Harness racing driver Doug McNair, 29, of Guelph, Ont., has confirmed the design for the set of driving colours that he will wear as Canada’s representative in the 2019 World Driving Championship hosted in Sweden in late May.
Racing fans and SC members had the opportunity to vote for one of four different designs which were featured in an online vote on standardbredcanada.ca. When all was said and done the design below was the one that received the majority of the votes.
“Even though we are still almost three months away from the WDC, I’m starting to get excited about the event!” McNair told Standardbred Canada. “Having a design for the driving colours makes it real and I can’t wait to try them on. Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote. It’s a really great design!
McNair’s colours and helmet will go into production shortly and plans are underway to have a presentation of the colours to him at Woodbine Mohawk Park in May.
The talented reinsman, who won an O’Brien as Canada’s Driver of the Year in 2017, earned the opportunity to represent Canada by winning the 2018 National Driving Championship at Grand River Raceway in Elora, Ont., last September. He’s been driving since 2008, and since that time he’s amassed 3,192 wins and driven horses to earnings in excess of $51 million.
Wearing your country’s colours in an international sporting event is a proud moment for any athlete and McNair is eagerly anticipating that moment when he shows off his Canadian driving colours in the first race of the first leg of the World Driving Championship scheduled for May 24 at Solvalla in Stockholm.
McNair is one in the field of 12 drivers in the WDC who will compete in 24 races at five different racetracks. He will be joined in Sweden by defending WDC Champion and fellow Canadian, James MacDonald. MacDonald won the 2017 WDC hosted in Canada and will be representing the International Trotting Association and wearing ITA colours.
Canadian drivers have won the World Driving Championship on five occasions -- Herve Filion (1970), Sylvain Filion (1999), Jody Jamieson (2001, 2011), and James MacDonald (2017). MacDonald was the first Canadian driver to win on home soil.