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