Drag racers are lining up, preparing to protest against a decision to put the brakes on their return to the airport.
Port Alberni City Council will be receiving a request at their Monday meeting, to approve the use of Stamp Avenue for the annual Thunder in the Valley drag races, ahead of a regional district meeting on Tuesday where officials are being asked to deny the racers return to the regional airport.
Duane Hearn who has been participating in the event for the past 14 years, says the popular annual event needs to return to the airport.
“The airport is the best place for the local drag races because it’s a quarter mile, and in town is just an eighth of a mile and you can’t bring the fast cars in like the door slammers, and even some of our cars can’t get up to speed on such a short track,” he said. “It’s extremely maddening to have this decision brought down like this, and for the life of me I can’t understand how they can say ‘No’.”
The Alberni Clayoquot Regional District commissioned a engineering report on the effect of the race, which came back very critical of the event, and Airport Supervisor Mark Fortune is recommending the drag race application be denied.
