There were no cops in sight, but running a red light cost Harvey Wanner $2,000.
Driving a 1965 Plymouth Satellite, the stars failed to align for the 67-year-old Prince George driver.
He left the start line just 16 thousandths of a second too quick in the Big Bux Shootout no-box class final elimination Sunday at Rolling Mix Concrete Raceway but that made all the difference.
Amber Rutherford stayed true to the rules of elapsed time bracket racing and waiting for the light to go green before she hit the throttle and the 36-year-old from Wembley, Alta., reeled in a $3,000 payday.
“I was having issues starting my car before so I was a bit afraid I wouldn’t make the run and I was a little bit slow on the tree (her reaction time was 61 thousandths) but I saw him red-light,” said Rutherford, now in her seventh year of racing.
“This is my very first big cheque so I’m pretty happy.”
Wanner took off from the tower-side lane in the final knowing two of his three wins Sunday were from the spectator lane. That meant, in the final, he had to look right instead of left to watch the staging lights come down on the tree and it had an effect.
“I was having good success in this (spectator-side) lane but she had lane choice and that’s the way the game works,” said Wanner. “I (red-light) way too much. It’s a game and if you can’t be right on you haven’t got a chance. I have to take the chance to go red against (Rutherford) because I know she’s good.”
As the no-box runner-up Wanner still walked away with $1,000.
Andy Closkey of Quesnel advanced to the semifinal round but had something go bad in his motor and was unable to make it out for the race.
In the box class final Sunday afternoon – a battle of rear-engine dragsters – Greg Morton suffered an expensive breakout. He got to the finish line three thousandths of a second too quick for his own liking and that took the 49-year-old Fort St. John driver out of the running for the biggest cheque of the day.
Jason Padd of Chestermere, Alta., seized the opportunity. He put the revs to his motor and let it rip for one final pass down the quarter-mile track to win a $7,000 prize. Padd, 46, was surprised he was able to beat Morton. Padd said his reaction times were slow all weekend but he was able to power his way to the finish any time he fell behind. Morton got to the line first in the final but it didn’t matter.
“I knew Greg was fantastic and I really wasn’t that good – I was teens on the tree all day and the car would save me and that’s what you need sometimes,” said Padd. “I got up to the top and realized I wasn’t getting there (first) and had to let him go. He was probably a half-car in front of me. I just had to cut him loose and make sure I was above my dial-in.”
Padd says he prefers racing on eighth-mile tracks simply because it saves on expensive engine parts and he would like to see more short course racing offered for the top eliminator classes.
“I find the quarter-mile, all you’re doing is wearing out the car,” he said. “Really, in the second half we’re only picking up 40 miles an hour, so you’ve lost that big acceleration. We run a series in Edmonton that is only eighth-mile racing.”
Morton clocked 7.687 seconds with a top speed of 173.16 miles per hour, breaking out of his 7.69-second dial-in time. Padd’s elapsed time was 7.387, well within his 7.35 dial-in, and he hit 176.24 mph in the final. Their reaction times were virtually identical – 12 thousandths of a second for Padd and 10 thousandths for Morton. For placing second, Morton earned a cheque for $2,000.
“Three-thousandths is pretty tight, it was just one of those things – I didn’t think it would run that but it did,” said Morton. “This has been a really fun race and I want to thank the NITRO park and all the staff and volunteers for all they did this weekend and the (Pilot Mountain) volunteer fire department. They have an amazing track here. This was one of the funnest days of racing I’ve ever had.”
In the semifinal round, Morton scored a narrow victory over fellow Fort St. John driver George Morgan and his ’88 Chevy Baretta, while Padd had a free pass to the final when something broke in the driveline of James Rutherford’s ’88 Mustang during the semifinal burnout stage.
Tyler Musgrove of Fort St. John topped the junior dragster class Sunday, worth $1,200. He covered the eighth-mile in eight seconds flat at 78.32 mph. Brody Allison of Legal, Alta., was the runner-up.
Saturday’s winners were: Box – Clint Dalla Vecchia, Terrace, ’67 Camaro, 9.469 ET at 143.73 mph; No-box – Rob Harrison, Calgary, 10.415 ET at 124.79 mph; Junior dragster – Ethan Ochitwa, Leduc, Alta., 7.990 ET at 80.24 mph.
The shade temperature reached 32 C Sunday and it was a few degrees hotter than that on the track and even warmer in the cars. The drivers, decked out on helmets and racing suits, suffered the consequences.
The third annual Big Bux event attracted about 100 cars and 22 junior dragsters, the biggest car count since the non-profit NITRO (Northern Interior Timed Racing Organization) took over as operators of the facility in 2016. The racers shared a total prize purse of $30,000.
The next meet is scheduled for Aug. 11-12.
