Column: Chris & Jarrett Herbison Getting Ready For Brockville’s 50th Anniversary Season
Column By: JIM CLARKE – BROCKVILLE, ONT – Weekly short track racing has enjoyed a lengthy family connection. With Brockville Ontario Speedway’s 50th anniversary season scheduled for a Saturday, May 11th green flag, the father and son duo of Chris and Jarrett Herbison is burning the midnight oil getting their equipment ready for the monumental occasion.
Hot on the heels of his 5th place finish in the 2018 Small Block Modified point standings, Chris Herbison – who works as an arbourist with Davey Tree in Ottawa – is looking to reclaim the momentum that powered the 46-year-old to the 1995 Street Stock title, as well as the 2011 and 2012 track championships in the Sportsman division. On the other side of the same shop, his son Jarrett – who’ll begin the police foundations program at St. Lawrence College in the fall and recently celebrated his 19th birthday – is getting his #38J machine set for battle in the highly competitive Sportsman-Modified field and looking to improve on last year’s 4th place finish in the overall running order.
The Herbison clan’s family racing affair extends deeper than a typical father and son bond. It also includes Chris’ brother Doug, who spent some time at the controls of a family-owned ride. His father George got the ball rolling during the late 60’s and mid 70’s on the dirt at the former Kingston Speedway in addition to starts at Brockville and Cornwall, before launching the asphalt portion of his career in 1990 at the controls of a powerful Super Modified at Oswego Speedway.
“Growing-up around the sport, ts almost hard to remember a time when there wasn’t a racecar around that someone was working on”, Chris Herbison said. “Getting a pair of cars ready for 2019 means a lot of late nights in the shop and some hard work but being able to race in front of so many family members and friends every Saturday night makes it all worthwhile.”
