April 27
April 23, 2007April 25
April 25, 2007
Exhilarating, fun and exciting.
All were words used by various elected officials and members of the media when describing the experience of drag racing at No Problem Raceway in Bell Rose.
The raceway and the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office hosted a drag racing event featuring various elected officials and members of the media.
Each participant drove the quarter-mile track in a 2007 Dodge Ram 1500 Big Horn Edition, provided by Southland Dodge in Houma.
Most speeds topped out between 85 and 90 miles per hour, although the speedometer registered up to 120 mph.
“It was just totally exhilarating,” Carla Blanchard Dartez, state representative of District 51, said of the race. It was Dartez’s first time participating at the event, and when asked if she would return next year, the response was immediate: “Absolutely,” she said. “No doubt about it. I don’t need a stress doctor with drag racing.”
Pat Joffrion, owner of No Problem Raceway, said having a good time is the point of the event. “We invite all of our elected officials to come out, and you see how it goes,” he said. “It’s just to allow the media and elected officials to come out here and have a little fun.”
But Joffrion stressed that the fun is had in a controlled environment. “It’s the same thing as if you leave from a red light on the highway,” he explained. “But when we’re doing something like this, you have walls to protect you. You don’t have any oncoming traffic.”
And that is a big part of the raceway’s attraction—street racing in a controlled environment. “We make it affordable for the kids to come out here and race, instead of street racing on the street,” said Joffrion.
The first Saturday of every month, the raceway hosts street racing events. “Only 10 bucks to get in to race and to watch,” he added. “All the traffic is going in the same direction. We have an ambulance on track. Everybody has to wear a helmet and seatbelt, and they ride by them self in the car. It’s a whole lot safer than racing in the street.”
That type of offer should go over well with the Louisiana State Police, which along with the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, is currently launching a statewide public awareness campaign concerning the dangers of street racing on public roads.
Part of the campaign is placing billboards in strategic high-crash locations to warn drivers of the consequences of taking part in speed contests. State highway traffic regulations say that it is illegal to drive any vehicle on public roads in the any race, speed competition, drag race, test of physical endurance or for the purpose of making a speed record, unless being done so at a legally sanctioned event.
As for the sanctioned street race at No Problem, last week?
Assumption Parish Tax Assessor Wayne “Cat” Blanchard came away with the winner’s trophy, thanking the “little people that made (it) possible.”
For Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre, who red lighted in his first race: “The worst performance of my entire racing career,” Lafourche’s top cop said. “I’ve got to look at 2008. It should be a redemption year.”
