HELENA — “We've done summer drag races for 16 years now and we felt it was time for more events in Helena,” said Chad Wenger, the president of Helena Valley Timing Association.
Wenger says that this Fall Drag Car Race will be used for a scholarship for those wanting to continue their education in the automotive field.
“Our big thing for this: all the money goes into our scholarship fund for students in the automotive trades. So it's a lot of work to do this event, but it's fun to see everybody out here having a great day,” said Wenger.
Wenger says it's events like this that make him proud of the work he gets to do.
“It's great to help out kids. It's hard to go to college. It's not a cheap thing, so we work our butts off to try and make some fun events and raise a lot of money so they can keep going to school and keep working in the trades,” said Wenger.
One racer from Ronan says that he is continuing his father’s racing legacy.
“I started when I was 16 years old. My parents did it,” said Joe Torgs, a drag car racer.
Torgs even raced on Street Outlaws last week and says being able to use the same truck his dad raced in is something he loves doing.
“I always pat the dashboard and say, ‘come on dad we gotta do this,’ and it was good to keep the truck going, I know he's with me so that's what we do and he keeps me going,” said Torgs.
