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The movies inspired Guelph race car driver to hit the track

R.J. Croteau's race car is painted to honour loved ones lost to cancer
20180608 CROTEAU photo rm
R.J. Croteau of Guelph leans against the Croteau Racing car he drives in the Ray's Super Stock Series at Flamboro Raceway. Photo for GuelphToday by Rob Masse

When Guelph’s R.J. Croteau, once a top karting prospect, decided to go racing again he figured it might be better to do it in a car.

“(I’ve been racing) on and off for about 12 years,” the 26-year-old Conestoga College and College Heights Secondary School grad says. “I started in karting and I did that for six years and now I’m back racing, but this time in a full-size stock car and this is my first full-time season. I raced a few races last year, but things didn’t go overly well.”

Not long after watching a movie on the sport of kart racing, R.J. was strapped into his own kart.

“I saw a movie called Kart Racer back when I was real young and I thought that would be a fun thing to do so I got into karting,” he says. “I found out how expensive karting is so I decided to move up into a car which is actually, funny enough, cheaper.”

It’s also considerably cheaper to go racing in the Super Stock class at Flamboro Speedway than it was to race karts.

“Tires are about the same price, but you’re constantly having to change stuff on the go kart so it’s about $500 a week when we were actually having to maintain our own kart,” Croteau says. “This costs me less than $100 every time I go out.”

And that was one of the reasons for the switch to racing cars.

“It’s a safer environment to do it,” he says. “These are supposed to be cheaper than a late model to run and you can go to other tracks and your car for the most part should be legal for those other tracks as well.

“I would like to get into late model racing, but that comes with a huge price tag. Right now I just want to get this car up to speed and try to run at the front and hopefully compete for the championship, probably next year as far as the funding goes.”

He’s fifth this season, 89 points behind the leader.

Racing in the local short-track scene can also be done with a small crew. For Croteau Racing, it’s two people – Croteau and crew member John Morrison of Erin.

“I used to know him back in school and he went out with my god sister and he’s friends with my normal sister,” Croteau says. “We met back up afterwards and when he found out that I had purchased a race car, his eyes just lit up. He asked if he could help out.”

Morrison was no stranger to working as a crew member as he used to do that for veteran driver Dave Elliott, a former late model Flamboro track champion. Last time out, Elliott helped Croteau with some tips about the proper racing line at the track that the Guelph racer hoped to put to use when the Ray’s Super Stock Series resumed July 28.

That’s when Croteau was getting his car back on the track, a car that’s painted purple and black to honour the people in his and Morrison’s lives who have passed away.

“The paint scheme is based off the cancer awareness ribbon,” Croteau said. “My crew member John and myself have lost four people who were close to us because of cancer. He lost two people and I’ve lost two as well. Their names are on the top of the car above the passenger door.”

That’s why Carol Ann Croteau, David Reay Duke, Eileen Fair and Dave Dazell have their names on the car.

“I decided to offer up the spot right above the passenger door so that, basically, our co-pilots are these four people.”


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