The camaraderie amongst competitors and the thrill of the race is what lured Marius Dunford back to the Thunder Mountain Speedway race track this season.
It was a warm, sunny fall evening on Saturday, Sept. 9, at the track where we found Marius racing his Legends race car during the Day of Destruction season wrap-up event.
After retiring from the track a few years earlier, Marius said he saw a Legends race car and couldn’t resist buying it.
Legends car racing is a style of auto racing designed primarily to promote exciting racing and to keep costs down. The race car bodyshells are 5/8-scale replicas of American automobiles from the 1930s and 1940s, powered by Yamaha XJ1250, FJ1200 or, starting in 2018, FZ09 engines, according to Wikipedia.
“The first year I’m just going to feel things out and see how it goes,” Marius said of racing the unique cars, which have a short wheelbase and lots of power.
“They are fun, but they are a handful.”
Dunford was born in Vancouver and raised in Victoria. By the time he was 16 years old, Marius said he knew school wasn’t for him and he headed north to Mackenzie on his own in search of work. By the time he was 17 he started working in the bush; first bucking logs, then operating a skidder, and, ultimately, moving up to running a feller buncher, which he continues to do today.
Marius also met his wife Lynn in Mackenzie. They got married and started a family young, raising two boys, Chris and Nicholas.
Chris had graduated from high school and Nic was still in school when the couple decided they wanted a change and moved to Williams Lake where Lynn’s sister and brother-in-law already lived.
Marius said they went to watch their first races at Thunder Mountain more than 20 years ago when a friend asked him if he wanted to try racing a bone stock car.
“I ended up buying the car from him.”
Since that fateful day, Marius built his own bone stock car and won two championships with it. He also built a pro mini and won a championship with that.
He’s had some close calls over the years with crashes, but he’s enjoyed all aspects of racing, from the camaraderie in the pits to the racing itself.
“I like to go out and have fun, win or lose.”
Lynn, meanwhile, has also thrown herself into the sport, volunteering in a number of critical positions.
“Everybody turns to her,” he said of Lynn, with whom he’s been with for 50 years now, married for 49.
Marius still works full-time as a logger, working for Tsi Del Del Enterprises Ltd. out west. He lives the loggers’ life; staying in camp or in his trailer during the week, and home on weekends.
“I’ve done it for so many years,” he said of camp life. “My wife is used to it, I’m used to it. There are times I wish I could spend more time at home.”
On weekends and during spring break-up, Marius also works part-time doing maintenance work at Three Corners Health Services, where Lynn works as a mental health and addictions program manager.
And, when he’s not working or racing, Marius and Lynn like to go fishing and boating at one of the many area lakes.
“I like Horsefly (Lake) best. Horsefly is a relaxing lake to be on.”
Marius said they often take out their cabin cruiser so they can sleep on board, but he’s also purchased a ski boat as a project to work on.
Prior to retiring from racing when COVID hit, Marius had raced 20 years at Thunder Mountain Speedway.
With his new Legends car, and one season under his belt with that, he looks forward to next year’s racing season.
