Blue Line Racing Spreads Awareness

by editor on Jan.18, 2014, under Hotzone

Blue Line Racing Spreads Awareness

It’s a positive common denominator within Motorsports. The involvement of Police forces within North America that use Motorsports and drag racing in particular to help spread positive and important civil messages…..

Canada too is highly active in these types of initiatives, and a rather perfect example of that comes from in and around Alberta’s drag racing scene with the involvement of the Edmonton Police force.

Blair Dezwart – a Detective for Edmonton’s Police Force heads up Blue Line Racing

Blair Dezwart, who is a Detective within the Edmonton Police Service’s criminal investigation section is the driving force behind a very strong Police presence at Edmonton’s Castrol Raceway. Blair heads up a truly impressive multi-brand and multi-car drag racing team which has been in existence since 1987. Since that time the program has grown steadily because of both it’s popularity and also because of community support to now become a four car stable.

Racing under the team name Blue Line Racing, the race car line-up currently includes a 2003 pre-production Hyundai Tiburon, a 1972 Plymouth Duster, a 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT and a 2009 Ford Mustang GT. Over the years all of these cars and components have been donated to the cause and all assembly and maintenance has been completed in-house by members and volunteers of Blue Line Racing.

The team frequents the drag strip but is also heavily involved in static shows at various community venues including many high schools.

“The primary goal is to help combat illegal street racing and distracted driving which was rampant in the Edmonton area,” Blair Dezwart revealed. “Every year we still have fatalities that are directly related to both. We try to reiterate that if you want to go and race do it in a controlled environment at the drag strip. We believe we are having some effect too because the number of incidents have been dropping off.”

The race cars themselves are all showstoppers and are all driven by actual Police force members. The team appeals to a very broad band audience too using their vintage ’72 Duster for older fans, their Tiburon for Import car enthusiasts and their newer Challenger and Mustang for the younger drag racing audience.

“The support we receive from the local community is really incredible,” Blair added. “The racing is totally funded by a long list sponsors so there is no tax money ever used. It’s been that way for 15 years.”

The cast of supporting sponsors is truly impressive with a very long list of participants.

The cars are fast too — with the new 7 litre Challenger being the fastest of the group overall to date at 9.93 secs.