Kendrick Racing is and has been a family affair for over 45 years now, it was started by our father Wayne when he was just a young racer driving what ever he could back in his late teens and early 20's. He drove stock car, late models,older coupes almost anything that could get him to the track but always a dirt track. He did try the drag strip racing with some of his friends when they were all growing up racing, friends like Gary Leason and Joe Kenney.

When Dad had heart trouble in the late 80's his racing days were finished, and Darren took over the race team and Kendrick Racing was kinda formed then. Darren and Wayne pretty much used other drivers to drive the Kendrick car and the list has been made up from some very successful veterans and some up and comers. The list of drivers who have visited victory lane over the years for Kendrick Racing are many including Kevin(Pudge)Reichel, Bill Sheldon, Tim Jones, Boyd McTavish, Scott George,Billy Chantel Jr and myself in 2006 in our Modlite. The classes of cars has been everything from a Mod Stock to 358 Modified and for the better part of 17 years now Darren Kendrick has been the driving force behind the team with Wayne continuing to look after the cars with his wife Carol.

Darren around 1999 decided to go Sportsmen racing travelling on the Sunoco series with Tim Jones they had alot of great success and won many features until a small rift led them to separate teams, but their friendship and respect for each other has led T im back to Kendrick Racing for 2008. When they decided to go a different way in 2004 Boyd McTavish took over the wheel then Darren and Boyd and Kendrick Racing embarked on a new journey in the Sportsmen ranks and had alot of success as well.

Darren then came across a young shoe down in Utica Rome NY by the name of Billy Chantel Jr and they enjoyed an instant connection and then success, unfortunately the distance between where Kendrick Racing and Billy was made it to tough for the team to con tinue their venture.

That is when Darren decided to step back and decide what was best for the family. Unhappy with the Dirt changes to the Sportsmen division Darren took some time away to figure out what his next move would be. There have been so many supporters of our team but most of all sister Kelly and her husband Lorne have been involved travelling all over to watch the cars run. Lorne for the last couple of seasons has driven a Modlite for Kendrick racing and if all goes well we will see him in one for the 2008 racing season.

In 2006 Darren decided to look into the 358 Mo dified class and ended up having a couple of conversations with Scott George a very successful sportsmen driver all the years that Kendrick Racing had cars in that class. They decided to partner up for the 2007 season in the 358 class with Scott providing the car and Darren supplying the engine. The bug was once again caught as Kendrick Racing moved up yet again, this time to the top of the dirt racing classes. When the success in the Troyer chassis that we thought would be good did not happen, Da rren approached me in May to look at a new 2007 Bicknell for Kendrick Racing and have Scott pilot that. The team embarked on a whole new game with us owning the car and having Scott maintain it with the help of Dad and Darren. The new car seem to be the answer even after a few rough weeks early, Scott and the Kendrick Racing 9G found victory lane in August for our first feature win in the 358 class the only disappointment was that not one of us from Kendrick Racing were able to be there.

This leads us to where we are today going into the 2008 racing season, Darren, Todd and with our father did alot of talking about the 358 class and what we would like to see for the upcoming race season and as always we where going to have to draw the sponsors to the table and Darren and Dad would look after the cars and drivers. We have been working on serveral different potential sponsors for quit e a few years and you just never know when it might happen(a lessen for other racers dont burn any bridges with potential sponsors as you just never know when the may decide to be apart of it).

 We talked about a 2 car team with Scott George piloting a new 2008 Bicknell and Todd jumping in the 2007 from last year, this would give us the top shoe the new ride and me the experienced car to learn in. When our sponsor for 2006 and 2007 agreed to help us out like he did when we purchased the new 2 007 car for Scott, PPS Technologies, Team One Mgt owned by Matt Williamson of London Ontario a business man dealing with new and used Car Dealerships all over Ontario. This sponsor Matt also took on a couple of new business ventures with the addition of Londongolfclub.ca and the newest GTAgolfclub.ca he agreed to help  out for the 2008 season and that coupled with his continued help from previous year allowed us to go this way. Then in a twist of fate we had another potential sponsor who we ha ve tried to get on board for years(they have given us a few little perks over the years but not a front line sponsor), they asked us to see what could be done for 2008 and beyond. That is where it gets real busy with the team, we sat down and we decided to see if there were any drivers out there looking for a ride in 2008 and we were approached by an old friend who said he would like to do something with us for the upcoming racing season and low and behold Tim Jones is back with Kendrick Racing in a new 2008 Bicknell car.

The team has now taken a nice mix of drivers and personalities, Scott George the hard charging, heavy footed love to run the top driver, Tim Jones the smooth and consistent and constantly improving driver and then there is me (Todd) the rookie in the 358 class with only a few years experience. This team has already blossomed over the winter as we get ready for April and the start of the 2008 season. The experience and class that Scott and Tim bring to our team should only help me get better as the year goes on and they themselves will be able to help each other on track thoughts and car setup. Darren and Dad will have there hands full with 3 cars but with the help of Tims dad Dave and Scotts long time crew Jack we should be ok.

The team was now in place all we need are cars, and with the new sponsors we have put together and some of our long time sponsors we are able to put 3 new 2008 Bicknell Race cars and the 9g of the past is now gone(this number was a& nbsp;tribute to my fathers long time racing pal and friend John Gill or Gilly as every one knew him. Although we have changed the number Gilly will always be on our cars somewhere. Scott is going back to his old #26 and Tim is going to his familar 15j and I will have my old #55 for 2008. The #26 Scott George GLOBAL WARRANTY SPONSORED CAR will lead the stable sharing Merrittville Speedway on Saturday nights but he and Darren will take the car on the road for some seriers show in Canada an d the US. Tim driving the #15j GLOBAL WARRANTY SPONSORED CAR will be a regular at Merrittville on Saturdays and will likely run the Lucas Oil Shootout series, I will likely only race the #55 GTA GOLF CLUB/LONDON GOLF CLUB AND THE NEWEST SPONSOR STRICKLAND AUTOMART LTD OF STRATFORD/WINDSOR/GODERICH ONTARIO on the saturday nights at Merrittville as my home track.

So we will keep you posted with all the places we are going to be at and all the events we will run and of course how we are doing with this huge undertaking of Kendrick Racing. We would like to take this opportunity to thank serveral people who make this possible. Roy Neufert(Global Warranty) Matt Williamson (GTAgolfclub,Londongolfclub,PPS), John/Jeff Strickland(Strickland Automart Ltd),Valvoline Canada(Chad Brooks),King Oil, Nu craft windows and doors,Reicel Welding(Pudge), LaneCo Equipment(Welland), Adam and Lisa Murphy of Solaristint/Fivestar Racing for Graphics, Holloway Automotive(Stan/Chris), But most of all we would like to thank our families for their understanding when we are gone doing what we love to do and have been doing for most of our lives.