Don Thomson Jr. and the Home Hardware Chevrolet team can be proud of their accomplishments in the inaugural season of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series (NCATS) in 2007. Becoming the first ever race winner in the series would certainly be among the highlights.
It was a long wait for NASCAR to officially come aboard and bring to life the NCATS but the wait was worth it. From the first race there was a sense of pride and professionalism evident in the series. As the green flag began competition for the inaugural race at Cayuga Speedway, every driver dreamed of having their name on the trophy and in the record book as the first ever series winner. Don Thomson Jr. and the Home Hardware Chevrolet team would realize that dream. Taking the lead for good on lap 187 Thomson would take the checkered flag and make his mark in history. "It is kind of special,"he said "that we won the first ever race in the series."
As the summer rolled on so did the successes of the Home Hardware team. Thomson would claim his first of two Bud Pole Awards at Sun Valley Speedway near Vernon, BC; the other would come as the series returned to Cayuga on the Labour Day weekend. The second victory of the season for the Home Hardware team would come in dominating fashion at the half-mile paperclip shaped track at Mosport Speedway. Thomson would lead 181 of the 200 laps on the way to his second win of the season. "I've had some really good races here in the past but we definitely had the dominant car in this one," said Thomson.
The year was not without its bumps for the Home Hardware team. A mechanical breakdown at the Mosport Road course, and a bump from behind that damaged the car beyond repair at the second Cayuga event and other problems would frustrate the team. "We set our standards very high"said Thomson. We won a couple of races, but we had a few mistakes during the year as well, I made mistakes, sometimes the set up of the car was a bit off, it was a few different things. It was a pretty good year, but not our best."
Overall the numbers are very positive. Two victories, including the inaugural series race. Two Bud Pole Awards, five top-five finishes, and eight top-ten finishes helped power the Home Hardware team to a fourth overall finish in the championship standings.
This past weekend at the NCATS year end awards banquet, Thomson and the Home Hardware team were among those honoured for their performance this past season. Thomson was presented with the crystal Pegasus award from Mobil 1 for winning the most 'Command Performance Driver of the Race' awards this season. "I'm really happy for everyone at Fitzpatrick Motorsports and Home Hardware to receive this award," said Thomson.
Fall has arrived but plans are already being made for the 2008 season by the Home Hardware Chevrolet team. "We're looking at building some new cars over the winter to get ready for the 2008 season," said Thomson. "We want to find some of the magic that we had in the past where we won championships in seven straight years and I'm confident we can do that," he added.
The NCATS inaugural season consisted of a twelve event schedule on ovals, road courses and temporary street circuits across Canada. All twelve races this season also aired on TSN. For information about the NCATS including schedule, results and more, log onto www.nascar.ca
This release prepared by TL Sports & Entertainment
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