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- This column by John Cosway
is a mix of 50 years of media memories and 15 years of buying
and selling experiences via live and online auctions, flea markets,
antique stores and markets etc
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- Cosway's Corner -
Ted Hogan, gone but not forgotten
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- "Terrible Ted" Hogan remains
the iconic stock car racer
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- By John Cosway
Ted Hogan, an ace stock car driver who dominated the tracks
at the CNE and Pinecrest, died almost 50 years ago in a fiery
Lake Ontario plane crash.
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- Exhibition Stadium and the Pinecrest track on Hwy. 7 are
long gone, but the roaring thunder of dozens of cars and the
cheers of the thousands of men, women and children who filled
the stands still echo in the minds of all who were there.
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- And Hogan, a Toronto-born 1996 Canadian Motorsport Hall of
Fame inductee and winner of more than 100 feature wins, including
a record 37 at the CNE, is still the hero and in the news.
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- One of his restored stock cars recently sold for $13,375
at a Toronto auto auction and there is talk of a November event
to mark the 50th anniversary of his death.
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- The glory days of hobby/jalopy and stock car racing spanned
from 1951 to 1976 at Pinecrest and 1952 to 1966 at the CNE, which
means most drivers are now seniors.
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 They remember the
passion and the pits and competitors who sped around numerous
oval tracks that are now just a memory: CNE, Pinecrest, Oshawa
Motor Raceway, Oshawa's Pleasure Valley, Oakwood Speedway in
Toronto, Sutton Speedway, Wasaga Speedway, Nilestown Speedway,
Hamilton's Speedway Park etc.
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- In their day, most had nicknames: Howie "Scooter"
Scannell, "Gentleman" Jim Howard, Ted
"Pops" Gilbert, "Stormin'" Norman
Lelliott, "Quick Vic" Parsons, Smiling"
Jack Greedy etc. Ted's tag was "Terrible Ted" but
people who the man, knew better.
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- Hogan was a fierce competitor, but he cared about the safety
of fellow drivers.
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- To fans in the stands, he was a local hero, so it was only
fitting he was the one who drove Billy Clemens to Northwestern
General Hospital at 110 mph in his private car following a fiery
crash at Pinecrest on Aug. 10, 1957.
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- Clemens, 30, from Mishawaka, Indiana, was on a warm-up run
for Pinecrest's fifth annual 75-lap International championship
when he crashed into a wall at 85 mph. It took 15 minutes for
drivers to pull him from the wreckage.
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- An ambulance wasn't available, so Hogan used his car to drive
the badly burned Clemens to hospital. Unfortunately, Clemens
died 16 days later.
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- Serious injuries and fatalities were not common, but they
did occur.
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- Hogan had his share of injuries. One three-car crash at the
CNE required eye surgery at St. Joseph's Hospital. He was soon
back at the tracks and seemed invincible.
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- Then came Nov. 23, 1960, the dark day when the airplane Hogan
owned and piloted caught fire and crashed into Lake Ontario off
Port Union Road. Bruce Tanner, a friend and former driver,
was also killed.
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- Hogan, 38, left a wife, Bernice, and six children - Wanita,
Sandra, Sharon, Stephen, Michael and Mark. (Stephen raced at
Sunset Speedway in Stroud and Sutton Speedway in the early 1970s.)
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- He was not forgotten. About 40 drivers participated in two
Ted Hogan Memorial Night races on July 4, 1961, won by Phil
Major and Jim Warren.
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- Hogan was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame
in 1996 - two years after archrival Jimmy Howard, No. 38, a time
lapse that would have irked the very competitive "Terrible
Ted."
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- His death silenced the rivalry between Hogan and Howard,
a cigar-chomping driver who got his start in 1950 at Ancaster
Speedway in hometown Hamilton, where he resides today.
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- Hogan's career began in 1949 and for 11 years used a variety
of No. 7 cars: A 1937 Ford coupe, Model A coupe body, Fiat bodied
modified and home made modified.
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- The Hogan/Howard rivalry was a huge draw and for the money
- CNE and Pinecrest admission in 1960 was $2.50 for adults, $1
for children - fans loved every minute of it.
- If you couldn't make it to the races, the Toronto Star's
Jim Proudfoot was there to provide next-day coverage,
with race summaries, the results and photographs.
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- Many of the tracks, drivers and cars would be a distant memory
today if not for people who care enough to remember.
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- People like Joan and Herb Tustin and their
son, Glen.
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 Glen,
whose dad is a retired driver, was a year old when Hogan was
killed, but his father's labour of love would become his labour
of love.
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- In 1992, Glen heard one of Hogan's cars was in an Orangeville
wrecking yard, barely recognizable. Glen paid $800 for the Fiat-bodied
car and restored it with the help of his dad and Doug Duncan,
who helped build it in 1958.
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- Glen took it to car shows until selling it to Al Webster
in 1998 for $8,000. Webster put it up for auction in October.
The $13,000-plus sale price proves owning a piece of Hogan almost
50 years after his death is much in demand..
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- A few years ago, Glen realized his father's retired CNE/Flamboro
jalopy competitors were getting older. Some had died. It was
time for a reunion and Glen and his partner, Bonnie McColl,
hosted two at their home. Forty people attended in 2007, 50 in
2008.
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- "A lot of the drivers and their wives hadn't seen each
other in 40 years," says Glen. "A lot of them were
in tears. The drivers are all good people, down to earth good
guys who entertained thousands in their day."
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- Glen says he is considering another reunion to mark the 50th
anniversary of Hogan's death. He also wants to round up 8mm and
16mm home movie footage stored in closets and not viewed in decades.
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- CNE attendance peaked at 19,000 fans, so Glen figures there
must be a lot of footage, including Hogan in action, waiting
to be shared. Plus footage of Norm Brioux, Jimmy Howard,
Howie Scannell, Wally Branson, Jack Cook,
Glenn Shurr, Harvey Lennox etc.
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- If you have footage, contact Glen at bmccoll@sympatico.ca
or this writer at thecos@the-wire.com
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- Others are keeping the memories alive.
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- The Canadian Vintage Modified Club - vintagemods.com
- races restored 1920s and 1930s cars several times a year. The
club's motto is "Preserving the Roots of Stock Car Racing."
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- A 1997 book by "Honest" Nate Salter - The Golden
Years of Stock Car Racing In Toronto: 1951-1966 - contains 128
pages of driver profiles, photos and stories.
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- The stories remain precious
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- Howard Moscoe, a veteran Toronto councillor, sold
hot dogs during stock car races at the Ex as a youngster. He
remembers catching the track action between sales.
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- Bill Brioux, a Brampton-based TV writer, remembers
annual summer trips to his cousin's farm in Nashville, Ont.,
as a kid. Norm was a cousin, but Bill grew up calling "Zoom
Zoom" Brioux "Uncle Norm."
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- "He would throw us all into his '62 Merc, drive into
the farm field and go up on two wheels," says Bill. "I
remember rolling around on the floor laughing with all these
kids piled on top of me."
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- Bill, born after his cousin retired, remembers stories about
Norm's Shell station in the High Park area in Toronto and his
yellow Puddicombe's No. 77.
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- "Unfortunately, he passed away about 10 years ago. He
was quite a character."
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- CBC TV's Peter Mansbridge and Canadian race champ
Scott Goodyear, whose fathers were stock car drivers,
also have stories to tell.
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- Today, there are no traces of CNE and Pinecrest tracks, but
weed-covered defunct tracks dot the Ontario landscape. A list
of "ghost" tracks can be found at canadianracer.com
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- "Ghost tracks" speak of an era when rural and urban
stock car races were a way of life and a fiercely competitive
Ted Hogan was king of the circuit.
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- Photos:
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- Ted Hogan in the pits, courtesy of Glen Tustin
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- CNE Grandstand view: Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame
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- Herb Tustin in his No. 80 jalopy, courtesy of Glen Tustin
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