He spent a great deal of his time at Western Speedway, spectating, working on his buddies cars, racing his own cars, helping his fellow racers and eventually teaching his son to race at Western. His first drive was a mechanics race in 1980 when he was 14. He then moved to Demo Cars in 1985 where he won 2 heat races and 1 Main Event in his first year. In 1986 he won a trophy dash, a heat race and 2 Main Events. Only one heat race in 1987 but 2 heat races and 3 Main Events in 1988. 1989 was the beginning of a true Champion. He won 2 heat races and 6 Main Events to become the season Points Champion. He again was the Champion in 1990 with 4 trophy dashes, 4 heat races and 7 Main Event victories.
He also was awarded the best looking car trophy. He sat out part of the 1991 season but still won 4 trophy dashes, 1 heat race and 2 Main Events. 1992 saw his comeback as Champion as he set fast time 3 times, won 3 trophy dashes, 6 heat races and 3 Main Events to earn 1545 points over the second place at 1,365. He also won the Goodwin Trophy. He upgraded to the Thunder Car class at Western and in 1995 he was honoured with the Rookie of the Year and Driver of the Year awards and also won 5 out of 12 Main Events to become the Points Champion. There was a special Friday 100 lap event at Western which he won, then went to Saratoga Speedway on Saturday and won the 100 lap race there which gave him a $1,000 prize.
He ran Thunder Cars for 3 more seasons. In 1996 he won 2 trophy dashes, 12 heat races and 1 Main Event. In 1977 he was 4th in season’s points, then in 1998 he won 3 Main Events and finished the year 2nd in points. He was also awarded a Driver of the Week award. In 2000 he joined the Sportsman Series class. His proudest day was when his son Mike started racing in a Hornet car and he eventually won a Main Event. We are very proud to induct Lou Melin into the Victoria Auto Racing Hall of Fame. The unfortunate news is that we lost Lou on August 12, 2009 at the young age of 43.
