By Ed Evans

The 2009 North West Drag Racing season kicked off last weekend with hot sunny weather and great drag racing.
The cars from the Queen Charlotte Islands did show up, as promised, with 4 cars, one quad and 17 fans. This did not get them the “most entries” over Prince Rupert however, as we had 3 cars and two bikes to tie the challenge from Haida Gwaii.
Making the long trek to Terrace, the Queen Charlotte racers did not make a showing in the winners podium, but Jay Murphy made it to the Third round in ‘King of the YXT’ and Kyle Yovanovich made it to the finals in ‘Gamblers” Saturday.
The other unofficial challenge was the “Fastest car in the Queen Charlottes” goes to longtime racer Laurence Wilkins he went 8.51 seconds on his fastest run of the weekend.
In the “Bike/Sled” class, Rupert made it’s best showing, as both bikes made it to the podium. Steve Morrow took 2nd place in Bike /Sled and Dwayne Campbell took 3rd place.
This season and this race, was dedicated to a long time racer, friend and peer Dave Saunders from Kitimat, who passed away last year.
The resurrected Kitimat Climb, running July 4th, will also be dedicated to Saunders. The race will even be called “The Dave Saunders Memorial Hill Climb.
Bruce Daums had his own salute to his buddy Dave Saunders. In greeting Daums Friday night at the track, he was smiling as he showed me a aluminum container. When I asked him “what is in it? He replied with a grin and a twinkle in his eye “Dave”. I asked him “What are you doing with Dave?” He replied that he had a bag tied to his roll bar and Dave was going to make every run with him down the track.

Weekend Results
Saturday’s King of the YXT – Harley Bell
Jr’s King – Lou Ribeiro
Gamblers winner -Tony DeMelo
Sunday’s Results
Jr
1st – Lou Ribeiro
2nd – Alaina Archibald
3rd – Brianna Ray
Bike/Sled
1st – Kevin Enmark
2nd – Steve Morrow
3rd – Dwayne Campbell
Pro
1st Ben Munro
2nd Mike Weinhardt
3rd Ron Nuis
Super Pro
1st Mike McNeice
2nd Paul Amado
3rd Kris Barnett
Websites to check out: www.prautoclub.com or www.terracedrags.ca or www.skeenavalleycruizers.com

Next up:
Show and Shines: ( All Dates are Tentative)
Saturday June 6th- 1st annual Cruisin’ the Valley Car Show Downtown Smithers 11:30-2:30
Saturday June 13 – Prince Rupert Auto Club’s Seafest Show and Shine 1:30 PM on 3rd ave, in front of City West.
Saturday June 21st – Skeena Valley Cruizers Fathers Day Show And Shine at Canadian Tire
Races:
Terrace Drags June 27 and 28th Terrace/Kitimat Regional Airport
The Dave Saunders Memorial Hill Climb Saturday July 4th Kitimat – Haisla Hill

Photo:
Kitimat’s Doug Ribeiro twists his chassis on every run at the Season opener in Terrace last weekend
Ed Evans Photo

By Ed Evans

The Terrace / Kitimat regional airport will reverberate this weekend with the sounds of high compression motors, as the first race of the 2009 Northwest drag racing season gets underway on Saturday.
The final race of the year in August of 2008 marked a highlight for racers and fans from the Queen Charlotte Islands, when, for the first time, two QCI cars lined up side by side to make a run down the Terrace Strip.
Laurence Wilkins and Ernie Bellamy had made the long expensive road and Ferry trip to race at the Terrace strip. Both had raced at the track before, but not together.
This year they are coming with four cars and a bunch of fans to see who will take back the title of “Fastest car from the islands”.
Wilkin’s also added “With four cars we will have more cars racing than Prince Rupert will”.
Wilkin’s may be right, as this race falls on grad weekend. Some racers are not able to make it due to personal commitments and some racers are just not ready for prime time yet.
Prince Rupert may be able to pull it off though, if we include “Bikes and Sleds”. Only the weekend totals will tell though.
This season marks some changes to the Terrace race. This year there will be a new entrance which will be clearly marked with road signs.
What the TDRA wants to start this year, is to have a set structure for the day. In the past, they have been starting later in the day and this puts pressure on all involved (racers and race-ops) to be finished at a reasonable hour at the end of the day.
Staging Lanes will now be opening for time trials at 9:15am. At 1:15 the First round of “Brackets” or “King of the YXT” eliminations will start. The TDRA hope that by streamlining the race weekend, this will allow for more racing and let everyone get finished at a reasonable hour.
Don’t miss out the racing on this first event of the year, see you there Saturday or Sunday!
For more information or to check out the pictures, check out the web sites: www.prautoclub.com or www.terracedrags.ca

Photo: Ernie Bellamy (near side) and Laurence Wilkins from the Queen Charlottes tear up the strip at Terrace last August.
Ed Evans Photo

Photo Ed Evans

By Patrick Witwicki
The Daily News
Local drag racer Terry Frizzell now knows what it’s like to be famous.
Or at least, his car is, as Frizzell’s twin engine — nicknamed “Double Trouble” — was the topic for an article earlier this year in the Quick-Times magazine, a North American publication dedicated to the sport of drag racing.
“Small town boy makes it big,” said Frizzell. “(People in Rupert) thought it was awesome.”
The twin engine is apparently unique to Canada, something Frizzell didn’t find out until after the article ran.
“The S.I.R. circuit in Saskatoon, there’s a link off the website to older cars that had raced in the 1960s,” he said. “There was a picture of my car, and I had posted a blurb, and the gentleman from Quick-Times contacted me.
“That’s when I found out the history of it.”
Indeed, the car was first built in 1966, and has enjoyed various upgrades and changes through its four decades of racing. The car was built by Walt Forsyth, and sold to Court Wright in Dawson Creek.
At one time, Jim Goertzen of Burns Lake owned it, but it was Rupert’s Rich Stewart who had it for two years in the early 1990s, before he sold it to Frizzell.
“He won the Kitimat hill climb with it,” said Frizzell. “But at that time, there was only the one race, and he was getting into motorbikes.”
Frizzell purchased the twin in 1994, and there’s been no looking back.
“I’ve always been an auto-enthusiast all my life,” he said. “So (this helped) get me into racing, and to get into (local) car club.”
Fifteen years later, Frizzell is the Prince Rupert Auto Club president, and he tries to get to as many Northwest drag races as possible. The Kitimat Hill Club officially went away back in 2000, but four races a year are now held at the Terrace airport, including the first one of 2009 scheduled for this weekend.
And as an added bonus — the Kitimat Hill Climb is back for 2009.
“It’s awesome,” said Frizzell. “That’s one of the first races I ever went to, and that’s what kept drag racing going in the area.”
The first of the Terrace Drags happens this weekend (May 23-24).

New for 2009

· Season Passes will be available again this year, they will be available up to and including the First Race Day.

· Season Pass rates are $300 – Juniors $150

· Rates for this year will stay at $90 per weekend and $50 per day – Juniors are $50 per weekend and $25 per day.

· Everyone pays at the gate! When you register your vehicle either for the day, weekend or year, you will be discounted

For paying at the gate.

· Make sure the check the “New Rules” section for updated rules that may affect you and your vehicle.

· This year we have a new entrance which will be clearly marked with road signs.

·

· What we want to start this year with the TDRA is having a set structure to the day. We have been starting later in the day and this puts pressure on all involved (racers and race-ops) to be finished at a reasonable hour at the end of the day.

By setting some definite times to the day’s events we hope to streamline the race weekend, allow for more racing and let everyone get finished at the end of the day at a reasonable hour.

Each class will be given 3 calls to staging lanes, spaced 5 minutes apart after the drivers meeting at the end of lunch starting with the Jr Dragsters. This will be the start of the race afternoon. From there the Bike/Sled class will be called followed by Pro and Super Pro as per usual.

08:45 – Staging Lanes will be opening for 9:15am

09:00 – Race Ops Meeting

09:15 – 12:15 – Staging lanes open for time trials

12:15 – 13:00 – Lunch

13:00 – 13:15 – Drivers Meeting

**FIRST ROUND BRACKET or King YXT**

13:15 – First call JR’s to staging lanes

13:20 – Second call JR’s First Pro or BIKE/SLED to staging lanes

13:25 – FINAL call JR’s Second call Pro or BIKE/SLED staging lanes

13:30 – JR’s Burnout Pit FINAL call Pro or BIKE/SLED staging lanes – Racers in burnout box, racing has begun

Pro or BIKE/SLED Class starts when JR’s Finish

First Call for PRO or SUPER PRO when half field of Pro or BIKE/SLED

Second Call 5mins later

FINAL Call 10mins later

The remainder of the afternoon will be called based on car count and classes. Please listen for your call to staging lanes, the third and final call will be a final call. We want to keep the event moving on and although it doesn’t happen often we want to avoid having to wait for people to make their way to staging lanes.

· Notice that we are trying to start everything earlier. ( Lanes open at 9:15 )

Thanks

TDRA

We could use your help for Setup

Thursday May 21 @ 7pm

Thanks

TDRA

By Ed Evans
The 2009 Northwest drag racing season is setting up to be the best one ever, as new races come on line and special feature cars are set to excite fans at existing races.
The Terrace Drag Race Association season will kick off the season next weekend, May 23 and 24th.at the Terrace Airport.
This is the first of four races scheduled for the Terrace Regional Airport this season.
For the 2009 ‘Hot August Nights, the TDRA will be bringing in the Jet pickup truck ‘Prairie Gold’.
This Race is a part of the ‘Terrace Riverboat Day’s’ on the August long weekend.
If you have never seen a Jet car in person this is a great opportunity to see a fire breathing truck.
The final race of the season, August 29th and 30th, in Terrace will have a new feature ” Bike Wars” Sponsored by Smithers Harley Davidson.
Houston Drags, not to be outdone, will have a fire breathing, wheel standing P.T. cruiser at the annual 1/4 mile race August 14th to 16th.
However, the big news this week is the District of Kitimat approving a local group to resurrect the Kitimat Hill Climb.
“Permission was the first thing” Stated organizer Bob Coreless. “We plan to call it the Dave Saunders Memorial Hill Climb”
The tentative race date will be Saturday July 4th with a rain out day on July 5th. There was no time to change the Car Show date this year, so the car show will be held on Wednesday, July 1st at the Tamatik Arena.
For those that do not know, drag racing in this corner of British Columbia got started with cars racing up the Haisla Hill on July 1st weekend. Started in the 70′s with single side 1/4 mile runs and resurrected in the 80′s and 90′s with side by side 1/8 mile races.
As the fast cars got too fast to run a 1/4 mile it was downsized to run 1/8 mile. Organizers are now looking at possibility of running a 1/16 mile, as the fast cars are again going too fast. “Dave (Saunders) said the hill was only good for about 400 ft. anyway” said Coreless. The last race in Kitimat was run in 2000.
The other new race for this season is in Vanderhoof July 17-19th. This race will tentatively be a 1/8 Mile run at the Vanderhoof Airport. It should get some support from Prince George, as the track there has been closed for a few years.

Websites To check out: www.princerupertautoclub.com, www.terracedrags.ca, www.houstondrags.ca

Photo:
Into The Fire: The Houston Drags are bringing up a fire-breathing, wheel-standing P.T. Cruiser for the annual ¼ mile race Aug.14-16.
Photo courtesy of Nitro Mike

TDRA Maintenance Day

Sunday May 17th @ 3pm

Maintenance Schedule

· Garbage Run / Clean out Tower

· Fix bleachers and Paint

· Paint Stairs

· Rake & pick up garbage

· Look over and fix shacks

· Get reader boards running

· Get washrooms ready

· Organize sponsor’s signs

· Mount Lane sponsors on reader boards

· Paint a few baracades and tops of beachers

· Finish garbage cans

We could use lots of help…….We plan on being 3-4 hours

(of course Pizza & Beer will be on hand)

Thanks

TDRA