Stoken's smokin'

By MICHAEL RICHESON/The Daily Inter Lake

Eureka man rockets to world record: Logger a drag racer during the weekends

He's a logger, a rancher and a Montana businessman.

But Pat Stoken, a lifelong Eureka resident, has a part-time profession that most people can only dream about. He spends 11 weekends a year as a professional driver on the International Hot Rod Association circuit.

On April 19, he put his name in the record books by racing the fastest nitrous Pro Modified run in drag-racing history.

Stoken reached a top speed of 233.44 mph to complete the quarter-mile run in just 6.066 seconds during a qualifying round at the IHRA Spring Nationals in Rockingham, N.C.

The previous record was 6.07 seconds.

"This is a big deal in the racing community," Stoken said. "It was the fastest pass a nitrous car has ever made."

In the Pro Modified community, two camps compete for supremacy - those who drive nitrous-powered cars and those who use blower engines. The blower cars have held the top spot for a couple of years, but technology is quickly bringing the nitrous cars back to a level playing field.

Stoken's 1968 Camaro, made by Tim McCamis, uses a Reher-Morrison engine that runs on gas and a Speedtech nitrous oxide system. The 799-cubic-inch engine produces more than 2,500 horsepower.

All that power comes at a price, though.

Professionally made Pro Modified cars require about 1,300 hours to build and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that doesn't include upkeep and new tires every 15 passes down the track. Stoken's car uses a gallon and a half of gas and eight pounds of nitrous each run.

"It's not something you just start out in," Stoken said. "You can't just jump in and go six seconds."

On the night of April 19, Stoken lined up for his last qualifying pass of the day. IHRA drivers get four qualifying passes - two on Friday and two on Saturday. Sunday is race day, and drivers with the best qualifying times get to pick their lane and race against slower drivers in the bracket.

Stoken warmed up his tires by burning out and creating a cloud of smoke. The lights quickly flashed from yellow to green, and he was off.

Drag racing is a combination of reflexes, coordination and sheer power. In less than seven seconds, drivers have to shift three times as they race down the track while keeping their car in the center. One wrong move and the driver can quickly find himself in a world of hurt.

Stoken finished his qualifying pass and didn't think much of it.

"I didn't think it was that fast," he said. "I had drifted off a little bit down the track."

Unlike some of the other crews, Stoken doesn't have a radio system to communicate with his sons, Cory and Casey. His boys work as his mechanics and race crew.

"The kids came down on the golf cart, and I saw they were happy," Stoken said. "When they said, '6.06' I was like, 'Holy criminy.'

"It still hasn't really registered with me yet. I can't believe it."

Stoken, 53, has been drag racing since he was a teenager in Eureka. He has come a long way from his home-built '67 Chevelle that he used to take to Spokane and race.

Stoken's father homesteaded a ranch on Grave's Creek in 1907, and his family still owns the place. Stoken and his twin brother, Mike, own Stoken Logging and have been logging Plum Creek lands for 30 years. He and his wife also own the Ranch Hand Conoco station along with his brother.

His numerous businesses pay the bills, but racing is what really drives Stoken. In a small Montana town such as Eureka, horses are more common than race cars, but the roar of the engine pulled him in when he was young.

"It's just something I've been interested in all my life," he said.

His racing started out as a hobby that he and some high school buddies got into. After he got married, Stoken would bring his wife, Terrie, daughter Caley Kinyon and their two sons.

"We always went as a family," Stoken said.

His two sons work for the logging business as well as being the mechanics for their father.

"They've been brought up in it, and they still love racing probably as much as they love their wives," Stoken said. "If I had to do it myself, I couldn't race."

Stoken started dabbling in the professional circuit in 1996 by occasionally entering some West Coast races. But the sport's popularity is based on the East Coast, where a long history of racing and quality tracks provide much more opportunity. Some IHRA races draw as many as 75,000 spectators.

In 2006, the Stoken team committed to more races on the East Coast. For convenience, Stoken stores his car in Alabama. He and his sons fly to Alabama and then drive to race locations. In 2007, Stoken entered all of the IHRA races and placed third in the point standings. He also won the Most Improved Pro Driver award.

Stoken's stock began rising last June when he won first place in Tulsa, Okla. His win marked the first nitrous-powered win in almost two years.

Stoken is still an outsider in the sport.

In a world full of sponsorships and full-time drivers, he's a bit of an oddity - a Montana boy who shows up out of nowhere. Many of the professional drivers get to test their cars during the week and practice. Stoken's work commitments in Eureka make it nearly impossible for him to take the extra time off to run his car.

"You can tell it bothers some of them," Stoken said of the other drivers.

Stoken said this year he and his boys plan to enter all of the IHRA races, which will take them from North Carolina to Canada to Oklahoma.

"We'd love to do even better," he said.

Reporter Michael Richeson may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at mricheson@dailyinterlake.com