Organizers for the Heart of a Champion Hot Rod Classics Vintage Race Car Series are excited to announce the debut of vintage racing t-shirts that pay tribute to top Canadian short track racers. The Weekend Warriors series will showcase stock cars made famous by short track legends; a portion of the proceeds from each sale will benefit the IWK Foundation.
Shirts currently available include Don Biederman, Jr. Hanley and Rollie MacDonald – all three are Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees. The cars are those which they raced in the late 70s. The background includes numerous race tracks and events which were active in the Maritimes in the same era.
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The shirts are available at an introductory price of just $25.00*. Keeping with the vintage theme, old-school iron-on graphics are used with the Hot Rod Classics Vintage Race Car Series logo on the front left chest and the vintage car image on the back.
The Biederman car is his blue ’77 Nova, the car in which he scored what many consider the biggest win of his illustrious racing career, the Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine. In it, he also won two of the top stock car races in Canada, the Maple Leaf 250 at Cayuga Motor Speedway in Ontario and the Riverside 250 at Riverside Speedway in Nova Scotia.
The Hanley car is the familiar late 70s orange Camaro in which he beat legends and blazed short tracks from Nova Scotia to Ontario and all over the mid-west and the eastern United States. In it he made his name as a North American short track legend, kick-starting one of the most successful racing careers in Canadian motorsports history.
The MacDonald car is perhaps the most recognizable of his five-decade racing career, the Petty Kit Car, one of only two in the Maritimes. They were the creation of the legendary Petty Enterprises in North Carolina. MacDonald’s car was painted the red and blue colors made famous by “The King” Richard Petty.
The vintage images were created by SaturdayNightLegends.com; prints for each of these designs, and many more, are available through them.
Heart of a Champion is the most followed motorsports preservation organization in Canada. Since its launch in mid-2017, its social media following has flourished to over 7,500 with a weekly reach averaging 100,000 – clearly demonstrating an interest in and passion for Maritime motorsports heritage.
The Hot Rod Classics Vintage Race Car Series is scheduled to debut July 18 at Riverside International Speedway as part of the legendary IWK 250 Super Weekend. It is the first of five events planned for 2020 as the series visits all three Maritime provinces; race dates can be found here.
Several cars are already registered for the series ranging from restored originals to custom-built replicas. Building rules and procedures can be found online at hotrodclassics.ca.
The Hot Rod Classics series will showcase race cars from 1980 or older – some original, some rebuilt, and some newly built – allowing veteran fans to relive precious memories and at the same time providing a forum where newer fans can experience race cars of a bygone era. The series expects to run a handful of events this season. Vintage car racing is presently the fastest-growing division in North American motorsports.
Heart of a Champion was founded in 2017 to help preserve Maritime motorsports heritage. Organizers used a 1967 vintage stock car they had restored to rekindle memories with veteran fans and to educate new fans, showing the car at motorsports events throughout the Maritimes. At the same time, they launched a basic website and a Facebook page, using it to share vintage racing photos, stories, and a weekly ‘Saturday Salute’ to someone who has helped build motorsports in our region – someone with the Heart of a Champion.
In 2018 the group acquired a vintage open wheel modified race car. In 2019 they used it to garner interest in the potential for a vintage race car series in the region and last July announced their intent to form the HOAC Hot Rod Classics Vintage Race Car Series, to debut in 2020. In October, HOAC announced an affiliation with the IWK Foundation as an awareness and fundraising partner.
About Heart of a Champion
Heart of a Champion is dedicated to preserving Maritime motorsports heritage by rekindling memories for veteran fans and educating new fans about the people and events that have helped shape motorsports in the region. To accomplish this, they use static and interactive mediums and in 2020 will launch the region’s first-ever vintage race car series, the Hot Rod Classics. To learn more please visit www.heartofachampion.ca or www.hotrodclassics.ca. Fans can also follow Heart of a Champion on Facebook and YouTube.
*Ends April 30/20; regular price is $30.00.
