The number was 37.

That's what people would see emblazoned on the side of the 1968 Volvo 142 sedan when Carlo Marrazzo would fly around the old Edmonton Speedway.

It's been almost 40 years since he's taken the wheels of the Volvo, and 34 years since the Speedway closed. The facility was north of 137th Avenue and west of 127th Street on land now occupied by the Cumberland and Hudson neighbourhoods.

But although the track is long gone, sometimes Marrazzo is still there.

"I'm still on the track, I can picture it like it was yesterday," said Marrazzo.

He can still recall the little tricks it took to tame the Speedway track, but mainly what he remembers is the car.

"The great part about it was building the car and going on out there with your own car. You build a connection with working hours and hours and hours on it."

As they say though, all good things must to an end.

Carlo Marrazzo racing his old Volvo 142 around the track at the Edmonton Speedway. (Supplied)

Old racing tales

Marrazzo grew older and racing became too expensive so he made the tough decision to sell his Volvo.

But still, every now and then, he revisits his days at the Edmonton Speedway.

One of those moments came when Marrazzo was working to swap an engine with his son-in-law, Dave Clark.

Both of the men are car nuts, so in between handing over tools and pulling wrenches, Marrazzo told the tale of the old 37.

"He was telling me about what a great track it was and all of the great races he had there and all the great times he had there racing his Volvo," said Clark.

Clark, a freelance writer and reporter, is a history buff. He decided to track down Marrazzo's old car.

If racing the car was Marrazzo's pet project in the '70s, finding it would be Clark's.

Dave Clark was working on replacing an engine with his father-in-law when he got the idea to find his old race car. (Dave Clark )

Finding 37

Clark, a realist, knew the odds of finding the Volvo were slim.

"Time isn't nice to old race cars, and I thought the most likely outcome was finding it rotting and neglected, wasting away since the race track closed," Clark wrote on his website traveldriverace.

"Or maybe it had met a darker fate, crashed into a wall then stripped of all its go-fast parts and sent away for scrap."

Clark posted wanted ads all over the internet, scoured online forums where old race car drivers in Edmonton hang out and starting calling the local racing organizations.

He went "full investigative journalist on it," he said. "I like the historic aspect of these kinds of things. Once I started looking I just couldn't really be stopped."

Carlo Marrazzo working on his Volvo 142 at the old Edmonton Speedway. (Supplied)

Finally he caught a break.

"I remembered I was covering the Edmonton Indy and they were having a support race with local guys. I had interviewed a guy named Barry who had raced a Volvo in the event and he knew my father-in-law from back in the day," said Clark.

It turned out that all those years ago Marrazzo had sold the car to Barry, who had sold it to someone else before it changed hands yet another time.

It seemed like Clark was at an impasse again, but then serendipity played its hand.

Number 43?

Out of "sheer coincidence," someone sent Barry a picture of a Volvo 142 painted in the same style as the old 37. Barry shared it with Clark, who learned that an Ontario man who now owned the car was conducting his own investigation into its history.

Clark contacted the owner, who sent him some more photos. Sure enough, it was the same car.

"As soon as I saw the photo, I knew it was the right car," Clark wrote in his blog. "I had found Carlo's Volvo. It's number was now 43, instead of 37, but there was no mistaking it."

Carlo Marrazzo's old race car, now number 43, racing at the Canada 5000 Rally. (Supplied)

He showed the photos to Carlo who, after three decades or so, finally laid eyes on his old Volvo 142. He said he was amazed his son-in-law put so much time into finding his old car.

"It was great to see his eyes light up and his memories of the car flood back to him," wrote Clark.

But some time later, the story got a bit better. Clark was driving across the country to trace the route of the Canada 5000 Rally when he ended up at the 2015 Canadian Historic Grand Prix.

Clark walked up the barrier and saw something he'd only seen in photos.

There it was, the old 37, ripping around the track.

"All the sights and smells of a race car were there. You're smelling fuel and tires and seeing the race car come down the track in all its glory. It, was amazing."