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Cryderman back on track (26 photos)

Legendary local racer finishes sixth in the B-Mod feature race on Sunday at the Dirt Track Nationals at the Mosquito Speedway.

NOLALU, Ont. – In his heyday, Joel Cryderman was known around dirt track circles as Northern Thunder.

One of the top local racers ever to hit the circuit, it’s been nine years since the now 59-year-old driver last strapped in and got behind the wheel of his famous 51 stock car and raced his way around Mosquito Speedway.

But the need for speed never truly goes away.

He might have been a little older than the rest of the field at this weekend’s Dirt Track Nationals, but he showed he can still compete with the best the sport has to offer in this neck of the woods.

Cryderman finished third in his opening heat on Sunday, then easily captured the last chance qualifier to earn his way into the 50-lap feature race in the B-Mod category at the sixth annual event.

He took sixth in the finale.

The veteran racer said it was just fun to hit the track again, after such a long absence.

“My buddy had a car there and kind of just asked me to do it. I figured I might as well give it a shot. It’s been quite a while, but kind of fun to do,” Cryderman said.

The game has changed quite a bit, he added.

“There’s a lot of younger guys coming up that have gotten pretty good. The technology has changed quite a bit. You don’t do something for a while and if you had an edge, you lose it for sure,” Cryderman said, after his opening race on Day 3 of the sixth annual event.

“We’re just trying to struggle through and see if we can get into the show.”

Back in the day, it was never usually a problem.

Cryderman has plenty of titles notched on his racing belt, including the Red Clay Classic, the Badger Nationals at Cedar Lake and the Brown County Extravaganza.

He was the 2006 challenge series champion and was the winner of eight challenge series races in his prime.

Cryderman isn’t 100 per cent sure whether this weekend was a one-off or if he plans to keep racing.

“We’ll see how it goes after this. It’s probably just a one-time deal. We never really made any plans.”

Still, it was a great feeling to be ripping around the track, even if it was for the last time, especially with the hometown crowd cheering him on.

“It’s nice to have people come and see you again. Everybody likes that, to a certain extent,” he said. “It’s fun to drive again and we’ll just kind of see how it goes.”



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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