Thirty years ago or so, a Scarborough house painter named Tony Tracy would pass by the Goodwood Kartways track in Stouffville on his way to work at General Motors in Oshawa and he'd drop off his kid for the day.

"I'll be back to get you later," he'd tell that boy, Paul Tracy, who would then go in to play with other 10-year-old guys like Mark Dilley, who now drives in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, and Scott Goodyear, who went on to have a really fine professional open-wheel career south of the border, among others.

It's true. While most young Toronto-area kids would go to baseball camp, or tennis camp, or golf camp in the summertime, those guys – Ron Fellows would do his time at Goodwood, too – would blast around in go-karts all day, which is probably why many of them turned out to be really great racers.

"You should have seen us," Dilley once told me. "We'd have a freight train with five or six guys blasting around that track nose to tail and if anybody got in our way, watch out!"

That was then, though, and this is now. Goodwood is still very much a part of the kart racing scene in Ontario. Owned and operated (and being improved) by the Di Leo family – brothers Daniel and Marco are no slouches in the cockpit, either – it is the scene this weekend of the annual ASN Canada FIA 2009 Canadian National Karting Championships.

ASN Canada FIA and the Canadian Rotax Max Challenge series will crown champions in seven classes: Rotax DD2, Senior, Junior, Mini-Max, Micro-Max, Canada Senior and Canada Junior.

Practice started yesterday for the karters who have come primarily from Ontario and Quebec but also from as far away as both coasts.

More practice and qualifying goes today but the big day will come tomorrow when the pre-finals and finals are held – and the awards are handed out.

"It will be an exciting and emotional time," said Paul Cooke, ASN Canada FIA vice-president, competition, in conversation this week.

"To win a national championship is the highlight of any karter's year," he said.

"It's great to see young people living their dreams. It's wholesome, too: it's keeping them off the streets and away from the street-racing scene."

Cooke said about 200 racers have registered to compete in the 11th year of the competition, which moves around the country to a different location each year.

"There will be a range of ages on track this weekend," he said, "from 8, which is the youngest eligible age, to 35 and over (who can race in the masters division of the Rotax DD2 and Rotax Senior classes). The majority, however, will be between 13 and 20."

Cooke said that in addition to the thrill of winning a national class championship, there is another carrot dangling from a stick this weekend.

Six seats of the 10-seat Team Canada are up for grabs, said Cooke.

The first and second-place finishers in Rotax DD2 Senior and Junior will make Team Canada and will be taken to the Rotax World Grand Final in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in December.

Now, if you should happen to drive out to Goodwood today or tomorrow, you will likely run into some quite famous people.

For instance, Robert Wickens of Toronto, a former ASN Canada FIA national champion who is now sponsored by Red Bull energy drinks and making his mark in the European Formula 2 series, will be in attendance.

So will ex-Formula BMW Americas champ Daniel Morad of Markham and Canada's only World Kart Champions: Pier-Luc Ouellette (2007 Rotax DD2 World Champion) and Luc Sauriol (2006 Rotax Masters World Champion).

Only Morad will see action this weekend. He plans to "keep sharp" by entering the Rotax DD2 class.

Also expected to be at Goodwood as a driver/coach will be six-time World Kart Champion Mike Wilson from England. He'll be working with his latest protegé, 10-year-old Lance Stroll from Montreal who, some say, has got the goods to be a future world champion.

Wilson should know. The last time he was in Canada was in 1998 for the FIA North American Karting Championships held at the kart track at Mosport.

His driver then? Some kid from Spain named Fernando Alonso.

To get to Goodwood Kartways, go north on Hwy. 404 to Bloomington, east to 2nd Concession, north to Wagg Rd. and west on Wagg to the track.