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Ernie McLean - A Legend in His Own Time
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April 25th, 1936 was the day Ernie McLean entered the world in Chatham, NB. He was raised by a great uncle, in Barnaby, about 25 miles away from Chatham where he achieved grade eight. Education was not available beyond this for many at this time, including Ernie, so he went to work, eventually moving to Ontario in his late teens seeking to better himself. He worked hard in factories and gas stations, and after marrying his wife Winona in 1954, finally achieving his mechanic’s lisence in 1957.
Ernie McLean has been involved in racing since 1957 when he began attending races at Pinecrest Raceway. There he met Jim Hallihan, (a legendary racer and an integral part of Scotia Speedworld today) who sold him a car. Ernie raced at all the tracks in the Ontario region including Flamboro, Sutton, Nilestown and the CNE. “ The CNE was the last track I raced on, with a car I built myself.”Ernie smiled, obviously thinking back to those early days.
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A desire to return home to New Brunswick led him to become employed with Drury’s Transport and buy an old farm house near Riverglade on the site of the present Riverglade Speedway. There was no stock car racing at that time so Ernie went about drumming up interest with meetings, posters and talk. He also started to build a quarter mile track out “behind the barn”.
Eventually Ernie was spending so much time working on the track that he had to give up his “day job”. Finally, on August 22, 1964, the first race at the new facility was run and it was an “immediate hit”. The track was dirt at this time and posts and cables served as fencing.
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Ernie and crew with first racecar
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In 1965, Ernie took on a partner, Jerry Campbell and the two remained partners until around 1975. They immediately went about paving the track,(making it the first paved track in the Maritimes), installed lights, built grandstands, built canteens, built a tower, washrooms, ticket booths and put a guardrail around the track. “All the stuff we didn’t have the first year” Ernie laughed.
1965 was a big year for the McLean family. Not only was the track doing well, but Ernie staged the first “extra distance” event in the Maritimes as well. It was the innaugural Riverglade “International” and 2007 will mark the 43rd consecutive edition of this race. The winner of that first race was John Shirtliff from Ontario and the winners list since then reads like a “Who’s Who” of racing.
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Turn 1 at River Glade back in 1966
courtesy of “Wheelspin” magazine
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In 1966, Ernie’s old friend Jim Hallihan and eight other drivers from the Toronto area showed up to race the event, along with drivers from all around the Maritimes with Jim Hallihan claiming the victory. Other winners from other years included Earl Ross, the great Donnie Biederman, Frank Fraser and Junior Hanley. More recently, the race has been won by locals such as Freddie Prosser and Gary Hicks, to name a few.
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Monday morning. “There was no Trans Canada back then. We had to drive the old Sunrise Trail” Ernie smiled.
“There were some pretty good drivers there back then. Rollie MacDonald, Frank Fraser, Bobby Allen and Danny Campbell to name a few.”
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By the end of the sixties, there were several tracks operating in the Maritimes and Ernie was bringing big shows into Riverglade. The “Super Modifieds” from New England came in 1967 and returned for many years afterward.
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Competition is usually a good thing but too many tracks started to water down the car counts but Ernie just kept on promoting racing and eventually many of the “new” tracks got in trouble and began to close down. Ernie reached out to those he could and over the years managed Riverside Speedway, Miramichi Speedway, Brookside Speedway and Danny’s Speedbowl at one time or another. Riverside Speedway still exists today because of Ernie McLean as he brought several of his top flight shows to the “high” banks.
Ernie was very instrumental in setting up the MASCAR tour which ran for many years until the Maritime Pro Stock Tour took over in 2000.
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At this time McLean had several big races on the Riverglade schedule and he made the Canada Day 100, the Eastern 75 and the “International” part of the MASCAR schedule.
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one of many plaques and picture on the walls
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After they had celebrated their 30th anniversary at the track in 1994, Ernie announced that it was time to move on and that he had sold the track to Pat Rodgers. They purchased the Atlantic Motel and had planned to retire to their new home near Elgin ,NB.
In 2001, Ernie and wife Winona, along with the rest of the family, made the journey to Toronto where Ernie was rewarded with perhaps the greatest honor a “Racer” can receive. Ernie McLean was inducted into the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame in Toronto.
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The following inscription is on the wall at the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame
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Ernie McLean
Stock car racing in New Brunswick was literally invented, nurtured and propped up by this dynamo of a promoter. Originally from Chatham, N.B. Ernie got into racing in Ontario when he started hanging around the Pinecrest Speedway in Toronto. He bought his first jalopy-type stock car from Jim Hallihan. Like many people behind the scenes Ernie realized his talents lay in other areas. Taking his wife and family back to the Maritimes, he settled in River Glade N.B. There was no racing in New Brunswick at the time; so Ernie put up posters and held meeting to gauge interest in Moncton and other locales.
As a result, he plowed out a quarter-mile track behind his barn on his River Glade property and River Glade Speedway was born in 1964. In 1965 he paved the place and thus was born the first asphalt oval speedway in the Maritimes. His extra-distance "International" was born in 1965 and many a Canadian and U.S. driver has claimed this race as their first "big win," among them Earl Ross, Junior Hanley and Don Biederman. As other tracks opened, Ernie responded to the competition by bringing in the NESMRA supermodifieds and other attractions.
As other tracks fell into disrepair or neglect, Ernie stepped in to rescue them - among them Miramichi Speedway, Fredericton's Brookside Speedway, Bathurst's Danny Speedway and Riverside Speedway near New Glasgow, N.S. Due to the unwavering work of Ernie, those tracks continue to flourish today. Ernie was instrumental in forming the MASCAR touring series.
He also brought the NASCAR North and American-Canadian Tout to Maritime ovals. Not one to sequester himself in the racing fold, Ernie also sponsored courEt1ese local hockey teams from kids to old-timers. He was twice honoured by Toronto's Promoters Workshop, once with the Achievement Award for Dedication to Racing Promotion and a second time as Promoter of The Year. In short, Ernie introduced a sport to an area of the country where none existed, he initiated hundreds of drivers to this sport, he gave thousands of fans the opportunity to enjoy the sport.
His nickname, "Father of Maritime Canadian Stock Car Racing", is richly deserved.
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McLean’s influence did not stop there either. In the eighties, he created 4cylinder mini stocks and 6 cylinder Chargers to a changing racing public. As late model fields decreased, Ernie brought in the “Dukes of Hazard” cars to bring the “slam and bang” back to racing. This brought a whole new generation of fans through the turnstiles. The Nascar North series and the ACT tour all appeared in the Maritimes courtesy of Ernie McLean as well.
As the eighties marched along so did McLean. The accolades were piling up culminating in 1985 when he was awarded the prestigious “Canadian Promoter of the Year” award.
In 1988 McLean arranged to have Bobby Allison appear at Riverglades but Allison got hurt and couldn’t come. NASCAR sent Dale Earnhardt in his place. Earnhardt drove a car in a race that night and was doing all right until the rains came. He stayed around and signed autographs and met with fans. The following year he entertained the late Alan Kulwicki at the track. “Alan was very serious and worked on his car but Earnhardt just jumped in and took off.”
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40th Anniversary of track
presented to Ernie
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Now that the McLeans have retired, they have more time to focus on their latest contribution to the world of racing.
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They are heading up a very important project, that of building the “Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame”. This project began as the “Maritime Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame” but failed to get the project completed. Now the name has been changed to include racers from all types of racing and car club enthusiasts as well.
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Ernie is the President of the “Hall” and Winona is very active as well. The last date for nominating inductees is April 1st and fundraising for a building is high on their list of priorities. Even in retirement, the McLeans are still involved and Ernie is certainly deserved of his “Father of Maritime Racing” moniker.
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FOOTNOTE:
This article was done in 2007 by the Racing Spectator. Since Then, the Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame museum project has seen its way to completion. The Hall is located in Petitcodiac and opened in October 2009.
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