Spring Update March 17, 2017

The #86 pro team and driver Billy Schwartzenburg had a busy winter as they stripped the #86 down to the bare chassis, sanded and then repainted it. Once painted, all components were cleaned and inspected for reassembly and in order to comply with the rule changes for 2017, intrusion plates were made and installed at both the front and back of the fuel cell. The air box was also modified to suit a 1” restrictor plate now required to be run on the carburetor on Ford motors at and Jukasa Speedway. The body panels were replaced as required, painted the signature green and remounted on the car with the decals of our returning and new sponsors just in time to take the car to the 3rd Annual Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo in Mississauga from March 11th-13th. The car was proudly displayed in the APC United Late Model Series booth where it was viewed and photographed by thousands who frequent the show every year. The team was pleasantly surprised to be awarded ‘Best in Class’ when they arrived on Sunday before also receiving ‘Most Outstanding Race Car’ later that afternoon. Billy also participated in an on stage panel discussion Sunday morning with fellow drivers Jaxon Jacobs, Chris Mitchell, Shawn McGlynn, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Mat Box, Rick Burbridge, Josh Stade and series founder and president Luke Ramsay. Following his on stage appearance Billy also participated in an autograph session in the APC Series booth where he signed plenty of hero cards and handed out giveaway items from Lucas Oil Products, Wix Filters and GUNK. With the car now finished the team is set to get photos taken for this year’s hero cards that will be handed out to fans across the province this season. The teams schedule has also been finalized and has been posted on the website that consists of the APC Series as well as Flamboro Speedway where the #86 team plans to compete for the track championship.

The #81 Ford Mustang mini stock driven by Samantha Shaw is in the final stages of its winter rebuild. After repairing damage to the chassis that included replacing the bent K-frame, body panels were placed and the car is getting close to the point of putting on decals. Samantha plans on returning to Sunset Speedway as the lone representative out of the shop but it’s unsure if she will be able to complete for the points championship as she is now working a full-time job that requires working some nights and weekends. After capping off last season by winning the Frostoberfest event at Flamboro, Samantha is excited to go racing this season and is looking forward to a fun year. Sunset is expecting to have a full field of 20-30 cars on a weekly basis now that they are combining both the mighty mini and the mini stock divisions for 2017. Samantha is looking forward to the change as she enjoys racing in a bigger field and is hoping to get the #81 back into victory lane, or at least, racing for wins. On top of racing at Sunset Samantha is hoping to run at other tracks this season by following the APC Series around if there are mini stocks running at tracks like Sauble Speedway and Flamboro when the series is there.

Jake Watson has spent many hours in the shop over the course of the winter working on all components of his #88 Ford Mustang including extensive work on his setup for 2017. Jake is hoping to have a good baseline for when he returns back to Flamboro where he will be competing for the points championship after spending the past couple of seasons at Sunset Speedway. Although Jake didn’t show a lot of speed at the beginning of last season, his results from June until the end of the year showed just how competitive he was by finishing 5th in the points standings. Jake has been racing since the age of 8, beginning in go-karts, before jumping into the Ford Mustang at the age of 11 and now at the ripe old age of 15, has set his sights on the Flamboro mini stock championship. “Our goals for 2017 are to get as many checkered flags as possible, along with the championship,” he told Ashley McCubbin in his latest interview for Short Track Musings. In order to run up front in 2017 it’s going to take a lot of nights in the shop, getting the setup just right and then it’s up to him to be consistent throughout the season.

We would like to welcome back all of sponsors returning to support our race program in 2017; Apollo Valves, Cambridge Source for Sports, Dominion Sure Seal, Erb and Erb Insurance Brokers, Fleet Image, Guelph Wish Fund for Children, Gunk Company of Canada, Lucas Oil Products, Northern Ice, NUCO, PlastiKote, Spira Fire Protection, St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market, TSS Top Shops Auto Body Supplies, Victaulic Company of Canada, Wix Filters, Woseley Canada and Würth Canada. In addition to all of our returning sponsors we are very proud to announce the addition of Hy-Grade Steel Roofing System to our team and their logo will be proudly displayed on all cars in the Spira Racing Stable. Operating from their Guelph headquarters since 1988, Hy-Grade has been permanently solving inferior shingled roof systems with their superior metal roofing throughout Ontario for almost 30 years. Hy-Grade has installed over 14,000 roofs that adds up to over 31 million square feet of superior steel roofing that is also manufactured by Hy-Grade.

The first scheduled race of the season will see Samantha take part in the season opener at Sunset Speedway on Saturday April 29th while Jake will be taking part in the season opener at Flamboro Speedway that same night. The following week Billy will make his season debut as he joins Jake at Flamboro on Saturday May 5th as the pro late models take to the track for their first race of the season.