A History of Car Clubs in Dryden

Over 100 vintage cars sit in garages and sheds across the Dryden area. Some have been entirely refurbished, others in a steady state of progress. Even more sit unnoticed, tucked into the bush or in fields, waiting to be spotted by a Road Runner – beep beep! No, not the flightless Looney Tunes bird always running from Wile E. Coyote’s antics, but a Drydenite with a passion for cars.

The Dryden Road Runners are a group of automobile enthusiasts with a history in Dryden, Ontario, ALMOST as old as their cars.

In 1958, in the back of Skomoroh Motors, the club was founded by a group of young men with a passion for anything automotive. The following year, they hosted their first road rally. This first race stretched 137 kilometers over back roads, bush, and highway. Speed, precision, and a good navigator were essential – as was a good sense of humor. Out of thirteen cars, only four finished without getting stuck.

Joining the club required little: an interest in cars, a driver’s license, and no convictions under the Highway Traffic Act. From the outside, one might expect hooligans, but it was quite the opposite. A clean look and a clean record mattered, and those caught racing or receiving marks against their license risked losing their membership.

Safety and support were a priority. Like many hot rod associations, they were known for never passing a stranded motorist. One night, two members stopped to help a man with locked brakes, working until one in the morning alongside other club members to get him back on the road.

By the mid-1960s, the club fizzled as interests shifted to go-karting. A decade later, Wayne Clarkson, Art Mason, and Lorne Pollock revived the idea with a twist. In 1977, the Vintage Wheels Car Club was formed, requiring vehicles to be at least 25 years old.

Around the same time, clubs in Kenora and Fort Frances formed connections with Dryden, creating “the triangle.” Each year, one community hosted a three-day “mini nats” with poker derbies, dances, canoe races, tug-of-war, barbeques, parades, and, of course, show & shine displays. Aside from registration for those entering the rod runs and car show, everything else was free, made possible by fundraising in the off years.

The club incorporated as a non-profit in the 1980s, but more than that, it became a family. Children grew up in garages, tagging along as parents moved from shop to shop, holding flashlights, passing tools, or disappearing to play nearby while engines were taken apart and stories were shared.

Local meetups turned into road trips to Kenora, Fort Frances, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Steinbach, Portage la Prairie, International Falls, St. Paul, and beyond. Event after event, friendships formed. There was always someone to rely on, or someone ready to pull your leg.

One long-running joke involved banners. Like many clubs, Dryden would hang theirs when hosting a show, and visiting clubs made a habit of trying to steal it. One year, Dryden members arrived in another town to find their own banner already strung up, flapping in the breeze. After a laugh, they began photographing it wherever they found it. Its current whereabouts? Unknown.

Over time, the triangle dissolved as other clubs moved on, though Dryden continued hosting, scaling the event down to a single-day function. By the early 2000s, even the Vintage Wheels formalities faded.

What remained was what had always been at the core: people with a passion for cars, connecting over shared interests, and stopping to help anyone in need.

Recentering brought a return to the original name - once again, the Dryden Road Runners.

Today the Dryden Road Runners live by the motto ‘we drive ‘em’, true to those roots. A yearly car show, spring get together BBQ, poker derbies, weekly Saturday cruise nights, and Sunday lunch drives embody this. Though each activity has its moments, nothing compares to the feeling of driving car after car, windows down, engines singing, as heads turn and fingers point as you make your way to the next car show – that’s all folks.