Antioch Speedway, Petaluma Speedway, Ocean Speedway, Madera Speedway, Siskiyou Golden Speedway, More

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Pit Stops

This weekend sees three races with significance to the racing community happening in the Bay Area. The Hetrick race will be happening at Antioch Speedway, the Johnny Key Classic will run at Ocean Speedway and the Johnny Soares Classic takes place at Petaluma Speedway. All three events will be happening on Saturday night, but you can catch them all through online streaming. If you're fortunate enough to be a www.floracing.com subscriber, the races at Ocean and Petaluma will be available to you. You can check out the Antioch show by going to www.antiochspeedway.tv.

Antioch Speedway

The Jerry Hetrick Memorial was introduced to the Antioch Speedway schedule four years ago after the passing of former Sportsman racer and long time racing community member Jerry Hetrick. It's become one of the most important races on the schedule since then. Recently, Jerry's widow, Mary Ann Hetrick, passed away. Management has renamed this race the Hetrick Memorial race to honor both of them. It takes place this Saturday night. 

More purse details were announced on Monday afternoon. The IMCA Modifieds will be receiving $1,000 to win, while the IMCA Sport Modifieds race for a $600 first prize. The Hobby Stocks are getting an increase at $300 to win. Furthermore, management announced a week ago that if five Four Bangers show up for this race, they will also be receiving a purse, and that will be the way for that class going forward. Though drivers in the Modified classes recently had a very busy week, it's hoped that the numbers will be solid for the show remembering the Hetrick's.

Nick DeCarlo came to town and won the Speedweek race for the IMCA Modifieds. As of yet, the track hasn't announced any point standings for any of the classes on the roster, but the Modified divisions are both IMCA sanctioned. According to the IMCA website, it seems to be a three-car battle at the top of the IMCA Modifieds. Leading the way is Troy Foulger in the Bowers Motorsports Modified. He has a 26 point advantage over Jim Pettit II and a 30 point lead over Kellen Chadwick. All three of these drivers have visited the winner's circle at Antioch this year.

Though 2018 State champion Shane DeVolder took himself out of the track championship picture, he does have a win at Antioch and looked very impressive in winning at Bakersfield last week. He holds fourth of the standings, 27 tallies ahead of reigning champion Buddy Kniss. We should see the Top 5 drivers in the standings, and there are sure to be some visitors in the field. Drivers to watch for this week include past champions Bobby Motts Jr, Aaron Crowell and DeCarlo, John Pierce, Brian Pearce and Chester Kniss. We might even see Bobby Hogge IV on this occasion.

Some people might be surprised at who is leading the IMCA Sport Modified standings at the moment. The last Saturday night race was a big night for Trevor Clymens. The two-time champion and division's all time win leader got the win on that occasion, and Garrett Jernagan was working his way to a Speedweek championship by winning that race at Antioch on Wednesday. However, the consistent Mark Garner moved into the lead by just eight points over Clymens following his Wednesday night effort. Garner is still looking for his first win, but he got a podium finish on the Saturday before Speedweek. It's still a little bit too close for comfort. KC Keller, the 2017 champion and a feature winner this year, trails Garner by 15 points.

Trevor's brother Tommy Clymens Jr and last season's point runner-up, Kevin Brown, find themselves tied for the fourth position, one point ahead of Kenny Shrader, six in front of reigning Merced champion Fred Ryland and 12 over Todd Gomez. We might see all of these drivers on Saturday. Shrader and Ryland are Antioch feature winners this year, and Gomez has certainly come close. Reigning State champion Guy Ahlwardt and the reigning track champion Tom Fraser both rank in the Top 10 and could be there Saturday as well.

We can assume at this point that there is no Hobby Stock point race, though the track could make an announcement at any time to the contrary. The driver with the hot hand right now is Travis Dutra. The three-time winner has won the last two races with James Thomson not far behind him in his quest to get win #1 for the season. These two drivers could enter Saturday as the ones to beat. We might also see an appearance from past champion Brad Myers, who's been making occasional visits. The consistent Breanna Troen would certainly be somebody to watch as well. Other hard chargers in the field include Larry McKenzie, Gene Haney, Jeff Bentancourt, Aidan Ponciano and Makayla Taylor.

The track brought back the Four Banger division, which hasn't been a part of the roster since 2014 when Brent Curran was winning the championship. It's been a struggle getting car count, and management has been able to offer up a purse for the drivers as an enticement. All they need is five cars minimum to show up and race, and they can take a trip to the pay window. 

The most supportive driver so far has been Jess Palladino. Jess has actually showed up at every scheduled event and one time just ran hot laps as nobody else was there. Trevor Jolley was at the most recent race competing with Palladino, and Chris Corder won the first show that had five cars. Fellow Merced racer Jennifer Rodgers showed up with him on that occasion. We're not sure who might compete, but this is an opportunity for the drivers in this division to race and do so for prize money. It's a really good move by track management and shows their commitment to this class. 

The Hetrick race will be a special occasion, especially for the people who will be there that knew Jerry. More money will be on the line, and it's sure to attract a good field of competitors. You can watch all the action at www.antiochspeedway.tv and get further information by going to www.antiochspeedway.com.

Ocean Speedway

The pandemic makes running big races particularly difficult. Will you can't have fans in the grandstands, you're not able to pay the purses that some big races demand. The 60 year tradition known as the Johnny Key Classic is one of those races. Last season, this event paid $5,000 to win and had a great turnout of fans in the stands. They can't have fans this year, and purse details haven't been announced. We do know that the Ocean Sprints, presented by Taco Bravo, will be front-and-center along with the Western Midgets group and the Hobby Stocks this Saturday night.

This will be the 14th running of the Johnny Key Classic at Ocean Speedway. When it ran the first time there, it was long-time NARC/King of the.West competitor Jason Statler getting the biggest win of his career. Last season, it was 2015 champion Justin Sanders winning. Sanders also added his name to the books this year as the first two-time winner by picking up the feature win over Tanner Carrick last week. Sanders may go into this race as the driver to beat, but there could be a field of competitors in the 30s hoping to grab a little bit of history. Though the race may not have as nice of a purse as usual, it's still special as it remembers a West Coast Stock Car Hall of Famer.

The track has been keeping points this season after seven races, and Bud Kaeding continues to lead to that. Kaeding has been having a challenging year and on multiple occasions had to pit during the Main Event to change a flat tire. That was the case last time out before he managed to salvage his sixth Top 10 finish in sixth. He has three Top 5 efforts as well and leads Koen Shaw by 97 points. Just 24 points behind Shaw is reigning division champion James Ringo. 30 points behind him is the surprising Joey Ancona, who has looked particularly impressive in the last two races. Ancona leads the tied Blake Carrick and Jason Chisum by eight points.

In addition to Sanders, the other feature winners include Blake Carrick, Mitchell Faccinto, DJ Netto, Sean Becker and multi-time track champion Shane Golobic. Becker had a challenging time last week as he was unable to make the transfer from the non stop B Main after starting back in the pack. Other drivers to watch for this week include Kurt Nelson, Kaleb Montgomery, Tristan Gaurdino, Adam Kaeding and Zane Blanchard.

After four races for the Western Midgets this year, including one appearance at Petaluma Speedway, somebody finally managed to beat David Prickett. It was his teammate, Tyler Slay. Tyler got the win last time out with Prickett in very close pursuit. Reigning track champion Prickett leads Slay by two points going into this race. Running back in third is Norman Harley Rose, just three markers in front of Tyler Dolacky. Dolacky has two Top 5 finishes to one for Rose. After some terrible luck in getting her season started, Randi Pankratz had a Top 5 finish last time and is fifth in the standings, 14 ahead of Jon Santibanes and 16 in front of Blake Bower. They've been averaging 10 cars per race, and that should be the case on this occasion as the Western Midgets continue to gather momentum in California.

After six events, Joe Gallaher finds himself leading the Hobby Stock battle by 45 points ahead of Steve Remde and 51 over past champion Terry Campion. Joe Gallaher leads the field with two wins, while Campion and Bakersfield racers Nick Johnson and Johnny Wood both have one. Joe's son, three-time reigning champion Rob Gallaher, has yet to get a win this year. He was leading his heat race in dominant fashion last time out when his motor expired. Rob finds himself trailing Jerry Skelton by five points in the race for fourth and is 22 points behind Campion. Other racers to watch for this week include Bobby Huckaby Jr, Norm Ayers, Ken Winland and Ryan Muller.

For the Sprint Car division alone, the Johnny Key Classic event will be worth viewing this Saturday night. However, the Western Midgets and Hobby Stocks should be entertaining as well, and it will all be on www.floracing.com. For further information, go to www.racepmg.com or check out the Ocean Speedway Facebook page.

Petaluma Speedway

Petaluma Speedway has a special occasion this Saturday night. This will be the ninth running of the Johnny Soares Classic for the Hunt Wingless Sprints versus the PitStopUSA.com Wingless Spec Sprints. Normally, this would be a 50 lap race, but it's been reduced to to 30 laps due to air quality brought about by the fires happening in California. Joining the Wingless Spec Sprints on the 3/8 mile adobe oval will be the McLea's Tire Service IMCA Modified Top Dog race and the fourth appearance for the Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micros. 

John Pershing Soares was the longtime promoter at Petaluma speedway and a member of several Hall of Fames. Back in 2012, then Promoter Jim Soares created this race in honor of his father. For the first two years, this was a race for the BCRA Midgets and was set at 101 laps with wins going to Shane Golobic and Ronnie Gardner. The elder Soares had been a competitor with the BCRA in both Midgets and Hardtops and was a two-time Hardtop champion.

In 2014, the race was made 50 laps and given to the Spec Sprint division. The first two races were won by three-time Hunt Series champion Terry Schank Jr. Past Petaluma champion Klint Simpson won the next two races, Bradley Terrell won in 2018 and Cody Fendley won last season's race. This is actually the biggest Spec Sprint race in the state of California, and everybody wants to grab a victory on this occasion. 

The virus shutdown of tracks in California cost the Joe Hunt Wingless Series several events, but they do have a pair of races in the record books. At Antioch Speedway, Brandy Terrell grabbed the victory. DJ Johnson had been battling him before crossing the line second, only to be disqualified in post-race tech inspection. Josh Young ended up second over 14 year old phenom Dylan Bloomfield. They went to Placerville for their second race, and Jake Morgan got the win on that occasion ahead of Tim Sherman Jr and Terrell. Terrell is listed as the point leader 384-382 over Morgan with Bloomfield 10 points out of the lead and Young 24 points back.

Meanwhile, this will be the fifth race for the PitStopUSA.com Wingless Spec Sprints. Two wins have gone to Shawn Jones with one win each going to past division champion Shayna Ensign and DJ Johnson. Jones didn't have much luck the last time out, but he still clings to a 13 point advantage over newcomer Daniel Whitley. Past division champion Sparky Howard is 35 point back in third, but he leads Fendley by just three points, Keith Calvino by seven and Eden McCormick by 12. We haven't heard what the purse will be for this occasion, but we do anticipate a big turnout of competitors for this show.

Back in the 1990s, Petaluma held one of the biggest IMCA Modified races in the state every year, known as the Top Dog Nationals. The elder Soares was paying a handsome purse, which at the time included $3,500 to win. He would have between 60 and 70 competitors show up. Though the race disappeared for a while, it has returned in the past couple of years. This year's show will pay $1,000 to win, $500 for second and a minimum of $100 to take the the green flag. This is impressive considering the track still can't have fans in the grandstands. Promoter Rick Faeth has been working diligently to do the best he can with purse money under difficult circumstances, and this is only possible thanks to some great sponsors.

Last season, the Top Dog at Nationals win went to multi-time track champion Michael Paul Jr. When there's a big race at the track, you can usually count on Paul to be somewhere in contention along with reigning champion Oreste Gonella. This year, however, Anthony Slaney has been turning heads after winning the first three races of the season. He may come into the race as the driver to beat. The California IMCA Speedweek race was won by Troy Foulger, and the the previous race was won by Danny Wagner, both of whom aren't expected for this show. 

We haven't seen a point update since the Speedweek race, but Slaney currently leads Justin Yeager by just 12 points and Gary Zwicker by 24. These three drivers seem to be the ones contending for the championship at this point according to the IMCA website. Paul is 15 points behind Zwicker and three ahead of Tim Yeager Jr. 10 points behind Paul is Chris Sieweke. These six drivers are anticipated along with Trevor Brady, Gonella, Michelle Paul and  Mitch Machado.

This will be the fourth appearance of the Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micros, and it's been an interesting race so far. We haven't seen a point update, but Watsonville Winged 360 Sprint Car star Koen Shaw has a pair of victories and a second. He would likely be the one leading at this point, but he fell short of winning three in a row thanks to George Nielsen. Nielsen, Shaw and past champion Jim Beck had a spirited dual at the front of the pack last time, but Beck saw his quest for a win on the that occasion thwarted with mechanical issues. He does have a pair of second place finishes. Brian Slubik had a third the last time out, and he could be a contender this week. Others to watch for include Kyle Grissom, Rob Brown, Shiloh Borland, Trevor Mendenhall and Amber Fields.

The combination of the Johnny Soares Classic and the Top Dog Nationals makes this a race you won't want to miss. Fortunately, www.floracing.com makes it so that you don't have to miss a moment of it as it will be streaming on pay-per-view there. For further information, go to www.petaluma-speedway.com or check at the Petaluma speedway Facebook page.

Siskiyou Golden Speedway

Racing will be returning to the Siskiyou Golden Fairgrounds this weekend. On Friday night, they will hold a practice, while the little track will be hosting the Yreka Outlaw Karts. On Saturday night, Siskiyou Golden Speedway roars back to life in a big way with IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Outlaw Pro Stocks, Mini Stocks and the Jefferson State Jalopies. We're hoping to hear something on possible streaming services or the show at least being broadcast on the track's Facebook page, but no information was available at press time.

When the IMCA Modifieds take the checkered flag in their Main Event Saturday night, they will officially have a championship race in the eyes of the sanctioning body. It's been since the Fourth of July when we last saw the IMCA Modifieds. Hoppes Motorsports, the big sponsor of the California IMCA Speedweek Series, sponsored a $1,500 to win race on that occasion. IMCA Sport Modified graduate Justin McCreadie has moved up to the IMCA Modifieds, and he scored the surprising win on that occasion. The local stars have been busy racing at other places, and Jimmy Lipke recently picked up a win out at Diamond Mountain Speedway. Joining McCreadie on the winner's list is multi-time Yreka champion Travis Peery with a pair of triumphs.

Looking at the standings after three races, Peery leads Cottage Grove area racer Paul Culp by 10 markers. Past Yreka and Southern Oregon Speedway champion Albert Gill has been hanging in there and is only 15 points out of the lead in third. These three drivers are anticipated for this show, and others to watch for include Jeremy Krebs, reigning track champion Duane Orsburn, James Anderson, Jesse Bailey, David Satterfield and possibly past Yreka champion Nick Trenchard.

This will be the sixth race of the year for the IMCA Sport Modifieds. Three-time reigning Southern Oregon Speedway champion Jorddon Braaten hit the track like a tidal wave with three-straight wins. However, when Hoppes put extra money on the line on July 4th, it was Braxton Possinger claiming the honors on that occasion. To emphasize that he meant business, Possinger returned at the most recent race and won yet again as Braaten could only muster a second place finish. Because he's finished no worse than third, Braaten leads two-time Medford champion Mike Medel by 30 points in the championship chase.

While it looks like the title might come down between Braaten and Medel, reigning champion Ethan Killingsworth is hoping to pull off a late-season move to defend his title. Killingsworth was pitting his skills against some of the best drivers in California at Speedweek and did have a Top 5 feature finish there. He's finished as high as second at its home track this year and hopes to get a win on Saturday. He trails Medel by 25 points and leads rookie Ryan Peery by 19. Peery is tied with two-time division point runner-up Ryder Boswell for the fourth spot. Peery has finished on the podium this year. Other drivers to watch for include past division champion Colt Boswell, Merissa Henson, Joby Shields and Brionna Fuller.

Yreka has been the site of a pair of first time Outlaw Pro Stock winners. On their first visit, it was the very consistent Matt Harlow driving the Maurie Skaggs car to his first career victory. Last time out, rising yreka star Darek Alford claimed the honors. The most recent look at the point standings found reigning champion Scott Flowers leading the standings, though that hasn't been updated since the group went to Coos Bay for a race that was won by Jesse Gonzalez. Flowers went to a Tri State Pro Stock race in Susanville recently and did well in fourth. He'll be out to claim his first association win of the year, but he can expect a challenge from others, such as son James Flowers, Jeff Haudenshild, Johnny Cobb, Steve Borror, Colby Hammond, Rick Lukens and Roy Bain.

The Mini Stock division has been a battle between David Steele and Ashtin Hedges. Steele won the opener, but young Hedges surprised him by winning the next race. The past Yreka and reigning Medford champion Steele reminded everybody just how tough he can be to beat when he won the most recent race with teammate and 2013 Medford champion Steve Goetz behind him in second. Three-time reigning champion Mike Whitaker managed a third place finish that night after a battle with Hedges. He'll be out to win, but you can expect some tough competition from the likes of Terry Alford, three-time champion Marilyn Yawnick, Hunter Magnan, Derrel Nelson Jr and Michael Knuckles.

Rounding out the show will be the Jefferson State Jalopies. There have been four cars showing up at these shows, and it was Marilyn Yawnick winning the inaugural championship for the group last year. JJ Smith and Karl Bernstein built the first four cars and have been working on a fifth entry. It's likely that Bernstein and Smith will be driving two of the cars. Michael Colson, a feature winner on multiple occasions last year, was driving the other car, but we don't know who might be driving it on this occasion. It's a new class, sort of a bigger version of a Dwarf Car in appearance, and there's hope of it catching on with new drivers building cars in the future.

At this time, we don't know of any streaming service that might be offered, but it could be that something is announced at the Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page.

Madera Speedway

Fans wanting to watch some racing for free will once again be able to enjoy the action at Madera speedway thanks to sponsorship from www.nutup.com. They've been announcing at the Madera Speedway Facebook page where you can find the stream on YouTube, and this will also be a MavTV taping of the Nut Up Pro Late Models and 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models. The Bandoleros versus Mini Cups will be there along with the second appearance of the Legends of the Pacific.

This will be the fifth event for the Nut Up Pro Late Models, and Buddy Shepherd picked up his third win the last time out. If not for Mike Doss holding him off that time, Shepherd could very well have four victories. Given his success, Shepherd holds a 35 point advantage over Ross Sttmiska in the championship battle. Strmiska has a pair of second place finishes. The ever-present Ryan Phillpot is just 22 points behind Strmiska and 15 ahead of rookie Blaine Rocha. Dylan Zampa is 20 points behind Rocha in fifth after his Top 5 finish last time out. Likewise, brother Logan Zampa finished in the Top 5 last time and is just 14 points behind Dylan for the fifth position. Some of the drivers to watch for this week include recent Madera Late Model winner Sheldon Cooper, Joey Iest, reigning champion Austin Herzog and the always exciting Matt Erickson.

The rising young stars of the 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models will be back for their fifth race of the season. Bakersfield's Seth Wise is a rookie in this class, and he won the first two races before point leader Bradley Erickson won the next two. Erickson has finished no worse than third this year and leads Wise by 33 points. Wise is coming off of a disappointing effort last time and is hoping to turn his luck around. Just 15 points behind Wise is Cole Brown, but Kercie Jung is only 20 points out of second following three-straight Top 5 performances. Brown also leads Jake Bollman by just 10 points in the race for third, and anybody in the Top 5 is still in the hunt. Some of the drivers to watch for this week include Jaden Walbridge, Brody Armtrout, Kabe McClenny, Cassidy Hinds and Cody Kiemele. Armtrout had a third place finish last time out. 

The Mini Cups and faster Bandoleros run together. This group of drivers are on the precipice of moving up to the Junior Late Model ranks. Since Jeffrey Erickson has won all four Bandolero races, he holds a 38 point lead over Caden Cordova with Joey Kennealy only nine points behind Cardova in third. Rebecca Dubie is the top Mini Cup racer. She's led her group at all four races and carries an 11 point advantage over Harley Kennealy in a close championship battle. 

When we saw the Legends cars at the previous MavTV taping, they had 17 drivers take the green flag in their 35 Lap Main event. Nick Halen won on that occasion, and Cody Winchell won a close battle with Eddie Garone for second. Some of the drivers to watch for include Cameron Austin, Bredan Ruzbarsky, Kevin Travels, Carlee Austin and Dylan Washburn.

The racing action has been exciting at the paved oval, and Promoter Kenny Shepherd continues to work on improving the quality of the free broadcast on their YouTube site. It's only thanks to www.nutup.com that they're able to broadcast the action to the fans for free. For further information, go to www.racemadera.com or check out the Madera Speedway Facebook page.

Lakeport Speedway

Lakeport Speedway plans another race this Saturday night on the quarter-mile paved oval. The NCRA sanctioned affair will include Limited Modifieds, Taco Bell Bombers, Legend Cars, Pro 4 Modifieds, Late Models and Four Bangers. We haven't heard much information on who might be there in the latter two divisions, but we look forward to finding out. The track is keeping points in the first three divisions.

Mike Sullivan and Richard Knight have taken their turns winning Limited Modified Main Events at Lakeport this year. Not surprisingly, Sullivan leads Richard Knight by 40 points. Ian Elliot holds third in the standings by just 10 points over Robert Schmidt in a closer battle for third. The other feature winner in the group is Darrin Knight.

Moving over to the Taco Bell Bombers, Donovan Cox maintained his point lead following his second win of the season last week. His advantage is 508-407 over Amber Portlock. Portlock's lead over three-time winner Mikey Collins is just six tallies. That's one of the close battles in the standings. Meanwhile, Klinton Waite has a not too comfortable 27 point lead over Trevor Abella in the race for fourth.

In the Legends division, Kylie Daniels and Dane Nissen have had a good battle at the front, as highlighted by Daniels making a last lap pass in a photo finish victory over Nissen in the recent race. Daniels leads by just nine points. David Dunlap is 22 points back in a tie with Tom Summers for third, and they are 14 points ahead of Aiden Daniels, who is a feature winner this year.

The track has tried to offer a free streaming service for the fans on Facebook this year, but they were unable to get the announcer for the show last time out. As for whether that will happen this week or any other information you might need to know, go to the NCRA Lakeport Speedway page.

Coos Bay Speedway

Once again, Coos Bay Speedway will be hosting a NASCAR Whelen All American Series event on the oval track this Saturday night. Things have been going well at the facility as the only track on the West Coast that is able to have fans and sell them food. The America's Mattress Super Late Models will be back in action along with the Sportsman Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Outlaws, Hornets and Junior Stingers.

Following the $1,000 victory of reigning champion Preston Luckman in the Tidal Wave 50 last week, the Super Late Model point standings have been shaken up. 2018 champion Brody Montgomery earned his division-leading seventh Top 5 finish, and that moved him into a tie with two-time winner Jason Johnson for the lead. Only six points behind these two is rookie Braden Fugate, who is a feature winner this year. Mike Taylor is 62 points back in fourth. 

The point fund money is not insignificant as the championship is worth $3,500 for the track title alone. There's also State championship money on the line. Even as far down as fifth, it's $800. Three-time winner Luckman holds that position by 30 points over Doug Elkins and 32 ahead of Dennis Souza. Even newcomer Hannah Robison is in the hunt, 46 points back. As she only has a little experience, Robison elected not to run the Tidal Wave 50.

The Sportsman Late Model championship is worth $1,000, but we're not sure what the turnout might be for this race with Willamette Speedway having reopened. Trace Fugate won his second race last time out, and the point leader now has an 84 point advantage over Ryan Emry. Jared Simmons is 40 points behind Emry in third. There have been six different winners in seven races. 

The $700 Street Stock championship finds 2018 champion Ken Fox leading reigning champion Steve Dubisar by 12 points. Both drivers have won a pair of Main Events, but third-ranked Graig Osborne has picked up four victories. He is 46 points out of the lead at this stage. Multi-time Mini Outlaw champion Sam Talon is a solid fourth as he looks for his first win. Still on the schedule is the Battle At The Beach Street Stock race set for next week.

In Mini Outlaws competition, Brad Hicks has made all of the races and has one win to his credit, giving him a 48 point lead over two-time winner Tahlen Rogers. 20 points behind Rogers is three-time winner Scott Beaudoin, who finished second to Rogers in the most recent race. Jason Kellam is a solid fourth as he still looks for his first win of the year.

Cottage Grove driver Isaac Stere leads the way in his quest for the $500 Hornet championship. Stere is a two-time winner and has a 92 point lead over William Hitner. Kevin Rockwell is only 46 points ahead of Kris Parker in a closer battle for third. Stere is the only driver in the Top 9 with a Main Event win.

All of the Main Event glory has gone to Griff Smith in the Junior Stingers. The Hornet division for kids 11-14 years old finds the two-time reigning champion Smith winning all seven races. He has a 38 point lead over Alex Butler. Meanwhile, Cameron Metzgus is running third, 20 points ahead of Heather Burton.

There should be plenty of excitement with this NASCAR lineup on Saturday night. Though there is no streaming service available, fans are welcome to attend. For further information, go to www.coosbayspeedway.us or check out the Coos Bay Speedway Facebook page.

The Editor's Viewpoint

I tend to forget that just because I write something on this blog doesn't mean some people are looking at it. I made the announcement a couple of weeks ago that I was stepping down as the director of the Antioch Speedway Hall of Fame. I really kind of feel like I was forced to make this decision and it wasn't something I really wanted to do. Given the situation at the track right now and my status with it, it seemed like something that I had to do. The fact that they want to do a Hall of Fame with no fans in the grandstands was just too much for me to deal with. If they could have waited a year to see things get back to normal, stepping down would not have been the decision I made.

If I say too much more, I might regret what I say. It's something that might go into the pages of my next book. Needless to say, when I made the announcement this past week on Facebook, it brought about more of a sense of finality. I really am closing some doors here that I've left open a crack. I think mainly I've had hope in my mind, but reality has always been a little bit different. What is it they say? You can't go home again? I'm not saying I won't be back down there, but things have changed. I've handed the reins of the Hall of Fame over the Chris Briggs, and he'll do right by it. He knows that I will offer whatever help I'm able to give.

Really, these last five years have been bonus years when it comes to me and racing. I say bonus years, because I was done. Not even John Soares making what I now realize was a very good offer back in 2010 could get me to come back. I didn't quite understand how good the offer was until later when he ended up getting Merced Speedway. I could have been announcing at two tracks at that point. The only thing I wasn't quite clear on was what it was going to pay me. I've always been bad about asking what's in it for me, and I end up leaving with that not-so-fresh feeling. I did understand how much I would be doing. 

Not even Jim Robbins bringing me to that race track in late 2009 could do it. I felt like I had moved on. After Jim came and got me and we walked around the track, I ended up getting a call from John. I'm going to play that one over in my mind for a while. There are things I wish I would have done differently. I think we can all say that. In the back of my mind, I wonder what if. I do think John had a desire to turn things around then. He was looking to get people back on board with that race track, and he knew what I could do to help. He didn't bring my name up lightly. So in the back of my mind, I wonder what if. Then again, there's a part of me that wonders what if I had never gotten involved with racing in the first place. I'm filled with hindsight.

If I hadn't come back in 2015, my life would be different. I might ultimately be homeless right now. I really don't know. What I do know is I got to see so many of my friends at Antioch Speedway and Merced Speedway again. I was reminded that I do have friends. I was reminded that I do have value and that I can bring something positive to the sport. A man who didn't even know me moved me up to Oregon because he believed that I could help him with Southern Oregon Speedway. That man is Mike McCann, and we had four good years of making things happen there at that track before the virus shut things down.

So in that sense, I've been lucky. I wish I truly felt it in my heart how lucky and blessed I am, because a lot of times I don't. I continue to repeat what I've been doing over and over again. I get on the computer, start writing articles, spend hours working on it, put up a post and hope that it helps the sport. I hope that eventually the energy I put forth will come back my way, but most of the time I'm just a little bit disappointed in that. Still, I've been consistent for the last five years. I keep putting the effort into it.

I'm being long-winded here again, but right now I'm contemplating life beyond my involvement in the sport. I've been saying this for a while, but the day is getting closer. I've said that I won't drop the blogs. I've said that I want to put books together. Depending on what goes on in my life, I may not have the time or the resources to do any of that. I don't know. I won't ultimately hit delete on my blogs. They will be there until such time as the blog provider themselves decide that the pages shouldn't exist. That's one thing I do know.

What does this blog look like after my active involvement in the sport? I think one thing that happens is a post won't be so big. I can put a post together that focuses on one topic and maybe explores it a little bit more. What I've been doing over the past five years is basically putting a magazine into a post. Gone are the days when I would put a magazine together and mail it out. Technology put an end to that. It's funny because technology made it easier for me to do my magazine, but in the advancement of technology, it rendered magazines obsolete. That's just the way it goes. More and more, technology is rendering us all obsolete, but we'll learn that lesson if we keep going the way we are. 

I've basically been throwing everything but the kitchen sink into a blog post, and it turns into hours and hours of work. There's lots of editing, and mistakes still get by me. Anytime you're reading a post that I put up these days, I can guarantee you that I put probably 10 to 20 hours into it. I don't put myself on the clock to keep track of that. I'm proud of the work because people can look back at my archives and find the articles on any of the tracks that I've covered. It's documentable history. There's not any one location that you're going to go to access what I have here. Show me another place where you can click one link and read as much as we pack into one post.

The downside to that is it becomes information overload to some people. I understand that. To me, I love looking at all the facts and figures. I love knowing what happened at 10 different locations and trying to put that all together into basic articles that people can easily digest. Most of my race result articles themselves aren't very long. However, if I put individual posts up for each article, I'd be spamming social media. That's the way you get people to read a post. They're not automatically going to your web page. You put a link out there for every one of your posts, and eventually people are going to get mad at you for spamming. 

The battle that I've been fighting is not one that I can win. Ultimately, people don't mind just going to a site and reading the point standings and the finishes. They're not worried about the color. They're not worried about how many wins that makes for somebody, and some sites have the stat line. You can easily find that information for yourself. I made the joke that my articles can be replaced by artificial intelligence, but the reality is that this is true. Think about it this way. When you watch live scoring on Race Monitor, that's data being grabbed from the MyLaps scoring system and being run through their app.

Somebody who is good at coding can simply program an algorithm to write an article. The MyLaps scoring system will mention how many yellow flags happened in a race. It can tell you when the lead changed. It can even spit out the information on who brought out the yellows. So if you created the right application that could be running in the background along with MyLaps, an article can be generated within minutes of the race that describes what happened. Such and such won. They gained the lead on this lap. There was a yellow flag on this lap that saw the guy in second get eliminated. You could have an article with five or six paragraphs generated within minutes of the race.

To my knowledge, nobody has created such an app, but they could. One of the reasons people don't necessarily worry about that is because, how much are people even reading these days? Video and audio is where it's at. Video above audio, because you get the audio with visuals. This is why it's so important for tracks to embrace that. The way you hype the sport and get people excited about it is changing. It won't even matter what the history of something is if you can present the current day in such a flashy way that it captures the imagination of the people. That's where I see things going. I know I sound pessimistic this way, but I have to be honest. It's the way I'm looking at it now.

I can still fight the battle in my own way and on my own terms. What I can do is create posts more specific to certain topics. I can look back on history. I can comment on the present day. But rather than covering 20 different subjects in a post, I can be more focused on one particular topic. That's what the blog site will look like in the future. I might not post every week. I might post a few times in one week. It will go back to whatever has me inspired at the time.

It's been interesting covering this effort to reopen race tracks in the time of this pandemic we're going through. It was especially true when it came to news breaking everyday. You might hear something from a track on Monday, and on Tuesday that news changed. We tried to cover everything as quick as we could, and it was definitely a challenge. Everything disappears down the memory hole on social media. On the blog, you can go through the archives and look at it a little easier, but only slightly. Good luck finding stuff on Facebook in the archives. It's just not that easy. 

What I advise people to do who depend on Facebook is to grab things that interest you. If there is an interesting post of an article, copy the text. Put it on a file somewhere and save it. Pictures that you like, especially those old pictures? You'd better grab those and put them on file. Don't expect Facebook or those other sites to be around, because we lost MySpace. Facebook could be next. Even web pages you depend on could disappear. 

I remember when the effort to start chronicling Vallejo Speedway history on the web began, because my friend  Dan O'Keefe was the one who started it. He put some old Vallejo Speedway pictures up on his site, and suddenly people wanted to give him pictures. He encouraged people to share pictures and their stories. 

Eventually, Don started getting messages from people who said that this wasn't exactly how it happened. Don said that the site was up for people to share their memories, and other people may remember things differently. It got to the point where Don just didn't want to hear all the crying when he was trying to do something to bring history to life. His Hardtop page still stands, although it hasn't been updated in years.

I was indirectly a part of the creation of the Antioch Speedway Days of Old Facebook page. What happened was I was given access to some of Chuck Smith's photo albums of Antioch Speedway in the past and I scanned a bunch of pictures. I didn't have a webpage to put them on, so Don created a site. Some of the very first pictures that Chris Briggs put on his Facebook page were from that site. What happened with Don's Hardtop page was Bob Manzer eventually created the Vallejo Speedway Hardtop page. This is a very cool page by the way.

Recently, that page disappeared. I was informed of that by Mike McCann, and he had me reach out to Bob. Evidently, the server pulled his web page down. He has no intentions of stopping the page. He just contacted me tonight to let me know that the page is back up, so this one has a happy ending. It's a warning about what can happen with these pages, so save what means something to you. When I walk away from the current news effort, this DCRR page will become Don's California Racing Recollections again, which was the name of it when I put it up back in 2007.

In doing that, it doesn't mean that I won't comment on things happening in the current day. It doesn't even mean that I won't write articles about something happening at that moment in the sport. It just means that covering the current racing scene isn't something I will be doing regularly once I walk away. I will go back to nostalgia again and planning books. I have content for one book that needs serious editing, and I've got enough content to begin working on history stuff with the idea of having a book ready for print on demand within a short amount of time. 

In the meantime, we've got racing on the horizon this weekend. I find it interesting that five tracks in Oregon will be running this weekend, one of them will even have fans. Coos Bay Speedway hit the jackpot when it comes to having pretty much as many fans as they want and selling them concessions. No other track on the West Coast has been able to pull that up off as of now. Not to this degree. While they have their NASCAR Whelen All American Series race going on, River City Speedway, Cottage Grove Speedway and Willamette Speedway will have shows in front of empty grandstands. Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg will have as many as 250 people in the stands with paid admission. That's the Hermiston Raceway plan. 

What I've read concerning Hermiston Raceway is they are still hoping to have their Labor Day weekend show. I'm assuming they'll go by the same model they pulled off this year already, a late-afternoon event and an evening event with whatever selected divisions running just Main Events and hot laps. 250 people allowed in the stands at each showing. They've been selling out, which means they get $5,000 through the gates each time. It works for them. As of this moment, I have heard of no plans to hold a race at Madras Speedway, Southern Oregon Speedway or Sunset Speedway.

While Coos Bay Speedway will be opening their stands to socially distanced fans, they will not be selling them beer. The state agency handling the beer license has revoked their license. The speedway put something up on their Facebook on Thursday. This has something to do with fans not wearing masks when within six feet of each other. I don't know if they got hit with a fine, and I don't know how this whole thing came about. They're still going to open without beer sales. The concern they might have is that the health agency handling food sales may be next, and so on. We might brace for impact on Friday afternoon for more bad news, but they might be able to pull off this weekend's show. After that, just keep your fingers crossed if you've been a fan going out there, because you never know.

At Antioch Speedway, they will be hosting the Fourth Annual Hetrick race. They pay $1,000 to win for the IMCA Modifieds, $600 to win for the IMCA Sport Modifieds and $300 to win for the Hobby Stocks. If they're able to get five or more Four Bangers, they get to run for a purse as well. This race was originally set to happen on August 8th, but it was moved to this date since the California IMCA Speedweek Series was going to start at Placerville Speedway that Monday. They knew they were probably not going to get a good turnout, and that was proven when they made that into a regular show and had their lowest turnout for both Modified classes all year. They should do better this Saturday, although I'm concerned that driver fatigue might set in. 

Occasionally we see multiple tracks going head-to-head with big shows. This weekend actually happens to be an occasion where there are three memorial races happening at the same time. Petaluma Speedway always intended to run the Johnny Soares Cassic on Saturday. This was primarily a Hunt Wingless Series/PitStopUSA.com Wingless Spec Sprint event that would run 50 laps, although it will be 30 laps this year. I still don't know what the purse money is, but it should be good. It was also going to be the Top Dog race for the McLea's Tire Service IMCA Modifieds. That purse was announced on Monday to be $1,000 to win, $500 for second and $100 minimum to take the green flag.

I wasn't delighted to see Antioch put their big IMCA Modified race on the same week that Petaluma had planned all along, but these things are going to happen. I don't necessarily think Antioch made their move in spite of Petaluma, although I don't necessarily think management ever reached out to Petaluma. I think it would be in the interest of both tracks to start working together a little bit, but I don't know what the odds are of that actually happening. At the end of the day, Antioch will end up with more cars than Petaluma where the IMCA Modifieds are concerned, but Petaluma should have enough to put on their show. Petaluma Speedway will be offering it on pay-per-view at www.floracing.com, and www.antiochspeedway.tv will be the place to see the Antioch action.

The Flo Racing cameras will also be going at Ocean Speedway on Saturday night. This will be the 60th Annual Johnny Key Classic. It's not going to be quite as special or as big. Without fans in the grandstands, they certainly don't have the money to pay $5,000 to win. What they do have is a scheduled race that keeps the continuity going. It was originally to be a Sprint Car Challenge Tour race, but that tour has pretty much been shut down for the year due to the virus. The regular Taco Bravo Sprint Cars have been getting 30 plus cars, and I expect that to be the case on Saturday night. The growing Western Midgets group will be there as well as the Hobby Stocks.

You've got three big shows to choose from, and all will have things to get excited about. I think all will do well in their own right. Antioch will have the IMCA Modified classes putting up decent numbers, and the Hobby Stocks should rebound from what they had at Speedweek. Spec Sprints alone should be the highlight of the Petaluma show, and the Winged Sprint Cars will rule the roost at Watsonville. Take your pick. If you're on Flo Racing, you'll be able to watch both Watsonville and Petaluma, but you're not so lucky if you want to see Antioch.  They will be doing their own in-house streaming service as noted above.

That's more than I can say for Siskiyou Golden Speedway. I haven't heard anything about a streaming service yet, but the track did say they didn't want anybody streaming through Facebook. That would suggest that they have something planned. When they put their schedule out for what would be there this week through the end of October, Saturday's date did not include the IMCA Modifieds or Sport Modifieds. It only had the Outlaw Pro Stocks, Mini Stocks and Jefferson State Jalopies. There were some grumpy Sport Modified racers who suggested that they should always be on the schedule at Yreka because they have the biggest car count. I actually think management was trying to cut them a break so that they could keep their car count numbers up.

Ultimately, it was decided to add the two classes. This IMCA Modified show will ensure that they have four races and can crown a champion at least as far as the sanctioning body is concerned. The Sport Modifieds have already reached that threshold. I don't know what the track has in mind for the Labor Day weekend, but there's a bit of grumpiness concerning Cottage Grove Speedway. Once again, the track announced something big, and Cottage Grove jumped in and booked a big event on the same weekend. Then again, had we not had the pandemic, Cottage Grove Speedway was going to have something big, plus Southern Oregon Speedway would have had the R Charles Snyder Salute. They might want to consider themselves lucky that they can try to run something big without the Medford track doing anything. 

As long as they do enough to make it look a little bit attractive to the racers, they'll get the Medford cars. I have no doubt about that. Some of those guys might want to go to Cottage Grove, but Yreka is a closer deal. Just do a little bit more than a regular show, and those guys will come. Labor Day weekend is pretty much the last hurrah for some teams. I eagerly await further official announcements from them, but the Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page is the place to go to find out those details.

I'm hearing rumors of two California venues looking at running a big Late Model show, but right now all of this is a rumor. One of the tracks is in the Bay Area, and one of those is further north. You can give it a shot if you want, but if you don't make it attractive, you're going to have a hard time getting cars. You might have a hard time getting cars even if you do make it attractive. I've said this before, so I don't want to use a lot of words in repeating myself. If you want to have any kind of a shot to revive Late Models in California in a meaningful way, you're going to have to promote it to a level that the NARC/King of the West Sprint Car Series does. Otherwise, I think you're getting to the point where some teams will just leave their cars parked.

Late Models in California are being better represented on the pavement. One of the best places for that is Madera Speedway. They are doing a MavTV taping this weekend with the Nut Up Pro Late Models and 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models headlining the show. While they're doing a TV taping, they will also be broadcasting this for the fans to watch for free on YouTube, and www.nutup.com is sponsoring the money to make that happen. They will be supported by the Legends of the Pacific and the Bandoleros vs the Mini Cups, making this a solid show worthy of viewing. 

It's pretty cool that these days you can hook your internet into your TV set and sit back and watch the race with your favorite adult beverage. You've got Steven Blakesley an Outback Andy announcing and multiple camera angles. You've got some really talented racers out there, and it's a recipe for a good show as far as I'm concerned. Though I now have access to Flo Racing, I'll make it a point to watch the Madera broadcast just the same as Ukiah Speedway's next broadcast when that comes up. If you want the details on what's going on, just go to the Madera Speedway Facebook page and check it out.

Mike McCann and I have been talking Hardtops. We always have interesting discussions about the past and the present movement for the group. Rich Dudley appears to be putting together a replica car of one that Gene Dudley raced at Vallejo Speedway. This won't be a car that actually runs on the track, as far as I know, but it's the idea that a Dudley family member is working on a Hardtop. I understand the Kaiser family has one or two cars put away, and we've been hearing about Skip Brown building a Hardtop for the past couple of years. A few other people associated with Vallejo Speedway have mentioned an interest in doing something, but it's just talk. 

Mike and I are in agreement that if you could get some of these families back out there and involved with the Bay Area Hardtops, it would be a winner. However, I don't see leadership up north or in the Bay Area being the ones to drum up support here. A third movement? Mike likes the name Vallejo Hardtops, and I was bouncing around the name Legends of Vallejo Speedway as a play off of the Legends of Kearney Bowl Super Modified group. This way ties in the heritage of the old with the revival, and I like the idea of that.

It's only speculation at this point, but I would love to see some names from the past resurface in the modern-day Hardtop movement. Whether it's one of the drivers who piloted a Hardtop back in the day or their son or grandson. Maybe even a granddaughter? That would be cool. However, to make something like this happen, you need a leader who inspires people to want to do it. Now, when we say Vallejo Hardtops, we're talkin about cars being built as close to the spirit of the old days as possible. When you have to do something more modern than was available at the time, you do so with the spirit of the rules. Leave that trick stuff at home. Mike and I are in agreement on that.

While I don't know what the future holds for that concept, we've still got the Hardtop movement as it is. The race coming up at Antioch Speedway on September 26th has a tie with Vallejo Speedway. It's the 18th running of the Chet Thomson Memorial. When I was hoping to actually make my move down there, I wanted to help promote this race. I was going to continue the tie between the old and the new by creating Vallejo Speedway clipping display boards in the grandstand area for the fans to look at. I noticed a couple of years ago that fans were walking around the grandstands wearing Vallejo Speedway shirts.

Where the Bay Area movement is concerned, you've got Dave Mackey piloting a car in tribute to the Dudley Brothers. You've got Tommy Thomson driving a car with the body of the machine that he ran at Vallejo Speedway. The Junkyard Dog owned by Doug Braudrick is a tribute to his father's car. You even have Steve Cloyes with a tribute car I think goes back to the Contra Costa Speedway in Pacheco. There are some beautiful cars in the Bay Area and Sacramento area as well, and I'm hoping we can gather as many as possible for the September race. Given the virus situation and races that have been canceled, there aren't many opportunities. I'm hoping that September 26th will be a big moment for the group.

Vallejo Speedway living again is the dream some people have. I noticed the Vallejo Fairgrounds have finally demolished their big grandstand. The geniuses on the fair board have put plans in motion despite the fact that they don't have the funding to do anything. Therefore, maybe it was a bit premature to demolish the grandstands without funding for their big future plans? This has an eerie similarity to what happened at the San Jose Fairgrounds, and now that whole area is somewhat empty. To this day, I wonder if somebody could come in, make a proposal and bring back some sort of San Jose Speedway again.

And that brings me to Vallejo Speedway. If there's no money and only plans, what would be the odds of somebody making a proposal to cut 1/4 mile clay oval there? If somebody could secure a 10 year deal and had the ways and means to do it, could a Vallejo Speedway track rise again? That's something I don't know, but if they don't have the money to put the grand plans they are talking about together, they'll need something to bring in money, right? The one thing about a track in Vallejo is there are still a lot of drivers in the area that you can pull into the field. Furthermore, what happens to the Bay Area racing community if we lose Petaluma Speedway in a few years? Somebody needs to be thinking about that and the possibility of finding another track location in the event that Petaluma Speedway closes. 

I was noticing through an Arena Racing search that the Madison Fairgrounds in Idaho had a Figure 8 Arena Race. It's essentially racing in a Rodeo Arena, which I've spoken of in the past. I would like to talk more about the concept as I really am fascinated by it. What I talk about when it comes to Arena Racing is the smaller, intimate confines. You have seating, but it's not a 3,000 person seating capacity. You might be able to get 800-1,000 people at a venue like this, depending on what stands are available. I would want Hornet race cars involved in anything I did, whether running a Figure 8, an oval or both.

In reality, I see other things as being possible. The space is big enough to run Flat Track Motorcycles or even Speedway Bikes. The space is available to run Outlaw Karts. Running Micro Sprints might be a stretch, but who knows? Since we're talking about a Rodeo Arena, it's big enough to run Destruction Derby events. I haven't let go of this idea, and this is something that I might talk about more on the blog as I slow down on my weekly media effort. One of the things that could pull me back in is if an opportunity presented itself in which I could help launch such a program.

One of the types of racers I believe you can get is the weekend warrior type who's just doing this as a hobby, and those are the kinds of racers who don't want to dump a lot of money into it. If you tell them they can run Flat Karts or if you tell them that they can run a Hornet, they might jump into that. You're not talking about a lot of money needed to invest in racing something like that, and a dozen races or so a year at a venue like this might work. Furthermore, if you're located in the right place, the more hardcore racers looking to play around might build an additional Hornet car just to play in a Figure 8 on a Friday night somewhere. It can work.

I have locations in mind for something like this where it could be put together in short order. I'm not going to share too many of those details at the moment. I already threw the idea out there last week about something the Siskiyou Country Motorsports Association could do in Yreka if they wanted to try to promote car racing. I'd love to see them make the pitch as you don't necessarily have to do this at the Siskiyou Golden Fairgrounds. There are other venues. When it comes to the Arena Figure 8, it's something that they're doing at more County Fairs across the country, but this doesn't have to be an event unique just to County Fairs. It can stand in its own right. I don't want to drone on about this, so I'll leave it at that for now.

I'm seeing a few things happening here and there, but I don't have anything else I feel I need to talk about here. There's plenty of racing to enjoy this weekend, but Friday night activity on the West Coast is somewhat lacking. It's a shame somebody didn't jump in with a broadcast on Friday, but if you're subscribing to Flo Racing you don't need to miss anything on Saturday night. Just watch one broadcast and then tune in to the archives for the other one. You can even fast forward events from the archives and get right to the Main Events. 

The month of August is just about shot, and I see the end of September as the time to possibly start slowing down a little bit on the posts we do here. I nearly didn't put this one up, because I was kind of burnt out after this last weekend. The lack of support was certainly something that made it hard to motivate myself, but I always like to honor the personal commitments I make to myself. There's still stuff to cover. Next week we'll have Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series racing at both Antioch and Petaluma and the Mike Mosier race at Bakersfield Speedway, among other things. 

I just don't want to burn myself out too much to the point where I shut down when I'm done here with the regular media effort. I really feel like if I want to get into doing books, I need to start working on editing immediately. There's a lot of content to go over for the next book. I wrote quite a bit before I moved to Oregon, and there's been quite a bit of content generated since. It's a companion piece to Just A Kid From The Grandstands that tells the rest of whatever it is I feel the need to say. I want to make sure I say it all, because the editorializing and that kind of thing is done. What comes after that needs to be mainly history oriented, and there's a lot I need to do. 

Editing is not necessarily one of my favorite things to do, so I'm going to shut up now and end this column. Until next time...