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Grudge matches a new addition to drag racing season

The Terrace Drag Race Association held their annual general meeting earlier in the month.
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Wade Sojostrom will bring his blown 1957 Chevy to Hot August Nights as one of the door slammers.

The Terrace Drag Race Association held their annual general meeting earlier in the month and they're featuring a brand new element that will have amateur motoring enthusiasts drooling.

"Grudge matches" will be hosted by the TDRA for their 10th anniversary season with their first Friday night street-legal drag races on June 6, which is also the night before their first bracket race weekend on the following Saturday and Sunday.

"We're looking for the guys whose buddies all say 'Hey, my car can beat your car ... you've been yapping at me for two years? Let's go'," said

Association board member Ed Evans.

It's put up or shut up time for street legal cars, but there are some rules each car needs to follow before they hit the Terrace airport tracks.

"They have to be licensed for the street, they have to be insured for the street, they have to have Department of Transportation (DOT)- approved highway tires, and they have to meet our tech rules [found at terracedrags.ca]," said Evans.

"Basically, most street cars will have no problem passing it and everybody has to wear a helmet."

Evans, who is a vice-president at the Prince Rupert Auto Club, also said the TDRA will host two more race weekends for the season.

Hot August Nights, the club's most popular event will return Aug. 3 and 4, and two Northwest door slammers coming out of Alberta will be the main attraction during Terrace's Riverboat Days.

Perry Thyr will be bringing his 2004 Chevrolet Camaro running nitrous, and Wade Sojostrom will show his blown 1957 Chevy.

The racing categories will include Pro, Super Pro and Junior Dragster (outlaw), where kids up to age 15 compete for supremacy. The festivities include trophies, t-shirts and jackets to the winners, although, the jackets aren't as green as the Masters' kind that victorious pro golfers win in Augusta.

"[During Hot August Nights], we're racing on the Sunday-Monday, but on Saturday there's parades and car shows and concerts in the park and all sorts of stuff, so you have all those people that are there and they pack the place and everybody generally tries to have their car ready by that weekend," said Evans, who won first place in Pro last year.

"It's a fun night. Come out, run your car and just have some fun."