~ by Chris Demaras ~
This past weekend the Formula 1200s competed in the Touring Trophy Race at Mosport. On Sunday morning, things were quiet. The rain had passed, the stress of qualifying was over, and Race 1 was in the books. Then Jim Kenzie walked into the VMS paddock.
For those of you who don’t know him, Kenzie is an automotive journalist who wrote for the Toronto Star ‘Wheels‘ section for years and years. He was also a motorsports enthusiast who helped develop the Targa Newfoundland race. He’s as well known for crashing out of the race as he is for winning it!
For me, I knew Kenzie from TV. He had an editorial segment on TSN’s long running show MOTORING ’88 that changed names annually before finally becoming MOTORING TV. I hated the stuff Kenzie would talk about. He’d say stupidness like AWD cars weren’t better than 2WD cars, that drive-thru lines at the local Timmie’s were adding to pollution, and even suggested that drivers shouldn’t talk on their CanTel car phones while driving. The nerve of this guy!
This weekend, I finally got to let Jim Kenzie have it. I told him that as a teenager I’d tune in to his show just to yell at the TV when he was on. I told him how wrong he was about his stance against pickup trucks, his 2014 suggestion on remote work as a solution to traffic congestion, and his dancing on the grave of the SUV, which he called Stupid Useless Vehicles.
He smiled warmly, thanked me for watching him all those years, signed his book for me. Imagine that; I waited all this time to give this man a piece of my mind, and he just appreciated me watching his show. What a nice guy.
