Rick Richet looks down at his left front axle hub one last time, shakes his head, and uses a word we can't reprint here.
For the better part of an hour, Richet has searched the pit area to find a replacement for a tire that burst in his first race of the day. If successful, he could've competed a second time. But he's seemingly exhausted all possibilities.
"I have a special bolt pattern on the front of the car, so it's real hard to find," he says, looking over at his dad and racing partner Daryl, who's returning equally empty-handed from one last foray through the pits. The Richet's day is over.
"We'll get 'em next time," says Daryl.
Richet, who's known at Penticton Speedway as "Ricochet," is a regular driver in the Speedway's "Hit to Pass" series - a specialized, and some might say crazy, form of automotive competition where drivers must make contact with the vehicle in front before they can pass.
Needless to say, with its steady flow of metal-to-metal mayhem, Hit to Pass is a long-standing crowd favourite. And with today being opening day of the 2019 Speedway season, Richet is understandably bummed at the outcome.
"I grew up watching Hit to Pass since the time I was five years old, in Prince George," he says. And I've always wanted to get into one. Then about five or six years ago, thirty years after I started watching it, I found the time and money to finally get involved."
Hit to Pass cars aren't exactly the epitome of vehicular beauty. Richet's ride, originally a 1966 Chevelle, is flat-out hideous. Large chunks of bodywork are missing, and the chunks that remain are severely beaten down. It's ID number is spray painted on, and its windshield looks to be a sheet of well-worn plexiglass.
Richet says there's not much left of the original Chevrolet. With his dad's assistance, he's replaced and rebuilt much of the important parts of the car himself - including bits of the engine and the frame. And that's precisely what you need when you're involved in such a bruising class of racing. It's what's under the sheet metal that counts.
And Richet, who moved to Penticton when he was 20, wouldn't have it any other way. "I can drive lots of other things, but this is a heck of a good stress relief for one. You know, you get behind the wheel and you're feeling aggravated after a tough week or two, and you can hit anything in front of you."
"I love it. I get out of my car after a good race and I'm just vibrating. I really enjoy it."
Despite the carnage, Richet say there's a very definite sense of decorum out there. "Most of us all know each other from other things. And if I can go around a stranded car, I will. But sometimes, in the heat of the moment, you never know. You try to avoid whatever you can, and you're not out there to injure. You're out there to have fun."
Injuries are, however, part of the game. Richet says he "got hit sideways down the front straightaway last year, and got pushed into the wall at about 50 miles per hour." The jolt gave him a mild concussion.
"It was nothing serious," he says. "It's all good. Mainly you trust the people you're racing with."
This is his sixth year as a Hit to Pass driver, and Richet says he generally does "pretty well." And these days, there's actual prize money up for grabs.
Not that that's a difference maker. According to Richet, he'd be implicitly involved in the Hit to Pass scene with or without prize money. "Because I absolutely love it. Gasoline is in my veins."
Hit to Pass was just one of four events on display during the Speedway's Sunday opener. The four-cylinder Hornets and beefier Street Stock classes provided most of the day's entertainment, and the capper was the certifiably wacko "Flying Destruction," where a precious few drivers - four in all - willingly drove their vehicles up a ramp and straight through the side of a motor home.
Later, as the crowd slowly filed out, we encountered "Ricochet" once again. This time, he was in the back of a pickup truck, perhaps still looking for that replacement wheel and tire. "We'll be there next time. You watch," he shouted to us as the truck motored off.
Penticton Speedway next sees action this Sunday, again starting at 2 p.m., though the big event this spring falls on the May 18-19 weekend. It's called the "Young Guns Memorial," and it honors two young drivers and Speedway regulars - Bobby Wilson and Dayton Dery - who were killed several years ago during a winter parts run to Kelowna.
The 19th will feature a "Day of Destruction" event - essentially a "Hit to Pass" race where drivers tow trailers and boats.
Oh the humanity.
