After sticking to a partial campaign over the past couple of seasons, fans are going to get used to seeing the No. 15 regularly in the field for 2020 as Brad Pearsall will be running the full Queenston Chevrolet Buick GMC OSCAAR Modified presented by Scott Reinhart Trailer Sales Ltd,, Touchwood Cabinets, and The Fyre Place & Patio Shop schedule.
“We’re going to take a run at the championship and see what we can do,” he said. “Who knows where it’s going to lead us, but we’re going to run the entire season, and we got a virtually brand new car, almost brand new from top to bottom. It’s still our old car, but re-worked by Junior Hanley. He’s been quite an amazing, knowledgeable help in leading us the right direction.”
Going into the season, Pearsall says the goal each week to finish all the laps each week, and “race every race for the race.”
“We go out there, we go to win the race and do the best that we can with what we’ve got and bring the best piece forward,” he commented.
After scoring four top-five’s last season, including a runner-up at Flamboro Speedway, Pearsall says the key to being more successful in 2020 will be consistency.
“We had a lot of consistent runs, but we had a lot of incidents at the same time,” he explained. “Stay out of trouble, and finish every race, every lap. That’s probably the key in any series if you’re running a championship to start off with.”
The 2020 campaign will see Pearsall travel across the province to each of the premiere facilities, including the series’ return to Sauble Speedway.
“The short tracks are driver’s tracks, and those are the tracks that I like,” Pearsall said. “The big tracks it’s all about mainly money, but the short tracks – you don’t have to have the best car, but the best set-up and driver in there.”
Outside of his own campaign, there’s excitement surrounding the entire series as OSCAAR gets set to celebrate its 30th season of racing in Ontario.
“I can’t believe on how good the series is,” Pearsall commented. “Tons of cars, and tons more new cars coming in which is pretty cool. Being one of the first people in OSCAAR for the modifieds, seeing it grow from where it has – yeah, I haven’t been there for every season don’t get wrong, it’s quite an accomplishment and a lot of hard work involved in this.
“(Series president) Dave (Gainforth), the whole tech crew, everybody – it takes the cars, the drivers, and everybody to be on board with the same playing field. The rule package is fairly decent. Different cars prevail at different tracks due to motor packages and stuff like that, but it all has a level playing field and it’s fairly decent.”
For Pearsall himself, he got his start in racing at the age of seven behind the wheel of a go-kart, before moving into full size racecars when he was 15.
“I’ve driven all sorts of cars,” he commented. “The modified is one of my favourite cars, but driving super late models – definitely the high horsepower is really cool, but unaffordable.”
Looking back through his career, it’s no surprise that one of his most memorable career moments comes from those days behind the wheel of the super late model.
“Racing against Junior Hanley, Don Biederman, Kim Wallace – all the guys that I grew up watching, racing side-by-side with them at Cayuga (now Jukasa Motor Speedway),” he reflected. “That was back in the mid 90’s. I’m like a lot of people – I got spun out by Don Biederman; I got spun out coming out of two at Cayuga. I don’t know if I’m proud to say that, but it was a pretty cool thing. He showed up on a Sunday with no practice, started dead last, and he damn near won it. I think he ended up third.
“The guy – he wasn’t my favourite driver, but he was quite a wheelman. I grew up idolizing Junior Hanley and it’s been pretty cool to work side-by-side with him and to work with him at his shop on my car with his input, it’s quite a neat thing.”
With the years of experience under his belt, Pearsall’s advice to the next racer out there is to race others how you want to be raced.
“If you want to bump and bang, they will bump and bang,” he said. “If you want to race clean, then give the guy a little bit of room and run a good solid race, and he’ll race you like that in return.”
Be sure to keep up with OSCAAR by staying tuned to the series website at http://www.oscaar.ca. Also, make sure to “like” the official OSCAAR Racing Facebook page, while following both the Twitter and Instagram accounts (@OSCAARRacing) to keep up to date on everything you need to know.
OSCAAR’s 2020 racing season was supported by several dedicated partners including Queenston Chevrolet Buick GMC, Knightworks Design, Living Lighting Canada, Scott Reinhart Trailer Sales Ltd., Touchwood Cabinets, Sauble Falls Campground, The Fyre Place & Patio Shop, Ohsweken Speedway, American Racer, and Grisdale Race Products.
By: Ashley McCubbin
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