NORTH Vancouver's Rob Harrison and West Vancouver's Tom Johnston will be honoured at the Greater Vancouver Motorsport Pioneers Society's 12th annual induction ceremony Sept. 22.
Johnston, an engineer, went from designing and building sports cars and Formula Atlantic racers to buying cars for his own racing team. His competition racers included a Dodge Viper and Corvette C5 which are retained in a museum inside his West Vancouver home. Tom has been a member of the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame since 1998.
Harrison, a drag racer, began his National Hot Rod Association racing career with a 1957 Chevrolet that he turned into a winner. He and his team then turned their attention to getting up to 700 horsepower out of a six cylinder engine to set a world speed record in the standing quarter mile of 7.98 seconds.
In 2005, he built an engine that can rev 9,000 r.p.m. to launch his 1,900 pound dragster down the track from a standing start to 100 kilometers per hour in just one second. Last year he was part of a drag racing team that won the Competition Eliminator Award at the Winternational Races in Pomona, Calif.
The GVMPS, which has already inducted 183 pioneers, is a group of enthusiasts from various motorsport activities whose goal is to recognize and record the accomplishments of people who have made major contributions over the past four decades.
Harrison and Johnston will be inducted alongside 13 other locals who have made major contributions in the early days of motorsports in the Vancouver area. The ceremony, which is open to the public, will be held from noon to 4 p.m. in Shannon Hall at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. The event will include light snacks and beverages with a $15 admission charge at the door.
