Picture Perfect Five-Year Plan>

Baseball team and football teams talk in terms of five-year plans when they are rebuilding. Though the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Oakland Raiders have proved that a five-plan sometimes leads to another five year plan, Delaware seemed to hit it on the head. When it comes to the action on the track in the Delaware Speedway APC Late Model division, the new style of car for the last five years has led to one of the most stellar field of cars and stars of any Canadian track.

Five years ago, Delaware Speedway Race Director Jeff Wilcox stood before the teams gathered for the winter rules meeting and announced that the track would be going away from the CASCAR Sportsman style car in a new direction towards a more common car among different tracks, the Late Models cars that grace the track today.

I have to admit I was among the naysayers for a few reasons.

First off, why would you destroy a perfectly good class and start another one that was almost just like it, forcing every team to either purchase brand new equipment, or pack in their teams.

Secondly, I was still holding on to the notion that other tracks would finally get with Delaware's template for a feature class so more traveling could occur (the rope was getting thin).

Thirdly, there was nothing wrong with the competition under the old style of cars.

Despite my opinions, the speedway went forward with the changes, and now 60 months later, the results have been incredible.

Initially, car counts were down a bit as a number of drivers realized that despite making any adjustments, the old style cars would only keep up for a lap or two, being driven on the absolute edge before the handling would drop off. Some drivers like Jason Hathaway and Scott Lindsay tried to keep up with the old style cars, but eventually they purchased a new style car, before becoming consistent contenders again.

Year two for the new style of cars saw a return to the 2004 level in terms of numbers of teams, and it has been all green flags since. Last season the car counts ranged from 23 to 29 with a high of 39 cars for the APC 300 on Labour Day Weekend.

During the early days of CASCAR there were a number of other tracks that ran the same style of Sportsman car, including Capital City Speedway in Ottawa, Autodrome Ste. Eustache in Montreal, and the CNE Stadium Speedway in downtown Toronto. The same cars and teams were then part of a ladder to the CASCAR Super Series now the Canadian Tire Series. There was a tour backed by Carquest for years between Delaware, Ste. Eustache and Capital City, with the occasional events at Barrie Speedway, Peterborough Speedway and Cayuga. There was also a Quebec based series that ran for a few years.

By the time Delaware did away with the CASCAR style of cars, you could either run at Delaware, on the travelling Sportsman Series, or do a little work and make the car Super Series worthy. That didn't leave a lot of options. In the meantime, the same basic chassis was able to run at Flamboro, Kawartha, Peterborough, Sauble, and Mosport, as well as some tracks just over the border like Lake Erie Speedway and Mansfield.

The change for Delaware to move away from CASCAR sanctioning would spell the end of weekly CASCAR Sportsman action. The newer style of Late Models immediately started to draw competitors from other tracks, like David and Gary Elliott as well as Jason Shaw from Flamboro, and Brian Mercer who has made some visits from Kawartha. Recently Shawn McWhirter and Andrew Gresel have become semi-regulars from out of town. In 2009, the Delaware division caught the attention of legendary Late Model builder Chas Howe of Howe's Racing in Michigan. Howe and his hired gun, Mid-west short track ace Robbie Pyle made a few trips to Delaware, and while fast, they left empty handed.

In addition to allowing teams to come to Delaware the drivers of the London-area half-mile have started making trips on the road to race, travelling to Flamboro Speedway, Sauble Speedway, and some as far away as Lake Erie Speedway, all because the cars are about the same in terms of horsepower and handling, or at least easily handicapped with weight and carburetor rules.

While the change worked out tremendously for Delaware, misplaced racers and equipment went on to find a home. Most purchased a Delaware car to continue racing, while a number of teams hit the road as part of the CASCAR Sportsman Series. Now named the Lucas Oil Sportsman Series, the tour has become the top regional tour in Ontario, making appearances for the last two years on Labour Day Weekend at Delaware.

As for the Delaware APC Late Models, it's full speed ahead with year six, as more and more teams are taking a look at Delaware for the 2010 season. Expect at least the same amount of cars as 2009, and quite possibly more. And as for the five year plan, if Delaware can bottle what they've done, I'm sure either the Detroit Lions or the Toronto Maple Leafs would take a chance on a case, because it worked!

Story by Jamie Maudsley

Photos by Maudsley Motorsports