“I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters.”
Similar to Fast and Furious character Dominic Toretto, local car enthusiast Brad Andres enjoys the thrill of drag racing to see who has the fastest vehicle on the track. However, there is a literal bump in the road preventing him and others from feeling the freedom of those 10 seconds behind the wheel.
The road Andres and his Pocatello Car Club recently used for a well-received two-day drag racing event, Fortress Street near the Pocatello airport, has a bump in the road, preventing the car club from hosting any other events there until the problem gets fixed.
“Our number one concern is the safety of our spectators and racers,” Andres said. “That’s why we’re not racing right now and we’re also making adjustments. We’re going to put Jersey blocks out there, separating the crowd from the cars.”
But the big adjustment that needs to be made is the removal of the Fortress Street bump. The car club feels Fortress Street is the best place for its drag racing in the Pocatello area and is working with the city to make the road safe for future racing.
Drag racing is the latest venture of the Pocatello Car Club, an organization Andres took over and rebooted in the spring of 2023. The club has experienced a resurgence in popularity since then and has hosted a plethora of car shows and other automobile-related events.
On July 27 and 28, the car club held its first-ever drag racing event. Andres and the hundreds of others in attendance felt the drag races on Fortress Street were hugely successful.
“Words can’t describe how successful that event was,” Andres said. “Everybody loved it — the racers loved it and the spectators loved it. We made a couple of small, minor changes, but for the most part, it went off almost flawlessly.”
This success was a testament to the passion and dedication of the Pocatello car community.
But during the event, Andres and others noticed a bump on the left side of Fortress Street. The bump is small enough to go seemingly unnoticed if you’re in a car traveling at normal speeds.
But when drag racing at high speeds, the bump could be very dangerous for the racers. This potential danger highlighted the need for immediate action to ensure the safety of future drag racing events on Fortress Street.
Tom Kirkman, director of public services for the city of Pocatello, witnessed the bump during the drag races, agreed with Andres about postponing future racing until the road is fixed and expressed interest in figuring out some solutions to repair the bump.
“The day of the race, we noticed that there was a little bit of a dip in the road in the left lane and that cars were getting a little unstable over it,” Kirkman said. “After the event was over, we got together as a group and we made a consensus among everyone that it probably isn’t in our best interest to race on that street until some repairs can be made. So we got some different options we’re looking at.”
Fortress Street is currently not on the city’s list of roadways to be repaired, but according to Kirkman, the city could possibly fix the bump next spring.
According to Kirkman, repairing the road could potentially cost between $50,000 and $100,000. The car club is opposed to taking city funds from other projects to fix the bump and is exploring other ways to fund the work.
Kirkman and the city are also looking for a solution so the drag racing can continue on Fortress Street.
“I went out and watched the racing,” Kirkman said. “I thought it was very well attended. It seemed to be running smoothly. I enjoyed it very much. And we would like to try and keep something going in the community for this.”
Andres said it’s clear the drag racing event struck a chord with the community.
“I’m not exaggerating when I say it truly was a spiritual experience,” Andres said. “We all discussed it and felt it. It was something that we’d never seen or felt in an event like this. Only when we are racing our car down the street do we feel this way.”
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