Beachburg, Ont. racecar driver shifts career into high gear
Beachburg, Ont. racecar driver shifts career into high gear
Nathan Blok leads the pack from the Ottawa Valley when it comes to his skill behind the wheel.
Driving out of his hometown of Beachburg, Ont., Blok has won three Canadian Championships in his 13-year professional racing career.
This season Blok is taking the next step by launching his own racing team, Futec Motorsports, and driving his own car, a 2009 Nissan 370Z.
"It's my world; it's everything I do," Blok told CTV News.
"So I'm very fortunate to be able to make [racing] a long term commitment."
Until this year, Blok has been driving other people's cars under their team names. Blok says starting his own team allows him to save costs, create his own racing brand, and cement a legacy as a winning driver and team lead.
"I didn't become a three-time champion because they sent the trophy in the mail. I had to work for it," he said.
"It's a new venture for me but I know I have enough experience to be able to handle it."
Following a 3rd place finish last year, Blok will be moving up a competition level this season, racing in one of Canada's most competitive fields, the Super Production Challenge.
"We have a good car, we're competitive, we're fast, and I know that I have the abilities to be able to do it."
Blok has lived most of his life in the Beachburg area and is proud to be steering his way to success from where his dream first took off.
"I'm very happy to be from the valley," says Blok.
"A lot of people want to be hockey players or whatever. But it's not very often that you hear of people who say they want to be racecar drivers and then are able to act upon it."
His freshly wrapped car sits in an unassuming garage behind a modest house in the Beachburg area. It's an indication of how much money goes into putting a successful racecar on track and all the effort and support he's received from the local community.
"It's probably close to 1,000 people that have either helped me in the past or are actively supporting me now."
Blok admits he is still welcoming sponsorship support and wants to contribute back to any sponsors that do appear on the side of his car. To bring in dollars Blok will also be renting out his car to amateur drivers and giving racing lessons.
The first race of the season takes place at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville on Victoria Day weekend.
Blok says he first needs to win races in order to grow his team and bring on new drivers and additional vehicles.
"Money punches your ticket to get into the show; it's what you do with it afterwards that counts," he says.
"And I've spent basically every waking moment of my life practicing, preparing, studying, doing everything I can so that when I get in the position to have that ticket punched I can actually do something with it."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a speech to Ukraine's parliament, where he called the war-torn country's fight against Russia's invasion a battle 'for the future of us all.' This comes after Trudeau announced Canada will be spending $500 million to help Ukraine's military fight Russia's invasion.
Fires across the country are burning millions of hectares of land but what does that really look like? CTVNews.ca compared the blazes to some cities and lakes in the country showing just how big they have gotten.
Foreign interference special rapporteur David Johnston has resigned, CTV News has confirmed. In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Johnston cited the intense politicization of his appointment and work, as the reason for his coming departure.
A Ukrainian-Canadian teenager is on an emotional journey to capture the destruction of the Russian invasion, including of his childhood home, on camera.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump is facing 37 felony charges related to the mishandling of classified documents, according to an indictment unsealed Friday that alleges that he described a Pentagon 'plan of attack' and shared a classified map related to a military operation.
A recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal Preventative Medicine Reports by a group of international researchers has found that post-secondary students with unhealthy eating habits can go on to suffer from disease and mental health issues for years to come.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson shocked Britain on Friday by quitting as a lawmaker after being told he will be sanctioned for misleading Parliament.
Showers are predicted Saturday over the aggressive wildfire threatening Tumbler Ridge, but forecasters say thunderstorms could sweep through the parched region without bringing any rain.
Police say a woman in central Nova Scotia has been fined nearly $29,000 for having an unsupervised outdoor fire in the midst of a provincewide fire ban.
Nova Scotia says it has identified more details about the records stolen in a file transfer service cyber attack, impacting teachers, students and health care workers' records.
Toronto police have released images of a vehicle used by three suspects to flee the scene of a violent attack outside of a Scarborough mosque last month.
Three of the province's nine Cree communities are threatened by wildfires, including Waswanipi and Mistissini. But only Oujé-Bougoumou, about 500 kilometres north of Montreal, has been evacuated completely.
There is a divide at the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake that seems bound to complicate the process of cleaning up a toxic dump that has the potential to hurt the wider environment north of Montreal.
The fierce battle to protect Quebec communities from forest fires continues on the ground as the Quebec forest fire fighting society (SOPFEU) reported 123 active forest fires on Saturday morning, nearly half of which were out of control. At last count, more than 13,500 residents remain evacuated, mainly in Chibougamau and Lebel-sur-Quévillon in Northern Quebec.
A tenant displaced in the downtown Sudbury fire last month said her hotel is denying her request to move her room to a centralized location following an attempted break-in.
A neighbourhood pool in west London, Ont. may not be able to open this year because the federal funding it depends on every year to hire lifeguards has not come through.
WINNIPEG -- Zach Collaros was glad Blue Bombers fans were able to cheer just as much at the end of the game as they did early on in Winnipeg's 42-31 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday.
Police have reopened a section of Highway 401 westbound between Woodstock and Cambridge after a crash involving a transport truck and an Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) vehicle resulted in a closure closure.
The Waterloo Region Integrated Drug Strategy (WRIDS) is sounding the alarm after a significant number of drug overdose and poisonings were reported over the last few days.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a speech to Ukraine's parliament, where he called the war-torn country's fight against Russia's invasion a battle 'for the future of us all.' This comes after Trudeau announced Canada will be spending $500 million to help Ukraine's military fight Russia's invasion.
The head of Saskatoon’s chamber of commerce responding with frustration to the city’s announcement of a $75 million deficit over the next two years — and the tax hikes that will likely be needed to help makeup some of the the shortfall.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith named her new cabinet Friday, about two weeks after her United Conservative Party took the majority of seats in Alberta.
The Moby Dick restaurant has been serving up its famous fish and chips on the White Rock promenade since it was founded by the Mueller family in 1975. But one local city councillor clearly isn’t a fan.
Authorities in West Vancouver say it's lucky more people were not harmed when a driver crashed his car through the entrance of a Whole Foods Friday, coming to a stop in the busy produce section.
