British Columbia Racing Traditionalists!

by editor on Mar.02, 2015, under Hotzone

The saying that the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” is certainly applicable to the father & son drag racing team of Dave and Darrell Stobbe….

For many drag racing season’s the BC racers have been a fixture name within Canada’s Sportsman ranks and their 2-car 2015 effort is a continuation of that.

Both Dave (from Kamloops) and Darrell (from Abbotsford) are Chevy proponents and their Bowtie-branded machines are both unique and impressive in their own way.

Dave & Darrell Stobbe

For team patriarch Dave Stobbe, who’s involvement in drag racing dates back to the mid 1960’s, he has been behind the wheel of his present day ’63 Corvette Super Gasser since 2007. Powered by a 400 CID motor, the Suncoast-chassis car has been both a very reliable and frequent runner within the West’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series circuits as well as at select IHRA events.

Dave confesses however that he thinks outside the box a little bit with regard to the way he sets his car up for the uber competitive S/G 9.90 indexed category.

“I have a bit of a different mindset then what is more typically done in the Super Gas class,” he revealed. “This car is fully capable of running some big mph — but I’ve chosen to dial it for slower top end speeds. The theory is that I run it more aggressively early in the run but after that more conservatively. Our throttle stop kicks in way later and thus we harness the car much further down the track then most of our competition. It’s something I’m used to and I think it’s a safer way to run a car in this class.”

Dave Stobbe’s ’63 Corvette is a familiar car within Western Super Gas wars

Dave’s approach has produced some good results too. With this Corvette, he has racked up a couple of big wins during the IHRA’s Mopar Rocky Mountain Nationals at Edmonton’s Castrol Raceway and has advanced to the middle and late rounds during a number of NHRA national and divisional races.

Following in Dave’s footsteps is his son Darrell who races a truly unique and very rare 1964 Chevelle 300 in Super Stock. And to say that Darryl’s car has deep roots — would certainly be an understatement.

“I first found this car in Cache Creek BC when I was age 14,” he recalled “I paid $100 for it. It was originally my High School graduation car, it was my wedding car and I even brought home my first child from the hospital in it! Over the years I transformed it from a Street car to a E.T. Bracket racer — all the time morphing it to something faster and faster. Three years ago we decided to go Super Stock racing with it and it’s now a SS/JA classed car.”

Darryl Stobbe's SS/JA Chevelle is a very rare piece

Darrell Stobbe’s SS/JA Chevelle is a very rare piece

Darrell’s machine is pretty much as meticulous a Super Stock car possible. He has run it to a career quick 10.27 secs (11.00 class index) and it’s construction and finish has already earned him a NHRA “Best Engineering” award. He uses a potent 327 CID motor program crafted by Gord Merkley (Langley BC).

Darryl Stobbe has owned his Chevelle since before he was licensed to drive.

Darrell Stobbe has owned his Chevelle since before he was licensed to drive.

Over the years the attraction of the sport of drag racing has maintained a close bond between Dave and Darryl who schedule and attend events together as much as possible each season.

“We try to race together as often as possible. We also have a long running family tradition when racing at the NHRA race in Seattle. Known as “Stobbe Corner” — all of our family and friends come in for that — and it has a bit of a reputation now,” he joked.

The Stobbe Racing team funds their program from the dividends of a their very successful Stobbe Construction Ltd., company, which Dave first founded but has now retired from. He is now involved with warehousing (Ebbots Holdings Ltd).