TRURO, N.S. – Dylan Blenkhorn has fulfilled a dream.
The Truro race car driver capped a memorable 2019 season on the Parts for Trucks Maritime Pro Stock Tour last Saturday night at Scotia Speedworld by winning the points championship for the first time in his career.
“It meant everything to me,” Blenkhorn said Monday from his auto repair business in Lower Truro. “It felt like there was so much weight off my shoulders; it’s something that we’ve been so close to before.
“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do – nothing else mattered; I wanted to win a championship on the Pro Stock Tour. I’ve been looking up to these guys that I race against since I was six years old, since I watched my father race, and I think it means just as much to my father and my grandparents as it does to me.”
Blenkhorn finished 11th in the season finale – the Atlantic Oliver Tire 200 – which was enough to claim the title. He entered the race 23 points ahead of Jonathan Hicken of Brudenell, P.E.I., who finished 12th on Saturday. The final margin of victory was 26 points.
Blenkhorn, who turns 25 on Oct. 13, said there was a lot of “beatin’ and bangin’” during the final race, and he was content to hang back and earn the points needed to lock down the championship.
“I was like, ‘OK guys, you go and do your thing, I’m just running for points here,”’ he said. “Points racing does suck; I’d rather go out and try to win the damn thing, but I just had to check it off my list, and we got ’er done at the end of the day – it doesn’t matter how we got there, we got there, right.”
Blenkhorn was the tour’s rookie of the year in 2013 as an 18-year-old. He finished third on the series in 2015 and was second in 2018. He was dominant in 2019 with eight podium finishes, including three victories, and finished among the top five in 11 of 12 races.
“I knew I could always do it … we were always right there, and I can’t be more happy.”
Blenkhorn credited his crew for his success, along with family and friends, who have stood by him during the ups and downs during the past seven seasons on the series.
The win is also bittersweet, he added.
“It’s almost sad because it’s something I was so passionate about, I spent so much time doing and now that the team’s done it, what do we do next?”
Blenkhorn said he won’t return to defend his title on Parts for Trucks tour next season. Instead, he plans to run a handful of races on the series and head south or to Ontario for other race action.
