John Chisholm, founder and builder of Riverside International Speedway, has been named as a member of the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame Class of 2015. Mr. Chisholm will be posthumously inducted to the prestigious Hall along with three others at a formal ceremony in Toronto on October 17.
His classmates include Ralph Luciw, Alex Tagliani, and Don Thomson, Jr. They will be joined center stage at the induction ceremony by this year’s international inductee Sir Jackie Stewart.
John Chisholm, 2013
John Chishom will be honoured as a competitor, builder, and significant contributor. His racing career spanned over five decades and ranged from driving, to building and running a track, to being a team owner for his son Donald Chisholm.
In the announcement, the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame says, “There’s no doubt that John Chisholm loved stock car racing and that Canada is better for it. Known as the man who put Maritime stock car racing on the map, Chisholm built Riverside Speedway, which opened in 1969, after travelling visit the Bristol Motor Speedway. The one-third mile Riverside Speedway soon became Nova Scotia’s version of the famed Tennessee bullring. He sold the track in 1989, but couldn’t stay away and bought it back in 2006 and quickly embarked on a massive upgrade of the facility. An accomplished stock car racer, Chisholm tore up his and other Maritime tracks in the 1970s and was the first Maritime driver to start in a NASCAR-sanctioned race. Later in life, he stood in the pit lane as his son Donald followed in his father’s footsteps.”
John Chisholm was inducted to the Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2008;Â he passed away July 4, 2014.
This past July the John W. Chisholm Memorial Cup was unveiled as the perpetual trophy for the IWK 250 at Riverside International Speedway.
Other Nova Scotians to have received the nation’s highest motorsports honour include Scott Fraser, Jim Hallahan, Junior Hanley, Rollie MacDonald, and Greg Sewart.
To learn more about the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame please visit www.cmhf.ca.
Riverside International Speedway is recognized as a premiere stock racing facility in Canada. The 1/3-mile high banked asphalt oval roars to action several times a year for special events. It is the home for eastern Canada’s only NASCAR event, and of the IWK 250 – widely known as the best stock car race in Canada. Located in James River, between New Glasgow and Antigonish, the facility is easily accessible at exit 30 on Trans Canada Highway 104. For more information call 902.863.2410 or click www.riversidespeedway.ca.
