Bisbee Coaster Race Reports Successful 4th of July

This year the Bisbee Foundation Operating Grant award funds went towards our prize money for the participants, totaling $1100. We award $200 for each 1st place winner, $150 for each 2nd place winner, and $100 for each 3rd place, as well as a $100 prize for both Best Build and Best Paint. The last two prizes are determined by choosing a random fan, who isn’t affiliated with any of the coaster drivers or owners, from the audience and having them pick their favorites. This year my mom, who woke up early to come help me time the event at the finish line, was chosen to determine the winners for the last two prizes. As a life-long Bisbee resident, she took that responsibility very seriously and I think she felt proud to have been able to participate in a little bit of coaster history.  

Bisbee Community Coaster Race, Inc are continually grateful for the ongoing support of the Bisbee Foundation through their Operating Grant awards. These funds help us offset the costs of keeping this tradition alive and help us to provide an opportunity for our community members to contribute to Bisbee’s coaster legacy. Thank you Bisbee Foundation!

This year BCCR found ourselves back on Tombstone Canyon for the annual 4th of July Coaster Races! We were excited to be back on our traditional course not only because that’s where all the action is, but because we welcomed a new - well kind of, he used to participate in the races as a kid -  Track Set Up Coordinator who did an amazing job! 

Robert Donahue and his father Mike joined, and rejoined, our committee filling some very important roles. Mike used to be the Start Line Coordinator with BCCR for 14 years, and resigned back in 2017 to take a well deserved break and help with his grandchildren. Although we had a few people try to fill his shoes after he left, no one has the knack for reassuring the kids when they’re nervous, yet also making them take the race seriously, like he does. 

Robert, being familiar with all that the race entails from his own participation as a kid, brought some much needed and very thorough organization to the Track Set Up Coordinator position. This is one of the most important positions for the event and one that the committee has worried about for the past two years while we were trying to find the right candidate.  Robert has the perfect combination of prior knowledge of the event, genuine care for the tradition and OCD that made his tackling of the course set up a thing of beauty! I know I can confidently speak for the rest of the committee when I say that we all were able to breathe a big sigh of relief when Robert agreed to join us this year in the track set up role.

We also had a first for a lot of us on the committee this year - there was a brand new coaster! Most of these cars have been racing down the Canyon in various incarnations for decades, usually being passed on through a family of racers or purchased by a family of racers. This year the above coaster showed up as a skeleton on wheels for our second trial run in Warren! After a bit of dialogue with the owners and a quick run to ACE, the owner was able to cover it with enough sheet metal to be able to participate in the trail run, thus qualifying it to move on to the Tombstone Canyon trial. The picture on the right is the quickly covered coaster (where you can still see some of the bones showing through) and the finished product is the third from the front in the picture on the left. It won our Best Paint award this year.

But on to the race! 

This year we had a total of 16 kids participate, with the divisions being split down the middle at 8 Junior drivers and 8 Senior drivers. We conducted our usual two trial runs in Warren on Saturdays in June to make sure that the kids were given time to get used to their coaster, or switch coasters if their original choice didn’t suit them for size or weight regulations, and also to make sure that the coasters themselves had proper time to get checked and repairs or adjustments be made if necessary.

Once everyone passed the Warren trials, we were on to the Tombstone Canyon trial held that Saturday before the 4th of July. At this point, all of the kids are in the coasters that they must race in and all of the coasters must be functioning at the same level they would be on race day. We don’t want any surprises on the 4th! The Tombstone Canyon trial went smoothly, with the only bit of excitement being that a break line had to be repaired twice (!) last minute before a coaster was sent down the Canyon. Luckily the driver of the car was an experienced driver and although he came down the canyon fast (he was afraid to use his breaks in case the repair didn’t hold) he was able to break at the finish and qualify for the actual race. (Although I think he took a few years off his mom’s life that morning, and she probably his on the way home!)

We had a really nice turn out from the public this year. I think people were excited to see the race back on Tombstone Canyon. (These pictures were taken before the race started so it filled in a bit more as time went on. Also, just look at those beautiful barricades!) It helped the the 4th fell on a Friday to kick off a long holiday weekend. 

Gideon Vickers DJ’ed the event for the second year from the Library balcony. He is tremendously helpful in making sure that the crowd is in a festive mood to kick off the 4th of July celebration and that they know which racer is currently coming down the course. 

The finish times this year ranged from the fastest at 2:58.51 (this was a senior driver, coincidentally the one who didn’t use the brakes on his Canyon trial run) and 4:45.41 being the slowest (a junior driver whose first trip down the Canyon was the trial run 5 days before). The times were a bit unexpected this year due to the fact that we had many inexperienced drivers on the course. Of our 16 drivers, 9 were first time Tombstone Canyon racers - it was the first time for the entire Junior division! Usually you can predict pretty reliably which coasters are going to take the top three spots in both divisions. This time we were all surprised when one of the slowest coasters placed in the top three, but looking at the roster, the faster coasters all had inexperienced drivers in them, and the course can be intimidating when you haven’t done it before. To be fair, we also had a first time driver in a fast coaster who placed 2nd in the Junior division at 3:34.42, so she’ll definitely be one to watch in the upcoming years.

                                                 With our sincerest appreciation, 

                    Charrmaine Boykin-Salazar on behalf of the BCCR Committee