Rats and spiders will be scurrying for cover Saturday at PGARA Speedway.
Billy the Exterminator is on the warpath.
Otherwise known as a 1980 Buick LeSabre, the car Chris Arronge will drive in Saturday's Prince George Auto Racing Association Halloween Havoc hit-to-pass will be decked out in blue and yellow topped with a fiberglass bumble bee on the roof that will light up the night sky as it tracks down its next demolition derby victim.
The PGARA president will have some familiar company in PGARA's season-ending event. Justin Hall will bring his Finding Nemo van back to life and Darrell Horwath will be bashing his fellow drivers at full-throttle with his pumpkin van.
The old-style cube vans pack plenty of weight behind their metal-buckling impacts but tend to be a little bit top-heavy.
"They do well but I haven't seen any of them make it to last car running," said Arronge. "Usually they get flipped over pretty quick and that kind of makes a mess of everything. They're pretty heavy vehicles."
All vehicles must have wheelbases of at least 110 inches, which excludes most imports from hit-to-pass racing. Rules specify hit-to-pass cars be fitted with roll cages, with the fuel tank and battery bolted to the floor of the back passenger compartment. Cement must also be poured to fill in the drivers side door to help protect the driver.
Arronge's car was donated but needed an engine and transmission. He figures he'll have spent $500 to get it race-worthy. He'd love to have his car survive the punishment he'll put it through Saturday and have it available for the next hit-to-pass event in July, but that's never guaranteed. Chances are, it will be a write-off.
"I'm going to try to take it easy but I always start to get carried away in the later laps of the main event," he said. "You get in there and start making big hits and the next thing you know you've got nothing left of it."
The driver with last car running stands to win $500, part of a $1,500 total purse. There's also a $200 prize for best-appearing car and spectator prizes for the best costumes.
Costume and car judging starts at 6 p.m., and racing gets underway at 7.
