Catching Up With Dave Gorveatt, by Ken MacIsaac

KM – Your name always seems to come up in conversations, whether it be Mascar, PASS or even PEI Modifieds. Let’s go back to the beginning. Tell me how you got interested in racing?

DG – Marvin Dyer and I used to go watch the races in Sleepy Hollow all the time. We’d go to Covehead too, but we never missed a race in Sleepy Hollow. We both lived in the trailer park in Sherwood at the time, and we were good friends. It seemed like every weekend we went to watch, Wendell Taylor was just destroying the field. I remember saying to Marv..”I’d love to be out there”. Marv said, “We should build a car”. I said, “well if you want to, I want to”. So we did. We went to the dump one night and got an old Plymouth Fury and towed it home. It already had a number on it for salvage. We gutted it, piped it, and raced it on the dirt We didn’t know what we were doing, but we won the championship back then. We sold that Fury to Fred Barrett and built a Chrysler Cordoba the next year.

KM – Most guys were influenced by their dad or a family member. Were you as well?

DG – Not at all. My mother or father never saw me turn a wheel at the track. They never even seen a race track. All they knew about my racing was what they read in the newspaper.

KM – So you guys built a Cordoba? This was still for the dirt track, right?

DG – Yes. We built a Cordoba and just made some improvements over the Fury. Back then, dirt was the way to go. That’s all we knew. But about mid-season (1987) they threw the asphalt at us. One day, Kevin Power came down to our pit and said: “boys you’re going to have to move up to Modified or else I’m going to make your life so miserable, you’d wish you’d never came here.” We didn’t have any money to move up to Modified, so we stuck a set of headers on it, put a cam in it and some bigger tires so we could run with the Modifieds. We still ended up finishing second in points. But it was a hard transition for a lot of guys. We were all lost. Hardly anyone had any experience racing on asphalt. I always bought big jumbo tires from Esso. They were an ‘L’ size. But they were no good on asphalt. I had to get Island Bandag to cut 40% off each tire. Then they were good. They stuck then.

KM – So the next year you guys built a new Modified?

DG – We cut up the Cordoba but saved the front clip. We built a Dodge Aspen from the ground up and won the Modified championship in ‘88 with it. The next year, we just reworked the car, lightened it up, reworked the geometry, lowered it more and we finished second in points. The first year with the Aspen we had the weight hanging out the tail end. The second year, we moved that back. We sold that car to Alan Vincent. Back then, all we ran for motors were the 360’s. The first one, we pulled it out of the woods in Covehead, took it apart, rebuilt it, and ran it for a few years. They were a good engine for us.

KM – In 1988, the PEI Modifieds were invited to race at Riverglade Speedway in Moncton. How did that go?

DG – Ernie McLean contacted us to see if we’d go over and run a special challenge race. It was just for us PEI Modifieds, not the Riverglade cars. It was my first time racing off the island. A bunch of us went over, and I ended up winning the feature.

KM – So in 1990, you decided to try Mascar?

DG – Marvin and I built that car from the ground up too. It had an ‘88 Chrysler LeBaron body on it. Marvin worked at F.R. McLaine’s back then and they sponsored us in the early years. We used a Plymouth Fury front clip and just built the rest of the chassis ourselves. We started that season in the Modified class at Raceway Park, and we ran the first 3 weeks and had 3 triple wins. They didn’t like that. Kevin Power said it was “too Modified”. They DQ’d us every race we ran after that, so we decided to try running it with Mascar. We did pretty good with it for a homemade car. At the end of the year we sold it to Greg McKenna.

KM – I always thought you ran the same car in 1991?

DG – No. After we sold the car to McKenna, we were looking to buy something. Gordie Constable was working for Randy MacDonald in Ontario back then. I asked Gordie if he’d look around to see if there was anything good for sale. Randy told Gordie “tell him I have a car here that I raced in the Oxford 250 with a V6 Buick motor in it” So I threw a number at Gordie and said, “run that by him”. Sure enough, he took it. That was the first car I ever owned with a quick change rear end. We put a homemade body on it with AMC Rambler fenders and a Chrysler LeBaron hood.

KM – I remember the bad wreck you had that year. I thought for sure you were done.

DG – Miramichi. We were racing and I was looking ahead in the pack. I saw Derrick Steeves and Scott Livingstone bumper to bumper. I caught them and I pulled out to pass Steeves, but just as I did he pulled out to pass Livingstone. He hit me in the left front and it just launched me straight me into the wall at full speed. I never even touched the brake pedal. Never had a chance. I got knocked out cold. We sent the car to Mike MacKenzie’s and he put a front clip on it. Marvin and I put it back together and we raced the next weekend at Raceway Park. We had some good guys helping us back then. Dave Constable, Clifford MacIntyre, and Frank Janet. So we finished the year off, but Marvin had enough. So we just parked everything. It was hard back then too. I had the family with me and was traveling to the track every week. We had a converted bus we used to haul to the track and we stayed in that.

KM – Tell me about the bus?

DG – The school board had a few buses up for bids. They were all GMC’s. I bid on 2 or 3 of them. But I got a tip that one of them had a brand new drop-in motor in it. That’s the one I really wanted. I ended up as the high bidder and got it. I gutted it all out and got it down to the steel. I was surprised at the amount of weight we took out. So I built living quarters and put a ramp in the back to drive the car up on. I ended up buying a motorhome so I sold the bus to Dave Peters I think. He was with Alan MacPhail at Oyster Bed.

KM – All of this must have lead up to you being the Mascar pace car driver in 1992?

DG – We were done after the ‘91 season. But I was going to the tracks every week to watch in ‘92. I was talking to the officials one day and they asked if I’d be interested in driving the pace car. That was a fun time, but I’d much rather be racing.

KM – So in ‘93 you did come back racing?

DG – I was coming home after the races one day and crossing on the ferry. I started chatting with Tom Scully. Tom was helping Dave Pierce at the time but he was finding the commute hard. He asked me what I was going to do. I said, “it’s up in the air right now”. He said, “drop out to the shop, I want to talk to you”. I knew he wanted to stay in racing, but wanted something closer. Anyway, I met with Tom and he said: “you’re hung up on that Dodge horsepower are you?” I said “not really. It was Marvin and I that started with the Dodge gear, mainly because Marvin worked at FR McLaine’s.” So Tom said, “I can put a GM motor together if you want?” He said, “we can use your car, or something else”. I said “Good enough”, and that’s how we got together.

KM – So you bought something else, or converted your LeBaron?

DG – Since I still had the LeBaron, we just switched it over to Chev. We put a Pontiac Grand Prix body on it and put a motor in it from Beatty & Woods out of Ontario. It was a 403 or 408 or whatever. That car started to get really good, but they put 50 lbs. on us because of the motor. Then they put 100 lbs. on us. They put 150 lbs. on us. Finally, I said, “Tom, I think we’re done”. The weight is killing us. We can’t compete with 150 lbs. of weight dragging around the track. So we went to Armstrong’s and bought a 358 and finished the season. We kept the 400 for a backup. So at the end of the season, I sold the car to Donnie Garnier in Sydney and started looking for something newer.

KM – Which brings us to 1994 and another new car. Also the start of your ‘black’ cars.

DG – That’s right. I bought a car from Dick Fowler in Maine. It wasn’t brand new, but it was a good car. It was a Leavitt chassis. Mike Johnston from Beech Ridge was Dick’s driver and he did well with it. But the only other guy up here running a Leavitt car was Bobby Yuille, so we used to exchange information a bit back then. We ran that car for 2 years and sold it to Greg Proude. Then in ‘96, I bought Wayne Smith’s car. He won the championship with it in ‘95, and I bought it right out of his garage.

KM – 1997 was your year. You got your first tour win and you also won the Mascar championship.

DG – I bought a Howe car from Larry Cowett out of Maine. We won our first race at Scotia in June that year. It was the Atlantic Cat 100. Car was hooked up and we led 99 of the 100 laps. I knew the first win would come, it was just a matter of when. The big thing I learned over the years back then, was consistency. We gradually got better and every year we seemed to finish better in points. In ‘97 we got more consistent and it paid off. But it was a tough year. We struggled and fought all year.

KM – Scotia Speedworld has been good to you over the years.

DG – We won again there in 1998. It was an IPSC (International Pro Stock Challenge) series race, the Forbes Chev-Olds 200. I think Scott Kelly finished second, and that’s who I battled for points with most of ‘97. Then in 2000, I won the Forbes Chev-Olds 150 which was an IPSC race. We didn’t have a top placing car that day, maybe the top 10. The leaders got into a big shemozzle near the end of the race, but we came through it and won. Ben Rowe got into Scottie and everyone piled into them. I took the high line and just drove by them. It was luck.

KM – You started the 2000 season running with Mascar, but then you switched full time to IPSC?

DG – I thought it was ‘98, but I guess it was 2000. I won the 2^nd Mascar race at Riverside. The car just drove perfect that day. After the race, I went to my pit stall and drove the car up on my open trailer. Two tech guys came down to my pit and said: “we gotta pull the head off your motor”. I said “You can’t. I gotta catch a boat”. Their rule book even said ‘No engine tear downs’. Anyway, we loaded up and headed for the ferry. So midweek I get a phone call from them. They said, “We got a problem”. They said “We have to disqualify you. We’ll pay you for the win but can’t give you any points”. So the rest is history, and I ran the rest of the IPSC series, and eventually PASS. I ran one other race for Mascar after that, and it was only because of a sponsor commitment in PEI. Geoff Boyle was bugging me for the car, and I sold it shortly after that.

KM – In 2000, I remember you running a red Ford in an IPSC race. What was that deal?

DG – That was Larry Cowett’s Ford. He was from Maine and he used to sell Howe parts. He brought his own car up to Scotia for the race and wanted me to drive it. It blew up on me in the heat race. But I put his number (33) on my car for another race, just so he could get the points.

KM – You ran the Oxford 250 that year, winning the Last Chance race.

DG – I tried it a few years before that and didn’t qualify. So in 2000, I didn’t make it through in the heat, but we won the Last Chance Qualifier. They asked me if I wanted the two grand for winning the race, or did I want to give that up and start last in the 250. I said, “I didn’t come here to watch the race”. So I started last and had a decent race. Finished 16^th.

KM – In 2001, the PASS Tour (Pro All Stars Series) was formed and you raced with them all year.

DG – I bought a brand new Howe car from Jeff Taylor that year. The first-ever race for PASS was at Lee, New Hampshire. I just couldn’t get the handle on that place. We struggled there and finished 13^th. We were going to tracks I’d never been to before or even seen. But we had a good race at the Cat 250 at Scotia that year. Finished third behind Louie Mechalides and Flemming.

KM – In 2002 you got your very first PASS win and you had another good run at Scotia?

DG – Montmagny, Quebec. It was a 150 lap race and we were hooked up. The first three races of that season we finished 8^th, 11^th, and 12th. So we were running well that year. We were the only Canadian team running the full PASS tour back then. Tommy (Mayberry, president of PASS) treated us well. They always played the Canadian anthem before the U.S. races. That was nice. The Cat 250 at Scotia was another good race. We got second behind Ben (Rowe) and Chuck Lachance.

KM – You continued to rack up some strong finishes with PASS?

DG – I bought Larry Cowett’s Ford in 2003 Chuck LaChance used to drive for Larry and it was a good car. We raced at Wiscasset (Maine) 4 times that year. I got 11^th in the first race, then a 5th raced there again in August and had a bad day, but we came back for the Big Dawg 400 and almost won that.

KM – Tell me about that race?

DG – PASS put up $100,000 to win at Wiscasset Raceway in Maine. It was a 400 lap race. We had a great car all day. On lap 383, I took the lead. But there were 5 or 6 cautions in a row after that. Coming for a restart in turn 3, Sam Sessions jumped me and got the lead. He had 2 or 3 car lengths on me at the line. They didn’t penalize him for jumping the start, and he led the rest of the way. I just couldn’t get close enough to him to pass him. I got 2nd. Ben Rowe came down to see me in Victory Lane. He said, “you won that race”. I said “well no, but I was close”. So the rule was you were only allowed 8 tires for the race. No more than that. Sam was running Ben’s tires on his car at the finish. That’s not allowed. So he kept the win, and I still got 2^nd. PASS fined Sam after that for using extra tires. I know he didn’t get the full 100K.

KM – 2005 was your final year with PASS.

DG – We started skipping races that year. I think our best finish was the Cat 250 again with a 4^th place. A lot of those tracks I felt like it just wasn’t fair for us. I never got to test on any of those tracks. By the time we got there and put two heat cycles on the tires, it was time to go racing. If we had lived closer to those New England tracks, I would’ve had more experience on them. We went to Beech Ridge for the first time in the fall and I hated it. I could never get straightened out. I’m sure with more practice we would’ve done well. Anyway, we were at a race in White Mountain (N.H.) and the car was terrible in qualifying. We had to run the B-feature. Jeff Taylor ran into me and took the whole right side body off. We only had a small crew and we worked our tails off to fix it. We had it ready to go for the feature. Someone came down to us and said: “Dave, your name isn’t in the lineup”. I figured it was a mistake. I went looking for Tom (Mayberry) but he wouldn’t talk to me. I mean we didn’t qualify through the heats, but I was expecting a provisional. We were faithful to PASS all those years, and always got the long haul award. So after that, we started cutting back.

KM – You had your workplace accident the same year in 2005, and you almost died. Tell me about that?

DG – I went to work for Visser Produce that year and I eventually took over the shipping and receiving. One day, I was down in the back warehouse all by myself. I was moving what they call a rock eliminator with the forklift. I parked the forklift in a V-ditch and was hitching up the pole on the front of it. I was wrapping a chain and I thought I heard something. I turned my head a little bit and the mast of the forklift came down and got me. I was out cold. I was there for 2 and 1/2 hours. I had a 2-way radio hanging off my collar but I couldn’t get my hand to key the mic. I remember waking up and laying on the floor. The ambulance hadn’t arrived yet and that’s when the pain kicked in. I don’t remember much of anything after that until months later when I woke up in Halifax. They did surgery on me in Charlottetown first. The injures were mostly in the pelvis area. It never hurt my leg, but it shut the blood off to it for a long period of time. They ended up putting a fixator on me which bolted through my hips and through my pelvis. That was to hold me in place. I was just laying there, and Deb (Dave’s wife) went down and talked to the doctor. He said “well there’s not much more we can do for him,” He said, “we have no success rate going back in, so we don’t want to do that.” Deb said “we’re willing to sell everything we own to get this man off this island and get him somewhere to get help! I don’t care what it cost, you can’t leave him here to bleed to death.” So they agreed. They wanted to put me in a chopper and fly me to Halifax, but it was freezing rain. So I had to wait until the next morning and they put me on a prop plane and flew me into Halifax. They drove me from the airport into the hospital in Halifax and I had 2 surgeries, back to back. They got the bleeding stopped. I’ll never forget that doctor. He did 2 or 3 more surgeries on me to where he was happy with the bleeding. When I went back home to Charlottetown, I was only home a month or two when I got a hernia. So I had to get another operation for that. That was my last surgery. But when I was talking to the doctor in Halifax, I said to him “what’s the deal with me?” He said “well, you’ll never work again Dave. Your chair will be your best friend”. I said, “well I beg to differ on that one, but we’ll see what happens”.

KM – Did you go through a lot of physiotherapy?

DG – Five years of it. Four to five days a week. Anyway, when I finally got home from the hospital, I couldn’t get around at all in my house. I had to build a new house out in East Royalty. I could drive through the new place with my electric chair. It was perfect. It was shortly after that when I bought another motorhome. We were spending 4 months of the year in Florida, but I was also spending 6 grand a year on taxes on my property in Charlottetown. Most of my family were living in Saint John and we started thinking that it doesn’t make much sense commuting all the time. So we figured we should move to Saint John. We sold one place in Charlottetown and bought a little house outside of the city limits in Saint John. I still own property in Charlottetown, but Saint John will always be home to me now. I still have a daughter in Charlottetown, so I’m back there maybe 4 times a year.

KM – In 2010 you were inducted into the Maritime Motorsport Hall Of Fame.

DG – That was quite an honor. I didn’t know about it until it was announced. When I look back at what we accomplished for a small Island team, I felt that it was deserving.

KM – You raced at most of the tracks in the Maritimes. Does any track stand out? Was there a track you dreaded going to?

DG – Well, Riverside was definitely my favorite. It’s the fastest. I used to run up on the top of the track close to the wall. When I’d come in the pit, the crew would always point at the left quarter panel. The paint would be scraped off the top of the panel. I’d run right underneath the top of the wall. Bobby White would always run up near the top too. I always ran well at Scotia. I had 3 wins there. I always liked running my home track in Oyster Bed. I never had any luck at Petty. Had decent runs, but no luck. I liked going to Shediac and Miramichi. I didn’t mind Speedway 660 either. Raced in Sydney a few times. Had one really good run there.

KM – You had a very small, but dedicated crew back in the day?

DG – We really did. Tommy (Tom Sculley) was with me for years. His son Steve was awesome. He helps (Dylan) Gosbee now. Steve’s younger brother Kevy (Kevin) was with us, and Dale Weeks too. We did our homework, and always prepared for the next race at home.

KM – Has the Pro Stock racing changed much since you were involved?

DG – Oh yes. Money is no object now. I mean there’s always been money in pro stock racing, but not like it is today. No one can afford it. It amazes me the money these teams are spending.

KM – Looking back on your racing career, do you have a favorite memory that stands out?

DG – Probably the Big Dawg 400 at Wiscasset. Even though we didn’t win it, we should’ve. Finishing 6^th in the Oxford 250 in ‘04 stands out. Once the rubber is laid down there, it’s like driving on ice. I got into the third groove on the outside in that race and started picking them off And as tough a year we had ‘97, winning the Mascar championship will always be special.

KM – Do you make it to many races?

DG – I get to the pro stock races at Petty, and to a few at 660. I have a hard time going to the track and watch. But it’s better than sitting at home!