A great deal can be learned about the life of Stan McDonald from the story accompanying his induction in the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame. (error in the UIM speed record he set by 10 mph) This link will give a very good accounting of his life from the beginning.
https://www.glengarrysports.ca/1979.html (score down to 5th inductee)
The first time I seen Stan McDonald was at the APBA Nationals at McKeesport, Pa. Sept 14-17, 1957. I was 12 (not introduced just seen him at a distance) and the second time July 27, 1969 at the Waddington, N.Y. race where we were formally introduced. (my first C-Service race - my boat and engine was clean and I always raced in a white shirt & tie so I don’t know what caught his attention first) In the years that followed our conversations became longer each year.
In his earlier years (he retired from driving at age 65) he ran a Willis Comet runabout followed by an assortment of DeSilva runabouts from the “banana boat” to the box style boats with 14” sides and later 12” sides. He was winning with his own engines and always had an inventory of race ready engines as this was how he participated in growing the class in the Ottawa Valley area.
When he raced in the states he naturally heard of the engines built by Tom Newton. Newton came to Knoxville, Tn race sometime in the early 50’s when he drove his own boat. The number 1 engine did not start and he immediately switched to the second engine in his trailer and won the race. Stan tried to buy the engine that would not start and Newton refused to sell that engine. Stan bought the other engine and took it back to Ottawa and began a measuring undertaking that took 22 days. When he first told me this I quickly ran all the measurement I knew through my mind and could not figure why it would take so long. Not doubting Stan I eventually got to see drawing on the various Speeditwin parts. The crankcase had 130 measurements plus the cylinders, crank, valve measurements. The number of measurements were really high and there were some outside measurements not worth spending the time to measure. I’m also sure some instruments had to be made along the way to really be accurate for what he had in mind later.
After the measuring then it came dyno time to find out what really made any difference followed by testing two items that may have showed a minor difference to see if the combination would make a serious measurable difference on the dyno. In the end he came up with his version of the improved McDonald engine. Later he bought engines from Bud Wiget and Bill Becker and in his notebook he had measurements from engines belonging to Fred Brinkman, Paul Hays and other top racers at the time. This information continually upgraded the McDonald engine.
Stan told me Fred Brinkman had asked him to port a pair of cylinders as far as possible. The end result was these cylinders were much slower and after filling them in with marine-tex and filing/grinding back to “normal” the cylinders came to life in a big way. So it is possible to have too much volume in the cylinder bypass system.
After retiring from driving himself he took a boat ride every five years. August 11, 1974 he took my boat out for his 80th birthday ride at Waddington, N.Y. In 1989 at age 95 he took Red BeDell’s new DeSilva “banana boat” reproduction runabout out at DePere, Wisconsin powered by Mike Gibson’s Speeditwin. This boat is now owned by Jay Walls, Danville, Indiana.
Stan built my first McDonald engine in 1973. It was not a fast engine and I never said anything to Stan as he was at the races and could see for himself. In one of our conversations he said “ you are not happy with the engine”? My reply was “I wished it was faster”. Stan took that same engine apart on three different occasions and could not find anything wrong. That winter it got extremely cold (-20°/-30°) and I stored my boat trailer and engine in a cold garage I had rented. The following spring at Lac Etchemin, Quebec I realized this was not reacting like the same engine I raced the previous year . This engine had a lot more power and speed and I won my first CBF Nationals with this engine later that summer. For whatever reason it was determined , at the time, this engine required a much longer break-in period.
Bob Murphy and Todd Brinkman, Sr. racked up a very high number of Championships with McDonald engines.
I bought Stan’s racing business March 29, 1986 and moved it to Springfield, Illinois. With running our main business I did not get to devote much time to the racing business until after I retired in 2011.
For several years Ed Thirlby, Bernie VanOsdale and I would plan a winter trip to visit Stan.
In conclusion you meet a lot of nice people this sport and Stan McDonald is in the upper part of that list.
Photo # 1 - Stan driving his Willis Comet CZ-2
Photo # 2 - Stan at his basement shop on Ottawa, Canada
Photo # 3 - Stan's basement shop Ottawa with completed engines to sell
Photo # 4 - Knoxville, Tn. early 50’s Dave Robinson, Toronto, Ontario driving for Stan. Dave wanted to use his own lower unit and after leading David Livingston for over 2 laps the pinion bearing froze.
Photo # 5 - Lakeland, Florida driver Ron Messenger and Stan after setting the UIM record.
Photo # 6 - Stan helping Les St. Pierre get setup at a CBF Nationals where Stan was the engine inspector
Photo # 7 - Stan after his 80th birthday ride. shown with Colin Stracker and Karl Williams
Photo # 8 - Stan at his Maxville, Ontario home after moving from Ottawa
Photo # 9 - Bernie VanOsdale, Stan McDonald and Ed Thirlby during one of our winter trips to visit Stan
Photo # 10 - Stan after taking his 95th year birthday ride at DePere, Wisconsin. (notice he brought his old racing helmet- it fit and he could see better)(Andy Greynolds holding the boat)
Ron's order of pictures
- Stan's Willis Comet CZ-2 (1).jpeg (28.0 KB) Stan's basement shop, Ottawa, Ontario.jpeg (24.5 KB)
- Stan's basement shop, Ottawa, Ontario (1).jpeg (29.6 KB)
- Stan's C-Service runabout .jpeg (26.3 KB)
- Stan at DePere, Wi. 95th birthday ride..jpeg (21.2 KB)
- Stan 80th birthday ride August 11, 1974.jpeg (19.8 KB)
- Stan helping Les St. Pierre getting setup .jpeg (18.8 KB)
- Stan Age 94 at his Maxville, Ontario home Nov. 1988.jpeg (18.7 KB)
- Stan's Maxville, Ontario home garage Feb. 1988 Bernie, Stan Ed.jpeg (13.5 KB)
- Stan with driver Rom Messenger.jpeg (17.7 KB)
