AL CLARK 2012 INDUCTEE

Al Clark has had a tremendous history with the many and varied motor vehicle situations in which he was involved.  Originally born in London, England, he has lived in Victoria since he was three years old.  In 1961, he joined the Quarter Milers Car Club and in 1962 drove a 1948 Chev Coupe to high school.  He then started off in drag racing by driving the Quarter Milers C/Dragster at Arlington, Washington and San Cobble, Vancouver Island (Bamberton Haul Road).

In 1963 he fired up his dragster and ran it down the front straightaway at Western Speedway on a Wednesday afternoon and in 1964 raced at San Cobble and Arlington and Pacific Raceways in Washington and also helped to organize the Quarter Milers annual Autorama car show.  In 1965 he started a metal fabricator/boilermaker’s apprenticeship at DND (Dockyard) and again raced at San Cobble and Arlington and also at Mission Raceways.  He drove the second dragster to appear at the Mission track where he eventually became one of the most successful racers at that track as well as continuing to drive the Quarter Miler’s dragster which he had now bought from club.  In 1967 he started racing at the new Van Isle Dragways in Mill Bay, winning many match races with out-of-town cars including “Balkin’s Falcon” from St. Louis.  In 1968, he set the track record at Van Isle running a fuel-injected Chevy C/Dragster at 9.76 seconds at a speed of 144 miles per hour and won Competition Eliminator six times.

In 1969 he built a B/Dragster for Brian Roberts and Bill England and the following season ran an E-Class Dragster with a straight 8 Buick engine at 122 mph, an elapsed time of 11.5 seconds.  From 1971 to 1974 he ran a  B Class Dragster with an injected Chrysler Hemi at a top speed of 148.68 mph in 9.21 seconds.  Having raced at Mission, Arlington, Seattle, Edmonton and Van Isle with a fair amount of success, he then retired from racing in 1974 and sold his dragster.

After hanging up his racing helmet, he became a very successful organizer for car shows. He started as Show Chairman for the International Show Car Association from 1974 until 1988, then producing his own shows in 1991 and 1994. He also spent time building street rods and formed “Deuces Northwest”, a street rod fabrication company, in 1996.   In 1998 he launched the first of many “Northwest Deuce Days” car shows which highlighted all manner of 1932 Fords as well as other makes of original and modified cars.

The action photos in the accompanying gallery are used with the kind permission of photographer John Dutton and are supplied courtesy of Dan Dertien of the “Remembering Van Isle Dragways” Facebook site.