Driver Profile: Danielle Wilson - #21

On any summer weekend night in Ontario, there are countless kids perched intently in the grandstands of our local stock car tracks, their gazes locked on the brightly lit racing surface.  I know this, because I myself was one of those crazed youngsters back in the 70s and 80s.  These adolescent enthusiasts cheer on their favourite drivers and dream of one day getting the opportunity to be down on the asphalt themselves.  For Danielle Wilson, Sauble Speedway was the venue as her family spent many a weekend at a cottage in Sauble Beach, where they would regularly attend Saturday night events at Sauble Speedway. A huge racing fan as a child, Wilson's dream became a reality back in 1999 when her father John began the shared ownership of a Jr. Late Model with a friend, which would put his 12 year-old daughter into competition. A simple yet probing question one night from Dad regarding his daughter’s perceived ability to race a Jr. Late Model at Sauble was followed with a resounding “I bet I could”, a reply that has led to a long career and love affair with the sport.  They would purchase their own car for her second season of racing, and Wilson was off and running.

Six seasons of Jr. Late Model competition at Sauble helped hone Danielle’s racecraft in preparation for her move to the Ontario Pro Challenge series in 2006 at the age of 18. Wilson was voted the OPC Sportsman of the Year in her rookie season, and has used the subsequent campaigns to consistently improve her abilities. A number of heat race victories have been enjoyed, and her best feature race finish is a second place run.  Last season, Wilson turned in her best run at Sunset in late August when she finished an impressive third to Josh Nicholson and eventual champion Dennis Thomson. Danielle missed three races and finished 14^th in points in ’09, but a full campaign is scheduled for 2K10.  This year will be all about bagging that illusive first main event victory.

For Wilson, the biggest draw of the Ontario Pro Challenge Series is the community, which she states is always there to help with advice or to jump in if a car needs help with trackside repairs.  As for the race car itself, Danielle loves the corner speeds and the agile nature of the Pro Challenge machine, not to mention its relatively low maintenance requirements.  When it comes to tracks, she points to Kawartha as her favorite. As the site of her first heat race win, there is a comfort and confidence factor for the fast facility, where she feels that she can always fight for a top-three finish.  She’ll get a chance to return to the track on September 10 during the Ontario Pro Challenge’s only visit to the challenging venue.

Danielle got married this past winter to Jason Huber, and is a full-time administrator at Homewood Health Centre in Guelph, Ontario. Danielle has also aligned herself with the Canadian Center for Abuse Awareness (CCAA) in 2006 and does fundraising for the organization through her racing efforts. The 2010 season will see Wilson back on the track in her Huber Window Cleaning #21 Monte Carlo, aiming to score that first series victory.  Danielle will once again have her crew of John Wilson (crew chief), Jason Huber and George Schroeder at the wrenches as she sets about competing at speedways all over southern Ontario.


Photography Provided by Chip Young

2K10 Season Kicks off Saturday Night at Sunset

After watching the planned season opener at Flamboro Speedway on May 8 get scuttled due to inclement weather, the competitors of the Ontario Pro Challenge will finally get the opportunity to begin the 2010 season this weekend at the completely renovated Sunset Speedway.  The Saturday evening show is much anticipated thanks to the total overall that has been done to the Stroud, Ontario facility, and the early reviews are extremely positive.  Series veterans like Dennis Thomson, Tim Norris and Ken Nicholson will be joined by several rookies competitors this year, as the promoters expect 20+ cars in the pit area.

The pit gate opens at 2:00 pm, while the spectator gates will open at 4:30 pm.  Racing begins a 6:00 pm.  For directions to the facility, head to www.sunsetspeedway.ca.

Flamboro Cancelled

We have received word from Ontario Pro Challenge officials that the season opening race schedule for Flamboro Speedway this evening has been cancelled due to weather.  The first race of the season will now move to the newly renovated Sunset Speedway on May 29.

2K10 Season Preview – The Rookies

After six years of steady development and growth, the Ontario Pro Challenge series is about to see its grid explode into 2010 thanks to a major influx of competition.  The quality of the program and the passion of its promotional team are now paying dividends as the traveling series will likely enjoy 20+ cars at every outing this summer.  A total of nine series rookies are expected to join the program and have cars either race-ready or in the process of completion; some veterans of roundy-round action, some new to stock car racing and others with impressive resumes in other categories.  This preview will have a look at a few of these drivers.

The freshman class features competitors who can be found both ends of the age spectrum, as well as the experience ladder.  On the experienced side, Jason Podewils comes to the Ontario Pro Challenge with a solid winning resume in Ontario Mini Stock competition, and he will debut a former U.S. car that he and OPC regular Tim Forbes picked up from Georgia.  Podewils’ past oval success could quickly see him become a frontrunner once he has figured out the Pro Challenge equation.  Likewise, Owen Wilson is a long-time Ontario short tracker with both Street Stock and Legend car time, and his purchase of Dennis Thomson’s title winning Ford Taurus will give him a tried and true ride to begin his PC journey.

Motorsports journalist Rob Howden will join the fray this season, having purchased a car from North Carolina last fall.  The son of a former Ontario Super Late Model frontunner, the Cambridge resident has a diverse resume that includes high-level 125cc shifter karting and open wheel formula car racing.  In between trips to major karting events around North America, where he acts as the sport’s leading commentator, Howden is targeting a limited schedule of between 5-8 events in 2010.  Having been away on business all winter, Howden and his crew will begin work rebuilding his Monte Carlo in mid-May with a planned June debut.  The car will sport backing from eKartingNews.ca, the Canadian arm of Howden’s popular US karting website – eKartingNews.com.

The rookie field is also ripe with young talented drivers who are making their way from both Junior Late Models and Ontario karting.  Waterloo’s Dale Wilson will run an ex-Ryan Heavner car from the south, having worked with his father to rebuild and update the car throughout the winter.  Wilson graduated his way through the Waterloo Regional Kart Club – which now runs on Saturday mornings on the Flamboro Speedway karting course – and he continues to run with the growing organization to gain continued track time.  Over the past two years, the 15 year-old has also run in selected JCAR and Mini Truck events at Grand Bend Motorplex, getting some time in the full-bodied cars.  Along the same lines, London’s Patrick Freel purchased a second Heavner car, which he will use to make his Pro Challenge debut after devoting his entire development on the Junior CASCAR program, with much success.  Junior titles in 2006 and 2007 at the London oval graduated him into the senior categories in ’08-’09, where he quickly came up to speed against his older competition, which occasionally included such famed provincial stars JR Fitzpatrick.  It is expected that both Wilson and Freel will focus on making a smooth transition in 2010, working to gain the respect of the established veterans.

Additional rookies include Ken Lillycrop, Rick Sealy, Jason Davidson and Bryan Stevanus.  PLO was unable to gather bios on this quartet, but further information on these competitors will be posted to Pro Challenge Online soon.

While Mother Nature is threatening the season opener at Flamboro Speedway this Saturday with rain, you can be sure that the freshman class of 2010 has its collective fingers crossed that clear skies will be the order of the day.  After a long off-season, they are all ready to hit the asphalt.  

2K10 Season Preview – The Veterans

In 2009, there was an easily identifiable lead group in the Ontario Pro Challenge Series.  Last year’s victories were shared by just four drivers – Dennis Thomson, Tim Forbes, Tim Norris and Josh Nicholson - but the competition promises to be even tougher in 2010.  A number of second and third-year drivers will enter the new campaign with a season or more worth of experience under their belts, making them quicker than ever.  A huge rookie class, which we will preview later this week, is also primed and ready to surprise the establishment.

Thomson remains the series standout for 2010, as the star driver is entering the new campaign with a brand new car after selling his title-winning Ford Taurus to rookie Owen Smith.  It won’t take Thomson long to shake any bugs out of his new ride, and he’ll be gunning to repeat a season of consistency that featured four wins and a staggering nine straight top-four finishes.  That said, Norris should again challenge Thomson for the crown, capping off the ’09 season with an impressive win at Flamboro to make it a pair of victories on the year.  A return to the Millgrove, Ontario facility to launch the new season should give Norris the extra confidence he needs to start the schedule with a  ‘W’. 

Nicholson is a young lion in the paddock and is only getting better each season, while Forbes kicked off the ’09 season with a win at Sunset.  He’ll looking for more of the same this time around.  Forbes and Nicholson both have the experience and speed to vie for wins on any given evening, so last year’s race winners will need to fight each other first before even thinking of the snarling pack of veterans, sophomores and freshman who are ready to pounce.

Leading the charge after last year’s victors will be Ken Nicholson, Robert Coverdale, Scott Fletcher and Kyle Batty.  Nicholson was a charger all year, but just wasn’t able to crack the ‘winners circle’ despite multiple heat race wins. The veteran finished in the top-five on six occasions, was runner-up at Kawartha and took third at Sunset, Flamboro and the non-points Varney special.  A win is just around the corner for the Brantford hotshoe.  Coverdale’s 2009 season showed impressive consistency as well, especially for a series rookie.  An incredible eight top-10 finishes were punctuated by three fifth place results, including two at Flamboro and one at Sunset.  Fletcher was a rookie to the series last year, but not racing itself, although he had not been behind the wheel since 2003.  Once Fletcher had sorted out the Dodge Avenger that he had purchased out of the US, he completed the season with a total of our top-seven finishes in the final five races. 

Batty will also be one to watch, as the young pilot got quicker and quicker at the season wore on.  A solid fourth place result at Sauble in mid-July was his best effort, but it was his five top-10 finishes that advanced him to seventh in the final standings. 

Another year’s experience will certainly help many drivers to step up in 2010.  Bob Hopton capped the ’09 season with an impressive second at Flamboro, while Malcolm McMaster scored six top-10 finishes in ’09 and will again be ready to fight for top-five results.  Tim Shanahan will be looking to using the experience gained in his rookie season, as will John Sloot, Larry Majuery, and Matt Marshall.  Dario Valente had a season-high eighth at Sunset, while showed Daniel Wilson showed her mettle en route to a third at Sunset last summer, hinting at great things to come. Long-time series driver Kevin Crowhurst is also hoping to running a full schedule this year, but a limited schedule is a given for the driver who sits near the top of the list in all-time series wins.

In our next preview installment, we’ll look at the 2010 freshman class, which will certainly help take the series to a new level.  With the opening round of the series happening this coming weekend at Flamboro Speedway (May 8), we’ll know soon enough who is in the position to make a run at this year’s crown.