Cobble Hill-based Sprint Car racer Robbie Price became the first Canadian ever to win a NARC 410 Sprint Car race when he earned the checkered flag on June 15 at the Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Oregon.
The Northern Auto Racing Club has been running sanctioned Sprint Car events for more than 60 years in California and throughout the West Coast and is one of the most renowned Sprint Car series in the world.
Price beat Californian Justin Sanders and Australian Jessie Attard to the flag, earning himself a US$5,000 prize.
The race was part of the competitive Fastest Five Days in Motorsports event held on the one-third-mile clay oval speedway.
Price got out to the lead right from the start while driving the Rob and Lee Leighton-fielded Saratoga Motorsports Park #21P Maxim, and he was tested on just six of the race's 30 laps, and each time the frontrunners pressed, he prevailed.
After all five races, Price finished within the Top 10, in eighth overall.
After 11 of 23 races in the 2024 NARC 410 Sprint Car Series, Price sits at 18th of 61 drivers.
Price went on to spend June 20-22 at the Skagit Speedway for the Super Dirt Cup, a three-race series that pays $62,000 to the winner. Price is the only Canadian to win the Dirt Cup in the near 50-year history of the race, claiming the title in 2019.
"It was exciting to be back at Dirt Cup, we missed it the last few years with my schedule and travelling around," Price said.
After a couple days of qualifying races, which included trying to work around some handling problems with the car, Price ended up locked into the field to start 11th in the big money race — no small feat considering there were 48 cars trying to go for 26 starting spots.
Once again Price fought some handling issues but soldiered on and brought the car home with a Top-15 finish to round out his Dirt Cup weekend.
"We qualified well and ran good in the heat races which helped us get a good starting spot," Price said after the event. "We just really lacked right rear bite (grip) coming off of the corner."
Price's next race will be at Skagit Speedway Saturday, June 29 for the track's weekly 410 Sprint Car Series race.