About

FTMS HISTORY

Home of “Canada’s Fastest 1/4 Mile High Banked Paved Oval” Weekly racing from May thru September

In 1966, brothers Joe and Tom Kennedy purchased a property on Highway 6 that consisted of 35 acres. In 1967 The Kennedy’s decided to ‘improve’ their property and put a speedway on it. During the fall of 1969, paving, drains, lights and the first grandstand went up as the 30 degree high bank asphalt 1/4 mile oval track started to take shape.

Varney Speedway’s opening day came on June 1970 with Durham’s Mayor Ken McDonald cutting the ribbon. After Saturday night’s action, kids in town everywhere were playing stock car. Many special events were held at Varney; Ken Carter’s bus jump, Jose with his motorcycle jumps, and Benny Boom blew himself up to delight the crowd. As time went on the grandstand had to be replaced and in its place a two story tower went up and additional grandstands to its current capacity of 6,000 people which was during the Rick Mercer Report night.

The track was run by the Kennedy family until 1985 when it was leased to Don Davidson until 1987. Tom Donnelly ran the track from 1988 to 1996 and then the Hamilton family leased the track for 5 years.

Ken and Joan McLellan bought the facility in 2001 and ran it until 2010. During their time as owners they repaved portions of the track and move the wall down the backstretch making a tri-oval, adding two more lanes and bigger track size for side by side racing. In 2010, the track saw the Nuhn family operate it until 2012.

Gord Bennett, took ownership the Speedway in 2013, operating it until 2020. Changing the name to Full Throttle Motor Speedway.

Paul Trepanier took ownership of the Speedway in 2021, and is the current Owner and Operator of Full Throttle Motor Speedway @ Varney.

The track has seen many updates and changes since it first began back in 1970, but one aspect of the track that hasn’t changed is the history that it has, and the history that it continues to write.

2026, will be the 56th season of continuous competition at the fastest 1/4 mile paved oval high banks track in Ontario, and we hope to see you here! Racing starts at 6PM every Saturday night and Sunday nights on long weekends from mid-May to September.