Greetings!
  • Operation Motorsport retains TWOth Autosport for 2019 as Motorsports Operations Partner and CTCC Premiere Partner and welcomes Army Veteran Cpl Chuck Blecker.

  • Sam McEachern, OpMo Social Media Coordinator makes team impact at CTMP and shares his experience.

  • Operation Motorsport welcomes the Canadian Armed Forces Director Transition Services & Policy, Colonel Kevin Cameron to meet the beneficiaries and teams.

  • Volt Racing / Park Place Motorsports embraces Royal Canadian Airforce Sergeant Karen Nightingale in the team.
  • A new perspective through the lens with Master Corporal Jennifer Kusche.

  • Veteran Soldier Cpl Dale Newbury, returns to a familiar home with KohR Motorsports

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, 19 May 2019; 

 Operation Motorsport has successfully completely it's first Canadian Excite / Engage event for 2019, making a return to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for the Victoria Day Speedfest with our Motorsports Operations Partner TWOth Autosport and a number of old and new teams in Blancpain GT World Challenge America.

As Travis Hill, TWOth Princple and driver of the #26 Shopify Audi RS3 LMS, said after the weekend event, " #OneAtATime  we’re building a family. It’s such an honour to be working shoulder to shoulder with our military beneficiaries at Operation Motorsport. We’re thrilled to announce that our partnership will extend through the entire 2019 season in the Canadian Touring Car Championship, featuring medically discharged veterans on all 3 of our @audicanada RS3 LMS race cars!"

This also marked a return to a team environment for recently medically released Canadian Army Veteran, Corporal Chuck Blecker. Chuck was serving as an Army Vehicle Technician in Shilo Manitoba when he received a traumatic brain injury. This all happened very quickly for Chuck and his wife Robin, who commented on his return home after the weekend with TWOth, "He has not stopped talking. There’s a spark that I haven’t seen in a long time! He’s sore and exhausted, but excited to be a part of the team! I really just wanted you to know that what you do is not “just racing”. What you do matters. You’ve brought my husband a sense of dignity and purpose, THAT matters.

Hear this loudly: WHAT YOU’RE DOING MATTERS!!"
What You’ll Find At A Racetrack – My First Weekend With Operation Motorsport

By Sam McEachern
It’s easy to see why Operation Motorsport has become an immediate success and is growing rapidly. 

A a racing-obsessed kid, I always felt that going to the track to watch a race was a special experience – even for more casual fans of the sport. When I attended my first race (the 2003 Molson Indy, won by hometown hero Paul Tracy) I felt a sense of togetherness and camaraderie that has been replicated at just about every motorsports event I’ve ever attended. Operation Motorsport takes that feeling and ramps it up to 11. 

I attended my first race with the organization this past weekend at the only Canadian leg of the Blancpain GT America Series at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Serving as the team’s social media coordinator, I was immediately welcomed by the team and introduced to the other volunteers, our beneficiaries and Master Corporal Jen Kusche, who was also joining us for the weekend and putting her talents as a combat photographer to good use. 

The symbolism wasn’t lost on me. I was at one of my favorite tracks, alongside members of organizations I respect massively (Operation Motorsport and the Forces), and surrounded by race cars and drivers. This is exactly the way that many of our beneficiaries feel and it’s exactly why the Operation Motorsport mantra – Excite, Engage Empower, works. It’s hard for a racing or vehicle enthusiast to surround themselves with things they love and not automatically begin a healing journey. 

Throughout the weekend, this feeling only became stronger as I met Travis and Trevor Hill of our main partner team TWOth Autosport and two smart, passionate guys who are doing amazing things for both racing and our veterans. Everyone from the drivers I photographed and filmed, to the track staff that helped us, to spectators in the stands helped to once again echo that feeling of togetherness I had felt way back in 2003 and remind me why attending a race can be more special than attending any other sport.

This is why I truly believe what we’re doing at Operation Motorsport is important for our ill and injured service veterans. Racing can be expensive and complicated to break into or even attend, but with the help of organizations like this, we are able to place people like Theo Bruulsma, Dale Newbury and Chuck Blecker with reputable teams like KohR Motorsport and Volt Racing, providing them with once-in-lifetime experiences and giving them new skills they simply can’t find anywhere else.

I can’t wait to continue contribute more to Operation Motorsport’s endeavors throughout the 2019 racing season, provide our partners teams and beneficiaries with interesting content and most of all, enjoy that sense of family and camaraderie that you can only find at the race track and with an organization like this.
Colonel Kevin Cameron, CD, Canadian Armed Forces Director Transition Services & Policy, visits OpMo @ CTMP
A visit by Colonel Kevin Cameron, CD, the Canadian Armed Forces Director Transition Services & Policy was a year in the making and we would not disappoint.

One of the biggest challenges is finding and getting in front of those individuals that could benefit the most from a our recovery programs. Those who are facing medical release without knowing what's next or what is even possible.

Colonel Cameron wanted to see first hand what the recovery programs can offer medically releasing service members, hear it from the beneficiaries and see recovery in motion.

Mission Accomplished!
Paddock Catering for Volt Racing courtesy of Royal Canadian Airforce Sergeant Karen Nightingale.
When Park Place Motorsports Director of Race Operations, Mike Johnson agreed to be an OpMo beneficiary host team he surely had no idea of what was to follow at CTMP.

Intro Sgt Karen Nightingale of the Royal Canadian Airforce, she was more than prepared to dazzle the socks off of Volt Racing with her culinary skills. Not a new comer to challenges, Karen is a military cook by trade with a long list of credentials that include the Special Forces and Flight Stewart to the Prime Minister.

She took her turn at being a race team crew member in 2018 and served as the teams chef at Race of Remembrance 2018 in Anglesey, Wales, UK and then decided she wanted to give back by volunteering to serve as the OpMo Logistics Support Liaison.

To help her understand what new beneficiaries interested in team catering could expect she decided a weekend with a new team to OpMo would fit that bill. Karen did not disappoint when it came to clever ways to be creative in the team paddock, making the final meal of the weekend a Canadian classic.......... fully loaded Poutine..... We The North! #OneAtATime
A new perspective through the lens of a Motorsport Newbie

by Master Corporal Jennifer Kusche.
Before this weekend, the closest I came to Motorsports was when I dated a guy in college who loved F1 racing. Everything else came to a halt on a race weekend and I’d be left wondering what all the fuss was about.

Now I understand… 

I understand how the sound of revving engines can send a thrill up your spine. I understand the tension that fills the air when a member of the pit crew yells out “Pit hot!” I understand the excitement as the walkway beneath your feet shudders from the force of the passing cars.

Mostly though, now I understand that once you’re here, you’re family. From the driver right on down to the guy who cleans the tires, you have a goal, a purpose, and the people around you will bend over backwards to help you get there. I understand that it goes beyond shiny cars driving really fast to a powerful sense of community that I never thought I’d find outside of the military. It’s something that is extremely difficult to explain and especially photograph. In order to truly understand it, you have to feel it, experience it, and immerse yourself in it. 

Now I understand.

Dale Newbury returns to a familiar home with KohR Motorsports

One year ago Dale was the new guy, unsure of where this leap of faith would go........... fast forward and he is now faced with decisions we all could not have imaged. Now the difficult decision returning to home turf one year later, stay with his new Ford family or return to his roots with TWOth.

There are much worse decisions to be faced with and that is a good thing..... no that is a great thing. Dale has more than one family.

#oneatatime
About TWOth Autosport
With a home base at Calabogie Motorsports Park, TWOth is only steps away from one of North America’s most technical race tracks. The perfect location, paired with valuable experience and strong industry partnerships, allow the Hill brothers to manage every aspect of the motorsport experience, giving them the logical tagline: Develop, Build, Support, Drive.
Visit http://travishillracing.com/
SRO Motorsports Group, the architect of modern GT racing
Over the past 25 years SRO has specialized in the promotion and organization of motorsport series around the world. Inextricably linked with GT racing’s revival in the early 1990s, currently SRO predominantly promotes series that adhere to the successful GT3 and GT4 regulations. Indeed, these rules – a common framework allowing manufacturers, teams and drivers to compete equally with one another – have helped to establish SRO as the global leader in customer GT racing.
Today, SRO’s influence and organisation can be seen around the world. Its flagship continues to be the European-based Blancpain GT Series, which features both the Sprint and Endurance Cups. Its annual highlight remains the iconic Total 24 Hours of Spa.

SRO Motorsports Group is chaired by company founder and CEO Stephane Ratel and has offices in London, Paris, Liège, Austin, and Hong Kong. Its dedicated team of full-time and freelance staff work with the support of numerous national sporting authorities and sanctioning bodies to offer teams, drivers and manufacturers the world’s best professional, Pro/Am and amateur GT racing platforms.

About Operation Motorsport - Operation Motorsport is a veteran-operated not-for-profit based in Brighton, Ontario and was founded on the basis of three simple words – Excite, Engage and Empower. Its mission is to engage, through motorsport activities, ill and injured service members and disabled veterans, affected by military service, leading to aiding in their recovery and rehabilitation. Visit: http://operationmotorsport.org/