The morning heat hit like a wall as he stepped onto the pit lane at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. It wasn’t even noon, and already the asphalt shimmered, radiating the kind of intensity that makes every sound sharper.
Engines echoed across the hills, but one machine demanded attention above the rest, the sleek, bright purple and neon yellow Revolution race car belonging to Elvis Stojko.
The three-time World Champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist who once defied physics on blades is now chasing speed on four wheels.
Watching him strap into his car, putting the visor down, hands steady, you get the same sense of controlled energy he carried on the Olympic ice. Calm. Focused. Ready to attack.
“It’s an open track day,” he explained during a break, helmet under his arm, sweat soaking his fire suit. “I’m testing setups for the season. We’re lucky this track is just a few minutes from my home. It feels like it’s meant to be.”
If you thought this was just a side project, a hobby for an athlete after his prime, Stojko would stop you there. His voice sharpens when he says it: “I don’t do things for hobbies. Video games are hobbies. This, for me, is passion. I’ve been a competitor my whole life, and this fills my soul.”
But passion has a price. And Stojko has paid it, literally. “A lot of this is out of pocket,” he admitted. “I even re-mortgaged part of our house to get into one of these cars. Racing is expensive. It’s the reality. But I believe in this so much that I was willing to do whatever it took.”
There’s no hint of regret in his tone, only determination. That grit has always defined him. Just as he once spent endless hours in empty rinks perfecting jumps, now he trains in go-karts to hone his race craft in the winter, and hits the track for hours in the Revolution car, pushing his body against the brutal physical demands of downforce racing.
Stojko’s racing journey accelerated when he crossed paths with Steffen Rilli of Rilli Racing. “We had a conversation about skills and driving, and he thought I could handle myself,” Stojko recalled. “I got into the car and within 20 minutes I adapted really fast.” That first test quickly turned into an opportunity.
One that saw him competing at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, a track he had never seen, in a car he had never driven, Stojko responded the way he always has: with total commitment. Within hours, he was on the podium, setting the fastest lap. “All the training, the visualization, the discipline I learned from skating, that gave me an advantage,” he said.
Still, the climb is steep. “Getting to the next level, which is International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) that takes backing,” he said. “Partnerships, sponsors, and Canadian brands who want to be part of the journey. Because this isn’t just about racing and winning. It’s about a former Olympic athlete applying the same mindset, the same drive, to a whole new arena. I know I can do this. People are starting to see it.”
IMSA is the North American organization that sanctions and manages sports car racing series.
Stojko’s words echo the lessons that defined his figure skating career. “Everyone wants to win, but not everyone is willing to do the preparation to win,” he said, his tone steady and certain. “You just chip away at it day after day. It’s perseverance and consistency, no matter how you’re feeling, tired, excited, sad, it doesn’t matter. For me, being on the track is like meditation.”
That relentless commitment hasn’t gone unnoticed. Revolution, impressed by his performance at Spa, named him their official ambassador in Canada.
It’s opened doors, but the climb remains steep. “The big thing is dollars and cents. Racing is expensive. I even re-mortgaged part of our house to get one of these cars. I’d love to have partnerships with Canadian brands that want to be part of the journey. Because it’s not just about winning, it’s about the story of an athlete taking everything he’s learned in one sport and applying it to another.”
On September 20 and 21, Stojko will compete at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the Formula Prototype Challenge, with practice sessions open for fans to watch. After that, his sights are set on Austin’s Circuit of the Americas in November, a chance to prove himself on one of North America’s premier tracks.
Back on the track, the Revolution car growled to life. You could hear it but barely see it as he sped around the track; you could only see a speck of purple. Stojko slipped into the cockpit again, closing the visor like a curtain dropping before another performance.
When the car screamed down the straightaway, the heat, the sacrifice, even the financial risk, all of it, seemed to crystallize into one truth: Elvis Stojko isn’t just racing. He’s proving, once again, what happens when passion meets perseverance.
And just like on the ice, he’s all in.
