The "Clair" name will continue for many years to come

La version française est disponible ici : https://360nitro.tv/articles/2019/07/31/le-nom-clair-est-la-pour-longtemps

Mario Clair, a name synonymous with dirt track racing, has made his presence known within racing for the past 28 years, helping solidify the history of the sport within Quebec.

This story began with Mario growing up in a household involved in dirt track racing as his father, Rene Clair, raced within that sport for over 60 years and continues to race to this day.

Mario, along with his brother Gino, helped with their father’s racing adventures for many years as they were growing up. It was a family passion, working hard during the week and then packing up the family to hit the track on the weekends. This was the way things were during Mario’s young years.

By 1992, Mario, aged 20 years, wanted to give racing a try for himself, as his old brother and father were both already racing. He began racing in the Street Stock class, which quickly lead Mario to set his eyes on the Sportsman Modified class.

Mario’s brother, Gino, who began racing in the Big Block class in 1985, encouraged Mario on. The two Clair brothers would race together through the early years.

The 1993 season would once again see Mario racing in the Street Stock Class, but later on, in the season, Clair was dabbling in the Sportsman Modified ranks.

The 1994 season would be a transitional year as he raced full time in the Sportsman division. Mario would win his first-ever race along with the Rookie of the Year title at Autodrome Granby. He would also finish 6th in the overall points battle.

The following season was virtually a mirror image of the previous season, with Mario finishing 5th in the points.

The 1996 season, however, would be a defining year for the young Quebec driver. Mario dominated the season at Granby, capturing nine wins along with the track championship.

For the next several years, Mario continued to race in the Sportsman class, capturing a total of 19 wins along with 46 top-five finishes. After several years in the Sportsman ranks, it was time to move on as he was striving to expand his racing.

In 1999, Mario stepped up to the Big Block Modified class, racing at both Granby and Drummond where he finally found his talent. Mario, now in the sport for 12 years, embraced racing in the Big Block class, capturing his first win in the class in 2001. For Mario, this is the pinnacle of his racing career so far.

Racing in the Big Blocks division full time was, unfortunately, short-lived.

The reality of racing Big Blocks locally in Quebec was coming to an end, as the cost of running a Big Block Modified weekly was just too high. So both Granby and Drummond phased out the class, putting the focus on the 358 Modifieds, which were just as exciting but a lot less costly to run.

In 2005, Mario began racing the 358-division fulltime and this was the start of something special, as Mario would excel in the class.

The 2007 season was outstanding as Mario captured the MR DIRTcar title. It was clear by the results that Mario finally found his home behind the wheel of his 358 Modified. He became the first French-speaking driver in DIRTcar’s 32-year history to win the prized Mr. DIRTcar championship.

In 2009, Mario would be crowned track champion at Autodrome Drummond; a banner year proving that he can run with the best at Drummond.

In 2012 Mario once again was on his A-game, finishing second in points at Drummond along with a close second in the MR Dirtcar series points in.

The following year, Mario Clair walked away from Cornwall Motor Speedway with not only the 2013 track championship but also the Doiron Engineering Cup Heat championship. He would also finish a close second in points at his home track of Drummond, just five points behind David Hebert in the one car.

The 2014 season was slow in producing points even after visiting victory lane five times at different tracks. But things would turn 180 degrees the following year, only getting one win. However, the consistency paid off. Mario finished seven times in the top five at RPM Speedway in 2015, giving the well-respected driver his third track championship.

In 2016, Mario would finish a close second to Chris Raabe at the Cornwall Motor Speedway along with a third-place finish at Drummond.

For the 2019 season, Mario has been added to the renowned ONE Racing Team who has been fielding a car for more than 40years. Mario joined David Hebert who has been the ONE team’s main driver for many years. The two will bring a great deal of experience into the Paille stables. Clair will run at RPM Speedway in the 22 GM Paille car.
Mario will also run his car at Drummond along with piloting the 24 Daoust’s car at the Cornwall Motor Speedway — a busy schedule for sure.

So far this season Mario has seen victory lane twice along with eight top-five finishes. The calibration with the Paille ONE racing team will only get stronger as Mario settles into his new role.

The story does not end here as Mario has already compiled 67 Modified wins and 297 top-five finishes and he has numerous years of racing still ahead. With the racing torch slowly being passed over to Mario’s son Gorden and Gino’s son Keven, the Clair name will continue for many years to come.