Four years ago, Pro 4 racing in Ontario was on the edge of extinction. Two or three cars would show up at the local track on race night, which was frustrating for both the track owners and the car owners. It was tough to watch, especially considering the class had been around for 50 years. COVID and a brutal economy were only making things worse.
Pro 4 racing began in the New England states years ago and grew in Southern Ontario in the ‘70s. For those unfamiliar with Pro 4, they are open-wheel Modified cars with heavily modified 4-cylinder engines.
In their heyday, there were approximately 30 cars in Pro 4 fields in Southern Ontario. But when numbers dropped dramatically, something had to be done or this small class would just become a memory. On the bright side, the cars still existed; we just had to get them back on the track.
To turn things around, we spoke with a local track owner, but were met with a laugh and a “good luck.” He had no interest in having the cars at his track. In fairness, it was hard to blame him. He couldn’t depend on a car count that would entertain his fans. And the racers couldn’t depend on their engines, as they were running well above what they were designed to do.
It was easy to see how costs had gotten out of hand. Expensive aftermarket race parts and no RPM limits led to an environment where there were no limits on how much money could be spent.
So, there were several challenges to address. We needed cars on the track, a venue to race at, and cost-cutting rules to make racing affordable again. The days when Pro 4 was considered a low-cost form of racing were a distant memory.
My son and I raced in the Pro 4 group in the early 2000s, and it got very expensive trying to keep up with the faster cars. One summer, I remember building three engines in four weeks as we kept scattering them trying to run them at over 8,000 RPMs, which was the norm at that point.
The first step in rebuilding the class was finding cars and owners who would consider coming back to race. We found about eight people with cars who were interested. From the first meeting, it was clear that these people loved racing, but at some point, things had gotten out of hand — whether due to time commitments, financial strain, or something else.
The next challenge was addressing the issues that caused them to quit.
One of the challenges of grassroots racing is keeping things fair for everyone. I remember going to a race in the U.S. back in the ‘70s at Selinsgrove (PA) Speedway, watching dirt Sprint Cars for the first time. They were basically the World of Outlaws before World of Outlaws was a thing.
It was the wildest form of racing I’d ever seen. It was scary to stand in the infield corners to watch. They were dirt cars on steroids! I asked a car owner what rules they ran. He replied, in a Southern drawl, “Rules? We don’t have any rules. If we had rules, people would cheat.”
I still laugh thinking about that line, as I’ve been around one form of racing or another my whole life.
Getting back to the Pro 4s, it was with that “rules” thought in mind that I wanted to deliver fairness for all. It’s a real challenge, but that was the focus. We were working on fairness… we were getting some cars… but we still needed a track to race at.
As mentioned, one track owner laughed when I mentioned Pro 4. Another said he would talk to us when we could bring 15 cars. We were dealing with a history of promises that hadn’t been fulfilled. We needed track owners to be confident that we would show up if we made an agreement.
To get something in place, we approached a track owner who didn’t want us and asked for four races the following season. We told him we would pre-register eight cars and pay their admission fees before the season started. And if we didn’t have eight cars show up, he wouldn’t need to pay us.
Fast forward to the first two races, and we had six cars at each. Our drivers guaranteed they would be there… and I knew what the track owner was thinking. At the next race, we had eight cars! OMG! We got paid! At the last race, we had seven cars. Kudos to the track owner. He saw how hard we’d worked, felt for us, and paid us for the race. He believed in us, and we appreciated that.
We were making progress. The year before, another track had taken us for a race, and only two cars showed up. They let us race two races anyway. The track owner was a real gentleman and understood the challenges we were trying to overcome.
That day, I won a race and the other guy on the track won the other. I now race against that gentleman on a regular basis and I realize that he let me win! LOL.
This past season, that gentleman – driver Mark Lucas – won the Most Sportsmanlike Driver award. He is a gentleman on and off the track and is a positive influence on all our drivers, whether rookies or seasoned.
About three years ago, we took our lean little club to the Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo in Toronto. We had a small booth with a car in it. We were there looking to find cars, drivers, and hopefully connect with tracks that might take us for a race or two.
We surpassed our hopes and expectations! The number of people who talked to us about our club was phenomenal. We learned about old Pro 4 race cars in barns (with animals living in them!), engines, and past club members to reconnect with.
I especially remember an older lady who stood back in the aisle, read our Pro 4 banner, and looked at the car on display. She eventually came up to me and told me her late husband had raced with the Pro 4 ‘years ago.’
What she said touched my soul and has become part of the philosophy of The Southern Ontario Pro 4 Modifieds.
She said it was “the gentleman’s club of racing.” We thought that was a great way to put it. While this type of racing may not be for everyone, why can’t there be room for a type that’s just for fun? It can also serve as a stepping stone for young drivers on their way up, or older ones on their way down.
Keeping things ‘fun,’ we decided to have just eight races a year. People have lives, families, and commitments. This is a hobby. There are no scouts in the grandstand looking for the next NASCAR superstar. We are a group of men and women who just want to feel the rush of racing on a track.
If you want to win at all costs, this may not be the group for you. But if you want to have fun, race a few times each season, be part of a racing family that enjoys BBQs after most nights of racing, and maybe even some live music, join a group that helps others achieve their goals on the track — old helping young, young helping old, and everyone helping each other — then maybe check us out.
Our club has three ‘father and son’ teams, each with a car racing against the other. We have a ‘husband and wife’ team that does the same. We also have a father and son who share driving duties for one car, as well as several other family teams.
Just four years ago, we had half a dozen cars. At the end of the 2024 season, we had 20 car owners with a total of 25 possible cars to race! And we had a family with three generations racing at the same time! This truly is a race family!
And if you think the racing isn’t competitive, think again. In 2023, we had seven different winners in eight races. In 2024, rainouts cut the schedule to just six events, but four different racers went to Victory Lane.
The racing is close, competitive, and respectful. It’s a big group of friends competing for bragging rights. There’s no big pot of gold waiting for the winners. Just a plaque, a handshake, and some laughs.
Being an open-wheel class, we don’t have the margin of error that you find in full-body stock car racing. Our drivers tend to be a little more dedicated to their racing lines. Safety is always a major concern, and we work diligently to ensure that the cars are in top mechanical condition and all safety equipment is within track standards.
Every night we race, our club donates one or two kids’ bikes to lucky children in the grandstand. We also award a $50 bill to a lucky spectator, called The Bridesmaid Award, courtesy of Knot Too Shabby bridal store in Stratford, ON.
One night a year, we rent ‘the tower’ at a track we race at and have a VIP Thank You night to thank all our sponsors, volunteers, and friends, courtesy of Strodes in Brantford. We’d also like to thank Pencar (Brantford), Tiger Towing (Mississauga), TEGS Tools (Hamilton), and Jack Greedy Ltd. (Bolton) for their unwavering support. Special thanks to BCW Lumber of Brantford for being our series’ primary sponsor for a third year in a row.
Thank you to all our selfless members who have gone above and beyond to make this club something to be proud of. Thumbs up to all! If you’re interested in learning more about the Southern Ontario Pro 4 Modifieds – as a racer, car owner, volunteer, or sponsor – please contact me (Ken Mercer) at kenmercer55@gmail.com. You can also follow the club on Facebook (Southern Ontario Modified Association SOMA Old Pro 4 Cars).
