'Sight, Sound, Smoke and Fire': IHRA Canadian Nationals in Grand Bend this weekend

Local racer preparing for Grand Bend Motorplex A local drag racer prepares for IHRA Canadian National Drag Racing Championships this weekend in Grand Bend. CTV London's Brent Lale reports.

In his Stratford, Ont. garage, Spencer Hyde tunes up his 1969 Pro Modified Camaro.

It’s the final touches ahead of this weekend’s 22nd annual IHRA Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend Motorplex.

‘This event is one of the two biggest in Canada,” said Hyde. “We’re looking forward to seeing lots of nitro cars, jet cars, big crowds and the weather is looking good.”

Hyde should be one of the favourites in his division after recently setting the track record.

“We went 3.69 seconds at 208 miles per hour,” he said. “It pulls three to three-and-a-half G's all through low gear and then when the timing comes in, it spikes up over three G's again and 208 miles an hour at 660 feet so pretty good rush.”

This event will feature everything from Sportsmen competitors to the Hell Fire Jet Truck, to the Northern Warrior Jet Dragster.

“Sight, sound, fire and smoke, that's what drag racing is,” said Paul Spriet, owner of Grand Bend Motorplex.

A year ago, the event had a limited field with the border closed and only Canadian racers in attendance.

“This year, we're able to bring back some of our U.S. competitors,” added Spriet. “The Nostalgia Nitro Funny car guys, the Nitro Funny car and the Nitro Altered stuff that we couldn't do previously. This year it's basically last year enhanced.”

The enhanced field has fans excited. Advanced ticket sales are already up 50 per cent over 2021.

“I think it's a combination of people being more comfortable going out now that we're hopefully on the backside of the pandemic,” said Spriet.

“So they're more comfortable coming out and attending events and the fact that we've been able to enhance the show has definitely helped us in in our sales.”

Hyde planned on racing a full season in the U.S. but with the border closed couldn’t do that last year.

In December he did make one trip south of the border where he qualified seventh out of 50 cars.

He’s coming off a great season and hopes to bring that power and speed to Grand Bend.

“There was a track in Naperville Quebec who put on a local series,” said Hyde. “We adapted, went up there and ran three or four races up and actually won the points championship. So a year that looked to be, you know, kind of not the way to plan it, it worked out pretty good.”

The event in Grand Bend runs Friday through Sunday, wit full shows at 5 and 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.