FORKS – Both drag racers and residents are revving up for the beginning of the racing season at the Forks Municipal Airport this weekend
West End Thunder Club members will compete in the first drag race of the season on Saturday, when gates will open at 9 a.m. for the public to watch the members-only race.
Races open to everyone will be on Sunday, with the gates opening at 9 a.m. at the airport south of Forks on U.S. Highway 101.
Admission will be $5 per spectator and $25 per racer.
The cost to enter the car show is $10.
“A lot of the guys I talked to last year got to visit with people they haven’t seen for years,” said Phil Arbeiter, president of the nonprofit West End Thunder Club, which hosts the races.
“It was like a big family gathering for a lot of people.”
Residents are anticipating an influx of visitors.
“What I really like is all the positive comments I hear as I am checking people in,” said Cheryl Anderson, who along with her husband sets up the vendors.
“It is really good to have good comments from community.
“People are finally coming here to see us [in Forks].”
Mayor Nedra Reed said in May that the races are more profitable for Forks businesses than the Fourth of July.
“People have already been calling and making reservations for dates,” she said then.
“It really does bring a lot of business into the community.”
The West End Thunder Club’s drag races, which began last year, were in doubt for this season until they were given the go-ahead on May 24 by the Federal Aviation Administration.
An FAA policy does not permit those airports that have federal grant obligations to close for non-aviation uses.
City officials had thought that the Forks airport had no such obligations to the FAA, but discovered in August that it did. The city and the club worked together to acquire an exception to FAA’s rule.
The resolution of the dilemma ended with a requirement that the city keep the airport open except for a maximum of 10 specific dates approved by the FAA each year through 2011.
After that, the West End Thunder Club is expected to find another site for the drag races.
