Mission Raceway Park is the largest NHRA track in Canada and is considered one of the best race tracks in North America due to its sea level location and cool west coast air. Situated in Canada, though, has been a bit of a handicap because 90 per cent of the racers are American.
One of the ways to work around that is to promote an event that is a bit off the norm.
Mission Raceway did just that for DoorWarz, July 5-7. This is the first event solely for fast full-bodied doorcars, and this is the first time this type of race has been held in Canada.
The event will have the largest ever purse for the feature class, Outlaw Pro Mod, with $50,000 in prize money, making it the largest payout of 2013 in North America. The Pro Mod class is one of the most exciting classes in drag racing due to the vehicle’s designs and wild runs down the quarter-mile. More than 45 cars are pre-entered for the event; that is 20 more than have ever been in Canada. There are six other classes competing as well and they include Outlaw 10.5 (a similar car to the Pro Mods but running on a smaller tire). There is a total purse for the weekend close to $85,000.
We’ll feature Outlaw Pro Mod in next week’s issue.
The Outlaw 10.5 will feature four or five Canadian teams with a good chance of winning the event. The main competitor, Doug Sikora, hails from California. He has won the Street Cat Super Nationals event in Las Vegas before and has gone as quick as a 6.13/235 in the quarter mile. Langley’s Steve Nicholson is the quickest Canadian car in the class and he hopes to improve and run in the 6.30-6.40 range. Locals Ken Sihota and Roy Moznik are also hoping to run well into the mid-six-second zone. Barry Daniluk from Alberta is planning on attending as long as repairs to his car are complete. Three other Alberta drivers are also in the mix: Derek Przeginiak, Dean Branham and Mike Walterson.
Outlaw 275 is a class with a range of different cars and all are street legal. Edmonton’s Neil Richards is the favourite as he has gone close to 200 mph in his wheelstanding Ford Zephyr. Scott Schulhauser from Calgary and Alex De Wolfe from Langley will also be strong contenders.
Top Sportsman will see 20-plus cars, and a couple Mission racers are expected to be late race finishers. Zak Clarke, Kirk Lanz and Dan Provost are all regular competitors at Mission and are hoping for three solid days of racing.
The Canada West Doorslammers is one of the most popular classes to compete at Mission and there will be close to 30 competitors. Rob Charlton and Kevin Lance are series point leaders and should be the mix late Sunday.
Advance testing July 4 and qualifying is Friday and Saturday with the feature classes qualifying both Friday and Saturday evening under the lights. Final eliminations are on Sunday.
Visit doorwarz.com for more information.
