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On the road to Indy

ClubWest

(To view our July/August 2015 issue of ClubWEST online, click here.)

By Katherine Grant

The photo on the Juncos Racing web page shows a race car driver standing proudly on his car, arms raised in triumph as the crowd cheers. He has just won the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Toronto, the first Canadian to win an Indy car race in Toronto in a decade making the victory all the more sweet.

Then, off in the distance, as he savoured his victory, he heard a voice shout out “Grimsby loves you!”

The driver is Garett Grist and he is, indeed, from Grimsby.

Last month’s win was prestigious but it was by no means his first. It was the fourth career Pro Mazda win for the 20-year-old who has been racing for three-quarters of his life, racking up an impressive list of wins.

“Toronto was a great weekend for us. We were consistently fast all weekend and were able to qualify second and first. In Race 1, I overheated the front brakes and only had rear brakes for half of the race which really hurt me. In Race 2, I was able to lead a lot of laps and win the race. It was so great to be able to win in front of my family and friends at my home race. The Juncos Racing guys did a great job all weekend and gave me a great car,” said Garett of the most recent win.

His race team agrees.

From the Juncos Racing website: “Garett was on point all weekend long. He had his strongest qualifying performance of the year, which he converted into a victory. The team believes that Garett can carry this newfound momentum into the
remaining races and potentially
challenge for the championship.”

Then, of course, there was the rain to contend with on that day – with which he has experience – and the travel at speeds of 140 mph; and then there were those concrete walls on both sides… but little seems to phase Garett. He knows what he is doing, puts in the time needed to develop himself as a driver and is both
realistic and passionate about the sport he loves.

Garett got his start cart racing when he was about six. Parents Jeff and Helen were looking for something to keep their only child busy and happy. As it wasn’t looking like he was going to get very tall, football and hockey seemed poor choices. So carting looked like a good option, says dad Jeff. “It was either racing or a jockey.”

At 5 ft. 6 in. and 115 lbs., Garett might not have made much of a football player, but he was the perfect size to take the wheel.

“I have seen every lap he has ever done,” says his dad. Right from the start, Garett was a natural, winning races and tallying up the championships. Then came the moment when the kids lose control, go into a spin and scare themselves. Sometimes they lose the nerve to race.

Garett had his moment but, if there was any fear, it sure didn’t last long, says Jeff.

“We travelled throughout the United States and Canada and lived a lot of nights in our trailer,” says Jeff.

The go-cart years, he added, were a lot of fun, now racing is a major enterprise.

Racing as a young boy and throughout his teens made for a complicated balancing act at times, but also helped him develop needed self-discipline. In spite of missing a lot of days in high school – to compete in races in Italy, Egypt and England in Grades 9 and 10 and 12 – Garett graduated from Grimsby Secondary School.

“I just had to put in the time and get caught up to graduate,” he said.

Life as a young race car driver is everything it’s cracked up to be and then some. He made the move from karts to cars five years ago and has won races every one of those five years.

His goal is IndyCar.

“The thrill of the speed; the precision of the perfect lap; the competition,” said Garett of what he loves about racing. He also loves to win.

And then there’s the social aspects of racing….

He has formed some lasting friendships including one with Canadian IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe.

“He is a good friend and mentor. We are really close. He has helped me along the way,” said Garett. “Considering what happened, he is doing good.”

Hinchcliffe, who is from Oakville, was seriously injured in a major crash during practice laps in May at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It was the fourth wreck during practice for the Indianapolis 500 that week. At about an hour into practice his car spun hard into the wall, leaving Hinchcliffe in pretty bad shape and heading into surgery on his leg after losing a great deal of blood. But it could have been much worse.

“The cars are safe. They are made of thick carbon fibre,” said Garett, who has had a couple big crashes of his own.

Crashing isn’t something he thinks about when he is out there.

“There’s no point in worrying about it.”

The whole team keeps the cars in top running order, and to keep them safe.

“It takes a lot of guys to run a program,” said Garett giving credit to the tires guys, engineers and mechanics. His Pro Mazda green and white #5 car has a 240 hp Mazda Renisis rotary engine, and weighs about 1,200 lbs.

Driving can be taxing and is physically demanding, so he works out to stay in shape, doing weights and getting in a game of basketball just for fun when he gets the chance.

“There’s no power steering or power brakes and there is a lot of force pushing you down,” he said.

The next step for Garett – now that he has a few years under his belt – is the Indy Lights, the third and final step on the Mazda Road to Indy.

“I feel like I’m ready to move up,” said Garett, who has five more races this year.

At one point he had considered making the move to Europe to race but there is no direct way to Formula One racing there.

The Mazda Road to Indy is the only driver development program in the world to feature a champion’s scholarship at every level to advance to the next step on the ladder system. The Pro Mazda Series champion is awarded a $750,000 scholarship toward the Indy Lights Series. The Indy Lights Champion gets a program to move into the Verizon IndyCar Series with three guaranteed races including the Indianapolis 500. Team and driver prize packages total over $1.9 million.

Indy Lights has produced some of the Verizon IndyCar Series’ biggest names during its 28-year history.

Its graduates include Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan to name a few.

More recently, several Indy Lights champions and front-runners have gone on to pursue their dream of racing in the IndyCar Series and the famed Indianapolis 500.

Among them are:

• 2013 champion Sage Karam,
• 2012 champion Tristan Vautier,
• 2011 champion Josef Newgarden,
• 2010 title runner-up James Hinchcliffe,
• 2010 4th-place finisher Charlie Kimball,
• 2009 champion JR Hildebrand.

Garret made the move to Indianapolis right after Christmas as the next logical step in his career.

He lives with his manager, former F1 driver Derek Daly and has other drivers living close by.

“I am loving it, it is definitely something I want to do for the rest of my life,” he said.

From the Publisher May/June 2015

ClubWest(To view our May/June 2015 issue of ClubWEST online, click here.)

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
– Benjamin Franklin

As an avid Globe and Mail reader – kind of have to be since I got my newspaper industry start there – I was not surprised and highly pleased to see the name of one Nathan VanderKlippe pop up last month as the recipient of the 2014 Amnesty International Canada award, honouring outstanding reporting on human rights issues in Canadian media.

The surprise was not that he earned such a high award of distinction, but that he won such a high award of distinction.

Let me explain.

Back in the good ol’ days of owning another paper in Niagara West, Nathan came to me looking for a summer gig – as about 25-30 students do every year.

Bright and talented? Absolutely. Equally shy, though. I have seen some very good writers who simply could not survive in the publishing game because they could not overcome that shyness. If you don’t have the ability to stick your nose in where it is not welcomed from time to time, you would never be able to cut it as a journalist at any level.

To do a proper job, one cannot be a hugs and sunshine reporter. Readers need some meat on a story’s bones on occasion.

So that was the only question regarding Nathan and his future.

Me thinks he proved his point and more with this award.

His family is very proud I am sure, and they should be. It is nice to know I was able to give this outstanding reporter his start with his first paying gig. As always, Katherine Grant has done a great job highlighting some of his exploits. I think you will find it an interesting read.

And what spring edition of any publication worth its salt would not include features on some things to get readers off their couches and into the great outdoors?

Niagara West residents are spoiled having so many unique and picturesque conservation areas in their collective midst, to say nothing of the majestic Niagara Escarpment.

Enter George and Sylvia Prins. There are a lot of folks who enjoy a good walk and still others who might consider themselves more adventurous….so much so they take on the escarpment on a regular basis.

Few would march the entire expanse of the escarpment from one end to the other. Now that is a worthwhile project, complete with a bear encounter!

Now, if you planned a hike after whipping up and packing the tasty lunch – following Chef Jan’s frittata with chive pesto and chicken soup recipes – you would really be onto something

Publisher, ClubWEST Magazine
Mike Williscraft

Having a bird!

ClubWest(To view our March/April 2015 issue of ClubWEST online, click here.)

Grimsby’s Rick Manners never met a challenge he did not relish

By Mike Williscraft

Would the real Rick Manners please step forward?

Grizzly & TeddyThe bus driver.

The incredibly gifted artist.

The dedicated Kinsmen Club of Grimsby member.

The naturalist.

The dedicated husband of nearly 30 years.

The hard-working employee of the Grimsby Benevolent Fund.

The friend who would help at a moments notice.

The avid collector/builder of toy muscle cars.

@RT Hawk TailNo matter which hat Manners is wearing when one interacts with him, there is a common denomenator which is consistent: a big smile and a drive to get things done.

These days, most may recognize him from the GBF store or perhaps someone may have seen him in his Kin T-shirt setting up for a community event.

His passion, one of them, painting has taken a bit of a back seat at times in recent years.

Nascar GuitarWhile living in Toronto and operating studios in Thunder Bay, Brantford and Toronto simultaneously in the early 90s, Manners and his wife, Kathy, made a trip out to Grimsby to visit her parents who had just decided to retire there.

“Instead of taking the highway, we got off and took the scenic route. As we came into town on Hwy. 8, we passed the Old Stone Shop and I slammed on the brakes. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be a great spot for me,” recalled Manners.

“ I got out of the car and saw a man raking in his yard. That turned out to be Al Jordan. I asked him if he knew who owned the shop. He said, ‘me’. It needed a lot of work, but we got it all set up, cleaned out and the rest is history.”

Actually, it is still a work in progress as fate brought Manners to town, but he is still in the process of completing the canvas which will depict his life here.

See the full article in our online edition.