Souped up

BUTTE — Zack Richards has always been known for his speed.

Richards was a multi-sport athlete at Palmer High School and captained the Moose hockey team this past season. The center was known for his speed and agility on the ice and used his quickness to lead Palmer to the state semifinals for the first time in 20 years.

While Richards plans on using his speed playing for Division II Northern Arizona of the American Collegiate Hockey Association this coming fall, he uses a different outlet during the summers to fuel his need for speed.

Drag racing.

Richards has been drag racing since age 14 and spent his Fourth of July at Alaska Raceway Park, located off of the Old Glenn Highway in Butte.

After racing down the quarter-mile track in his 1970 Chevy Nova at speeds topping out at 106 mph, Richards was in the pits, satisfied with his first run of the day.

“That was actually a pretty good run for me. We pumped up the fuel pressure and replaced the fuel filter,” he said about his car’s increased performance. “It shaved about 1.5 seconds off my quarter-mile.”

Working on his car to increase his quarter time is routine for Richards, but the head mechanic on his team is his grandfather, Randy Rolloff, who first ignited Richards’ passion for racing.

“Grandpa started racing in the ’60s. When I was a kid, I would follow him out to the track and just watch,” Richards said. “When I turned 14, he started me in Teen Championship Racing.”

In TCR, teens can race on the same drag strip as their adult counterparts — before they have their drivers licenses. Stipulations are that they run an eighth of a mile instead of a quarter and have an adult riding with them.

The adult riding with Richards was his grandfather.

As Richards progressed through TCR and eventually to his current class of Super ET, “Grandpa Randy” has been there by his side.

“I’ve been racing since I was his age,” Rolloff said in his trailer in the pits of the raceway. “One of my first jobs when I was a kid was at a service station. We wound up building up different cars every year and eventually would start drag racing them.”

Rolloff moved to Alaska in 1976, knocking loose his Wisconsin roots and quickly re-kindling his love for racing.

“My son, Scott, started getting into it, then the grandkids started getting into it. It’s a family thing,” he said.

Rolloff was forced to watch Saturday’s action from the stands, as his car for the weekend wasn’t completed in time to race. This didn’t damper his mood, however.

“I didn’t even bring the car out this weekend,” Rolloff said. “But just to be here and watch Zack win his first race is great.”

Richards said that, during the summer, spending most of his weekends at the track is the norm. He generally arrives at around 10 a.m., then he and Rolloff will spend some time inspecting the cars. They will then do three or four practice runs to record their dial-in times. Dial-in times are the standards racers aim for in their elimination races. Richards equates them to “sort of like a handicap.”

After his practice runs Richards will prepare for his elimination race. Although he is now in his fifth year of racing, the recent high school grad still hasn’t quite found out how to quell his nerves for the eliminations.

“I’ve been doing this for about five years now, and when it comes to elimination I still get really nervous and my heart starts pounding,” Richards said. “It’s really different between me and my grandpa, because he is really calm when it comes to eliminations. I think that just comes down to experience.”

Experience is the key factor Richards said separates him from many other local racers at the moment. While speed is in his blood, his natural quickness doesn’t easily transfer to racing.

“It’s all about reaction time,” Richards said. “It’s just something you learn as you go. You have to learn your car in order to get that reaction. I’ve been struggling a lit bit this season. I’m definitely the youngest driver in my class, and experience really helps.”

That experience is something Rolloff has over Richards, which is why Richards gracefully concedes to the man with 40 years behind the wheel.

“Grandpa wins” Richards said, asked his prediction for the outcome if the two were to race. “He’s been doing it much longer, knows his car better.”

Richards won’t complete the entire season this summer because he has to leave for college before the season ends, something he is disappointed about.

“I’m kind of sad that I have to leave early,” Richards said, adding he will continue racing when he returns during from school.

“I just love the speed,” he said. “The people around the track are just great people that I enjoy being around. Once you race one time you’re hooked.”

Richards’ knack for speed finally translated to the racetrack Saturday night as he claimed his first Super ET title. After his initial elimination round, Richards went on to win his next three races to claim the top spot in the finals by posting a time of 12.62 on the quarter-mile track for his first win ever.