After having success in the Canadian Vintage Modifieds, Rick Schurr will jump behind the wheel of an OSCAAR Modified this season. The veteran will split the schedule with Roger Spies.
Schurr stated that he made the move to modified competition this season as he “was looking for something exciting to do” and move up to a more competitive division.
“I think that the ‘transition’ is what we are looking forward to the most,” he says. “The speed increase, the engineering of the cars, the set-up requirements, and most of all, meeting new people and having fun.”
He adds the biggest thing is that he is looking for to have fun this year.
Looking ahead to the schedule, Schurr says he’s most excited to getting to Delaware Speedway this year, and eventually Cayuga Speedway when they get it open.
“I like the faster speed, longer corners – better transition,” he said.
He adds that he likes Flamboro Speedway as well, given that it was the sight of his first career victory and his dad Glen Schurr built the track originally back in 1962.
The Schurr name has a deep history in motorsports, with Glenn being the International 150 Lap Champion in the Super Modifieds and Flamboro Speedway Track Champion in 1966. Glenn was also an inaugural Inductee into the Flamboro Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Despite this, Rick did not start driving till late into his career. As a child, he did not have an interest in getting behind the wheel.
“I think my dad did it perfectly,” he recalled. “(He) sat me on his seat (in 1962 when Flamboro first opened) in his Super Modified and did some hot laps – .scared the shit out of me. You can not even imagine the acceleration of those fuel injected cars at that time.”
Following that experience, Schurr stuck to playing hockey. Though four years ago, he got behind the wheel of a race car for the first time as part of the Richard Petty Driving Experience at Daytona International Speedway.
“I was in a nationwide car, by myself, and went 168 mph average speed,” he said. “The speed was not intimidating as I thought it would have been. The instructor asked me where had I driven a car before, and I said never. He said, ‘Wow, you were very smooth and handled the car in some tough wind conditions’.”
Upon returning from Florida, Schurr made a trip to see Gary Elliott. Notably, Elliott carries the No. 36 that Schurr’s father race as Glen is Elliott’s racing hero.
“I asked Gary if possible some day I could take his Canadian Vintage Modified out on Flamboro Speedway, the track my father built and raced at, to take a few hot laps with his car,” Schurr stated. “A few weeks later, Gary called me and asked if I would like to race his car and he meant competitively for the season. I was like a teenager getting a new bicycle for my birthday, and well, the rest is history as they say.”
At the age of 59, Schurr picked up the Rookie of the Year Award in the Canadian Vintage Modified, finishing 16th in points. A year later, he ran half of the series’ events, moving up to 12th in points and won the Most Improved Driver Award.
Schurr bought his car own for the 2015 season, racing nine of the 15 events en route to finishing eighth in points. He also went and competed in some Vintage Modified races in Sandusky, Ohio. Schurr said it was a fun experience with a ‘great bunch of guys’, resulting in some success in setting the second quickest time on the half-mile oval.
Now he hopes to parlay that sense of fun, with some success, in his new venture this season.
