Don began his interest in racing in 1954 at the age of ten when he joined his neighbours Alex Smith Sr. and his sons Jack and Alex on their weekend trips up Island to race at Shearing Speedway’s track in Cobble Hill. Towing up the Malahat’s gravel road surface was a challenge with the tow car’s drive wheels spinning which often prompted them to start the race car’s engine to push the tow car up the hills.
Later, Don would go with Reg Midgley to watch “great Stockcar races” with the likes of drivers like Dick Willoughby, Dick Varley, Dave Cooper Gerry Sylvester and Ray Pottinger just to name a few. Don said it was some of the best racing on the Island.
In 1963, Andy Cottyn said that anyone who wanted to race at Western could just bring a car so long as it had a seatbelt and no windows. As Fate would have it, Ross Surgenor and Don were in the same study class at Mount View High School and they started talking about the idea of getting a car to race. They had a friend whose mother had a 1938 Buick sedan that she wanted to get rid of so they each put up fifteen dollars and bought it, towing it back to the barn at Don’s Dad’s farm. The Buick was in great shape and ran like a top! They painted it red and put the number “17” on the doors. They then joined the “Vancouver Island Track Racing Association” (VITRA) and headed off to their first race. The car was in pretty rough shape by the end of that season but Ross was a standout among his fellow rookie drivers and he and Don finished in second spot in the season-end point standings.
The following year, building a 1949 Ford, they repeated their second place finish in the standings and in 1965 clinched first place in points along with being the winners of the newly-created “Sponsor’s Trophy” which they were able to present to their sponsor and mutual employer, “Griffiths and Jones Excavating”.
The following season saw a split between Western Speedway management and VITRA with the club running most of that year’s races at Nanaimo’s “Grandview Bowl” where they again captured the number one spot in the seaon-end standings. Don also became VITRA’s Vice-President this year with the club attempting to create a racecar track at the Sandown horse racing track in Sidney which didn’t come to pass.
VITRA returned to run at Western in 1967 along with the “Victoria Auto Racing Association” (VARA) with Don being elected as VITRA President as well as he and Ross running their ’49 Ford in the now “Stockcar” class. Close to the end of the season, Don sold the car and trailer and during the Winter built a 1958 Ford for VITRA’s new “Super Stock” class, racing also at other tracks including Haney, Langley and Penticton on the Mainland and also Evergreen and Yakima Speedways in Washington state. Don also married his wife Diane that year with VITRA buying the newlyweds tickets to the “Indy 500” to which Don and Diane drove their camper, watching a great race which was won by Bobby Unser. Don also decided to step away from racing at the close of that season to focus more on his family and his job.
- 1964 at Western – #2 1949 Ford Jalopy driven by Ross Surgenor during a heat race (Ted Mackenzie photo).
- 1965 at Western – Ross on his way to a main event win (Barrie Goodwin photo).
- 1966 at Nanaimo’s “Grandview Bowl” – #1 1949 Ford Jalopy with (left to right) driver Ross Surgenor and car owner Don Cummins (Ted Mackenzie photo).
- 1967 VITRA Executive members with Don as President (photos by Barrie Goodwin).
- 1967 Grandview Bowl programme article which features Don. (Note: two mouse clicks on this image will give a more readable version)
- 1968 – VITRA President John Biggs presents “Indy 500” tickets to Don Cummins (Barrie Goodwin photo).
- 1968 at Western – Tire change for the #58 Super Stock with (left to right) Ross Surgenor on the wheel wrench with Don Cummins on the tire pump and Bob Crooks below and Frank Perry standing on the right (Barrie Goodwin photo).
- Don Cummins (photographer unknown).