Running a drag racing program at the high school level in the Lower Mainland has its challenges. When you’re in an isolated community like Pender Harbour with about 100 students at the high school, a drag racing program won’t happen unless you can race locally.
The Sunshine Coast Drag Racing Association (SCDRA), School District No. 46 and teachers have been diligent to ensure students at Elphinstone and Pender Harbour high schools have the opportunity to race on the Coast at all SCDRA events.
Up Highway 101 at Pender Harbour, automotive technology teacher Jay Walls has been the champion of the Pender high school drag racing program. Walls is passionate about drag racing and volunteers an immense amount of time to prepare his students, work on the drag car and secure sponsorship or donations.
As for the students, they love the program and the hands-on practice in the shop. However, the best part is racing the car. Getting seat time in the car on the drag strip isn’t as easy as one might think.
Students must have their N licence designation and this eliminates almost all Grade 11 students. Fortunately, some Grade 12 students get to race in their final year.
Walls and his students are proud of their drag car. The 1979 Cutlass was built on a shoestring budget. Part of the automotive technology program involves disassembling old and seized 350 Chevy engines. The bearings, rings and bore are checked and the students piece together an engine from the good parts.
The current motor in the Cutlass is named Frankenstein as it has pieces from five different engines. The block is a late 1970s four-bolt main from an old motorhome and is painted green.
A hot rod trick the team did in the shop was to bolt 305 HO heads from an early ’80s car to bump up the compression.
Intake is a four-barrel from a late ’80s truck and painted GM blue. Valve covers are classic Chevy orange from the early ’70s.
The cam is a brown box special with a lift which pushes the stock valve springs to their limit but has lots of duration for that nice choppy idle. The open headers are the icing on the cake.
Of course, the students like the way the car sounds and performs. Driving the Cutlass at the May race was Nadine Jay-Reid. Nadine caught on fast and won every race all day. She made it through to the quarter-finals and her best time of the day was a 9.65.
After the race, it was agreed race times needed improvement. The 2.14:1 highway gears had to go and Walls knew who to speak with. It didn’t take much convincing to get Shawn Boyd at Kenmac Parts in Gibsons to donate a set of 4.56:1 gear ratios. Al Garrels of A.G. Automotive and parent Warren Phillips donated their time to help install them.
The results were impressive and at the SCDRA Father’s Day test and tune the Cutlass ran an 8.9 with just the gear change.
With the next race in August, Walls and team know the car will go faster. Traction has become the new issue to resolve and this is where they will focus their efforts.
Walls thanked SCDRA president Tony Petula, former vice president Dave Marshall and all club members for the ongoing volunteer commitment. Their support provides a great learning experience from an educational perspective for his students.
To learn automotive theory in the classroom, then test cars and engines at the track, has promoted many students to go onto automotive careers and take advantage of the excellent Ace-It auto program provided through our school district.
