He is formally from Port Elgin but now lives in Sauble Beach and has wins at Sauble, Sunset,
Peterborough and the old Cayuga Speedways. That’s right I’m talking about the driver of the #26 Roote’s gas bar united 8 car, Dave McMahon! Dave started his racing career back in 1990 before taking pause from racing full time in 1997. Dave returned to the track in 2001 before pausing from regular competition again until 2021. In the 2001 feature win photo below Dave is holding his 4-year-old son in victory lane. 20 years later in the 2021 feature win photo Dave’s son is now holding his 4-year-old daughter in victory lane.
Dave has many people that help and support him throughout his racing career such as Jim Lundy, Chester Ritchie, Ron Lipskie, Brad Schwass, Steve Coulson and many more including his crew chief Michael Hastings who has stuck by Dave’s side for over 20 years. Another huge support for Dave has been his family, Dave expressed that his racing career wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for their support and tolerance. Dave’s number throughout the years has always been 26, I asked him to please share the meaning behind the number 26, he explained “it was run by junior Johnson, old bootlegger turned race driver and Ronnie Hopkins who was one of the best stock car chassis builders as well as it’s the inverse of 62, Chester and Lloyd Ritchie who helped me get started.” Dave’s sponsor for 2023 is McMahon Enterprises and this season Dave will be racing a Hot Rod, a 1966 Galaxy that is Ford Powered, he will be running this car in the United 8’s as well as the OSCAAR Hot Rod Series.
Going onto the track Dave expressed that he still gets as nervous and excited as he did on his very first race, he works to calm himself as he goes through the early caution laps before the green flag and as he comes to the green, he reminds himself to be patient and be easy on the throttle and brake and to remember to breathe! If Dave could give one piece of advice to someone just getting into racing it would be to reach out and ask for help from the seasoned racers. The racing community is very good with helping each other out behind the scenes even if you are competitors on the racetrack.
Dave would like all the fans of Sauble Speedway to know that there are sometimes where the drivers can hear the cheers in the car and it means a great deal to the drivers, and to take time after the races and come back to the pits and say hi and take some pictures with the drivers, the drivers love meeting the fans. We would like to wish Dave and his team a very successful race season!
