Merrittville Memories by the Reunion Committee

08/28/2026

This weeks Throwback Thursday will also spill over in to Fast Friday,since I had to catch up on some outdoor painting between the raindrops yesterday. I call this one Perseverance &Dedication!

I have picked three racing families who like others have deep racing roots at Merrittville Speedway & also contacted me with a couple of photos to share.
1/ It goes without saying that Ray &Brian Stevens continue to invoke many great Memories for all that knew them & for me personally Ray &Brian were always examples of perseverance &dedication , never allowing an obstacle to block their desire to live our racing life & compete from their modest shop on the Western Hill near Ridley College, sometimes on a shoestring.

I know in the early days Bruce Swartz, Ray &his brother Neville were inseparable when Ray started his driving career, as in later years were Ray &Brian, Harry Sittler & crew were when Brian started to drive his .

It is no secret that Brian &I became friends on the grandstand side long before he became a driver then ,being mentored by his Dad ,Ray ,&Harry Sittler,amongst others. One of my most favourite photos is the one posted here taken by Alex Bruce in 1985 &is included within our Photo Wall project at Merrittville.
This is how I remember both of them at their favourite location, in the pits on a Saturday night. -See photo.
Very pleased that Ray &Brian's legacy can live on through Melissa &Amanda. -Thanks!

2/ A couple of weeks ago I posted a Throw Back based on a request from Tim Hatt re; Alfie Roebuck, but I just received a photo with a request& I am hoping that our racing community can help?
Tim has been told that his old race car /Olsen Chassis is still arond the area locally. If anyone has information on it's whereabouts Please let us know or contact Tim Hatt directly. I have posted two photos of the Olsen chassis when Tim Hatt drove it&then after it was sold to former driver Ron Duplantis.-See photos.

3/ I received a couple of photos from Rob Disher. Rob has a long career of driving at Merrittville on dirt & at other tracks such as Flamboro on asphalt. Rob had a tough season in 2025 basically writing off his #17 in a crash then reconstructing a new very stock appearing #17 Monte Carlo then selling it to rookie competitor Spencer Maytum #12 who is 11 th in points for 2026- our75th anniversary season.

Rob is never one to follow a trend rather a traditionalist, who perseveres with the metric based Monte Carlo in the Hoosier stock division at Merrittville. While Rob had to miss most all of our 75th season while building this car, which he had hoped would be ready for Reunion night,it will also be an exercise in perseverance on a tight budget from his modest shop in Grimsby . when you see the photo &read the caption, you will understand.
Rob even without his car ready attended our 75th celebration as Alumni supporting the Reunion Committee's efforts &we Thankyou as we salute you for your 40th year of Dedication to our sport& hope to see your pink Monte Carlo in support of Breast Cancer Awareness in victory lane in 2027. -RickK.

08/26/2026

On this What's up Wednesday ,I wanted to show support & recognition for The Brian &Ray Stevens Memorial event held at Ransomville last night. Both Ray & Brian are inductees to our CAA sponsored Wall Fame &we display their plaques amongst the 88 other well deserving inductees.

Ray Stevens was inducted in 1991 as the 4th honouree & his son Brian who was a friend of mine &followed by many as a driver first in his then later winning his first Merrittville Championship in &second in #444.

We were able to induct Brian before his passing & today I would not only like us to Congratulate both Gary Lindberg&Cody McPherson on their respective wins last evening,since they will also in all probability become our 75th anniversary Champions,but take this moment to remember three people &Wall of Fame inductees that meant so much to many of us at Merrittville on the Reunion Committee;
1/ Ray Stevens -Pioneer driver &car owner- #44.

2/ Brian Stevens- friend, &two time modified Champion ,1982&1992.

3/ Bryant Irvine &Family - pioneer driver -owner &employer who sponsored &supported so many of the Modifieds ,especially the Championship winning cars of Stevens racing through his business York Electrplating in Thorold,Ont.
Bryant was instrumental in buying &improving Merrittville Speedway from 1987-2002& allowing our Committee to be formed in 1995.

I ask that as you read the race results from last night,that you also pause &remember those three pioneers &Wall of Famers of our sport ,whose lives are woven in to the fabric of our dirt track history at Merrittville&Ransomville Speedways.-
Thanks to Melissa &Amanda &Family for keeping the Tradition!-RickK.

RANSOMVILLE, NY (August 25, 2026) Ridgeway, Ontario’s Gary Lindberg won the Flyin’ Brian & Ray Stevens Memorial for the DIRTcar 358 Modified Series at Ransomville Speedway Tuesday night, paying $5,44...

08/23/2026

Since there was no racing at Merrittville Speedway last evening &hence no 75th Anniversary Trivia contest. I am posting this one.

Photo #1 is a snap shot taken just after the 70th Reunion in 2021, after we unveiled Project75. Name from the plaques shown the following;
1/ How many former track owners &who.
2/ Which former track Champions are shown.

3/ Photo #2 is a group photo from the 46th anniversary Reunion in 1997. Sadly many of these pioneers are no longer with us ,but it is our task that they are not forgotten. How many can you identify.

I will declare an overall winner by Aug.28th.

Please leave your answers in the comment section below.

P.S. Should any Alumni still wish a copy of our 75th anniversary handout program from Reunion night, ,I still have a very limited amount on a first come basis for free.

08/20/2026

This week's Throw Back Thursday still takes me back to the 1950's era ,when Merrittville Speedway was a new track in 1952 to when Humberstone became a new track in 1958-59. Two photos submitted by the Rumsby family showed Jack Rumsby's #67 stock car which I believe is very early based on the family sedan sitting beside the house &the fact that the stockcar had full fenders &running boards.What peaked my interest was photo #2 which showed his sponsor as Ebert's garage in Fenwick,Ontario. For this week I am posting some photos with captions of three local businesses in Pelham Twp. who supported stockcar racing at Merrittville Speedway &later at Humberstone ,which are no longer in our community,but they still hold fond memories for us in the car hobby & Merrittville Memories for us who grew up in stock car racing &lived in this area.
My first example is Jack Rumsby &Ebert's Garage&salvage yard. This business was established by Floyd &his brother in 1930 where it remained until 1994 .It was a typical traditional small bay garage with an overhang for gas pumps on the side of Canboro Rd. at the junction of Welland Rd. What made Ebert's so special is that through the decades Floyd was a source of auto parts new &used both from his salvage yard down the street &inside his garage. Unfortunately Ebert's was closed after his passing in 1994 &then demolished. It was too bad since the building was a landmark in Fenwick when you entered town . I was able to walk his yard before it was closed &everything sold

The second example is Law's Motor sales , which was located on Hwy #20 just east of Fonthill where the new Shell &car wash are located where I still wash my vehicle after a night at Merrittville on the way home. For many years Sam Law sold new &used G.M. cars as a dealer ,but also supported Merrittville Speedway &Humberstone sponsoring stock cars & placing ads in the program. I have shown a photo of both Sam &Ron Gallagher with their stockcar at the lot &an ad . Can you believe that Pelham actually supported a new &used car dealer at one time. How many of you remember Central Garage also in Ridgeville.

The third example is of Fonthill Motors owned by Rusty Rittenhouse,who not only operated his used car lot ,just south of Fonthill on South Pelham St. but drove &sponsored his own stockcars as well in the Jalopy class at Merrittville &also at Humberstone.Decades later the business became Fonthill Mazda still operated by the Rittenhouse family,when we lived near it on Spruceside Cres. Today the building has been levelled & awaiting development.

My final photo is of the driver who had probably the longest driving career at Merrittville Speedway from Fonthill-Ridgeville area,Wally Gay. He raced at Merrittville from the early 1950's in to the 1970's,from stockcar to modified. His original car number was #37 also sponsored by Pollard's garage which is also long gone. Hope you enjoy that added photo.

Those three examples are of businesses from a semi rural township during an era from the 1930's to 2000 when there was a true sense of community ,where residents bought local & the neighbourhood garage & new car,truck or tractor dealer was in fact your neighbour. As businesses consolidate to survive ,something is lost today in preserving that sense of community. There are too many empty locations where family businesses once thrived.
Having both grown up in the area as a kid , with our family involved in ownership at Merrittville Speedway during that time I can take solace in one fact;
While those many businesses are long gone &the face of our Pelham Community has changed ,here we are 75 years later &Merrittville Speedway is still maintaining our Saturday night TRADITION, something that we should not take for granted as the world around us keeps changing.

It will be interesting to see what the next 25years holds for our sport & hopefully we can keep thriving while keeping urban development away from our boundaries,so the next generation can carry on what was started by these pioneers back in 1952

Merrittville has adapted &evolved through the decades as has our sport& needs to keep developing a positive image within the Region of Niagara working with politicians at every level over the next25 years so a 100th may be celebrated by you.

The best that I can do is keep telling our story &sharing our history. As always Thanks for taking the time to read this &as always please read the photo captions &I welcome your comments.-RickK.

08/18/2026

Once the dust settled on Saturday night the points races in each division are becoming clearer. While Gary Lindberg, Cody McPherson& Dave Bailey have wide margins as a cushion to clinching their 75th anniversary points titles the 4cyl.ministocks & The ModLites have tighter points races. While Ken Hair isleading his respective division,he is being chased by some very capable female racers like Sierra Robison who won again on Saturday. While the ModLites were off this past Saturday ,they continue to be the fastest growing division at Merrittville thanks to the efforts of the Sliter Family & Dan Kviring at Savage chassis with an average of over 20 cars starting a feature. Their friendly club atmosphere is making their division attractive to newcomers. Can Brent Begolo hold off Chris Watson for the rest of the season to secure a 75th anniversary Championship for the Begolo family or will Chris Watson become a new ModLite Champion.
The Dave Small owned vintage modified with Evan Curtis driving swept their event with only 10cars in attendance with a field of 9in the featureAs the season is winding down keep a close eye on both the 4cyl ministock&ModLite divisions as the race to become the 75th anniversary Champion heats up!-RickK.

THOROLD, Ontario (August 15th, 2026) … Merrittville Speedway rolled on with their season as Carquest presented the latest Saturday night Bobcat of Hamilton Weekly Racing program. The Commercial Auto...

08/13/2026

On this ThrowBack Thursday, we roll the clock back 75plus years to a time when Merrittville Speedway was just being transformed from a farmers field in Thorold Twp. by John Marino &George Cullen in to a high banked 1/4 mile oval. I call this one -Whats in a Number!

Everyone was new to the sport except for a few Canadian veterans who had raced at Stamford horse track under NASCAR, or at Mohawk at Brantford, Ancaster fairgrounds &Chippawa. Pioneers like Bruce Swartz ,Orville Kelley, Ralph Taylor, Don Taylor, Ed Geroux ,Red Ryder, Eric Bradt &Bill Greathead from both the Niagara &Hamilton areas encouraged many young men like Jerry Winger as a teenager, Murray Stricker, Johnny Spencer,&Ray Stevens to come in to the new exciting sport of stock car racing after WW2.
Everything was new ,the tracks, the drivers &cars , seemed to explode with popularity Drivers differentiated themselves by their car numbers &paint schemes. Since NASCAR allowed 3 digit numbers ,so did local tracks .Some drivers became creative with their car numbers & here is just a sample . While most of todays fans will remember the #16 & #61 from the 1960-80s era & the #6 & #42 from the 1970-2026 era, I believe it is important to remember these pioneers from 1950- 1960 who laid the foundation &supported our sport ,building its legitimacy for a place on the sports page alongside baseball, &lacrosse in the summer.
Merrittvilles first announcer was Drummy Hewitt who was then followed by CKTB radio announcer Rex Stimers who then was followed by a young sports writer for the St.Catharines Standard ,Jack Gatecliff who made sure Merrittville was covered in the newspapers after every event.
During this 75th anniversary it is important that we do not forget these people who raced for fun &excitement, with their families &friends encouraging &welcoming the next generation to give it a try. even in 1950.
I truly believe that spirit is alive today at Merrittville Speedway as so many of our Tuesday night karters have their hopes &desires for keeping our Saturday night TRADITION alive.They are the future of our sport.
When you take in a night of racing please take the time to view the CAA Wall of fame & the Auto F/X PhotoWall inside the hall & take in our rich history & learn about those that came before us as you take in the present.
As always Please read the photo captions.-Thanks RickK.