the past for travelling series and has put on some of the best shows. Just last year, the track was home to races for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, Trans-Am, the Canadian Touring Car Championship, Porche GT3 Cup Challenge, Pirelli World Challenge, American Le Mans Series and the season finale for the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship. It is also home to the Canadian Histroic Grand Prix, which is event organized by the Vintage Automobile Racing Association (VARAC) to bring out cars from the past 50 years on the track.
The track has also gone through some big changes in just the last two years since the ownership change hands.
The first change they made last year was adding a new tunnel above turn nine to therefore improve the infrastructure of the track and allow people to be able to get around easier. They took out what Ron Fellows called the “mouse tunnel” and put in a tunnel wide enough for two tractor trailers to fit through side-by-side.
To improve the experience for the fans, they did some grading to improve the sight lines, creating new areas for camping, and there’s now a road that connects all the facilities together now so fans don’t have to go on to the public road to get from one end to the other.
The changes continued this off-season with a brand new state of the art media center being built, as well as some of the turns being repaved.
The track has a strong historical history in Canadian auto racing, being one of the oldest road courses in Canada and having held some of the biggest races. It was those historical moments that had road course veteran Fellows encouraged to be part of the track ownership group with Alan Boughton and Carlo Fidani.
“It’s really enjoyable to be a part of it. Mosport has been a big part of my life,” Fellows said earlier this year at the Canadian Motorsports Expo. “I went to the first race in 1969 as an 11 year old kid and that’s where I got bitten by the bug to go racing for myself and have had a lot of firsts at Mosport in terms of big wins for me so the place has meant a lot to me.”
Through his years of racing at Mosport, Fellows has had a lot of accomplishments there. Some of these accomplishments include winning in a Ferrari back in 1997 and first TransAm win in 1989.
With the history behind the road course, to be the first track in Canada to host an event for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series just adds to the prestige of the track.
It also has been known to produce side-by-side racing that keeps fans on the edge of their seats. Just last year in the season opener for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, J.R. Fitzpatrick and D.J. Kennington bumped many times in the final laps as they battled for the lead. The contact back and forth, pushing a little here and there, finding the right spot to block, produced one of the most memorable moments of the season.
It’s no doubt that this year’s Labor Day weekend in Bowmanville, Ontario will see many Canadian fans coming out, expecting the same type of action with the trucks. With tickets as low as $50 for the Sunday, it is an opportunity that fans cannot pass up.
