On Legends Day, John Campbell contemplates a race between all-time greats

His dream race would be to see Hall of Famers spanning generations compete against each other driving 2024 horses.

by Dave Briggs

This afternoon (June 30) at beautiful and bucolic Clinton Raceway — nestled between two Great Lakes on the Ontario peninsula — John Campbell will take part in his 12th Legends Day. He’s never missed the biannual event since it began in 2001.

In 2017, he officially retired from driving in a special ceremony at Legends Day. Clinton Raceway is less than an hour north from where Campbell grew up in the Ailsa Craig area.

“Personally, I just enjoy the day so much,” Campbell said. “I have each and every time.”

In the past, the event predominantly featured drivers inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. But, this year, Legends Day creator Ian Fleming has opened up the guest list to any and all harness racing Hall of Fame inductees and their families.

Campbell is a Canadian Hall of Fame inductee, of course, as is his grandfather, Dunc Campbell. Fleming is also enshrined as a builder.

“I think that’s part of the genius of Ian, is changing things and keeping it fresh,” Campbell said. “I think combining that with the Canadian Hall of Fame and coordinating with them is really a great idea. Obviously, with my grandfather’s connection being in there, our family is pretty excited about it.

“I think that’s going to bring more interest and more people to Clinton and I think it’s a brilliant idea.”

The HPI Legends Day Trot, which will be the last race on a 10-race card that begins at 1:30 p.m. (ET), will feature Hall of Famers Wally Hennessey, Randy Waples, Steve Condren, Carl Jamieson, Paul MacDonell, Chris Christoforou, Sylvain Filion and Doug Brown doing battle. You can watch the entire card live on Clinton Raceway’s YouTube channel here.

John will be present to meet and greet fans, but is not driving.

The Legends Day Trot, featuring Hall of Famers competing against each other, has been a mainstay of the event. So, we asked John which drivers from history would he like to see compete against each other. He went with a field spanning generations all driving a field of horses from today.

“I’d pick a couple of drivers from the late-‘50s, early-‘60s, late-‘60s, early-‘70s, through the ‘80s, through today and try to just get a mix of drivers from back then,” he said. “I think that would be the ultimate… If you could work that out through AI in a race, that would be really special.

“I would want to see Clint Hodgins, Bud Gilmour, Herve [Filion], [Bill] O’Donnell, Doug Brown — you’d have to have Keith [Waples] in there — then bring in some of the guys from today. I think that would be the most interesting for me.”

The reason? Campbell would love to know which driver, in their prime, would prevail and how.

“Obviously, it can’t happen, but you can go through it in your mind and think just what the strategy would be of each guy,” he said. “One race, balls-to-the-wall type of thing, and how they would go about it.”

Legends Day, has raised $330,000 for local charities since its inception. This year, the proceeds will go to the Clinton Public Hospital Foundation. John said building bridges between harness racing and the community is essential.

“When you look at the amount of money it has raised over the years… it’s twofold, it helps the community and people that need it and it makes the community aware of harness racing and the fact it is giving back,” John said.

Legends Day is also a great opportunity for John to go back to his roots. His career began an hour south of Clinton Raceway at The Raceway at Western Fair District in London, ON.

“It’s a special day for me,” he said. “I get to see so many people — well, not as many as there used to be — but a lot of people that were at Western Fair when I started out and I always look back fondly on that.”

Legends Day is also an opportunity for regular fans to meet a multitude of their harness racing heroes.

Asked which harness racing legends he most wanted to meet as a boy, John said Ronnie Feagan.

“I looked up to him, but I was fortunate enough to see him all the time and he really treated me well when I was a kid,” John said. “That part was really good. Also, Bud Gilmour. All you did was read about him. I was really looking forward to the first time I met Bud. It didn’t disappoint. I don’t think anyone was ever disappointed when they met Bud Gilmour.”