If you are really craving a look at some cool Hardtop photos, check out Don O'Keefe's page, which is linked on the right. There are tons of photos and some stories as well, along with plenty of links. As far as I can tell, Don was about the first person doing a page to remember the Hardtops of California, and now there are other cool pages out there as well. This is very important. Why?
Because racing should honor it's past and the great tradition that it is.
As far as the California short track scene is concerned, it has failed miserably for the most part with exception of a few places. One of my disappointments was I was unable to get John to sign off on an Antioch Speedway Hall Of Fame night. Would have been great for the track, and my sister and I were willing to put the whole deal together with a pre race picnic induction ceramony at the fairgrounds as BCRA has done for years for their guys.
Don't want to go off on a rant here.
The California Sportsman effort at Merced has wrapped up it's 10th season of the old 1970's style racing (Congratulations to new champion Mark Odgers). Don and I had frequent discussions after Merced got going on the subject of Hardtops. I made a trip to Sacramento Raceway on my birthday about 6 years ago for a Hardtop race there.
Over the last couple of years, Hardtops have made a comback in California, first with Chuck Prather's goup in the Sacramento area, then with Okie Bowl Hardtops and this year with the NorCal Hardtops. Let me just say there are some nice cars out there and more coming.
The NorCal Hardtop page is here:
http://norcalvintagehardtops.com/
I have grabbed 7 pictures in the hopes of spreading the word about this cool Hardtop effort. The first 5 are from http://sports.webshots.com/album/567294173CYjwov and were posted by
norcalvintagehardtops
The last two are from http://rides.webshots.com/album/567276779RtkygO and posted by hotrodbob46
