Jarrad Whissell has loved cars since he was a kid. One of his earliest memories is seeing a Lamborghini Countach out the window of his parents’ vehicle when he was six or seven years old. Enthralled, he took a picture of it with the family camera.
From there his love grew, eventually leading him to race in the NASCAR Canada series between 2008 and 2012. A businessman too, he was integral in the opening of Rocky Mountain Motorsports (RMM), a 3.5-kilometre circuit and world-class motorsports facility opened in 2022, located 20 minutes north of Calgary in Mountain View County. Today, he is the largest shareholder and chairman of the RMM board.
Whissell is also president and CEO of Whissell Contracting Ltd. Founded by his father in 1970 as a water and sewer contractor, today Whissell Contracting specializes in underground utilities, earthworks and grading, renewable energy and heavy hauling.
“Whissell Contracting had a good year this year,” Whissell recounts from his office in Calgary. “Though we had a really challenging late spring and summer with all the rain, we had an amazing fall. We worked right up to the end of November with great weather.”
With offices in Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge, Whissell’s clients span the province and include municipal governments, private developers, mining, oil and gas companies, and renewable energy clients.
For example, the company is currently working on the replacement of the Bearspaw South Feeder Main in Calgary. “One of our strengths is in challenging infrastructure work,” he says. “Over the next few years we’ll continue to be very strong because of all the infrastructure needs of the city of Calgary and across the province. The infrastructure is old and in need of repair or replacement, and we’re well positioned to serve that need.”
Whissell grew up with a first-hand view of his dad’s business. “He’d go out to job sites on a Saturday, and I’d ride around with him,” he recalls. “By the time I got to university, though I appreciated the work our team was doing, I didn’t have the same understanding of construction like my dad did. I was always more interested in the business side. But what I was really into was cars, I wanted that to be a career.”
After graduating from the University of Calgary with a business degree, Whissell got a job at Ford in the credit department doing collections and repossessions. He moved to re-marketing of leased vehicles and soon realized that working in a dealership wasn’t for him; indeed, he wanted to join his father’s business.
For the time being, cars would remain a hobby and perhaps one day, he hoped, a business too.
He joined Whissell Contracting in 2003 as a business analyst. “I worked my way through various departments,” he says. “I managed our estimating department. I took over the waste management group, which we sold in 2021. I became president in 2013 and CEO in 2020 after my dad semi-retired.”
Whissell Sr. still pops in from time to time and provides useful institutional knowledge to his son and the team: “He’s always there for a phone call when I need him. We were looking at bidding on a job a while back, and I knew we had done work there in the 1970s and 1980s. I called my dad to find out what the conditions were at that time. He’s still a huge help in the business.”
With over 400 employees during peak construction season, Whissell Contracting has a culture and values – instituted and fostered by Whissell Sr. – represented by the word SPIRIT: safety, people, integrity, respect, innovation, teamwork.
“Our culture developed because of how my dad treated people,” Whissell says. “He always put our employees and our customers first, ahead of himself, and that really created a culture of loyalty. We’ve had a lot of long-term employees. One of our longest serving employees is having his 46th year right now. We had another employee who retired last year after 46 years. Our past VP of operations retired two years ago after 50 years.”
In 2015 Whissell was approached by a group looking to start RMM. “Race City Speedway had just closed in 2011, and there were various groups looking to try and build a new racetrack,” he recounts. “I’d spoken to many of them and was trying to find the right group who had a model I thought would be successful, because running a racetrack – apart from locating and building it – is a challenge.”
The initial piece of land for the track was in Rocky View County, but when that permit was denied, Mountain View County approached RMM to develop some land (at the intersection of Highway 581 and Highway 2, near Carstairs) that was being rezoned to highway commercial.
The track was designed as ‘country-club style’ by Hermann Tilke, a world-renowned track design specialist, known for designing nine current Formula One tracks. Tilke had also recently designed several country club racetracks. “He is now the largest designer of country club style tracks in the world,” Whissell notes. “They have really taken off in the last 10 years since we started our design process.”
Originally a passive investor, Whissell became more involved during the construction phase. “I started to provide my input into how we could build it, particularly at a lower cost,” he says. “And then COVID hit, and we were building during COVID. We opened in June 2022.”
Whissell Contracting did all of the earthworks and utility work, while a partner did the paving. “It was a really fun process to watch,” Whissell reflects. “I’d go up there at least once week and see our equipment moving dirt. One of the defining features of the track is the sound berms we put all around the track and in the middle, in order to meet sound requirements. Seeing that progress was really interesting.”
“We’re on approximately 540 acres, and the track occupies 140 acres of that,” he continues. “We have an area right by the overpass on Highway 2 that we plan to develop into highway commercial or industrial type lots. We have a section by the track that we’re going to build into garage units for members. And there’s an area of the track where we are looking at building an emergency services training area.”
RMM uses a membership model where various membership levels provide different access and benefits at different price points. Recently, its membership structure was reconfigured: “Part of our new membership structure is that it will be a lot more affordable and offer really good value to the track.” RMM also went through a restructuring in 2025 to ensure its long-term viability. Whissell led the new group of investors that took over a controlling interest. “The new investor group is very passionate about RMM and ensuring it is successful,” he says.
He notes the folks who drive at RMM come from all socio-economic backgrounds. “There’s a misconception that the track is just for really rich people,” he laments, “but on any given day you’ll see everything – a Ferrari or a Lamborghini or an expensive Porsche, but you’ll also see a $10,000 Mazda Miata or an older Camaro or Mustang. The people who love to drive racetracks come in all budget ranges.”
Currently, RMM has just over 120 members, and the goal is to get to 350. “We’ve got 180 days per year to use the track,” Whissell says. “Membership is a good way for people to get on track.”
With 16 turns and 36 metres of elevation changes, RMM’s track is a (fun) challenge to drive. “Our track is what we call a technical track,” he explains. “It’s a really challenging driver’s track. It takes a lot of laps to learn and master the various corners, figure out how the elevation changes impact the handling, and how you’re going to beat your personal best.”
There are other ways to drive at RMM too: in the racetrack driving school (offered by RMM), during public track days (offered a couple times per year, where non-members have access to the track), a motorcycle program (an increasingly popular membership group) and corporate driving experiences.
There are also Ladies’ Nights for women that are interested in driving on track. “Motorsports are generally male dominated, but there are a lot of women interested in it,” Whissell says. “My wife comes from a racing family; she has raced on and off over the years. So our Ladies’ Nights are a way for women (members and non-members) to come out and try the track in a low-pressure environment.”
Racing is a family affair for the Whissells, as his children also are involved. “We’re talking about developing a kids’ driving program,” he says. “And one of our new membership options is a family-based membership. It makes it more cost effective to get your kids involved in driving. We’re also looking at adding a small go-kart track on our paddock.”
Before the track opened, Whissell saw the need to have an official RMM race car, and the ability to sell and service those cars: “A lot of people don’t have the skillset to work on their cars, but they want to come to the track and experience it. So we created Turn 17 Garage to bring the RUSH SR Sports Racer, which is built in Houston, to RMM. We are the Western Canadian importer and distributor of RUSH Sports Racers.”
“We sell the car to the member, keep it at the track, do all the service, and when they come to the track, we have it ready to go trackside,” he continues. To date, Turn 17 has sold 41 RUSH cars, making it the largest RUSH dealer in North America.
RMM holds a member racing series, where members race their RUSH cars or other production-based cars. Four events per year, members race using a common racing class structure. “We’re really starting to build that momentum and create a lot of excitement for members that are into that,” Whissell says happily. “It’s a really fun yet competitive environment to challenge yourself and your driving ability and then go have a beer with the other drivers afterward.”
While today there is the track, a temporary clubhouse, the paved paddock and the Turn 17 service centre, future plans include a permanent clubhouse and onsite member garages.
Mindful of the communities surrounding it, RMM gives back in several ways: “There was a tornado that went through Mountain View County on Canada Day 2024. Shortly after we did a big open house day: free entry, ride-alongs, and we raised $15,000 and donated it through the Red Cross.” Other charity events include Drive for Smiles (which supports sick children) and Ride for a Lifetime. “We work with those groups to give them an opportunity to come to the track.”
Motorsports, Whissell believes, will continue to grow as Alberta grows: “We’ve got a huge community of car lovers in this province. There are a lot of people that love cars and giving them the opportunity to race in a safe environment, rather than taking risks on our streets, is really what we’re trying to do. We hope to get more people on track to enjoy the motorsports environment.”