Checkered flag flashes before Maxwell’s eyes
At age 53, driver has a chance for a storybook finish at the venue where it all started
BOWMANVILLE, ONT.— One of Canada’s most successful international road racers, Scott Maxwell of Toronto, might be making his last start as a competitive driver Saturday. But then again, he might not.
Maxwell, 53, and co-driver Jack Roush Jr. will line up for the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park aboard a Ford Mustang GT4. And Maxwell, who has won more championships than you can count in everything from single-seat formula cars to all-powerful prototype sports cars, acknowledged during an interview with the Star on Friday that the end of the line is near. But exactly when he’ll reach it remains uncertain.
“I thought after I won (with codrivers) the 12 Hours of Sebring this year that it was over,” he said. “But here I am, so how long it will go on, I don’t really know.”
The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, which also features international stars such as Spencer Pumpelly and Robin Lidell, is the Saturday headline race of the Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix weekend. The two-hour sprint, which will feature a mandatory midrace pit stop for fuel, fresh tires and a driver-change, will go to the post at 2:50 p.m.
The main event, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race featuring the prototype Cadillacs, Mazdas, Nissans and the specially prepared Corvettes, BMWs, Lexuses and so on, is Sunday at noon.
Maxwell has enjoyed a long and varied career as a test and development driver as well as a race driver. He is Markham-based Multimatic Inc.’s chief test driver and was instrumental in the development of the top-secret Ford GT race car. He is acknowledged to be the test driver responsible for turning the Ford Mustang into the powerful force it’s become in the world of international racing.
In fact, it’s precisely because of that involvement that he’s found himself on a tight schedule this weekend.
“I was originally scheduled to go to England (Friday) for a test Monday and Tuesday at the Anglesey Circuit in Wales,” he said. “So I scheduled a family holiday around it. But then (the ride with Jack Roush Jr.) came up, so I’m practising this afternoon, returning to Toronto to take the family to the airport and put them on the plane, then come back here and race Saturday.
“The race will be over by 5, so I have three hours to make my flight at 8 Saturday night. It would normally be pretty tight but we’ve got the 407 coming out almost to the track now so I should be all right.”
Whether the race car will be all right is another question. After turning the second fastest time (out of 30 entries) in the first practice session, the KohR Motorsports Mustang developed a driveline problem early in the second session and didn’t go more than a lap. A spokesperson for Ford said there was no damage to the car and it would be back on track for qualifying Saturday morning.
But if the last race was over before it started, Maxwell said he wouldn’t mind.
“I wouldn’t be upset,” he said. “I’ve done my thing and I’ve enjoyed it.
“I like the testing and the simulator work as much as the racing. The racing is more of an adrenalin high; it’s a bigger thrill but there’s a lot of prep- aration — mental and physical.”
Maxwell would love to go out on a high. He started riding his bike around old Mosport as a child when his father was involved in motorsport administration and his racedriving career started here. In his career, he’s scored a class win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and he won the first Daytona Prototype race in the old Grand Am Series, among other highlights. He thinks there are four or five cars that could win the race Saturday — and his car is one of them.
“Ironically, our strengths in this car are getting down to Corner 5 (Moss Corner),” he said. “It’s the opposite of what you would think. Our weakness is getting back up the hill (the Andretti Straightaway); we’re one of the slowest cars in a straight line.”
Maxwell said the key to winning at CTMP is track position. “You want to be up front; you don’t want to be fighting back through the field. It’s a hard place to pass, Mosport is.”