Kennington name-drops Pearn as racers wait for green light to compete

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DJ Kennington isn’t giving away his secrets.

After some testing at Jukasa Motor Speedway in Cayuga recently, he gave an eyebrow-raising shout-out to Mt. Brydges native and former top-flight NASCAR crew chief Cole Pearn for all his assistance.

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“It got everybody’s attention, right,” the Pinty’s series star and St. Thomas racer said in a sly tone. “I don’t know, maybe he was there. He and I are good friends and still in contact.

“He’s a smart guy, let’s put it that way, and I bounce a lot of stuff off him. He helps me a lot with ideas and it’s like he says, ‘maybe it will help you or maybe it puts you in left field, but try this.’

“I figured I would throw that out there (on social media) and stir the pot and see if we can’t get things rolling. It’s tough times and you try to get a smile out of people or make them laugh.”

Kennington was happy to get back on the track, even for a solo practice. He has also been tuning in religiously to the NASCAR Cup series, where he raced in 16 events over the past four years.

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That has provided some hope of salvaging some part of the Canadian racing season this summer.

“I miss it all. Even just driving with the hauler last week was awesome,” he said. “Our western swing (on the Pinty’s tour) has already been cancelled and it’s the first time in 27 years I won’t be going out there and racing for Castrol.

“It’s hard for us to race without fans here. It’s not like the big deal down south where they get the huge TV money. They have millions of viewers and good on them for doing it. Hopefully, everyone stays safe and I’ll keep watching.”

SERIES UPDATE: Two of the season’s bigger stock car races — the Canadian Short Track Nationals at Jukasa and the APC United Late Model Series finale at Delaware Speedway — aren’t until September. That gives organizers, racers and fans a little more runway to hope a typical race or two can be held before the full season is shuttered.

Right now, operators are planning four weeks out and teams will need about a month to test and prepare the car for a major event.

“It’s an elite level of racing and there are a lot of costs involved,” APC series president Luke Ramsay said. “I don’t see it coming back until we can have fans there. I talked to the guys and if everything is lifted in September and we can do one race, we’ll do it.

“We have a lot of people who made a huge investment to support the series and it’s not the right thing to just shut it down.”

This wasn’t the way Londoner Matt Pritiko expected to defend his series championship. His winning car was sold, so a brand-new McColl-built Global Warranty No. 21 car was prepared for him in the off-season.

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“You look at a race like Jukasa and it’s worth it to spend the time to get the car prepped,” he said. “Last year, we finished second there and got $35,000 for it. But you’re not just going to show up without trying the car out. Usually, we’d switch 40 per cent of the parts to keep up with the guys from the States. It’s a process and a lot of things have to happen first before we can get back out there.”

The appetite is certainly there.

The APC’s recent five-race iRacing series drew more than 120,000 viewers live and through re-watches.

“That was definitely a hit,” Pritiko said. “We had at least 30 drivers take part each week. It’s a good marketing tool for the series.”

The sport’s up-and-coming young guns dominated the top 10. Organizer Ryan Dyson could see an eight-race series with point standings taking shape in the next off-season.

“In the winter, it could fill a void,” he said, “and it didn’t surprise me the younger guys did well. A handful of them have been on the (online game) for years.

“Our drivers were well-behaved (compared to some incidents in the U.S. that had real consequences for drivers and teams). They kept their mouths shut and finished the races.”

rpyette@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/RyanatLFPress