Media

Promote trades to youth

Editor, The Record: Published April 22/06

Over the last year, my brother Ramon and I have donated over $4,000 in cash and labour to the NWSS drag racing team.  The program is operated as an extracurricular activity through the NWSS automotive shop class.  The auto shop instructor and a now-retired NWSS staff member volunteer their time and money to ensure the success of this program.  As a drag racer, I was recently asked to attend a race and help the students with some on-track instruction.  While at the track, I was introduced to a member of the parents’ advisory council.  He thanked me for my assistance and said that my efforts would help these kids at risk.  He went on to explain that kids involved in vocational programs are at greater risk of getting involved with drugs and alcohol. This may or many not be true, but I can guarantee that the kids who drop out of school are at the greatest risk. The demand for trades people has never been greater.  The trades are a legitimate, honorable alternative to a career as a professional. As the service manager of a large equipment distributor, I have hired two apprentices in the last year, both graduates of NWSS.  As a graduate of NWSS, I have seen a steady decline in the trades training at the high school.  The proposed space for auto shop in the new school is almost non-existent.  We have to reverse this trend.  Are kids involved in the trades a risk? You bet: They’re at risk of earning a good living.

Brad Porcellato, New Westminster.

A Wally worth waiting for

By Tom Berridge, Record Sports July 27/07

Mechanic wins sportsman class at Canadian drag nationals
Brad Porcellato of New Westminster drove his way into drag racing immortality, winning a coveted Wally trophy at the National Hot Rod Association Canadian National Open at Mission Raceway Park Sunday.
The 42-year-old service manager at Attica Equipment in Coquitlam raced
his ‘Farmer’s Ferrari’ a 1986 two-wheel drive Chevy half-ton pickup, into the winner’s circle following his victory in the sportsman class over  overall
points leader Phil Marvetz of Bellingham, Washington in the championship final. “Honestly, I thought there was always a chance but statistically, it’s
difficult at best.  But I always thought I had reliable equipment,” said Brad.
The former heavy-duty mechanic has always had an aptitude for understanding how things with moving parts worked. “It’s a bug I got bit with when I was little,” explained Brad.  “My mother used to bring home clocks and little clunky things for me to disassemble.” Those clunky things grew into bigger challenges like a V-8 Vega he used to race
as a teenager. While still in school, Brad once built a large-block motor for a local hydroplane racer and was also offered an apprenticeship with an American NASCAR pit crew, which he declined. He later graduated from New Westminster Secondary School as the only recipient of a Pacific Automotive Show scholarship.  He went to BCIT and became a heavy
duty mechanic. But the hobbiest in him kept his love of cars alive.
With his younger brother Ray, Brad bought a 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bee and completely rebuilt it, eventually earning recognition as the best muscle car at the 1998 show and shine in New West.  He also built an award-winning Harley Davidson motorcycle. The two brothers got into racing 10 years ago at Mission Raceway in the street legal program.
The raced the Super Bee as long as they could, but eventually Ray traded it straight up for a Chris Alston-built ‘73 Camaro, which the brothers race in the pro class. Brad picked up the Chevy pickup from his step father’s lumber yard and with the help of renowned customizer Ray Franks from Sydney, Australia, who was working at Attica at the time, won best competitive vehicle at last year’s show and shine. But Brad was thirsty for more. “I just wanted to progress to the more serious drag racing, “ he said. “For me, I would have to say the educational part.  You can’t do it without learning there is always a little more power to be had  - more consistency to be had.  You have to be able to produce reliable horse-power.” And that is where Brad is at his best. Predicting how fast a vehicle can go is not just about fine-tuning the 410-cubic inch small-block engine, he said.  It’s about factoring in the temperature outside and on the track. It’s also about considering things like relative humidity and barometric pressure.  “There are so many factors at play, you can’t get it perfect,” Brad added. But you can get it close. Brad won the coveted holy grail of Canadian drag racing in just his first race this season and second-ever race at the nationals. Brad matched last year’s best finish, advancing to a second round when the top contender he was running against red-lit, a term for starting early. He then knocked off the No. 2 and 3 ranked drivers in points with superb runs in the qualifying rounds.In the final, Brad predicted he would run the quarter-mile in 13:05 seconds and
actually drove the distance in 13:066, keeping under, but within his time.
Marvetz, who dialled in a slower time, had a time handicap, but looking perhaps for a few more milliseconds, jumped the lights on the starting Christmas tree, and was disqualified. Strangely, Brad says the excitement of racing is not in the few seconds of breakneck speed up the track, its’ the build up. “It’s really intense - the line - cutting the light.  When you see the last yellow glow, you stomp on it.  I don’t think there is any one thing why.  I just do it.  I just do,” Brad said, adding he has everything he ever wanted.“I don’t know if I would,” he said, explaining why he did not get involved in professional racing. “There reason for that is there isn’t a big market for that kind of thing and if I did that, I’d have to turn my hobby into my living.  I knew what I wanted to do at 15.  I wanted to own a house in New Westminster and to be a mechanic, and here I am.”