Cliff Warner is no stranger to the racing wars. Starting his career at the age of sixteen, the now sixty-four year old resident of Port Colborne was a legitimate star before technology began taking over the sport. His career began in the mid-fifties, piloting first Bombers and then 358 Sportsman. He was a familiar figure on both sides of the border, winning races and title at places like Perry Speedway, Canandaigua Speedway, and Freedom Raceway, in New York, along with Canadian tracks. He did make an excursion to the pavement, racing at Cayuga in the Bomber. He observed, “I think there were forty or fifty up there. We ran good for that first time, and that was it. The dirt was better.”
As noted, Cliff competed at a time when racing was far more affordable. He recalled, “The car was built with wrecking yard parts. No race parts at all. We had stock motors in the car. We had a Chevette, Acadian, and a Malibu. They were all stock. Nothing was done to those motors.”
Following his racing career, Cliff became a fixture at Gasport Speedway, which has now reverted to its original name, Humberstone, working for Al and Edith Wagner. He ran all the track grooming machinery, except the grader. “I didn't want anything to do with that,” he intoned. He mentioned how track prep was (and still is) a real challenge, especially when it came to watering. “Gasport was different. You had to water on Friday and Saturday. Then you had a good racing surface on Sunday. If you didn't look after the watering and maintenance on Saturday, you had a real dust bowl on Sunday,” he explained.
Warner, who has a tenure of 35 years at PC Forge in Port Colborne where he works in the maintenance department, tries to arrange his schedule so that he can travel with the team as often as possible, a valuable asset to any racing team that is on the road as much as the Williamson team.
His relationship with the Williamson Racing Team began in the early stages of Mat's career. He noted, “I hooked up with Mat when he first started racing, and I've been following him ever since. We've been to a lot of big shows. It's been good on the road. Going on the road with those guys, I have a ball. Going on the road was a real problem there for awhile because I was working fifty or sixty hours a week. Then Mat wanted to go on the road trips, so I had to put more hours in to get days off. Now, I'm looking to plan ahead to take more trips.”
Cliff contributes his time and energy to the team wherever its needed, including the arduous task of removing and installing motors, including, at his suggestion, the big block that was victorious at Lernerville on May 23rd, after the team's A motor suffered damage two weeks in a row.
He works at Merrittville on Saturday nights, so he is unable to participate on race nights there, but Cliff's contributions at the shop, and now, especially, on the road make him another of the much appreciated members of the Williamson Racing Team.
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