2009 CHAMPION RANGER DOMINATED IN ‘09


Quebec star scored six wins in 13 events to earn his second NASCAR Canadian Tire Series crown


(above) Andrew Ranger’s win last summer at Vernon, BC’s Motorplex Speedway was the first oval victory of his NASCAR career. By the time his championship season was complete, he would win two more oval and three road course races.


BY SHON SBARRA BY SHON SBARRA


n September 2009 – for the second time in three years – Andrew Ranger claimed the NASCAR Canadian Tire Se- ries presented by Mobil 1 championship. But beyond the trophy and the ring, his two title-winning seasons couldn’t have been more different. Ranger, 22, is still relatively new to the NASCAR side of the sport, having just 43 combined starts between the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and the NASCAR Na- tionwide Series. Throw in a CASCAR Super Series start in 2006 and a handful of other events, and that is all the stock-car racing experience the product of Roxton Pond, Quebec has. So, to have a pair of champi- onships in such a short time against some of the best competition that both Canada and the United States can offer is truly a testament to his ability to handle a race car. When the 2009 season got underway,


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no one knew it, but a bomb was set to go off. The stage was set for a dominant per- formance – one that history will prove to be one of the best. Ranger was on as equal footing as he could ever be, in terms of knowledge of both the car and the tracks, which allowed his gifted abilities to shine. In the season’s third event, to the sur-


prise of nobody, he thoroughly dominated the field – start to finish – at Mosport Inter- national Raceway, the site of his first series victory and the springboard to that initial championship. But unlike the 2007 cam- paign, he did not leave there with the


22 • NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES


points lead. The true emergence of Andrew Ranger


points lead


as a stock car driver occurred in the fifth race of the season, at Vernon, BC’s SunVal- ley Speedway (now Motorplex Speedway & Event Park). Not out of the ordinary, he started seventh on the grid, but the fuse on that bomb was lit. He first took over the race lead on lap 89 and went on to lead 207 of the final 218 laps of the event. In the process, he lapped every car in the field except that of Scott Steckly en route to his first win on an oval track. It was just his 20th series start on an oval. The victory at SunValley set off a streak


that saw Ranger win four of five races – in- cluding another oval-track triumph – this time on the half-mile Mosport Speedway just down the hill from the road course where he collected his first NASCAR victory. Not to be lost in the hoopla sur- rounding his newfound success on the circle tracks was Ranger’s domi- nating prowess on the road courses. In that streak of four wins in five races, two came in road races – at Rexall Speedway in Edmonton, AB and at le Circuit de Trois-Rivières in Quebec. He won the first three of four road course events on the 2009 slate. Only a stellar perform- ance by J.R. Fitzpatrick on Mon- treal’s legendary Circuit Gilles Villeneuve denied Ranger an un- fathomable road course sweep. In


PHOTOS BY ROGER TEPPER / EDGE PHOTOGRAPHY (ABOVE) AND PAOLO PEDICELLI (BELOW)


Montreal, Ranger finished second to Fittz- After a season-worst finish – if it can be


Montreal Ranger finished second to patrick.


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termed as such – of ninth at Barrie Speed- way, Ranger dashed any hopes of a late- season charge by anyone with a victory – a single-season series record sixth – at River- side International Speedway in Antigonish, N.S., giving him a nice, neat package of three road course and three oval track tri- umphs on the year. His season-long per- formance was such that he needed merely to secure a starting spot at the Kawartha Speedway season finale to earn his second career NASCAR Canadian Tire Series pre- sented by Mobil 1 title.


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