Speedy cars used to spread safety message
In the heat of the moment it might be exciting to see which car is fastest, but public roads aren’t the safest venue for a shootout — there are just too many uncontrolled variables.
And, with films such as Fast and Furious and games including Need for Speed glorifying the practice, some education is in order.
In Alberta, there is the not-for-profit YIELD Association — or the Youth Initiatives & Education in Lifestyles & Driving Association — to warn young people about the dangers of inappropriate choices while behind the wheel and in dayto-day living.
Using a drag race car to capture the attention of youth between the ages of 14 and 24, a group of volunteers consisting of law enforcement, fire and ambulance personnel visit schools, community events and legal drag race gatherings.
They hope their specially marked Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac LeMans race cars will help pique interest and hook kids into a deeper conversation.
“We formed YIELD in 2003, and we’ve been going around to different events in Western Canada — anywhere we can talk to kids about safe choices,” says Const. Gord Buck of the RCMP in Stony Plain/Spruce Grove. Buck is president of the YIELD Association, and he is quick to point out that YIELD is not under the auspices of the RCMP, but has partnered with the Mounties to educate youth and the general public about the dangers of high-risk driving — and the consequences of their choices.
When the program started, Buck says YIELD was running an ex-police 1995 Chevrolet Caprice. They ran the car so hard the frame became twisted. At that point, YIELD picked up a 2000 Chevrolet Camaro, also a retired highway patrol car.
All of the go-fast goodies were stripped from the Caprice and stuffed into the Camaro, which had been modified into a full-blown race car with custom rear suspension and specially built front end.
Now equipped with a 454 Chevy engine bored and stroked to 489, the Camaro will run 11.2 seconds in the quarter mile at 198 km/h.
“We get a lot of requests to show up at events in central and southern Alberta,” Buck says.
In 2013, YIELD attended 64 events and had to turn down several invitations.
That’s where RCMP Const. Lee Watt of Red Deer picks up the story.
“There’s such a call for us to go to these different events that we had to get a second car,” Watt says.
Watt will look after YIELD in central and southern Alberta, and will campaign a 1979 Pontiac LeMans race car that was formerly used by the Saanich police force in a similar drag race program.
Equipped with a 425-horsepower small block Chevy engine, the LeMans is capable of turning a 12.5 second quarter-mile at 160.9 km/h.
YIELD drag racing takes place at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton during Friday night Street Legal events, at other tracks around the province, or on airport runways or closed streets in small towns.
“It’s not necessarily on a track,” Watt says, “but it’s done in a safe and organized environment, and it’s legal.
“Instead of illegal street racing, (hopefully) young drivers will get a taste of legal drag racing and realize the challenge and the skill that’s required.”
At any of these race events an individual can lay down a challenge to race the YIELD car. Win or lose, a T-shirt is given as a reward.
No tax dollars are used to run YIELD — the association operates on funds, services and equipment provided by a variety of partners. Greg Williams is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Have an auto related item to share for the column?
Contact him at 403-2871067 or gregwilliams@shaw.ca. Visit his website at gregwilliams.ca