Sheldon Mayert will be wearing two hats when the WESCAR late-model stock car racing series comes to Prince George for tonight's White Spruce Enterprises/Mr. Quick Lube and Oil 100.
He'll have his racing helmet on when he climbs into his No. 6 Ford Fusion when the races are on but when he's out of his race car, he's got new responsibilities as the newly-minted president of WESCAR. In February, Mayert took over the reins from Gary MacCarthy of Terrace, who held the president's post for three years.
"I didn't really volunteer but I think I was the last person standing," laughed the 49-year-old Mayert. "It's a bit of an eyeopener. I didn't realized there was a much behind the scenes stuff as there is. That part I was naive to. I only plan on doing it for another two or three years and then it's someone else's turn."
A field of between 12 and 14 entries is expected in the biggest race of the stock car season at PGARA Speedway and one thing's for certain as the new season begins - there will be a new series champion. Prince George driver Logan Jewell, who edged out Mark Berriau to win his first WESCAR points championship last year, won't be back to defend his title. The 27-year-old Jewell has jumped to the NASCAR Super Stock Late Model Series in Alberta.
That leaves it up to Mayert, Bob Williams and Warren Bergman as the Prince George drivers fighting for the finish line in tonight's 100-lap main event. Dave Olson (who won the main event Prince George in 2015 and finished fourth in points in 2016) and fellow Quesnel drivers Trevor Adelman and Jarrett Bonn all know the fast way around the three-eighths-mile oval at PGARA Speedway. Kendall Thomas, formerly of Williams Lake and now a resident of Vernon, won't have his brother Korbin breathing down his neck. Korbin, a six-time series champion, won't be racing tonight.
Bergman had good intentions of making it out to the track for last year's Prince George race but had unexpected engine problems which kept his car parked. According to Mayert, he's been getting some help from his friends to be ready for tonight.
"I think Bob (Williams) and his crew have been giving him a hand in the evenings getting the last few pieces ready for the weekend and he's supposed to be here with us, so that's awesome," said Mayert.
Mayert and his Twin Rivers Developments team ended up sixth in the WESCAR standings last year and had one podium finish, a third-place result in Agassiz.
"It was a good solid year but we're looking to improve that," Mayert said
Berriau, who won the points championship in 2009, 2011 and 2012, was still in the process of lining up sponsorship and was not among the confirmed drivers but he's a definite possibility for tonight's race.
"He's an awesome driver and we're hoping he's going to be there," said Mayert. "We've got some really good drivers in our series and had they been born in a more populated area, probably could have made a living racing. Racing up here at any level is a hobby, but if they were living in the right area of the U.S., they could be careers."
Ryley Seibert of Williams Lake, the third-place finisher in the 2016 points race, has also left the series. He races the NASCAR Canadian Tire series and is busy helping operate Area 27, a 4.83-kilometre road course/private racing club in the south Okanagan in Oliver, a track designed by former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve and built by Seibert's dad Trevor. (see www.area27.ca).
"Maybe one day we're hoping we can take the WESCAR series there and that would be something completely new to most of us," said Mayert.
The series has been shortened to four events this year. It stops in Quesnel July 15 for Billy Barker Days, visits Agassiz on July 29, and wraps up Aug. 19 in Williams Lake.
"Many of our longtime competitors just needed a break so we pulled the series back to four events from six or eight, like it has been in the past," said Mayert. "Next year we're hoping to ramp it back to where it was. We're really looking to grow it in the north and we're hoping PGARA, Quesnel and Williams Lake will all take on a couple of events, even if they aren't series events, to get a local flavour and help grow a local following to better reward our sponsors, which are just about all local-based businesses."
The WESCAR series began in 2000 and Williams served as president of the series until MacCarthy took over in 2013. The series was sanctioned by the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA from 2009-2012 and by the American Speed Association (ASA) in 2013 and 2014.
The Prince George Auto Racing Association will have racing tonight in all three classes - street stock, mini stock and hornets - with dashes, heats and main events. PGRA president Chris Arronge said if the PGARA series races are not complete by 9 p.m., the White Spruce Enterprise 100 to go ahead as scheduled, to be followed by any unfinished PGARA races.
Special-event pricing is in effect tonight with tickets priced at $20 (adults), $15 (kids 12-18), $10 (kids six-12). Kids under six are admitted free. Time trials are at 6 p.m. and racing starts at 7.
