The 50th season at the Penticton Speedway is well underway, with the May Long Weekend seeing the first double-header racing weekend run Saturday and Sunday.
The Young Guns Memorial Weekend commemorates the lives of Bobbie Wilson and Dayton Dery, young drivers who died in a winter car accident in 2008 while on their way to get car parts in Kelowna. The weekend is sponsored by Castanet News.
After 50 years, the Speedway is made up of an always-evolving cast and family of racers, crew members and staff.
“When I first moved here five years ago, I came up, watch a bunch of races and said ‘I have got to do this,’” said street stock racer Billy Coles, who has now been racing in Penticton for four years. “I’ve had a lot of fun, a lot of good people here and have some great teammates.”
The weekend closed Sunday with Hornets, Street Stocks and fan-favourite hit-to-pass day of destruction, which sees vehicles tow boats and trailers around the track in a full-contact race.
Hit-to-pass has a “special level of fear factor,” according to Coles, who says his team is happy “rubbing not wrecking” in the street stock category.
“A little too old for that or long in the tooth,” he said. “We like to wheel ‘er, keep it classic and go as fast as we can.”
The Speedway will host 30 days of racing this season.
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