A family that plays together stays together. Just take a look at Rick and Charlaine Pearson.
The West Sechelt couple and their children Nicole, 15, and Blake, nine, are truly a racing family.Rick started racing about 10 years ago in his pride and joy, a '67 Acadian street car.
"I'm a body man by trade, so it was pretty easy to be around cars and racing," Rick recalls. "I originally bought the car about 28 years ago. When I started racing, I converted it over to a straight drag racing car. I've raced it up here, in Mission and over in Ashcroft. When it gets going, it goes pretty fast."
Rick admits that over the years, the car is no longer what it used to be, but he vows to change that."It's sitting in pieces out in the garage," he said. "Hopefully this winter we'll get it re-built so we can race it next season."
Rick's car was featured in 1986 in Hot Rod magazine, an achievement that he's still proud to talk about today.
"When I did the interview, the reporter didn't know when the story would appear," Rick said. "I was in Big Mac's one day flipping through the magazine and I came across the story. It blew me away. I think I bought every copy of the magazine in the store."
While Rick and Charlaine were busy with their hobby, racing and going to car shows, their children got into the act as well.
Four years ago, the couple acquired a junior dragster. That's when Nicole and Blake caught the racing bug.
"The dragster used to belong to Graham Porter from Halfmoon Bay," Rick said. "Graham's turned into quite the young driver. He won in his category at both our races here this season."
Blake drove the dragster last year. This year Nicole drove in both drag racing events on the Coast. She did pretty well, too, as she won both junior dragster events.
"I just love racing," she said. "When dad was racing I loved being at the track and just hanging out with all the other drivers."
Now that Nicole is getting older, she's ready to make the jump from the junior drags to the big leagues.
"She definitely wants to race in a faster car," Rick said. "Next year hopefully she'll make the jump to the high classes. You see a lot of kids start from the junior ranks and then move up. It's not an uncommon thing to see more and more ladies taking to the sport too. You're actually starting to see more female drivers out at the track."
When Nicole does move up and possibly gets to race in Rick's car, Blake hopes to start racing in the junior dragster full time.
"It's a family affair when we go racing," Rick said. "We just all enjoy travelling to races and car shows. We go to Ashcroft and Mission. Everyone just hangs out, has fun and enjoys the hobby."
