Gordon Reelie’s infatuation with motorsport began in the 1920s when he first heard the roar of the machines at Hastings Park from his North Burnaby home. His family had moved there shortly after his birth in Ontario in 1910. However, it wasn’t until after the Second World War that Reelie’s racing career took off.

From about 1946 until his death in 1994, Gordon Reelie owned and raced midget race cars. While not a driver, his name, and the sponsorship of his Weldco shop, on the side of a car meant he was a contender for the fea-ture win, if not the season champion-ship.

Reelie was instrumental in laying out the dimensions for both Digney and False Creek Speedways. He was president of the British Columbia Midget Auto Racing Association (BCMARA) in 1950, and possibly other years, but his influence in the Pacific Northwest is undeniable.

He raced up and down the west coast, winning twice as far south as Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles with Californian Hank Butcher driving the Reelie car in USAC midget races. Fur-ther north, drivers like Gordon Livingston, Palmer Crowell and Dennis Kitts won many races, with Crowell and Kitts garnering Washington Midget

GORDON REELIE - Inducted 2001

Pioneer - Oval Racing

Reelie Offy Midget  (Doug Harder collection)

By Brian Pratt, 2004

Gordon Reelie, 1967

Sign on former Weldco building

Racing Association (WMRA) crowns for Reelie. His cars have well over 50 wins in the northwest.

In his years of racing, his cars were powered by Ford V8 60s, Offys, VWs and whatever else would get them

around the track and to the front. That includes a little pop, nitro that could bite an engine in a heartbeat.

The Weldco sponsorship showed up on modifieds built and maintained by Jim Marchant, with drivers like Ralph Monhay, Larry Sproule and Dennis Goldstraw.

His enthusiasm and the work put into the sport both locally and internationally make Gordon Reelie a natural to be honoured as a pioneer by the Greater Vancouver Motorsport Pioneers Society.