Dean Clattenburg Coming Home for Cat 250

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia native Dean Clattenburg will enter Saturday’s Atlantic Cat 250 at Scotia Speedworld and, for him, it’s a dream come true.

Clattenburg, the 1992 MASCAR rookie of the year and three-time open wheel modified champion at Scotia Speedworld, moved to North Carolina in 1996 to pursue a career in racing. And it’s that career that has brought him home for this weekends biggest race of the year at his track where he honed his skills as a teenager and young man.

Over the past 20 years Clattenburg has become a respected chassis engineer and fabricator and now owns and operates his own successful business. Last winter he built a clip for Daryl Mahar’s No. 66 and then shipped it to Nova Scotia where Mahar’s team did the installation. This week, and with the help of Mahar, his team and and his sponsors, Clattenburg is logging laps at Scotia Speedworld testing the car and preparing it for his debut in the Atlantic Cat 250.

“I’ve wanted to run that race since it became a ‘250’,” said Clattenburg, who also made a special appearance in the inaugural 1999 edition of the event when the distance was 150 laps. “But I was never able to put the pieces together to make it happen. This year I decided I was going to do it and then figured out how. I think it’s a win-win for Daryl and for me.”

What Clattenburg didn’t count on when he finalized the deal to run this weekend was being home to see the retirement of the car numbers for Scott Fraser and for Scott Kelly, both being honoured posthumously in a ceremony at the Atlantic Cat 250.

“I would have wanted to be here even if I wasn’t racing,” said Clattenburg. “I was close to both of those guys and it means a lot to me that I’ll be part of the event that will see the last run for number 00 and number 12.”

Clattenburg, Fraser, and Kelly grew up together as the sons of three legendary racers, Terry Clattenburg, Frank Fraser, and Junior Kelly – all members of the Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame. All three boys started their racing careers at Scotia Speedworld in their late teens and often competed against each other just as their fathers had. From there they all moved to MASCAR with Fraser runner-up to Clattenburg in the ’92 rookie contest and Kelly winning the rookie title in ’94. All three ran full-time MASCAR campaigns in ’94 and ’95 before Clattenburg made his move south at the end of the ’95 season.

“A lot of people don’t realize but I was close with both of them away from the track, too,” said Clattenburg. “With Scotty (Fraser) our families both had camps in the same area so we tore up the trails on motorbikes and snowmobiles as youngsters. And with Scott (Kelly) we lived closer to each other so we often spent time with the Kelly’s.”

Clattenburg concedes it may be tough being on track with the ’00’ and ’12’ tribute cars that will participate in Saturday’s race.

“I’m sure it will be emotional seeing both those cars again,” said Clattenburg. “But it will bring back a lot of good memories, too. I think it’s awesome.”

Both Mahar and Clattenburg are quick to point out that without the cooperation of Mahar’s sponsors the deal couldn’t have come together.

“We are especially thankful to K. Hubley Wood Working and Contracting and Inglis Jewellers,” said Mahar. ” It’s an opportunity to learn the new technology on our car from Dean and will hopefully get our sponsors some extra exposure, too.”

Clattenburg, whose last race was at Scotia Speedworld two years ago, arrived in Nova Scotia this past weekend and has since tested the car.

“It’s pretty good,” said Clattenburg. “We’ve been making some gains on it. Realistically we’d be happy with a top 10 finish. A top five would be like a win.”

Qualifying for Saturday’s Atlantic Cat 250 gets underway with time trials at 4 p.m. Heat races for the pro stocks, bandoleros, and legends start at 5 p.m.

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