Fun Racing…What a Concept
Four years ago, the Pro 4 racing in Ontario was on the edge of extinction; two or three cars would show up at the local track on race night, which was frustrating for the track owners and the car owners. This was sad to see happen as this class has been around for 50 years, and it was one more thing that the Covid and economy had dug its cancerous claws into. Pro four racing started in the New England states years ago and grew in southern Ontario back in the seventies. ( For those of you unfamiliar with Pro 4, we are open-wheel modified cars with heavily modified 4-cylinder engines) In its heyday, there were around 30 cars in the field. Something had to be done, or this little class would be all but a memory. We knew cars existed, but could we revive the club? Track owners laughed and said good luck, and to top that, they had no interest in the cars at their track. After talking to the track owners, it started to make sense. They could not depend on car count for a show for his fans, and car owners could not depend on their engines as they were running well above what they were designed to do. Looking at the rules, you could see how costs got out of hand, expensive aftermarket race parts, no limit to rpm. There were several challenges: getting cars, a track to race at, and cost-cutting rules to make it affordable. My son and I raced in the pro4 group in the early 2000s, and it got expensive trying to chase the faster cars. One summer I built 3 race engines in 4 weeks, trying to run them at over 8000 rpm.
It started with finding cars and owners that would consider coming back to race again and we found about 8 guys with cars and owners that showed interest, and from the first meeting you could tell these people loved what they did but somehow along the way it got out of hand, whether it be time commitment, financial, or whatever and that put us back to the beginning trying to address the problems. One of the challenges of grassroots racing is keeping it fair…fair for everyone. It was at Sellingsgrove, Pennsylvania, watching dirt sprint cars racing, I heard the best line in Racing. I asked the car owner what kind of rules do you guys run…and he replied….”Rules… we don’t have any rules, if we had rules, people would cheat! “ With that in mind, I wanted fairness in a club for all. We had to focus on, rules for all that are fair, finding cars and a track to race at. Progress was happening with cars, so I thought,let’s find a track. I called several tracks, and they laughed at me. We needed to give track owners confidence that we would be there.
We went to a track owner and asked for 4 races …and that we would preregister 8 cars, pay their admission before race season, guarantee an 8-car show, or you don’t have to pay out to the club. Well, first 2 races we had 6 cars (drivers guaranteed they would be there), next race 8 cars OMG we got paid, and last race we had 7 cars, and kudos to the owner, he felt for us and how hard we had all worked and paid us. He believed in us, and we appreciated that. The year before, another track took us for a race, and only 2 cars showed up and let us race 2 races. The track owner understood our challenges.
In the 2024 race season, Mark Lucas won Most Sportsmanlike Driver. He is a gentleman on and off the track, a positive influence on all our drivers. Three years ago, the SOMA club had a booth at the Toronto Motorama show with a car to promote and try to do several things: find cars, drivers, and possibly tracks that would take us for a race or two. We far exceeded expectations, the amount of people that talked to us about this little club was nothing less than phenomenal, we found old pro 4 race cars in barns, engines, past club members but one of the most memorable was an older lady that read our Pro 4 banner and looked at the car on display, came up to me and told me he her late husband raced in the pro 4 years ago, what she had said had touched my soul and is part of the philosophy of The Southern Ontario Pro 4 Modifieds. She said it was a “ Gentleman’s Club of Racing” With that thought we decided this was a great concept, I’m sure this type racing may not be for all people but then again there are so many types of racing why not have one that is for just fun, maybe we can be the stepping stone for young drivers moving up the so called racing ladder or for someone coming down however you look at it! We have 8 races a year, people have lives, families, and commitments. This is a hobby. We are a group of men and ladies who want to get that burn in the bottom of their gut out! If you want to win at all cost this is not the group for you but if you want to have fun, race a few races a season, be part of a racing family that loves to have a BBQ after most nights of racing, maybe live music, a group that helps others achieve their goals on the track. This club has 3 father-son teams, a husband-and-wife team, a father-son team sharing the driving of one car, and several family teams. Four short years ago, we had half a dozen cars; at the end of the 2024 season, we had 20 car owners with a possible 25 cars to race! Truly a race family! Now, if you think this is not competitive racing, think again. In the 2023 race season of 8 feature races, we had 7 different winners. In 2024, because of rainouts, we only had 6 races, four different feature winners. It is very close, competitive, and respectful racing. There is no big pot of gold at the end, a simple plaque, shake of hands and a laugh or two. Being open wheel racing, you don’t have the margin of error you might have in full body cars, and drivers tend to be a little more positive of their lines on the track. Safety is a major concern, and we work diligently to make sure cars are kept in top mechanical condition and all safety equipment is within track standards.
Ken Mercer kenmercer55@gmail.com or call 519-755-5803
For more info email kenmercer55@gmail.com
OR Call Ken Mercer 519-755-5803
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