Prince Rupert man revs up for Vegas drag race

Kham Shantz, a Prince Rupert drag racer, will be burning rubber at the Street Car Super Nationals in Las Vegas, on Nov. 18.

Shantz will be competing with a 1937 Chevrolet Coupe, painted black with red and orange flames bursting out from the front and down the sides of the vehicle. The 1,800 horsepower engined car can run a quarter-mile in 7.5 seconds.

With more than 20 years of racing under his belt, the veteran racer has competed in communities across B.C. and Alberta but never before internationally.

Shantz has had many wins in races hosted across the province in his decades-long racing career, including Terrace, Houston, Prince George Ashcroft, Fort St. John, and more.

Street Car Super Nationals is in its 17th year and will host more than 500 competition drag racing vehicles at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the four-day competition. The event hosts, on average, 3,500 people and weather depending has seen up to 10,000, Mel Roth, president of Street Car Super Nationals, told The Northern View.

Pre-pandemic, Canadians made up about 15 per cent of the competitors, and they are looking forward to seeing them again, Roth said.

Shantz previously attended the Las Vegas event in 2019 and planned to return the following year to compete, but was delayed due to the global pandemic. This year, he will compete in the class racing: Hughes Performance Big Tire/No-Time.

“The first year I went, I just watched, and it was mind-boggling how fast the cars are going with what they have,” Shantz said, on Nov. 8.

All the competing cars are decked out with various turbos and nitrous to maximize speed, he said.

“That competition, the cars are amazing down there. They’re beautiful and fast — it’s top-of-the-line cars in every class,” Shantz said. “They take it to another level.”