The Citizen, 2012-11-01, Page 13THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012. PAGE 13. Local racing family wraps up successful season
Passing the torch
Bob Elliott, left, and his wife Gloria posed for a picture after
Elliott was recently inducted to the Canadian Motorsport
Hall of Fame. The duo own Northern Force Racing and
have had a great year along with their son Jory, not
pictured, pulling in several big wins and competing at the
IHRA Tournament of Champions. (Photo submitted)
Northern Force Racing, run by
Bob Elliott of the Wingham area and
featuring his son Jory behind the
wheel, had a fairly successful season
in International Hot Rod Association
(IHRA) racing.
After several key wins, Jory and
Elliott got to travel to Memphis,
Tennessee for the IHRA Tournament
of Champions and, while they may
not have done as well as the senior
Elliot had hoped to, the team still
made it to the quarterfinals.
“We weren’t as successful as we
were in the win which enabled us to
go,” he said. “My son’s driving was
a little bit off and the big part of this
sport is consistency.”
He explained that, in drag racing,
it doesn’t matter how fast you go,
what matters is who finishes the
fastest consistently.
“We didn’t adapt well,” he said. “It
was just one of those weekends. The
car, it decided to be a bit of a
princess I guess and pout a little bit
and give me a hard time. It seemed
like we were playing catch-up all the
time.”
While he wasn’t thrilled with the
way the races went in Memphis,
Elliott said that just being there was
an honour.
“Making it there was pretty
prestigious,” he said. “The IHRA
only runs two events in Canada, one
in Alberta and the MOPAR Nitro
Jam Race in Grand Bend.”
The team’s win at the Grand Bend
race in the superstock category was
what made it possible for them to
continue on to Memphis.“It was quite a big deal because
last year we were inconsistent with
the car,” he said. “This year, we got
away from that.”
Elliott explained that, because of
his previous successes, he has
become a kind of celebrity of the
racing past.
“I’m not trying to sound
conceited, I’m just laying out a fact,”
he said. “When I go to local tracks, a
lot of fans want to talk to me, to
remember the funny car days. I
enjoy talking to them, but it becomes
a bit of a distraction on race day.”
He said that, because of that, he
has tried to keep focused on the task
at hand and, the week before the
Grand Bend race, he and Jory went
to Napierville in Quebec and won a
race there, came back and won the
race in Grand Bend and then went on
to win a race in Columbus, Ohio and
they did it by staying focused. He
feels, however, that the team lost a
bit of that focus when they got to
Memphis.
“I think we got caught up in our
own success a little bit,” he said.
“We lost track of what got us there.
We tried to outsmart ourselves. Our
strategy in Napierville and Grand
Bend was basic; stay away from
electronic gadgets and wizardry.”
He said that they had some
breakage in the car and that, in a car
that accelerates to 160 miles per
hour in 8.5 seconds, that can be a
problem.
“In the superstock class, the body
has to retain a stock appearance,
which is that of a 2005 Pontiac
Sunfire for us,” he said. Underneath,
however, is an engine that makesalmost 1,000 horsepower. We were
the quickest and the fastest engine in
the superstock category, but that
doesn’t necessarily mean we won.”
He said that, since drag racing
relies on a handicap system, at the
end of the day the team didn’t have
the consistency to win.
Elliott said that his strength wasn’t
in the kind of racing the team is in
now and that, instead, he excels at
keeping the car going.
“It’s like a 100-yard sprint,” he
said. “Drag racing doesn’t forgive a
mistake. In our case, you’ve got
eight and a half seconds. If it’s an
11-second car, everything has to be
perfect. If you miss a step, just like a
sprinter, you’re going down.”
He said that something as simple
as forgetting track conditions, air
quality or wind speed can make a
difference between finishing first
and going home disappointed.
“Jory has won some races by one
100th and a half seconds and we talk
about reaction speed of one 1,000th
of a second,” he said. “It’s intense.”
He said that, even though they
didn’t do as well as he wished they
had, winning the races in Grand
Bend and Quebec was exciting.
“Winning one of what is probably
the two most significant races in
Canada right now is pretty
awesome,” he said. “The magnitude
of it didn’t really settle in right away.
Some people race for years and
never win a regional event.”
Winning, however, isn’t
everything as Elliott said, who had
his sponsor, Denny Snider and
Access Motorsports Racing come to
the event with him.
“He’s from the Durham area, and
he built a car that gives people with
handicaps a ride around the
racetrack or down the mile and a
quarter,” Elliott explained.
The program, called Project Track
Champion, is one that Elliott
believes in and he said that, using his
position as a member of the
Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame,
he wants to help promote it.“I do that for free because I
believe in it,” he said.
The partnership came about after
Elliott had been promoting it for
some time. Snider came into some
money and wanted to sponsor Jory
as a means of promoting the
program.
The team will fly the banner ofProject Track Champion at least
until 2013.
For more information about
Northern Force Racing visit
www.northernforce.com and for
more information on Project Track
Champion, visit www.project-track-
champion.com/
If you are a woman 50 or over – now is the
time to take action. You do not need a
doctor referral to take advantage of our
services.
We are located in the North Wing of the
Stratford General Hospital with our own
private and confidential area.
C o n t a c t u s a t o u r n e w n u m b e r
5 1 9 --2 7 2 --8 2 1 0 Ex t . 2 3 3 9
By Denny ScottThe Citizen
Celebrating
Jory Elliott, the driver for his father’s company Northern
Force Racing, is shown here celebrating his first
professional win. The team went to Memphis recently to
compete in the IHRA Tournament of Champions. (Photo
submitted)