Council Angers Grass Drags Promoter

Jeff Green | Jun 27, 2013

Bill Day does not appreciate how the annual grass drag racing event he hosts at his property on the Harrowsmith-Sydenham road has been characterized by South Frontenac Council.

As was reported last week, Councilor John McDougall commented on a Facebook posting that was sent to council by Day’s neighbour, Mel Therrien. McDougall was concerned that Day is planning on hosting more than “a full grass drag series,” which is more than one day event per year that is permitted by the township.

“He took the Facebook posting out of context,” Bill Day said of McDougall’s comments. “When I talked about a full series I was taking about our event, which is an annual memorial to my father, being a part of a series that includes events at other tracks in the region.”

The sentence in question on the grass drags' Facebook page supports Bill Day’s contention. It reads: “We’re currently working on a full grass drag series, just in talks with some other tracks.”

Bill Day did indeed hold more than one event last year, and told the News that after some legal back and forth between his lawyer and the township over the winter, he has now paid fines to the township and said “I am only planning on holding one event this year.”

Council also talked about how Day’s Facebook posting talked about “drawing in more outlaws” as if that was a reference to bikers, when Bill Day he was referring to the Outlaw class of snow machine, the most powerful machines on the market.

McDougall is also concerned, however, that the track at Day’s farm will be available for “regular Wednesday evening and a Saturday or Sunday ride day” which is something that the township does not permit.

Bill Day said that the track is open on those practice days by invitation only, not to the general public. He thinks that the township is actually going out of its way to target him, when there are more important issues they could be dealing with. “They’ve agreed to one race; I’m only holding one race. But it must have been a boring Tuesday night for them, so they decided ‘let’s go ahead and bug Bill Day,” he said.

Council did not take any action last week in response to the communication from Mel Therrien, but Day said the timing of their comments has had a negative impact on his negotiations with sponsors in promoting the Bill Day Memorial Grass Drags and the series that he is working on as well.