Ed Evans

The final act of the 2008 Northwest Drag Racing season will unfold at the Terrace Regional Airport this Saturday and Sunday.
The 2008 points series will also be decided this weekend. You couldn’t get any closer in the standings, with the top five in ‘ Super Pro’ and ‘Pro’ classes fighting it out for First place. ‘Super Pro’ class top five are:

Points
1 John Safonoff 160
2 Bruce Daum 148
3 Kris Barnett 127
4 Harold Daumont 117
5 Kham Shantz 116

In the ‘Pro” class the story is the same, with anyone in the top five capable of winning. The top five in ‘Pro’ are:

Points
1 Harley Bell 178
2 John Gryba 177
3 Doug McPhayden 146
4 Jim Braid 126
5 Peter Gunanoot 126

The ‘Jr Dragster’ class however is all sewn up. Kitimat’s Lou Ribeiro with 213 points, leads second place Alaina Archibald by 95 points.

‘Junior Dragster’ Class Points

1 Lou Ribeiro 213
2 Alaina Archibald 118
3 Tanner Daum 99
4 Natasha Ray 85
5 Gage Duriez 64

Drag racing will start daily at 10 A.M., Saturday will feature ‘King of the YXT’ and ‘Gamblers’. Sunday will feature the regular Bracket classes.
For more information, or to see the photo’s check out the websites: www.terracedrags.ca or www.princerupertautoclub.com

Photo:
Hazelton’s Tom Huminick yanks his tires in his Maverick at the Terrace Drags in August
Photo: Ed Evans

Hello Racers

The Last race of the Year is next weekend and we could use some help for Setup.

The Airport now requires us to have “x’s” at both ends of the runway before we can setup our gear.

We will be placing the “x’s” out on Wednesday August 27th @ 7pm, your help would be greatly appreciated.

Our normal setup will be on Thursday August 28th @ 7pm. We will be using the main entrance gate.

The gate will be locked at all times for Setup, so if everyone could show up @ 7pm or earlier, it would be easier.

The extra help would be nice on Wednesday because the “x’s” require 400 sand bags to hold them down.

Thanks

TDRA

Ed Evans

Hot weather in the 30′s was the order of the day, at the 12^th annual Houston Drags last weekend. Racers from Prince Rupert to Grande Prairie Alberta made their way to the Houston airport on the far side of Hungry Hill, to make runs down the quiet rural runway.

Jake Schmidt traveled from Grande Prairie Alberta, but the long distance didn’t seem to make any difference in his performance, as his 6 second, wheel standing mustang took home ‘Pro Outlaw’ Saturday and Sunday. Yanking his tires, Schmidt ran perfectly on every run, defeating all comers in eliminations both days. There was no need to run off the Saturday Vs Sunday ‘Pro Outlaw’ winners, as Schmidt took it all home.

Natasha Ray from Terrace, also took home two 1st place finishes in Jr. Dragsters; King Of The Hill (Saturday) and the Jr. Dragster final (Sunday).

Harley Bell from Kitimat just missed out on taking Saturday’s ‘King of the Hill (Cars And Trucks)’ loosing to winner Arlan Wium of Burns Lake. Bell came back to win ‘Pro’ on Sunday.

Ed Mattern from Terrace finally made it onto the winners podium winning an all mustang final, against John Gryba of South Hazelton in ‘Sportsman’ on Sunday.

Next Up:

The final race of the season at the Terrace regional Airport August 30 and 31

For more information or to check out photo’s, see the website: www.princerupertautoclub.com

SATURDAY

King Of The Hill (Cars & Trucks)

Winner Arlan Wium Burns Lake

Runner-up Harley Bell Kitimat

Gamblers

Winner Diecia Cooke Burns Lake

Runner-up Lee Ciampichini Telwka

King Of The Hill (Bikes & Sleds)

Winner John Safinoff Burns Lake

Runner-up Landon LeDuke Prince George

King Of The Hill (Pro Outlaw)

Winner Jake Schmidt Grande Prairie AB.

Runner-up Nuno Deteves Houston

King Of The Hill (Jr. Dragsters)

Winner Natasha Ray Terrace

Runner-up Tanner Daum Kitimat

SUNDAY

Pro Class

1st Place Harley Bell Kitimat

2nd Place Marchal Prince George

Sportsman Class

1st Place Ed Mattern Terrace

2nd Place John Gryba South Hazelton

Bikes & Sleds

1st Place Leland Hovland Smithers

2nd Place Len Hall Prince George

Gamblers

Winner Ken Kapilari Telkwa

Pro Outlaw

1st Place Jake Schmidt Grande Prairie AB.

Junior Dragsters

1st Place Natasha Ray Terrace

2nd Place Lou Riberio Kitimat

3rd Place Tanner Daum Kitimat

Photo:

Jake Schmidt won it all in ‘Pro Outlaw’ in his wheel standing Mustang at the 2008 Houston Drags

Photo: Ed Evans

Ed Evans

Everybody was headed to the ‘Hot August Nights’ race last Sunday and Monday at the Terrace Regional Airport.

Racers came from Prince George to Prince Rupert. The ‘Feature’ act came all the way from Kelowna with their 2000 horsepower ‘AA Altered’. They even brought with them, a former Northwest racer Mike Lemky. The Prime Minister of Canada was even rumoured to have been in a helicopter that flew low over the track Monday

But the most unusual way to travel to the race was by Prince Rupert’s Kham Shantz. Shantz was out on his crab boat. Leaving his crew to work, he traveled the 60 plus miles back in to Rupert on a Jet Ski. “ I had to stop halfway back and warm up, laying on a beach.” Shantz said

He must have really wanted to race. After a red light elimination in the first round Sunday, Shantz came back Monday and mowed down the competition to take $1700 for the ‘Quick 8′ race.

The ‘Feature’ Vehicle was Gary Hough and Clara Weber from Kelowna. Driving his 2000 horse power ‘AA Altered’ and using most of his lane, Hough ran a weekend fast 4.51 @ 161 mph. This was not fast enough to break the track record of 4.08 set by Gary Ormsby Jr. at last years ‘Hot August Nights’. It did however put Hough in the ‘YXT 4 second club’, joining Gary Ormesby Jr., Hugh Ridley and Paul Soares.

Results

Sunday August 3

Junior Dragster Class

1^st Place – Lou Ribeiro

2^nd Place – Gage Duriez

3^rd Place – Tanner Daum

Pro Class

1^st Place – Mike Weinharat

2^nd Place – Lissa Bie

3^rd Place – Aaron Baverstock

Super Pro Class

1^st Place – Bruce Daum

2^nd Place – Harold Daumont

3^rd Place – Chris Barnett

Sled/Bike Class

1^st Place – Jim Braid

2^nd Place – Shelly Hanson

3^rd Place – Peter Gunanoot

Monday August 4

“Quick 8” Class

Quick 8 winner – Kham Shantz- $1700

2^nd Round winner – Tony Demelo – $700

1^st Round winner – Bruce Daum – $200

1^st Round winner – Mike Mcneice – $200

Quick 8 “Top Qualifier” – Paul Soares – $200

King of the YXT – Chris Bie

Junior King of the YXT – Natasha Ray

On the Regional Show & Shine circuit, Prince Rupert’s Gord Hidber’s 1955 Chevrolet continues to collect all the silver. Hidber won his 4^th ‘Peoples Choice’ award at the Skeena Valley Cruizers Riverboat Day’s Show & Shine. Hidber also won ‘Best G.M Vehicle’ and ‘Best Hot Rod’.

To check out the photo’s see the websites: www.terracedrags.ca or www.princerupertautoclub.com ..

Next Up:

The 2008 12^th annual Houston Drags August 15-17 at the Houston Airport. For more information on Houston check out the website: www.bvdra.com

Photo:

Gary Hough and his AA Altered announced a run with loud smoky burnouts

Ed Evans Photo

Ed Evans

The heat will be back at the Terrace/Kitimat regional airport this weekend as the premier Northwest drag race is held Sunday and Monday August 3^rd and 4^th.

Hot August Nights, part of the Terrace Riverboat Day’s celebration, always lives up to the promise of excitement and thrills as ‘Feature cars’ are brought in and this year is no exception.

This year a Nostalgia, 2000 horsepower, AA/Altered from Kelowna, will make the long trek up to entertain the crowds. The ‘T42′ ’23 Altered is billed as ‘ Smokey Burnouts, Thumping flames, guardrail to centerline (and sometimes worse) driving has become a trademark of this erratic entertaining car.’

The racing team is made up of Clara and Gary Weber. Clara is billed as ‘Canada’s quickest, fastest (perhaps the only) female altered driver.’ Clara does most of the driving but Gary has run 6 seconds and 200 miles per hour at quarter mile tracks.

Also in the program for the weekend is the ‘Quick 8′. This fast class will feature a $3000 payout and should attract some fast cars. Gates open at 8am and racing action begins at 10 am.

But wait, there is more to do in Terrace for car enthusiasts this weekend. The Skeena Valley Cruizers will be holding their annual Riverboat day’s car show at the Terrace arena from 12 to 4 pm Saturday. This list does not include all of the other great events going on at the Terrace Riverboat days celebration this weekend. So bring your sunscreen and enjoy the events.

For more information Check out the websites, www.terracedrags.ca, www.princerupertautoclub.com or www.skeenavalleycruizers.com

Photo:
Feature cars have always brought up excitement at the Hot August Nights drag race in Terrace and last Year Gary Ormesby Jr. obliterated the track record with a blistering 4.08 second run.
photo: Ed Evans