Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
It seemed just a few years ago, the place to be on a Friday night at Kawartha Speedway. Simply looking up past races on YouTube will leave you entertained with the side-by-side action that was produced.
However, everything changed in an instant when it was announced that Kawartha would no longer be hosting races on a weekly basis. The announcement caught some off-guard, while it was reasonably expected by others due to car counts and lack of fan attendance.
Looking back on that time, promoter Derek Lynch feels that the current situation worked out best for Ontario racing fans as it “wouldn’t served the sport as a whole” to remain open. He stated while the track was open, alongside both Mosport Speedway’s oval (now known as Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, with the oval no longer in existence) and Peterborough Speedway, it was causing a serious split of the car counts due to the proximity of the venues.
“It turned into survival of the fittest,” he commented. “I think we ended up with about 55-60% when it was over, and the other two dividing the 40% among themselves. Was that me? Was that the race track? I can’t deny it. It’s a beautiful track to run on. We had some challenges from a spectator standpoint that we couldn’t overcome but like I said, I grew up in the game and I understood it.”
It’s his understanding of the game that helped him on the promoter side through those years, helping to groom younger drivers that came along in the sport. There are still many drivers who got their start at Kawartha Speedway racing across the province and being success, with a pair of notables including Mike Wallace and Danny Benedict. Lynch recalled moments on stage at the Motoroma Custom Car and Motorsports Show where he’d take a young driver aside and give them some advice.
“I think a lot of the younger guys came up through and didn’t have mentors that took them behind the trailer and told them what they did wrong, and tried to make them better,” he stated. “I think if we had an advantage with the younger guys at Kawartha, it might have been my ability because I was very fortunate racing guys like Tom and Jr. Hanley, guys that understood the game. You just try to pass that along. At one point when we got done and we had the last interview in 2012, like we said, we had five or six really good young racers that could carry this sport forward. I think that was the gain.”
While everybody speaks about the promoter side of Lynch, he can also be recognized as a solid driver, given his credentials behind the wheel, including a past victory in the Oxford 250.
“It was incredible. There are no two ways about it,” he said of his driving career. “I was fortunate to race against the best in the business. I’m very fortunate and I never take that for granted. I’m a second generation racer and I started with 20 years of experience, which a lot of guy don’t get. You can’t put a price on that.”
Lynch says having his dad for advice was very important as the advice that he offered was important.
“He operated with low instructions and high expectations so you had to figure it out right quick, and if you didn’t, he was the first to let you know,” he added. “I think the biggest thing that he taught me is you spend a long time living down a bad reputation. There’s a lot of guys that became good racers when they got done, but all everybody remembers is what they did in 1998. You can never overcome that. So when you get to that level and you race against those guys, it all carries over.
“Those guys have the same mentality. If they see somebody who cares and is trying, they’ll help you along the way. I was fortunate when I was on the tour to be around a lot of good guys. But no, there’s no way to explain it. It’s awesome.”
It seems everything is coming full circle for Lynch as he is set to run a limited schedule in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series this year.
“I look at my racing career in three sections – raced, promoted it, and now I’m working on going back racing,” he commented. “Hopefully in 20 years from now I’m in Tom’s (Walters) position.”
