The Harding family is always ready to race, any track, any time

Les Harding has enough family ties to make Michael J. Fox jealous.

Harding races a 2001 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the Western Elite Division at Auto Clearing Motor Speedway. His wife, Shannon, heads his pit crew, while his son, Joey, acts as crew chief.

But hold on brother, there's more. Shannon entered the racing fray last year and won rookie of the year in a dirt circuit that races in Estevan, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

This year, Joey, 15, has joined the fold, racing on dirt tracks in North Dakota, Montana and Saskatchewan in a mini-Sprint car.

It was a family affair from the very beginning. Harding clocked time in his father's late '60s Dodge before getting his feet wet at the dirt track in Rosetown at 16. He grew up around Bridge City Speedway, watching his dad, Dave, race in the late '60s and '70s.

"My dad got bit by the bug first and it's all his fault from there," said Harding, laughing. "The rest of us have been throwing away money for years since that."

Les has been racing off and on for 23 years. What started as a more casual endeavour turned serious in Calgary in the mid-'90s when he started building his own cars.

"We got into asphalt modifieds in Calgary, started racing and had a little bit of luck, which I thought was skill at that point," said Harding with a laugh. "We wanted to try and go a little faster and get better and to do that we realized we had to get into building our own race cars rather than taking something off the street."

Work in the surface mining industry took Harding and co. to Arizona. From 2001-05, he toiled in the office but played in the dirt, racing modifieds on the American dirt tracks.

"That's when the racing became even more serious," said Harding. "We'd show up for an event and find out a NASCAR guy like Kenny Schrader is in town. If you do well, it goes to your head and you think, 'If I can race against him, I can take anybody,' and that gives you the encouragement for the new motor next week."

Harding had notions of NASCAR and a bigger stage, but the pull of the Prairies brought the family back to Saskatchewan two years ago.

The return home has seen the 39-year-old switch gears at the office as well. He's now regional operations manager at Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, adding a vocation with inherent gait to match his speedy pastime.

These days the Hardings are busier than ever at the track, but it's a bond that keeps the family close.

"The biggest thing is that we get to spend time together. I get to have my son in the pits with me, working on the car, which is great because he's a teenager and dad's not the coolest guy on the planet anymore," said Harding.

"It's just a really fun thing to do with the family," said Shannon. "With Joey being 15, it's a time when we don't have to be parent so much now and it's more like friends and family."

Three racers under one roof has also brought a healthy dose of competition to the fore.

"I'm the fastest right now, said Shannon. "I'm even faster than Les in the late model and that's nice."

"After winning rookie-of-the-year last year, my wife doesn't let me forget that she's got the biggest trophy in the house right now," said Les.

There are few signs that the family will be hitting the brakes in the near future. In fact, Harding continues to add to his collection of cars like a kid with a Hot Wheels obsession. He recently picked up a fourth race car in Albuquerque, N.M.

"I told Shannon that if we have enough cars, something will be working and I will be able to race," said Les. "But it gives us some options."

It's been a hard luck year for Les this season. He's been very fast in a new car he debuted, but a few bad crashes have cut short his chances for the checkered flag.

For this weekend's Western Elite races, Harding is going back to the future to try and reverse his fortunes.

"We're going to debut the Harding No. 69 late model. It's a number that my dad had a great deal of success with here in the past and won a lot of championships. I'm sure that must be the problem.

"Perfection Paint and Body came on board and we're able to come out with a new body and new colours. We've determined that it can't be our lack of work or lack of skill this year, so it must be the colour of the car or the number," said Harding.

Saturday's racing will also feature the Super Truck and Pro Truck events along with the Redline Harley Davidson 125, which will mark the 105th anniversary of Harley Davidson with 105 bikes taking part.

Racing begins at 6 p.m. on Saturday, with feature races set for 8 p.m.

cwalper@sp.canwest.com