Well, ladies and gentlemen, we’re back with more Sudbury stock car action, thanks in no small part to your memories.
Now, before we start the race and accelerate down the track, let’s take a couple of minutes (consider it a “pre-race show”) to look at the basics of what makes a stock car and take a general view of those crafty daredevils who have a need to be both fast and furious.
In order to race safely, a stock car driver is, essentially, bolted into the chassis of his car by a safety harness that keeps him from getting mangled if anything was to go wrong during a race. All of the cars were required to have steel roofs that were reinforced with tubular steel bracing and both doors also had to be tied shut for the duration of a race.
There's always been an opinion that stock car drivers don’t necessarily have to be crazy, but it definitely helps. I don’t think that’s literally true, but the oft-repeated wisdom probably holds some truth. The drivers were not eccentrics, but young men (and women) who pitted skill and strategy in a thrilling game of chase.
That the general public in Sudbury also found this form of entertainment thrilling was evidenced by the large crowds that turned out to watch.
Now if you were to have asked the drivers at the time to assess the value of their machines, most would have estimated the value at $1,000 and $3,000 (remember these numbers when you get to a reader comment below) depending on how much of their own (and their sponsors) money they had poured into the engine and chassis.
Of course, it would have also been impossible to figure out the worth of the labour that these drivers and their partners put into their stock cars since some of them usually spent months ironing out specific issues and investigating all sorts of special racing gimmicks.
They would machine down the heads to boost compression, drill out the carburetors to feed more gas, install lighter flywheels for faster pickup. They would lie awake at night conjuring up new adaptations with which to experiment, as one would expect from the predecessors of the stock car daredevils of the future.
It's in these extras wherein lay the majority of the joy that a stock car driver gets from this hobby. A driver who finishes last one night would take wicked delight in adding one gimmick (the secret of which he would never relinquish) that would then give him that extra push to lead the pack the next night.
But in the end, for all the competitive spirit and the air of secrecy about what's hidden under the hood, there was always a joviality around the racing oval and in the pit.
Drivers were even often seen working hard to help find the problem in somebody else's vehicle, which may have in turn beaten him in a future race.
Now it’s time to wave the green flag and let’s race on down the track (and back into the past) to reminisce about some exciting racing action on the curves and straight-aways of race tracks of the Nickel Belt because, as Gary Hrytsak commented, “The roar of those cars (stays) with you for life.”
We are now back in 1952 and something new and exciting has been added to the entertainment scene in the Sudbury area. The Sudbury Speedway was just recently built by Bruce Fletcher on the south side of old Garson Road (now Maley Drive), around the current location of Lansing Avenue and stretching to the west.
Two nights a week, at an imposing 1/2-mile oval track, anywhere from 15-20 specially equipped racing cars are being put through a grueling grind and building a large following of fans.
On any given night, the superstars of the Sudbury stock car scene could be seen jockeying for position while crowded almost into the outer barrier, rounding a turn in the asphalt oval. And often, on the inside lane roaring toward another triumph in No. 11 would be reader Timothy Tuuri’s father, Elmer Tuuri.
Already famous locally for winning multiple feature races of the infant speedway’s program, this crafty driver piloted a juggernaut of a stock car known as "The Flying Finns.” His partners in building and operating the entry were two of his co-workers from INCO, "Haywire" Anderson and Carl Malmberg. Tuuri, who was known for netting close to $300 in purses in one evening's racing (approximately $3,241 in 2023) was the man to watch in local competition.
Such was his popularity and level of skill at the time that Greater Sudbury Museums even honoured Elmer Tuuri with a small display at the Anderson Farm Museum. The display includes one of his helmets and trophies, around a half-dozen great photos and even a letter inviting him to compete in the 1952 World’s Fair Race.
Another stock car that was seen quite regularly on the Sudbury Speedway loop was car No. 66 co-owned and co-piloted by friends Lionel Cormier and Eddie Young, both from the Town of Creighton. Reader Joe Cormier shared with us photos of Lionel, his father, and Eddie alongside (or should I say on top of) the car they built.
Some of the other local stock car legends of the day who raced against Elmer, Eddie and Lionel (and were also mentioned in comments and with photos from readers) included Jack Chapman, Andy Kanerva, Cubby Cuthbertson, Whitey Richards, Bill Gagnon and Bill Heppner.
Most of the local men who raced at the speedway were employees of either INCO or Falconbridge, and took what they learned there (and maybe a little more) to assist in tweaking their cars in order to get the most horsepower possible.
A Sudbury Star article dated Aug. 11, 1952, announced that 7,000 spectators attended the stock car races that Sunday to watch racers go through 40 gruelling laps attempting to capture the Sudbury Speedway Trophy.
At times over the years, 10,000 fans were known to have crowded around the speedway. Unfortunately, as time passed, the track hit a rough patch in the road and 15 years later, in 1967, it was gone.
While one racetrack was nearing the end of its lifespan and preparing to drive off into the sunset, another was just leaving the pit and entering the fray. Tucked away on a parcel of land at the end of a trail off of Mountain Street, and sandwiched between the CN tracks and the mountainside, existed for a short time a racing track known as Mountain View Park Speedway.
This racetrack was built in 1964 by Bill and Joe Zaitz. Unlike Sudbury Speedway, which was a half-mile racetrack, this one was only 1/4 mile long.
Unfortunately, no memories were shared by racers who competed on this track, but many comments were made in regards to the ease of being a spectator to the races from the “nosebleed section” due to its proximity to the mountains. As Larry Richardson wrote, “During races, we would get a great high-altitude view from the mountain and we didn't have to pay!”
After all these years, the Mountain View Speedway is still visible (unlike its contemporary) and some of it is even still put to use as a part of the Rotary Trail in New Sudbury. Reader Tammy Lacelle commented that not only is some of the track still visible, but “when you walk on the Rotary Trail there is a back trail with old parts of cars” remaining from those days.
Hurricane Park Speedway opened two weeks after Mountain View, and was named for the violent storm that hit the Sudbury District in August of 1970. Didn’t seem to matter that the August storm was a tornado and not a hurricane. From the very beginning, it became noted as the place to be to enjoy intense whirlwinds of speed and sound.
The Speedway was located on a 350-acre farm around a mile north of Blezard Valley. For just four short years, it was owned and operated by John Verhoeven. The track was an oval, three-eights of a mile long, and included a 35-foot-wide paved track, large “Pit” areas and tall wall-protected bleachers. Three different classes of stock cars (super stocks, hobby stocks and mini stocks) battled it out for trophies and automotive supremacy at this speedway.
Wayne O’Neill remembers that it “was so much fun at the time.” He raced “a mini-stock (there) in the mid-seventies.” His car number was 3/3, which were his childrens’ birthdays since they “were only allowed two numbers but (the birthdays were) the third and thirteenth.”
Frank Deburger recalls racing “with the hell drivers around 1972 with the team put on by Uniroyal tires … circulating the track on two wheels till we blew a tire with a clown on the hood.” Even with a blown tire, in his estimation, those were the “good old days for sure.”
Other events were held at the Speedway designed to satisfy those spectators who were interested in watching wheels and fenders flying in all directions. Demolition derbies and figure-eight races were very popular at the time. Pete Leduc let us know that he once “wrecked a ‘57 Chevy Bel-Air there in 30 minutes” that would be worth $95,000 today. (Not the $1,000-$3,000 of yesteryear)
Although the track was a popular spot, and weather dependent, the fact that its attendance numbers only reached the 2,000-mark (at most) betrayed the drop in interest for the sport in the Sudbury area (unlike the 4,000-7,000 spectators who were a regular sight at the Sudbury Speedway back in the 1950s).
As Wayne O’Neill wrote in relation to the sport’s downfall in the region, “Originally, it was just hobby guys fixing their cars from scrapyard parts and working through the night to get ready to race. (As) soon as big sponsors came in and attracted bigger money racers the novelty kind of wore off.”
In its final season of 1974, and as a way of attempting to extend the life of the track, the speedway ownership branched out beyond stock cars by hosting motorcycle races. Reader Jamie Canapini wrote in about racing snow machines there as well.
As with its immediate predecessor, the Mountain View Speedway, the Hurricane Speedway and its paved track is still visible to this day for those who know where to look for it. One of our readers, the granddaughter of John Verhoeven, wrote to let us know that although it is closed, “the track remains in the family, and is owned by (her) father now (the youngest son).”
Well dear readers, the checkered flag is waving again and the spectators are preparing to head home, with the smell of gasoline and burning rubber still in their heads. Thank you to everyone who shared their memories and photos of the stock car racing scene in Sudbury. We’ll see you again in two weeks.
Jason Marcon is a writer and history enthusiast in Greater Sudbury. He runs the Coniston Historical Group and the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook page. Memory Lane is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
