Canada's Driver of the Year Paul MacDonell must have thought some people were playing an early April Fool's joke on him when he arrived back in Ontario after competing in the National Driving Championship at Fraser Downs

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On March 16, the day before he left Ontario for British Columbia, MacDonell received a starting violation for failure to come into position behind the gate with Born Believer in Race 1. The next day, the infraction surprisingly showed up as striking another driver with a whip during a race.

A replay of the race showed nothing to indicate such an infraction. As it turned out, the code input at the track was off by one number and it resulted in MacDonell's fine being attributed to the wrong rule violation.

"I didn't know about it until I got back from B.C.," MacDonell told Trot Insider. "When I got back to Ontario the next week, a few people mentioned it to me."

SC regrets that the error transpired, and it was fixed in short order although the Woodbine race programs did carry the incorrect information for two race programs.

With multiple apologies offered, the ever gracious MacDonell laughed it off and was quick to point out that there was no harm done.

"These things happen. It's not a big deal at all."

If you're thinking about playing a similar joke on MacDonell today, chances are it won't work.