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Several years ago I received an unsolicited email from an SOS fan who
was from the Brighton area. This fan told me he had a logo design for
the SOS. He sent me the logo and I was immediately impressed with its
attractiveness and professionalism. That fan was current SOS announcer
and Webmaster Greg Calnan.
Greg also told us he did the web site for the Picton Pirates. When I
checked out the Pirate's website I was blown away! My son Daryl who was
the SOS webmaster at the time said "this guy is good - we've got to get
him to do the SOS website".
Following a move to the Brantford area Greg has indeed taken on the SOS
website task along with several other duties and responsibilities. Every
assignment he has been given he has run with and brought a level of
professionalism uncommon in any volunteer organization.
I don't know how long we can keep him in the SOS before somebody else
steals him - but I sure plan on enjoying his work while it lasts.
We wanted to do something different with our Q & A so this time I
interviewed Greg.
Peter Turford
President
Southern Ontario Sprints |
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| First of all can you give us a background on yourself prior to
becoming involved with the SOS? |
Well, unlike most involved with the club I have no real history of motorsports involvement other then being a lifetime fan. I was born in Picton, Ontario and grew up at tracks like Can-Am, Brighton, Brockville and Cornwall. Before moving to Brantford two years ago and joining the SOS I was involved with various Junior hockey clubs in Eastern Ontario primarily as a television broadcaster and web designer. The extent of my previous motorsports experience came during my college internship in 1996 when I spent a month on the road with the Motor Racing Network (MRN) covering Winston Cup events.
In 2000, on a night out to see the sprints at the Brighton Speedway I came up with the idea for the SOS logo. I passed along the design and donated it to the club. Ironically, three years later I moved to Brantford and thus was able to join the club as a volunteer. Because of my background I feel that some of the ideas that I bring to club represent what the common fan would like to see at the racetrack. |
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| You have performed several tasks admirably for the SOS can you
please let the readers know the extent of your involvement with the
club? |
| Currently I have a wide variety of duties with the club. Throughout the calendar year I operate the SOS web site. On race nights my duties in 2005 will include announcing at every event, dispersing contingency prizes, looking after SOS merchandise sales and working with media officer Bill Oldroyd to keep the web site updated as quickly as possible. During this past off-season I managed to put together the new SOS Marketing Package, which combined with the hard work of Fred Kimber from Cortland Innovations has attracted some new series sponsors. |
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| Now that you are more involved with the club and have more of an
understanding of the background including the politics - do you find it
more "fun" being on the inside or has it taken away some of the fun and
innocence of the sport for you? |
| Actually, I am having the time of my life. After being involved in hockey for so long racing is a breath of fresh air. Hockey is all about the parents and the politics and very little about the game anymore. It is about who has the most talented kid and not about the fun of a competitive team sport. I have seen the political side of racing in my short time with the SOS but the levels are drastically different. For the most part everyone seems to be on the same page and headed in the same directions. There certainly is a true “club” feeling when you get to be involved. |
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| What about
your involvement with the SOS has given you your greatest pleasure? |
In all honesty my greatest pleasure will always come behind the microphone. I thoroughly enjoy doing the web site and other jobs but announcing is my passion. There is no one in the world that is more critical about me then myself. I look forward to each event because it is a chance for me to improve on my previous performance. If I can be somewhat entertaining, informational and professional then I have done my job. I can’t wait to get back in the booth this season as well as back in front of the camera at a few races.
In my opinion every touring series needs a dedicated announcer who can keep the fans informed at each track. Like it or not, for the fan 50% of the entertainment value comes from the announcers. I only hope that I am keeping up on my end of the deal!
I would also have to say that getting to meet everyone involved with the club and the series in general has been great as well. People like Bill
Oldroyd, Randa Vandertuin, Helen Brown, Dick Mahoney and yes even the Turfords have been super people to work with. It has also been fun getting to know guys like Mark Rinaldi and Glenn
Styres.
In working with them I have gotten a better idea of what obstacles track owners face in the entertainment business today. |
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| What has been your biggest disappointment since hooking up with the SOS? |
| I think my biggest disappointment in regards to the SOS is the lack of respect the organization seems to get at times. For the most part the response for the SOS is good but at times it seems like people expect it to be at the same level as the ESS or SOD. I guess I watched the SOS from a completely different angle then most when I started gaining interest in the tour. When the SOS first started
traveling to my neck of the woods, at Brighton, the club would be lucky to draw 10 cars on most nights. However, the fans packed the stands to see the sprint cars no matter how many were on the track. I think everyone accepted that this was a Canadian based series and that it was only in its formative years. Now the club draws record numbers of competitors at every event yet there just doesn’t seem to be an appreciation at times for what we have as Canadian fans. Considering the odds this series is up against when it comes to sponsors, available tracks and fans to draw from I believe Ontario sprint car fans have a lot to be proud of. I think there is a general misconception when the average fan sees the race purse amounts or the points fund totals. Getting strong corporate backing to create larger purses is twice as hard north of the border. Sure the SOS may not pay the most but it in turn is the most affordable sprint car series to watch
and compete with in the northeast. |
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continued
on Page 2 |
