Another Legends Car Club Charity Airport Drag race is in the books, and organizers are thrilled with the turnout.
Alex Loewen, co-chair for the races and Legends Car Club president, says while the numbers haven’t been crunched yet, based on overall attendance last weekend, he’s certain they did well in fundraising for their three chosen charities: Genesis House, South Central Cancer Resource and STARS Air Ambulance.
“Crowds were good, racers were happy, both days ran smoothly, with only a few small delays, but otherwise everybody left happy.”
About 53 racers competed each day, and the stands were full.
“Crowds on Sunday were even bigger than Saturday this year, and our reader boards were back and up and running, so that improved the spectator experience.”
Other charitable organizations who benefitted from the weekend are also pleased. Loewen says The Community Exchange was busy at the cold shack, and Sixteen13 Ministries did a smooth job with parking and managing the crowds. The Bunker’s food truck, Industrial Eats, had two long lines all day, both days.
Chris Hildebrand and Emilia Kehler ran The Bunker truck.
“We sold 750 burgers, 817 orders of fries and 243 hot dogs over the weekend, which is amazing,” Kehler says.
Hildebrand adds, “No other food truck that I’m aware of can push out meals as fast as we can, with the quality that we can, so it’s something that we really take a lot of pride in. It’s one way of building self sufficiency for the nonprofit, and to provide job opportunities and work and life coaching for the youth and young adults that need a bit of guidance.”
While the weekend offered a lot of thrills for the crowd, it also provided valuable experience for the racers, and Kennedy Letkeman is one of them.
At eight years old, in her junior dragster, she was the youngest bracket racer on the track. She received the dragster as a Christmas present from her grandfather, Rod Fehr, who is an experienced competitor himself, and has not missed a single Legends race.
Racing is a family tradition, Fehr says.
“I found a guy close to the Saskatchewan border who had three for sale, so I bought them. A friend of mine drives one. My oldest granddaughter drives one, but she decided to wait to race next year. We have a long history with Legends, and it’s always a great experience.”
Fehr adds, “We’re really proud of Kennedy. She did so well, considering she only played around with it at the farm. Her mom still has a license and may get back into it next year.I guess after three generations, the legacy continues.”
“This was my first time racing,” Kennedy says. “It was so much fun. It feels really cool to go straight against the wind, and your hair just goes whoosh.”
“She’s been running very consistently, with an almost perfect reaction time,” says her mom, Stephanie Letkeman, who has also competed in a number of races.
Letkeman explains how in bracket racing, it’s not about beating someone else’s speed, but whoever comes the closest to their estimated time.
“She was the only one in her bracket, so she’s been getting good experience, and it was a really fun day. I’m unbelievably proud of her.”
In terms of safety, Stephanie says, “As a mom, you always want your kid to be as safe as possible. But realistically, it’s more dangerous to ride your bike around the neighborhood, than to be in this. They have really good roll bars, and she’s fully kitted out with equipment to keep her safe. I don’t think they could make it any safer if they tried at this point.”
Kennedy’s friends are impressed with her new hobby. On one of the last days of school this year, her mom and grandfather brought a few of their dragsters to school to give the students a chance to see the equipment and sit inside one of the cars.
“They think it’s really cool,” Kennedy says. “They had never sat in a race car before.”
While the racing season is nearly over, her dragster won’t sit still for long.
“We might try to get her into Gimli, to get her fully licensed,” Stephanie says.
Photos by Lori Penner/Voice
Over 50 racers came out last weekend to take part in the Legends Car Club’s annual charity drag races at the Altona airport. Among them was eight-year-old Kennedy Letkeman (right) who was the youngest bracket racer on the track in her junior dragster. It was her first time racing and she says she had a blast
