Chris Arronge is going to take a run at the money.
Arronge, president of the Prince George Auto Racing Association, will replace his administrator's hat with a racing helmet for this weekend's PGARA Invitational. At the Saturday and Sunday meet, he'll drive in the Richmond Steel street stock division and chase after the $2,000 prize that will go to the man who piles up the most points.
"I probably have a decent chance at it but I've only run my car once at PGARA this year," Arronge said. "It's fairly fast, and I'll have the same chance as everybody else. That day I'm not the president, I'm just another racer. I've taken three years off (from racing) to be president. I figure now's the time to have some fun and the nice thing about it is we've got a really good core group of officials that run the place and run on-time shows and stuff so they don't need me."
Arronge's other race day this season was July 10. And, just like in times of old, he was one of the frontrunners. With a lap clocking of 18.312 seconds, he was the fastest qualifier. Later, the checkered flag flew for him in the A-heat race. Arronge finished out of the top three in the main event but, for the day, still accumulated an impressive 44 points. Only one other driver -- Jerry Gascon with 45 -- finished with more.
To deposit that two grand in his bank account, Arronge will have to be at his best, because a top-quality field of 20 cars is expected to descend on PGARA for the street stock races. Other locals who have good chances to challenge for the cash include current points leader Darrell Horwath, Jim Chapman, Shane Murphy, Gascon and Justin Hall. Arronge said drivers from Fort St. John, Quesnel, Williams Lake, Agassiz and Duncan will also be in attendance, all of them attracted by the loot. And not only the winner will get paid, because another $2,000 will be split among the rest of the field.
"It's probably going to be the biggest street stock race in these parts in the last 10 years," Arronge said. "It should be pretty interesting."
For more, see Thursday's Citizen
