A Port Alberni drag-racing association is hoping to persuade those in charge of the area’s airport to allow an annual racing event called Thunder in the Valley back on airport property.
Big, loud, colourful drag racers haven’t been at the Alberni Valley Regional Airport since it was expanded in 2015.
The association has not found a permanent home since leaving the airport, which it started using for races in 2001. It used a parking lot on Stamp Avenue for a while, but that site was taken over by another business. The last Thunder in the Valley was held in 2018.
Roger Haggerty, president of the Alberni Valley Drag Racing Association, asked directors at a May 8 board meeting of Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District — the airport owner — for permission to use the airport.
The association wants to use one end of the airport’s 5,000-foot runway, Haggerty said. Racing would take place on a 660-foot stretch, which would give racers a one-eighth-of-a-mile track.
A minimum of 2,400 feet of the runway would be needed to stage races safely, he said.
“If something goes wrong, the cars can coast to a stop.”
Races would stop to make way for any planes landing or taking off, he said, noting similar races are held at other airports, including in Port McNeill.
Directors have asked staff for a report into the proposal.
A previous proposal to use the airport again was not successful, said Haggerty, who blames incorrect information presented to the board by someone not affiliated with the drag-racing association.
A Thunder in the Valley event would start on a Friday and go through the weekend, Haggerty said.
It’s too late to plan for an event this year, but next year could be possible, he said in an interview. In past years, Thunder in the Valley was held in the second week of August.
Locally, there are between 50 and 70 racers, Haggerty said, but an event could attract another 200 out-of-town racers and team members. The limit is 270 racers.
Haggerty said in the past, Thunder in the Valley has attracted an average of 3,000 spectators a day, of whom about 65 per cent were from out of town, which means revenue for local businesses, he said.
In 2004, the event was estimated to have generated $1.1 million for the weekend.
These days, the economy would likely get a boost of $1.7 million, he said.
Spectators would see full days of racing through the weekend, Haggerty said, adding it’s not just drag cars that race — vans, motorcycles, funny-cars and more turn out, too.
Many local service clubs have supported the event in the past and worked with the association, which in turn donates money to organizations and clubs, Haggerty said.
A one-day charity cruise showcasing the cars raised $15,000, which was split between the West Coast General Hospital Foundation and Tseshaht First Nation’s memorial project to commemorate children who died at the now-closed Alberni residential school.
Haggerty said that when races started at the airport, the association carried out extensive work to improve the facility, investing about $100,000 and building two parking lots and clearing debris at the site.
The association hopes to eventually build a permanent race track and is exploring options, but it would need to be on a route through the Alberni Valley “so it promotes business in our valley,” Haggerty said.
Race supporter Harley Wiley, a member of the Tseshaht nation, told board members: “It’s a family-friendly event that could put Port Alberni on the map.”
Al Peffers, owner of Exhaust Masters in Port Alberni, where his team works on drag cars, backs the proposal and said the local airport is not particularly busy. A drag-racing event would be “huge for this town,” he said. “There’s no other event that brings in the people that the drags does. This town is overflowing with people when the drags are here.”
The region loves racing events, said Peffers. His business is one of several that are putting up pro-drag racing posters in their windows. Posters and decals are being distributed by the association.
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