He may be known as “Happy Gilmour,” and that’s a fitting title in seeing a smile commonly on Mike Gilmour’s face this past season at Flamboro Speedway. He drove the No. 33 Laidlaw Carriers / SM Freight, Manac Trailers, Klotz Auto, Tim’s Tirecraft, Ryson Equipment, T Weber Co LTD, TGI Connect, Relax N Tan, and JOMO Media Mustang to three feature wins, 19 top-five’s, and an average finish of 3.35 through 19 races.

As he prepares to show-off the car in the TFI Booth at the Truck World show from April 18 to 20, he shared his thoughts with SHORT TRACK MUSINGS.

What are your thoughts as you back at the 2023 season?

Definitely improvement. We were fourth in 2022, and third last year – had an off-night where we were dq’d for two races which kind of put us behind the eight-ball there. But really happy with how this year went from a competitive stand-point. (I) would’ve liked to see more cars out there, but overall, good.

What was the most memorable moment from the season for you?

I think the most memorable moment was earlier in the year, we did back-to-back feature wins. The car was just hooked up and last in the season, we chased the car. Like we were competitive, but not where we wanted to be; we kept chasing it most nights.

So what do you feel that you need to work on to be even stronger this year and perhaps secure a championship?

I think we got to put the car in the winner’s circle six to eight times. We have to be in the top-five each and every single night, and can’t have any DNFs, DQs, none of that. You have to be competitive, top-five, six to eight wins on the year. It has got to be.

How did you get started in racing originally?

I started way back just helping a fellow racers in late models, just pit, and then wanted to understand more of what they were saying as far as feedback in that they’re saying the car is pushing, loose, the car is doing this. So I just started gradually wanting to become my own driver so I knew exactly what they were feeling so I could help them fix it.

I’ve done it for probably 20 years now, and got into a thunder car, got into the mini stocks, and the mini stock is the most competitive series out there, I think. It doesn’t cost me a fortune to run it.

Is there any other division that you’d like to try that you haven’t tried yet?

I’d love to a drive late model, but financially you’re a $100,000 for a car right now. It’s really hard in Canada to get enough funding to make it a go. Because of my position and who I work for, I’ve been really fortunate. We’ll be fully funded again for this year with my partners. Their big thing this year is it’s all about – working in the trucking industry, so it’s all about the World Truck Show, which is the biggest truck show in Canada every other year – Truck World in April. That alone is very, very important for my sponsors to be a part of them so they can be a part of the show and showing them off.

That’s always true with sponsors – if you scratch their back and help them out, they’re more apt to come back another year to be with you.

It’s not just about the funds or anything like that. Obviously a mini stock is different than a Pro Late (Model) – fully funded, you’re probably $12,000 to $15,000 and be pretty good. Our motors, like in mini stocks, even though I get some help from one of my sponsors, Klotz Automotive, we’re probably $8,000 into a four-cylinder motor. My racing fuel is expensive – nothing is cheap anymore. That’s for sure.

It just seems to be going up and up that much more each year.

I run a racing fuel and it’s probably $1500-$1600 a drum and we’ll go through five to six gallons a night. So that’s $1500 for 50 gallons, so it’s a lot. Most of us – I always say – we all go there to win every night, but at the end of the night, I will say to people that if we race together, we’re going to wreck together. It’s just a case of I don’t want to wreck anybody and I don’t want anybody to wreck me, but you always to tend to wreck with people that you race.

If something happens, I’m the first one to go over if I caused it and apologize because at the end of the day, this is a sport but we’re there to have fun. This isn’t our careers. We’re there to just have fun.

Have fun, and hang out with friends…

Oh 100%. Even for my nickname. You know my nickname is Happy – Happy Gilmour. So Happy Gilmour started nine years ago. I was racing my thunder car and I had an altercation a couple weeks in a row with a fellow racer, Linda Dean. The second week, I just had enough of it and I went down to her pit and I kind of said a few things. I came back because I will say what I got to say, and I am done. I came back and I was smiling. One of the kids that’s Autistic, he called me Happy Gilmour, and to me, I ran with that because it gives you – there’s a lot of people that have nicknames and I ran with it. I kind of make it so that when I get introduced, they say Happy Gilmour. It’s not Mike Gilmour – it’s Happy Gilmour. It’s one of those things that’s giving back and making yourself different in your racing.

Of course. It’s one of those things that if you stand out and you’re unique, it will help on the marketing and fan side as people will want to follow and cheer for you.

100%. When we do fan appreciation and our signature night, we give a happy face sticker. We put them everybody. It’s just – and I always say in my business if you come in and you’re in a bad moon, all of your peers will bring you down. If you come in and have a smile, a smile is infectious, okay? I think when everybody sees a smile, it puts a happy face on their face. So that’s what it’s about. It’s about having fun and putting on a show.

Who would you consider your racing hero?

Probably Dale Earnhardt, or Jr. – one of the two. In today’s race, I’m a Kyle Busch fan. All of them are different wheelman from their eras and that’s what I like. Those guys were always competitive in the race. It wasn’t checkers or wreckers. They’re days when they’re winning, and days with top-fives. It’s going to take a lot of top-five’s and wins to get to this championship.

And this year, from what I’m hearing, there will be more cars and the people that I know that are coming back, it will make it competitive. I’m not sure how they will race at Flamboro with the inversion, but it is what it is – and I like it. I have raced a few other tracks, but I always go back to my own track – Flamboro Speedway. I’ve done really well over the years and I want to continue to support them.

John and Frank are doing a good job and some aspects are tough on their end. I totally get keeping their back, because Flamboro puts on good mini stock shows. Frostoberfest this year was an example. It wasn’t a typical disaster we’ve seen other years.

I agree. I just – and seeing the schedule when it came out that John was going to decrease the front stretch for admissions to try and put more bums in the seats – ultimately, the back is going to be what it is to get in. If I have to pay a little bit extra, and we have lots of fans, that’s what it’s all about. It’s about racing your fellow racers, trying to be better every week, and putting on a show.

That’s what it is. There’s things that frustrate me with Flamboro Speedway. I wish it was a better run machine in a sense that you didn’t have a lot of down time. We start at 6, and the features don’t go one after the other and then we have a break. I get it, but it is what it is.

I get what you’re saying because I think that’d be an appeal to some fans in getting home earlier.

Exactly. You say that, and I was listening to Dave Moody’s show on NASCAR radio the other day, and they were talking about how the tracks are starting earlier so people are done at 9:30, 10 o clock and their heading out of the track with their full night of racing. it’s a well-oiled machine and they’re not waiting for drivers – like, guys we’re going at 5:30 and if its 5:31 and you’re not on the track, you’re not making the show. The clean-up is always a little longer process – but I don’t know how you can fix that because it’s not like dirt – you can carry the car off and be good to go.

With everything you’ve done in your career, what’s a piece of advice for someone getting started?

Race what you can afford. As much as I’d like to run NASCAR, I can’t afford it. Just do what you can afford. If it means you’re racing a pure stock, and you can afford it, and if you do good at that and get the funding to take you to the next level, then get the funding. But if you don’t have the funding, don’t make the next step. A lot of people will mortgage their house or mom and dad’s house for the next step and it doesn’t work out well.