MIKE CURRIER 2000 INDUCTEE

Living in the Gordon Head area of Victoria in the early 1950’s, Mike Currier first became attracted to auto racing and began regularly going to Western Speedway where he was a fan of Stockcar driver Phil Lambrick. His interest extended to watching Phil and his crew work on the car weekday evenings at the car’s sponsor, Gordon Head Shell Service.

He soon decided to get more directly involved and joined the Vancouver Island Track Racing Association (VITRA) and in 1958 built his first Stockcar, a 1935 Ford sedan and had Wally Lum as his driver. Wally continued to drive for Mike and in 1960 they finished in 6^th spot in the season-end points standings. They stayed together in 1961 and for 1962, Mike teamed up with Dale Shatford and they built a Fiat-bodied car powered by a 322 cubic inch Buick “Nailhead” V8 engine for the new Modified Sportsman class. Bob “Fidel” Fiddick owned and was behind the wheel of this #10 car and they finished 9^th in points, also travelling to that year’s Edmonton “Gold Cup” race where they finished 7^th.

In 1965, Mike ran a 1950 Ford in Western’s Jalopy class with his brother Bill doing the driving. With VITRA running at Nanaimo’s Grandview Bowl for most of the ’66 season, Mike ran another Ford Jalopy, again with Bill behind the wheel. The 1967 season saw yet another Ford in the now-renamed Stockcar class with Mike joined by brothers John and Pat with John as the driver. He also worked the pit entrance gate this and the following year and then became an Assistant Pit Boss for 1969 as well as serving as VITRA’s Vice-President. In 1970, he and Chuck Cammiade built a 1957 Ford for the Late Model Stock class with rookie Ron Hancock as driver. Mike upgraded the car to a 1965 Ford Fairlane for ’71 with Ron guiding it to a 9^th place finish in points which included setting a new track record for the now-Super Stock class. They ran the same car the following season and finished in 6^th spot in the standings.

Mike again joined forces with brothers Pat and John for 1973 and they built a 1969 Ford Torino with John’s driving skills getting them a 9^th place finish in points plus they also won the “Best Looking Crew” award.. Building a new car for 1974, Mike also again served as VITRA’s Vice President, and was also awarded “Member of the Year” following which, in 1975, he and his family relocated to Cranbrook, along with the racecar which Mike ran in Spokane. Another move to the Fraser Valley saw the same car converted to run on Skagit Speedway’s clay oval and following that in 1983, the family moved back to Victoria.

In 1984, Mike became involved with the Old Time Racers Association with he and Lawrence Fox and Chuck Cammiade being the owners of a 1930 Ford coupe. Gary Kershaw, Dave Johnson, Roy Haslam and Bill Price were some of the drivers who piloted this car during the next few years. After a brief retirement, Mike owned and campaigned a 1933 Oldsmobile sedan with OTRA. Shortly after the formation of the Victoria Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1984, Mike became one of it’s Directors, a position he held for a number of years before finally stepping away into racing retirement.