Dick Midgley remembers keeping his options open by taking both pre-law and automotive classes at Vic High.
The latter became his vocation as Midgley took his place alongside the likes of past inductees Jacques and Gilles Villeneuve, Paul Tracy and Greg Moore during this year’s Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame induction ceremony last month in the John Bassett Theatre at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
The local racing community commemorated Midgley’s enshrinement with a reception last weekend in his honour as he joined previously enshrined Vancouver Island greats Billy Foster, the first Canadian to race in the Indianapolis 500, three-time Daytona 500 driver Roy Smith and Indy 500 car designer Grant King in the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
Also previously inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall for their connections to Canadian racing are Sir Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell, Bernie Ecclestone, and Mario and Michael Andretti.
“The induction event was bigger than I imagined, really breathtaking in scope, and just to be joining alongside people like that who are already enshrined in the Hall is a real honour,” said Midgley.
Midgley, born in 1939, began his career racing jalopies at Western Speedway in 1958 with his brother Reg Midgley. As with his brother — Reg Midgley is also a legendary figure in Island racing as the former manager of Western Speedway — Dick Midgley did not make his name behind the wheel.
Dick became a regionally renowned car owner, builder and mechanic. More than 70 of Western sa国际传媒’s and the U.S Pacific Northwest’s top drivers competed for Midgley in the NASCAR West Series between 1972 to 2014, including Smith.
Those exploits spilled beyond the regional to the biggest stage when Midgley twice got to the Daytona 500 with Islander Smith driving. Midgley stayed in the higher echelons of the sport and entered cars in 26 NASCAR Cup Series races between 1974 and 1992. Not bad for a guy whose mechanical interests began with fixing bicycles in his backyard.
Midgley was known for letting the drivers and others take the glory and he remains self-effacing: “I’ve never been the one front and centre, and that was fine by me. It takes a lot of people to do this.”
But without the cars, the drivers couldn’t do what they do.
International highlights for Midgley included joining the Richard Petty-led charge across the Pacific and racing from Melbourne and Adelaide to Bathurst and the Gold Coast with a third-place finish with Dave Marcis driving in a NASCAR race in Australia in 1988, and winning the NASCAR-affiliated Australian championship with Jim Richards driving in 1996.
“People ask me about the races but the things you tend to remember more are the travel and the loading and unloading of race cars,” he said with a laugh.
“We once even flew a car to a race in Japan for [driver] Ron Hornaday,” added Midgley, who is still involved in racing with his nephew Darrell Midgley.
Midgley rubbed shoulders with many of the greats in pits from Indy to Daytona. The big-name drivers he became closest to were NASCAR veteran and 33-time Daytona 500 racer Marcis and Kiwi legend Richards. Yet it all came back to roots for Midgley, who, for many years, was part of the group that owned Western Speedway, the Langford oval which was the launching pad for himself, Foster, Smith, King and so many others.
“I got to do what I loved to do,” Midgley said.
Nobody can ask for anything more out of life than that.
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