Pro Stock Tour Season Reflection: Jordan Veinotte, Rookie of the Year (Interview)

Photo Courtesy of: JT Racing Pix

September 27th, 2023

As the curtain falls on the 23rd season of the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour, it's the perfect time for some rear-view mirror reflections. With the smoke from #99 Craig Slaunwhite's 3rd straight championship victory burn-out celebration finally starting to dissipate into the wind: #11v, Jordan Veinotte, holds a title of his own: 2023's undisputed Rookie of the Year.

In 2007, a younger Veinotte blazed onto the Scotia Speedworld circuit in the Sportsmen class, sharing asphalt with seasoned racers like Craig Slaunwhite — whose farewell season in the class that year was punctuated by the track championship. Perhaps we will see an alternate version of a different trend, with Veinotte joining a class as Slaunwhite wins in it, and progresses up the ladder after.

Veinotte's early years signalled promise as he quickly reached top-10 finishes in the standings, and repeated as the 4th position driver twice: in 2011 & 2012. Fast forward to 2016, and he was just a hair's breadth away from his first championship, trailing Pete Miller by a mere 5 points.

2018 was when it all came together for Veinotte — he dominated Scotia Speedworld and clinched the track championship, setting the stage for another title, the 2019 Late Model Sportsmen Class Track Championship at Petty International Raceway the following year, backed up by another 2nd place finish at Scotia Speedworld.

His transition to the Pro Stock Tour came in 2021, a toe-dip with four races, including an impressive top-10 finish at his home track. Veinotte had already raced wheel to wheel, and won against current Pro Stock Tour contemporaries who shared his Sportsmen background going back to the late 2000s, like #88 Russel Smith Jr. and #0 Matt Vaughan, refining his craft and honing his tactics. But 2023 was when he really opened the doors to the tour: a full-season commitment peppered with four top-10s and a season high 6th place finish at both Scotia Speedworld and Riverside International Raceway. Barring an unfortunate DNF in the season finale, Veinotte strung together top-10s in all of his Scotia Speedworld races, and particularly excelled in the challenging, large, talented field we saw at the lengthy 250 at Scotia Speedworld, the prestigious Summer Clash.

Inside the Cockpit: A Conversation with Jordan Veinotte:

Q: Your track history is rich in Sportsmen racing. Could you share some pinnacle moments from those years, and explain what has led you to this stage?

Well, to be honest, I grew up in the racetrack I started off running four-cylinder cars just because I was always at the track with the Alexander's back when Scott ran and with my connection to R&R Kinsmans. I had no problem getting cars together and I went out and had some fun, and that led into me wanting to move up to hobby stock. At the time I was working on a car when a family friend of ours decided to sell their sportsman car (Kevin MacRae); my father went and bought me that original car, I don't even remember for how much, but it was definitely cheap back then as far as I remember. It was cheaper than building a motor for my hobby stock 

The first couple of years were just me and my friends from high school having fun. I was probably a number of years in before I started to take it seriously and we started making major improvements. 

Winning my first extended length feature in PEI (Prince Edward Island) put the realization in us: that we can do this. We started to win more races at Scotia, and just kept getting better over time. We come really close to a championship a few times, it was always just outside of our reach. 

But when I finally broke through on a bunch of victories, one year, it all fell together in 2018 when we ended up winning the championship at Scotia, the International at Petty, and countless other races.

In 2019 we backed up our championship with another one at Petty. Finishing second at Scotia was huge: We also had 6 straight wins that year. We won the Summer Shoot Out series at Petty that summer: winning all four nights as well. 

When COVID hit in 2020, we only got out to run five races, winning every time we showed up to Petty, unfortunately breaking that streak on Speed Weekend, running fourth, but held on to finish, and finished second in our only appearance at Scotia.

When the opportunity came to move up, we decided it was probably time to take it 

Q: If you could hop in a time machine and tweak one aspect of your rookie season, what would it be?

Probably to continue down the path that we were on with our first two part-time seasons. Keep it simple and let the race come to us. We started the year off trying a bunch of extreme set-ups. It was good for short run speed, but I lacked speed towards the end of the race. Sometimes it's a lot easier to keep it simple 


Q: You had another entry, the #77 in a couple of races this season, and you are also preparing for a Road Course race this weekend weekend at Atlantic Motorsports Park in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Can you talk a bit about that? Including date, time, etc.

Yes, this weekend: Sunday (October 1st). Gates open at 7 AM, racing starts at 1 PM. Three hour endurance race. This year my friend Leigh Pettipas, who is a Road racer. He ran my car from the first two years just to try and have some fun and I think he did great for never being on a circle track before. His road race car is actually one of Mike Mackenzie's old pro stocks.

I'm excited for this weekend, I have not road raced in 10 years and that was in a legend car; just gonna go out and have some fun and try and stay out of trouble in a three hour endurance. Race speed is not the winning factor - It's strategy.

Q: I noticed your last name attached to a business, as a sponsor. Please tell us as much as you want about that, this is your space. Additionally, who are some people, etc. that you would like to thank, or shout out?

Yes, my business: Veinottes Truck and Auto is a huge help. We originally started out as just a mechanic shop that my father had before I was even born. Our business has grown exponentially, and we have ventured out into many different avenues doing a lot of contracting work, construction work, excavation work, trucking, and snow plowing.

But if it wasn't for sponsors like R&R Kinsmans, who have backed me since the first time I have ever sat in a race car, there is no way I would be where I am today; without the support from the entire kinsman family but especially thank you to Reg Kinsman Senior (RIP) and Reg Kinsman Jr for believing in me when I was so young and getting in to a sportsman car.

We are back in a real Ford this year because my father is a die-hard Ford guy, and so is the entire Kinsman family. I really hope that Reg Senior is looking down on me proudly. 

I've never be able to get to the Race Track every week without help from Bluenose Well Drilling. Ralph/Marylan and Larry Jacobs have supported me since I can remember, there is no way I would have the sportsman reputation that I do if it wasn't for them helping me get to the race tracks all these years.

Another huge thank you to: Needs Shell Porters Lake/Hammonds Plains, OHES Health and Safety, Scooters Tire Barn, Worldwide Thermal Solutions, Sensory Motor Sports, and Dairy Queen Tantallon/Dutch Village Road.

These days, the typical talent pipeline leads from Bandolero to Legend and finally to Pro Stock. Veinotte lies outside of this trend, having taken the Sportsmen route — a divergence that adds an additional layer of intrigue when pitting him against rivals fresh from the Legends circuit.

As the dust settles on the 2023 season, what is next? The road ahead is wide open, and the anticipation for 2024 is going to start settling in more and more.