Antioch Speedway, Ocean Speedway, Petaluma Speedway, Marysville Raceway, More

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SPEARS SOUTHWEST TOUR SERIES RE-ROUTES TO

ROSEVILLE ON AUGUST 15TH

By Steven Blakesley HERE

RACE 2B DRUG FREE BIG3 FIRES OFF 

THIS SATURDAY AT MADERA

By Steve Blakesley HERE

ROUND FOUR OF MICRO SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP 

HITS DELTA SPEEDWAY 

By Steve Blakesley HERE

Pit Stops

Once again, we are doing a different format for this weekend's preview in order to try to be a bit briefer. A few of the options for this weekend have been eliminated due to fires in Northern California. The two-day show at Diamond Mountain Speedway in Susanville is canceled due to fires very near the fairgrounds. They hope to have the race on the second weekend of August, which is an I-80 Series event. The Diamond Mountain Speedway Facebook page is the best place to go to find that information.

Siskiyou Golden Speedway hadn't announced what they intended to run, but this is standard procedure for the track these days. Promoter Kevin Barba checks in with the county health officials to make sure they are cleared for the next event, and would usually announce what the schedule is on Monday. Unfortunately, a couple hours after the announcement that the Outlaw Kart race on Friday was canceled due to fires, the big track canceled as well. It turns out the fire crews are using the fairgrounds as a base, which usually happens in cases like these. There won't be a race on the first weekend of August due to another event being booked, but the Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page will announce what's coming next. 

California fans only had one option to go spectating this week, and it was limited to 100 seats available for the Marysville Raceway event on Wednesday. No other races in California were scheduled to have fans, but there are quite a few racing options being listed throughout the weekend. Several of those will include internet broadcasts, and a couple of them will be free to watch.

Antioch Speedway

Antioch Speedway seems to be the leader in reopening tracks in California on a regular basis after the covid-19 shutdown. Since the first race after the shutdown on Memorial Day weekend, Antioch Speedway has had an event every week. There was even a Wednesday practice this week, and Saturday finds the familiar grouping of IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks on the bill. The racers only have two options for their Modified racing on Saturday night, and this is the only one in Northern California.

Both the IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modifieds have produced car counts of 20 or more since opening. The track has also held more than four races for each class, which means that champions will be crowned by IMCA in these divisions. Antioch Speedway has been a wide-open affair as IMCA Sport Modifieds still have yet to produce a repeat winner, and Modifieds have only done it once. In case you haven't noticed, the IMCA Modifieds have been putting on some great races on the quarter-mile clay oval with lots of two-wide racing and in some cases battles that went down to the final lap.

Four-time Antioch champion and reigning Merced champion Troy Foulger parked the Bowers Motorsports Modified in the Winner's Circle at Ocean Speedway last Saturday night with a nice drive. He'll be looking for another win at Antioch this week. He leads past Antioch and two-time Wild West Speedweek Series champion Kellen Chadwick by 18 points. Chadwick also counts himself among the winners at Antioch, but he'll be looking for a second triumph this week in tune up for the August 8th Jerry Hetrick Memorial, which he won last season.

Chadwick is leading Shane DeVolder by just two points in the race for second. In his young career, DeVolder has racked up some very impressive credentials. He is the 2017 IMCA Sport Modified State champion as well as the 2018 IMCA Modified State champion and All Star Series champ. DeVolder also counts himself among the winners at Antioch Speedway, as does Jim Pettit II, who is three points behind him. Pettit looked impressive during the first half of the race at Watsonville last Saturday before falling out.

Reigning champion Buddy Kniss has encountered a bit of a champion's slump this year. In the most recent race, he had a front-row start and spun out on the opening lap. However, he salvaged a Top 5 finish by the time the race concluded. He sits fifth in the standings, five ahead of JC Elrod and 25 over Nick DeCarlo and reigning Watsonville champion Austin Burke. With all of the talent we have in the Modified ranks, DeCarlo is the only driver who can claim championship trophies at Petaluma, Antioch and Watsonville in Modified competition.

The IMCA Sport Modified division finds Fred Ryland in a familiar position leading the way. We haven't seen Ryland chasing an Antioch championship since he won the title back in 2015, but he's won two Merced championships since then. He counts himself among the Antioch winners and has used that to put himself six points ahead of the consistent Todd Gomez. Past Street Stock champion Gomez is still in the hunt for his first win, but he leads 2017 champion KC Keller by 10 points and Mark Garner by 16 as these four drivers are still very much in the championship hunt. 

With the talent level in the IMCA Sport Modified ranks, it's pretty much like the Modifieds. You never know who's going to win on any given week. That means tuning into the Dirt Oval TV broadcast will certainly be worthwhile. Kenny Shrader is a winner this year and a driver to contend with as he trails Garner by nine points and leads rising Merced star Chase Thomas by five. Thomas is a Main Event winner at Watsonville this year. 15 points behind Garner is two-time Antioch champion Trevor Clymens. Trevor has struggled a bit out of the gate this year, but he can strike for a victory at any time. 

We're not sure if points will be kept for the Hobby Stock division, but they've raced as much as the IMCA classes. Because they are not sanctioned by IMCA, it would be up to the track to crown a champion if anything official is going to happen. What we can say is it's a very competitive field. Bakersfield star Nick Johnson turned in a superb effort in winning both Main Events on Fourth of July weekend. Like Rob Gallaher, he's a two-time winner, but it may be that we don't see either of these two this week. 

However, there are some very fast drivers in the field, including the driver who could be leading the points if we see a list, Breanna Troen. She's been consistent in her Top 5 performances. Travis Dutra counts himself among the winners this year, but James Thomson is still looking for victory. Thomson has been very fast this year, as had has Trent Wentworth. Josh Leach and Abigail Gonderman have been splitting duties in the #20 car this year. The Hobby Stocks have been performing well this year with slightly bigger counts recently than either of the Modified classes. It should be an exciting race to watch.

Overall, the Antioch Speedway show will be worth checking out, and Dirt Oval TV will be providing the coverage on internet pay-per-view. This is the best way to keep up with all the goings-on at the speedway until fans are allowed when covid-19 guidelines are loosened up a little bit. For further information on when that may happen and other details, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.

Ocean Speedway

People are still buzzing about Ocean Speedway following the 10th Annual Howard Kaeding Classic. Why shouldn't they be? The Sprint Car racing all weekend was phenomenal, and the winner of the NARC/King of the West Sprint Car Series race pocketed $5,000. It was multi-time Sprint Car champion Kyle Hirst winning that prize for the fourth time in his career. It will be the Ocean Sprints, presented by Taco Bravo, headlining Friday's show on the Tom Sagmiller prepared quarter-mile clay oval. Joining them will be the IMCA Sport Modifieds, the Mini Stocks, the South Bay Dwarf Cars and the Police N Pursuit cars.

It wasn't a stellar weekend for Bud Kaeding last week, but he notched his fourth Top 10 finish in as many starts on Friday night. In doing so, he stretched his point lead to 61 tallies ahead of Kaleb Montgomery. Montgomery leads Zane Blanchard by seven points and Kurt Nelson by 16 points in a closer race for second. Nelson picked up a Top 10 finish in last Friday's all-star-caliber field. It was DJ Netto delighting the audience at home and the observers from the pits as he made a mid-race pass to go from third to first and led the rest of the way for the victory.

Turnout has been strong in the regular Sprint Car class at Watsonville this year, and Winged Sprint Car competitors have the opportunity for a busy week, which would have started on Wednesday at Marysville, continued at Watsonville on Friday night, went to Placerville Speedway for the Forni Classic on Saturday and ended at Silver Dollar Speedway's first race since the virus shut down on Sunday. Some drivers may not make the trip to Watsonville, but we could see a few top drivers. That might even include reigning Silver Dollar Speedway champion Sean Becker. Becker, Shane Golobic, Blake Carrick and Netto are the four winners so far at Watsonville.

Some of the others to watch for this week include reigning champion James Ringo, Koen Shaw, Joey Ancona, Jason Chisum and Jeremy Chisholm. Shaw brought his Micro Sprint to Petaluma Speedway last week and picked up the victory. Ancona looked good in holding off Craig Stidham to win the B Main at the NARC Sprint Car show on Saturday.

The IMCA Sport Modifieds have now made it to four starts, meaning that it's officially a point race as far as IMCA is concerned. Now the question becomes, who is going to win the championship. If you take a look at the Top 5 in the standings, you might be a bit surprised. There are some new names vying for championship honours, and none of those drivers are feature winners so far. There are four different winners in this class, including Tanner Thomas, Brent Curran, Fred Ryland and last Friday's winner Andrew Peckham.

Consistency has been the name of the game, and Gavin Espino has two Top 5 finishes and three Top 10s to lead second-year racer Kelly Campanile by seven points. Both of these drivers are looking for their first career wins, as is third-ranked Stephen Allee. Allee is 11 points behind Espino. Billy Robertson is 15 points back and Max Baggett is trailing the leader by 22 tallies. Some of the drivers to watch for this week include Adriane Frost, Charlie Hunter, State point leader Timothy Allerdings and Justin McPherson. Frost has been running a Hobby Stock this year as well as the two-time Four Banger champion gets back to her fendered racing roots.

This will be the fourth event of the season for the Four Banger division, and three drivers have won the races so far. They are past champion Ryan McClelland, 2018 Central Valley Mini Stock champion Greg Baronian and Nicole Beardsley. Nicole Beardsley and Kate Beardsley tied for the point lead last year with 17 Top 5 finishes each, but neither driver had a win. In the most recent race, it was Nicole making a late move around Kate to get the winner's trophy. It's a good bet that Kate will be back racing hard to try and get a win for herself. She trails McClelland by 11 points in the championship battle while Nicole is two points behind her in a tie with hard charger Tony Gullo. Others to watch for include Richard Mitchell, Mark Fields, Jessie Gullings and John Grilli.

The South Bay Dwarf Cars have made two appearances this year, and the regulars are hoping to get back in the win column. The season opener saw most of them watching the finish from the sidelines as crashes eliminated past champion Terre Rothweiler and reigning champion Mark Biscardi. Rookie Joey Lingron led fellow Redwood Dwarf Car competitor Michael Affonso across the line for the 1-2 finish. Last time out, NorCal competitors Shawn Jones and reigning NorCal champion Michael "Spanky" Grenert went 1-2 at the finish. Coming off of his Top 5 finishes in the opener and last time out, past champion Gene "Punky" Pires just might be the best bet of the regulars to get a win this week. Others to watch for include Trafton Chandler, Marty Weisler, Barry Waddell, Danika Del Monte, Ryan Amlen and Eddy Claesson.

The Police N Pursuit drivers will be back representing different law enforcement units in the area. We've seen two races so far, won by Tony Parker of the Task Force Racers and Nick Graham of the Santa Cruz Police Department. Graham won by a very wide margin in the most recent race and leads reigning champion Roy Iler by 16 points. Chris Murphy and Jackie Yeung are 21 points out of the lead, two ahead of John Hohmann. It should be noted that Hohmann probably would have won the title last year as he was leading the standings when he skipped the final race.

It's another program that offers plenty of excitement from top to bottom. With no fans allowed in the grandstands as we end July racing, people can still tune in to the internet pay-per-view coverage via Flo Racing. For further information, go to www.racepmg.com or check out the

Petaluma Speedway 

Coming off of a weekend that had plenty of open-wheel excitement, the 3/8 mile adobe oval will be alive with the sound of race car engines again this Sunday night. The Sunday show enables the track to offer internet pay-per-view via Flo Racing. PitStopUSA.com Wingless Spec Sprints hit the track along with the McLea's Tire Service IMCA Modifieds, General Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Cars and Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micros.

We've had four Wingless Spec Sprint races so far, but we're still waiting for the standings to be released after the fourth event. With Cody Fendley and Shawn Jones both absent from that race, it's likely that rookie Daniel Whitley will be in the lead after making a late move for his third Top 5 finish of the season. The winners so far include Jones with two triumphs, DJ Johnson and multi-time Winged 360 Sprint Car champion Bradley Terrell. Terrell was the one grabbing the honors last week ahead of 600 Micro Sprint graduate Nick Robfogel and David Lindt II, who was piloting the Ted Finkenbinder car. Lindt and Finkenbinder have been teaming up for the last month-and-a-half at various events. 

The Sunday event is also necessary as the Hunt Wingless Series will be in Placerville as part of the Forni Classic, and several drivers are expected to be there. The track is still hoping for a solid turn out on Sunday with 16 or more in the pits. Last time out, past champions Shayna Ensign picked up a fourth place finish, and she would certainly be a threat to win if she's there this week. Newcomer Jessica Walker has been making her laps and counts herself among the Top 10 in the standings. She's been improving with every start. Other drivers to watch for this week include past champions Ryon Siverling and Sparky Howard, Keith Calvino, Eden McCormick and Matthew Haulot

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This is the fourth McLea's Tire Service IMCA Modified race. In the eyes of the sanctioning body, that makes it official, and that's something that has the Xtreme Scaffolding team very excited. Anthony "The Animal" Slaney is off to the best start of his career with three-straight wins. He came close to winning the All Star Series title last year, but his chances are even better this year. Slaney's closest challengers are Justin Yeager and Gary Zwicker. Yeager trails by 15 points, while Zwicker is 20 points back. Unless something radical happens, these would be Slaney's two biggest threats to his lead.

This was aided by the fact that the track's two biggest stars in recent years, Michael Paul Jr and Oreste Gonella, have missed races. Both drivers were shadowing Slaney last time out as he picked up his third win, and they would potentially be his best challengers in this race. Being that it is Sunday, there could be drivers from out of town, but we won't speculate on who that might be. Some of the other local stars to watch for include Tim Yeager, Trevor Brady, Chris Sieweke and Michelle Paul.

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The numbers have been pretty strong for the General Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Cars this year, and that's expected to be the case again on Sunday. Wins in the three races held so far have been recorded by Shawn Jones, two-time Antioch champion Danny Wagner and reigning NorCal champion Michael "Spanky" Grenert. Grenert won the most recent race, and Jones also had a win in the Petaluma Dwarf Car Nationals and Antioch Dwarf Car Regionals. Whenever he's in town, he's a threat to win. 

Trailing Grenert in the points is reigning champion Chad Mathias, who is 11 points back with a pair of Top 5 finishes. He's the closest one in the hunt right now as Vernon Hubbard, Jimmy Damron, Michael Affonso and Matt Hagermann are just under 50 points back in a closer race for third. Others to watch for this week include Carroll Mendenhall, Garrett Brady, Mike Dahle, 2018 champion John "Scooter" Gomes and Danny Marsh.

The Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micros finally got a chance to run on the big oval last Saturday night, and Winged Sprint Car star Koen Shaw was the class of the field. We saw the return of multi-time champion Jim Beck, who was the closest challenger to Shaw. Reigning champion Justin Addiego was also looking good and In contention. Some of the drivers anticipated this week include Brian Slubik, Carroll Mendenhall, Trevor Mendenhall, Rob Brown and George Nielsen.

Petaluma Speedway will offer plenty of excitement for their Sunday evening program. It looks like because covid-19 guidelines won't allow fans in the grandstands, they'll be streaming live on pay-per-view at Flo Racing and should be keeping to Sunday for the next few weeks at least. Any scheduling changes and other news can be found at www.petaluma-speedway.com or by going to the Petaluma Speedway Facebook page.

Coos Bay Speedway

If you want to attend a race and be able to buy concessions as well, you need to take a trip to the Oregon coast and spectate the show at Coos Bay Speedway. They will be running another NASCAR Whelen All American Series event, led by the Super Late Models, Sportsman Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Outlaws, Hornets and Junior Stingers. The Southern Oregon Dwarf Cars will be there as well. 

The NASCAR Super Late Models are competing for a $3,500 track championship, and Justin Johnson has two wins in his point leading effort. 2018 champion Brody Montgomery is trailing him by just eight tallies. Braden Fugate is 16 points out of lead with Mike Taylor 22 points behind him. Johnson and Montgomery are the only drivers with all Top 5 finishes in four starts.

Trace Fugate has taken over the Fugate family Sportsman Late Model effort after Braden Fugate won that title last year. He has one win and a 46 point lead over Ryan Emry. 18 points behind Emry is Phil Lovvorn. Cottage Grove Sport Modified champion David Schmidt and Jordan Henry are both feature winners this year as is Cottage Grove racer Aaron Bloom in the four races held so far.

The Street Stock division is getting a workout with six races in the record book. However, they've been drawing a good car count so far. It is 2018 champion Ken Fox and reigning champion Steve Dubisar battling at the front of the pack with a pair of wins each. Kevin Roberts and more recently Dakota Goddard are the other winners in the six races held so far. Fox leads Dubisar by 10 points while Graig Osborne is 68 out of the lead.

The Mini Outlaws have also had four races, and Scott Beaudoin has two wins. Tahlen Rodgers and Brad Hicks each have one victory, and Hicks leads Beaudoin by 50 points. Matthew Emry is 54 point out of the lead.

Cottage Grove resident Isaac Stere leads the Hornets by 30 points over Kevin Rockwell, 36 over Dan Briesacher and 38 ahead of Kris Parker. Stere has two wins with reigning champion Hannah Robison and Seth Christian the other winners, but Robison made her Late Model debut in the most recent event.

The 11 to 14 year olds of the Junior Stinger division have seen their ranks grow quite a bit this year. Two-time reigning champion Griff Smith has won all four events, but his lead over Lane Hitner is only eight points. Alex Butler is 30 points back in third, six ahead of Teagan Montgomery.

They've been getting better turnouts this year in the pits as other Oregon tracks struggle to get open and are running limited schedules at best. Oval track racing has been going so well here that a Wednesday, July 29th event has been announced. It will include the Winged Sprint Cars, Dirt Modifieds, B Modifieds and Street Stocks. You can find more information by going to www.coosbayspeedway.us or checking out the Coos Bay Speedway Facebook page.

Dixon Speedway

Dixon Speedway will be moving their Micro Sprint program to this Friday night. They've had seven events for their core four divisions, and each division has had at least four different winners so far. 

It's interesting that Kelvin Lewis hasn't won a Main Event yet, but his lead over Timothy Vaught is over 100 points in the Wingless 600 class. Lewis does have a season-high second place finish, as does Vaught. Vaught leads two-time winner Brandon Shaw and one-time winner Cody Gray by 2 points in a tight battle for second. If you're keeping notes, Brandon Carey has two feature wins this year, Mitchel Moles has a win and it was Austin Stone winning the most recent race.

Three-time winner Brad Hannum currently leads the Super 600 point race with a new driver in second. Sage Bordenave hasn't had a podium finish yet this year, but he slipped past two-time reigning champion Kyle Mentch after last week. He trails Hannum by 29 points and leads Mentch by five. Mentch was a Main Event scratch last time out, and he's just 13 points ahead of Devon Courtnier, who won the most recent race. Courtnier has two wins to his credit, and other winners include Corey Day and Mitchel Moles.

The 600 Restricted division sees Bryant Bell leading by 11 points ahead of Izaak Sharp. Bell has two feature wins, and Sharp has finished as high as second once. Sharp leads Matthew Tatoole by 22 points in the race for the second position. Dalton Parreira, Austin Wood, Colin Kirby and Brandon Rivera are the other feature winners with Wood winning twice. He's currently fourth in a tie with Rivera, 60 points behind Sharp.

Following her first win of the season last time out, reigning champion Makayla Tatoole has a 34 point lead over two-time winner Kyle Fernandez. Brody Rubio has three third place finishes to maintain third in the standings, 34 points ahead of Hayden Stepps. Other feature winners this year include Braxon Vasconcellos, Lucas Mauldin and fifth-ranked Matthew Ward. Ward has two wins to his credit.

Dixon Speedway will remain busy with another Saturday show on August 1st. For all of the relevant information pertaining to Friday night and the coming events, go to www.dixonspeedway.com or check out the Dixon Speedway Facebook page.

In Closing

Placerville Speedway didn't have a very big car count for their Sprint Car show last week as many drivers were in Watsonville. Kalib Henry picked up the win in the most recent race as he joins Justyn Cox and Colby Copeland as the winners of the Thompson's Auto Group Sprint Car shows. Ryan Robinson is listed as the point leader by seven points over Chase Majdic, 11 over Shane Hopkins and 27 over Cox. They're keeping points, but we don't know if they're actually crowning a champion. 

What we do know is this weekend is the Forni Classic, and there should be a strong turnout of Winged Sprint Cars for the $2,000 to win and $200 minimum to start race on Saturday night. The Hunt Wingless Sprint Car Series will be there along with Pure Stocks and Mini Trucks. The event will be broadcast on Flo Racing. For further information, go to www.placervillespeedway.com or check out the Placerville Speedway Facebook page.

Further south, Bakersfield Speedway has their second event of the season. The 1/3 mile dirt oval will host IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, American Stocks and California Lightning Sprints. They will be broadcasting live via their own server at bakersfieldspeedway.tv. For further information, go to www.bakersfieldspeedway.com or check out the Bakersfield Speedway Facebook page.

Pavement enthusiasts can rejoice at the fact that they can watch two events streaming online for free. Madera Speedway will be offering a pay-per-view caliber broadcast featuring The Nut Up Pro Late Models and the 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models. Both divisions have had strong turnouts, and Saturday's event is the first of a three race series that will offer increased purse money and point funds. You can go to www.racemadera.com or check out the Madera Speedway Facebook page for more information, and they'll let you know where to go to watch it live on YouTube. Be prepared for a professional quality broadcast.

Not to be forgotten, Lakeport Speedway is coming back this week with another show that they will be streaming live on their Facebook page for free. Last weekend saw a particularly exciting NCRA Legend Car race, won on the last lap by Kylie Daniels. Kyle Tellstrom won the North State Modified Series race. This weekend will see the Legend Cars back, and the show will include the regular Limited Modified class as well. Joining these two divisions will be the Bombers, Pro 4 Modifieds and Late Models. You can get all the information by going to NCRA Lakeport Speedway on Facebook.

Silver Dollar Speedway decided on a Sunday show for their reopening this week. They will be broadcasting it live on Flo Racing. Winged 360 Sprint Cars will be racing along with the Hobby Stocks and Street Stocks. You can find more information at www.silverdollarspeedway.com or by going to the Silver Dollar Speedway Facebook page.

Racing fans will at least be able to watch some broadcasted action from various California dirt tracks all weekend long, which is better than nothing. Orland Raceway will be announcing what divisions are running at their opener on August 1st. Check out the Orland Raceway Facebook page for updates. 

All American Speedway in Roseville is ready for their six-race NASCAR Whelen All.American Series season, which will also start in August. Check out www.allamericanspeedway.com or go to the All American Speedway Facebook page for updates.

There's also word from the Central Valley Mini Stocks that they may return to their original track, Lemoore Raceway, for a special show on the first or second weekend of September. You can go to www.centralvalleyministocks.com the to find the relevant information.

Carrick, Lindgren, Youngman 
Pick Up Marysville Raceway Victories

Marysville, CA...July 22...Tanner Carrick won the 25 lap Winged 360 Sprint Car Main event Wednesday night at Marysville Raceway. The track continues to run Wednesday night programs in order to get internet streaming revenue via Flo Racing as they are only allowed 100 fans in attendance due to the covid-19 guidelines. This was the seventh race of the season, and Carrick became the first two-time winner aboard the Carrick Motorsports owned Sprinter.

Tanner Carrick had a front row start for a race that was destined to go without a yellow flag. He bolted into the lead ahead of point leader Andy Forsberg and Shane Golobic. On the 12th lap, both Golobic and Blake Carrick used traffic to make a move around Forsberg for second and third. Blake Carrick overtook Golobic for the second position on Lap 19. Golobic regained second from Blake Carrick on the final lap as Tanner Carrick won by a comfortable margin. Blake Carrick settled for third, followed by Forsberg, Brad Bumgarner, reigning champion Michael Ing, Brent Bjork, Jessie Love, John Michael Bunch and Billy Wallace.

Forsberg was the quickest of 20 drivers in qualifying with a lap of 12.655, beating the 12.795 of Golobic. The eight lap heat race wins were earned by Ing, Blake Carrick and Tanner Carrick.

Zach Lindgren won the 20 lap Hobby Stock Main Event. He becomes the fourth different winner in four point races. Matt Rivera had a front row start and raced into the early lead ahead of Zack Thornton and Devin Koranda. Following a Lap 4 yellow flag, Thornton and Koranda moved into the first two positions on the restart. Koranda slipped past Thornton for the lead on Lap 6 before a yellow flag waved. On the restart, Rivera regained the second position, and he took the lead on a Lap 8 restart. Lindgren moved into third behind Koranda on Lap 10. Following a Lap 12 yellow flag, Rivera continued to lead Lindgren and Eddie Simmons on the restart. Lindgren put the moves on Rivera to take the lead on the 17th lap before the final yellow flag waved. Lindgren continued to lead the way on the restart and pulled away to the victory. Rivera settled for second, followed by Rick Etchison, Simmons, Chris Van Roekel, past champion Shannon Collins, Phil Wilkins, point leader Jesse Van Roekel, Jim Brookshire and Toby Merrifield. The 20 car field ran three eight lap heat races with wins going to Jacob Johnson, Wilkins and Jesse Van Roekel.

Brett Youngman won the 20 lap Crate Sprint Main Event. Youngman is piloting the James Smith III owned Sprinter, and this was the second win of the season for the reigning division champion. Youngman raced into the early lead over Cameron Haney Jr and heat race winner David Sims. Unfortunately for Sims, his race ended on a Lap 5 yellow flag. Youngman led Haney and Mike Ballantine on the restart. Ballantine was having one of his better runs in third, but his race ended on a Lap 8 yellow flag. Youngman continued to set the pace on the restart with Haney shadowing his every move. On the 13th lap, Haney slipped past Youngman to take the lead. Youngman ran close behind him until putting the moves on Haney to grab the lead on Lap 18. At the checkered flag, it was Youngman claiming the victory ahead of Haney, Dusty Barton, Spencer Slocum, Ballantine and Sims.

For further information on coming events and other news at the track, go to www.marysvilleraceway.com or check out the Marysville Raceway Facebook page.

Hannagan Wins California Hardtop Race 
At Placerville Speedway

Placerville, CA...July 18...Joel Hannagan got behind the wheel of the Doug Braudrick owned Junkyard Dog Hardtop and proceeded to win both the California Hardtop heat race and Main Event Saturday night at Placerville Speedway. The win was even more sweet for the team as they nearly saw their night come to an end in a hot lap crash. Thanks to support from several people, they got the car together, and past Late Model and IMCA Modified racer Hannagan was practically unstoppable.

Hannagan started the racing off by picking up the eight lap heat race victory with Ron Ruiz and Tom Grady beginning their night long battle. Grady finished second in that race with Ruiz settling for third. The Main Event saw these two drivers along with Dennis Armstrong mixing it up at the front of the pack early on. Unfortunately for the Armstrong team, Jason Armstrong blew a motor before the Main Event to end his night early. Braudrick rapidly worked his way to the front of the pack and took the lead. Ruiz and Grady were having a spirited dual for second, but it was Grady picking up the runner-up finish and forcing Ruiz to settle for third.

Other than the motor issues for Jason Armstrong, the other seven competitors were able to drive their cars up on their trailers at the end of the night. This included Ken Clifford, who was making his first start in the pink #5 car, formerly owned by Bakersfield Hardtop competitor Marc McCaslin. Also there was Joe Shenefield and Jason Clifford. 

The next scheduled Hardtop event in Northern California will be at Antioch Speedway on August 1st, and they will return to Placerville August 15th.  For news on the California Hardtop Association, check out their Facebook page.

The Editor's Viewpoint

I wasn't sure I was going to put this post together. I say that a lot lately, but I'm dealing with some equipment that's malfunctioning right now, including a phone. I use a cell phone that has no service, but the Wi-Fi makes it an effective tool. Last October when I made my trip down to Antioch to do the second Hall of Fame, I happened to be walking around the closest concession stand to the entrance when I was carrying my phone in my hand. I bumped the phone against my leg, and it landed flat on its face on the ground.  

As you might expect, the screen cracked in a couple of places, but the phone didn't die. One of the things I've learned when you don't have a lot of money to work with is to make do with what you have. My dad taught me that. So, I've been using this phone and getting quite a bit of use out of it. About a week or so ago, the screen started malfunctioning. I've been able to use the phone for some things, but not everything. It needs to be replaced. The good news is that thanks to a tip received from Michael Burch via The Tip Jar, I'm in the process of replacing the phone

I can't tell you what it means to have people who support my efforts this way. It is work, and Michael has always understood the effort I put into it. His support through the years going back to when I started mailing the magazine has meant a lot. His friendship has meant more. There are other things that I need, but I've been able to get by for now. If I were required to be at a track every week right now, I don't know if my laptop would be efficient due to the problems I'm having with it, but I'm in a position where I don't have to worry about that for now.

I'm trying to keep the media effort going through the end of the year as originally announced, but it's still getting harder to get up for it. That's particularly true in the case of these end of the week posts. This one came together a little bit later as I spent a day going over options for the best cheap phone I could find that wouldn't require me to sign up for a subscription service. Subscription services are not in the cards for me right now. I figured that out, placed my order and then I got back to work on the this post. But enough of my personal garbage.

How much longer are we going to have to deal with our freedoms being squashed? How much longer are we going to have racing without fans in the grandstands? This is going beyond public safety, and it's even gone beyond this election and left vs right. There's a bigger game at play. Having no fans in the grandstands is hurting the sport. As much as they are talking about cases rising, how many people are actually dying here? I'm not offering an opinion beyond these questions, but I will say this. We will get exactly the amount of tyranny in this country that we accept.

The two tracks on the West Coast that allow the most fan attendance are Diamond Mountain Speedway and Coos Bay Speedway. Promoter Drake Nelsen certainly found the right loopholes to get Coos Bay Speedway open as a bar and grill, but things have been golden for him since early June. In fact, he had one of his better supported shows in terms of crowd attendance for his last oval track race. He had perhaps his biggest car count since taking over as promoter. The fireworks show certainly helped that.

He's coming back with another race this Saturday night. The NASCAR Whelen All American Series program will feature Super Late Models, Sportsman Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Outlaws, Hornets, Junior Stingers and the Southern Oregon Dwarf Cars. There probably won't be any streaming service, but this is one of those races you can actually attend and buy concessions. Because some key Oregon tracks still aren't open, Drake is even having a Wednesday race on the 29th. This will include IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Winged Sprint Cars and Street Stocks. I'm not sure if he's actually sanctioning the Modified classes as I've seen no points listed on the page of the sanctioning body. You can find more details on the Coos Bay Speedway Facebook page.

They don't get concessions at Diamond Mountain Speedway, but they do allow a socially distanced crowd. It seems like Promoter Jeff Olschowka hit on a plan to run doubleheader weekends with action on Friday and Saturday. On one level, you may say it's a bit of a greedy move, but here's the thing. The Susanville track is a bit out of the way, and getting people to tow from farther distances can be a hard sell. When you're telling them they have two nights of racing with IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks, you're more likely to get people coming in from further south in California, up north in Oregon and even Nevada. It's a good move.

The bad news is it's fire season. There are certain race tracks that have to brace for impact when there's the possibility of a fire breaking out somewhere in the area. It turns out that there is a fire not far from the track, and Jeff was forced to cancel the two-day show for this weekend. It's kind of a one-two punch. You struggle to open during this time of the virus and are able to get fans in his case. Then, you can't have a race at all because of the fire. They're saying that the second week in August will be the next racing opportunity, and you can find out more by going to the Diamond Mountain Speedway Facebook page.

Grandstand attendance certainly made it easier for those two tracks to open since they could have fans. There were tracks on the West Coast that could open without fans, but they were reluctant. They're still reluctant and haven't jumped at the chance to do anything. Bakersfield Speedway will have a five division show this weekend without fans. This is only their second race since the shutdown. I believe they could have raced more by now if they wanted, but Promoter Scott Schweitzer crunched the numbers. It just didn't make sense to go beyond a few races. To me, that's the smartest approach when you know you can lose money on this deal.

Even with the limitations, promoters are fighting to open with no fans. It's early in the second half of the what would be a normal racing season. There are tracks that haven't raced yet that are jumping in. After crunching the numbers and figuring out what he could do, Bill MacAnally will begin a six-race NASCAR Whelen All American Series season for his regular classes at All American Speedway in Roseville. Orland Raceway hopes to have a race on August 1st. Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico also has a race coming, but this one will be on Sunday.

What's interesting about the Sunday choice is they did this to not conflict with Watsonville on Friday, which would normally be the Silver Dollar Speedway date. Saturday is problematic because multiple tracks are running, and these guys want to have streaming services. Sunday was the choice date, but Petaluma Speedway had already grabbed it and plans to keep running on Sundays so that they can bring in a cameraman and get some streaming revenue. Therefore, we will have Petaluma and Chico running on Sunday. Dennis Gage already had a deal in place with SpeedshiftTV, which has been bought out by Flo Racing. 

I heard it was a sweet deal. Actually, I heard details on this, which I will keep to myself. If what I heard is true, it definitely helps. It's not exactly what he would be getting with a full grandstand in Marysville, but it's still better than nothing. Plus, the Wednesday show in Marysville is able to have 100 people in the stands. At Dennis's other track in Chico, they can't have anybody in the grandstands. In fact, the county health officials won't let them have people in the pit bleachers either. 

It's amazing that these types of restrictions are still in place. You're not going to convince me that it's safe for people to gather shoulder-to-shoulder wearing masks in protest of whatever they think is wrong with our great country, but fans can't do the same and watch the races in the grandstands. There are fans who would take the risk if given the opportunity to do so.

I don't know exactly what Dennis gains by opening Chico this late and doing so without fans. The only thing I think is it has to do with good faith with your racers, because the fans get left out. The fans are getting left out of all of this. You can tell me all day long how fans can buy a subscription to a streaming service and not be left out, but that's not what local racing is. That's the opportunity for fans to watch these professional sporting events in person and interact with the racers. They can watch NASCAR on TV. I know the streaming numbers aren't that great, and this is because even some of your hardcore fans refuse to pay to watch it on streaming services. They want to be there.

There's not a wrong answer in this scenario. The promoters who aren't opening have good reason not to. The promoters who are opening sparingly even when they could open weekly without fans are just playing it conservatively while still risking revenue loss. Those who open every week have me scratching my head. They might have been doing well early on, but you can't tell me the numbers are great now. They have their reasons, and I wish them well. I said it before, but tens of thousands of dollars are being lost by some of these promoters this year. Somebody else will get the go-ahead for some fans in the grandstands in August. That's a prediction. I don't know who though. 

Opening up for a race with no fans in the grandstands is one thing. Doing it when you're paying a bigger than normal purse is very risky. The ones who have done so have pretty much had sponsors come in and help them. Heather Boyce at Cottage Grove Speedway knows that she can pay half a purse, and she also knows that racers aren't crazy about running for half a purse. Some will, but some won't. The first race she had saw the full purse get sponsored by an anonymous person. The last race saw sponsors come in and help her by paying the other half of the purse. She's doubling down and is going to try what she did the last time by seeing if she can get sponsors to pay half a purse. She will run on August 1st and August 8th and will have another Outlaw Kart race on the little track on August 7th. You can go to the Cottage Grove Speedway Facebook page for more details.

The one thing I don't like are special events that rely on fan attendance being booked when you can't have fans. I've pretty much decided that I can't head up the Antioch Speedway Hall of Fame this year because I don't know if there will be fan attendance allowed by the time October 10th comes around. I want no part of an event that has no fans. First of all, people who would come specifically to see those people get inducted might not be able to attend due to these guidelines. Secondly, you want fans there to see this happen. Things might change by the time we get into September, but that's not soon enough for me to do this. There is a gamble that you make in this case.

I could gamble that fans will be allowed by then, and maybe it pays off. If I'm wrong, the work went into it and it's not going to be what it should be. If I'm right, then it was all worth the effort. Being up in Oregon makes it problematic for me. I don't want to do all of this, struggle to be able to get down there and find out there are no fans. If I were located in the East Bay as was my initial intent, I'd probably be starting the process now, albeit reluctantly. I still don't like the idea of no fans, because you want them to be there as we honor history and link it to the present day.

I've struggled with this because I'm letting go of something near and dear to me. I don't normally try to pat myself on the back, because I'm nobody special. It's just that somebody had to do it. You didn't see a lot of talk about the Hall of Fame going on before I made the move two years ago to get it started. I just decided it was going to happen and I would head it up. It was not the perfect situation, because I want people on a committee and all of that. I did take into advisement several longtime racing community member's opinions, and I'm pleased overall with how the first year went. If I hadn't jumped in and done that, nothing would have happened. At best people would still be debating who should get in, and that debate might still be going without anything ever happening.

I'm less thrilled by how things went last year. I over reached in terms of how many people to put in. There were great suggestions, and we added more as sort of a 60th year celebration deal. The problem was I wasn't able to contact everybody. Having more people on the list made that nearly impossible for me to accomplish by myself. There were still many people in attendance, and people in bigger numbers flew out to be at the track. There were many positives, and overall I'm still proud of it. It could have been done better than it was. A 2020 Hall of Fame night at Antioch Speedway will not happen under my watch.

I have no problem helping tracks establish a Hall of Fame of their own, and if arrangements can be made, I'll even head down to those locations and help them with the night. Two tracks that have been on my radar are Merced Speedway and Petaluma Speedway. They both have great histories that should be honored. I feel like people down in Merced have a better understanding of their track's legacy than the people in Petaluma do, and we were close to getting a Merced Speedway Hall of Fame. I think Ed Parker would have done it before he passed away. He even asked me to fly down there for a Legends night. If I hadn't been busy at Southern Oregon Speedway doing my duties there, I would have gladly done it.

Southern Oregon Speedway has basically lost their 2020 season. What I can tell you is at this point the big events that people were looking forward to are gone. The Cottonwood Classic Late Model race, the Ironhead Nationals Winged Sprint Car race, the Cascade Wingless Sprint Car race, the R  Charles Snyder Salute and Hall of Fame night are pretty much gone at this point. There's been no talk about making those events happen. The season has been decimated because the track can't have fans. Whether or not the track can open for a race or two, I'll let that be announced at the Southern Oregon Speedway Facebook page.

I don't like talking about that too much because the last four years of my life have been spent working to make that race track stronger. It's been a struggle. There have been bad times, but there been a lot of good times. We made progress, and people were beginning to acknowledge it. This year was going to be the best year yet. To have things shuttered by the government overreacting to what's essentially a stronger strain of the flu really pisses me off. 

Don't tell me about people dying. I know people are dying, but not in numbers that warrant this reaction. Frankly, the numbers they're telling us have been inflated. Regardless of how any of us feel about it, the government's reaction has happened. Things have been shut down. The 2020 season at Southern Oregon Speedway is one of the casualties. What hurts the most is this looks like it's my final year there, and I can't even go out on a high note with a smile.

You can't blame people for making the best of it. Just south of the track, Siskiyou Golden Speedway has been trying. They were seeing some good numbers in the pits, even though they can't have fans either. They tried something big to capitalize on the momentum, and that didn't go well. Last week, they came back with a respectable three division program, and I figured they'd have racing this weekend. Nope. 

There's a fire down there, and fire crews are using the fairgrounds as a base. This weekend will not happen at the big track or the little track, and the big track can't have a race the following week due to something else being scheduled down there. It's bad enough that you struggle to open a track, but then you have these things to deal with. It is fire season. God I hate that term, but that's what happens up here.

Dan Myrick of the Central Valley Mini Stocks has indicated that his group may go back where it started for them, Lemoore Raceway. They're looking at September. He's trying to land some support divisions. It's challenging to try to pay the bills down there with the Mini Stocks alone, but he's also had a challenge getting divisions to come in and support them. There's hope that there could be fan attendance by then, but it's just hope right now. Obviously, having other divisions on the card would help entice people to come out and watch. You'll probably see a dozen to 20 cars in the Mini Stock ranks that night.

The Dwarf Cars seem willing to come. They don't come in huge numbers, but if you get six or eight of them on that track, they're still pretty entertaining. The California Sharp Mini Late Models have been offered a date, but I don't know if they will go for it or not. Merced Speedway may not be doing anything that weekend, so it would give them an opportunity to get the kids some track time. 

Another possibility could be contacting Mike McCluney of the Western Midget Racing group. Having a race in Lemoore would make it easier for the Ventura side and the Watsonville side to have a meeting that might get stronger Ventura support. It was watching Mini Stocks at Lemoore that really intrigued me about the CVMS. I hope this date happens.

It's kind of interesting that I recall talking with Myrick about Rocky Hill Speedway in Porterville. Back in October of 2018, Sonny Sell was trying to organize people to come work on the track and was hoping that he could promote a Thanksgiving Thunder either that year or the following year. Sadly, that didn't come to pass, and the track is still sitting there. Dan has conveyed to me on more than one occasion that he would love to have a Mini Stock Nationals, and there's a good group of Mini Stock racers in Porterville. Several of those drivers actually support the CVMS.

I haven't been thinking much about the Porterville track, although I know news periodically pops up on Facebook about one effort or another. Sometimes it's just talk, and we're due for something. I happened to be chatting with Mike McCann, who occasionally starts looking for information on various tracks across the country. His focus was on Rocky Hill and the potential they have there. He was wondering who was doing what these days, and I told him what I had heard at last report. I don't know if they'll do anything there, but Rocky Hill Speedway would certainly be an interesting place to do a Mini Stock Nationals. There's also merit in trying that race at Lemoore. There will be plenty of time for that sort of talk. Right now it's just about getting whatever races can be scheduled this year.

Leaders like Myrick and Roy Bain of the Tri State Pro Stock Series are doing what they have to to get race dates. Myrick is even offering promoters free races while there are no grandstands, which can be risky. This division has grown its ranks, and that has warranted a better-than-average Mini Stock purse. The risk you take in giving it away for free is that the assumption is it will be free even when fans are back in the stands. On the other hand, you hope they remember that you gave them a show for free where all of your racers paid pit entries that improved the promoter's ability to pay the bills. I respect Dan for making this move.

Bain has been bringing in sponsorship to try to keep the purse at at least $1,000 to win. I think it was Lyle Hopper of Winning Attitude Motorsports who was set to sponsor this Saturday's race at Susanville, and I heard it was going to be $1,500 to win again. A place like Susanville is off the beaten path, and you're drawing people from Nevada, further down south in California and up north into Oregon. Making a trip for one race might not be a good enough deal for some racers. Knowing that you get to run two races makes it easier for them to come out.  

Bain got the news that Rick Faeth was interested in a date at Petaluma Speedway. It's interesting that Rick wasn't receptive at first, but given some of the numbers he's getting in his divisions, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to try to get a 20 car field for his Lumberjacks Restaurant Super Stock class. The Tri State Challenge will bring the cars, and Joe Carr Racing is helping keep the purse up with sponsorship. What Roy did, since Petaluma will be running the final Sunday of August, is he booked a date at Antioch Speedway the night before. Having a record 24 car field at the most recent Antioch race has Promoter Chad Chadwick eager to book these guys whenever he can.

The Antioch Speedway philosophy is basically to run the IMCA Modified classes and Hobby Stocks on one night and the Dwarf Cars, Wingless Spec Sprints and Super Stocks on another. Super Stock numbers aren't great without support from outside, so if the Tri State Series is interested, Chad will take those guys just about anytime he can. It's all about keeping the numbers up in the pits while you can't have anybody in the grandstands. Actually, you want as many cars and people in the pits as you can get anyways, but this is your main source of revenue for now.

When I saw Chadwick released a schedule that has Antioch running races almost every week from now to the end of October, I scratched my head. Will the support be strong enough? Can he make money doing this? While I understand he has a lot of bills to pay, it's still a tremendous risk to do what he's doing. The race prior to the Dwarf Car Regionals could have been a total disaster if the Tri State Series hadn't been there. The Dwarf Car numbers were low as the drivers were getting ready for the Regionals, which was a success. He had less than 50 cars in the pits the week before the Regionals, which illustrates that car count can come down very quickly and make it a money loser to promote a race at all.

As long as the Modified and Hobby Stock show continues to produce 20 car fields in each class, that show is golden. If the bottom falls through on any of these classes, it will hurt for sure. With Bakersfield the only other track in the state running these three divisions, Antioch should be fine on Saturday. The Hobby Stocks are having a banner year, although the rules adjustments seem to have increased the gap between the haves and have nots a little bit. It's a transitional time for this class, and I'm curious how IMCA Stock Cars in 2021 will affect things. We'll have to wait a year to find out, but for now things should be fine.

I'm guessing the inclusion of the IMCA Stock Cars as part of the Bill Bowers Memorial race on the first weekend of October will happen. I'm just waiting to see an official announcement, but response from drivers throughout California has been positive. 

Meanwhile, Merced Speedway is offering the IMCA Stock Cars an opportunity to be included on the IMCA Speedweek visit on August 13th. Drivers are still responding to that, but it seems positive. Merced was going to crown an IMCA Stock Car champion as they met the minimum four races this year, but the virus changed those plans. It's obvious that IMCA Stock Cars have a future at Merced as well as Antioch.

I noticed Antioch Speedway is having a Hardtop race on August 1st. Technically, there is supposed to be a group around there called the Bay Area Hardtops, but you wouldn't know that from the silence. This will also be a night in which the Winged 360 Sprint Cars will be on the card. It's a perfect opportunity for the Hardtop drivers to flex their muscle as the only other racing opportunity they will have at Antioch will be on September 20th for the Chet Thomson Memorial race. It's new management at Antioch Speedway, and that could be a good thing or a bad thing. It's nice that they are giving the division an opportunity to show their stuff, but I don't think the patience will be there for a low car count.

I'm reluctant to predict what the car count will be for this show, but there ought to be a half-dozen local area racers there. The good news is the California Hardtop Association is acknowledging this event, though some drivers are reportedly not sure they will be able to get their cars ready in time. I don't know how things are going to go. There could be double-digit turn out for Hardtops, but all I can do is be hopeful at this point. I don't want to get into who should or shouldn't be there. It sometimes leaves me in a cranky mood when things don't turn out as well as I feel they should.

In racing, good-natured ribbing and trash-talking is part of the game, and after Doug Braudrick got the Hardtop win at Placerville last week, there was a little bit of that going on in a Facebook post put up by fellow Bay Area competitor Tommy Thomson. I'm not even going to address any of that. There is a rivalry between the groups, but a lot of people just want to go out and have fun. That's really what it should be about. Can we all agree on that? You're not getting rich racing a Hardtop, but you can damn sure represent the division and be a part of why a new generation of racing fans falls in love with these beautiful cars.

The one thing that I agreed on in the thread was when it comes to rules. Obviously, you're not going to build a 100% authentic Hardtop in 2020. It's problematic when it comes to getting certain parts. You can build what I would call an "authentic style" of Hardtop that's in the spirit of the rules and not hard on a racer's pocketbook. Mike McCann is the one who wrote the rules that the Hardtops founded the California effort with. He was having success with Hardtop racing for championship points at Sunset Speedway back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Mike knows a thing or two about these cars.

From the get-go, leadership, and I'm not singling anybody out here, did not take a stance on what should and shouldn't be allowed. Cars got built a certain way, and nobody was being turned away at the gate. Now, you have cars that have people questioning their authenticity. I don't know how you put the genie back in the bottle, but I do know that nothing will change unless leadership starts to address the situation. There's a reason people should be concerned about this and want to get it under control.

I'm not a rules expert, so I'm not going to tell everybody what I think should happen specifically with the rules. I would give heed to what McCann says on the matter, because we might not even be having a discussion about Hardtops in California if he hadn't did what he did back in the day to revive the class. All I would say is I would like cars that look very much like Hardtops, are in the spirit of the rules and are affordable enough that you're not going broke out there trying to go fast. How we get there I leave to the powers-that-be. That is to say, if the powers-that-be even want to have that discussion at all.

Just before press time, River City Speedway in Oregon announced that they are sold out for this Saturday's Ray Potter Memorial race, which will feature Late Models, Sportsman, Modifieds, Mini Stocks and Micros. Due to strong support in the other classes, they made the decision to pull the Pure Stocks from the schedule. There is a bit of an increase in the purse as the Potter family has been working to promote this show. With no fans in the grandstands, they have been streaming these races on the River City Speedway Facebook page for free with no announcing.

I've mentioned previously that River City Speedway is the only track in Oregon that seems to be taking the 250 person or less guideline into effect when booking a race. They are going over that total at at least two tracks in the state that I am aware of. They know there are 15 people that they need for track personnel, and that leaves spots available for 235 people and however many cars that represents. The teams can only bring as many as three people each, and my math shows that would equal a minimum of 78 total cars if every car brings three people. I can't imagine it's a very profitable endeavor, but the track is association run. Therefore, the main goal is to pay the weekly bills, not to generate a profit.

The Wednesday update by Merced Speedway General Manager Doug Lockwood concerning the California IMCA Speedweek Series was that 11 drivers each in the IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modified have sent in their $50 to pre-register. This is important as it helps them to be able to establish this important event. I am still hopeful that each class will have a minimum of 20 people signed up by the time we get into August, but we'll see. I'd like to see the racing community rally behind this.

Ideally, I would have liked for this series to be booked in mid September, which may have given us a better shot at having tracks with open grandstands. Open grandstands in September probably won't be easy either, but I'm doubtful that fans will be able to attend any of the six events, which will take place at Placerville on August 10th, followed by Petaluma, Antioch, Merced, Hanford and Bakersfield. At the very least, people can watch the internet pay-per-view on Flo Racing and enjoy the show that way. Hopefully more drivers will continue to officially sign up, and I'm equally optimistic that more sponsors will come in so that more money might be available to the racers on any given race night.

I know somebody commented off-the-cuff that there were four Winged 360 Sprint Car shows starting at Marysville on Wednesday, going to Watsonville on Friday, Placerville on Saturday and Silver Dollar Speedway on Sunday. They mentioned that this was a mini speedweek, but of course the promoters aren't officially acknowledging it as such. What Lockwood has demonstrated clearly with what he did is that it wouldn't take much to make the same thing happen with Winged 360 Sprint Cars. The purse might just be a little bit of a challenge, but if Scott Russell were to get together with Dennis Gage, John Prentice, Rick Faeth and so on, it could come together practically overnight.

Wednesday night racing at Marysville Raceway was sort of a laid-back affair. The NorCal Dwarf Car Association had been scheduled to run what would have been a Saturday race on July 25th. When it was moved up to the 22nd to accommodate the Flo Racing internet streaming service, the group reluctantly canceled as it was too close to the Regionals event that they participated in at Antioch Speedway. Management elected to keep the other three divisions and not add anybody else, meaning it was Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Hobby Stocks and Crate Sprints. it was not a night that ran long, which probably suited the competitors just fine since it was a midweek event.

There were 20 Winged 360 Sprints, and they had a race that didn't have a yellow flag. It's interesting to note that the Sprint Car division had six different winners in six races. Point leader Andy Forsberg seemed to be in a good position to become the first repeat winner, but it was Tanner Carrick claiming those honors with a brilliant drive out front. 

The Crate Sprint division saw its car count grow to six cars, and it was a somewhat entertaining battle between reigning champion Brett Youngman and Cameron Haney Jr, won by Youngman with a late pass. I still maintain that this division should be in double digits by now if it was truly going to amount to anything.

For whatever reason, Hobby Stock racing at Marysville has been a bit rough and tumble this year. There were numerous caution flags. The division itself is pretty competitive, and there is no dominant driver in this class. One of the most exciting drivers to watch this year has been Zach Lindgren, and he finally picked up a point race victory on this occasion. He won the non-point race that the track reopened with back in May. 

On any given week, the Hobby Stock division in Marysville produces about the same count as the Winged 360 Sprints. There were 20 of them this time. All in all, it wasn't a bad show. I don't think you could have expected more than what you got from this lineup, so I'd imagine management was happy with it.

All in all, I think there should be some interesting races happening this weekend. For the people getting comfortable with watching the live streams at home, you'll have California racing to watch on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Ocean Speedway gets Friday all to themselves with Flo Racing. Placerville Speedway has a big Sprint Car program on Saturday with Flo Racing, and Sunday will get Flo Racing broadcasts for both Petaluma Speedway and Silver Dollar Speedway. 

Dirt Oval TV will be broadcasting Antioch Speedway on Saturday. I know people who bought their Flo Racing subscriptions to watch Antioch will be grumpy, but what are you going to do? Honestly, if I bought a Flo Racing subscription, I'd be watching Placerville, but that's me. Others can afford multiple streaming services. I'm not even budgeted for one.

That means I'll be watching Madera Speedway's professional-quality broadcast on YouTube for free on Saturday and probably watching NCRA Lakeport Speedway's broadcast on Facebook as well. We'll continue to do what we can to cover the action. I've been getting done a little bit quicker on Sundays, but that probably won't happen with both Petaluma and Chico happening. We'll see how it goes.

Other than that, I think I probably rambled enough in this colimn. That's all for now. Until next time...