Darrin Meroniuk has been trying to break speed limits behind the wheel of a car most of his adult life.
He started drag racing at age 20, a few years after the city's quarter-mile track opened in 1978, and was immediately hooked on the feeling of going as fast as he could, knowing there's no police radar to worry about.
Now, at 54, he's got a ride that generates enough G-force to plaster him to the back of his seat. Last year he bought a race-ready pro modified Mustang door-slammer capable of making high six-second passes at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour.
Meroniuk had hoped to begin the process of obtaining his pro mod competition licence this spring, but six months ago developed a cataract on his eye, which ruled out that possibility.
He let a friend make a dozen or so licencing passes in the car last year in Mission and two weekends ago, brought it for the first time to NITRO Motorsports Park for an IHRA bracket meet at Rolling Mix Concrete Raceway. Meroniuk's friend, Foji Dhansaw, took the car out for five memorable passes in a guest driver's role.
"I haven't run it myself yet, it seems to be the test car for my friends for licencing," laughed Meroniuk. "I have a little problem with a cataract which doesn't lead well to driving fast cars. Foji is doing well for what that car is. He's killer on the lights (with his reaction times). You have to learn a few tricks with a turbo. That's just seat time and it's Foji's seat for a while."
Dhansaw says the car is extremely smooth, like it's running on rails. He's raced for years in Prince George, Terrace and Fort St. John in cars that went as quick as 9.3 seconds, but nothing could prepare him for Meroniuk's beast.
"It's pretty wild - when those turbos get up to full boost about halfway down the track it's like re-launching," said Dhansaw, vice president of the nonprofit club NITRO (Northern Interior Timed Racing Organization) which operates the local strip. "It's the fastest I've ever driven, and he's got the boost pretty much turned right down for me. I'm supposed to go an eighth-mile and then shut it off, but I just stayed in it.
"It's like getting in a small aircraft when you're taking off with a jet engine and it handles like a dream as long as you're in the groove. Darrin has done an amazing job building that car."
Dhansaw topped out at 180 miles per hour. The car is equipped with a parachute but that won't be needed until it's running closer to its capabilities. Still, it's a comfort knowing he has that chute, just in case.
"It feels like it's still pulling when you lift your foot off the gas," said Dhansaw, who also races a rear-engine dragster. "It's amazing how fast that sand trap at the end of the track comes up to you. It stops really good, but I think any faster and I'll have to throw (the chute)."
Repair work done to the Prince George track last year to grind down ridges left in the concrete from the original finishing process after it was poured three years ago has made the track safer for high-horsepower race cars like Meroniuk's.
He uses an electronic boost control to limit the amount of air drawn into the turbocharger, which works by forcing exhaust air into the cylinders to allow more fuel to be burned. Limiting the air supply reduces the speed.
"With the licencing process, you have to make a couple really small hits and then just gradually increase until you make a couple full passes," said Meroniuk. "The car is fully electronic so there's no carburetor on it and that can be a technical nightmare to some, but to others it works really well."
The car is based on the body design of a 1967 Shelby Mustang and was built for Meroniuk in Kelowna by RH Racecars. It took two years to build and he finished the body and painted it himself. In its Mission debut last September the engine took a bit of a beating, which required some winter repairs for Meroniuk, who makes his living as a technician at Premium Truck and Trailer.
"We should run 6.90s or 6.80s on a good track and this track is actually really good," said Meroniuk, who used to race a 1934 Ford coupe which regularly turned eight-second quarter-miles.
"Racing is fun. I'm not into the competition of counting numbers and all that, like some. The coupe was a hard car to handle, whereas this is a race car. The sister of this car has run high-fives, with a different engine of course, but that engine is also half the price of the car."
Racing resumes tonight at NITRO Motorsports Park with Friday Night Street legal series bracket racing, from 6-9 p.m.
