The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Reporter's note: While in Malta's riverside park to do a story about the Milk River Wagon Train's 47th annual trip, I could hear the roar of engines off in the distance. I remembered that there was a drag strip on the edge of Malta. My friend and I took a break from the horse and wagon era and drove over to check out the drag strip.

I'd seen the drag strip once before but never while races were going on. I was a bit surprised at the number of dragsters lined up at the starting line for their paired roars down the straightaway. It was mid-morning and we learned the 'qualifying passes' were going on. Qualifying is a prelude to the actual races that would begin after a lunch break.

We went back to downtown Malta to watch the wagon train enter town. After some time talking to the wagon drivers and interviewing the folks who were preparing the picnic barbeque in Trafton Park, we headed back to the drag strip.

Greg Kirkwood, CEO of Phillips County Motor Sports, Inc.

Terry and Roxanne Townsend have been going to races at the Hi-Line Drag Strip as spectators for several years. Recently Terry finished building his own dragster. The Townsend's, who are also my family's landlords in Chinook, told Greg Kirkwood we would be coming to the drag strip and would like to talk to him about the facility and the racing program. Kirkwood, who is president of Motor Sports, met us at the ticket booth at the strip's entrance and said, "Let's drive over to my hangar where we can talk." A hangar? That seemed unusual at a drag strip.

Some Blaine County residents may know Kirkwood. He owns the funeral home in Malta and works closely with the Edwards Funeral Home in Chinook. Kirkland didn't look like a racer. He's a big guy and I would say looks more like a businessman than a mechanic or a racer. Turns out he's not a racer but is an old car enthusiast-he had several vintage vehicles around his hangar-turned-workshop with 'for sale' signs on them. It was clear he had a real passion for the drag strip and was instrumental in the startup and continued development of the racing facility.

How the drag strip got started

Per Kirkwood, the old Phillips County Airport was abandoned, in 1997, when a new one was built east of Malta. In 1999 a group of drag racers began to contemplate a drag strip on the old airport site. It seemed a natural with a long paved runway that would be ideal for an eighth mile drag strip and plenty of space for pit area and parking.

Kirkwood recounted, "The original group ran in to some challenges and the idea waned for a time. They reorganized a few years later and finally won approval from PHILCO (Phillips County Economic Development, the group that controlled the old airport site) in 2003 to pursue the drag strip idea. I got involved helping them develop a business plan for how the new venture would proceed.

In the summer of 2006, the first race weekend was held. To get to that point guardrails had been added down the middle of the runway (to separate the two racing lanes) and along the sides of the strip for safety. There were many other additions to make the area usable for racing. Kirkwood said, "To develop the site we were required to raise $50,000 in cash or in-kind contributions. Two local businesses pledged the funding and we began to develop the racing facilities. We started off 'bare-bones' but have invested many thousands of dollars to create a first class racing facility.

Now the Hi-Line Drag Strip hosts five racing weekends each season. Kirkwood said, "On a typical race weekend we will register 80-100 vehicles for racing." Denny Overcast, who lives along the Paradise Valley Road east of Chinook, has been active in the group since it started hosting races. He's also an active volunteer for each race weekend and serves on the board of directors. He said this past Labor Day there were 104 racers registered.

Asked where the racers came from, Kirkwood said, "From all over Montana and from North Dakota. We get a lot of racers from Saskatchewan, especially Swift Current and Regina." While we were talking a racer from Swift Current came to ask Kirkwood about a membership to the local drag strip.

Darcy Seibel explained his interest in a membership. He said, "I volunteer at the track in Swift Current. A lot of racers come to our track from this area and support our racing program. I've gotten to know a lot of them and enjoy coming here to race. At home, on race day, I volunteer as part of the track crew and race my own car. It gets hectic. Here in Malta I can just race and enjoy the activities going on. It's like a vacation when we come down here."

Track visitors have a significant impact on the local economy. Kirkwood explained, "We used an 'economic impact formula' provided by the chamber of commerce to calculate the economic impact. Using that formula we figured racers bring about $3-5 million to the area during our five annual race weekends-visitors eat at cafés, patronize the local bars, rent rooms at the motels, buy from local stores and fuel up to get back home. The track has a significant impact on the local economy."

Overcast said later he'd been told, "Some of the local stores stay open through the weekend when there is a race. A furniture store owner said even racing fans buy furniture while visiting the area."

A typical race weekend

Safety is a big deal at a race track. Each race vehicle has to go through an inspection before it can participate in the weekend racing. Denny Overcast is the Technical Director at the track. He, assisted by Roy Case, also from Chinook, inspects each vehicle using a checklist for safety and mechanical items. Asked what they check, Overcast said, "Everything from helmets and seatbelts to emergency shutoff switches and a device that won't allow the vehicle to start in gear. The faster the vehicle, the more stringent the safety requirements."

The drag strip is sanctioned by the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA). Overcast explained the sanctioning group has a manual with requirements a drag racing vehicle must meet. "Most racers, who build their own car," he noted, "are aware of the required items the vehicle must have. Generally the problems we find at inspections are minor-like an outdated seatbelt (they have to be certified as only two years old). Drivers and mechanics know what they must have and they make sure the vehicle is ready to race when they get here."

Mornings are used to set qualifying times. Overcast explained, "Each driver makes two or three passes on the track in the morning. This is to gauge how their vehicle is running. After each 'pass' on the track they get a printout showing their elapsed time in seconds and speed, in miles per hour. From that data they 'dial in' a number of seconds they believe they will run the course during the races in the afternoon. If they go faster than their dialed in time, it's a 'break out' and an automatic loss. It's about speed, but it's also about consistency."

Vehicles (it's not just cars, there are also pickups made into dragsters as well as 'slingshots'-those long racers that are on a light frame with basically a gigantic engine and a cockpit for the driver) race two at a time. The difference between the dialed in times for paired racers is programmed into the light tree (the lights that show the drivers when to start) so a driver with a slower projected time leaves the start line before a faster vehicle-so the real race is against a driver's dialed in time. It was pretty obvious, however, there was still a strong desire to be the first of the two cars to pass the finish line.

Vehicles race by classes-basically the fast vehicles race the other fast vehicles. Asked if a driver could 'hit the brake' if they felt they were going faster than they had predicted, Overcast laughed and said, "Well, there's a lot going on when you are approaching the finish line (some cars are going 130+ mph at the finish). Some drivers can make the adjustment but it's all happening so fast it takes a lot of experience to judge if you need to slow down. Most racers are focused on getting down the track as quickly as they can and controlling their vehicle."

After the qualifying passes and a lunch break, there was a drivers' meeting. Track Manager John Carnahan, also the vice president of Motorsports, addressed the drivers with details of how the afternoon would progress. Drivers had been given a general idea of the times they would race and who their first opponent would be. The drivers seemed anxious to get back to their vehicles and get ready to hit the strip. Kirkwood explained, "During race day the Track Manager is in charge. He makes all the decisions about how the actual racing operates. I have no say at that point."

The paired racing began. Each pair of vehicles would ease into the burnout box. That's a small gutter like affair filled with water to clean off the tires. Once the tires are clean, drivers ease out of the box and do a burnout-that's a mighty revving of the engine while the tires spin to warm them up for better traction. If you've seen a race on TV or in real life, that's the smoking part of the start. Then the vehicles creep to the start line and watch the light tree for their signal to go. Engines at a fevered pitch, the lights turn green and the racers go. It's all over in just a few seconds but it has to be a rush, even watching you find yourself getting excited.

The winner of each first round pairing then moves on to the next round. Losers can be seen loading their haulers and heading for home (reminded me of a rodeo with eliminated cowboys pulling out with their stock trailers while the others continue to ride and rope).

It so happened on this particular day my friend Terry Townsend was testing for a 'driver's license.' Overcast explained, "If you are driving a car that completes the eighth mile in over 6.5 seconds no special license is required. Terry just moved up to a faster car and he has to have a license to race the faster car."

His test involved two starts from the start line, then letting off the accelerator immediately, two half-track passes, then slowing down and, finally, a complete pass from start to finish at full speed. Each pass is observed by a group of other drivers licensed for that category of racing, they sign off if they feel a driver can safely handle the faster vehicle. He passed!

Some final observations

There were a variety of racing vehicles. One young woman pulled up to the starting line in a four-door pickup. Someone commented, "She must have brought dad's pickup to race." She didn't do the burnout of the tires-likely dad's orders. Still, given she was trying to meet her 'dialed in time,' she could be a winner.

And the haulers people had-everything from semi-trailers with big tractors and a full scale shop in the hauling trailer to, my favorite, a regular farm flatbed goose-necked trailer pulled by a hydra bed-equipped farm truck. I noticed the hydra bed rig had a Blaine County plate on it.

Speaking of Blaine County, when asked about locals who drag race, Overcast ticked off a long list of names, several of whom I know. Overcast said, "Early on the Malta group came to Chinook and held an informational meeting to see who might be interested in drag racing. I joined right away as I had a car I'd been working on since 1969. I thought joining would give me the incentive to finish my car."

He explained he was hanging out with some other racers and got 'the bug' to race when he lived in Shelby. Then he moved back to his farm outside Chinook and other things got his attention. (Interestingly, I got to see Denny Overcast race his car for the first time after 40+ years in the making. He said later, "It was a big thrill.").

Racing vehicles come in all styles, shapes and condition. There was a VW Karman Ghia all fixed up for drag racing (I didn't know those even existed anymore). Some dragsters had elegant paint jobs and had modified bodies for better aerodynamics. Others dragsters were licensed to drive on the street, no hauling necessary. Some had mismatched colored body parts and no body attention. But they all roared when they left the starting line.

Harold Miller and Dan Johnson

Another interesting aspect was the intergenerational nature of the racers. There were many families, some of whom had dragsters for mom, dad and the kids. Kids under a certain age are limited to junior dragsters-the slingshot looking racers. Kids seemed just as intent as adults when they pulled up to the starting line. There's obviously a new generation of racers already in the making. I even saw a couple of drivers pushing baby strollers between races.

Asked about the future of drag racing at the Hi-Line Drag Strip, CEO Kirkwood said, "It will only get bigger. We already attract more racers than any of the smaller tracks in Montana (there are three others in Lewistown, Anaconda and Billings). The drag strip will continue to be a major tourism draw for Phillips County. We will keep improving the facility and that will draw more racers and enthusiasts."

Now, I think I will give my ears a rest from the engine roar and contemplate the world of drag racing. You don't have to go far to enjoy the sport and it seems like it will be around for a long while.