It’s not the name, it’s the game continuing
First it was Dragway Park. Then it was Mosport. And now Cayuga. I get it. I don’t particularly like it, but I get it.
In the past several years, these three iconic race facilities have changed their names, through new ownership, sponsorship, and rebranding.
The same situation occurred when Hamilton’s Henderson Hospital (established in 1954) changed its name to Juravinski Hospital in 2010. Or when Copps Coliseum (opened in 1985) became FirstOntario Centre in 2014.
So Dragway Park (1954) became Toronto Motorsports Park in 2001, Mosport (1961) became Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2012 and Cayuga Speedway (1965) became Jukasa Motor Speedway in 2017.
Dragway has been called several names, such as Superboss, or Kohler, after the town, but when Cayuga or Dragway was mentioned you were talking about drag racing. The name was changed to TMP at the insistence of the IHRA when it held its first major meet there. At the time the IHRA was a major player in drag racing, and IHRA brass figured it could bring in Toronto-area fans.
Mosport (a contraction of the words “motor” and “sport”) was carved out of the hills north of Bowmanville and opened in 1961 as a 2.48-mile road circuit. For the next several decades it held worldclass circuit events for Formula One, USAC Champ cars, the American Le Mans Series, and others.
A group of businessmen, including renowned road racer Ron Fellows, purchased the road course in 2012 and continued to host major events, along with undertaking some vastly-needed improvements to the facility. Canadian Tire came on board with financial backing and the track’s name changed to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The renaming of Cayuga Speedway to Jukasa Motor Speedway ties in with other ventures of its new owners, including Jukasa Radio and Jukasa Media Group. The Hagersville-area oval was first built in 1965, and was prominent in racing for over 40 years. Bought by Ken Hill and Jerry Montour, the track has received major updates and opened for racing last month for the first time since 2009.
I was at that inaugural reopening with the APC Series Late Model show, and it was interesting to watch the track announcers plying their trade in the press booth.
Adam Ross and Jamie Maudsley are both competent and knowledgeable auto racing announcers. More than once they both started to say “Cayuga” but caught themselves, just as I have when typing the track’s former name while writing about the Speedway.
The same near-misses have happened to the announcing staff at TMP and CTMP. Rob Potter has been the head announcer at TMP for several years. While he mentioned the newer name is just about second nature when on the microphone, he admitted Dragway Park does slip out occasionally.
As with the renaming of public and other sports institutions, these three race facilities may have new names, but that is really not the issue. What is important is that they are still alive and well, thanks to the benefactors who believe in their importance.
Weekend winners: Flat Track Canada riders took part in the Western Fair District in London for Round 6 on the half-mile dirt track recently. Some of the class winners include Don Taylor of Port Colborne who won in Open Expert, Oakville’s John Kehoe in Veteran, and Seth Parsons of Welland riding in the 50-cc class ... Rounds 9 and 10 in the Can-Am Stock/Super Stock Series were held on the drag-strip of Toronto Motorsports Park over the weekend with more than 30 cars ready to do battle. In the first race, last year’s champ Tony Valerio of Welland and former champ Wally Clark from Niagara Falls lined up for the final, but the rain stopped the racing and the two finalists split the victory. For Round 10, dedicated to the late and longtime Can-Am racer Vince Vanni, Chris Lozon of Chatham took out Dundas’ Bob Park for the win ... Quebec’s Kevin Lacroix won the 51-lap Total Quartz 200 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Sunday, the latest round in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series. Cayden Lapcevich of Grimsby placed 11th ... Mike Lichty of Innerkip won the 24th annual Super Nationals for ISMA Super Modifieds, a 60-lap race held during Classic Week at Oswego Speedway. Winning the 200-lap 61st Budweiser Classic was Dave Shullick of Ohio ... Big winners in the world’s largest drag race, the Chevrolet Performance US Nationals in Indiana, were Steve Torrence in Top Fuel, J.R. Todd in Funny Car, and Drew Skillman in Pro Stock.