2026 Inductees Dave and Paul Hargrave

Dave and Paul Hargrave purchased the defunct Oyster River Racing Association track in 1980 from the Kreeger family with the intent of using the property for a sawmill site. When the purchase was completed, they were contacted by more than one hundred and thirty people to reopen the Speedway. Several meetings were held, rules and a schedule for the 1981 season were decided and the track was reopened for racing.

Dave and Paul ran the track, with Dave taking the lead until 1993 with Paul then taking over responsibility for the Saturday night racing programs, repaving the track and upgrading the entire facility over many years which included adding a dedicated drag strip. Dave remained active running the rental go-kart operations, helping with maintenance and supporting the racing community.

Dave went racing himself at sixty-three years of age and won two Hornet class championships and then went on to compete in the Hobby Stock division. In 1997 he opened the Saratoga Speedway Driving School, for kids eleven years and older, attracting participants from across the Island and the Lower Mainland. This was the only driving school for future racecar drivers in Western Canada and was instrumental in the growth of our sport. By 2017, over two hundred and fifty boys and girls had graduated and had the basic knowledge they needed to go racing. The school was geared towards starting with Hornet cars which went on to become the largest division in BC with seventy-six cars registered in the “A” and “B” classes in 2016. Thirty-five of the participants were under the age of sixteen with all of them having gone through the school.

Dave retired from the driving school in 2017 at age eighty-four and this November will celebrate his ninety-second birthday. Many of the youngsters who got their start at his school are still racing and winning championships today.

Paul continued running the track until 2020 when the Hargrave family sold the property to Rob Leighton who continues to keep Saratoga Speedway open to all racers.