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).