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Paton Racing Evolution
Bruce Biegler - May 9, 2008
The sands of time are apparently changing for one of Canada’s most famous drag racing teams, family-orientated Paton Racing.
 Team owner Barry Paton, who choreographed two IHRA Alcohol Funny Car World Championships with his son Todd behind the controls during the 1990s, has in more recent seasons been dabbling within the Top Fuel class. Following a significant off-season development which saw Todd Paton land a high-profile and very demanding job as Racepak’s new Pro Systems Manager based from California, the team began its search for a new driver. It appears they have found a match, Alberta-based Motorsports enthusiast Tim Boychuk.
If things go according to plan, Boychuk will soon be fully licensed to race in Top Fuel and will make his competition debut most likely at Edmonton’s Rocky Mountain Nationals.
For Boychuk, who has been both instrumental and influential on the Western Canadian Motorsports scene for a number of years, the Top Fuel ride is his newest challenge.
 “To be honest at the beginning of this season none of this was expected,” said Tim who currently races a spectacular Ford Mustang Funny Car within Western Canada’s popular 7.50 IBAA circuit. “I was in Arizona last February attending a race with Ron Hodgson and Terry Capp and they got me started taking to Barry Paton. I didn’t realize Barry was even looking for a driver and before you know it our discussions got serious.”
Boychuk in fact began his licensing upgrades immediately following the Amalie Oil Texas Nationals at San Antonio, where he made his first ever stabs in a Top Fuel dragster. He also made laps following the IHRA Spring Nationals at Rockingham.
“I was a bit nervous getting into it at first but after I did my burnout and first launch I felt a lot better,” he continued. “On my second attempt we went right to the 1/8 mile mark at 3.36 secs at 240 mph. I felt good about that because I was able to see the whole run – all the markers and the end of the track. I was able to overcome a lot of my initial intimidation rather quickly.”
Tim admits that the switch over to Top Fuel will be a demanding one in many ways,  including adjusting to the increased speed and costs.
“I firmly believe now that Top Fuel is what I want to do,” he affirmed. “Already I feel it will be hard to step back to a slower car. I will however continue to full fill my obligations this season with the IBAA. But we are working on a few things – my objective is to also race Top Fuel for sure.”
Tim background includes heavy involvement with taking Edmonton’s Castrol Raceway to the premium level it is now. After the original Capital Raceway closed during the mid-1990’s he was one of the “original ten” owners/investors organized by Rob Reeves. Eventually he and Reeves co-owned the facility for about a five year period before Ron Hodgson bought into it.
In addition to drag racing, the third generation trucking company owner (Boychuk Transportation) has extensive experience racing circle track cars on both dirt and asphalt, including Late Models, Legend Cars and Sprint cars. His current business interests include Boychuk Ventures Inc., an innovative trucking company which specializes in moving, new, exotic and collectable cars in enclosed trailers between Phoenix Arizona and Edmonton Alberta.
The 2nd dimension to the team development involves it’s current driver Todd Paton. Todd admits that his new position in California necessitated some hard decision making and has both an upside and a downside.
 “For me, my position with Racepak is really a dream job,” he revealed. “I’ve always had a history of dealing with both computers and race cars – I was pretty much raised around both. Once Racepak was purchased by the same company who owns MSD, one of the co-founders (Ron Armstrong) announced he would be retiring so the look for a replacement was on. Because of my understanding of the sport and with my computer background a deal was worked out. Now I act as the official product support person at most NHRA national event races. That’s really exciting for me because I get to interact with all the high profile crew chiefs and their teams, including, Bernie Fedderly, Dickie Venebles, Jimmy Prock, all the Don Schumacher crew chiefs, etc.”
“On the flip side, those demands mean a reduced schedule for me driving my Dad’s Top Fuel car,” Todd continued. “So we have set in motion a Plan B which will see Tim take on more of a driving role. I still plan to drive at a few races for the time being. It actually works out better for Dad because now he can run an expanded season schedule.”
The Paton Racing plan overall for 2008 to run the entire IHRA Nitro Jam Series and select NHRA POWERade events.
(Bruce Biegler Photos)
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