GARY LAMPHIER
Journal Business Columnist
FORT SASKATCHEWAN
Banker by day, speed freak by night. That's the double life Earl Andrusiak leads, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
During regular business hours, the 61-year-old vice-president with HSBC Bank Canada can be found at the bank's downtown Edmonton office, meeting clients and overseeing a local staff of 60.
But each Wednesday evening throughout the summer months, Andrusiak relives a boyhood dream that first gripped his imagination while he was growing up on a farm in rural Manitoba.
"It was around 1959, and I was about 16 years old. I went to a stock car race at McCreary, east of Riding Mountain National Park, and it left a huge impression on me. I thought, ‘Wow, I'd just love to do this,’"he recalls.
Nearly half a century has passed since then. And although Andrusiak wound up pursuing a career in banking, he never forgot his boyhood fantasies of becoming a race car driver.
And so it is that every Wednesday evening from May to October, Andrusiak doffs his banker's duds and squeezes into a high-tech, $12,000 racing kart at Stratotech Park International Raceway, tucked away amidst the canola fields and industrial plants of Fort Saskatchewan.
There, over the course of an hour or two, Andrusiak and about 20 other thrill-seeking local entrepreneurs and business execs scream around Stratotech’s 1,765-metre, polymer asphalt course at speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour.
Their lightweight RM1-class karts, powered by 125-cc engines, sit just inches above the track's smooth surface. The karts' slick wide tires grip Stratotech's slightly banked corners like pantherpaws.
For the drivers, it's a rush beyond compare. Powerful G-forces crush them in their seats. Crashes and mechanical mishaps aren't uncommon. Over the course of a season, some speed junkies manage to flip their karts, incurring concussions and broken bones.
An ambulance stands by at all times, ready to attend to the wounded. And on a sizzling July night like this one, sweat gushes from the drivers' brows like water from a faucet. For kart-driving nuts, this is heaven.
"our helmet is pulling on your head at the corners, your neck is being pulled sideways. It's a huge workout," says Andrusiak, the oldest driver among the 35-and-over business crowd that races Wednesday evenings.
The group includes Dan Beith, Stratotech's mercurial 51-year-old owner and another lifelong speed demon. Beith built the $3.5-million race track and adjoining facilities as a labour of love, after selling his successful safety equipment manufacturing company to a big U.S. firm in 2001.
"Last week we did a 15-lap race. Usually we finish the night with a 12-lapper. And by the 13th lap, I was becoming dangerous. I had just turned to jello," says Andrusiak, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning.
On this night, however,Andrusiak is undone by mechanical problems. In the first of his three races, a seat bolt springs loose. He nearly loses control of his kart while taking a corner, finishing 13th out of 16 drivers.
In his second race he nearly crashes into a wall. In the pit afterwards, he blames his two stripped front tires, both of which have to be replaced.
"I put the brakes on, and the kark just went like a toboggan. The tires were worn right down to the fibres," he says, as he rushes into Stratotech's repair shop for a quick tire change.
During his final race, Andrusiak’s tires give him more trouble. His kart fishtails into the chicane on the far side of the track, bending a tie rod and knocking him out for the night. He watches the rest of the race from the infield.
It was fun while it lasted, and I’ve learned something. I’ve never done just two new tires before. Dan always says you should do all four, but I thought he was just trying to sell me tires,? he laughs.
"I guess I've got about $500 worth of damage to the kart, but it's nothing serious. The frame is OK, that's the important thing."
Andrusiak still manages to pick up 26 points on the night. That enables him to cling to his eighth-place ranking among 21 drivers, after finishing 10 of this season’s 16 scheduled races.
But the star performer tonight is Beith, who finishes well ahead of his two main rivals, veterans Jim House and John McIntyre. The win leaves Beith with 445 points thus far this season, good for first spot overall.
Standing at track side, drenched in sweat in his white and black racing suit but happily soaking up the moment, Beith gives credit to his mechanic, Goldie Trelenberg, an accomplished driver in his own right.
"Goldie wrenches this thing so he gets 100 percent out of it. He's a clever fellow, that Goldie. A kart that's set up this well makes it look easy," says Beith. For the boys of summer, it's the end of another perfect day.
glamphier@thejournal.canwest.com