POCATELLO — The Pocatello Car Club is set to host its first-ever street drag racing event this weekend near Pocatello Regional Airport.
The event, called Outlaw Street Drags, will be held on Saturday and Sunday on Fortress Street northeast of the airport terminal. The event is free to attend for Pocatello Car Club members. Organizers are asking for a $5 donation from non-members. There will be a car show and food trucks at the event in addition to the drag races.
Brad Andres, organizer of Outlaw Street Drags, said he got the idea for the event after working with the two owners of Premier Collision Center, who told him that Pocatello used to host several car events.
“I took it upon myself to bring car-related events to the area,” Andres said. “One of the things they told me about was the history of (Pocatello) drag racing.”
Andres reached out to a drag racing group based in Twin Falls called South Hills Racing. They had the equipment to set up a drag race that would be an eighth of a mile.
“I contacted them to set up and do the event,” Andres said.
Andres also reached out to several governmental entities within Pocatello to make sure they were on board with hosting a drag race. He reached out to the Pocatello City Council, the Police Department and the Street Department. Everyone was supportive.
“We went before the City Council and got a unanimous approval,” Andres said. “The whole community is behind this. Pocatello is a car community.”
The car club also has support from Power County and several local businesses and government entities that donated equipment for the event.
“Everyone came together to help out,” Andres said.
The event will start with registration at 8 a.m. on Saturday. The start of the first drag race will depend on how many people come to register.
“We estimate starting around noon,” Andres said.
The races will be held on Saturday and Sunday. The time the races finish each day will also depend on how many people register.
Sunday’s races will begin in the morning.
Andres said the car club has industrial lighting donated by Cate-Idaho Equipment so the drag races can continue into the evening if necessary.
“We may go as late as midnight depending on what the group wants to do,” he said. “We’re going to try to give everyone who wants to race a chance to race.”
The five drag racing classes for the event are pro, which is for professional racers; truck, which will feature powerful diesel trucks; street class for any street legal vehicle; motorcycle class will be for anyone with a motorcycle or ATV; and import class for foreign cars.
“There will be professional drag racers coming from Salt Lake, Washington, Oregon and Montana,” Andres said. “They can do a run in five seconds or less reaching speeds of 140 mph.”
Anyone wanting to race in the pro class will first have their credentials checked by event organizers to make sure that they know what they are doing and that they are able to operate a vehicle at such high speeds.
“Our number one goal is safety,” said Andres.
For the pro class, the top two winners will split $1,000 provided by Premier Collision and Powder Coating.
For the truck class, there will be a $1,000 prize from Daily Driven Performance to be split between the top two contestants or, if both agree, they can compete in a winner take all drag race.
“Truck driving is for big turbo-charged, diesel-powered, four-wheel-drive trucks,” Andres said. “It’s going to be put on by Idaho Truck Invasion.”
There will also be a $1,000 prize from The Advocates Injury Attorneys for participants in bracket racing, which is racing that allows for a handicap between predicted elapsed time of the two cars over a standard distance.
”Anyone and everyone can enter bracket racing,” Andres said.
This weekend's event will also feature “grudge matches” where you can challenge someone to a legal drag race to settle it once and for all who has the fastest car.
More information about the Pocatello Car Club and the Outlaw Street Drags can be found on Facebook at facebook.com/PokyCarClubEvents.
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