It’s time again to start the engines for the 26th annual Superior Classics Car Club Drag Fest in Terrace Bay.
Vendors, racers and spectators have come together at the former air strip in the town for the event that draws visitors from across Ontario, Manitoba, and the U.S. According to Ray Gionet, club president and race co-ordinator, the weather forecast is “sun, sun and more sun” for the weekend, which bodes well to keep the track hot and dry. But the Drag Fest is not the only game around, Gionet says.
“We are a small town, but we’re competing against some pretty big races,” he said.
There are some races in the U.S. and in Canada, including Chapleau, he said.
In Manitoba, they’re running a race on the same weekend as Drag Fest, and they’re trying to attract some of Drag Fest’s people, Gionet said.
“But we have our devoted bunch,” he said.
He said volunteers continue to work through the season to upgrade and maintain the racing facility.
“We’ve been doing constant improvements, including more work to the bleachers with new grip struts, painting of buildings, a lot of different repairs,” he said, adding that “we’re working on improving the image to make it look new down here. We’ve been doing that for the last few years, and it’s making a difference, even all our staff is in uniform.”
He said they all have the same T-shirts, which makes them identifiable in the crowd, should anyone need something.
“It just makes it a lot more professional,” Gionet added.
This year, Rob Horner, from Charlton, Ont., will demonstrate how he reaches speeds of almost 300 miles per hour while racing his jet-powered dragster down the strip. The racing draws crowds to the northern community to watch powerful vehicles vie for the best and consistent times throughout the weekend.
Proceeds from race registration and spectator entrance fees are distributed to charities, including the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Our Kids Count and the Cancer Society. The township of Terrace Bay benefits economically from the visiting racers and tourists who fill hotels, shops and restaurants through the weekend.
Recently, an organization has planned to build a large solar farm on the airstrip property and racers worried that it would put an end to their track.
“I can say that racing will continue for quite a few more years,” Gionet said.
He said the solar farm organization has many guidelines and regulations to get through before they can begin construction.
“They have their written timelines of what they have to get accomplished by certain dates and they haven’t even completed their very first timeline,” he said.
He added that finding volunteers to carry on with the sport is becoming harder.
“If we don’t find volunteers in a few years, that’s the big thing,” Gionet said.
“Volunteers are starting to get very scarce. Our main volunteer group that gets the whole track prepared every year, all in our 60s and up. So that would be more of a concern that we run out of volunteers before the solar farm takes over.”
Gionet said the event couldn’t continue each year if it weren’t for their corporate, business and individual sponsorships. The big sponsor is the Township of Terrace Bay, he said.
“They bend over backwards to help us with whatever we need,” Gionet said. “It’s a win-win. They realize the economic impact and how it helps all the businesses in Terrace Bay when we draw all these people into town.”
