“On Oct 13 2019, the world lost a legend who supported the local motorsports industry in the Yorkton area when Art Bilous passed away,” Jason Popowich told the crowd.
“Art would go out of his way to make things happen in the racing world and tractor pulls were huge on the list of events to be successful and nothing made him happier than to share his joy with others. His motivation for supporting events was to see the smiles on the crowd’s faces enjoying the day.”
So, instead of a moment of silence, in appreciation of Art Bilous’ accomplishments and all he did in the community, a feature pull was completed starring the Mario High performance Diesel all the way from Edmonton AB in a powerful, high performance Kenworth semi-truck.
In 1976, Art and his wife Helen purchased a local business Yorkton Distributors, a Shell bulk fuel agency. It began as a fuel distribution station but with help from his brother Rick grew and expanded into a very successful crop inputs retailer, said Popowich.
“Art was an extremely humble person and he treated each customer, employee and company representative with dignity and respect,” he said. “Art also strongly believed to be successful in business, he felt it was extremely important to give back to the community they lived in.”
Popowich said Bilous was an avid supporter of local events through the years.
“Art’s love of motorsports expanded to create a snowmobile museum on the farm that included many world class winning race sleds and he was so proud to show them to all who visited,” said Popowich. “He was very instrumental in the start of the Yorkton Sno Riders and created many of the trails north of the city, many are still in existence today.
“Art always had a project on the go, whether it was cutting a new trail with his own tractor and brush mower or grooming a trail smooth with his own groomer to help the trail system in Yorkton and the surrounding areas. He purchased the very first groomer for the Yorkton club to use until the club could afford to purchase one. He also supported many neighboring clubs in their start up as well.”
It was from there the scope of Bilous’ supporting motorsports grew.
“As I mentioned earlier, Art was very fond and loved motorsports, he sponsored many clubs and participants in the area, including the Kambusters drag racing and Parkland Racing Association just to name a few,” said Popowich. “He purchased mobile bleachers that were used in many events around Yorkton and one of the bleachers is here tonight for all to enjoy and recently donated to the exhibition association by Mrs. Bilous.”
When it came to tractor pulls Bilous was an owner as well.
Bilous’ “love of the motorsports expanded when he purchased the shiny Red Remedy super modified tractor and the last run his brother Rick drove it to a first-place finish, here in Yorkton two-years-ago and brought a huge smile to Art and many of his dearest friends,” said Popowich. “Art was a huge supporter of the Yorkton Exhibition and sponsored many events including the tractor pulls and the Harvest Showdown grain show to name a few.
“Art’s accomplishments were many and he is truly missed.”
