A Documentary about Alberta's Motorsports Heritage Hello everyone,
Linked above is a Documentary project which will be of interest to most of you in these here forums...
My name is Randy and I've been autocrossing with the Calgary Sports Car Club since the early 2000's. I've never really been fast, but I have sometimes been inconsistent enough to break from normal mediocrity to occasionally pull brilliant results. I have also participated in track days and lapping events when Race City was around, as well as having helped organize Anglefactory Drifting events with Q or Cueman way back on the Mid 2000’s, before Drifting really took off.
Last year, however, I only really drove competitively once - and not even in this province, but rather in Saskatoon during the Super Slalom.
My reason? Well, that's the subject of this thread, the subject of that indiegogo page linked above.
All throughout last year, I was exploring the possibility of making a Feature Length Documentary about the History of Alberta Motorsports. Can it be done?
Well, I have known for four years now that it CAN be done. I have wanted to do this ever since I made the Award winning documentary
Goodbye Race City - made whilst still being a student, using borrowed equipment. I knew then and there that there is a very special story about motorsports in Alberta. The thing though was that: How does one actually go about making such a thing?
Like most projects, I hit books and chatted up with some local people I know who were knowledgeable on the subject. Very early on, I realized that this was BIG. So big that it deserves to be treated properly: In short, the subject of Alberta’s Motorsports Heritage deserves far, FAR more than just another Youtube, Vimeo short. Because Alberta's Motorsports history spans 100 years, I believe it deserves the full documentary treatment. And I think there is no better time to do that than now.
From book research, I went on to field research. 2012 season saw me going to as many varieties of motorsports events, lugging a camera around instead of participating, collecting a variety of images to make a proposal.
I also started contacting authors who have written about the subject of Motorsports in Alberta as well as Canada. Already, these authors have given their support for the project and their willingness to appear in the story: Richard McDonell, who wrote "The Speediest land Traveller: A History of Alberta Auto Racing"; Tom Johnston, author of "Sportscar Road Racing in Western Canada"; as well as David Charters, who penned "The Chequered Past: Sports Car Racing and Rallying in Canada 1951-1991". Currently I have 13 individuals who have agreed to appear as interview subjects. Since I still have a month of pre-production and research left before I would move formally into production (location shooting and interviews), getting a hold of key individuals - our very own motorsports legends, really – is still ongoing. Only just now did I manage to contact Art MacKenzie, Race City’s owner after Ben Docktor.
So please, check out the link above, give it a thorough read, and at the very least, share that link around to everyone. We need as much exposure regarding this. Not just for the film, but for Alberta's motorsports future.
Sincerely
Randy
PS. This is why I was asking who in Alberta is heading off to Knox in another post.