{"id":9428,"date":"2014-12-11T09:57:34","date_gmt":"2014-12-11T17:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=9428"},"modified":"2014-12-10T15:15:16","modified_gmt":"2014-12-10T23:15:16","slug":"arnie-malcolm-the-man-with-the-midas-touch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/arnie-malcolm-the-man-with-the-midas-touch\/","title":{"rendered":"Arnie Malcolm: The Man with the Midas Touch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"arnie\"<\/a>In 1972, a drag race fatality occurred at Luskville Dragway in Gatineau, Quebec. Consequently, the track fell into disrepute. So how do you turn two strips of asphalt with an overgrown ditch as a median line into one of the most revered drag racing circuits in Eastern Canada and the U.S. northeast? There\u2019s one man who knows because he accomplished it, Arnie Malcolm, and one word describes him — <\/span>driven<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

A self-confessed \u201chardass,\u201d he seems like a contradiction: a stern countenance with a twinkle in his eyes, loquacious but a voice that could command the Luftwaffe. Arnie has no qualms about seizing opportunities when they emerge, but it isn\u2019t about someone with an endless bankroll or privileged circumstances. Quite the contrary, Arnie is a working-class hero whose strength lies in being savvy as to what works and what doesn’t. His passion has no place for compromise.<\/span><\/p>\n

At 16, Arnie left the farm he called home in the Ottawa Valley and dedicated the next 37 years to one company, Drug Trade (now known as McKesson), retiring in 2004. Within that duration, he dabbled on weekends as a musician and as a racing enthusiast. In 1977 he came 4<\/span>th<\/sup> overall at Luskville\u2019s \u00bc mile track in a 1967 Chevy II Pro Car but two years later, his racing endeavours almost came to an end. Arnie purchased a Super Gas Vega that was the antithesis of the Chevy. During various races, the engine blew, the hood flew off, and in one race, the car veered out of control at 140 mph, nose-diving into the median ditch, somersaulting along the other laneway and succumbing to a slow death hundreds of yards down the track. It left Arnie shaken, financially broke (the engine was borrowed), and completely demoralized. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"little<\/a><\/p>\n

Feeling sorry for Arnie\u2019s misfortunes, the owner of Luskville Dragway hired him to work around the place and asked Arnie what he would like to do. Without hesitation, Arnie was emphatic: \u201cBe the track announcer.\u201d Though the position was already occupied, the Gods must have been smiling, for the next day the regular announcer was late. When Arnie filled-in he created a spell over the day\u2019s event, injecting a professional energy. Not only did he get the announcer\u2019s job, the following weekend he was promoted to manager, yet Arnie observed an apathetic disregard from management for the drivers, their safety, and for the fans.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the late 1970s, Luskville Dragway looked like a dog\u2019s breakfast: there was no grandstand, no proper facilities, something reminiscent of scaffolding for an announcer\u2019s tower, a chip wagon for a restaurant, and two strips of decaying pavement for a track. \u201cI\u2019m a get-it-done sort of fella,\u201d insinuates Arnie. Realizing the best form of marketing is a happy spectator, Arnie was instrumental in filling one essential void: keep the people entertained. In between his commentaries, he initiated music to be piped in, even though it was from a cassette player. By 1980, a mutual agreement was cemented for Arnie to take over the place as the new owner signing a long-term lease with the landowner, a partnership that has continued for 31 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Arnie<\/a><\/p>\n

He was good to his word, almost immediately, improvements were implemented including the filling in of the ditch and re-surfacing of the track conditions. He started Race News magazine, aimed at generating awareness and enthusiasm for a growing regional sport by reporting the events at regional speedways such as Capital City, Brockville, Cornwall, Ottawa, and of course, Luskville. His reputation as a savvy owner\/promoter prospered and drivers gravitated to Luskville from further a field. As more contenders participated, the facility took shape: permanent grandstands, a restaurant, a proper announcer\u2019s tower and a better timing system were eventually installed.<\/p>\n

Through the 1980s, Diane and Arnie started a family and that spilled over into making Luskville more \u2018family-oriented.\u2019 The Junior Dragster series was promoted, a baby-sitter was on hand to accommodate drivers\u2019 families and a play area was built to keep kids amused. Each new generation becomes a part of the Luskville environment by helping and participating at the track. Arnie\u2019s son, Derek, has gone through the junior program and is now viewed as a major racing contender. Angie, Arnie\u2019s daughter, takes care of ticket sales and Diane, works in the restaurant. The track has blossomed from basically a cow pasture to a well-oiled racing venue enforced by a tight racing fraternity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in an era where \u2018if it don\u2019t go fast, chrome it,\u201d states Arnie. Translated, if a car doesn\u2019t go fast, make it look like it can. Always keep your audience intrigued. \u201cIt is important to maintain professional credibility. Our staff and crew are all uniformed, we keep everything clean, punctual, organized and safe,\u201d states Arnie categorically. \u201cWe have never charged for kids\u2019 admission; introduced the popular Cruise Night; brought in jet funny cars; and guarantee winning payouts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"arnie<\/a><\/p>\n

As dragster speeds increased, Arnie understood the dangers and changed the mandate of the track from a \u00bc mile drag race to a 1\/8-mile race. There was a revolt from the traditionalists, but his astute assumption paid off. Today, 90% of drag strips run 1\/8<\/span>th<\/sup> mile bracket racing and it has become far more popular with fan and driver, enabling greater and affordable competition, more entries and consequently, generous purses. Arnie was still racing during the 1980s when provoked into a challenge that drag racers couldn\u2019t race stock cars. Incensed, Arnie bought a stock car, put a team together and incredulously, won the track championship. This victory enabled Arnie to connect with Capital City management. \u201cNetworking is crucial in running a profitable business,\u201d says Arnie. \u201cWhen Luskville holds a banquet, thirty of our advertisers attend because they want to be a part of the scene. It\u2019s a win-win situation for everyone.\u201d<\/span>In 1995, Arnie was approached to run a drag race at Earlton Regional Airport, but the conditions were simply unsuitable \u2013 the site had an inadequate timing system, an inexperienced crew and an unprofessional approach, so he was paid to make it work. The experience led to a unique method that has evolved into the Airport Series. The procedure is to take Luskville Dragway literally apart, load it up into trailers, set up the drag strip at the respected airport, run the event, pack it all up, go home and set-up Luskville again. It has escalated to include six regional airports and will include Wawa, Ontario this August.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1997, Arnie introduced the Show Me The Money series. \u201cWe rented Dragway Park (now known as Toronto Motorsport Park) when it was on the verge of being closed,\u201d recalls Arnie, \u201cand ran one of the most successful independent drag races in the history of Canadian racing.\u201d To this day, the site remains profitable. The same applied with Capital City Speedway when it went bankrupt. Arnie was brought in, and using the same principles adopted for Luskville, turned Capital City\u2019s fortune around in four years. Unfortunately, management took over the reigns only to witness the circuit slowly flounder.<\/span><\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t been easy and it\u2019s taken a lot of time and effort, but today Luskville receives an average of 30 to 40 Super car entries per weekend. That\u2019s more than some racetracks get for a big event, and on a good day, the track receives over 1,000 spectators. It can all be attributed to one man, Arnie Malcolm: the man with the Midas touch.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you turn two strips of asphalt with an overgrown ditch as a median line into one of the most revered drag racing circuits in Eastern Canada and the U.S. northeast? There\u2019s one man who knows because he accomplished it, Arnie Malcolm, and one word describes him — driven.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":9875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465],"tags":[1571,1584,1664,1665,663],"class_list":["post-9428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","tag-arnie-malcolm","tag-canadian-drag-racing","tag-drag-circuit","tag-luskville-dragway","tag-throwback-thursday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/arniefeature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-2s4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9428"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9902,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9428\/revisions\/9902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}