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Local drag racing team restarts engine
NEWPORT — For the first time in years, a team of youths representing the Pend Oreille River Valley is lining up to drag race at Airway Heights.
The Kalispel Racing Team for youth drag racers returned this February, after nearly a decade of inactivity since the Airway Heights raceway closed around 2018. The team has three new racers and a new race car: a Ford Fairmont painted red, white and blue and emblazoned with the team’s name in gold, built and designed by the racers themselves.
“With the kids and this being their first season and first time between any kind of a race car, I think they’ve come miles from where they started,” coach Tommy Lee Luthy said.
In their first season alone, the team has made a series of accomplishments.
Shelby Luthy won a special-edition Wally Trophy — the most prestigious award in drag racing, according to the National Hot Rod Association — for placing first in the Junior Street segment of a Junior Drag Racing League Challenge race. The 15-year-old from Priest River, a digital artist who designed the team’s car and t-shirt logo, also placed first and second in two other races.
Landen Pillers, 17, of Newport placed first once and second twice in the High School segment.
Donovan Fowler, 17, of Priest River has yet to place in the High School segment, but his coaches and teammates believe he will.
“He’s getting a little excited on the line,” coach Randy Bird said. “But he’s right there.”
The team was founded over two decades ago and, despite placing high among other teams in the region, shut down twice over the following years due to changes at the raceway. When the Kalispel Tribe purchased and reopened the raceway a few years ago, a relative and longtime supporter of the team suggested restarting it again.
This time, the team’s coaches are Bird, 67, of Newport and Tommy Lee Luthy, 60, of Priest River, both of whom are retired auto restoration shop owners with years of drag race experience. The Tribe is sponsoring the team’s budget through Tribal vice chair Curt Holmes; without the Tribe, Bird said the team could not afford expenses such as the $400 cost of each trip to Qlispé Raceway Park.
“That’s pretty much what we’re running on,” Bird said. “Cause otherwise, it would be real hard for all of us to come up with enough money to do this.”
To race, all teammates are required to contribute to the program. Each racer must have worked on the Ford Fairmont for a minimum of 20 hours, supervised by a coach. The racer with the most hours gains priority to drive the car.
Additionally, Shelby Luthy has driven her family’s Ford Explorer, Pillers his own Dodge Ram 1500 and Fowler his stepdad’s Ford Mustang, among other cars owned by family and friends of the team. Pillers has even used a Chevrolet Camaro built by racers around 2018, when the program was last active.
Even if it means giving up their turn with the Ford Fairmont, the racers try to ensure that each of them has a chance to race.
“We really try to push the emphasis on teamwork,” Tommy Lee Luthy said. “They’ve really gelled as a team. They help one another.”
Racers are also required to have a parent or guardian sign a liability waiver. While Bird and Tommy Lee Luthy recognize the danger associated with drag racing, they and the racers stress that drag racing itself is no more dangerous than any other sport. (Pillers and Fowler both play other sports.)
In actuality, drag racing is the safest of all existing motorsports, Bird said. Drag racers are bound by certain safety guidelines, with high school-aged racers receiving a mile-per-hour speed cap. Racers in the junior class like Shelby Luthy are restricted to running eighth mile instead of quarter mile in a street-legal car, and a parent or guardian must ride with them every pass.
“Nobody’s ever been hurt on a drag strip,” Bird said. “And it deters people from street racing.”
The team meets every Sunday at Bird’s Newport home to work on the Camaro and will continue to do so until the ET Finals in September. Meetings will resume in October, coinciding with the beginning of the next drag racing season.
They next race on Saturday, Aug. 8 and Sunday, Aug. 9 at Qlispé Raceway Park.
All racers expressed anticipation for the weekend. Pillers is aiming for the coveted title of King of the Track, and Shelby Luthy qualified to race in the ET Finals. Fowler is hoping to not just place, but finally win.
“Moral of the story: Don’t give up,” Fowler said. “We’ve all had our challenges with racing.”
The team is seeking a maximum of five more racers for a total of eight. Those interested in joining can contact Bird at 509671-2470, [email protected] or via Facebook.
