Recently recovered photos from the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Racing Days in our home towns of Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario....

     With much thanks to Paula Orr and the owner of these photos, Gary Becotte and with permission we are able to add an all new HR&J post after many months.  Some of these photos are very rare to me as not many have been taken of these cars, particularly Tom Dow's car and his hauler.  A few other photos were taken from what was called the mezzanine.  The CLE added extra uncovered bleachers on the north side of the covered grandstand a few years after racing started at the CLE in the early 1950's.

The first photo here is of Tom Dow's race car hauler painted to match his car back in 1954.  The picture was taken in the lane-way behind what was the original Dow's Auto Electric which was located at 112 N. May St. later to become Chris' Billiard Hall.  The building still exists today in the same location.  

The building in the background here is the rear of the original St. Stanislaus (Stan's) school which also still exists today....the front of it faces Miles St.  

Tom and his brother built and tuned Tom's #2 car in that building on 112 N. May.  This is also where Tom met Barry Kettering who worked a few years before then for Thorne's Sargent Automotive which was located on the large parking lot on Violet St., before a spectacular fire had destroyed it.

The next photo here is the rear of the old St. Stan's school which can be seen behind the above photo and behind the following photo as well.

Here's is how Tom Dow's car looked in 1953/54.  It was a 1932 Ford 3-window coupe.  The holy grail of the Hot Rod world today.

The building below is the rear of 112 N. May St. as it looks today.  You can see where the centre of the garage area was once opened to a large door where the Dow brothers worked on #2.

The picture on the right is of a very young Tom Dow in racing whites.... well I guess they were white before the races started.

It's interesting to read the newspaper article below from July 29, 1954 to see what was happening at the old CLE 1/2 mile racetrack.  Tom did go on to win the 1954 Championship and carry the trophy home.

 Next:

The following scrap yard photo is the first race car that Walter (Wally) (Walt) Prokosh raced at the CLE grounds in the same era that Tom Dow raced.  The car was sponsored by D & J Stitt Menswear, and Mid City Machinery.  It stood the test of time in 1953 but succumbed to it's injuries and by the end of the year, Wally had a brand new Jalopy to race.

 

Here's Wally's next car...a very nice '37 Ford coupe with the same sponsors and number 55.  Wally did pretty well with this car but destiny would change his future as you will see in the next photo.

Wally was offered a driver's seat in the bright yellow #54 car owned and built by the Abitibi Power and Paper Company of Port Arthur.  This winning car gave Wally a big name in the racing community here in the early 1950's.  It was a 1933 Ford 3-window coupe.  The use here of the wide 5 wheels from Ford's 1936 vehicles helped hold them to the hub at a 10 1/2 bolt circle.  There were less wheel loss from a larger circle and the racing community continued to use the 10 1/2's for decades to come particularly on sprint cars.

Here's a great picture of Wally Prokosh, cig in hand and goggled helmet being very cool with his new jalopy to drive.  This car also had a Ford overhead valve engine which basically put most of the flathead engines back in the pack.

Next:

Smack dab in the middle of these great photos is this very early, circa 1953 photo of Don Marsh's #60 car which I believe was Don's very first stock car, sporting a Ford flathead engine and a yellow and black paint scheme.  Don also did very well in his early years of racing.

 

From the Mezzanine this photo was taken of #77 Clyde Ditmars from Kakabeka Falls leading an unknown driver here coming out of turn 4.  There was consistant great racing at the CLE track in the 1950's and as a kid I dreamed about someday racing a jalopy, but it had to wait until I was older and until Riverview Raceway was built, and by then they weren't called jalopies.

 

Here's another of Wally Prokosh coming out of turn 4 as well with what looks like someone on their lid halfway through the corner.  Not clear but who cares....these are great photos.

 

Here's another of Wally in #54 with #36 further down the track. 

Finally we have Albert Massaro in his Rea's Esso #88 car going the wrong way 👈😂 ....and I have no idea who's driving the blurred car. 

Lastly here is the actual Lakehead Stock Car Club logo which was put to use on literally hundreds of racing jackets from the good old Canadian Lakehead Exhibition days.

All the above photos were copied and edited to make them as clear as we could to bring out the detail. Thanks again to Gary Becotte for the photos and Paula Orr for bringing them to our attention at the Hotrods and Jalopies blog pages.  A couple of my archive photos and a news clip were also added.

......thanks for visiting us again at HR&J, with more new racing posts to come.

More of the 1950's at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Race Track in our home towns of Fort William and Port Arthur

It's difficult to believe that fully organized racing began here in our Lakehead cities as far back as the 1920s, but the Hotrods and Jalopies Generation in my mind started in 1952 with a race held in Murillo in August and the first race of the Lakehead Stock Car Racing assoc. started at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition in the late fall of 1952.
So as we start a brand new blog post months overdue, we have donated photos from Glen Kettering's album, Cindy Patton's album (Wally Prokosh's daughter) and Glenn McKinnon's photos.  Thanks to all those who have taken the time to donate photos for our use.  This fall and into winter we have numerous more photos and news clippings that I will share with you, both on early racing and Fort William and Port Arthur history.
To start off, the first photos are mementos of the very first Lakehead Stock Car Racing Association's program and race day which took place on October 6, 1952.

The first LSCRA program with thanks to Glen and Miriam Kettering

 This next piece is the 1952 Roster.  Do you recognize any of your friends or relatives that raced that first race?  Be sure to click on all the photos and brochures to view screen size.


























The next two are Times Journal clippings of the historic event.  You can vividly see the old animal barns that were at the south end of the track in turn 1 & 2.

 

Here is an interesting photo of the #34 Kam Motors car driven by Onorio(Canary) Trevisan and Bill Chepil.  This then and now photo was taken from the original Kam Motors used car lot on Leith st facing towards the garage.  It is now a taxi business.

With much thanks to Glenn McKinnon we have this full color slide to share with you.  This is a circa 1956 photo taken from the Grandstand towards the judges stand and I believe during fair week.  The old wooden fence circling the track is visual as well as a few elevators along the waterfront.  The track would encircle what was also once the golf dome with is now gone as well.  Wouldn't it be great to build the track in its original place again.....not likely.

As I drove by Current River and Current River park the other day, I was remembering The Casino Dine and Dance which was just adjacent (south of) the Current River dam which eventually burned to the ground.  It was a favorite of my parents to have a nice dinner together and spend a night on the dance floor.  Oddly enough it was never a real Casino.  As you can see they even sponsored a stock car in about 1953.

I always like to show the close proximity of the track to where the Coliseum Building is today, and this one is no exception.  With thanks to Wally Prokosh's daughter Cindy Patton we have a number of new clippings and photos which will be brought out over the coming months.  In front and possibly in the last lap is #49 Conrad Trombelli just ahead of #87 Tony Massaro as they pass the gate and the Coliseum building.

The next photo is of Conrad Trombelli taking the checkered flag in front of a packed grandstand and off to the right, the mezzanine area which was the uncovered portion of the grandstand to the north.  Yours truly is somewhere in the crowd selling cokes to get into the races for free.

This is a a very interesting photo of my hero Barry Kettering with a seriously damaged #47 car circa 1953.  Barry's #47 cars were sponsored by Bud Heidrick.  One day when Bud was at the shop and Barry wasn't around, roller skates were welded to the top of his car.  Bud had told Barry that he would have to leave the roller skates on his car until he stopped rolling over.  Obviously Barry did, lost the roller skates and went on to much bigger and better things until his very sad and untimely death years later.  The red rectangle shows the roller skate on his car.

 Here's a typical photo clipping from our newspapers in the day.  We always had great racing coverage which made for record crowds on race days.

 Another clipping from Cindy Patton to enjoy.

In 1957 Barry and Glen Kettering had built a brand new car and was dubbed #57 for the year of change.  Here is Glen and Barry with their horseshoed 34 Ford coupe named Poopsie.  This car went on to numerous wins for the Kettering brothers.

 The last clip on this post is from Cindy as well.  It was a 1958 notification that Wally Prokosh, her dad was back in the lineup with a vengeance and would also see many successful race days at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition race track.

 Hope you enjoyed this post.  I've been busy working on my new hot rod project and recovering from some health issues, so if you liked this, let me know and I will get back on track on the blog and slow down somewhat on my Facebook page.  Thanks, Dave

A Very Lucky Young Man in the 1950's.....

This lucky young fellow had his picture taken with the fast and famous of the day.  Who is he?  These wonderful pictures of a young man by the name of Orrin Maki were taken in the mid 1950's at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition race track in Fort William Ontario.
All my friends and I who frequented the famed CLE race track, which today would have encircled the Golf Dome at the fairgrounds would have given our right arms to have their photos taken beside these guys.

Here is Orrin standing next to the famed '32 Ford 5W Coupe #47 "Buds Thing", driven by Barry Kettering, and also standing next to Barry himself. 
These photos were taken in the mid 1950's

On the left Orrin is held in the air by Martin Autio.

On the right he is posing with Ross "Pappy" Fowler.

If you do a search on the top left corner of this blog page you can read about each of these drivers in more detail.
Be sure to click on all photos for enlargements!

On the left, we have Orrin with Wally Prokosh.  Wally drove many cars at the CLE but he is most known for his #54 Abitibi Car.

On the right Johnny Zatti puts his racing helmet on Orrin, bringing huge smiles to both their faces.

Here is Orrin with a very young looking Tom Dow, with a few jealous kids looking on.

On the right is Orrin on the left and an unknown young man on the right beside Tom Dow's beautiful '32 Ford 3-window coupe #2 stock car.

This is how the track looked in the mid 1950's and where Orrin had all those photos taken.  Today you would be staring directly at the Golf Dome.

A couple of shots of the track in relation to the surrounding area circa mid 1950's at Fair time.

Orrin would have been close to my age had he not passed away back in 2008.  His father Bill passed away at a young age as well back in 1980 but luckily these photos survived.  Orrin did have his hand at racing as I did, but the reason these photos were taken was because his father Bill Maki was on none other than Barry Kettering's pit crew at the time.
A big thank you to Russ Wanzuk for the use of the pictures of Orrin and the big boys.

Car #54 Where Are You?.....

"Oooh, oooh", this first picture is a bit tongue in cheek but the real Car #54 is next in this post. The TV show "Car 54" if you remember, with these two clowns was in the late 50's and started not too long after the local favourite #54 driven by Wally Prokosh and Sammy Myronuk came to the fairgrounds track. Thanks to Jack Rea, lifelong friend of Charlie Miller(you can read a bit about Charlie an an earlier post) we are all able to enjoy these great photos of Car #54.

Dirt flying in the #2 corner (The gate corner) at the CLE track!
These two photos of the Model "A" were taken on the Abitibi Mill grounds, and the cars in the background in the parking lot defines the era when they were taken.

The back of this picture reads - 1954 Mercury 256 cu. in. #10 Pappy Fowler and the #54 Wally Prokosh car were the first overhead valve V8 motors used at the Exhibition track in 1954.

The back of this picture reads - Won track championship in 1955 with a 292 Ford Engine...300 cu. in. was the limit then.

The back of this group picture reads - Abitibi employees stock car(this is the second car - first was a model "A" Ford driven by Wally Prokosh). Abitibi had these cars between 1954 and 1956. The '34 Ford won the championship in 1955 at the Fort William fairgrounds track with Sammy Myronuk behind the wheel. Only 2 cars were built. The first(model "A") had an overhead valve mercury motor(same as Pappy Fowler) in 1954 - 255 cu. in. Wally blew it up in 1955 and was replaced with a 292 cu. in. Mercury motor. Sam Myronuk occasionally drove the car and Sam is pictured to the right.

Left to right in this group photo is: Mill Manager Jerry Carey, Al Cruickshank, Art Gray, Dick Bamford, and Casey McCallum and Sammy Myronuk.

Abitibi Mill Manager Jerry Carey....

These last two photos were taken at the CLE racetrack in about 1955. The last photo on the right shows them lining up for time trials. Car #54 is last,then further up you can see the Barry Kettering #47 car and ahead of him the #87 Tony Massaro car.

Thanks again to Jack Rea for loaning us the photos.....Dave ...Click on to enlarge