Teenager takes on the oval
By Ryan McCracken on July 18, 2017.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken Faith Luther is ready to expand on her driving resume. The 14-year-old oval track racer is narrowing her sights on a championship in the Medicine Hat Speedway’s Evolution Cup series while adding a car in Baby Grand circuit to her summer. “It’s been a little bit stressful but it’s been good. We’re just hoping for the best,” Luther said of this season’s title defence, adding she was hoping to make her Baby Grand debut this weekend, but the plans were sidetracked. “I did get a Baby Grand for this year and it was supposed to be ready a few weeks ago but we’re not quite there yet. Hopefully by next weekend we’ll bring it out.” Luther got into the game four years ago after attending a car show in Lloydminster. Alongside her father, Darryl, Faith locked eyes on an Evolution Cup car and says she hasn’t looked back since. “We just ended up going to a car show and we saw these. One of the other families, the Kopecks, they were there showing their cars and the rest is history,” said Luther, who sports No. 77 on both vehicles. “I was originally supposed to start drag racing, when I was about seven or eight. But the way it worked out with my birthday I would have had to start when I was 10 so we decided we weren’t going to do that anymore.” Luther kicked off her Evolution Cup season with a big win in Saturday’s opening heat. After trailing Travis Dolter’s No. 7 car for the first few laps, Luther made a swift pass to take over the lead and never gave it up. She wound up second in the main event behind Emma Fitzpatrick, and was second behind Owen Harbour in Sunday’s main event. While she still plans on taking the Evolution title this season, Luther says she’s hopping into the Baby Grand in search of more power and adrenaline. “This class has been really fun and a really good learning class but I think it’s time to step it up a bit,” she said. “It’s a faster car and harder competition.” Off the track, Luther says she gets a good deal of help from her father. While she chips in from time to time, she admits she’ll likely have to get her hands dirty more often down the line. “I do a bit, but probably not as much as I should,” she said, adding both cars require a considerable amount of upkeep. “There’s a lot of work that goes into it. A lot of people think since they’re smaller cars there’s not much to them but it’s the complete opposite.” In the weekend’s other races, Wayne Seaward swept both renegade trucks finals, beating Curtis Bigelow to the checkered flag Saturday and Tony Lavigne Sunday. Tyler Emond won the baby grand division Saturday ahead of Dale Edwards, but the duo flipped places Sunday as Edwards’ No. 10 car took the win. Trent Guest was elite street stock winner Saturday, then Alf Hieb took first spot Sunday. Brett Hanna’s No. 11 car took the hobby stock win Saturday. Mike Clark’s No. 90 was the IMCA modified winner Sunday. 16
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