November 3, 2023

 CHAMPION PROFILE - Dylan Almeida

DYLAN ALMEIDA  - Qlispe Raceway 2023 Bike & Sled champion

Suffice to say that drag racing is in the gene pool for Dylan Almeida, and, perhaps, some of what might have vaulted him to the top of the point standings at Qlispe Raceway Park’s (formerly Spokane Raceway/Spokane Co. Raceway) Bike & Sled class in 2023.

Almeida finished just 14 points ahead of Donna Browne and 26 ahead of Joel Lesine.

“I told myself I wasn’t going to race this year and focus on doing more, but we see how that worked out,” Almeida wrote in an email.

His grandfather, the late Jim “Sugar Bear” Clark, was a longtime bracket racer at the track. “I wanna’ thank my Grandpa (Sugar Bear) for getting me into the sport at a young age,” Almeida said.

Almeida also thanks his mother, Jennifer Jones, “For letting me skip school to go racing and making all of my team shirts. Shoutout to JJ American Design.”

Almeida raced for West Valley in the high school class when he was 16. “I have plenty of trophies from it, even a “Wally” but never a championship always second place in the final points standings,” he added.

A Wally is the trophy named for NHRA founder Wally Parks and is awarded at many tracks and events.

Almeida started racing motorcycles in Walla Walla three years ago but admits he “Never did any good, I struggled with a hand clutch and couldn’t get better than a .100 reaction time.”

“This year I really worked on not being fast and just being as consistent as possible, and that seemed to work pretty good. I’ll be back next year to try again!

Almeida offers a lengthy list of people he said have contributed to his love of and success in the sport of drag racing, including “My Brother, Devin Clark, for giving me grey hairs at a young age.”

Thanks also to Brian Jennen and Jolene Chambers for taking him all over the northwest and letting him race the “smart car.”

Bruce and Merri Nickerson have also adopted me, he said. Thanks to the Cooper Family “For letting an annoying little kid hang out and learn from. I’m sure I’m missing tons as there are so many people I consider family at the race track. But that’s why I call it home.”

What does Almeida do other than racing?

“I love to DJ because there’s nothing better than when the crowds jumping and the music’s bumping,” he said. “Other then that I enjoy concerts, music festivals, stuff like that.”

QLISPE RACEWAY PARK
2023 POINT LEADERS: BIKE & SLED
Driver Points
1..............Dylan Almeida............................................... 151
2..............Donna Browne............................................... 137
3..............Joel Lesine...................................................... 125
4..............Steve Miller...................................................... 90
5..............Jerry Blake....................................................... 74

2023 Bike and Sled Champion Dylan Almeida on the track.

A BOAT OUT OF WATER

One of the top inboard hydroplanes in the nation, Mr. Jiggs, driven by Josh Harnack, was quite an attention getter recently. The boat took part in a trunk-or-treat event at Ron’s Drive-In in Spokane Valley that attracted over 900 people.

Mr. Jiggs competes in the National Modified Inboard Hydroplane class in Region 10 of the American Power Boat Association. It is named in honor of Josh’s great-grandfather’s World War I bomber squadron. The boat has won a national championship and also set two world speed records, one in competition and the other straightaway at a speed of 156 mph plus over the quarter mile kilo.

“Kids there never saw anything like it; it was really fun,” said Josh’s dad, Brent Harnack, himself a former driver.

Brent Harnack Photo

Paul Delaney has been writing about Motorsports in the Pacific Northwest since 1976. He welcomes learning about your racing accomplishments.

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