Brent Marshall has always had a need for speed, much to his mother's dismay.
"I've had many speeding tickets and I lost my licence a few times, that's when I started going to the drag strips on Saturdays," said Marshall. "My mom doesn't want me out here either, but it doesn't exactly stop a person."
A year ago Marshall bought the old drag strip northwest of Prince George, renaming it Northland Dodge Motorsports Park and pumped more than a million dollars into repaving the track along with other enhancements. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) points King of the Track event goes tonight, Saturday and Sunday.
"The fear that it would go away," said Marshall. "These days a lot of these tracks are shutting down because the land is worth a lot more. There's no money in this.
"I want to make this the best facility in Canada," he added. "The NHRA gave me a wish list to make this the best track in Canada and we've done the majority of it. As a person who has raced most of my life, and all my friends do it, I didn't want to lose this because if this goes away no one would ever build a new one it's just way to much money to build a new track."
Marshall began taking racing seriously when he was about 20 years old, racing a Mustang and the more work he did on it the faster it would go. The 41-year-old graduated to quarter-mile cars, snowmobiles and street bikes and during the July 27-29 race weekend at the drag strip, Marshall became a certified professional NHRA alcohol dragster racer.
"You kind of get into it and you get a bug and want to go faster and faster," said Marshall.
What's it like in the alcohol dragster on the first run?
"It's like being shot out of a canon," said Marshall. "When we launch these cars, it's interesting you sit on the line, push a button that holds your throttle panel wide open and when you let go of the button it launches and puts you straight back. Your actual helmet has to be strapped down so your head doesn't go straight back."
Jim Fersch, a racer with the Rocky Mountain Nostalgia Blown Alcohol (Funny Cars) racing group in Alberta, was at the Prince George drag strip in July and he predicted it wouldn't be long before Marshall is itching to jump into one of the more than 200-mile/hour Funny Cars.
"It's a natural progression," said Marshall about wanting to keep building faster cars. "You get to the point where it doesn't get as exciting, you don't get the same thrill. I like to race in all these different classes."
Marshall also travels to various races across North America, later this month he'll fly down to Las Vegas for a 24-hour race through the desert to Reno in high speed race trucks. He's also raced in events like the Mint 400, alongside race enthusiast Patrick Dempsey (also know has Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy).
Drag strip races get underway tonight, 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m.
Marshall said the drag strip allows kids, and kids at heart, to race in a safe place without endangering the public, adding he doesn't see himself stopping anytime soon.
"I can race all over the world now," said Marshall. "I'll do it as long as I can, hopefully to the day I drop."
