The car bug. The love of motorsports and racing. It’s like a virus that gets transmitted from one person to another. There is no cure.
For example, there’s Jan Wietzes; a real car guy. After moving to Canada from Holland after WWII he operated a garage on Fleet St in downtown Toronto, later moved it to Mount Pleasant Rd in midtown, then eventually out to the suburbs. The family business expanded from repairs to selling sports cars like the Sunbeam Tiger.
His son Eppie Wietzes became a racer, and was one of the first Canadians Formula 1 drivers ever. Wietzes took part in two Formula 1 races, including the inaugural Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport in 1967. His car crapped out due to water in the electrical components. Then he raced in Formula 1 again in the 1974 Canadian Grand Prix, but never scored a championship point, although he later had success in Formula 5000.
With young Eppie and his brother Bert helping out, the family opened one of the first Toyota dealerships in Canada. Wietzes Toyota was established in 1969 and the business was very successful, selling more than 30,000 new cars over the next half century. During that time, Wietzes Toyota established a satellite business for its rental cars, based out of a facility on Guardsman Rd in Thornhill. In 1982, Stewart Hoo bought the satellite business and established his own family-run shop called Can-Jam Motorsports.
Over the next 40+ years Can-Jam established itself as one of North America’s most decorated motorsports facilities. The team won over 25 Canadian National Rally & Road Racing Championships, and was entrusted with building cars for and managing the ‘Subaru Rally Team Canada’.
Then, to bring the story home, we have Daniel Demaras, who won the Formula 1200 Championship last year, yet lost every sponsor except for the family business. Duane, his brother Kevin and their father Stuart weren’t going to leave Daniel watching from the sidelines in 2024. After all, Daniel had already been bitten by the bug, just like them. Can-Jam Motorsports stepped up to become the primary sponsor of Demaras’ now very Subaru rally car looking No. 12 Formula 1200 race car.
The racing bug; once it’s bitten you, there’s no cure. But if you’re lucky, you could pass the infection on to someone new.
What a great post, chris!! Gotta love em for sponsoring daniel, but also Wietzes Toyota! I did not know there were dealers in 1969. it always surprises me to find out how early things started.
I always think of Toyota as a very recent car company (especially in Canada) but it looks like Wietzes wasn’t even the first. The first Toyota dealership in Canada opened in 1965 and it was called ‘Bill’s Texaco, Toyota & Isuzu’
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Still in business today as Bill’s Toyota
Me too. Toyota wasn’t even on my radar until the 80’s or 90’s.
Great story, Chris. You guys must be proud to be part of it.
When the family that runs Can-Jam told us about their automotive history, I felt like we were really part of something bigger than just ‘us’.
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We’d heard of Eppie Wietzes before. The guy rented a Lotus to race in the Canadian GP. That is cool.
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To have some distant, six – degrees – of – separation with Racing Royalty … that felt special.