It is with sadness that we mark the passing of 2016 Pioneer award winner Derick Stratford and we extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

After opening his first service station in 1960, Derick began his racing involvement in 1965 with his sponsorship of Larry Walker’s #88 Jalopy and Derick would continue to support Larry and his crew for many seasons thereafter. In addition, he was a Western Speedway programme sponsor and served as the Vancouver Island Track Racing Association’s Tech Man from 1970 to 1972. Derick was voted VITRA’s “Member of the Year” in 1972.

You can learn more about our 1995 and 2003 Inductees Earl and Larry Pollard, Earl’s wife and 2004 Pioneer award-winner Laura and the remaining members of this local racing family in author Bob Kehoe’s recently-released book, “Every Saturday Night” which is now available on Amazon. Both black and white and colour versions are available. Bob has also previously written one on 1984 Inductee Billy Foster which is also available on Amazon.

The Victoria Auto Racing Hall of Fame executive have decided to postpone the current year’s induction ceremony and combine it with the one for 2022, which will hopefully take place early in the new year.

The following are some of the new Inductees and Pioneer award recipients who will be honoured at that time with some additional names being added prior to the rescheduled ceremony.

Inductees: Ed Breuker, Gary Smith, Jack Milner

Pioneers: Bill Shire, Don Laidlaw

The executive extends their congratulations to these Inductees and Pioneer award recipients and will advise the names of the additional ones along with the date, place and time of the rescheduled ceremony at a future date.

Following their respective husbands’ racing involvement from Western’s grandstands in the 1970’s prompted 2005 Pioneer award winners Lynne Burrows and Eileen Carlson to seek more active participation themselves with both taking official’s positions as Lap Recorders in the track’s Control Booth.

The girls quickly established a working rapport with each other, becoming highly skilled at their new jobs which included recording time trial lap times along with the very necessary accurate logging of the positions of all cars in each lap of every race. Following the drop of the green flag and with her eyes constantly focused on the start/finish line, Eileen punched each car’s number into a ten-key electric adding machine as it flashed past, the numbers appearing on the adding machine’s paper tape which Lynne then read and transferred to a recording sheet. In addition, the two kept in contact with the Track Announcer, Starter and Pit Boss, quickly providing restart lineups in the event of race stoppages as well as the finishing positions of all participants after the checkered flag had fallen.

During their long tenure as recorders, which included their being invited to lend their expertise to other tracks around the Pacific Northwest, Lynne and Eileen earned the respect of Western’s drivers, pit crews, officials and fans which included track announcer Rocky Horne who, in paying tribute to their skill level, gave them an accuracy rating which was just barely shy of 100%.

Located in the Northfield district of Nanaimo, the “Mountain View Garage” which was opened by the Neilson family not too long following their arrival in Nanaimo from their native Denmark in 1951, was the birthplace of the “Mid Island Auto Racing Association” (MIARA) in 1953 when nine local auto racing enthusiasts met in one of the station’s service bays. Sitting on upturned 45 gallon oil drums, car fenders and the shop’s hydraulic hoist, 2014 Inductee Hank Neilson and 2015 Inductee Harry Roberts along with Bill Bayliss, Red Burke, Chuck Brown, Ed Lewis, Bob Schofield, Hap Hackwood and Bill Hughes began to lay the groundwork for the formation of the club which would soon attract more like-minded young men with a “need for speed”. Bill Bayliss was elected as the club’s first President and would serve two more consecutive terms with Bill Hughes taking over the position in 1956 followed by Harry Roberts in ’57. Hank Neilson also served on MIARA’s executive in various positions during this time.

Looking to establish a race track in the Hub City, the fledgling club began soliciting support while several of it’s growing number of members competed at Shearing Speedway and then at Western. Both Hank and Harry became seasoned competitors at the Millstream Road track with both recording wins and good finishes and placing well in the season points standings. In May of 1958, MIARA’s dream of a local oval became a reality with the opening of Grandview Bowl. The track was an instant success with attendance figures that grew year by year along with the club’s membership.

Hank and Harry continued their club involvement along with their careers behind the wheel with Harry also serving a second term as MIARA President plus a stint as a Track Starter before both men stepped away into racing retirement. The club they had been founding fathers of continued to sanction races at the track they had helped to make a reality well towards the end of the century.