Organizers of last weekend's Festival of the Rolling Arts have proclaimed it the best motorsports weekend yet.
Starting Friday night with the 13th annual Sleepy Hollow Rod Run presented by the Coasters Car Club and finishing with the Kickin' Asphalt drag racing event presented by the Sunshine Coast Drag Racing Association on Sunday, the weekend was full of hot cars, smiling spectators and lots of warm, Sunshine Coast hospitality.
"We are the biggest motorsports weekend in the Pacific Northwest with the rod run, car show and drag races. For a small community, we are the biggest and best one around," said car club and drag racing association media liaison Jac Cawsey.Cawsey said more than 300 cars participated in the rod run.
"When people come up here, they rave about it and say it's the best rod run," said Cawsey. "They love the views, the hospitality and all the people who line the street and cheer and wave. It just all adds to the experience."
Volunteers from the Coasters were out bright and early at 5 a.m. on Saturday setting the scene for the show 'n' shine that saw 315 registered cars on display.
"The street was packed with people all day from 9 a.m. right up until we handed out the trophies. Even the bit of rain we had didn't keep people away," he said.
On Sunday, crowds of enthusiastic spectators packed the Sechelt airport for the drag races, and at one point the spectators were four or five rows deep down the sidelines.
"We had a flawless day. No computer glitches. The racing was great, and we had a lot of Sunshine Coasters who won, so that's good too," Cawsey said.
Highlights of the day included Casey Obalek, a recent Pender Harbour Secondary School grad making her drag racing debut.Casey is one of three girls in her family, but laughed when asked if her sisters also race.
"No," she said emphatically. "I'm learning the mechanics of the car slowly."
Casey just returned from the Frank Hawley drag racing school in Norwalk, Ohio. SK Automotive along with Simon Kingsley and drag racing association president Rick Pearson sponsored her for the weekend. Her dad Jim also raced in a dragster owned by Leo Grocock of Mission.
"At one point we had only one woman dragster come to the track. To see Casey come out and put on a show in her first race is excellent for the sport and for our club," Cawsey said.
Mr. Buffy's Toy with driver Chris Eggen from Vancouver put on another excellent display in his alcohol-burning funny car, as did Nitro Mike in the only wheelstander in Western Canada.
"The biggest thing for me was seeing Jack Williams. He came up in his dragster that he built in 1960 - the car that won best in show at the Oakland Roadster show - the most prestigious show in the world," said Cawsey. "Jack is in the Hot Rod Hall of Fame and he did his last ever run in that car seven years ago up here on his 70th birthday. He showed up last weekend with his daughter Wendy and put on an exhibition for us. He's a racing legend."
One of the other cool things, according to Cawsey, was how accommodating the out of town drivers were to the race fans.
"All the pits were made available so everyone could see the drivers working on their cars, ask questions and talk to the race fans. Some people even got some autographs," said Cawsey. "We have the friendliest track in North America and we lived up to that reputation last weekend. We also saw a lot of young people come out and they did their racing on the track instead of out on the street, which is a big thing for our club. Both clubs want to thank everyone who came out and made this such a great weekend."- With files from Shannon Bond
