A local family is racing to raise awareness for mental health.
Tony Wiebe is the owner of Shattered Dreams Racing — a Prince George drag racing team that’s not only looking to win on the blacktop, but to raise awareness for the Crisis Prevention, Intervention and Information Centre of Northern BC.
Although Wiebe has had his hands at the wheel since he got his license and was captain of his high school drag racing team, it wasn’t until 2017 that he started racing for a cause.
“We had some suicides in my family and I had been there once before myself,” explains Wiebe in an interview with PrinceGeorgeMatters.
Wiebe says he deals with depression and his wife Alicia, prevented him from taking his own life in the spring of 2012.
Then, in 2015 and 2016, he also lost an uncle and a cousin to suicide.
“It started to hit close to home,” says Wiebe. After buying a 1980 Pontiac Trans Am to and founding Shattered Dreams Racing, he teamed up with the Crisis Centre so he could help raise awareness and bring attention to this cause.
“The people I am involved with are at a high risk of suicide — Males in the midlife crisis area of their lives and it’s a huge factor,” adds Wiebe.
“We put the decals on the side of the cars and put the decals on the side of the trailer and that is how we started out.”
He races with the Northern BC Crisis Line on the side of his car and his trailer. However, Wiebe doesn’t just do this alone. He also has the full support of his family.
On his crew are his wife and their three daughters, two of which race themselves.
Tony Wiebe and daughters Kyra, with her full-sized truck (centre), and Kali, with her Junior Dragster (right). (via Facebook/Shattered Dreams Racing)Their oldest daughter Kyra is a Teen Championship Driver at only 14 years old, racing a full-sized vehicle (with her mom in the passenger seat) and their 12-year-old daughter Kali races a Junior Dragster, which she bought herself.
“She started collecting pop bottles and doing all kinds of little things herself,” he says, adding that after two years of fundraising and the support of the drag racing community, she was able to purchase her own junior dragster.
She now races with the Youth Crisis Line logo on her car and has garnered Coca-Cola as a sponsor.
Despite plenty of local support, Wiebe says he still encounters a lot of stigma surrounding mental health issues and awareness.
“A lot of the people still don’t want to talk about it,” says Wiebe. “Some people are very standoffish about it because they feel some of these things should be still held back and have a very old school mentality about it.”
Wiebe says he does his best to spread awareness and break the stigma.
“I want people to know there is help out there. A lot of people like to struggle with things on their own whether it be addictions or mental health or whatever. The Crisis Centre can help deal with that.”
He says he hopes to visit more northern B.C. communities with the racing team this year, like Terrace or Fort. St. John.
“The Crisis Centre doesn’t just cover Prince George it Covers the whole of northern B.C. so if we can extend our reach it might help them extend as well.”
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can call the Northern BC Crisis Line at 1-888-562-1214. You can text the Youth Crisis Line at 250-564-8336 or call 1-888-564-8336. You can also reach the Prince George chapter of the Canadian Mental Health Association at 250-564-8644. If you are thinking about ending your life or are concerned about someone who is, you can call 1-800-784-2433 or 9-1-1.
