Stock car racing legend to be inducted into Canadian shrine Jan. 29
By MONTY MOSHER / Sports Reporter
The Halifax Herald, January 4, 2005

One of Nova Scotia's all-time great stock car drivers is headed to the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

Pictou's Rollie MacDonald, with a career that began in 1966 and may continue in 2005 and beyond, will be inducted into the Toronto shrine on Jan. 29.

The Hall of Fame was founded in 1993 and has more than 100 members. They include Greg Moore, Scott Goodyear and Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve.

The 60-year-old MacDonald enters in the competitor category for his decades of success on local, national and U.S. race tracks.

"The first thing I thought about when they told me was that I was going to be in Arizona that night, so I had to change my plans," MacDonald, with more than 100 career race wins, joked Monday. "But certainly it's an honour to be inducted."

His racing roots go back to a dirt track in the Fraser Mountain area of Pictou County.

"We ran whatever we could build in the backyard," he said. "It was run what you bring. We ran a 1955 Pontiac with a six-cylinder in it."

One of his best, and worst, seasons came in 1977 when he won 21 consecutive races around tracks all over the Maritimes.

But he wrecked at a track in Lower Sackville in his bid for 22 in a row and ended up in the hospital for 10 days with rib and chest injuries.

He followed a Maritime (MASCAR) stock car title in 1984 with a points championship on a Quebec late model series in 1986.

He won three races on the American-Canadian Tour (ACT) from 1989-93. His victory at Scotia SpeedWorld in the Nissan 200 in 1989 marked the first time a non-tour driver beat the series regulars.

"Junior Hanley was there, Don Biederman was there - Robbie Crouch, Beaver Dragon and Ricky Craven - there were a lot of good guys there that night," he said.

His other two ACT victories came at Sanair, near Montreal. "That was my favourite track. We always ran good there. I was leading another one there and ran out of gas on the last lap. So I should have had three."

He ran several races in NASCAR Busch North in the mid-90s and had a fourth-place finish at Loudon, N.H., in 1994.

He's been an avid team owner in recent years and backed the effort of the late Scott Fraser of Shubenacadie in his bid to break into the U.S. racing market.

MacDonald's King Racing team helped Fraser run 20 races on the American Speed Association in 2000 and 2001 before the budget gave out. Fraser died last year in a snowmobile accident.

MacDonald's owner-driver relationship with Fraser began in 1999 when the two went to the famed Speed Weeks in New Smyrna, Fla., where MacDonald had won a race in 1991. Fraser set a series of fast times and won a few races.

Their business partnership became much more. "He was a great ambassador for me and we became a good friends along the way."

The two were discussing race plans for the 2004 season the day before Fraser died.

MacDonald's last race win came in 2000 at Riverside Speedway in James River. He suffered serious whiplash in an accident at the same track to start the 2004 season, but still managed to run the final race of the year at Scotia SpeedWorld in September which was dedicated to Fraser's memory.

He has a race car prepared for 2005, though he is not sure how much he will use it.

"The car is for sale, but if nobody buys it I am going to run some," he said.

Others in the Hall of Fame with strong Nova Scotia ties are Hanley, Jim Hallahan, Ernie McLean, all from stock car racing, and drag racer Barry Paton.

The 2004 class also includes Larry Bastedo (motorcycle competitor/contributor), Jim and Alice Fergusson (road racing competitor/contributor), Jack Greedy (stock car competitor/contributor), Bob and Helen Harvey (drag racing contributors), Doug Kennington (stock car competitor), George LeMay (oval track competitor), Jean-Paul Perusse (rally sport competitor), Mark Rotharmel (power boating competitor), Gordon Reelie (oval track contributor) and Brian Stewart (road racing contributor).