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Looking back, reminiscing, Feeling the pride of a pioneer in a sport being born. Living as a mother, a daughter, a friend and a lover I think of those days with affection and laughter each morn.
The obsession and performance of each and every show Still makes me feel alive today For helping pave the fun-filled road For the many free spirits and souls along the way.
This sport being born, was exciting and new Riding was a pure thrill and all my senses were in overload It made naming our friend Ecstasy, not hard to do As you felt the power when you drove down the road. |
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SYLVIA BRADDICK - Inducted 2002 Pioneer - Hot Rod, Custom Car and Drag Racing |
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Twin Hemi engined Ecstasy |
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Sylvia became interested in cars while still in high school. Just after her 16th birthday she took her father’s 1950 Ford to Cal-Van Auto Supply and had them install a dual exhaust system. Soon after this she met various members of the British Columbia Custom Car Association (BCCCA), including Stew Braddick, whom she eventually married. Sylvia began attending the drag races at the Abbotsford Airport as a spectator. Her enthusiasm for the sport finally took over and she made her first run down the track. This gave her the honour of becoming the first woman drag racer in Western Canada. Through her racing she became well known |
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THE THRILL OF THE RIDE - By Sylvia Braddick |
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By Cheryl Harder, 2002 – edited By Tom Johnston, 2004 |
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throughout the Pacific Northwest. In the early 1960s Sylvia and Stew bought a 1955 Chev and began entering car shows. By 1969, Sylvia decided she wanted to get back behind the wheel of a race car, so she returned to the track with a 400 ci 1969 Pontiac GTO. After three years of racing as the Judge, she felt she needed something a little more adventuresome. In 1972 the Braddicks purchased Chuck Poole’s Chuckwagon wheel-standing pickup, installed two 426 Hemis and renamed it the Canadian Lady. Sylvia often told her friends and fans that driving the Canadian Lady was the closest she had ever come to feeling |
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ecstasy. Thus, she changed the name to Ecstasy. Fred Welsh repainted the car midnight black, and Jim Greenwood did the pin striping. After making several runs at Boundary Bay Raceway, Sylvia obtained her wheelstander competition license. She had accomplished what no other woman had and continued to race through the mid 1970s. She sold the wheelstander in 1977 and retired from racing to spend more time with her children and help run the family business. Sylvia misses the sport. However, she lived her dream to drive something fast. |
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The sounds were overwhelming, the excitement unbearable The desire, charging ahead to be number one The thrill of the ride together with my car I loved it all and I’ll never forget anything, anyone.
I consider myself lucky and still the same young girl For the Passion is still there as it always will be I still have my helmet, my firesuit, my trophies and my license to race
Ecstasy is gone, but most importantly, my best friend Stewie is still with me. |
