Canadian Drivers invading Florida for Snowball Derby Weekend
November 27th, 2023,
To date, no Canadian has won either the Snowflake 100, or the Snowball 300 at the Snowball Derby weekend.
Canadians involved in Derby Weekend in Florida
There are 6 Canadian drivers making the trip down south this weekend for driver seat time. If you add in Cory Hall #83, from Jolicure, New Brunswick, who has had many wins and strong runs North & South of the border, who is a crew member for the Snowball Derby team #74 of Ryan Moore, and Andrew Hicken, the Team Manager at King Racing who is Crew Chiefing for that team, that is 8 Canadians that I know of, playing a direct role.
Ryan Moore has a long history of runs in the American Northeast and beyond, including 2 wins on the 2002 ACT (American-Canadian Tour) Late Model Series schedule, a 2014 Pro All Star Series (PASS) South Race at Caraway Speedway, North Carolina, besting 2nd place Christopher Bell who this year ran the Joe Gibbs Racing #20 and made it in back-to-back years to the NASCAR Cup Series final 4 for the championship. In 2022, Moore’s win at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina for the PASS National Series, put him over 2nd place #53 Cole Butcher from Nova Scotia, and also 5th place #13 Austin MacDonald from Nova Scotia, driving the King Racing House Car. Speaking of Austin MacDonald, he looked to be having an excellent run in his one Snowflake attempt, before misfortune led to a DNF (Did not Finish the race). It would be great to see Austin there again sometime. That year (2021) Jarrett Butcher finished 8th, quite impressive against that field.
There may be other Canadians involved in the Derby this year that I am not aware of, as well. To be clear, there is a Snowball Derby 300 lap Super Late Model Race, and a Snowflake 100 lap Pro Late Model Race, with plenty of drivers doing double-duty. It is the biggest race of both disciplines, and features plenty of driver and team overlap.
Present Canadian Racers
Between the two races: the biggest Super Late Model race of the year, and the biggest Pro Late Model race of the year, we have:
Snowball Derby 300 -
Treyten Lapcevich - Grimsby, Ontario
Cole Butcher - Porter's Lake, Nova Scotia
Snowflake 100 -
Glenn Styres - Ohsweken, Ontario
Nicholas Naugle - Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Kyle Steckly - Milverton, Ontario
Jarrett Butcher - Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Treyten Lapcevich is the younger brother of Cayden Lapcevich, both are some of the very best drivers in recent years to come out of Canada, Ontario specifically. Both are very young racers, but older brother Cayden won numerous NASCAR Pinty’s (NASCAR Canada) series races, as well as starting a Winchester 400 feature on the pole, winning 2 Glass City 200’s in Toledo, Ohio, and finishing the 2020 Snowball Derby as the first car off of the lead lap, registering a 16th place finish. Treyten will be running the Snowball Derby this year. He won the NASCAR Pinty’s Series in very dominating fashion, amassing 7 wins on the 14 race schedule, including 11-top5s, and 14 top-10s in a season where no one else was even close to him in points. Treyten has run the Snowflake 100 once prior, but never the Snowball Derby. Treyten has been to Five Flags once before as a driver, finishing 14th place in the Snowflake 100 in 2021.
Cole Butcher already has his own article, hyping up the Snowball Derby here.
Glenn Styres has over a quarter century of racing history, inducted in the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2021 , Glenn has been through thick and thin in the name of Motorsports, and has been recognized among the Spint Car world as a business/marketing promoter powerhouse, among other accolades. It seems he is the type of guy who, if it has wheels, he’ll race it, or has raced it.
Nicholas Naugle already has his own article, hyping up the Snowflake 100 here.
Kyle Steckly already has his own article, discussing the his background, and the Snowflake 100 here.
Jarrett Butcher - Younger brother of Cole Butcher, Jarrett spent most of his season racing at home for the ECI Pro Stock Tour. On that tour, he broke out with 3 wins, and 3 3rd place finishes, ultimately finishing runner-up in the series standings, to #99 Craig Slaunwhite who locked away his record setting 3rd straight Pro Stock Tour series championship. Without counting the Snowflake 100 that is upcoming, Butcher finished his season off with a 2nd place finish to #2 Ashton Tucker (one of the best, and most respectful drivers in Canada - it would be great to see him in Florida someday) in the Mike Stevens Memorial 254. That race was a Who’s Who in the Atlantic Canadian Late Model world, including the aforementioned Ashton Tucker, arguably the best driver in all of Canada, and clean as a whistle, to add to that, and Preston Peltier making the trip from the USA to compete, as well. Jarrett has in fact run the Snowflake 100 3 times before this, with a best finish in 2020 in his first attempt, placing 3rd, over the likes of Derek Thorn, Matt Craig, Bubba Pollard, Stephen Nasse, and many other fantastic drivers/teams.
Cory Hall & Andrew Hicken - I already introduced this (sorry for any repetition), but: #83 Cory Hall, from Jolicure, New Brunswick, is a stand-out both North and South of the border, is one of numerous Maritime Drivers participating in some capacity at the Snowball Derby weekend. Hall will be a crew-member for the #74 Ryan Moore from the Northeast USA. Ryan Moore has an extensive history over the years, including a 2014 PASS South win at Caraway Speedway, a 2016 PASS South win at Concord Speedway, and among other accolades, a Red Eye Late Model win at New Smyrna Speedway, Florida, and a PASS National win in 2022 at the Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory, North Carolina, over runner-up Cole Butcher.
Andrew Hicken, the Team Manager at King Racing (House Car #13) has a history dating back at least to Maritime Legend Rollie MacDonald, and the #13 is currently most often driven by Grandchild of Rollie, Austin MacDonald from Pictou, Nova Scotia, after many years of Cassius Clark from Maine dominating Maritime racing behind the wheel of the #13, and scoring an Oxford 250 victory driving it. He also won the 3 250 lap feature events in Maritime Canada, as well as the Oxford 250 in the #13, and came very close to a Snowball Derby victory in the same car, as well. The King Racing team has a big role in Maritime racing, and their house car #13 has hosted many great drivers over the years. Andrew Hicken will be in Florida with Cory Hall, crew chiefing for the #74 of Ryan Moore.
United Late Model Series - Along with the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, and the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour (formerly Maritime Pro Stock Tour), and now Super Late Model Series (SLMS), we have three of the best Canadian touring series in the racing world. The NASCAR Pinty’s Series may have the highest budget in some ways, but at the same time, for example, winning the NASCAR Pinty’s Series compared to winning the Snowball Derby, which Nova Scotian Cole Butcher has finished on the podium at multiple times, the Snowball Derby will most likely do a lot more for your career, than the NASCAR Pinty’s Series.
In any case, the United Late Model Series in Ontario is a Pro Late Model touring series that is comparable to the Pro Stock Tour. It has featured many top Canadian drivers over recent years, including Brandon Watson, who driving the #9 finished the Super Late Model All American 400 (@ 400 laps) in Nashville in 4th place, after coming back from multiple-laps down. He also finished 5th in the Winchester 400 that same year. He has focus on other sports, such as Baseball, but when he straps into a Late Model, he is a special driver. On the NASCAR Pinty’s side, he has a win, and on the APC Late Model side, he has 19 wins in his 45 starts, including winning half, or almost half of the races on the schedule in just about half of the season’s he has participated in, full-time or not.
Along with Brandon Watson, who won the APC United Late Model Series twice, you have J.R. Fitzpatrick who also won that series championship twice. J.R. Fitzpatrick has a top-5 in both the NASCAR Trucks & NASCAR Xfinity Series, he has more than 10 wins on the NASCAR Pinty’s (NASCAR Canada) series, he has a win on the Maritime Pro Stock Tour in his 2 starts, winning a 150 lap in 2014 race at Riverside International Speedway, NS. more than 10 wins on the APC United Late Model Series, and back-to-back top-5s in the Canadian Short Track Nationals, the huge money paying project that ended early, at Jukasa Motorspeedway, Ontario, which was won both years by Bubba Pollard and drew many of the best Late Model drivers in America & Canada.
Other Drivers
Some other prominent Canadian drivers who didn’t make it this year include Quebec Vetertan Patrick Laperle, and Ontario Vetertan Jerry Artuso who have both been down to Florida to attempt at least once, and have long-term storied histories in Late Models. On the younger side of things, you have Raphael Lessard who amassed quite the impressive Late Model career as a teenager, including winning the US Short Track Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway in Nashville and the Redbud 400 at Anderson Speedway, Indiana, he’s also led laps at the Snowball Derby, these successes aligned with him ultimately progressing to the NASCAR Truck Series under the Kyle Busch Motorsports banner, and this season won the ACT (American-Canadian Tour) Quebec Series championship, with 2 wins in 10 races, and 8 top-5s, 10 top-10s.
Dylan Blenkhorn - The #67 from Truro, Nova Scotia is one of the top-5 drivers in Canada, possibly a contender for #1. Blenkhorn would certainly love to be there, but there is an immense amount, both logistically, schedule-wise, and financially that goes behind getting an entire team, much less a competitive one, all the way down to Florida for the biggest race of them all, from Canada. Blenkhorn figures to test for the first time and contend for the Snowflake 100 Pro Late Model race alone, would be about a $50,000 weekend. As for the Derby, to rent a competitive car could run $70,000 USD (United States Dollars), or about $100,000 CAD (Canadian Dollars) for the one race. Even at this level of racing, when you have the top tier races like this, and travel involved, you need all four of: the pockets, the backing, the skill, and the passion. There are numerous drivers around, including in Canada who have some combination of those ingredients, but plenty who it doesn’t come easy to. Blenkhorn has the skill and the interest, and we will hopefully see him at a Derby weekend in the future, but for now, it is hard for him to commit to it, with his business life at home.
