These Atikokan boys raced their stock cars at Riverview Raceway in Thunder Bay. The photos were taken the summer of 1969 -- a month or so later, one of them was killed in a car accident.
Left to right:
Gord Linder, Bud Halabiski, and Don Ellis.
Left to right: Larry Wilson, Larry Knowles, Bob Knowles, Herb Croome, Ray Garuk.
March, 2017 -- Larry Wilson writes: " (Both pictures were) taken in the summer of 1969 . . . . We (Gord Linder, Ray Garuk, Larry Knowles, Bob Knowles, Shelley Waldon and myself Larry Wilson) were involved in a car accident later that year when Ray's 1955 Chevy went off the road returning to Atikokan after dropping off Jane Olson at her home at Quetico / Eva Lake. Herb Croome was the only one in the picture that was not in the car that night. The fellow on the left in the top photo, Gord Linder, was killed in the accident. He was a meteorological technician from Thunder Bay, working at the Atikokan weather station. He owned a 1969 Dodge Coronet R/T 440 Magnum -- a blue convertible that was the talk of the town. Thunder Bay Bearings, as seen on the car, was a store located on Main Street Atikokan, that mainly served the Caland and Steep Rock mines and Jim Mathieu Lumber in Sapawe. The other two guys with Gord in the top photo were Gord's buddies from Thunder Bay. The rest of us, those in the bottom photo, were all from Atikokan.
" The car in each picture is the same 225 cu. in. Slant 6 Valiant that was totally rebuilt with Mopar performance parts that we sourced from across the USA. The mods were finished in Atikokan just before the first race we entered at Riverview. We broke a motor mount the day before the race and had to "borrow" one in the cloak of darkness the night before the race, off a Valiant that was parked on the side of the road on Clark Street. (We always wondered what the owner must have thought when he started up his car the next day). We didn't do too well that day mostly due to our driving "skills", or lack thereof. The car however was recognized as the fastest car at Riverview in the hobby stock class. "
Thanks to
for the two photos,
and to
for the news clipping.
Can you provide corrections or comments?