The Vault
UHLMAN & VARCOE – THE KINROSS RIVALRY AND MORE
Posted on: Sunday August 14, 2022
Mike Uhlman remains among the winningest drivers in Kinross Speedpark history. He’s shown here after a 1996 win. (Rod Aubertin photo)
(The following is an excerpt from the 2019 release “Racing In The 906.” This book and other titles will be for sale during our book signing at Kinross Speedpark September 10 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST.
If you cannot make the signing you can order the book by clicking on the “books” tab on this website.)
Order your copy of “Racing In The 906” by clicking on the “books” tab on the upper left corner of this website!
Webster’s dictionary defines a ‘feud’ as “a prolonged and bitter quarrel or dispute.”
At Kinross that “feud” between late model drivers Donnie Varcoe and Mike Uhlman would keep fans coming back for more – week after week.
Both drivers were frontrunners. Both were Canadians from the Soo. Varcoe ran his number 94 racer while Uhlman had taken over the very successful number 33 Harold Ross-owned ride after legend Hubie Brazeau hung up his helmet in ’87.
Talk about big shoes to fill. “The fans each night at Kinross were split right down the middle,” said longtime track announcer Greg Brazeau. “Half were either booing or cheering for either driver. The crowd made a lot of noise. They were a big part of why Kinross got so big in the early years. There’s not a doubt in my mind about that.”
When Varcoe and Uhlman started deep in the field at Kinross it wasn’t a question of if they would get to the front of the field but rather when. Sparks would fly between the two as they sifted their way to the front. “We’d always somehow seem to find our way to the front,” recalled Varcoe, who would go on to promote the racing program at Laird Raceway in Echo Bay, Ontario. “I had no problem with Mike really off the track.”
Donny Varcoe (left) and Mike Uhlman hosted a most spirited rivalry at KInross Speedpark starting in the 1990’s. That rivalry spilled into other tracks in lower Michigan.
The feud just wasn’t limited to Kinross. “I’d pull into the pits at places like Onaway or Northern Michigan Speedway and here that 33 car would roll in,” Varcoe said. “I just couldn’t shake him.”
At Kinross alone Uhlman would wind up winning 31 late model feature wins in a short five-year span, retiring in 2004. Mike Uhlman was a man who did his talking on the racetrack.
When his career wrapped up Uhlman would collect an incredible 15 late model track championships. Uhlman would wind up scoring seven crowns at Onaway, along with four titles apiece at 5th Line and four more at Kinross.
Uhlman was the youngest ever late model champion in the mid ‘70’s at 5th Line, which back then was extremely rare. In years to come Uhlman’s daughter Leila Uhlman and son Dennis Uhlmann were both top-flight competitors, keeping the family name alive in the local racing circles and both scoring championships in their respective classes at Kinross.
According to Uhlman, he didn’t attempt to steer his kids towards racing. “If anybody thinks for a minute, I tried talking my daughter into racing think again,” Mike Uhlman quipped.
One man who had a front row seat for man years at Kinross was track announcer Greg Brazeau. The son of local legend Hubie Brazeau, Greg claims to have won more than 300 feature races in his driveway on his bicycle!
The younger Brazeau has emerged as the unofficial “historian” of stock car racing history in the Sault region. “The first asphalt track in the Soo region was Algoma Speedway built in 1954. “Prior to that there was a dirt track called Queen Elizabeth which started up in the ‘30’s and hosted races throughout the ‘50’s,” Brazeau said. “Racing has always been real strong up in this region.”
Greg had a front row seat when his dad Hubie would run the modified circuit in Canada and Michigan. “I remember when I was little the announcer would warn us over the p.a. system to stay away from the catch fence, but we stood up there anyways,” Greg said. “I couldn’t get enough of (racing). I remember getting hit by mud.
“There was actually a pact between the promoters at 5th Line Speedway in the Soo and Escanaba and Norway. The top drivers from each track would make sure they made both tracks regularly. Canadians who would join Hubie traveling across the border to battle at Escanaba and Norway were Wes Beckett, Ed Powley, Johnny O’Reilly, Rick Ellis and Wayne Carter. On the flipside Canadians would see The Iverson’s, Jimmy Peterson, Gene Coleman and the Richer’s tow up from Michigan. It was a real good deal. They’d always try to hustle the show along at Sands on Sunday afternoons and sometimes you’d see those five or six haulers all rolling into the pits a tad late at 5th Line.”
Greg recalls traveling down to Escanaba during the modified years with huge crowds – especially during the Upper Peninsula state fair races. “I remember them starting anywhere from 25 to 40 modifieds for the fair races,” Greg recalled. “The fair night in Escanaba was HUGE. It was a deal where you had to be there.”
According to Hubie Brazeau, the Canadian tracks ran wingless modifieds with Escanaba being the first track in the region to allow wings on the cars in ’73. “The guys who ran the mods raced each other with respect,” Hubie said. “With the open wheels you had no other choice.”
Hubie Brazeau could very well be considered the “Dick Trickle” of the Sault region in the ‘70’s and into the early ‘80’s. The track titles and wins came often for the popular driver. “I remember when we’d score a clean sweep at Escanaba we’d go home with $125 in American money,” Brazeau said. “That would be the equivalent of $1,500 nowadays. But we did have expenses with traveling, too. Unfortunately, promoters these days simply cannot afford to pay out that kind of prize money. During the peak of the modified days it was usually either myself or Bob Iverson who wound up in victory lane. Bob was really tough.”
When the modifieds would eventually die off even at Escanaba Hubie made the switch along with many others to the late models. Brazeau owned his own late model equipment until 1982. After that Brazeau took over the number 33 Harold Ross owned ride. “We always seemed to have good sponsors when I owned my own stuff and even when we ran for Harold,” Brazeau recalled. “We’d race at Escanaba weekly until around ’82 or so and after that we’d never miss the fair race down there.”
One of Brazeau’s most memorable moments at Escanaba came in 1984, and it involved Dick Trickle – sort of. “Dick ran a lot at Escanaba in the early ‘80’s,” Brazeau said. “During the U.P. state fair in 1984 I broke Dick Trickle’s track record in time trials. It was quite an accomplishment. But during the fair race they made you start in the back of the B main if you hadn’t run there weekly. It didn’t matter how you qualified – they wouldn’t exempt it. In three laps I got to the front and won the B main from the back. So, I started in the back of the feature in which they trimmed the number of laps from 50 to 25. I caught the leader Bob Menor from the back and finished second to him at the line. That was a night we’ll never forget.”
Brazeau compares running an open wheel modified versus the fendered late models. “Even when we switched to late models you still had to know what line to take,” Brazeau explained. “You were sitting a bit lower in the late models than you were in the modifieds. I preferred the modifieds because you could see everything.
Everything was wide open. With the modifieds, you could make some different moves. You could always tell a guy who came out of a modified. They just seemed to race harder.”
Greg Brazeau got his break in stock car announcing in 1984 when the regular track announcer at Onaway Speedway had taken sick. “I was a teenager and I would tease the regular announcers and got pretty good at imitating them,” Greg recalled. “So, I got my first crack at announcing that night filling in at Onaway. I started young and things took off from there. I’d do it a few times a year until I was 21 then it became more of a full-time gig.”
As the years went on Brazeau would go on to announce regularly at Kinross and Hartford Speedway’s. The younger Brazeau would hook up with traveling series like USAC and UMP and travel all into the Great Lakes area states announcing shows. “Sometimes we’d be gone three to five nights a week,” Greg said. “It was a lot of traveling, but it was a great experience and I got to see all these guys grow up and turn into seasoned veterans. It was a great ride.”
Order your copy of “Racing In The 906” by clicking on the “books” tab on the upper left corner of this website!