For a while it looked like the Saskatchewan International Raceway (SIR) would be shut down for the season but after meeting with their members the raceway will feature drag racing with a scaled-back schedule this year.
“We have determined that we will be running. There is enough interest to run for races this year,” says Stan Heiber president of the Saskatchewan Drag Racing Association. “As long as the members that committed come we will be good for four races, and we’re probably planning on running five street legals as well.”
Those street-legal races are much easier for the club to host as many of the roles can be filled by volunteers. That makes them less expensive to put on. Also, it’s always been important for the raceway to provide a place for people to race their vehicles so they don’t do it on the street, Heiber said.
“Street legal was set up years ago in conjunction with everybody to try and get racing off the streets. And all our staff have a fair amount of volunteer work done on street legals and we feel it’s important to have those people come out to the track rather than race on the streets,” Heiber said. “So it’s an outlet for people to test their cars.”
With so many events cancelled this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic, members of SIR thought it was important to have some race days — but not too many where they lose money. So the shortened season is what made the most sense for the group.
“The fees have gone up slightly due to the fact that we have lost some revenues, and some members are still wanting to try and race. So we thought for the benefit of all the membership that we would attempt to run a partial season so they can get out and do some racing this year,” Heiber said.
The first race day at SIR will be on Friday, Aug. 7 with a street-legal race night. The entry fee for SDRA members will be $40 and $50 for non-members. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of spectators will be limited to 150.
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