Dash a blast for Street Wheelers

By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on July 16, 2024.

Herald photo by Justin Seward A GMC Sonoma burns up smoke during the Street Machine Weekend 100-foot dash Saturday at the Exhibition Grandstand.

Street Machine Weekend included the 100-foot dash on Saturday which allowed attendees to witness drivers not only do burnouts with clouds of smoke, but to see how fast those custom cars and trucks could go down the track at the Exhibition Grandstand.

Lethbridge driver Rick Charles was driving in his 15th 100-foot dash.

“It’s fantastic and we got a really good turnout with a lot more cars than previous years,” said Charles.

“There’s a great variety of like new cars that people haven’t seen and all that kind of stuff, so it’s great.”

Charles feels lucky that his 1967 Plymouth Belvedere II is lower maintenance.

“I race it all the time, so it was ready to go,” said Charles.

“But fill the nitrous up, put race gas in it and come out and have fun.”

He experienced something new with his car during the dash.

“It went at 2.41 which is totally fine because it actually did a little wheely, so that’s the first time in my life with this car anyways,” said Charles.

What Charles enjoys most about the weekend is the friendships he’s made over the years.

This was drive Chris Hein’s second consecutive year at the 100-foot dash.

“It’s all about the people here,” said Hein.

“Like cruising down Mayor Magrath last night, (and seeing) all the fans and all the people lined up along the whole street, like you never see that anywhere else. They pack 5, 6,000 people into the stands, we don’t get that at your average drag strip. So it’s a really cool event to come out and show the cars off.”

The Maple Creek driver owns a 33 Factory 5 Coupe.

“Spinning a little bit today,” said Hein.

“We still managed a 1.94 on our first pass at 55 or 56 miles an hour I think it was. So (a) decent first pass, we’ll make some changes and go up and hopefully we can eliminate the spins and get going a little bit faster next round.”

Street Wheelers Car Club treasurer Dean Parker thought the return of the controlled cruised on Friday went well.

“The controlled cruise was great,” said Parker.

“We got a lot (of) good response and it was just great to see that high concentration of custom cars on 3rd Avenue there.”

There were an estimated 750 vehicles.

Parker thought having the return of the cruise was important because it gave the event a designated spot.

“You notice a lot of businesses along the side of Third Avenue had stages with music going, barbecues and all that, so it’s all the stuff that goes alongside with it as well,” said Parker.