Sisters man tops in sprint cars

Pat Bliss takes it to 140 miles per hour. photo provided

Sisters drywall contractor Jim Helm lives a second life on the weekends. He follows his passion for sprint car racing, traveling with his crew and the car he owns to races in four western states and British Columbia.

The team, with driver Pat Bliss of West Linn at the wheel, is currently in first place in the Northwest Sprint Car Racing Association series.

Although Helm has owned sprint cars for around 10 years, this is his first year racing on pavement tracks. Sprint cars are also raced on dirt tracks, in a different series.

Pavement racing involves a whole different set-up and chassis style. When Helm decided to give the pavement series a go, he bought a car which had been wrecked, parted it out, and had Wolverine Chassis in Mill City build a new chassis, rebuilding the car from the ground up.

"I'm sure there is no other car quite like this one in the country," he said.

Eleven races comprise the Northwest series, which runs during a March-September season. The next and final race will be for the championship.

"I didn't expect to have to worry about a championship this year," Helm said.

He is, of course, delighted to have that so-called worry.

Sprint cars look somewhat like modified go-carts and to a regular highway driver, they travel pretty fast. Average speeds are around 140 miles per hour on pavement tracks, which vary in size from 4/10 to 5/8 mile.

The wings attached to the top and nose of the frame do double duty. Aerodynamically, they put more power to the ground which increases speed. They also protect the car somewhat if a crash occurs.

Races are 40 counted laps; when a yellow flag goes up during a lap, signaling a wreck or other hold-up, that lap doesn't count.

One of the trickiest parts of prepping for a race is making sure there is enough fuel to complete the race, yellow-flag laps and all. There are no pit stops in sprint car racing.

The cars also have to weigh at least 1,425 pounds, not including driver, at the end of the race. Not enough fuel is an obvious problem. But too much fuel makes extra weight, an important consideration in a sport where there are milliseconds between placings.

So a delicate balancing act takes place before each race, with the crew boss, driver, owner, and crew all working in synergy to get it right.

Helm speaks highly of his team. Crew chief Gary Lynch of Redmond had worked with Helm for many years as driver of the dirt track cars. He retired from that activity, but came back onto the team after Helm's first pavement race, which, Helm said, didn't go too well.

Lynch has the ability to gauge good set-up just by looking, said Helm. He leads the team.

Driver Bliss is completing his first year of driving for Helm, but he and his brother Mike have a solid reputation in sprint car circles.

Helm's team is rounded out with his son, Leonard, Helm himself, and his wife, Jan, who is there for "moral support." She says the sprint car racing scene is family oriented, wholesome and supportive.

Helm has been a "car guy" his whole life and the past decade he has been living the dreams he held as a young man, to own racing cars.

"This is a sport of peaks and valleys that are seconds apart," he said. "(The rush) is something that gets in your blood."

Helm would enjoy mentoring a young person who may also carry those dreams and be looking for an opportunity. He may be reached at 548-8912. For more information on sprint cars, check out www.nsraracing.com.