After 10 years at the top, Chris Arronge decided he'd had enough.
As president of the Prince George Auto Racing Association for one complete decade and another 10 years off and on as a PGARA board director, the longtime stock car racer is looking forward to more free time with his family this summer after handing off his duties to incoming president Jamie Crawford.
"I put in 10 years and just kind of wanted a break," said Arronge. "We have such a good group out there right now that I figured it would be a good time to get away from it for however long. I'm enjoying it already; I spent the weekend at the lake when normally I would have been trapped working on the race track."
Arronge, 43, shares the record as longest-serving PGARA president with his dad Steve, who oversaw the club in the late-'80s and '90s. Chris still has his street stock race car and he's just waiting to drop an engine into it. He won't be racing this weekend but the driver affectionately known as Mr. Saturday Night says he will return to his familiar haunts for some fun behind the wheel this season.
The club is heading into its new 66th season this of racing at the playground of power, otherwise known as PGARA Speedway. The flag drops on the new racing season on Saturday with the Turgeon Memorial, an evening of racing in tribute to longtime PGARA board volunteers/racers, Corrine and Roger Turgeon. All three PGARA classes - Canadian Tire street stocks, Chieftain Auto Parts mini stocks and Tri-Par R.V. Rentals hornets - will be featured on opening night.
"We're trying to get better and change is good, I guess, but it's going to be hard to fill Chris's shoes for sure," said PGARA vice-president Aaron Conn, now in his 11th season on the board. "We're in decent shape (financially) but the more the merrier."
The three-eighths mile oval track and its battle-scarred asphalt pavement is showing signs of age after 34 years of race cars ripping it up and as always there's talk around club circles of having it repaved. But that's an expensive project and the club coffers are not quite flush enough to cover the cost, despite the efforts of Arronge and the board to keep PGARA operating in the black, turning tidy profits the past few years.
"We definitely would love to pave the track because that would open is up to more shows (open-wheel sprint car racing, vintage car race series)," said Conn. "They say it's rough but lots of people say its got character too and that's its catch, the character.
"It's going to be well over $200,000 to do it right and that's why the track has lasted this long, because it was done right with airport-grade asphalt, which costs more."
Aaron's dad Milton had just wrapped up his career as a race car driver but still owned several race cars in 1984 when the track moved from its old Ferry Avenue site at the site near the Real Canadian SuperStore to its current location north of the airport.
"We're just trying to get more spectators and people interested in racing," said Aaron Conn, whose brother Jason races in the King of the Wing National Sprintcar Series. "The race track has been a part of my life my whole life. I grew up there and I'd like to see it on big upswing here soon."
To try to get more young families interested in racing the club has lowered the minimum age for people allowed in the infield pits from 14 to 10. PGARA is hoping more kids will see what goes on in the pits, which will encourage them to become drivers or join pit crews when they become adults. The minimum driving age for racing in the hornet entry-level series remains at 14.
Other dates to watch for on the 2018 PGARA schedule include the return of the WESCAR Late Model Touring Sportsman Series, Saturday, June 16 and Sunday, July 22; the monster truck show, July 7-8; Tri-City Street Stock series, Saturday, Aug. 18, followed by the PGARA Street Stock Invitational Aug. 19; and PGARA's hit-to-pass demolition derby, Sept. 1-2.
The PGARA season points finale is set for Saturday, Sept. 8.
Darrell Horvath is back to defend his street stock title, as is mini stock champion Stephen Woods. Woods, a driver from Vanderhoof, is building a fleet of race cars for this season and in the mini class he'll now have to contend with hornets points champion Spencer Forseth and runner-up Riley Markovics, who are both moving up from PGARA's entry-level class. Forseth won the hornet title by just two points over Markovics in 2017.
Conn said there should be enough entries to create a viable car count for the new super mini stock series to run alongside the WESCAR series. WESCAR has seven dates on the schedule, nearly double the four races it had last year.
Both Prince George stops will feature 100-lap main events. The series also will visit Quesnel (July 21 and Sept. 23) and Williams Lake (Aug. 25) and includes stops in Penticton, Agassiz and Victoria. Sheldon Mayert is the only confirmed Prince George driver in the WESCAR series. Bob Williams, who won the WESCAR championship in 2006, has sold his car to an out-town driver and won't be racing in the late model series as it enters its 19th season.
Conn said the club is exploring all options to use its facility beyond its intended purpose as a race track and rent the space to raise revenue. The Nitro Circus stunt show held in September 2016 drew more than 5,000 people to PGARA Speedway, which eclipsed all club records for attendance at a one-day event.
