Oregon Beat The Heat Racing

BEAT THE HEAT RACING, INC. is a national organization that was established in 1984.  With chapters currently in 35 states across the country, Beat the Heat is continually growing.  In 2001 a local Beat the Heat racing program was established in response to the growing rate of street racing related fatalities by officers and police volunteers of the Gresham Police Department. The Gresham Police Department provided a 1992 RS Camaro, which was retired from service and turned into a drag race vehicle. In 2002, the program was cut from the police department and “Oregon Beat the Heat Racing” incorporated in the State of Oregon.

Oregon Beat the Heat Racing, Inc. is a private non-profit organization formed for the purpose of:

1. Providing a positive forum for interaction between the drag racing enthusiast, the general public, and Law Enforcement.
2. Promote and conduct educational programs that provide youth with alternatives to illegal street racing.
3. Promote vehicle and road safety issues in the community through schools, car clubs, and other non-profit organizations.
4. Identify, research, formulate, publicize, lobby and promote Oregon Beat the Heat Racing, Inc’s. position on issues of importance to its members.

Oregon Beat the Heat Racing, Inc. is centered in Gresham Oregon. We work in close partnership with NHRA sanctioned Portland International Raceway, our home track. As a result of this partnership, PIR now has over 50 annual scheduled events called the “Late Night Street Legal Drags”. We participate in these drags on a regular basis and continually encourage youth to come race against us on the track and not on the streets. Oregon Beat the Heat Racing has also been a catalyst for the formation of another Beat the Heat program located in central Oregon.

Oregon Beat the Heat Racing, Inc. is affiliated with and endorsed by Team Safety, which is a volunteer group from the Oregon Department of Transportation. We do most of the safety fairs and informational programs in the Portland Metropolitan area for Team Safety. We are continually expanding our reach to other areas in the state and recently attended our first event in the Medford area.  We stress vehicle and road safety in all forms, as well as distribute informational brochures, stickers, and any promotional items provided by our sponsors and the Oregon Department of Transportation. We make appearances at events such as the body shop classes at Clackamas Community College, Damascus Community Days Kids Fair, Boeing Safety Fair, and Happy Valley Safety Fair. We have also participated in shop classes on building Hot Rods at Mt Hood Community College. We also frequently attend cruise-in’s around the Portland Metro area.

Krystal Pomante was an 11 year old little girl who tragically had her life taken December 30^th, 2001 as a passenger in an illegal street racing accident in the Gresham area.  A Documentary was developed of the accident with detailed interviews of all involved.  OBTH Racing regularly utilizes this documentary in our training curriculum with outstanding results.  Oregon Beat the Heat Racing, Inc. is a donor and proud sponsor of the Krystal Pomante scholarship fund.  In conjunction with The Pomante family and PIR we developed an annual drag racing event to raise money for the scholarship fund and our proud that the first scholarships went out in 2009, The very year Krystal was supposed to graduate.    

“TICKET TO RIDE” a Gresham youth project was established in 1994 by founder Jim Klock.  Jim had a vision to promote a better understanding between Gresham youth and the law enforcement community.  Along with this goal Jim set out to help the kids that would join the project by giving them a chance to learn valuable skills alongside professionals that perform them on a daily basis.  In doing so the project would allow the kids to network their skills possibly finding future employment opportunities. 

An ad was run in the local newspaper to find participants that would be interested in building a car.  All accepted applicants were required to sign a contract stating that they would keep their grades and attendance in good standing.  They would also be required to work on the project for at least 3 days a week until the completion of the project.   The Gresham youth project accepted 22 kids into the program, of which only 9 completed the project.

The Gresham Community Policing Agency supported the project but did not have the funding or the space to host it.  Jim found a friend that would allow them to build the car on his property but a shop would need constructed prior to the project being able to begin due to a lack of space.  Through generous donations from the community the kids would spend the first several months constructing the shop within which the car would be built. 

Jim found a car in the form of a 1956 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight that was donated by Cliff Davis.  The car was utilized as a chicken coop in a field and was in very rough shape with rot in both doors and severe damage in the passenger rear quarter panel.  The kids dismantled the car in one day before the real work could begin.  The kids would work on the car beginning in late 1994 with a lot of knowledge, Labor, money and supplies being donated by the community.  Jim Klock would donate about 800 hours of his personal time to this project.  Upon completion, Jim Klock and the kids turned over the keys to the car in July 1995 to the Gresham Police Department.  Gresham PD utilized the car as a patrol car and community relations symbol for many years.

In 2008 The Gresham Police Department, Chief Carla Piluso, handed over the keys to the 56 Olds police car to Oregon Beat the Heat Racing, Inc. to use in the traffic safety education programs. All activities are performed by active/retired police officers, active/retired firefighters and volunteers volunteering their own time.  Oregon Beat the Heat Racing, Inc. recognizes the kids that built the car as the true owners and affords every effort to stay in touch with them and keep them involved whenever possible.