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| Leonard Pothier - Memories of the Past |
| Leonard Pothier, a 69 year old gentleman who now calls Shinamaquoque home, is a race fan from way back. Being a native of Yarmouth, and moving to Ontario in 1952, Pothier began his interest in the racing scene in the early 50's. Pothier was a member of many pit crews but got his start with Bob Emerson at the one-time famous Pinecrest Speedway. He worked in his pit crew and did warm up laps in the car. Pothier could not believe the number of Maritimers that were at Pinecrest. There were so many that only a few; Ernie McLean, Gerry Campbell, Jim Hallihan, Johnny Goodwin, Cecil Gray and Guy LeBlanc popped into his head immediately. Pothier was full of funny stories. The first was of a Powderpuff Derby ( name for women racing) which were held quite often back then. " Well, Nick Rambley came up from Port Credit with a brand new 55 Chevy race car. He gave it to Vernie Shell and she cleaned out the starters stand when it used to be on the inside of the track and the pits were there too. Ernie Martin was the flagman at that time. Vernie wrecked the new car totally." Now on a roll, Pothier continued " They were having a big International race and an American came out from Massachussets running an old 53 flathead Ford engine and beat all our boys that were hoping to win. If I'm not mistaken, he was a farmer. It took him two days just to drive up 'cause he had trouble with his tow vehicle. He couldn't believe that he had won because he was running against the new overhead engines and him with a flathead. I'll never forget that" " It was the Midseason Championship" Pothier rolled into another story " and the money was supposed to be a lot better. Ovilla LeBlanc, who was also from down here, got a Ringer driver for that night, who drove with the big guys. Bob Emerson, my driver said that we were running gas for fuel but some guys were using ether for boost. So Ovilla went to the drug store and got two 8 ounce bottles of ether. We were told not to put it in too early because it would evaporate over time. Bob told Ovilla and I to wait until the Powderpuff Derby started. By then it'll be time for us. We had already gone through qualifying so Ovilla goes out to the tow car and gets the ether and wraps them in rags so no one could see. He'd been working on the car and his hands were all greasy. We started to put this stuff in the gas tank. I opened the gas tank but Ovilla couldn't get the top off the ether bottles because of the grease on his hands so he stuck it in his mouth to get it off and got a wiff of it. For about an hour and a half, he was walking around the pit in a daze. Bob came in a little while later and asked what's was the matter with Joe ( Ovilla's nickname), he's a little bit off. That was funny. We got the ether in and were running in the top five when the big fan belt broke, making us come in." Pothier kept on with another story " One night we were towing the car with a chain down the 400 highway so someone had to steer the car. Ovilla's brother-in-law was chosen. We were talking as we drove along and suddenly there was the 75 car beside us. The chain had broken so he started the car and caught up to us. He hollered to us that you guys aren't watching but I'll have her warmed up by the time we get to the track." Pothier chuckled. When asked about the differences between then and now, Pothier quickly replied " Money talks and the one who knows how to cheat the best is still around. Technology has changed. I don't know if the drivers are better or not because we had great drivers. "The worst experience I ever had at a track was the night in Flamboro when Sam Snyder was killed after inhaling the flames in a wreck." Pothier stated. " I wish I had an old program right now as seeing the names often jars the memory but it was a long time ago now". Pothier didn't know at that time who he would cheer for that day but he said with a laugh " I was never a Fraser fan but Scott is a much better driver than his father." |
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