Colleagues turned down offer to join fatal flight

Now, Ted Hogan was braver than Dick Tracy. He was a champion stock car and supermodified racer at the Canadian National Exhibition and other southern Ontario tracks in the 1950s, as well as speedways in the northern U.S. And he liked to fly planes.

A prospective buyer wanted to take a look at one of Hogan’s planes, prompting Hogan to take a flight to Oshawa. Looking for company to go with him, Hogan asked fellow racer Norm Mackereth. However, his rival said he was too busy operating his service stations. Hogan then asked a retired racer, Bruce Tanner, who said yes.

While on the ground in Oshawa, the fellow interested in the plane noticed a strong odour of oil around the engine and suggested the two men return to Toronto by car so he could have his mechanic find the problem and repair it.

Hogan said he’d fix it himself and took off for the Island Airport but never made it. The plane crashed into Lake Ontario, just off Port Union Road in Scarborough.

Bruce Tanner said yes to the ride and died that day in November 1960. Norm Mackereth said no and lived till he was 93.

Fate.

When Ron and Eve White decided to fly to Mid-Ohio on on that Saturday night, there was room for four people on the plane, plus the pilot. If they could fill the other two seats, it would have made it cheaper because they could split the fee.

They asked Dave Cook, a founder of Mosport Park and motorsport columnist for the Mississauga News. But he was the announcer for the Sundown Grand Prix at Mosport on Saturday night, so had to drive to Ohio.

The Whites then asked Bill Brack, already there, if he wanted a quick trip back. Brack, a three-time Canadian driving champion, thought about it but opted to stay on the ground.

“I was driving — I think it was around Welland — when I heard on the car radio Sunday night that a plane had gone down,” said Cook, now a retired Mississauga politician. “But I didn’t make the connection right away. It was a shock when I did.”

Brack was unavailable, but Cook said the crash made him feel very relieved, and also very sad.

“The impact of that crash has been with me my whole life,” he said. “I will not fly. I had to once. Our son got married in Finland and we had to go. I had no choice. I went to a doctor and got medication to keep me calm.

“It was fate, but that’s the impact that crash has had on me my entire life. I’m 80 now. It’s always with me.”

Norris McDonald is a former Wheels