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Schedule For 60th Season At Antioch Speedway
Begins New Era
Begins New Era
Antioch,
CA...There's been quite a bit of speculation surrounding Antioch
Speedway during the off-season months. At the awards banquet in January,
longtime racer and parts salesman Chad Chadwick put an end to the
speculation when he revealed that he would be buying Oval Motorsports
and assuming promotional duties at the Contra Costa County based
fairgrounds racing facility. Chadwick didn't reveal too many details,
but he set everybody's minds at ease by saying that all eight of the
divisions featured last season would be a part of the 2020 schedule.
One
of the biggest things people will notice in this year's schedule is the
return of IMCA sanctioning to the Modified and Sport Modified
divisions. IMCA is the oldest auto racing sanctioning body in the United
States, and almost every dirt track in California features at least one
of these divisions. Joining IMCA gives the local racers an opportunity
to compete for various point fund monies for the National, State and
Antioch Speedway championship races. On most weeks during the season,
both the Modifieds and Sport Modifieds will be featured together 17 times.
There
are some very important nights to circle on the calendar. Following
test and tune dates for the drivers on March 7th, 14th and 21st, the
IMCA Modifieds and Sport Modifieds will be kicking off the 60th season
of championship racing at the speedway along with the Hobby Stocks and
Delta Dwarf Cars on March 28th. The Fourth Annual Jerry Hetrick Memorial
race happens on June 20th. In addition to both Modified classes, Hobby
Stocks and Late Models will be competing that night.
After
Chadwick successfully launched the West Coast Nationals last October,
the event will take place on October 1st, 2nd and 3rd this year. The
weekend festivities will kick off with a Thursday night practice session
along with a barbecue and cornhole tournament. The two IMCA sanctioned
divisions will then enjoy some exciting racing on both Friday and
Saturday nights with big money on the line on Saturday.
Chadwick
didn't stop there. Many racers still remember the legendary big events
promoted by the late George Steitz. In fact, the Watsonville Speedway
Hall of Famer was a good friend of Chadwick's and a big influence on
what has become the West Coast Nationals. Some of George's events
produced fields of over 200 cars in the pits. Chadwick has added the
Freedom Series to the schedule, which will take place on May 23rd, July
4th and September 5th. All three events happen on Saturday night and
feature the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks.
Furthermore, all three events will have fireworks displays. The
Modifieds will race for $1,000 to win on all three nights, while the
IMCA Sport Modifieds get $600 to win and the Hobby Stocks will have $300
to win races.
Chadwick announced
at the awards banquet that the Hobby Stocks would be having a couple of
slight rules adjustments to put them in line with the rules at
neighboring tracks in Merced and Watsonville. The Hobby Stocks will be
featured 14 times throughout the season, starting with their season
opener on March 28th.
This year
begins the 22nd season of championship racing for the Wingless Spec
Sprint division. The division got its start at Antioch. In an effort to
spark some growth in the car count, Chadwick has announced that the
rules for the class will fall in line with those offered at neighboring
Petaluma Speedway. The first race for the Spec Sprints will be on April
4th, and they will race 12 times throughout the season. Both the
popular Winged 360 Sprint Cars and Late Models will get a limited four
race schedule in the hopes that it will spark a better car count on the
nights in which these divisions are a part of the program.
The
Donna Soares Memorial/Hall of Fame Night will happen on October 10th.
The race pays tribute to the wife of longtime promoter John M Soares.
The night also honors several of the past greats in Antioch Speedway
history, and competing divisions will include the Wingless Spec Sprints,
Limited Late Models, Hobby Stocks and Four Bangers. The Limited Late
Models will have their first race of the season on April 25th and will
compete on 12 times during the course of the season.
The
Four Bangers have been brought back to the speedway as an affordable
entry level class to bring in new drivers. The speedway has offered them
on and off for the past 17 years, but they last competed in 2014. Their
season gets started on April 4th as part of a ten race season for them. Also of note is the formation of the
Delta Dwarf Car Association. This brings the Antioch group in line with
the Western States Dwarf Car Association, which holds some big Regional
and National events throughout the year at various locations on the West
Coast. Antioch will get a Western States Regional event on July 18th, a
night that will also feature the Winged 360 Sprints. In fact, both
divisions will be part of the final race of the season on October 16th
and 17th. It's being billed as Dwarf Car Mania, and the Late Models will
also be in action. The Dwarf Cars have 13 races this season.
Chadwick has
sprinkled in lots of fun special attractions during the course of the
Season. April 18th will feature an Easter Egg Hunt on the infield for
the kids. May 9th will include a Mother's Day Minivan race. The
speedway will also host a Destruction Derby during the County Fair on
May 16th, supported by the Four Banger class. June 13th will feature
Flat Track Motorcycles. The Hardtops make an appearance on August 1st
along with Wingless Spec Sprints, Delta Dwarf Cars and Winged 360 Sprint
Cars. The BCRA Midgets will make their lone appearance on September
26th along with Wingless Spec Sprints, Limited Late Models, Winged 360
Sprint Cars and Four Bangers. Racers have been asking for practice
sessions, and Chadwick has responded with about half-a-dozen practices
throughout the season.
Antioch Speedway 2020 Schedule
Saturday March 7th - Test and Tune $20.00 Back Gate Fee 2pm to Dark
Saturday March 14th - Test and Tune $20.00 Back Gate Fee 2pm to Dark
Saturday March 21st - Test and Tune $20.00 Back Gate Fee 2pm to Dark
Saturday March 28th - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, Delta Dwarf Cars
Saturday April 4th - IMCA Sport Modifieds, Wingless Spec Sprints, 360 Sprint Cars, 4 Bangers
Saturday April 11th - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Delta Dwarf Cars, Hobby Stocks
Wednesday April 15th - Open Practice
Saturday April 18th - Easter Egg Hunt - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, Late Models
Saturday April 25th - Limited Late Models, Wingless Spec Sprints, Delta Dwarf Cars, Hobby Stocks, 4 Bangers
Saturday May 2nd - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Limited Late Models, 4 Bangers
Saturday May 9th - Wingless Spec Sprints, Delta Dwarf Cars, Hobby Stocks - Mothers Day Mini-Van Race
Saturday May 16th - Contra Costa County Fair - 4 Bangers, Destruction Derby.
Saturday May 23rd - Steitz Freedom Series #1 (Fireworks) - IMCA Modifieds $1000.00 to Win, IMCA Sport Modifieds $600.00 to Win, Hobby Stocks $300.00 to Win
Saturday May 30th - Wingless Spec Sprints, Delta Dwarf Cars, Limited Late Models, 360 Sprint Cars, 4 Bangers
Saturday June 6th - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Limited Late Models, Hobby Stocks
Saturday June 13th - Flat Track Motorcycles
Wednesday June 17th - Open Practice
Saturday June 20th - Jerry Hetrick Memorial - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, Late Models
Saturday June 27th - IMCA Modifieds, Wingless Spec Sprints, Limited Late Models, Hobby Stocks
Saturday July 4th - Steitz Freedom Series #2 (Fireworks), IMCA Modifieds $1000.00 to Win, IMCA Sport Modifieds $600.00 to Win, Hobby Stocks $300.00 to Win
Saturday July 11th - Wingless Spec Sprints, Delta Dwarf Cars, Limited Late Models, 4 Bangers
Wednesday July 15th - Open Practice
Saturday July 18th - Delta Dwarf Cars Regional Race, 360 Sprint Cars
Saturday July 25th - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Limited Late Models, Hobby Stocks
Saturday August 1st - Wingless Spec Sprints, Delta Dwarf Cars, 360 Sprint Cars, Hardtops
Saturday August 8th - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, 4 Bangers
Wednesday August 12th - Open Practice
Saturday August 15th - Wingless Spec Sprints, Delta Dwarf Cars, Limited Late Models, Late Models
Saturday August 22nd - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, 4 Bangers
Saturday August 29th - IMCA Sport Modifieds, Wingless Spec Sprints, Delta Dwarf Cars, Hobby Stocks
Saturday September 5th - Steitz Freedom Series #3 (Fireworks), IMCA Modifieds $1000.00 to Win, IMCA Sport Modifieds $600.00 to Win, Hobby Stocks $300.00 to Win
Saturday September 12th - Wingless Spec Sprints, Delta Dwarf Cars, Limited Late Models, 4 Bangers
Wednesday September 16th - Open Practice
Saturday September 19th - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Delta Dwarf Cars, Hobby Stocks
Saturday September 26th - Wingless Spec Sprints, Limited Late Models, 360 Sprint Cars, 4 Bangers, BCRA Midgets
Thursday October 1st - 2nd Annual West Coast Nationals - Practice, Barbecue, Corn Hole Tournament - IMCA Modified, IMCA Sport Modifieds
Friday October 2nd - 2nd Annual West Coast Nationals - IMCA Modified, IMCA Sport Modifieds
Saturday October 3rd - 2nd Annual West Coast Nationals - IMCA Modified, IMCA Sport Modifieds
Saturday October 10th - Donna Soares Memorial/Antioch Speedway Hall of Fame - Wingless Spec Sprints, Limited Late Models, Hobby Stocks, 4 Bangers
Friday October 16th - Dwarf Car Mania! - Delta Dwarf Cars, Late Models, 360 Sprint Cars
Saturday October 17th Dwarf Car Mania! - Delta Dwarf Cars, Late Models, 360 Sprint Cars
Subject To Change
Antioch Speedway Completes Successful 59th Season
Antioch,
CA...As 2019 began, there was some uncertainty about the future of
Antioch Speedway. Would there even be a 59th season? After a contentious
offseason, it was announced that Oval Motorsports and Promoter John M
Soares would return for his 22nd season at the helm of the speedway.
There wasn't much time and still some rainy days to deal with, but
thanks to some support from racers within the community, the speedway
was ready and held two successful playdays in March before kicking off
the season.
It was a season that
offered up the relatively new traditions of the Larry Damitz Memorial,
Jerry Hetrick Memorial and Donna Soares Memorial events along with the
Chad Chadwick promoted West Coast Nationals in late October. Fans got to
watch the 30th season of A Modifieds racing with B Modifieds scheduled
often as well. Antioch boasts the second longest continuous run of
championship seasons for the A Modifieds in the state of California. A
wide variety of divisions in the rotation throughout the season included
Late Models, Winged 360 Sprints, Wingless Spec Sprints, Limited Late
Models, Hobby Stocks and Dwarf Cars. There was always something
happening at Antioch Speedway
On
the heels of his successful championship run in 2018, Nick DeCarlo ran
strong in the early goings of the season and seemed to be the driver to
beat. However, DeCarlo pulled out of the championship chase, meaning it
was time for some new stars to emerge. Dwarf Car superstar Danny Wagner
had his eyes on the championship prize, but he met some serious
competition from rising young third-generation racer Buddy Kniss. Kniss
might have seemed like an unlikely candidate, but the talented two-sport
athlete had been rapidly climbing up the ladder from various divisions
at the track during the past five seasons.
Following
back-to-back wins for DeCarlo to open the season, Kniss scored his
first win ahead of Kellen Chadwick. Two races later, Wagner picked up a
victory of his own. It was an intense battle between Kniss and Wagner
until August, when Wagner saw contact send him into the wall at the Turn
1 exit, doing damage to his race car and ending his season. Kniss was
leading the standings at the time, and he would go on to win the title.
His championship winning statistics included three wins out of 13 Top 5
finishes. Wagner had enough of a cushion to finish comfortably in second
in the standings. He won two Main Events among his eight Top 5
finishes.
Though DeCarlo wasn't
there for every race, he was impressive when he was there. He collected
three wins and three seconds out of eight Top 5 finishes, giving him a
44 point lead over Bobby Motts Jr for third. Motts won the second to
last race of the season in addition to picking up five other Top 5
finishes. He beat Sean O'Gara by just four points for the fourth
position. O'Gara had a pair of third place finishes for his season-best
efforts. Sixth place went to Chester Kniss, who also picked up a win in
the fourth race of the season. He was just 16 points ahead of three-time
Late Model champion Jeff Decker. Decker also had a feature win at the
15th race of the season in addition to being one of the Top 5 point
competitors out at Ocean Speedway.
Brian
Pearce, Gary Hetrick and Sean Wilson made up the remainder of the Top
10 in order. The season's top rookie, Frank Furtado, was in contention
for a Top 5 point position before motor issues sidelined him during much
of the second half of the season. Pearce was one of 11 different
feature winners during the 17 race championship season. Kellen Chadwick
had three victories, including the annual Jerry Hetrick Memorial and the
Donna Soares Memorial events. Petaluma star Oreste Gonella, two-time
champion Carl Berendsen II and four-time champion Troy Foulger were the
other feature winners. Chadwick saved his best for last in the West
Coast Nationals by making a last lap pass on Bobby Hogge IV for the
$7,500 victory. This was the richest purse for this division in Antioch
Speedway history. The Preliminary Feature a night earlier went to 2018
IMCA State champion Shane DeVolder ahead of IMCA Boone, Iowa Nationals
winner Ethan Dotson.
The DIRTcar
Late Models we're back for a nine race championship season. Though the
point standings were somewhat close, they didn't reflect the dominance
of Richard Papenhausen, who picked up his third Antioch Speedway
championship. Papenhausen won the first five Main Events and had seven
total wins, missing the Top 5 only once in nine races. However, he still
only managed to beat runner-up Rod Oliver by 50 points in the end. This
was the second consecutive runner-up season for Oliver, who picked up
his third season-high runner-up finish in the finale to go with eight
Top 5 finishes. One of the more thrilling nights of the season happened
when Kimo Oreta held off Rob Norris to pick up his first career feature
win in this division. Oreta had been leading Papenhausen in the previous
race when mechanical issues struck halfway through the event. With six
Top 5 finishes to his credit, Oreta only missed second in the standings
by eight points. He beat Mike Hynes by 18 points as Hynes settled for
fourth on the strength of three division-high third place finishes out
of five Top 5 efforts.
Shawn
DeForest occasionally got behind the wheel of the Dennis Souza car and
won the season finale after finishing second in the previous race. He
ended up sixth in the standings. Fifth went to past Santa Maria Speedway
champion Rick Coffey, who beat DeForest by 26 points. Coffey had
three-straight third place finishes to end the season after having a
season-high second place finish in the sixth event. With a season-high
second place finish, Rob Norris finished seventh in the standings ahead
of John Soares, Dennis Souza and Paul Gugliemoni. Papenhausen won the
Larry Damitz and Donna Soares Memorial races.
The
Winged 360 Sprint Cars only managed to get six races into the books as
scheduling adjustments and the cancellation of the final race
abbreviated the season. Jacob Tuttle had a season-high second place
finish out of four Top 5 finishes to beat past champion Art McCarthy by
just 12 points. McCarthy had a pair of third place finishes out of four
Top 5 finishes. He only managed to hold off top rookie Danny Wagner by
four points for second. Wagner won a Main Event and had one other Top 5
finish, but he also had a spectacular flip late in the season.
Past
BCRA Midget Lites champion Brad Dillard had a season-high third place
finish as he ended up fourth in the standings, 30 points ahead of
Roberto Kirby. There were five different winners in the six races. Young
Angelo Cornet won the season opener. Past Winged 360 and Wingless Spec
Sprint champion Billy Aton picked up an impressive win in the Civil War
race. He won another Main Event as Ryan Robinson and reigning champion
Matt DeMartini were also on the winner's list. Making up the balance of
the Top 10 in the standings were Joel Myers Jr, Aton, Tim Burcher,
DeMartini and Justin Bradway. Bradway had a season-high second place
finish, and other drivers with second place finishes included Marysville
racer Peter Paulson and Watsonville star Kurt Nelsen. Aton and
DeMartini also had second place finishes.
The
busiest division at the speedway in 2019 was the B Modifieds. They
competed in 21 point races, and the championship battle early on looked
like it might be a three-way contest between two-time champion Trevor
Clymens, Brent Curran and Tommy Fraser. However, Clymens knew that he
would have to miss races due to surgery. He dropped out of competition
as the point leader, leaving a spirited battle between Fraser and
Curran. It seemed like at times it was either Fraser or Curran winning
on alternate weeks. However, Curran decided to bow out of the
championship chase after a bit of controversy following his sixth win of
the season. Fraser took over from there and wasn't challenged for the
remainder of the season.
Statistically,
both Fraser and Curran looked very impressive. Fraser picked up a
division leading eight feature wins to go with 18 Top 5s. Curran had six
wins among his 12 Top 5 finishes. With Fraser winning the championship
by nearly 200 points, there was still a good battle for second between
Kevin Brown and rookie Cameron Swank. This was a battle that would go
down to the final checkered flag as Brown used his second place finish
that night to beat Swank by just 22 points. Both drivers picked up Main
Event wins. Brown earned a total of 12 Top 5s, which included two
seconds and five thirds. Swank had 11 Top 5 finishes, which included two
seconds.
Trevor Clymens
out-dueled his brother Tommy Clymens Jr by 10 points to finish fourth.
This was Tommy's first year in the division. Trevor had three wins,
including the season finale. He had 10 Top 5 finishes. Tommy came close
to victory, but he did have a season-high second place finish among his
seven Top 5s. Curran ended up settling for sixth ahead of Mark Garner.
Garner was coming off of a Limited Late Model championship, but his luck
didn't go so well in the B Modifieds. He had a pair of season-high
third place finishes. Todd Gomez ended up eighth ahead of rookie Dennis
Gilcrease and Haley Gomez.
Also
on the winner's list were Chico and Marysville point runner-up Scott
Savell and Les Friend. Season-high seconds during the point season were
earned by Tanner Thomas, Fred Ryland, Kenny Shrader, Austin Williams,
Todd Gomez, Chris Sieweke and Philip Shelby. Shrader did it twice. Gomez
had an occasion late in the season when he was dominating the Main
Event before blowing a motor. The B Modifieds got to compete for $1,500
on the second night of the West Coast Nationals, and this proved to be a
great occasion for Shrader, who scored the win ahead of Fraser. Andrew
Peckham outran Shrader to win the Preliminary Feature.
With
Garner out of the picture, Kimo Oreta was poised to put the Sun Drop
Racing Team back on top of the Limited Late Model championship podium
once again. However, 2013 champion Jim Freethy was hoping to stand in
his way. This proved to be a nip-and-tuck battle in which Freethy led
early on. In fact, Freethy didn't finish worse than second during the
first nine races of the season. Because of his frustration with an
official call that put him to the back of the pack, Freethy elected to
bail on the point race after the ninth event as Oreta had taken a slim
point lead. Oreta led the division with six feature wins out of 12 Top 5
finishes. Freethy had two wins and seven second place finishes.
Because
Freethy dropped out of the point battle, the spirited duel that Michael
Burch and Chad Hammer were enjoying for third became a battle for
second in the season finale. Wanting to let the two drivers battle it
out without his interference, Oreta was content to run at the back of
the pack that night. Burch had a career performance as he won his heat
race and held off Brian Zachary and Oreta to pick up his third
season-high third place feature finish. He earned a total of eight Top 5
finishes. Hammer didn't finish the final race and lost to Burch by just
11 points to settle for third. However, Hammer can lay claim to perhaps
the most exciting feature win of the season as he won the eighth event
ahead of Freethy and Oreta. Hammer had six Top 5 finishes. With Freethy
settling for the fourth position, the steady John Evans ended up fifth.
Evans had a season-high third place finish out of five Top 5 finishes.
Sixth
went to two-time division champion Mike Gustafson by 25 points ahead of
Mike Walko. It was not one of the better seasons for Gustafson, who had
a season-high second place finish at the third race of the season.
Walko finished second in the season finale, which matched his
season-best effort at the season opener. In eighth was past Figure 8 and
Super Hobby Stock champion Jimmy Robbins. Robbins had two wins to his
credit, including the Donna Soares Memorial event to close the season.
John Haney and Chris Long completed the Top 10 in the standings, and
Long also counted himself among the feature winners in the John Keith
owned entry. Unfortunately, motor issues sidelined him later in the
season.
The Wingless Spec
Sprints entered their 20th Anniversary season with Shannon Newton
getting off to a dominant start with four-straight victories. Newton
picked up seven total wins during the season among his 11 Top 5
finishes. However, a terrible flip in the 12th event could have cost
Newton the championship as his car was destroyed. Previous champion Bob
Newberry allowed Newton to drive his car at the next event, where Newton
finished second to clinch the championship. This left the battle for
second in the standings between division mainstay Rick Panfili and
MacKenzie Newton.
Mackenzie
Newton showed marked improvement during the season, which included her
first-ever heat race win and two career best third place feature
finishes. She also had a total of six Top 5 finishes. Her fourth place
finish in the second to last race put her in position to threaten
Panfili for the runner-up spot. Panfili didn't have the best of years,
but he had a season-high third among eight Top 5 finishes. In fact,
seven of his Top 5 finishes came in the first nine races, but some bad
luck down the stretch left him vulnerable to Newton. A tangle between
Mackenzie Newton and Panfili on the backstretch in the finale saw Newton
crash hard and Panfili end up penalized to the pits. With both drivers
out, Panfili ended up second by 10 points ahead of Newton.
Keith
Calvino split his time between Antioch and Petaluma, and he managed to
hold off rookie Jeff Scotto by just two points to finish fourth in the
standings. Calvino had a season-high second place finish out of three
Top 5s, but two of those finishes came in the last four races. Scotto
had horrendous luck throughout the season, which included a flip, but he
always came back and gave it his best in a 5th place season he can
still be proud of. Two-time division champion Dan Gonderman scored a
pair of second place finishes before getting his lone victory of the
season, which enabled him to finish sixth ahead of Bob Newberry.
Newberry won two Main Events and had a second and two thirds among his
best efforts.
Another rookie,
Dustin Maibes, won the season finale in addition to a pair of seconds
and a third, which put him eighth in the standings, five points ahead of
the tied Adam Teves and Cameron Martin. Martin and Teves both had
season-high second place finishes, while longtime competitor Roy Fisher
had second place finishes in two of the first three races of the season.
Perhaps the most exciting race of the season saw Alan Miranda make a
late move on Marcus Smith in traffic to win the 12th event. The next
race saw a bit of redemption for Smith, who picked up the win ahead of
Shannon Newton.
Chris Sorensen
saw things get a bit close down the stretch in the Hobby Stock
championship battle, but experience still proved to be the key to his
third championship in the division. Along with matching Kimo Oreta in
the championship department, he also became the division's all time
feature win leader. However, the consistent Brianna Troen and the
rapidly improved Josh Leach made things interesting. The season started
off almost business as usual for Sorensen who went nine races without
finishing worse than second. In fact, Sorensen only had two finishes
worse than second in the first 14 races. With those kind of numbers,
even with an official call going against him during the second half of
the season, Sorensen would not relinquish his grip on the championship.
His impressive numbers included seven wins, seven seconds and one third
out of 20 races.
Troen did serve
notice to the competition that she could be the driver to beat going
into the next season. The numbers she put up might have won her a
championship if not for the fact that she was competing against
Sorensen. Troen only missed the Top 5 in the Main Event three times. The
third time, she was battling major suspension issues and still nearly
pulled off a Top 5 performance. She had one feature win, three seconds
and seven thirds among her division-leading 17 Top 5 finishes. She
finished only 40 points behind Sorensen with an even bigger margin ahead
of Leach. Leach ran strong during the first half of the season with
three wins in the first 10 races. He had five total wins, one second and
four thirds among his best performances, putting him 40 points ahead of
top rookie Ken Johns for the third spot in the standings.
Johns
and Will Buirch had a great battle down the stretch to finish fourth in
the standings and to see who would be the top rookie. Buirch looked
good during the first half of the season. If not for an amazing run for
Johns that started at the 11th event, Burch may have held on. Buirch saw
his best finish of the season when he needed it most at the 19th event
when he finished second. He had four Top 5 finishes. However, Johns, who
is the nephew of Petaluma Speedway racer Norm Johns, had an incredible
run of ten-straight Top 5 finishes to close his season and overtake
Buirch by 14 points in the end. Johns had 13 Top 5 finishes, which
included a pair of seconds and a pair of thirds.
Young
Jacob Mallet Jr won his first Main Event at the 13th race of the
season. He ended up sixth in the standings ahead of Dalton Jewell, Lori
Brown, Jeff Betancourt and James Thomson. On one occasion, Lori Brown
went flag-to-flag to pick up an impressive feature win. Thomson also
looked impressive with a win of his own ahead of Johns. Jewell had a
season-high second place finish. After back-to-back second-place
finishes behind Sorensen, past division champion Brad Myers was a
feature winner. The next race saw Bobby Motts Jr take the wheel of his
daughter's car and hold off Sorensen to win that race. After a second
place finish at the 18th event, Jason Robles turned in a dominant
performance in driving the 2004 Bobby Motts Jr championship Street Stock
to victory. Long time racer Bob Brown Jr closed the season with a win
in the Donna Soares Memorial race. Sorensen got the win on Larry Damitz
Memorial night.
The Dwarf Cars
brought their exciting brand of racing to the speedway. Though Danny
Wagner spent most of his time racing Sprint Cars and Modifieds, he
kicked off the season with a win ahead of Petaluma star Marcus Hardina.
After that, Wagner's teammates, Scott Dahlgren and Devan Kammermann, were
left to settle the score in the championship race. Dahlgren proved to
be just a little bit too fast as he led the division with six feature
wins and also had three seconds and a third. He would win the
championship by 50 markers ahead of Kammermann. Kammermann gave it an
impressive effort as he searched for his first career victory. Though it
eluded him, he topped the division with five second place finishes
along with his three third place efforts. With those numbers,
third-ranked Troy Stevenson faded in the distance.
Stevenson
had a good run that saw him rattle off five Top 5 finishes in six races
at one point. He had a pair of season-high third place finishes on his
way to third in the standings. Past Petaluma Dwarf Car champion Travis
Dutra outran David Michael Rosa by just 20 points to finish fourth in
the standings. Dutra looked impressive with three feature victories.
Rosa, meanwhile, managed to pick up a win of his own. Rosa and Dutra
also had one second place finish. Mario Marques had a bit of bad luck
during the season, but his two Top 5 finishes during the second half of
the season kept him sixth in the standings ahead of previous division
champion Mike Corsaro. Corsaro ran a more relaxed schedule and didn't
stress on the points. He scored four third place finishes in his
seventh-place effort. David Rosa, Chris Becker and Travis Day completed
the Top 10. Rosa and past champion Kevin Miraglio each had a feature
win. Thomas Lieby and Toby Brown both had one season-high second place
finish.
The fledgling Bay Area
Hardtop group was given four dates, but the first two shows didn't go
all that well in car count. Wins went to Kimo Oreta and Jon Haney in
those two races. The fourth running of the Chet Thomson Memorial race at
Antioch was won impressively by Oreta ahead of previous winner Terry
DeCarlo and Ken Retzloff. The most thrilling race of the season for the
group happened in the finale as John Soares outdueled Doug Hagio to win
that race. Dave Mackey was third after getting a second in the opener.
For Soares, this gives him a feature win in each decade since the
speedway opened in 1961.
The
tradition of great racing at Antioch Speedway lives on, and the West
Coast Nationals that would close the season gave folks a glimpse of the
good things yet to come as the speedway will enter its 60th season.
Through good times and bad times, the gates have continued to open and
many great memories have been made at the Contra Costa County based
facility. There is much excitement surrounding the 2020 season, and
announcements will be coming soon.
2020 Schedule Filled With Lots Of Excitement
At Petaluma Speedway
At Petaluma Speedway
Petaluma,
CA...Once again, Promoter Rick Faeth has managed to put together a
schedule filled with lots of different things for the fans to enjoy at
Petaluma Speedway. In addition to a multitude of special attractions
sprinkled throughout the season, the 3/8 mile adobe oval will also
feature the track's core seven divisions. Big races that the fans have
come to expect from Petaluma will continue, and there are a few
surprises as well.
With the ASCS
National Sprint Car Tour making a visit to California in March, Faeth
jumped at the opportunity to bring them to Petaluma. They will make
their visit on Sunday, March 8th. After scheduled play days for March
14th and 21st, another special attraction comes to town in the form of
the Hunt Wingless Spec Sprint Tour on March 28th. The premier Spec
Sprint Series of California returns for the annual Johnny Soares Classic
on August 22nd.
The NARC/King
of the West Fujitsu Winged 410 Sprint Car Series will make three
appearances at Petaluma this year. The first will occur on May 30th.
This is being billed as the Salute to Baylands night, which does have a
significant meaning to Petaluma Speedway. When Baylands closed, then
Promoter John P Soares invited the drivers from various classes to join
his program, resulting in some of the biggest car counts seen anywhere
in California for the next few seasons. The NARC/KWS Series returns on
July 11th and will make one more appearance on August 30th.
Not
to be forgotten, the Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour,
presented by Abreu Vineyards, also makes three appearances to Petaluma
Speedway. Their first visit will be on April 25th, followed by
appearances on June 20th and October 24th, which is also the final race
of the season. The USAC Western Midgets will appear on June 6th and July
18th, and the second date will also include the Western Midget Racing
group that competes at Watsonville and Ventura. The USAC West Coast 360
Sprints will be there on May 16th and August 8th.
Petaluma
Speedway again will host a USAC/CRA Sprintweek event on September 7th.
The track also hosts the Western States Dwarf Car Nationals on June 12th
and 13th. The Dwarf Cars will be featured at Adobe Cup Night #2 on
October 10th with a twin 20 lap Main Event program. That night also
includes the Wingless Spec Sprints and IMCA Modifieds. The first night
of the 9th Annual Adobe Cup on September 26th will include the usual
big-money Winged 360 Sprint Car show along with the annual Bob McCoy
Memorial Super Stock program.
The championship divisions at the speedway will include the PitStopUSA.com
Winged 360 Sprint Cars and Wingless Spec Sprints, Lumberjacks
Restaurant Super Stocks, McLea's TIre Service IMCA Modifieds, Jake's
Performance Hobbies Mini Stocks, Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micros and
General Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Cars. The Redwood Dwarf Car
Association handles their own point standings. They are using Petaluma
to host the aforementioned Western States Dwarf Car Nationals, and they
have 13 additional events. The other six divisions will have anywhere
between seven to 12 races scattered throughout the year. One of the
highlights will be the Annual IMCA Modified Top Dog Nationals, which
coincides with the Johnny Soares Classic on August 22nd.
One
of the interesting things about the schedule is that even though the
track has 27 different races on the bill from early March to late
October, no division is being overbooked. This should help ensure that
car counts stay up among all of the featured classes, and the added
attraction races give the fans some big shows to enjoy throughout the
year. It's no wonder Petaluma Speedway is a Bay Area racing fan's
destination and one of the top performing tracks in California.
For
further information on what's happening at the speedway, and any
scheduling adjustments, rules and other announcements, go to www.petaluma-speedway.com.
2020 Petaluma Speedway Race Schedule
March 8 (Sun) - ASCS National Sprint Car Series, Dwarfs
March 14 – Test & Tune
March 21 – Test & Tune
March 28 – Hunt Wingless Sprint Tour, Dwarfs, 600’s
April 4 – Wing 360, Modifieds, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks
April 11 – Wingless Sprints, Super Stocks, 600’s, Mini Stocks
April 18 – Wing 360, Wingless Sprints, Dwarfs, 600’s
April 25 –Sprint Car Challenge Tour, Dwarfs
May 2 – Wing 360, Wingless Sprints, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks
May 9 – Wing 360, Wingless Sprints, Modifieds, Dwarfs
May 16 – USAC West Coast 360, Modifieds, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks
May 30 - KWS – NARC Sprint Car Series, Modifieds, Dwarfs, “Salute to Baylands Night”
June 6 – Wingless Sprints, USAC Midgets, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks
June 12 (Fri) – WSDCA Dwarf Nationals
June 13 – WSDCA Dwarf National, Wingless Sprints
June 20 - Sprint Car Challenge Tour, Modifieds, Mini Stocks
June 28 (Sun) - Sonoma Marin Fair: Wingless Spec Sprints, Modifieds, Super Stocks
July 11 – KWS – NARC Sprint Car Series, Super Stocks, Dwarfs, Mini Stocks
July 18 – Wingless Sprints, USAC Midgets, Western Midgets, 600’s
July 25 – Wing 360, Modifieds, Super Stocks, Dwarfs
Aug 8 – USAC West Coast 360, Dwarfs, 600’s, Mini Stocks
Aug 15 – W360, Wingless Sprints, Modifieds, Mini Stocks
Aug 22 – 9th Soares Classic: Hunt Wingless Sprint Tour, Top Dog Modified, 600’s
Aug 30 (Sun) - KWS – NARC Sprint Car Series, Super Stocks, Dwarfs
Sept 7 (Mon) – USAC-CRA Sprint Cars Series, Super Stocks, Dwarfs
Sept 12 – W360, Wingless Spec Sprints, 600’s Mini Stocks
Sept 26 – 9th Annual Adobe Cup – Wing 360’s, Bob McCoy Super Stock Open
Oct 10 –Adobe Cup II – Wingless Sprints, Modifieds, Dwarf Twin-20’s
Oct 24 - Sprint Car Challenge Tour, Dwarfs
Subject To Change
2020 Petaluma Speedway Race Schedule
March 8 (Sun) - ASCS National Sprint Car Series, Dwarfs
March 14 – Test & Tune
March 21 – Test & Tune
March 28 – Hunt Wingless Sprint Tour, Dwarfs, 600’s
April 4 – Wing 360, Modifieds, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks
April 11 – Wingless Sprints, Super Stocks, 600’s, Mini Stocks
April 18 – Wing 360, Wingless Sprints, Dwarfs, 600’s
April 25 –Sprint Car Challenge Tour, Dwarfs
May 2 – Wing 360, Wingless Sprints, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks
May 9 – Wing 360, Wingless Sprints, Modifieds, Dwarfs
May 16 – USAC West Coast 360, Modifieds, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks
May 30 - KWS – NARC Sprint Car Series, Modifieds, Dwarfs, “Salute to Baylands Night”
June 6 – Wingless Sprints, USAC Midgets, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks
June 12 (Fri) – WSDCA Dwarf Nationals
June 13 – WSDCA Dwarf National, Wingless Sprints
June 20 - Sprint Car Challenge Tour, Modifieds, Mini Stocks
June 28 (Sun) - Sonoma Marin Fair: Wingless Spec Sprints, Modifieds, Super Stocks
July 11 – KWS – NARC Sprint Car Series, Super Stocks, Dwarfs, Mini Stocks
July 18 – Wingless Sprints, USAC Midgets, Western Midgets, 600’s
July 25 – Wing 360, Modifieds, Super Stocks, Dwarfs
Aug 8 – USAC West Coast 360, Dwarfs, 600’s, Mini Stocks
Aug 15 – W360, Wingless Sprints, Modifieds, Mini Stocks
Aug 22 – 9th Soares Classic: Hunt Wingless Sprint Tour, Top Dog Modified, 600’s
Aug 30 (Sun) - KWS – NARC Sprint Car Series, Super Stocks, Dwarfs
Sept 7 (Mon) – USAC-CRA Sprint Cars Series, Super Stocks, Dwarfs
Sept 12 – W360, Wingless Spec Sprints, 600’s Mini Stocks
Sept 26 – 9th Annual Adobe Cup – Wing 360’s, Bob McCoy Super Stock Open
Oct 10 –Adobe Cup II – Wingless Sprints, Modifieds, Dwarf Twin-20’s
Oct 24 - Sprint Car Challenge Tour, Dwarfs
Subject To Change
Good Car Counts, More Fans, Exciting Racing
At Petaluma Speedway In 2019
At Petaluma Speedway In 2019
Petaluma,
CA...Promoter Rick Faeth continued to build Petaluma Speedway's
reputation as a track with a good regular racing program and some of the
biggest special events in California. The track continued to feature
Winged 360 Sprint Cars and a strong Wingless Spec Sprint program. The
popular Sprint Car Challenge Tour and NARC/King of the West Sprint Cars
made multiple visits. The track also hosted its first Western States
Dwarf Car Nationals event. The local IMCA Modifieds, Super Stocks, Mini
Stocks, 600 Micros and Dwarf Cars made this a well-rounded program.
While
there has been speculation as to the future of the Sonoma Marin County
Fairgrounds racing facility, Faeth continues to put forth a stellar
promotional effort, secure in the knowledge that racing will continue
through 2022. He continues to maintain a good relationship with several
local businesses, and the track continues to be one of the better
sponsored dirt tracks in the area. It's no wonder that more people
seemed to be attending the races there last season than in recent years
before. The fans know that anytime they go to Petaluma Speedway, they're
sure to get an entertaining show.
Once again, PitStopUSA.com
was back to sponsor both the Winged 360 Sprint Cars and Wingless Spec
Sprints. The Winged 360 Sprint Cars had a 10 race championship season.
There were six different winners during the season, but consistency
proved to be the key to John Clark winning the championship. Clark did
have two second place finishes out of his five Top 5s and eight Top 10s.
This gave him a 77 point advantage over Colby Johnson as he collected
his first ever division championship. Meanwhile, Johnson gave a valiant
effort. He had two wins out of his four Top 5 finishes and seven Top
10s. He had his hands full holding off Joel Meyers, who was only 18
points behind him in third. Meyers had two Top 5 finishes and six Top
10s.
Past Petaluma and Antioch
champion Shawn Arriaga drove the Lathrop Racing Sprinter. He collected
two season-high second place finishes out of his five Top 5 efforts.
This earned him fourth in the standings by 19 points over Brent Bjork.
Bjork surprised the field with his first win at the second race of the
season. He had five Top 5 finishes of his own in his fifth place point
effort. Previous champion Jake Haulot skipped some races and ended up
sixth in the standings with one Top 5 finish and four Top 10s. Nathan
Schank was seventh with two Top 5s out of five Top 10s, beating Brett
Barney by just 16 points. Barney and Bret Rollag each had one Top 5
finish. Barney had three Top 10s to Rollag's four. Angelo Cornet had
three Top 10 finishes to end up 10th in the standings.
Chase
Johnson is turning into one of the top stars in Sprint Car racing. He
only made four appearances In the regular series, but three of those
were victories. Past champion Bradley Terrell had two wins, while
another past champion, Geoff Ensign, had one win. Five-time Chico
champion Sean Becker also scored a victory. Becker also won the $5,000
prize in the Adobe Cup. In the big series events, it was Shane Golobic
winning the first Sprint Car Challenge Tour race, while Colby Johnson
won the second race for the biggest win of his career. Colby Copeland
and Chase Johnson were the winners of the two NARC/King of the West
Series events.
The PitStopUSA.com
Wingless Spec Sprint Series also had 10 events, and car count was very
strong in this class. Past Chico Silver Dollar Speedway champion
Angelique Bell was gunning for the honors, but past Petaluma champion
Sparky Howard and Scott Chapeta kept the pressure on her all season
long. At the seventh event, Bell held off Howard for her lone victory.
All three drivers had four Top 5 finishes each, but Bell did better in
Top 10 finishes. She earned nine of them, while Chapeta had seven and
Howard had eight. Bell held off Chapeta by just 13 markers to claim the
championship. Chapeta used his fourth place finish in the point finale
to overtake Howard by just 10 points to finish second in the standings.
Chapeta also had a season-best second in the special postseason race a
few weeks later.
Cody Fendley
impressed with two feature wins, but the big one came in the annual
Johnny Soares Classic in August. This kept him 20 points behind Howard
in fourth in the final rundown. Keith Calvino had three Top 10 finishes
to secure fifth by just seven points over Mini Stock graduate Bob Davis.
Davis had four Top 10 finishes. Bradley Terrell didn't compete for
points, but he was a force on the race track any time he was there. To
illustrate that, he had four wins and five Top 5 finishes in his six
starts, giving him seventh in the standings. Tony Bernard had one Top 5
finish to end up eighth in the standings. Dennis Furia Jr earned all
three of his Top 5 finishes in the first four races to end up ninth in
the standings. He had a season-high second place finish. He was only one
point ahead of Boy Moniz, who had four Top 5 finishes.
The
first Hunt Wingless Spec Sprint race was rained out, and Fendley won
the second scheduled appearance for the group, which was the Soares
Classic. Driving the Sparky Howard car, Geoff Ensign won the added
special race to end the season. The CRA/USAC sanctioned injected 410
Wingless Sprints made their annual visit in September, and it was Chase
Johnson holding off brother Colby Johnson for the victory. Austin
Liggett won the USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Car race at the second Adobe
Cup night. Maria Cofer won the USAC Western States Midgets race, while
Alex Schutte was the winner of the BCRA Midgets appearance.
Petaluma
Speedway is where the McLea's TIre Service IMCA Modified movement got
started in California back in 1987, but rainouts caused this to be a
shortened six-sice season with a special money race added in October. As
has been the case in recent years, the championship battle would be
between Oreste Gonella and Michael Paul Jr. Super Stock star Mitch
Machado led the charge for a few races on the strength of his win in the
season opener. Paul won three races, including the $1,500 to win Top
Dog Nationals and the $1,000 to win race in October. However, the
consistent Gonella used two seconds and three thirds to beat Paul by
just three points for the championship. Paul's point season effort
included four Top 5 finishes. Machado had 3 Top 5s to finish in a tie
with Justin Yeager for third. Yaeger had one Top 5 finish and five Top
10s.
Finishing fifth by just
three points over Jay Learn was Gary Zwicker. Both drivers had two Top
10 finishes. Tim Yeager had one win and two Top 5 finishes to settle for
seventh in the standings by three points ahead of Trevor Brady. Brady
had four Top 10 finishes. Jeff Faulkner had two Top 5s to end up ninth
in the standings ahead of Placerville Limited Late Model star Ray
Trimble. Trimble had two Top 5 finishes. Other feature wins went to
two-time Petaluma champion Nick DeCarlo and Merced Speedway champion
Troy Foulger in their lone appearances.
Coming
off of an impressive championship season, Lumberjacks Restaurant Super
Stock veteran Mitch Machado got even faster in a new car from the shop
of Baker Motorsports. Machado dominated the competition by winning all
11 Main Events and all of his heat races, leaving the battle for second
in the standings. Only mechanical issues while leading most of the Bob
McCoy Memorial marred an otherwise perfect season. Past champion Steve
Studebaker gave it a valiant effort with a division-leading six
runner-up finishes. He finished in the Top 5 five in ten of the eleven
point events, giving him a 27 point advantage over two-time champion
Matthew While in the race for second. While had one season-high second
and six third place finishes, seven Top 5s and 11 Top 10s. The Top 3
drivers were the only ones with all Top 10 finishes.
Past
champion Shawn McCoy had a season-high second place finish out of six
Top 5s and nine Top 10s, giving him a 30 point advantage over Gary Adams
in the race for fourth. Adams had three third place finishes out of
seven Top 5s and nine Top 10s. Manny Avila had a season-high second
place finish out of three Top 5s and nine Top 10s to give him sixth in
the standings by seven points over newcomer Tim O'Hara. O'Hara had four
Top 5s and eight Top 10s. Another newcomer to the division, Sid Hess,
had two Top 5s and six Top 10s to finish in eighth by just three points
over Mini Stock graduate Austin Ohlinger. Ohlinger had two Top 5s and
seven Top 10s. Yet another Mini Stock graduate, Dave Spindell, had four
Top 10 finishes to end up 10th in the standings. In the past two
seasons, Shane DeVolder has won the State championship in both IMCA
Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modified. He took the wheel of the Paul Hanley
entry and collected the $1,500 paycheck in the Bob McCoy Memorial at the
first night of the Adobe Cup.
In
the Jake's Performance Hobbies Mini Stock class, if you weren't driving
a Ford Pinto, you weren't winning. The nine race series was dominated
by teammates Jeremy Tjensvold and incoming champion Tom Brown. Brown was
out to become the first repeat champion in this class in over a decade,
but he found the going tough. Tjensvold kicked off the season with
three-straight feature wins, but Brown turned the tables on him by
winning the next three races. With Tjensvold finishing second all three
times, he still managed to hold the point lead. If there was any doubt
about Tjensvold's championship hopes, he won the final three point races
and the special show in October to boot. Tjensvold won the championship
over Brown by just 13 points. Both drivers had nine Top 5 finishes in
the nine point events.
Sophie
Shelley used consistency to hold off Darrien Ballestrini by 15 points
for third in the standings. She had five Top 5 finishes and eight Top
10s. Ballestrini finished as high as third three times out of his seven
Top 5 finishes. This kept him 15 points ahead of fifth-ranked Roy
Deering. Deering had a season-high second in the season opener to go
along with five Top 5s and seven Top 10s. Sixth-ranked Antonio
Miramontez had one Top 5 finish and six Top 10s, which was identical to
Randy Miramontez, who ended up seventh. Eighth went to Jason Grover, who
had one Top 5 and four Top 10s, beating Cody Bolles by 20 points.
Bolles had two Top 5 finishes during the season and a best effort in
third in the special October race. Danny Manzoni completed the Top 10
with four Top 10 finishes.
Nick
Robfogel turned in a rather dominant performance in the Santa Rosa Auto
Body 600 Micro class, but he still didn't win the championship. Though
Robfogel had a division-leading five wins out of eight Top 10 finishes,
Justin Adiego had eight Top 5s and one victory. He also had two seconds
and three thirds, which gave him the championship by 12 points ahead of
Robfogel. Kyle Grissom also had a win out of four Top 5s and seven Top
10s, leaving him 45 points out of the lead in third, 19 ahead of Rob
Brown, who settled for fourth. Like Carroll Mendenhall, who ended up
fifth, Brown had four Top 5 finishes and seven Top 10s.
Sam
Borland settled for sixth in the standings with two Top 5s and five Top
10s. Anton Giannini had four Top 5 finishes in his five starts to
settle for seventh in the standings ahead of Joromie Charon. Charon had
one Top 5 and five Top 10s. Both Amber Fields and Trevor Mendenhall had
four Top 10 finishes to end up ninth and tenth, respectively. Sprint Car
star Koen Shaw picked up a feature win, and young Cody Gray had a pair
of second place finishes. David Prickett and Brian Slubik each had one
second place finish.
The General
Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Cars had the biggest car count average at the
speedway in their ten visits. Point standings for most of the Dwarf Car
groups aren't easy to find, but Chad Matthias returned to his
championship-winning form on the strength of one win, three second place
finishes and three thirds. Marcus Hardina had rather impressive
statistics of his own, including one win and five second place efforts.
Mark Hanson had three victories, one second and two thirds.
The
competition level was fierce in the Dwarf Cars, and you never knew who
might win on every given week. Visiting drivers from other groups came
and left with the hardware, including South Bay champion Mark Biscardi,
past South Bay and NorCal champion Shawn Jones and NorCal star Kevin
Bender. Kevin Miraglio called Petaluma his home track and picked up a
pair of victories. Adam Teves won the special twin 25 lap extra money
race in October. Previous champion Scooter Gomes had one season-high
second place finish, while Matt Hagermann had a pair of thirds.
Petaluma
Speedway's Regional Dwarf Car event was upgraded to a Western States
Nationals, and a huge field came to compete in the three different
categories. On preliminary night, the wins went to Darren Brown in the
Pro class, Mark Biscardi in the Veteran class and local driver Michael
Affonso in the Sportsman class. On the money night, Ryan Winter won the
Pro Main Event, Antioch champion Scott Dahlgren won the Veteran's race
and Affonso again picked up the victory in the Sportsman class.
All
in all, it was an exciting season of racing from start to finish. Plans
are already underway to give the fans all of the exciting events they
saw last season and more in 2020. Petaluma Speedway will once again be
the place to be.
Schedule Released For 60th Anniversary Season
At Ocean Speedway
At Ocean Speedway
Watsonville,
CA...The 2020 schedule has just been released for Ocean Speedway, and
it's a good one. Promoter John Prentice of Prentice Motorsports Group
has presented a schedule for the 60th Anniversary season at the speedway
that will begin on March 13th, weather permitting, and conclude with
the 10th Annual Pat and Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout on September 24th
and 25th. Between those dates, there is plenty of excitement on tap at
the quarter-mile clay oval at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds.
The
Taco Bravo Winged 360 Sprint Cars will be headliners once again this
season. The always exciting IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby
Stocks, Mini Stocks, South Bay Dwarf Cars, Police N Pursuit cars and the
Western Midgets will give the fans plenty of variety to enjoy
throughout the season. The aforementioned March 13th season opener will
consist of the track's regular Winged 360 Sprint Cars along with IMCA
Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modified, Hobby Stocks and Four Bangers. The March
20th event will include the season debut for the Police N Pursuit cars
as well as the Dwarf Cars with Winged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Sport
Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Four Bangers all on the card. Western
Midgets make their season debut in another excitement loaded program a
week later.
Much of the schedule
will see five or six of the track's regular classes competing on that
particular night, and the first big event scheduled is on April 11th.
This will be the visit of the World of Outlaws Winged 410 Sprint Cars
along with both the IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modifieds. The date
has been moved back a bit in the hopes that weather will permit it to
happen. Weather has not been kind to the scheduled Outlaw races in
seasons past.
As has been the
case in recent seasons, Prentice endeavors to make special events for
both the Stock Car crowd and the Sprint Car crowd. The first of three
banner events for the IMCA Modifieds take place on May 15th. It will be
the Third Annual Bill Egleston Memorial race, featuring IMCA Modifieds,
IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, Four Bangers, Western Midgets and
South Bay Dwarf Cars. On August 1st, it's the 22nd Annual Mike Cecil
Memorial race. Traditionally, this is a big Hobby Stock race. The IMCA
Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modifieds will also be competing for an
anticipated increased purse that night. It's also an All Star Modified
Series race.
The All Star
Modifieds will also compete on the second night of the 10th Annual Pat
and Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout race on September 26th. Big money will
be on the line for the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby
Stocks that night, with all three divisions also competing on Friday,
September 25th. All three of these events attract some of the best
drivers in the Modified and Hobby Stock classes from throughout the
state.
Sprint Car fans wanting
some big races will be granted their wish. The Annual Pombo/ Sargent
Classic for the NARC/King of the West Fujitsu Winged 410 Sprint Car
Series takes place on June 12th. Western Midgets will be there along
with the IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modifieds. On July 17th, it's the
10th Annual Howard Kaeding Classic. this two-day event begins with
Winged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Western
Midgets on that Friday night. On Saturday the 18th, it's the second
visit of the NARC/King of the West Winged 410 Sprint Cars along with
IMCA Modifieds and Hobby Stocks. The big races don't end there.
On
August 22nd, it's the Annual Johnny Key Classic, featuring the local
Taco Bravo Sprint Cars going head-to-head with the Elk Grove Ford Sprint
Car Challenge Tour, presented by Abreu Vineyards. It's all about the
Winged 360 Sprint Cars, with the Western Midgets and Hobby Stocks
running in support. On Friday August 28th, it's Friday Night Frenzy. The
NARC/King of the West Sprint Cars will make their third and final
appearance, joined by the IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and South
Bay Dwarf Cars.
One of the
signature community-oriented events takes place on April 3rd. This is
Special Olympics Night. The Police N Pursuit class was created as a sort
of public outreach effort between local law enforcement units and the
public. In addition to that, the competitors raise funds for the Special
Olympics. This has become an important night at the speedway. Joining
the Police N Pursuit cars will be the Winged 360 Sprint Cars, IMCA Sport
Modified, Hobby Stocks and Four Bangers. Another big event takes place
on May 8th and 9th as the Monster Trucks are coming to town along with
the Tuff Trucks.
The speedway is
in its second year of the Western Midget effort. With Midget racing
sort of on the decline in Northern California, local racer Mike McCluney
and Prentice got together to put this division on the schedule. The
numbers increased modestly from the start of the season to the end last
year, and it's anticipated that the car count in this class will be even
stronger. One of the advantages of the Western Midget division is that
it is an avenue for the young Micro Sprint and Outlaw Kart drivers to
make a move into a bigger and faster race car while still not breaking
their pocket books.
Ocean
Speedway first opened for weekly racing in 1960. 2020 marks the 60th
Anniversary of a great racing tradition in Watsonville. Whether you're a
fan of the high horse power, open-wheel Winged 360 Sprint Cars, the
adrenaline pumping IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modifieds or the fender
banging Hobby Stocks and Mini Stocks, Ocean Speedway has all of that
and more to entertain you. Fans and racers alike will be hoping for
cooperative weather for the season to get going in March. For further
information on the happenings at Ocean Speedway, go to www.racepmg.com.
2020 Ocean Speedway Schedule HERE
Close Point Battles, Great Racing
In 60th Season At Ocean Speedway
In 60th Season At Ocean Speedway
Watsonville,
CA...The 60th season of racing at Ocean Speedway offered the fans
plenty of excitement throughout the season. Promoter John Prentice
entered his 15th season at the helm of the historic Santa Cruz County
Fairgrounds based facility with an exciting lineup of divisions. Though
the track continues to feature some exciting Sprint Car racing, the
popular IMCA Modified classes, Hobby Stocks and Four Bangers give the
fans plenty of Stock Car excitement as well. The new Western Midgets and
Dwarf Cars help make this an entertaining program on any given Friday
night.
Going into the season,
fans might have expected to see three-time champion Brad Furr, 2015
champion Justin Sanders and Bud Kaeding battling for the Taco Bravo
Sprint Car championship. Kaeding was piloting his father Brent's
legendary #69 car. As all three of these drivers missed early races,
there were five other names at the top of the list during the first
couple of months. Since the track had implemented a two-race throwaway
rule, the battle shaped up between Kaeding and unlikely championship
contender James Ringo.
Kaeding
missed three races, but he earned ten Top 5 finishes in 11 starts. Those
totals included four wins and mostly seconds. It was a night late in
the season when the third-generation leadfoot was forced to make a
decision. As he was contending for the NARC/King of the West Sprint Car
Series title, he showed up to Watsonville to practice and get his show
up points and headed back to Stockton. He entered the final race knowing
that he had to beat Ringo to win the championship. It was only a couple
of laps after moving past Ringo when Kaeding encountered a slower car
on the backstretch and flipped to end his night.
Ringo
brought it home to his sixth Top 5 finish of the season. He also had
11 Top 10 finishes to win the championship by 17 points ahead of
Kaeding. This was the first championship for Ringo. Only 33 points out
of the lead in third was 2018 championship runner-up Koen Shaw. Shaw
ended up with four Top 5 finishes and nine Top 10 efforts. There was a
close battle for fourth between Jeremy Chisum and Jake Andreotti. Chisum
managed to take the position by just three tallies ahead of Andreotti.
While Chisum had two Top 5 finishes and nine Top 10s, Andreotti notched
one Top 5 five six Top 10s.
Jason
Chisum ended up sixth in the standings with three Top 5s and eight Top
10s. Justin Sanders missed four races, which ended what likely would
have been his second championship season. He led the division with six
wins and nine Top 5 finishes in 11 starts. Kurt Nelson drove to his
first Watsonville win out of two Top 5s and eight Top 10s. He ended up
eighth in the standings ahead of Jayson Bright. Bright had one Top 5
finish and seven Top 10s. Richard Fajardo rounded out the Top 10 in the
final rundown.
Additional
feature victories went to Cole Macedo, Chase Johnson, Dominic Scelzi and
Shane Golobic. Johnson's win came in the season opener. Sanders picked
up the win in the prestigious Johnny Key Classic. Golobic won the
opening night of the Howard Kaeding Classic, and these two particular
races were also Civil War Series events. The NARC/King of the West
Series made two appearances. The win in the Pombo/Sargent Classic went
to Dominic Scelzi, while Bud Kaeding won the Howard Kaeding Classic.
The
IMCA Modified championship battle turned out to be a season-long duel
between Austin Burke, brother Cody Burke and Jim Pettit II. All three
drivers entered the final point event with a shot at the title. Austin
and Cody produced nearly identical numbers. Austin had one win, eight
Top 5 and 14 Top 10 finishes, while Cody had two wins, eight Top 5s and
13 Top 10s. Austin dethroned Cody by just one point. Only 13 points out
of the lead was Pettit. Pettit had one win. He led the division with
nine Top 5 finishes and also had 13 Top 10s.
Multi-time
Late Model champion Jeff Decker competed in all but one event. He
finished in the Top 5 eight times and Top 10 11 times to end up fourth
in the standings by 49 points ahead of Robert Marsh. Marsh had two Top
5s and ten Top 10s to beat Raymond Keldsen by 17 points. Keldsen had one
Top 5 and seven Top 10s. Past champion Nick DeCarlo picked up two wins
out of eight Top 5 finishes to trail Keldsen by just three points.
Merced Speedway champion Troy Foulger also had two wins and eight Top 5
finishes in his nine appearances to finish eighth. Top rookie Anthony
Giuliani had one Top 5 and three Top 10 finishes to secure ninth ahead
of past champion Brian Cass. Cass had three Top 5s and five Top 10s.
Six-time
champion Bobby Hogge IV did not chase points, but he had five wins and
six Top 5s in his starts. Andy Obertello and Brad Pounds also had one
win each. The Bill Egleston Memorial race came to Watsonville, and it
was Cody Burke picking up the big prize that night. The 22nd Annual Mike
Cecil Memorial became a two-day event with Hogge winning both nights.
The second night was also an All Star Series event. The Pat and Jim
Pettit Memorial Shootout race was the final point event, and Pounds won
the opening night. The final night was an All Star series event, won by
Foulger. Tim Balding was the All Star Series champion.
The
IMCA Sport Modified division saw a car count increase over recent
seasons, and that made for some exciting racing all season long.
Second-generation racer Jarrod Mounce decided to compete regularly at
Watsonville and enjoyed a season-long battle with Adriane Frost. Mounce
won three races and had an amazing 16 Top 5 finishes in 17 starts. He
managed to beat Frost by 45 points. Frost still had a solid effort with
two wins, six Top 5s and 13 Top 10 finishes. Justin McPherson used
consistency to secure third in the standings on the strength of four Top
5s and 12 top 10s.
Bakersfield
long tow Kevin Johnson missed four races, but he was definitely a factor
when he was there. He won three Main Events, had 12 Top 5s and 13 Top
10s, trailing McPherson by just 11 points. He also beat new State
champion Guy Ahlwardt by just nine tallies. Ahlwardt had four wins and
12 Top 5s in his 14 starts. Finishing sixth with five Top 10 finishes in
his 15 starts was Charlie Hunter. Kelly Campanile ended up as the top
rookie in the field with two Top 5s and eight Top 10s. She beat Steven
Allee by just 26 points for seventh. Allee had five Top 5 finishes and
nine Top 10s. Max Baggett was four points behind Allee with one Top 5
and four Top 10s, while Randy Miller rounded out the Top 10 with four
Top 5s and nine Top 10s.
Dennis
Simunovich ran a limited schedule, but he scored three wins in eight
starts. Merced champion Fred Ryland, Todd Gomez and Brent Curran each
had one feature victory. The Sport Modifieds were part of the Bill
Egleston Memorial race, and Mounce picked up the win that night. They
also took part in the Mike Cecil Memorial, and wins went to Johnson and
Ahlwardt. The Sport Modifieds also got to compete for the big money in
the Pat and Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout. The opening night win went to
Brent Curran, while the big prize on the second night went to Ahlwardt.
Once
again, the Hobby Stock division offered the fans plenty of full
fendered Stock Car excitement. This division has now been a part of the
roster for about 25 years, and the Gallaher family proved to be
difficult to beat. Rob Gallaher was going for his third division
championship, but father Joe Gallaher was there to make things very
difficult. Rob led the division with seven wins and 13 Top 5 finishes in
15 starts. However, he still only beat Joe by 19 points. Joe had two
wins, six Top 5s and 15 Top 10 finishes. Jerry Skelton managed to hold
off past champion Wally Kennedy by just nine points for the third
position. Both drivers had one win each. Skelton had five Top 5s and
nine Top 10s, while Kennedy had six Top 5s and 11 Top 10s. However,
Kennedy competed in three less races.
The
Keldsen family was again represented as DJ Keldsen finished fifth in
the standings, missing third by only 17 points. Keldsen had five Top 5s
and nine Top 10s. Nick Triolo finished sixth with three Top 5s and ten
Top 10s. The Huckaby family held Seventh and eighth. Bobby Huckaby Jr
was seventh with five Top 5s and eight Top 10s, while Bobby Huckaby Sr
had seven Top 5s and ten Top 10s. Rookie Ryan Muller was ninth with
three Top 5s and eight Top 10s, and long-time Watsonville racer Tony
Oliveira finished tenth with three Top 5s and seven Top 10s.
JC
Elrod had three wins in three starts, but he made a move up to IMCA
Modifieds. Past champion Matt Kile had a pair of victories, while
Bakersfield's Nicholas Johnson and past Street Stock champion Doug Hagio
also had a win each. The Hobby Stocks competed at the Bill Egleston
Memorial event with the win going to Elrod. They were again the featured
division at the Mike Cecil Memorial race, and it was Rob Gallaher
winning the first night and Nicholas Johnson winning the second night.
They got to race for more money at the Pat and Jim Pettit Memorial
Shootout. The opening night win went to Rob Gallaher, while the win on
Saturday went to Kile.
The
closest championship battle at the speedway was again in the Four Banger
division. The Beardsley family swept the podium once again despite the
fact that they didn't win a Main Event all season. Kate Beardsley and
Nicole Beardsley had identical records with 11 Top 5s and 13 Top 10s in
their 13 starts, ending the season in a tie. Bill Beardsley had four Top
5s and 13 Top 10s to finish third by just five points ahead of rookie
John Grilli. Grilli was quite impressive at times with four wins and
nine Top 5 finishes, giving him a 22 point advantage over Ryan
McClelland. McClelland settled for fifth with two wins, four Top 5 and
12 Top 10 finishes.
The sometimes
controversial Dakota Keldsen ran strong in the Lloyd Keldsen Jr Tribute
car. He had two wins, five Top 5s and seven Top 10s. Tony Gullo managed
to pick up one win, three Top 5s and seven Top 10s to secure seventh in
the standings. Police N Pursuit competitor Roy Iler made four starts in
the Four Banger class and had three Top 5 finishes. Jeff Finsand had
one Top 5 finish and four Top 10s to finish ninth ahead of Mini Stock
veteran Ray Bunn. Bunn had three Top 5 finishes in ten starts. Past
champion DJ Keldsen won both of his starts while past Merced champion
Dan McCabe and current Merced champion Lee Ragsdale each had a win.
Ocean
Speedway added a new division. The Western Midgets were a different
spin on the Focus Midget class that has been struggling in California
for the past decade. Both Watsonville and Ventura ran the class, and
numbers got better as the season went on. USAC Midget star David
Prickett was the class of the field with three wins and five Top 5s in
six starts. He beat Ventura champion Randi Pankratz by 24 points.
Pankratz had five Top 5 finishes in her six starts. Greg Edenholm was a
distant third with one Top 5 finish and six Top 10s. Jackson Dukes had
three Top 5 finishes in three starts to beat Keoni Texeira by 13 points
for fourth. Texeira had just two starts, but one of them was a victory.
Adam
Lemke And Jessica Swanson finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Both drivers had two Top 5 finishes in their two starts. Tyler Slay
ended up eight with one Top 5 finish, while Blake Bower made his debut
in the season finale with a victory. Joel Rayborne had one Top 5 finish
to end up tenth in the standings. The Western Midgets ran head-to-head
with the BCRA Midgets one night with Alex Schutte scoring the victory.
The
Police N Pursuit class was back once again. The group of law
enforcement officers not only enjoy their track time, but they also use
this effort to raise funds for the Special Olympics. Roy Iler won the
division championship by just 18 points over John Hohmann. Hohmann had a
shot at the title but missed the final race. Iler had one win and five
Top 5 finishes, while Hohmann had two wins and six Top 5s. Iler
represents the San Benito Sheriff's Office, while Hohmann is a Scotts
Valley Police Department representative.
Only
four points behind Hohmann was Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department
representative Steven Fernandes. He had four Top 5 finishes in his eight
starts. Dan Anderson finished fourth by just four points ahead of Adam
Rikalo. Anderson had two wins and four Top 5 finishes, while Rikalo had
two Top 5 finishes. Justin Rhodes had five Top 5 finishes to end up
sixth in the standings. He only trailed Rikalo by ten points. Tony Weir
was a solid seventh with six Top 10 finishes. Jessie Mueller picked up
two victories and four Top 5 finishes in his five starts to end up
eighth by ten points ahead of Pat Sullivan. Sullivan had four Top 10
finishes, while tenth ranked Kyle Dorris had two Top 5s and three Top
10s. Cliff Sloma was the other feature winner.
Aa
seems to be the case with most of the Western States Dwarf Car groups,
finding final point standings can be a chore. The South Bay Dwarf Cars
call Ocean Speedway their home track, though they also made appearances
at Merced, Petaluma and an exhibition race in Lemoore. Mark Biscardi won
the championship. He had four wins at Watsonville and two seconds. Past
champion Shawn Jones picked up three feature wins, and Ryan Amlen had
two wins, two seconds and one third. Past champion Terre Rothweiler had
two season-high second place finishes, and Joe Barkett also had a second
place finish. Past champion Gene "Punky" Pires had five third place
finishes, while Eric Weisler had two thirds and Danny Wagner had one
third. We're not sure what the order was in the standings following
Biscardi, but racers like Jimmy Damron, Mac Aveves, Eddy Claesson and
Trafton Chandler are among the stars of the group.
Golobic, Hogge, Nation, Friend Win Extra Money Races
At The Stockton Dirt Track
At The Stockton Dirt Track
Stockton,
CA...February 8...Shane Golobic scored the $2,000 victory in the 25 lap
Winged 360 Sprint Car Main Event Saturday night at the Stockton Dirt
Track. This was the seventh win for Golobic at Stockton. He was piloting
the Elk Grove Ford sponsored car, owned by Matt Wood Racing.
Michael
Faccinto led the opening lap before an inside move on the backstretch
of the second lap put Golobic into the lead. Golobic began to pull away,
leaving Faccinto and Ryan Robinson to battle for second. It was a close
battle until lapped traffic allowed Faccinto to stretch his advantage a
bit on lap 17. Unfortunately for Michael Faccinto, he got a left rear
flat tire on lap 23 to draw the only yellow flag of the race. Golobic
led Ryan Robinson on the restart, and the duo would go on to a 1-2
finish. JJ Hickle took third from Mitchell Faccinto on the restart, but
he encountered problems on the final lap as Mitchell Faccinto was able
to regain third, followed by Hickle, Michael Faccinto, Zane Blanchard,
Jodie Robinson, Andy Forsberg and Chase Majdic. Cox and Michael Faccinto
won their respective eight lap heat races.
Bobby
Hogan IV took the lead from Darrell Hughes II early on and went on to
score the $1,500 Dirt Modified Main Event victory. After taking most of
last season off, 2018 Merced Speedway champion Hughes set the pace for
just three laps before an inside move down the back stretch of the
fourth lap gained Hogge the lead. Hogge led Hughes and Ryan McDaniel
through three yellow flags. As Hogge pulled away just a little bit, an
inside move in Turn 2 of the 12th lap gained McDaniel second from
Hughes. McDaniel quickly closed in on Hogge and began to pressure him
with looks to the inside. However, the higher groove was the preferred
line, and Hogge continued to keep McDaniel at bay. Even the slower
traffic that came Hogge's way didn't slow him down enough as he went on
to score the victory ahead of McDaniel. Hughes settled for third. Troy
Foulger came from deep within the pack to finish fourth, followed by Tim
Balding, Dylan Thornton, Raymond Lindeman, Billy Wilker, Jeffrey
Faulkner and Anthony Giuliani. Eight lap heat race wins went to
McDaniel, Foulger and Hogge.
Jason
Nation won the $1,000 prize in the 15 lap Sport Modified Main Event. He
was challenged early on by past Marysville and Chico champion Philip
Shelby before Todd Gomez gained the position with a Shelby spin on lap
three. Gomez held second until Garrett Jernagen made the pass and took
up pursuit of Nation. The race was marred by several yellow flags as
well as a lap 10 red flag when Haley Gomez rolled off the backstretch.
Nation continued to lead Jernagen on that restart and a lap 13 restart.
Nation would win by a decent advantage as Jernagen held off a late
challenge from Brent Curran for the second position. Guy Ahlwardt
settled for fourth, followed by Richard Vander Ploeg, Andrew Peckham,
Joe Salvi, Jeremy Hoff, Dwayne Short and Todd Gomez. Eight lap heat race
wins went to Todd Gomez and Jernagen.
Ryan
Winter won the 20 lap NorCal Dwarf Car Main Event. Sprint Car veteran
Colby Wiesz raced into the early lead over Winter and Dan Geil. Wiesz
and Winter were having a good battle up front before a car spun in Turn 2
for a lap five yellow flag. Wiesz continued to lead Winter and Geil on
the restart with another yellow flag waving on lap eight. On this
restart, Winter raced past Colby Wiesz for the lead with Ben Wiesz
settling into third. Ben Wiesz made an inside move on his father Colby
to take second on lap 14, and a yellow flag waved moments later. On the
restart, Ben Wiesz had problems in Turn 4 for another yellow flag.
Winter continued to lead Colby Wiesz on this restart and a lap 17
restart. Though Colby Wiesz kept the pressure on Winter, Winter would
prevail at the checkered flag. Michael "Spanky" Grenert finished third,
followed by Buddy Olschowka, Shawn Whitney, Kevin Bender, Geil, Ryan
Plexico, Mike Corsaro and Chuck Conover. Winter, Ben Wiesz and Geil won
their respective eight lap heat races.
Les
Friend picked up the $500 victory in the 15 lap Bomber Main Event.
Placerville Speedway champion Nick Baldwin set the early pace ahead of
PJ Pedroncelli. An inside pass on the backstretch of the fourth lap
gained Friend second from Pedroncelli. A lap later, Pedroncelli made
contact with a slower car exiting the second turn. Both cars spun off
the back stretch with Pedroncelli rolling. Both drivers were out of the
race as Baldwin continued to lead Friend and DJ Keldsen on the restart. A
lap six yellow flag flew when Keldsen and Ryan Peter tangled. Baldwin
continued to lead Friend on the restart. The leaders came up on slower
traffic on lap 11, and as they exited the fourth turn, Friend made a
brilliant inside move to make the pass for the lead. New Year's winner
Clarence Holbrook made a move past Baldwin for second a lap later, and
Baldwin stalled in Turn 1 moments later. Friend led the restart and the
final three laps to get the win ahead of the Rick Etchieson, two-time
Antioch champion Melissa Myers, Holbrook, Jay Bryant, Paul Pedroncelli,
Angela Brown, Keldsen, Gavin Griffiths and Judy Allison. Eight lap heat
race wins earned by Peter, Friend and Myers.
Chris
Corder won the 15 lap Mini Stock Main Event. The three-time Merced
Speedway champion led 2018 Petaluma champion Tom Brown for a lap before
Brown spun on the backstretch for a yellow flag. Corder led Shawn
DePriest on the restart and steadily began to pull a way to the victory.
DePriest held on for second, followed by Josh Cross, Joe Flowers,
Trevor Jolley, Andy Boydstun and Brown. Brown won the six lap heat race.
Racing
resumes on Saturday, February 22nd with the Winged 360 Sprint Cars back
in action along with Dirt Modifieds, Sport Modifieds, Pro Stocks,
Bombers and Mini Stocks. For further information, go to www.stocktondirttrack.com.
House Of JuJu Back On Board As CVMS Mini Stock
Title Sponsor For 2020 Season
Title Sponsor For 2020 Season
Lemoore,
CA...The Central Valley Mini Stocks continue to ride high as they enter
their fourth year of existence as the premier dirt track Mini Stock
Tour on the West Coast. Last season, the association announced the title
sponsor of House of JuJu Restaurant in Morro Bay and Clovis. This was
not an insignificant sponsorship as the Mini Stock group will compete
for $5,000 in championship point fund money amongst the Top 10 point
competitors for the second-straight year.
Dan
Myrick is the president of the group, which ran its first exhibition at
the end of the 2016 season at Lemoore Raceway. The Myrick family has
been involved in racing for many years, and Dan's father Danny Myrick
was a Super Modified racer at venues such as Kearney Bowl, Madera and
Clovis. In fact, Dan got his father to come out of retirement, and Danny
promptly won the 2017 CVMS championship.
Dan
would be quick to credit so many people for helping make this dream
become a reality. The Myrick and Doglione families built several cars to
help increase the field early on. If they knew somebody was interested
in racing, they could make it happen very quickly. Lemoore Raceway is a
track better known for its Micro Sprint racing, but the Mini Stocks ran a
majority of their races on the 1/5 mile dirt oval in 2017 and 2018, the
second season of which Greg Baronian was the series champion.
Running
races on the smaller track became a bit more challenging as the CVMS
was actually bearing the financial responsibility for these events. They
continued racing in Lemoore, but the doors opened for them to get
opportunities to race at other venues in 2019. This included Keller Auto
Speedway in Hanford and Madera Raceway. Hanford and Madera have both
struggled to establish a Mini Stock division, and support from the CVMS
increased car count on those nights. With a changeover in management at
Lemoore Raceway during the offseason, negotiations couldn't be completed
in time to get the track on the 2020 schedule.
However,
the CVMS was not resting on their laurels during the offseason. With
the goal of uniting rules at various tracks and increasing prize-money,
negotiations took place with several tracks during the offseason. In
addition to a return to Hanford for three races, the group also secured
visits to Merced Speedway, Kern Raceway and Bakersfield Speedway.
Furthermore, not only will they be returning to Madera Raceway, this
will be one of the biggest Mini Stock races on the West Coast. It's
being billed as the California Dream, and this will be a 100 lap race.
Furthermore, there's a possibility that it could be televised.
The
point fund money should be attractive enough to bring any hardcore Mini
Stock competitor to any race sanctioned by the CVMS. The champion in
2020 will again be earning $1,000 in prize money. Second place is worth
$800, third is worth $700, fourth is worth $550 and even 10th place will
get a minimum of $200. After coming so close to the championship in
previous seasons, Dan Myrick parlayed his consistency and ability to get
wins when he needed them to the $1,000 championship last season. The
second place battle went down to the wire after Darren Wilson faded back
to sixth down the stretch.
Gene
Glover had a strong enough finish to his season to beat the consistent
Ryan Blank by a mere 26 points for the $800 second place finish. Blank
still pocketed $700 for third. Kern Raceway champion Clinton Massey held
off a late surge by Greg Baronian for the $550 fourth. Baronian was
actually planning to take the season off following his 2018 championship
effort, but his other plans fell through and he got a ride to finish
out the season. The CVMS drivers are fast wherever they go, and Dan
Myrick also won the Mini Stock championship at Keller Auto Speedway.
The
CVMS looks forward to the opportunity to show the fans at the various
tracks on which they compete how exciting their brand of racing can be
when they bring the car count that they do. There was never less than 20
cars at any of the Hanford races that featured the CVMS last season,
and at times they even had the biggest car count of any division there
that night. The image of Mini Stock racing is one of it being an
entry-level class. While that is true, the Mini Stock division also
gives the fans some close and exciting action, while the drivers don't
break their pocketbooks as they live their racing dreams.
The
Mini Stock division at various tracks in California uses different
rules sets, and a goal that Myrick has is to unite the rules. Before
this attempt, drivers might be legal to race at one track, but they
might be illegal at another. Negotiations have paved the way for the
CVMS to firmly establish Mini Stock racing in Hanford. This season, they
will be there three times. They've also managed to get the Mini Stock
effort at Merced more in line with their rules and are working on good
things for both Bakersfield Speedway and Kern Raceway. Kern and Merced
will host the CVMS twice, while Bakersfield gets them once.
Groups
sometimes overlook pavement as an option, but Madera Raceway Promoter
Kenny Shepherd has shown a willingness to make bigger events when he
gets support from his divisions. This is what led to the creation of the
California Dream 100 on August 29th. The CVMS drivers jumped at the
opportunity to give Madera a chance for the first time last season. Not
only is it in a close enough location for them to support the show, the
track is very racy and lends itself well to exciting shows. They will
actually make two Madera appearances with the first being on July 11th.
The
Central Valley Mini Stocks will have a ten-race schedule that will
start at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford on February 29th and end at the
same track on October 10th. House of JuJu of Clovis and Morro Bay not
only offers people an amazing place at which to dine, they are offering
the top CVMS competitors a tidy sum in championship point fund money. It
adds up to what should be an exciting 2020 season. For further
information, go to www.centralvalleyministocks.com.
2020 House of JuJu CVMS Mini Stock Schedule
Keller Auto Speedway February 29th
Kern Raceway March 14th
Kern Raceway April 19th
Merced May 2nd
Bakersfield Speedway June 13th
Madera Speedway July 11th
Merced Speedway July 25th,
Madera Speedway California Dream 100 August 29th
Keller Auto Speedway September 11th Keller Auto Speedway October 10th
Final 2019 House of JuJu CVMS Mini Stock Top 10 In Points
Dan Myrick
Gene Glover
Ryan Blank
Clinton Massey
Greg Baronian
Darren Wilson
Jeff Durant
Brent Myrick
Danny Myrick
Ryan Doglione
The Editor's Viewpoint
I'm
sitting here on an early Saturday morning. I was drafting this article
originally at about 9pm on Thursday evening. The blog post was going to
go up after I did a brief Viewpoint column. I'd been waiting for news
from Antioch. I got it, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I
was also waiting on the schedule, and it just so happened that Larry
Adams messaged me right as I was finishing up the column. He told me the
Antioch schedule was done. My plans to get the blog post up either
later that evening or the next morning were revised.
I'm
still unclear as to exactly where I stand in regards to Antioch
Speedway, but this I do know. As Chad Chadwick is making his purchase of
the track, and he's scrambling to get things together, he has a heavy
workload. I have conveyed to him on more than one occasion how I am
ready to jump in and do what I can to help. My visit down to Antioch
last year didn't reveal much in the way of where I might stand after
Chad took over the track, because we never had a good conversation. It
left me feeling uncertain as to whether I fit into the plans or not.
However, he acknowled to me in our first conversation on my first
weekend back in Antioch in September that he received the letter I sent
to him in June of last year.
I
don't doubt that he's very busy. He wants to get things ready for the
opener in March, and obviously getting at least one of those three
playdays done successfully is the goal. This is not unlike the situation
John Soares faced in 1998 when he first took over the track. In his
case, terrible weather kept wiping out playdays, and the opener that
year was an absolute disaster in terms of the racing itself. We tried
our best, took our lumps and boy did we show them throughout that season
and into the next that there was a change out at Antioch Speedway, and
it was for the better. I know Chad has the same goal in mind.
We
spoke briefly on the phone on Thursday morning, which I will get into
in a moment. However, when the schedule became available on Thursday
night, I knew the speedway needed an article for the schedule release.
Larry did his best to put it up on the website. I took the schedule and
wrote an article that I posted on the Antioch Speedway blog. I have used
that blog in association with the Antioch Speedway Facebook page.
Between the preview of the schedule, the schedule that I reformatted and
posted so people could read it easier and the lengthy season recap
article for last year, people had a lot to look at. I just wanted to
help put the word out for the track.
The
schedule looks very attractive, and I'll address some of that here.
There's an article included with this post that you can look at if you
didn't see it on the Antioch Speedway blog. You will notice that Antioch
Speedway is now an IMCA sanctioned track. I don't disagree with that. I
think it's a good move. I'm not enamored with IMCA, and I won't make a
secret of it. I've also said that if it were in my power, and the racers
were telling me this is the direction they wanted to go, I'd give it a
shot and see if we could make it work. The advantage you have with IMCA
is that you are on a universal set of rules sanctioned by the oldest
sanctioning body in the United States. You can go to Antioch, Merced,
Watsonville, Bakersfield and on and on, you know that your Sport
Modified or Modified is IMCA legal and you have a license to compete
there.
Being IMCA sanctioned
means that all Antioch Speedway competitors in those two divisions now
compete not just for track points but State, Regional and National
points. Whatever point fund money and contingencies are available for
the top stars are now available for the top Antioch competitors. I don't
know the names of the racers who this might pertain to, but undoubtedly
you are going to see some big names in both divisions at Antioch
Speedway on a more regular basis. These are people who have been towing
up and down the road now for the past few years. They'll probably still
tow down the road some, but now they know that Antioch is a part of the
club. From a promotional standpoint, this was the smart and safe move
for Chad, and it should help the car count. Are 18 races for the two
divisions too many or just right? I have my theory, but we'll see how it
plays out.
Chad's foray into
promoting started with the West Coast Nationals last October at Antioch.
It was a good introduction to what will undoubtedly become the
signature race for the speedway, which enters its 60th consecutive
championship season this year. Again, it will be three days, starting
with the practice, barbecue and cornhole tournament on Thursday and
continuing with back-to-back racing nights, the second of which is when
the big money is on the line. Chad also kept the Jerry Hetrick Memorial
race on the schedule, which will again be one of the biggest point races
of the season in June. Here's where things get interesting.
Chad
decided to revive the Freedom Series. This series began at Chowchilla
Speedway under the promotion of Tom Sagmiller. Tom created some
signature events there, and I think the fact that George Steitz brought
his big November open show to the track to end the 2000 season was where
the genesis of the idea started. Tom knew early on that the holiday
weekends, Memorial Day, the 4th of July and Labor Day, saw an increase
in car count and fan support. He thought of the idea of running a
three-race series, and George got on board with that to help with
sponsorship.
Right up until the
time when Tom was unceremoniously removed from Chowchilla, he was still
promoting the Freedom Series. He brought it to Antioch, and it might
have worked if not for the fact that Calistoga Speedway opened its gates
to Modified racing on certain holiday weekends. Racers in all divisions
would like a crack at the historic half-mile, and you can guess what
happened to the Modified car count. John ended up canceling a race, if
I'm not mistaken. Tom brought it to Chowchilla to finish that particular
series off. The next year, track management elected to create a new
series, dropping the Freedom Series name.
I
can only imagine what Tom might be thinking. I know he kept that series
in his back pocket as something that he could potentially use if he
ever got another race track. I also know that he always tells me he has
no desire to do that again. I know Cindy wouldn't be interested in it
either. I don't believe any conversations between Tom and Chad took
place. I don't know that Chad thought that a conversation needed to
happen. The series hadn't been run in over a decade, so it was available
for the taking.
Chad and George
were good friends. I'm not going to get into big details here, but if
George and Chad had been successful, Chad might have had Antioch
Speedway well over a decade ago. I'll leave it at that. Chad brought the
series back with George"s name on it, and the reason is obvious. He had
a lot of respect for George, and George was basically the inspiration
for the West Coast Nationals. Secondly, I think it's great that
something is out there remembering George. Watsonville Speedway put
George into their Hall of Fame years ago, and he'll be in the Merced
Speedway Hall of Fame, if it ever gets started.
To
make a long story short, Chad has created this three-race series at
Antioch. I don't know the details of the series itself as I haven't been
told. I won't speculate. What has been announced on the schedule is on
all three of those holiday weekend races, IMCA Modifieds will race for
$1,000 to win, IMCA Sport Modifieds compete for $600 to win and Hobby
Stocks get $300 to win. As far as the Bay Area tracks are concerned,
nobody's doing much. I don't think Watsonville or Petaluma run on those
weekends. Merced has started getting back into it again. The time was
right, Antioch needed something on the schedule and the George Steitz
Memorial Freedom Series fits the bill.
At
the banquet, Chad gave a brief speech to close the ceremonies. All
eight of the divisions the fans saw last year are still on the schedule.
He's elected to take the Hobby Stocks and put them on the Merced
Speedway ruleset, which I believe is similar to Watsonville. The
thinking is more drivers will come from out of town, and I don't think
the rules are being adjusted that much. My conservative nature is that I
always worry about how rule changes will affect local car count, which
you need to have a bigger car count. Antioch did well with 19 races for
this class last year, but I'm optimistic that this move will only
enhance that.
The Wingless Spec
Sprint division is something that is important to me. I got dragged into
the creative process by Don O'Keefe Jr in August of 1998. John got Don
and I to put a set of rules together and get something organized so that
Antioch could have a class in 1999. Don was the one who conceived of
the Spec Sprint name, which he had reason for. He wanted to
differentiate the class from the other Sprint Car classes. He and I
guided the class during the first year for John, and because we never
had less than 12 cars at Antioch that year, promoters would start
looking at this division as a viable option. This year marks the 22nd
season for the division at Antioch Speedway.
I
would say as the first decade of the 2000s came to a close, Petaluma
grabbed ahold of this division and quickly established themselves as a
top track for the class. Jim Soares was keen on doing something and
started having special races at the end of the season. To make a long
story short, Petaluma had a bigger car count for this class than even
the Hunt Spec Sprint series last season. Again, I always try to think of
the low buck guys when rule changes get made, but my instinct tells me
that going along with what Petaluma is doing here will help the Antioch
Speedway car count. Something needs to be done as I'd like to see this
division reach its 30th season as the Modifieds have.
Chad
cut the Winged 360 Sprint Cars and Late Models down to four races each,
and they're a part of the final race of the season, which is being
billed as Dwarf Car Mania. We're watching the Late Models come to an
end. It makes me sad, because up here in Oregon, that's not the case.
How can California have let this division die? Why has nobody been able
to make a series since Sandy Bainton stepped away from the CarQuest
Series? I don't know. The way I look at it, this Tri State Pro Stock
Series that Roy Bain and Mike Learn are heading up is the best thing for
fans of Late Model style racing in California at the moment. At
Antioch, we called them Limited Late Models, but they are going to need
to start getting cars.
Missing
from the Antioch Speedway schedule is the Larry Damitz Memorial race.
Inexplicably, John removed the Limited Late Models from that date last
year, which met with some negative feedback. I guess I can take some
blame for that. Larry made Limited Late Models his division of choice
for about the last decade of his career, and his Antioch records speak
for themselves. All I did was put word out there that this was Larry's
division to see if we could do something special on that night, and
longtime racer Pete Paulsen was nice enough to sponsor a huge trophy
that year and the following year.
I
will see if I can be succinct here. April 25th would be the perfect
night to make Larry's race happen at Antioch Speedway. Limited Late
Models are there and Petaluma Speedway won't be running their
Lumberjacks Restaurant Super Stocks that night. Petaluma racers knew
Larry too, and I'm just saying it could be an opportunity for Chad and
Antioch Speedway. I don't even think you'd have to have a huge purse to
increase the average Antioch car count that night. I think winning the
Larry Damitz Memorial trophy would be incentive for a lot of the
drivers.
But getting back to the
Late Models and Winged 360 Sprint Cars, John at least tried to give the
two divisions a home. Some of us are still bitter that the Late Model
division was dropped at Antioch after 1993, but that's a side subject
that I covered in my book a little bit. Car count dropped to such a
point that Chad had to look at something. The other option was dropping
the class entirely. If some of the guys who have been parked choose to
come out and support Antioch on those dates, you never really know what
could happen in 2021. So, I think Chad made the best decision under the
circumstances. Antioch didn't kill Late Model racing in the last decade.
It's the last track fighting for the class without resorting to crate
motors as the rule.
The Winged
360 Sprint Car division is a no-brainer. The biggest problem John had
was not sitting down with Rick Faeth and mapping out a plan. Rick was
not going to run Winged 360 Sprint Cars every week at Petaluma Speedway.
He runs them about 10 or a dozen times, giving plenty of room for
Antioch to pick some dates. You have to take into account the bigger
series that Petaluma is a part of. They stay dark to the class on those
nights so drivers can go to those bigger races, but there are several
locals who don't feel they can compete. This opens the door for Antioch
to get some Petaluma cars. Chad cutting this division down to four dates
means that when the division is there, with Petaluma racer support,
Antioch should have a better show to offer the fans.
Dwarf
Cars were another matter. Back in 1998, John helped drive a nail in the
Pacific Coast Dwarf Car Association's coffin by bringing the class in
house. It also helped that most of the leadership didn't want to worry
about those things anymore, and John was giving them a home with the
potential of more dates at Petaluma. For over 20 years, the Dwarf Cars
have been a reliable source of car count at Antioch. Even if they
happened to be booked against a Nationals event, Antioch still produced a
dozen or more cars on that night, so I think John was doing the right
thing for business at the time.
I
know there are some drivers who like the Dwarf Car Nationals that have
been organized by the Western States Dwarf Car Association and its
various member associations. Led by Danny Wagner, the Delta Dwarf Car
Association has been formed. In doing so, the Antioch group becomes a
Western States affiliated association that is eligible for a big Dwarf
Car Regional event, which happens on July 18th. In fact, Antioch could
be considered for a Nationals in 2021. Perhaps as a tune-up, there will
be a Dwarf Car Mania event for October 16th and 17th, the final race of
the year.
Four Bangers are coming
back to Antioch Speedway. I have been an advocate for this. I
personally disagreed with John's decision to drop the class at the end
of the 2014 season and tell the drivers to head on down to Merced in
2015. You know this is an entry-level division, so other than Robby
Waldrop bringing his daughter down to the valley to race, it wasn't
happening. Cars got parked. John had his reasons for doing what he did.
Shoot, Antioch was on the ground floor in establishing this division as
Lance Cline started building cars in 2003. It should have been strong by
the time 2014 rolled around, but that's another story.
The
reasons for adding Four Bangers at Antioch Speedway far outweigh the
reasons not to. You don't have a big purse to pay. You need something
that brings new drivers into the pits. Historically, that's the cheapest
division as far as building a car. Chad has said he felt Antioch needed
something like this, and the Four Bangers needed to be brought back. I
know there are cars sitting around, and I have a hunch it won't take
long to grow the numbers. I also can see drivers making visits from
other tracks. This was another good move by Chadwick.
There
are some things happening on the schedule that are interesting. The Bay
Cities Racing Association Midgets get a date at the end of September. I
like this, because as somebody who loves tradition, I don't want to see
the BCRA fade away. However, as I've mentioned somewhat recently, that
organization needs to change with the times in the way they're doing
things and focus more on dirt track racing. Side issue. They're coming
to Antioch that one time. Speaking of one time, the Hardtops only have a
date on August 1st.
I know
Hardtop people read this, and I'm going to try to be nice about what I
say here. I don't fault the California Hardtop Association for following
their own agenda and not coming to Antioch. It doesn't help Antioch,
but it's not on them to do that. From what I understand, they're not
getting quite the amount of race dates they were hoping for this year,
but I hope that changes. However, the Bay Area Hardtops started
organizing in 2016, but you really wouldn't have noticed that given the
dismal numbers to start last season. There is no leadership, and
therefore Chad had no incentive to book them more than once.
I
don't know if this race in August is considered the Chet Thomson
Memorial or not, and that disappoints me. This race had a heritage going
back to the old Vallejo Speedway, and there are actually people who
were coming out to Antioch just because that race was on the schedule. I
wish it wasn't going down this way. However, as I'm not located in
Antioch and really not in a position to try to organize the troops,
there's not a lot I can do. Chad's going to have to do what he thinks is
best for business. Hardtops aren't going away, but leadership in the
Northern California area is going to have to regroup, refocus and work
on having a better presence every time they come to the track.
The
last part of the schedule is the October 10th Donna Soares Memorial
race. I am happy that Chad will keep this one on the schedule, and it
looks like Wingless Spec Sprints pretty much have the headline status
that night. Actually, the division gets that a lot as you generally
won't see them when the Modified classes are running. Attached to this
night is the Hall of Fame Night. I really didn't know whether this was
going to continue to be a thing at the speedway, and I've heard that
Chad was considering dropping it all together. He didn't do that.
In
a way, I like tying that to Donna's race, because the Soares name goes
back many years. Why not have the family name attached to the Hall of
Fame night? However, a case could be made for doing something like this
in warmer weather, organizing a Hall of Fame picnic before the races
there at the fairgrounds and doing things a little bit differently that
might even get a bigger crowd support that night. I do this from afar,
and if I'm still the one organizing it, the October date is what works
for me personally. For the track, I think there's merit in doing it
earlier. I can also admit to you that I wouldn't have stood up and
fought for this had Chad removed it. I would have been disappointed, but
I would have accepted it. I can't truly do it the justice it needs from
afar.
I will be contacting the
people I have in mind for being committee members for this deal. There
were four of them, although I might consider bringing in a fifth. If I'm
heading this up for another year, the fifth person may come into play
at the end of the year when I pass the baton. I have done the best I can
for this, and I'm very proud of what we've accomplished, even with the
mistakes I've made. There were too many inductees last year, and I'll
take the blame for that. We didn't do nearly a good enough job of
contacting families, and I'll take the blame for that too. I believe the
list should only be around 5 to 7 people this year, but input will
decide that.
These kinds of
promotions are very important to the legacy and tradition of any race
track, so Hall of Fame night has value. That's a fact. There were other
things I wanted to see happen if I were located there. I'd like to see a
display somewhere in the grandstand area commemorating the history and
the fact that this damn race track has been around since 1961. There
were many ideas in my mind from the time I conceived the Hall of Fame
night as an Antioch Speedway thing in 1999, and it took almost 20 years
to even get the first one off the ground.
Larry
Adams seems to have been one of my biggest supporters when it comes to
Hall of Fame night happening again this year. I do appreciate the vote
of confidence people down there give me. There are many racers that have
been good to me. People have sponsored me money to make sure I could
make it down there or just to make sure I had something to get the
things I need. I want you all to know how much it means to me. Michael
Burch has just been an amazing supporter for many years. Also, Paul
Gould and Mike Kord backed me financially. Paul has offered me money for
train tickets to make the last two Antioch Speedway banquets, just
because he thought I should be there celebrating. I would have loved to
have been there this year, but the Medford banquet took place on the
same night. I was kind of thinking this might have been my swan song in
Medford.
I know the people that
care want to know what's going on with me? When I left Antioch last
October 31st, I had a good sense with John that I was as good as back.
John actually recommended I stay in the trailer out there through the
winter to see how everything unfolded. I stayed longer and left at the
end of October, because he indicated I might have an answer then on the
sale of the track. The problem with staying during the winter was I
didn't have the money to even buy food to eat at The Dollar Tree beyond a
couple more weeks. Then, I'm left asking for money, and I didn't want
to come off as some sort of beggar. Plus, I didn't want to leave all of
my things in Oregon, and I needed to be there to handle things that Mike
needed me to do.
I don't even
know if sitting down and talking with Chad at that point was going to
make a difference. He didn't know for sure that things were going to
work out for him, so he couldn't make any kind of commitment to me. I
had to let things play out and then talk to Chad. Until the moment you
know the guy's got the track, you deal with the guy who has it, which in
this case was John. I felt like I was on solid ground there, but I was
uneasy about where I might stand with Chad. Make no mistake, I have a
great deal of respect for him. He's a good man who will do right by
Antioch Speedway. I think I have his respect, and he knows how hard I
would work for him. I mean it sincerely when I say I want Chad to
succeed in his goal of making Antioch Speedway great again.
My
desire was to be down there doing everything I could to help. Chad knew
everything I was offering to do. I've made no secret of my opinion here
when I say that a race track needs a publicity person who is there on
location doing what they can to help. You have somebody out there who
can announce, write, handle webpage maintenance, programs and what have
you. You throw something at them, and they can get it done. When I'm
writing, if I'm there in person, I see everything that happens and can
do a better job of writing about it. Furthermore, I can incorporate my
conversations with the racers into my articles. As it is from a
distance, I'm basically working with statistics and whatever little
tidbits I might pick up from a video or somebody's comments on social
media. Is that good enough?
I
wasn't happy to hear what I was going to hear next, but I wasn't
surprised either. Chad and I spoke on Thursday morning. It was a brief
conversation. I started the track's Facebook page last year to help give
them a much-needed presence on social media, and I know I've made at
least a little bit of difference. John even admitted to me that the
Facebook page and our boost of a post prior to Donna's race last year
helped the numbers a little bit. So yeah, I think the page helped, and
we kept things positive there. The track needed that. Chad just wanted
me to put the word out about the Delta Dwarf Car meeting this weekend,
which I happily did.
I know that
part of the plan that Chad has at the speedway is beautification.
Things have to change in appearance, and he's going to make that happen.
The bottom line is he's investing a lot of money, it's a risk and he
won't be seeing a return on that investment for a while. He didn't tell
me that, but I know the business. He won't be making his investment back
for a while, and therefore he's watching every penny and measuring
every decision. I get it. I respect it. I feel like I'm a person who can
help him get that money coming in quicker, and I also let Chad know
that in the communication I sent to him the day before we talked. I let
him know I was aware of his investment and that I did not have a desire
to gouge him for money if he brought me back down there.
I
live in modest means. I learned from my dad about watching my money. I
lasted as long as I did in the trailer in Bay Point because I cut every
damn corner I could and ate modestly. It wouldn't have taken me much of a
salary. Just enough to get the things I need weekly and, yeah, maybe I
can have a day once in awhile to go see a movie or something not racing
related. I'll work hard for the track, but it is good to have a day. I
let him know I wasn't worried about the money so much as having a place
to stay, a stable internet connection to use and the basic necessities. I
knew what was coming next.
Chad
let me know that trailers are being removed from the pits, and he had no
place for me to stay. I have no money, so even if he would hire me for
the job, I don't have enough money to pay rent or buy a trailer to park
at the track if he would allow that. I'll admit I was devastated. I
still am, but I understand it. That door appears to have been shut, and
I'm okay with that too. I'm okay with walking away from the sport for
the final time if it comes to that. I won't be back if I leave again.
However,
I haven't made the decision to walk away completely yet. I am still
going to do a blog effort weekly throughout the 2020 season, and Chad
and I still have conversations to be had. He may or may not decide to
retain my services. I will respect his decisions in the matter, and I
know he'll respect mine. Make no mistake, if I'm not officially
involved, I'll still be writing about Antioch Speedway on my blog with
the goal of trying to help the place as best I can from my little corner
of the internet.
My number one
goal for Antioch Speedway is to see it be successful. Do I think I could
help that? Absolutely. I know I could. I go to bed thinking about this.
Sometimes I'll dream about it. As I don't have much of a social life,
I'll put thought into things that can help Antioch or racing in general.
But, being there on location, I know what I can do. Given the
opportunity to announce and write and interact with the people, I can
have a positive impact on what it is Chad is hoping to do. Believe me,
it's not a slam dunk. We're in 2020 now, and times have changed. You
have to work harder at this and try different things. I will leave it at
that and wait until the two of us talk again.
One
thing I don't want to do is speculate on things at Antioch Speedway
that I don't know about. Speculation can hurt. It's one of the reasons
why I've been silent during the offseason. By talking, I could have
stirred the pot a little bit and created a complication I didn't intend.
So, to speculate beyond what we know on the schedule and the things
Chad has announced publicly would not be appropriate to do. I guess
that's something that I've learned through the years, because I might
have sat here and speculated a little bit more 25 or 30 years ago.
I
will probably write more about John, but I also don't want to take too
long on this already lengthy column. I have written about him in my
previous book and he'll be in the new book a little bit as well. John
has a legacy in racing that he can be proud of. Where it pertains to him
as the promoter at Antioch Speedway, he's kept those gates open for 22
years. I don't think some people appreciate how much it cost John to do
that. He invested thousands and thousands of dollars on improvements
when he took over in 1998, and everybody saw that. When times got lean
and some promoters might have thrown in the towel, John and Donna
reached into their bank account and put more money into the track to
keep the gates open.
In John we
had a promoter who gave us Late Model racing and Winged 360 Sprint Cars.
He gave us the Wingless Spec Sprints and the Limited Late Models. He
gave us some of the biggest Dirt Modified races anywhere in the state on
multiple occasions. He brought the World of Outlaws to town on multiple
occasions. He did his best. People are going to have different opinions
on him, and I understand that. To me, he is a friend, and he had a
positive impact on my dream when it came to racing. I will always
appreciate him for that, despite the fact that it didn't turn out as
well as either of us thought it would. We can't go back and do it over
again, and I relive those thoughts in my mind. Man, what would have
happened if...
John took the
baton in 1998. Week in and week out, he kept that thing going. Year
after year, racing continued and he was able to pass the baton off to
Chad Chadwick going into this year. It didn't die on John's watch, and
he and Donna worried that it might have. Some people mistook that to say
they wanted to kill the track, but that's just absolute BS. The Soares
family has never been about killing racing. Between John and his dad,
Antioch Speedway has been promoted by a Soares for over 40 years. His
dad opened the gates to weekly racing in 1961, and he handed things off
in 1981 with racing still going strong. The legacy of both John and his
dad are secure. They are both Antioch Speedway Hall of Famers, and I
will always hold them in high regard.
The
plans as of this moment are for me to be active at Southern Oregon
Speedway. There is still lots of work to be done, though I still believe
that Promoter Mike McCann has made great progress in his four years at
the helm. I will be running around on race nights and be busy doing
whatever I can, but it's also comforting to know that there are a few
more people in the equation to help make things a bit easier.
There
seems to be a lot of enthusiasm within the racing community for that
track, and people are coming on board. We just put out the schedule, and
it's another good one. At some point, I'm going to be moving on from
Medford, regardless of whether the opportunity opens in Antioch or not.
One thing I'm proud of is that I've been able to help make a difference
there, and I'm also appreciative of the fact that the racers have
welcomed me into their community despite being some outsider from
California.
I went longer in this
column than I wanted to. I will say that I liked the schedules put out
by Watsonville and Petaluma, which are written about in this blog post.
John Prentice continues to offer some big-time Sprint Car and Modified
races at Watsonville. It isn't just about one division with him. Rick
Faeth at Petaluma seems to be more under fire with people wanting to
take that property and build something else, but he continues to knock
things out of the ballpark.
You
have several top Sprint Car series coming to town. Faeth has a roster of
divisions that are all sponsored. There is just so much going on in
Petaluma, and the crowd is responding with big attendance numbers. To
me, Rick came off as the promoter of the year in California. Well, he
gets the DCRR Award Of Excellence. That used to be a plaque, but back in
those days I actually had enough money to afford that. I hope to
continue covering both tracks on this blog this season.
Dan
Myrick deserves a shout-out for the amazing job he does with the
Central Valley Mini Stocks. It was just a little dream of running these
Mini Stocks on the 1/5 mile dirt oval in Lemoore, which is better known
for Micro Sprints. He and his buddies started building cars, and they
established themselves a little more. I know there were a lot of
stressful moments for Dan. It's growing bigger and seems to be gaining
momentum, but I can tell you the stress level for Dan has probably
increased. Sadly, Lemoore won't be on the schedule this year due to the
track changing management and Dan unable to sit down and discuss things
with them at the time he was putting the schedule together. That's the
bad news.
The good news is Dan
has put together another 10 race schedule that will see them racing for
the most part once a month at five different tracks. Purse money will
increase. They will be running the California Dream Mini Stock race at
Madera in August. This is going to be a 100 lap race, which I heard
could even be on MavTV. That's pretty cool. Furthermore, House of JuJu
in Clovis and Morro Bay is again putting up $5,000 in championship point
fund money. They did that last year, and it blew me away. This makes
the Central Valley Mini Stocks the biggest Mini Stock Series on the West
Coast.
I don't write this
enough here, but the racing community should always try to spend their
money with companies that support racing. These are the ones that
sponsor race cars and help keep the drivers out there. These are the
ones that sponsor tracks that might make it possible for them to keep
the gates open. These are the ones that sponsor different series and
help them out with the point fund money that entices drivers to support
that particular series. If you're down in Clovis or Morro Bay, stop off
and eat at House of JuJu. It's good food, and they are great supporters
of racing.
Dan has endeavored to
get the Mini Stock division on the same set of rules at different
venues. I can't emphasize how important that is. Drivers like to know
that the car they have will be legal to run here or there, and past
practices of some promoters has been such that they make rules where
their drivers can only go to one place. I know Dan was able to get the
CVMS group in Hanford, and the numbers they produced last year were very
impressive. He's also talked with Merced about getting their rules in
line. This stuff is very important, and Dan is truly one of the top
series promoters of any group. I know he'd be quick to thank the people
he works with and all of his great racers for supporting every show they
can.
I will go on and on and on
if I don't shut my mouth. I wanted to mention a few things happening in
Oregon, but I'll do that in the future or on and audio show. Oregon
probably won't get any racing in on the outdoor tracks until April
anyway. So, on that note, I'll end this column. Until next time...
