Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Ed Evans

The 2010 Northwest drag racing is all done and the regional Show & Shine’s are wrapped up for another year. The rides have been put away for the winter, if not they soon will be.

None of these events could happen without the hundreds of volunteers it takes to pull them off. The work on next years event  starts soon after this years event happens. Sponsors and dates for next year are lined up by the Executive of all the clubs involved. These people work literally continuously towards the day they can pull off the event and the pressure is then relieved for a little while. These hard working people then must line up more volunteers to spend the day at the event working as all of us race.

There are lots of places that will need to have volunteers working so we can race safely. Some of them don’t even get to watch a run.

My Thanks goes out to all of the Volunteers that work so we can play. Here are some pictures of a few of them.

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Courtesy Lacy Barkman

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Courtesy Lacy Barkman

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Hey everyone were having our final maintenance day of the year, and could REALLY REALLY use all the help we can.

Sunday OCT 3 at 12 – 3pm

We need to winterize so please take some time out and come out and give us a hand!!

Photo Courtesy Ketchikan Kruzers.com

By Ed Evans

Ketchikan, Alaska is accessible by ferry only, so bringing your favorite ride and trailer on a round trip will cost you slightly under a Grand in U.S dollars. Like our racing friends on Haida Gwaii, this makes racing anywhere a huge expense.

A few years ago, Metlaktla, Alaska offered the local Ketchikan car club the Metlakatla airport. This runway was built in WWII by the military and is hardly used. The group has held several meets over there and it involves a short Ferry trip from Ketchikan. There is no tree or timing system, but racing down the 150 foot wide by 2 mile runway has been fun. The big race is the Metlakatla, Alaska Founders Day races and the whole village comes out to watch. This weekend is the same weekend as Hot August Nites in Terrace.

Photo Courtesy Ketchikan Kruzers.com

Photo Courtesy Ketchikan Kruzers.com

Photo Courtesy Ketchikan Kruzers.com

Photo Courtesy Ketchikan Kruzers.com

Photo Courtesy Ketchikan Kruzers.com

Photo Courtesy Ketchikan Kruzers.com

Following the “If you build it, they will come” theory, if you run a race, cars will be bought and built. We saw this last year as Ketchikan’s Gene Owens came through with an altered he went and bought after reading Terry Frizzell’s Quick-Times.

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Courtesy Ketchikan Kruzers.com

Owens called me a few weeks ago and said “A friend is coming through with a Top Alcohol Rail that he bought, and would you like to see it? I told him that I thought I could squeeze it in between channel surfing.

Steve Phillips called me later in the day to show me his latest purchase. The former Top Alcohol Rail was a Spritzer chassis and had no engine, but still had a huge set of slicks and everything else still needed to go fast. Phillips explained that himself, Owens and another friend, had gone together to purchase the rail. They had plans to put a mild Big Block, but the plan was not to go past the point where it needs certification or licensing.

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

“5500 miles in 5 days” Phillips quipped, as he told me about his trip to Tuscon, Arizona and back. Going down he was stopped a roadside inspection stop and was told that he couldn’t run his trailer like that and he had to get the trailer fixed before he could come back through Canada. On the way back he went through Banff and Jasper. Tired, he stopped and slept in the car trailer halfway though the park. It became freezing cold during the night and he couldn’t sleep, so he climbed out of the trailer…….. to 4 inches of snow! “Then I remembered that I was on top of a mountain” laughed Phillips.

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

Photo Copyright Ed Evans

It sounds like racing is going to get faster in Ketchikan and it is hoped that we will see a few Ketchikan racing fans, or maybe even a car or two at the Terrace track next year.

Photo copyright Ed Evans

By Ed Evans

The final Northwest Drag race of 2010 played out at the Terrace regional airport last weekend. The final points were given out for the year long series for each class and first place for most of the classes could not be attained by the runners up.

Photo copyright Ed Evans

“Super Pro”, the points leader, Kris Barnett, went down in the first round. His yellow Altered was taken out by Andrew Calkins, who ran his Orange Camero like he stole it.

Photo copyright Ed Evans

This set up a great run for the man on a mission – Harold Daumont. “Hard Luck Harry” outran his buddy, Tony Demilo and then took down Bruce Daum in the Finals. Daumont also came in Third in “King of the YXT” Sunday, loosing out to Kham Shantz with a big Red-light in a rerun. Shantz and his Tangerine Roadster met Dallas Wiebe in the finals. Shantz couldn’t catch Wiebe’s turbocharged four cylinder Ford Splash pickup in the close “King of the YXT” finals on Sunday.

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Even with Barnett’s first round loss, there was no way Duam could catch up with him to take over First place in the “Points Series”.

Here’s how the “2010 Points Series” finished for “Super Pro” :

1. Kris Barnett – 232 points

2. Bruce Daum – 189 points

3. Harold Daumont – 188 points

Photo copyright Ed Evans

“Pro” was another class where the “Points Series” winner was determined before the race began. Chris Bie took home First place in the race and First place on the year. Taking Second place in the Saturday race was Dana Amado and her Slant Six Dart. Getting stronger each race, Dana finished in fourth place in the Points series with 196 points.

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Here’s how the “2010 Points Series” ended the year for “Pro”:

1. Chris Bie – 348 points

2. Harley Bell – 228 points

3. Doug McPhadden – 207 points

Photo copyright Ed Evans

“Sled / Bike” class was the only class that First place was up for grabs with points leader Shawn Enmark electing to go to Fort St. John to get his speed license. Now you would think with “Bike Wars” running on Sunday, that a bike would come and take over the points series. Unfortunately the Second and Third place “Points Series” winners John Symes and Jim Braid both went down early in the ladder Saturday. Seth Harmer and Robin Kilgen, both racing in their second race of the season, took home First and Second in “Sled/Bike”. Bikes were actually scarce this weekend. The “Bike Quick 8” could well have been called “The Bike only 8” as there were only 8 Bikes for the Sunday shootout. Harmer did the Double Down taking home the “Quick 8 Bikes” too.

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Photo copyright Ed Evans

With the Top Fuel Harley a cancellation a day before the race, Kitimat’s Ian Berrisford was the bike excitement on the track as he made the fastest runs on the weekend with his Turbocharged Hiabusa drag bike.

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Here’s how the “2010 Points Series” ended the year for “Sled/Bike”:

1. Shawn Enmark – 180 Points

2. John Symes – 160 points

3. Jim Braid – 160 points

Photo copyright Ed Evans

In “Junior Dragster” Tanner Daum took home first place on the weekend . After settling for Second place in the “Season Opener” race, Daum has collected three straight wins to win First place in the “2010 Point Series”

Here’s how the “2010 Points Series” finished for “Junior Dragster” :

1. Tanner Daum – 319 points

2. Chris Cook – 194 points

3. Delany Ribero – 161 points

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Photo copyright Ed Evans

Once again a great season of drag racing has been put on by a group of dedicated volunteers. Make no mistake, without these hard working people in each community, there would be no place to watch or even race. Thank You everyone for a great 2010 Season!

See you next week with a rail trip to Ketchikan.