Article: Chemin St-François in Dorval was one of the most prolific street racing spots ever

DannyITR

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Chemin St-François in Dorval was one of the most prolific street racing spots in our city’s history. It’s now an “Eco Campus”.

https://www.montrealracing.com/wp/w...de-notre-ville-cest-maintenant-un-eco-campus/


In the 1990s, every local car enthusiast had heard the name Chemin St-François. It was the place where, every Thursday night around 11pm, street racers would gather and battle it out on a pristine 1 km stretch of road.
The road was perfect because it had nothing but wilderness on either side and the only things nearby were an industrial park and the airport.


That’s not to say this was a safe a secure way to race – it most certainly was not. No street racing could ever be considered safe. But when you’re in your early twenties and believe you are indestructible; this was as ideal as it gets.
Heck, even my dad and his friends have stories about going to this place in the 60s and racing their muscle cars. It was that good of a secret apparently.

Races back then weren’t organized on the internet because there wasn’t an internet. You heard it from a friend of a friend and would show up not knowing what to expect. If it rained, more often than not it was cancelled but you wouldn’t know unless you went.


I remember attending at a 17-year old kid in 1997 before even getting my driver’s license and watching Fox-body mustangs, Honda Civics, Ford Probes, and VW GTIs go at it all night. It was one of the craziest things I’d ever witnessed and I was hooked on cars instantly.


Eventually the police would make their rounds, often after midnight or sometimes not at all. If they didn’t’ show up, the races would go to all hours of the night. People usually didn’t bet money or “pink slips” like the movies and it was strictly for bragging rights.


In the early 2000s it became too well known and the police began waiting to prevent races from getting started. The city eventually constructed a curve into the road and then when that didn’t work, they cut it off completely with barriers.

On google Earth you can see the remnants of the strip and the forest next to it is the Eco Campus Hubert Reeves. There is actually endangered wildlife in the area and a lot of this land will remain protected even as the REM is constructed through the area.


It’s never ok to street race but the memories I have from that era are nostalgic as I’m sure they are for many people.


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Je ne suis pas certain mais on dirait le premier chemin où on coursait. Éventuellement il y avait eu une reconfiguration de la route (un rond point il me semble) et on coursait sur la route parallèle à l'aéroport.

So many good memories in that spot...we eventually moved to the other side of the airport just off the 520.
 
Moi les endroits que je me souviens ou on coursait en bikes ou chars dans les années 90:
- 55 ieme Avenue a Lachine
- Technoparc
- Usine dépuration des eaux au bout de l'ile , ou il y a l'entrepot Metro
- Johnson & Johnson, ça s'tait mi 80 a fin 80, mon grand cousin m'amenait. La soirée commençait au Lafleur sur Notre-Dame.


S'était vraiment cool cette époque un peu plus permissivie mais
j'en ai vue de solide débarque !!!!
 
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Moi les endroits que je me souviens ou on coursait en bikes ou chars dans les années 90:
- 55 ieme Avenue a Lachine
- Technoparc
- Usine dépuration des eaux au bout de l'ile , ou il y a l'entrepot Metro
- Johnson & Johnson, ça s'tait mi 80 a fin 80, mon grand cousin m'amenait. La soirée commençait au Lafleur sur Notre-Dame.


S'était vraiment cool cette époque un peu plus permissivie mais
j'en ai vue de solide débarque !!!!
En face de lentrepot metro so much memorie mais sur des futaille pis le lafleur chu trop jeune

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Le Technoparc c'est mes plus beaux souvenirs, avec le centre ville en arrière plan c'était malade.

Derrière le julep j'ai vu des solides machines courser là.

55ième je suis un peu jeune pour en avoir beaucoup de souvenirs mais j'ai entendu des belles histoires de gars qui arrivaient en trailer avec des full slicks.

Il y avait un spot à laval aussi qui était pas pire.
 
Le Technoparc c'est mes plus beaux souvenirs, avec le centre ville en arrière plan c'était malade.

Derrière le julep j'ai vu des solides machines courser là.

55ième je suis un peu jeune pour en avoir beaucoup de souvenirs mais j'ai entendu des belles histoires de gars qui arrivaient en trailer avec des full slicks.

Il y avait un spot à laval aussi qui était pas pire.
La dernière stretch du boul. st-Martin ouest après la 13...maudit qu'on en a fait des run là dans le temps

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Le Technoparc c'est mes plus beaux souvenirs, avec le centre ville en arrière plan c'était malade.

Derrière le julep j'ai vu des solides machines courser là.

55ième je suis un peu jeune pour en avoir beaucoup de souvenirs mais j'ai entendu des belles histoires de gars qui arrivaient en trailer avec des full slicks.

Il y avait un spot à laval aussi qui était pas pire.

Moi c'est la rue où on allait proche du bar de danseuse mon endroit préféré (près 55 avenue je pense).
 
les habituer du technoparc fin 90 vont se rappeller du eagle talon 92 awd noir sur le 19" qui faisait des backfire. javais un sunbird turbo dans le temps lol, jme suis fait laver bin raide. jme souviens plus qu,est ce qui s'est passé avec le eagle talon...un de mes chums m'a dit qu'il a été vendu a un jeune sans le setup turbo et l'a smasher 2 semaines plus tard.
 
Ca prenait des bons brakes à la fin lol

J'avais eu une belle course contre un CRX sur cette rue.

J'ai encore des vidéos sur mon ordinateur. Il y a un "statue of limitation" sur ce genre d'infraction? ROFL

Si oui je vais crisser ça sur youtube. :D
 
J'ai encore des vidéos sur mon ordinateur. Il y a un "statue of limitation" sur ce genre d'infraction? ROFL

Si oui je vais crisser ça sur youtube. :D
J imagine que ça fait tellement longtemps que y vont s'en crisser. Blur tout ce que tu peux

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Pas dans la région de Montreal mais plus dans l'ouest ma mère me parlais qu'elle allais voir des courses a Les Cèdres a l'époque sur le rang St-Dominique! Supposément que c'étais de belles années pour vivre dans le temps.
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J'ai encore des vidéos sur mon ordinateur. Il y a un "statue of limitation" sur ce genre d'infraction? ROFL

Si oui je vais crisser ça sur youtube. :D

C est un an les infractions au CSR.

Do it!


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I agree with Danny and I do not approve of street racing- anymore that is.

But back in the day, before I was in the car scene, I was a squid on a motorcycle- yah- go look that term up- yep that was me.
I started riding bikes in 1980 and had a real bike in 1983. I started street racing in 1984. If I haven't done 10,000 street runs in my life- I haven't done 1. If I haven't ran the Camillen Houde race track 5000 times, i haven't run it once.... boy those were the days.

I first caught wind of street racing on a Sunday afternoon in Lachine, when a guy riding a large bore GPZ was doing mad Max style donuts with the line through it on 32nd ave ( the place cars ran on Friday nights). I thought that was super cool, but couldn't get my RD400 to lock the front and burn the rear tire- noob!!!
Soon after that we discovered Dunkin Donuts- Sherbrooke street east near the LH tunnel- THAT WAS INSANE- over 100 bikes each Friday night and we left at 11pm sharp to race to either one of these spots to race some more-
1) St Jean Baptiste boul - where the inspections were done for SAAQ- lonely street at the time
2) Johnson & Johnson- named after the manufactures building- near Notre dame and the tunnel.
later it was meeting at Place Versailles and Place Domain and finally Galeries D'anjou- to meet and then race

3) service road of 30 near Contrecoeur
4)near bould Mortagne south shore
5) blvd maurice Duplessis- near the food warehouse-
6) Promenade St- Bruno- crazy shit there-

On night- when we were out of ideas i brought the bikes to 32nd avenue( new venue for us) boy that was stupid crazy- cars and bikes- mayhem, until on night- the bikes ran 3 wide and 1 missed the cut off point and hit a bump and careened into a tree- DOI. Bummer and cooled that place for a while- they watered the street down every Friday at sundown....

Much Much later technoparc but at that point we were being chased all over the island...

damn I am forgetting so many....
every damn Friday we raced- well that was until I got into cars and never did a street race again.

will add to the list as I remember the places...
 
Oh yeah, I remember that place well. Spent many a friday night there back in late 80s. At that time it was mostly a back-up spot for 32nd ave in Lachine (on the Aut. 520 side). As police would increase the crackdowns on 32nd, at first watering it down on Friday nights and later installing the speed bumps (for those that ever wondered why there are speed bumps only on the outside lanes of a six lane boulevard now you know), we then transitioned to St-Francois. By 90s I discovered Napierville and would spend most weekends there and gave up street racing completely. But the adrenaline rush of an illicit race on that pitch dark strip on St-Francois was something else. Wow, thanks for the memories!
 
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