Ira Young, who developed shopping malls across Canada including Coquitlam Centre, the largest enclosed mall in the Vancouver-area when it opened in 1979, also developed a passion for auto racing. It was more than a mid-life crisis for the millionaire developer who took up auto racing at the age of 57.
Jim Greenwood, inducted by the Greater Vancouver Motorsport Pioneers Society (GVMPS) in 2002 for his role in early hot rods and custom cars, worked with Young, leasing and setting up the management of malls built by Ira in Alberta, Quebec and New Brunswick.
After Ira opened the Coquitlam Centre mall in August 1979 on 57 acres which now anchors the Coquitlam Town Centre, Jim approached the developer with an unusual request. Jim’s two sons were champion car slalom racers where drivers complete a timed zig-zag course. Shopping centres were closed on Sundays in the 1970s and, on his sons’ behalf, he asked if they could use the Coquitlam Centre parking lot for Sunday racing. He suggested Ira run the course with his own car. Ira really enjoyed the experience, and with his wife Lori enrolled in driver training on the nearby Westwood Race Circuit.
Son Jason says Lori played a huge role in getting his father into auto racing. “My mom had purchased a Porsche 911 and, because she had been a pilot since the age of 15, she had respect for power and handling danger correctly and enrolled for driver training,” says Jason. “My dad got her a BMW 2002i to race SCCA (Sports Car Club of America). He later bought a faster Mazda RX3 for Group GT3 racing.”
Ira subsequently bought an all-out race car and was soon competing in California and elsewhere in the U.S. He formed a race team with experienced racers Jack Baldwin and Tommy Kendall. They won the 1984 GTU class at 12-hour race at Sebring and the 24-hours of Daytona race. “I don’t think he was the best driver, but he was good enough to be there,” Greenwood says.
Always the entrepreneur, Ira started the Malibu Grand Prix miniature Indy Car racing tracks. The entertainment complex featured three-quarter scale Indianapolis-style cars that could be raced on a half-mile track, covered in as little as 47 seconds. There were 40 Malibu Grand Prix tracks all over the United States as well as Spain, France and Japan. Celebrities, entertainers and professional race car drivers including
“Here’s a guy who was heavy into the arts with the best Eskimo art collection in the world, heavy into developments and, on a whim, comes out to have some fun and then really gets involved in racing,” Greenwood says. “He raced all over the Unites States and even traveled to Japan to race his GT. He was one guy who did so much.”
Ira Young will be among 13 motorsport pioneers to be inducted by the Greater Vancouver Motorsport Pioneers Society at a ceremony today (Saturday Sept. 28) at Shannon Hall on the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. Doors open at noon with all motorsport enthusiasts invited. Since 2001, the GVMPS has been recognizing and recording the contributions of motorsport pioneers in the Vancouver region with an annual induction ceremony Pioneers are generally considered to have significantly contributed to the sport and have begun their contribution, at least 40 years prior to induction and to have had a strong connection to Vancouver and its surrounding communities.
Ira Young passed away in 2003. His son Jason is traveling from New York City to attend tomorrow’s induction ceremony as is his daughter Blair who lives in Alberts.
For more information visit www.gvmps.org
Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and a partner in a Vancouver-based public relations company. [email protected]
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