t

TERRACE — Engines roar, the .

. smell of gasoline drifts across

the pit and eight coloured cars
roll around the track. A man on

. a platform waves his checkered

flag and, the. cars scream off
around the bend, some : skidding
sideways in the, fi rst. turn,

“It’s ‘Memorial Cup race day at .

Terrace Speedway: ‘and. the turn
{sa nasty one, sending cars off
the track into the infield or fly-
ing. over. the ‘bank on the out-
side. 2"

" That's alright, drivers say, as
long. as you'don’t roll.

na Yet, despite. what gome. might -
‘think:a hostile attndsphere,, Tac

ing'is.a family occupation, for .

many » -drivers at . the: Terrace :
Speedway: oar

_ Sharon: Fagan,, 30, a dase rou
hobby. stock driver grew up with
racing engines, ..-:,

““It’s.in the blood, " she says.
‘My dad built the track in 1967,
Pve been around it ‘ever since, I
was.6 years old, We

‘It. was, only. niataral, that she |
get ‘behind the: ‘wheel...

She began atage'2i, won ‘hee
first race: -and wrecked six ‘cars:
before’ she turned 30. ee

Although she started i in 1978.

she has, only Taced ai, ‘out of 13°

years.
. quit: every nice.
while,’?. ‘she explais
up -a-lot: ‘of. time- “ani
kids, La oo v

Her: : children. _
seven, five: and. t

top," ”
she said: “We were going: to go.
on-holidays and.they: told us we -

have to’go after the race day is
over. We're going down to see
the Molson Indy,” she added.
LAS? ‘well’ as alot of time, rac-
ing takes'a lot of money. :
Fagan says she and the rest of

ler team. fidve: Spent about,

$5,000 on theirhew tay, number"

889, which. js .only in its first

“Last. Ditch Racing” — ‘a
Kitimat team named for the
place many cars end up. each

Tace day —

».@ars to race in Terrace.

. wider tires; :
Street ‘stack ‘cars here go

on So HOT ‘you ‘worry € abot: «tha
you'll never-get.on the track,” .

~_Spend about $900

uss takes a break between race heats,

Seema Tne ce eae al Dilaprtenniatenninee niente ue ae lS del cla Win a betas eee Wee Sey
iu o af .
7 - a " : .

__, Shelley Reinhardt

‘every two weeks to bring two

But it's worth it to Elizabath
~Cloakey, 27, a novice Kitimat
‘driver,

\ ‘It gets into your blood, eh,’ ”
“she says. “You can’t shake. it.”
AD like -to drive ‘fast,””
- Cloakey ‘continues, ~ “and my
. husband: (Gord: (Klassen) is into
sit and there's ‘nothing better for
.. télationship - than sticking
together. If you can’t beat vem,
join: femi*? | --

~ She and Klassen decided to

: ‘start: racing this year when their

Spey iG ae ty alan ee ae Pop ie te

friend Keith Marshall was get-. em

- ting-a team together.
The Kitimat team races street

' stock. That means they must
use only. factory-made parts for

~ their vehicles, the same as cars.

we use for driving on the street,
‘person. must. have. completed

.Hobby stock cars,. which
Fagan drives, can. have: some
parts specially made for racing,
such as weight jacks to change
_ the distribution of. weight

about 70. or, 80 miles an hour

~around:the track," but’ ‘Cloakey’"s

says she doesn't. ‘worry about
crashing. :

‘she says. ‘“‘All-I worry about is
embarrassing myself,"*

» and

think about much.”’

There’s no special training

for drivers,

In order. to qualify to race, a

iwenty.laps around the track —
something that can be done in
one evening, says novice Shelley

Reinhardt.

“ ‘Reinhardt, | 24,. ‘a: ' ‘Terrace
driver whose - brothers © both
face, | doesn't plan. jmugh |

atfategy’ “Before a face.

_ SE "don't really think about
os much’ at all except driving;’''she *
"says.-“*You wateh the other per- -
son, watch what they’re doing,

but, there's not really time to

4 pavement :was_
‘steered their Chevys:and Fords

- off a dirt ring, |

Dashes and smashes at Terrace Speedway

Action at the Terrace Speedway i is fast and, as Brent McCarron’s heat winning car shows, not always smoothe

Only |
track | in
region

-_ Racing’ at Terrace Speedway
wasn’t always on a paved ring,
«The .Jand,. first, leased from

ies Frank>Halverson, in “1966, was
. thick with brush that had to be

"From then: until 1972 when
‘laid, drivers

through clouds of ‘dust that rose

“The spectators: “used to just
walk away from there complete-
ly covered ‘with’ dust,?" driver
Herb Quast. says. ‘'You
couldn’t tell: whether they were
brown or blond.!?)":.:

The dust and. dirt affects the
kind of race you drive, as well,
Quast said.

“Racing on a ‘dirt irdck i is an
entirely different typeof. ‘Facing
style. It's ‘more ‘of.a dare-devil
type,”* .

As many’ as 30° cars ‘roared
around the track at oncé; stirr-
ing up so much dust that you
were lucky if-you could: see the
cars in front, he said,”

The spéedway: Was closed ‘and .

paved in 1972 and the first race
on the néw track ran in 1973,
It’s the only speedway around
for hundreds of miles — the
next one is in Prince George _
and teams regularly travel from
Kitimat and Prince Rupert to
race here,

ae

Vs ga . : epee TB gt aie st ws
ferns eo : ve Tee GE RD Bee ae, Lopes

lve

.

. broken’ tire.rod stops a car for anty about half an haur.

“Although the cars receive some bangs and crunches during races
it's ‘usually not enough to put them out of commission. Here, a

illy Pate

-and a fat wallet are helpful, if

Billy and stalk: the giant silver
cousin of the oxeye. herring: —
good ol’ megalops atlanticus —

who glides through the. Aflantic,
east and west from Nova Scotia

notessential, _

The dark: shapes of tarpon
"thight show. up singly, in-small
groups called. pods or in

' paniment the entire’ battle: bet- schools, to Natal and from. Senegal to
ween man’ and fish: will strain; Despite their size, tarpon are the Congo; the mega sportfish
the” attention :: span, of. the wary. who, because he swims in water

so shallow, has no place to go

To hook : them you. must
but into the air when he feels the

' < determine where: they are going
_and be ready: to fire your flyline sting of the hook.
“out over the. ‘waves. with, _pin- For those who would.fi shi tar
point precision... °* _ pon vicariously, the two videos
- “Both the way: the: quarry: ‘ap-° produced ‘by Scientific ‘Anglers
‘pears and the. direction from 3M with Billy Pate are enter-
‘which it comes: wilt determine - taining and, exotic fare and: con:
“the location ‘and size .of; the tain some superb footage. «5:
strike zone, and it becomes ob- The theme “of the second
‘vious very carly that: accurate video is how to: satch: be ar-
‘casts at great: dista define pon,
the line: between: st “and: > I “believe: the Ingest” tarpon
failures 00s. . . taken tipped the scales at acool
_ Tarpon fishing, will a a fly tod 350 pounds, ‘
is not something “the Billy sharpens the. poln on.
ytd _ his dobktoaches and goes after'a

targeted viewer. - reer

“A, Tew ‘snips. i he editing. ——

‘oom .and,, the : -SKIIE ds. listing 9 0.

hard to, starboard ‘as the. ‘guide

: gaffs the big fish in‘the lip, tears... “tating into, : As. ‘he speaks of

the barb -from its cartilaginous. .: angling: for: ‘the - silver king’*

“mouth and Iets It slip. back into. they “grow ‘larger and gray
ii . oe clouds'scud across them.

A’ flash to to. Billy’ s drawing” Bor Billy bigger is better and

roomi: hanging behind him are. © bi s

the laquered remains of another

giant..fish,.as :blg, across:

etlinook salmon: is tong :

hines,: 0° great fish’ "aps into
rallen énvironment shaking its

secrets with ya,”” says Billy and
he does.

Tarpon fising is done where it
is hot, where the.sea is only'a
few feet deep. On. places calted
the flats silver torpedos called
bonefish, odd-looking creatures
called permit. and giant.

= all of ‘them
sharks .— ‘come. up. “from
deeper sea to, prow! for” ood.

Billy's , fi shing: ls_a netvous,
intense kihd'Of-fishliig, with'a

“Ab H couple huridred ‘yards’
of dracon, a length ‘of hundred-’
“pound test monofilamént:and a”.
‘Shorter piece of the same

oHe is - san. angling - ‘Ahab, his

LAG: tWhen ; hater is likely:
‘quiet and stealth heavy. emphasig mn the hunt and tion to experience new record, He hooks avery ls
hie; World's’ t the stalk. st a ' But, thanks to. the miracle. of. fish, Is itarécord? .
Its the video" ta HK youre You't:have tote

‘can:pole: ‘ove hes tlata net: to from Video £0 Stop to: find out