Cantley 1889 articles
The following article first appeared in The Echo of Cantley Volume 36 no 2 August 2024. This article is made available for the enjoyment of others with the express permission of the Echo of Cantley.
Cantley’s Daytona — the Story of the Cantley Speedway
Michael Rosen
From farms to ski hills to campgrounds, people came to Cantley to realize their dreams. This is the story of a short-lived but memorable enterprise – the Cantley Speedway.
Even though the Speedway only existed for seven years, Facebook sites are full of testimonials, photos and films of stock cars, crowds and a Figure-8 race that will still scare you, 60 years later.
In the 1960s, there were many more auto repair garages than now in Canada and the USA. Car racecourses like the Cantley Speedway were popular. It operated at a time when Cantley’s low population (around 1,000) saw few people disturbed by noise and traffic. Cantley-ans generally welcomed it.
The Speedway was created in 1964 by Guy Boyer, a mechanic and resident of Limbour. Boyer bought the Massie Farm on chemin Ste-Elizabeth, east of Camping Cantley. It was described as a 4/10-mile track (eventually including a “Figure-8”). It raced “stock cars” and “modified stock cars” complete with V-8 engines. Many participants were mechanics, body shop workers and auto sales associates.
The enterprise was a huge success. Guy’s son, Richard Boyer remembers, “Thousands of people attended … from 60 to100 miles around”. The Cantley Speedway Car Club had Guy Boyer as President, managing a race every Sunday, with entrance fees and prize money. People sat in two sets of stands or in their vehicles like a drive-in. The operation was a family affair including son Richard selling tickets and wife Theresa as the accountant. The Cantley Speedway continued for another six years, employing about 20 part-time staff working mostly as a “labour of love”. There was a women’s race known as the “Powder Puff” and a demolition derby at least once a year. Other competitions, including “horse pull” and snowmobile races, used the site. Cantley Speedway sponsored a team in a local softball league.
The dream was almost shattered when. during its second year in 1965, a spectator was killed. A 1955 stock car hurtled through an embankment and rolled twice into the crowd, killing a young auto worker from Ottawa and injuring 17 others. It was a very traumatic event. The racing crowd grieved and rallied together. Eventually the races resumed later that same year.
Names associated with the Cantley Speedway included: Eddy Desormeaux, André Richard, Robert Gervais, Arthur Dupuis, Moe Lachaine, Paul Sarrazin, George Lecavalier, Gilbert Blondin and the Germain, Grondin and Guindon families. Guy Boyer sold the operation to Gerry Bisson in 1970. Bisson was well known in Canada’s car racing community. He sold cars at Campbell Ford in Ottawa and managed racecourses including the Pinecrest, Capital City and Lansdowne Park Speedway. Stricter government regulations on safety meant greater investments would have to be made which Bisson could not afford. He closed the Speedway in 1971 and sold the property. The spectator stands were sold, and the site was reclaimed by nature.
Today, the remnants of the Cantley Speedway are difficult to see. Car races declined in popularity so most of the courses of that period are gone. Today, many of the lands near the former Cantley Speedway are being redeveloped into rural residential lots, which will probably dictate the future of the site. One dream may be gone, but many others may soon be started.
The author thanks Robert Boyer, others in Cantley and the three Facebook sites dedicated to the Cantley Speedway.
