Who We Are
The Maritime Snowmobile Championship Races (MSCR) return to Connell Park Raceway in Woodstock, New Brunswick, on February 16th, 17th and 18th, 2024. This event is being revived by a group of volunteers with diverse backgrounds in business, snowmobiling, and racing. The race will feature two days of vintage oval snowmobile racing, with all known snowmobile racers invited to test themselves and their sleds on the 1/2-mile race track this winter. The focus is on attracting entries, spectators, and sponsors from the Maritimes, Ontario, Quebec, and the New England States.
The last Maritime Snowmobile Championship ran in the winter of 1981. The Woodstock Y's Men's Club organized the original races, which ran consecutively for 15 years from 1967 to 1981. The club aimed to raise money to help youth in the community. Major sponsors during the 1970s were cigarette companies like Mark Ten, Belvedere, and Rothmans, who partnered with the Y's Men's volunteers to promote themselves, the races, and Woodstock.
The event attracted factory snowmobile teams and racers like the Van Dolder's race team from Ontario and Gilles Villeneuve of Quebec. Gilles went on to win six Grands Prix in Formula One racing for Ferrari, showcasing the success of the Maritime Snowmobile Championships. The event attracted 5,000 spectators at the peak of the Maritime Snowmobile Championships, filling the Connell Park Grandstand and offering stunning views on the "side hill."
In 2022, a group of volunteers in Woodstock, New Brunswick, decided to revive the Maritime Snowmobile Championships in the summer of 2023. The race had been 43 years since the last snowmobile raced around Connell Park Raceway, but the enthusiasm and support for the revival have become apparent quickly. The newly formed MSCR is seeking a title sponsor for the race weekend, and the races will be known as the 'Sponsor's' Maritime Snowmobile Championships.
The Town Council of Woodstock, Old Home Week executive committee, and local Woodstock Driving Club are all supporting the event. A new MSCR Executive has been agreed upon, including familiar names from snowmobilers and the region's business community. The event is expected to attract racers, teams, and spectators from a wider region than just Woodstock, Carleton County, and New Brunswick.
Woodstock, N.B., has a long history in the snowmobile industry, with Eastern Marketing being the eastern Canadian distributor of Arctic Cat snowmobiles until 1996. The Woodstock Trailmaker's Snowmobile Club celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2024, founded in 1974 by local snowmobilers and dealers. The New Brunswick Federation of Snowmobile Clubs, also known as Snowmobile New Brunswick, has its head office in Woodstock and is now 42 years old.
Based on the rich heritage and success of this event, the 2024 Maritime Snowmobile Championship Races have the potential to be the single largest annual event of any type in New Brunswick's western River Valley, right here in Woodstock.
Past Racers Spotlight
Lynn Avery
Woodstock’s Maritime Snowmobile Championships – First Powder Puff
Interview - November 15th, 2023
“I remember it like it was yesterday” recalls Lynn Avery the historical snowmobile ice oval races held at Connell Park from the 1970s until 1981, particularly the Powder Puff races from 1974. Her father had lobbied for the inclusion of a class for women in the Woodstock Y's Men's Club, and at just 14 years old, Lynn was the first winner of the Woodstock Powder Puff class. She was presented with her trophy by Joyce Buckingham in front of a crowd estimated to be 5,000 strong. Also in the pictures from this very day ia a large Saint Bernard dog – a stuffed toy – that came as part of the prize package
Lynn would race at Connell Park until she was 19 years old. Her earliest memories of racing snowmobiles include racing with her father, Blair Avery, in 1965 on an oval snow track built locally. She raced in an under 14 girls class at Cedar Hill School and remembers one of the local racers Rick Wilson (Richwil) racing against her brother, Stephen Avery when Lynn was just 5 years old.
Lynn recalls her father, Blair, loading their 1969 Arctic Cat Panther Wankel into the family truck. Her mother questioned why he needed to take the Panther to races, but Blair convinced her he needed the sled. Lynn recalls her Dad racing but not finishing as well as expected.
Lynn went on to race annually at races throughout New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. They also travelled to New England finding success at Houlton, Presque Isle and Portland ME. Lynn raced at another historic venue from this era of oval ice racing, the Paul Bunyan races at Bangor ME. Bangor hosted the snowmobile factory racers for many years. Lynn recalls being the only female competitor in the Junior Class at a race in Bangor.
Lynn’s memory is clear, vivid and fun to listen to. She was keen and proud to point out that Arctic Cat sponsored her from 1974 until 1979.
Tom Peters, a snowmobile racer from Presque Isle, Maine, has fond memories of his snowmobile racing days throughout New England and also at Woodstock’s Connell Park Raceway. In 1972, he received the first Red Buckingham Memorial Trophy at Woodstock's Connell Park Raceway.
Red Buckingham, a local Ski Doo dealer and snowmobile enthusiast, supported the Woodstock Y's Mens Clubs fundraising venture. Tragically, he died in a snowmobile accident in 1971. The race organizers honoured Buckingham by awarding one racer who exhibited good sportsmanship and good results at future Connell Park races.
Tom was a small town independent driver who raced entirely within the borders of the State of Maine during his five plus years of professional snowmobile racing. His exception, as recalled by those from this era, was when he visited Woodstock, NB just across the border from Houlton, ME.
In 1976, he returned from retirement to enter a home race on a Polaris 340 Colt in Presque Isle, where he finished first against many younger riders. Peters has been recognized for his achievements, being the only snowmobile racer in Maine's history to be inducted into the "Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame" in 2018 and the Eastern Snowmobile Racing Hall of Fame in 2020. He is the first winner of Woodstock's Buckingham Trophy.
Article / Maritime Snowmobile Championships