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Jason Hathaway’s four-year-old son Maxson drives a hard bargain.
“He is a tough one to impress so far this year,” the 47-year-old from Dutton said. “Max just figured out his dad is a race car driver. Two second-place finishes and all he said to me was, ‘Why didn’t you win?’”
Jason won the 2020 points championship for what is now called the NASCAR Canada Series when Max was a baby. Then, he gave up driving full time to turn his attention to being the general manager of the race team and, more recently, the crew chief.
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That didn’t last.
“I got sick of trying to keep everybody happy,” Hathaway said. “We had some rental drivers along the way. My father-in-law Ed Hakonson wanted me to drive, but didn’t put any pressure on me. The crew wanted me to drive and I figured it was easier to get back in and drive for our family team and have a little fun.”
The No. 3 ASSA ABLOY/Leland Industries Chevrolet is on a roll. Hathaway is fifth in points and just second twice to Kevin Lacroix at the recent Riverside Speedway twin-bill in Antigonish, N.S.
“We’ve been competitive at every race,” Hathaway said. “I had never been to Newfoundland before or had seen the track. We ended up sixth. I’ve always liked Riverside, we sponsored one of the races and ended up on the podium. My kids got to wave the green flags and I led it with a couple of laps to go.”
He wants to give Max a Victory Lane trip.
“My mindset was to be competitive and it’s quickly turned into we’re really competitive,” he said, “and we need to step this thing up into high gear and get winning some races.”
It’s a tall task heading to Ohsweken Speedway Thursday. After that race, the next Ontario stop will be at Delaware Speedway Aug. 17.
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“I’ve never raced these cars on a dirt track in my life,” Hathaway said of the Ohsweken test. “I’m a full rookie Thursday night. I ran a dirt late model before in South Buxton and a centre-seat modified in Granby once. There’s not a lot of grip but they put on a good show. There’s a lot of beat and banging and racing for the lead. Chase Briscoe, the NASCAR driver, is coming so I think it’ll be fun.”
Hathaway has noticed more courtesy on the track so far this season.
“Some of us are more mature and we’re all a little nicer to each other,” he said. “You look at Lacroix, (L-P) Dumoulin, myself, (DJ) Kennington and we all grew up together and have been around each other for 10-15 years.
“There is a lot of mutual respect in this series this year.”
All that’s left is to get some more of it from Max.
rpyette@postmedia.com
@RyanatLFPress
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