HARVEY LENNOX

He was king of the super modified stock car world. He was such a visitor to victory lane that fans often came out to see him lose. In all, he won 182 feature races, an accomplishment that would earn him legendary status and a place in the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
He is Harvey Lennox whose skill and daring behind the wheel of Tammy 10 burned up the tracks for almost four decades. Frequently cast as the villain, fans booed him and berated him for winning. Through it all he relished the attention and laughed all the way to the bank.
Early in his career Harvey was the scourge of the dirt tracks that dotted Southwestern Ontario. He was big news at ovals at such as Delaware, Nilestown, Ridge Raceway, Checker Flag in Windsor, Tilbury, Warwick, Tillsonburg, Sarnia Glendale to name some of them.It seemed every town had a track. Much of the time races were held on tracks at the fairgrounds.
Along came paved asphalt tracks, corners were widened and safety features installed as conditions improved. The dirt tracks eventually closed up with operations at Delaware, Flamboro, Bridgeport, CNE Toronto, Cayuga and Oswego, N.Y. taking over. Cars improved and were made to go faster and there was Harvey among the leaders again.
Harvey took on all comers and cultivated some great rivalries. Who can forget the duels between him and Jack Sharpe in Lobo 1 or with some other leadfoots like Bill Rouse, Jimmy Howard, Trip Trepanier, Ron Pearn, Ted Hogan or Don Biederman?
The list of his 182 winning drives is quite remarkable. There are three Canadian championships, six mid-season titles, three year-end victories, and five International championships. In 1961 he won a 5-mile feature at Harewood Acres in the Simcoe area. It was the first time super modifieds had ever competed on a road course in Canada. Harewood closed up a long time ago but for many years, particularly in the 1960s, it was a favourite track for sports cars.
His first race was on May 24, 1951 on the dirt at Western Fair Raceway. "I lived it and breathed it," he said. "I didn't realize there was anything else in life."
Born in Lanigan, Saskatchewan on October 21, 1929, Harvey lives a quiet life in East London. He is a respected member of the London Oldtimers Sports Association and at 81 is part of that group's 80-Mile Club.
The London Sports Hall of Fame is pleased to give Harvey Lennox the green flag as an inductee into the 2011 legend category.

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