Rick Young's 'Rick at the Races' December 14, 2008

Rick Young's 'Rick at the Races' December 14, 2008

PIC # 1    Chris Raabe in action at Syracuse during SUPER DIRT WEEK 2008

PIC # 2   Peter Gibbons at the Kawartha Speedway 2006

PIC # 3    Chris Raabe with friends and family at SCOTIA BANK PLACE (Ottawa). L to R (Back) Greg Hale, Mike Raabe, Chris Raabe and Chris Hale. Sisters Heather and Jenna at the front.

PIC # 4    Craig (left) and Garry McColman at SCOTIA BANK PLACE (Ottawa)

PIC # 5      Am I really gonna eat all this ? 'Sudden Death By Chocolate' at Marshy's

PIC # 6    Meeting up with Lyndon Slewdidge at the game.

PIC # 7,8,9,10   Examples from the PALLMALL NZ STOCK CAR ARCHIVE

During the 2008 DIRT racing season , there was one young man who kept me busier than most while taking Victory Lane photos. His name was Chris Raabe and this year he won championships at three tracks, The Brockville Ontario Speedway (Ont), Thunder Alley Speedway(Evans Mills NY) and Rolling Wheels (Elbridge NY).

The seventeen year old from Napanee (Ont) took the checkers 22 times out of 45 feature races he entered. Not only that, he also won the LUCAS OIL Eastern Championship, the LUCAS OIL ALL STAR event (Brighton Speedway AppleFest)  and the prestigious SUPER DIRT CAR SERIES for SPORTSMAN.

It's been obvious to everyone that the youngster has talent and it was no surprise when this past Friday (12 Dec) it was announced that he'd been offered a NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES ride for 2009. Recently retired, former Canadian National Champion, Peter Gibbons from Stouffville, (Ont) has offered Raabe five ( possibly more) NCT Series races for the coming year.

Coincidentally, Craig Revelle who manages the www.rickattheraces.com website, also does the same for www.chrisraabe.com.

This past weekend, with no racing on the agenda, Craig and myself decided to take in the Ottawa Senators versus Tampa Bay Lightning NHL game. It just so happened that Chris Raabe, his family, friends and team members were going to be there too. Garry McColman, the team boss and major backer invited us to join them in his private suite (Kingston's K-ROCK 105-7 / KIX COUNTRY 93-5 radio stations)...... What a scoop for www.rickatheraces.com.

A public transport strike is currently taking place in Ottawa , resulting in an increase in car traffic to Scotia Bank Place so we opted to arrive early and treat ourselves to supper at Marshy's ( the popular eatery on site) . After 'pigging out' on the excellent bill of fare we entered the arena and met up with 'Team Raabe'.

We watched the first period of the game from our allocated seats before joining Garry, Chris and the rest of the gang in their suite. This gave me the opportunity to hear first hand about the big news that has just been released. Garry told me that Chris would be joining the Gibbons team in Hickory, North Carolina during the first week of January, where his seat would be fitted before doing some testing.

I also posed the question many Dirt racing fans are asking. Are we still going to see him next year? I'm pleased to say the answer was affirmative, and he should be back in his Sportsman on non-conflicting dates.

I must admit, I was hoping to hear he'd be behind the wheel of a Big Block Modified at Volusia ( Florida) in February, but that scenario didn't materialize in our conversation. Of course, after the initial start in Sportsman, an upgrade to 358's may occur later.

As for the game, the Sens beat the Lightning 2-0, and I'm sure everyone enjoyed the night. I also got to meet Lyndon Slewidge of the OPP who is the resident National Anthem singer for the Ottawa Senators games.

What a perfect way to spend a non racing night in winter ! .... watching my favorite hockey team take a win, while talking about 'racing'.

Following last weeks RICK @ the RACES report, my mail box had a couple of messages relating to the subjects mentioned. After hearing about Jerry Fisher's racing adventures in Argentina, I was contacted by Randy Lewis of Southern California, the Worlds number one TRACKCHASER. I guess Argentina is a country he has yet to conquer!  and was requesting to be put in touch with Jerry. Randy's current tally of tracks visited is 1398 in 22 different countries.

I also had a message from Colin Herridge in the UK, who after seeing the piece about Craig's www.speedwaynostalgia.com brought to my attention a similar project taking place in New Zealand. He sent me some photos and the contact address for Gavin Evitt and his PallMall NZ Stock Car Archives. A sample can be seen in my photo section. <<092_92 (Medium).jpg>> <<057_57 (Medium).jpg>> <<sens2 (Medium).JPG>> <<sens1 (Medium).JPG>> <<sens4 (Medium).JPG>> <<sens3 (Medium).JPG>> <<88DaynePlummer1968Standarde-mailvie (Medium).JPG>> <<1981HBTeam_3B_Barry_Sklennars (Medium).jpg>> <<19GJohnAndrews1985NZs (Medium).jpg>> <<21W_IanTaylor (Medium).jpg>>