Igniters raffle custom pedal car

Every year during Ignite the Nites, the Igniters Car Club raffles off a pedal car, with half the money raised going to feed local families at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This year’s pedal car, unlike its predecessors, was custom-made from the ground up.

It’s not the first time club members have done something special with the pedal car, said member and Libby Mayor Brent Teske. Last year, they converted a kit car into a gasser, he said.

But as they were working on that car, Teske got the idea to do a front-engine dragster, a type of car he has loved for years, he said.

Starting this past winter, Teske worked on turning the car in his head into a reality.

“I don’t have a big, fancy shop, or a lot of fancy tools,” he said. “Those bent tubes, I bent over a trailer wheel.”

Teske filled the tubes with sand, heated them and bent them to shape.

Gary and Grace Rantala were among those helping to build the car, with Grace Rantala creating the parachute, Gary Rantala said. Another club member made the seat.

With parts purchased from eBay and hours of hard work, the car took shape.

In addition to Teske’s wife, Dee, other club members who helped out included Gary Armstrong, Diane Dudley, Rob Fox, Mike Noble and Mike Wagner.

Several sponsors from around the community also helped.

Teske has set the bar rather high with this year’s car, Gary Rantala said. It will be up to some club member to step up and see if they can match it next year.

Teske said he doesn’t intend to work on the 2019 car, but is already working on ideas for the 2020 car.

“It was fun, very interesting,” he said.

Marc and Laura-Lee Arsenault —— who won the pedal car raffle and are Igniters members from Creston, B.C. — said that they have a son who is getting married soon, and they plan to give the car to their first grandchild.

It may serve as a little added incentive.

“I’ll hang it on the wall until a grandchild comes,” Marc Arsenault said.