Ocean Speedway, Madera Speedway, Douglas County Speedway, Dixon Speedway, More

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Pettit, Ryland, Wood Win Mike Cecil Memorial Races 
At Ocean Speedway

Watsonville, CA...August 1...Jim Pettit II won the 25 lap IMCA Modified Main Event Saturday night at Ocean Speedway. This was the annual Mike Cecil Memorial night, sponsored by 1 Hour Drain, and the win paid the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Famer $750. Pettit thrilled the crowd watching at home on Flo Racing with a late pass on Antioch point leader Troy Foulger to get the win. Internet streaming was the only way to watch this race as covid-19 guidelines do not allow fan attendance in the grandstands.

Reigning Antioch Speedway champion Buddy Kniss started on the front row and set the early pace ahead of his father, Chester Kniss. The elder Kniss took the lead on the fifth lap as his son held second until being overtaken by reigning track champion Austin Burke on Lap 7. Pettit took third on lap 11 as Buddy Kniss was being threatened by Foulger. Chester Kniss was doing a good job of leading the way, but a yellow flag slowed the pace on Lap 15. On the restart, Foulger made a move into third behind Chester Kniss and Austin Burke. As Kniss led the way, Foulger was pressuring Burke for second until making the pass on Lap 18. A yellow flag flew on lap 18, and after Chester Kniss led the next restart, another yellow flag waved. 

On the Lap 20 restart, Foulger raced into the lead as Chester Kniss was quickly shuffled back a few positions. Austin Burke held second with Pettit pressuring him until making the pass on Lap 21. Pettit quickly closed in on Foulger and made his winning move on the final lap. Pettit won ahead of Foulger, 2018 champion Cody Burke, Austin Burke, Buddy Kniss, Andy Obertello, Robert Marsh, Stephen Hopf, Chester Kniss and Josh Combs. The eight lap heat race wins were earned by Foulger, Cody Burke and Pettit.

Fred Ryland won the 20 lap IMCA Sport Modified Main Event. This was the second win of the season for the two-time reigning Merced Speedway champion. Ryland had the pole position for the Main Event, and the race saw yellow flags during each of the first three laps. Championship contender Billy Robertson was the first driver eliminated from the race, and Ryland led the Lap 3 restart ahead of Chuck Weir and reigning State champion Guy Ahlwardt. On the seventh lap, Ahlwardt moved past Weir to take over second, but Ryland had built nearly a straightaway advantage. A yellow flag on Lap 13 erased that lead, and Ryland led Ahlwardt and Weir on the restart. Even one more yellow flag on Lap 18 did not stop Ryland. He motored ahead on the restart and brought it home to victory. Ahlwardt settled for second, followed by Weir, Andrew Pearce, Adriane Frost, State point leader Timothy Allerdings, Andrew Peckham, Chase Thomas, Nate Rolfe and Max Baggett. The 22 car field ran three eight lap heat races with wins going to Peckham, Ahlwardt and Markus Frazier.

Johnny Wood won the 20 lap Hobby Stock Main Event. Steve Remde set the early pace ahead of Wood and three-time reigning champion Rob Gallaher. Following a Lap 2 yellow flag, Wood took the lead from Remde on the restart as multi time Merced champion Bruce "Bubba" Nelson briefly grabbed third from Rob Gallaher. However, Rob Gallaher got by both Remde and Nelson to take over second on the fourth lap. Wood and Gallaher had pulled away from the pack when a Lap 10 yellow flag erased their advantage. Nelson again challenged Rob Gallaher on the restart and briefly took second. However, Rob Gallaher regained the position on Lap 12. The lead trio ran close for a few laps. However, Johnny Wood was cool under pressure and scored the win. Nelson made a late move around Rob Gallaher for second as Gallaher settled for third, followed by Kyle Wood, Joe Gallaher, Remde, recent Bakersfield winner Domossie Scoggins, multi-time Watsonville champion Sam Kennedy, Bobby Huckaby Sr and Jerry Skelton. Eight lap heat race wins were earned by Johnny Wood, Nelson and Skeleton.

Friday night action returns this week with the Taco Bravo Sprint Cars back in action along with the Western Midgets and other divisions. For scheduling information and other news, go www.racepmg.com or check out the Ocean Speedway Facebook page.

Keller, Edwards, Jones, Herzog, Baronian, Reynolds 
Are Madera Speedway Winners

Madera, CA...August 1...Kyle Keller won the 40 lap Madera Late Model Main Event Saturday night at Madera Speedway. Keller went from flag-to-flag in victory. This was a club race, and due the covid-19 guidelines, fans are still not allowed in the grandstands. However, the track broadcast the entire event live on YouTube thanks to sponsorship from nutup.com. 

Keller set the pace from the start ahead of Mike Shapiro, but a Turn 2 to pass on Lap 3 gained Sheldon Cooper the second position. Loren Kutz gained third on Lap 8 and began challenging Cooper for second as Keller built his lead. An inside pass on the backstretch on Lap 16 put Kutz into second, but Keller held a 3 second advantage by that point. Over the next 14 laps, Kutz managed to cut the lead in half. When Jon Schlundt spun in Turn 4, a Lap 30 yellow flag slowed the pace. Kutz was hoping to make a challenge on Keller on the restart, but he had a bad start. Cooper regained second as Keller continued to lead the way. Keller led the final 10 circuits for the well-earned victory. Cooper was a close second, followed by Kutz, Del McIntosh, point leader of Lily Mead, Trevor Schlundt, Shapiro, Hailey Lyles, Jon Schlundt and Howard Holden. 

Keller set the fast time of the evening at 15.166, beating the 15.266 of Shapiro. Keller outran McIntosh to win the first eight lap heat race. Cooper won the second heat ahead of Shapiro. 

Austin Edwards won the first 30 lap Southwest Tour Truck Main Event. Steve Reeves set the early pace ahead of Ricky Bogart and Edwards. A yellow flag waved for Nash Youngren in Turn 1 on the second lap. Bogart took the lead from Reeves on the restart with Edwards settling into second. Contact in the battle for the lead saw Bogart spin in Turn 2 for a lap eight yellow flag. Bogart retired from the event, and Edwards was leading Ronnie Davis and Parker Jones on the restart. Jones had his hands full battling Ed Cutler and Brent Adams for the third position as Edwards continued to set the pace. Jones moved into third on Lap 18, but he surrendered the position to Adams on Lap 25. Edwards drove a good race and won by over a straightaway ahead of Davis. Adams finished third, followed by Cutler, Jones, Steve Reeves, Curtis Burns, Sean Davis, Keaton Swane and Bogart.

Parker Jones won the second 30 lap Southwest Tour Truck Main Event. Curtis Burns led Jones and Steve Reeves at the start. Ed Cutler gained third on Lap 3, but a low pass in Turn 2 on Lap 4 gained Jones the lead. Cutler followed into second with Ricky Bogart third on Lap 6. A yellow flag waved for a crash in Turn 1 as Ronnie Davis lost a motor on Lap 8. Jones led the restart, but Bogart moved by a lap later. Austin Edwards made an inside pass in Turn 4 on Lap 13 to take second. Bogart and Edwards had a close battle up front as Jones and Cutler battled fiercely for the third position. As they went into Turn 4 on Lap 26, contact sent Bogart spinning for a yellow flag. Edwards was put to the back of the pack for his part in the incident, giving Jones the lead. Jones had to contend with Cutler as Bogart battled back into the third position. Bogart made a move at the white flag with his outside pass for second, but Cutler ran strong on the inside. As Jones took the checkered flag, Bogart beat Cutler back to the line for second. Edwards settled for fourth, followed by Nash Youngren, Brent Adams, Brian DuBoise, Burns, Keaton Swane and Ronnie Davis. Edwards had the fast time of 15.831, beating the 16.044 of Davis. Jones won the eight lap Trophy Dash.

Shaun Reynolds won his second 30 lap MST Main Event. Current point leader and reigning champion Bert Stephens raced into the early lead ahead of Shaun Reynolds and Ryan Reynolds. The lead trio ran closely at the front of the pack. Shaun Reynolds was able to get past Bert Stephens for the lead on Lap 19. Three laps later, Ryan Reynolds got by for second. Shaun Reynolds pulled away a little bit from Ryan Reynolds for the victory as Stephens settled for third, followed by Dennis Brannon, Haley Bugg, top Sedan finisher Andrew Parr and Thomas Magray. Patrick Geiger and Kyle LaBrie were feature scratches. Stephens set the fast time of 16.685, beating the 16.687 of Shaun Reynolds. Shaun Reynolds won the eight lap heat race.

Richard Herzog won the 30 lap Hobby Stock Main Event. He led from the outset ahead of Dennis Saunders Jr and Tyler Rogers. The battle was for second between Saunders and Rogers, who was making a good run on the outside. When Saunders gave up the bottom groove on Lap 9, Rogers made a move down low in Turn 2 to take second. Unfortunately, tire wear became an issue for Rogers as he was attempting to reel in Herzog. Saunders and Manny Gonzales Jr both caught him on Lap 23, and Rogers spun in Turn 3. Herzog led Saunders on the restart as Rogers battled Gonzales for the third position. That battle went back and forth as Herzog went on to victory ahead of Saunders. Gonzalez made a late move around Rogers for third as Rogers settled for fourth ahead of Don Mead and Brian Childress. Herzog had the fast time of 16.211, beating the 16.353 of Sanders. Gonzales won the eight lap heat race. 

Rod Baronian won the 30 lap House of JuJu Central Valley Mini Stock Main Event. The race was restarted after a spin in Turn 2. Rod Baronian led when the green flag waved, followed by 2018 series champion Greg Baronian and Steven Brown. During the first 10 laps, Ryan Doglione and reigning champion Dan Myrick made this a five-car nose-to-tail battle at the front of the pack, but Rod Baronian and Greg Baronian began to break away just a little bit. Doglione and Brown had a good battle going for the third position as Gene Glover took fifth from Myrick on Lap 10. On Lap 14, Myrick slowed and exited the track. Working Lap 25, Rod Baronian made some good moves in traffic and pulled away a little bit from his brother. That proved to be the winning moment as Rod Baronian won ahead of Greg Baronian, Brown, Doglione, Glover and final lead lap finisher Jeff Durant. Destiny Joplin, Shawn DePriest, Mitch Pasquale and Ethan Griffioen completed the Top 10. The eight lap heat race wins went to Rod Baronian and Doglione. Rod Baronian had the fast time of 18.454, beating the 18.952 of Brown.

About 10 beautiful vintage Legends of Kearney Bowl Super Modifieds were on hand for their 15 lap exhibition race. The race saw a yellow flag during the first five laps when Randy Wright hit the Turn 2 wall. Mike James, Wayne Kalustion and BJ Hutton had a good race going at the front of the pack during the final 10 laps, and they finished in order. John Bealessio and Kenny Kreslin made up the balance of the Top 5.

Racing resumes next Saturday night with another MavTV taping. The Nut Up Pro Late Models are back in action for an 80 lap event, joined by a 70 lap race for the 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models and a Mini Cup vs Bandolero Series race. The race will be broadcast live once again on the track's YouTube page. For further information, go to www.racemadera.com or check out the Madera Speedway Facebook page.

Elam, Cox Rumble On The River Winners 
At Douglas County Speedway

Roseburg, Oregon...August 1...Tom Elam won the 35 lap Rumble On The River for the Sport Modifieds at Douglas County Speedway. This was the first event for the track since the covid-19 shut down, and they were able to sell 250 tickets to spectators. The race was also broadcast online via 561radio.com. The race was presented by the Oregon Army National Guard.

Ben Nunez led the opening lap, but a low pass in Turn 4 on Lap 2 gained Kaleb Watson the lead. Elam maneuvered his way into third on Lap 3 and made a high pass in Turn 4 of the fifth lap to take second from Nunez. Watson and Elam began to pull away, and a low pass in Turn 4 of the ninth lap gained Elam the lead. Tom Ford spun in Turn 4 for a yellow flag on Lap 10. He spun in the same turn two laps later. Elam led the lap 13 restart ahead of John Harvey and Riley Watson. Elam stretched his advantage to over a straightaway during the second half of the race as Nunez pitted late. John Harvey was doing a good job of holding second in the Roy Harvey Tribute Car with Riley Watson close behind in third. However, nobody was a match for Elam as he cruised to victory ahead of John Harvey, Riley Watson, Tom Ford and Brad Watson. Ford won the eight lap heat race.

Harlan Cox won the 25 lap PRA Hardtop Main Event. The 2018 champion moved past Brian Smith on the opening lap to take the lead. An outside pass on the front stretch of the third lap gained reigning champion Kyran Greene the third position, and he also passed Smith on the front stretch to take second. By then, Cox had a straightaway advantage, and the battle was between Smith and Mike Batman for third. Batman went high in Turn 4 of the fifth lap to take third from Smith. The duo ran closely for several laps in that battle as fifth place Donnie Fain got lapped by Cox on Lap 14. Cox caught three slower cars in the waning laps, allowing Greene to close in. Cox put a lap on Smith on Lap 19 and put Batman a lap down on Lap 23. Cox took the checkered flag just ahead of Greene. Batman was a lap down in third, followed by Smith. Greene won the eight lap heat race ahead of Cox.

Rich Dickinson won the 25 lap Hornet Main Event. Dickinson is the reigning division champion, and he looked impressive in victory. The race was restarted after Bart Pulse spun in Turn 2. Jeremy Mayfield led the opening two laps before surrendering to Andy Nelson Jr on Lap 3. Rich Dickinson moved past Mayfield on the backstretch to gain second on Lap 4. A low pass in Turn 1 of the seventh lap gained Dickinson the lead from Nelson as Burnie Bryant got by Mayfield for third. By Lap 10, Rich Dickinson was in heavy traffic as Nelson battled Bryant, Ryan Dickinson and Michael Kennerly for the second spot. Kennerly managed to grab the position before Timothy Smith brought out a yellow flag on Lap 13. Rich Dickinson continued to lead Kennerly and Nelson on the restart. Pulse and Ryan Dickinson had a good battle going for fourth. A yellow flag flew on Lap 20 when Gabe Smith spun in Turn 4 and was hit by Pulse. Pulse saw his race end as Smith was able to restart at the back of the pack. Kennerly attempted to challenge Rich Dickinson on the restart, but Dickinson began to pull away on Lap 22. Rich's son Ryan Dickinson moved in to challenge Kennerly before making the pass for second on Lap 23. However, Rich Dickinson was not to be denied as he scored the victory ahead of Ryan Dickinson, Kennerly, Bryant and Nelson. The two eight lap heat race wins went to Ryan Dickinson and Rich Dickinson.

Karl Smith won the 20 lap Mini Stock Main Event. Past champion Chuck Jacobs led the early laps ahead of Karl Smith and Dale Roth. A Turn 2 pass on Lap 4 gained Karl Smith the lead, and Roth followed closely into second. The leaders ran about five car-lengths apart as they pulled away from Jacobs. Kieri Smith was backfiring and headed for the pits on Lap 10. On lap 15, Roth fell off the pace and Jacobs caught him. However, Roth got back up to speed as the two cars had a side-by-side battle for second. Kieri Smith rejoined the field on Lap 18 as Roth made a backstretch pass on Jacobs for second. Jacobs had brake problems and pitted on lap 19, and Karl Smith won ahead of Dale Roth, Jacobs and Kieri Smith. Roth also won the eight lap heat race.

The ARCA West Series will be in town next Saturday night, and the 250 tickets that are available will be on sale at the fairgrounds office. For what's happening next at the track and other important information, go to www.douglascountyspeedway.com or check out the Douglas County Speedway Facebook page.

Torgerson Wins Big At Dixon Speedway

Dixon, CA...August 1... Ashton Torgerson won the 25 lap Wingless 600 Micro Main Event Saturday night at Dixon Speedway. This was the second-straight win for Torgerson, who won the Super 600 Main Event earlier in the evening. 

Ashton Torgerson set the early pace in the Wingless Main Event ahead of brother Austin Torgerson. Austin Torgerson spun for a Lap 1 yellow flag. Sage Bordenave held second at that point, but he also brought out a yellow flag on Lap 4. This put Blake Bower into second, but he took the lead from Ashton Torgerson the restart. Jeremy Chapman took second from Torgerson on the seventh lap, but Torgerson regained second on a Lap 8 restart. On Lap 10, Ashton Torgerson put the moves on Bower to regain the lead. Point leader Kelvin Lewis settled into second on Lap 11 and began pressuring Torgerson for the lead. A lap 23 yellow flag set the stage for a shootout to the finish, but Ashton Torgerson led the final laps to force Lewis to settle for his second runner-up finish of the season. Bower took the checkered in third, followed by Austin Taboorski, Austin Torgerson, Travis Sullivan, Blake Parmley, Nate Wait, Chris Parmeley and Cody Gray.

The Wingless class had 35 cars for the show, and Ashton Torgerson set the fast time of 12.145, beating 12.229 of Chapman. The 10 lap heat race wins went to Tucker LaCaze, Taborski, Lewis and Bower. Ashton Torgerson earned the pole for the feature race by winning the 10 lap Trophy Dash. The first of two 12 lap B Mains was won by Wait ahead of Drew Laeber and Logan Calderwood. The second B Main went to Steve Bettanini ahead of Izac Johnson and Matt Santana.

Ashton Torgerson won the 25 lap Super 600 Main Event. He started up front and raced into the lead at the green flag ahead of Cody Key and Austin Torgerson. Ashton Torgerson and Key had a good battle going up front before a Lap 10 red flag waved for Jason Chapman. Ashton Torgerson continued to lead Key and Austin Torgerson on the restart. Previous winner Ricky Sanders settled into fourth on Lap 15 and took third from Austin Torgerson on Lap 16. Unfortunately, his race ended on a Lap 19 yellow flag. Ashton Torgerson continued to lead Key and Austin Torgerson on the restart, but Austin Torgerson slipped past Key for 2nd on Lap 24. Ashton Torgerson prevailed ahead of Austin Torgerson, Key, Jeffrey Pahule, James Andrichuck, Hayden Saich, Brett McCulloch, Jared Heimlich, Dennis Sherer and Hailey Wood.

Devon Courtnier set the fast time of 10.547, beating a 10.572 of Ashton Torgerson. The two 10 lap heat race wins went to Key and Jessica McManus. Ashton Torgerson outran Key to win the six lap Trophy Dash.

Colin Kirby won the 20 lap Restricted Main Event. This was his second win of the season. Kirby jumped into the lead at the start ahead of point leader and previous winner Izaak Sharp and Bryant Bell. They ran in that order for most of the race, but Bell put the moves on Sharp to take over second on Lap 16. The best Bell could do was chase the flying Kirby across the finish line for the second place finish. Sharp settled for third, followed by Matthew Tatoole, Brandon Riveira, Austin Wood, Colton Key, Teagan Moles, Tallon Becker and Tuesday Calderwood. Bell set the quickest time of 11.307, beating the 11.413 of Tatoole. Sharp and Tatoole won the 10 lap heat races, and Kirby was the six lap Trophy Dash winner.

Brody Rubio won his second-straight 20 lap Junior Sprint Main Event. After Kyle Fernandez won the six lap Trophy Dash ahead of Rubio, it was Fernandez who looked like he might be in line for his third feature win of the year. Fernandez ran strong, but his quest for the win ended on Lap 15. Rubio would hold off incoming point leader and reigning champion Makayla Tatoole to pick up the win. Kellen Harper was a solid third, followed by Hayden Stepps, Ryder Byrd, Peyton Whitehouse, Briggs Davis, Ryder Johnson and Fernandez. 10 lap heat race wins were earned by Rubio and Whitehouse. Tatoole set the fast time of 12.721, beating the 12.797 of Hayden Stepps

The Micro Sprint program will return on August 15th. For further information, go to www.dixonspeedway.net or check out the Dixon Speedway Facebook page.

Antioch Speedway And Orland Raceway Notes

Antioch, CA...August 1...Antioch Speedway had a four division program on Saturday night, featuring the Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Delta Dwarf Cars, Super Stocks and Bay Area Hardtops. Further up north at Orland Raceway, they were finally having their first race of the season, featuring Wingless Spec Sprints, Pure Stocks, Mini Trucks and 250 and 600 Micros. 

The window was opened for Antioch to host the Winged 360 Sprint Cars as the only track offering them a date in Northern California. About 14 competitors showed up to run this race. Having come very close to winning the race in May, Petaluma star Colby Johnson got the job done on this occasion with the Main Event victory. Car count details weren't available at press time for the Delta Dwarf Cars, but Kevin Miraglio scored his second win of the season. Kevin is the 2016 Antioch Speedway champion.

At least eight competitors took the green flag in a Super Stock Main Event that was destined to go without a yellow flag. One of those drivers is reigning Tri State Pro Stock Series champion Mike Learn. There was a fiercely competitive battle at the front of the pack involving four cars throughout the first half of the race. Sixth starter Chris Long moved the John Keith car into the lead with an impressive outside groove drive. He held the lead for about a lap or so before Learn went charging by. Long was challenged throughout the second half of the race, but it was the final lap when 2013 champion Jim Freethy got by for second as Long settled for third.

The Bay Area Hardtops were boosted by visitation from the California Hardtops and some Sportsman competitors from Merced Speedway. However, the Junkyard Dog, owned by Doug Braudrick, stole the show again. Joel Hannagan scored his second-straight win on the Hardtop circuit after winning his heat race earlier in the evening. California Hardtop regular Ken Clifford was the other heat race winner and had GoPros in multiple cars to put his footage up on Facebook on Sunday. Some of the competitors in the field included Dave Mackey, Kimo Oreta, Gene Haney, Mike Friesen, Jeff West, Gary Hildebrand, Ron Ruiz and Dave Reed. Unfortunately, Reed blew a motor once again.

The week before, the track hosted nearly 70 cars among the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and the Hobby Stocks. The numbers continue to be solid in all three divisions, and the latter two divisions produced enough of a car count to necessitate a B Main.

In the IMCA Modified race, it was Troy Foulger outrunning Bobby Hogge IV and Jim Pettit II to get the win. Pettit remains in contention for the track championship, but Foulger has been making a strong effort aboard the Bowers Motorsports Modified. Two-time Dwarf Car champion Danny Wagner made his first start in the class for the season in fourth, followed by two-time Antioch champion Carl Berendsen II. Just one night later, Wagner went to Petaluma Speedway and won a thrilling IMCA Modified Main Event there.

Reigning IMCA Sport Modified State champion Guy Ahlwardt was the class of the field in the IMCA Sport Modified Main Event. KC Keller, the 2017 champion, was looking for another win, but he settled for second, followed by reigning champion Tommy Fraser. Two-time champion Trevor Clymens had one of his best efforts of the season in fourth, followed by Kenny Shrader. Anderson, California visitor Justin Foux won the B Main ahead of Jason Jennings and Damion Merritt.

We were unable to track down full results for the Hobby Stock race, but this one featured a good battle between James Thomson and past champion Brad Myers for the lead. Thomson was zeroing in on his first win of the year, but mechanical issues ended his race before the checkered flag. At that point, Travis Dutra and Breanna Troen were also having Top 5 runs. Myers ended up picking up the victory on that occasion.

Orland Raceway finally had their first race of the season and had a car count of somewhere in the area of 50 total cars across the five division program. The biggest turnout happened in the Pure Stocks, where nearly 20 drivers were on hand. Reigning champion Phil Spencer had a good battle with Kevin Pendergrass, and Spencer ended up picking up the win in that race. Tony Richards was the class of the field in the 10 car Wingless Spec Sprint Main Event, while past champion Dan Webster won the Mini Truck race. Results for the 250 Micros in 600 Micros were not available at press time.

Antioch Speedway will host a regular IMCA Modified, IMCA Sport Modified, Hobby Stock and Four Banger show on Saturday night, with the former three divisions on the card for the August 12th Speedweek race. You can find out more information by going to www.antiochspeedway.com.

Scheduling information for Orland Raceway was not available at press time, but it will be released on the Orland Raceway Facebook page when something is decided. 

Gonzalez, Sause, Fugate, Osborne Share 
Coos Bay Speedway Spotlight

Coos Bay, Oregon...August 1...Jesse Gonzalez won the 30 lap Outlaw Pro Stock/NASCAR Sportsman Late Model Shootout race Saturday night at Coos Bay Speedway. This show pitted the best of the track regulars against the top competitors from from the touring Southern Oregon based group. Gonzalez hails from Fallon, Nevada and is a two-time winner with the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series this year.

Gonzalez found himself starting in the fifth row for this race as Outlaw Pro Stock regular James Flowers and Dylan Solum shared the front row. However, Ryan Emry was running up front when Gonzalez made the move to take the lead. As Gonzalez went on to victory, track regular Emry managed to hold off Outlaw Pro Stock Association point leader Scott Flowers to finish second. Johnny Cobb finished fourth, followed by local point leader Trace Fugate, Rick Lukens, Andrew Short, Colby Hammond, Jared Simmons and James Flowers. James Flowers, Emry and Solum won their respective eight lap heat races as there were 22 competitors for the show.

Austin Sause won his first 20 lap Winged Sprint Car Main Event. The 2019 championship runner-up started in the third row and battled point leader Lawrence Van Hoof early on. Sause got the lead and found his closest competition in fourth row starter Ian Bandey. However, Sause took the checkered flag ahead of Bandey with Van Hoof settling for third, followed by Southern Oregon Speedway racer David Marble, reigning champion Donovan Prather, Ricky Hulsey, Trevor Ding, Michael Cinollo and Davina Jordy. Van Hoof won the eight lap heat race.

Braden Fugate won his first career 25 lap America's Mattress Super Late Model Main Event. Fugate finds himself in contention in a close championship battle. The reigning Sportsman Late Model champion had the outside front row for the race and wasted little time getting into the lead. 2018 champion Brody Montgomery, himself in the title chase, took up pursuit of Fugate. However, it was Fugate prevailing at the checkered flag. Montgomery settled for second, followed by Jordan Wright, point leader Jason Johnson, Jeremy Short, Mike Taylor, Dennis Souza, Larry Fuller and Hannah Robison. Fugate won the eight lap heat race.

Graig Osborne won the 20 lap Street Stock Main Event. This was his third-straight win. Osborne was an eight lap heat race winner and had the outside front row next to Dyllan Siewell. These two along with incoming point leader Ken Fox mixed it up at the front of the pack. Fox gained second, but the best he could do was chase Osborne across the finish line. Siewell settled for third, followed by reigning champion Steve Dubisar, Blake Lehman, Sam Talon, Matt Breiter, Blake Gower, 2018 Hornet champion Tyler Tullos and Sam Taylor. Siewell was the other heat race winner.

Scott Beaudoin won the 20 lap Mini Outlaw Main Event. This was his third win of the season, and he earned the pole position after winning his eight lap heat race. Jason Kellam started on the outside front row and finished second, followed by Matthew Emry, Seth Christian, Ty Whitney, Frank Monza, Chris Patterson, incoming point leader Brad Hicks and Tahlen Rodgers, who won the other heat race.

PJ Hussey won the 20 lap Hornet Main Event. This was his first win. Incoming point leader Isaac Stere started on the inside second row and would chase Hussey across the finish line in second. John Henry finished third, followed by John McNeil, Seth Christian, William Hitner and Meg Smith.

Griff Smith won the 12 lap Junior Stinger Main Event. This was the sixth win of the season for the two-time reigning champion and current point leader. Smith started on the second row and wasted little time getting into the lead. Fellow second row starter Alex Butler finished second, followed by Cameron Metzgus, Drake Vincent, Alexus Baker, Heather Burton, Miles Kirns, Eli Luckman, Teagan Montgomery and Nicole Emry. Vincent and Luckman won their respective eight lap heat races.

Racing returns to the oval track on August 15th with the Super Late Model Tidal Wave 50 on the schedule. Also competing on the NASCAR Whelen All American Series bill will be the Sportsman Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Outlaws, Hornets and Junior Stingers. For further information, go to www.coosbayspeedway.us or check out the Coos Bay Speedway Facebook page.


Ocean Speedway Unofficial Race Results August 1, 2020
23rd Annual Mike Cecil Memorial
IMCA Modifieds
Jim Pettit II
Troy Foulger
Cody Burke
Austin Burke
Buddy Kniss
Andy Obertello
Robert Marsh
Stephen Hopf
Chester Kniss
Josh Combs
Brian Cass
Anthony Giuliani
JC Elrod
Kyle Bryan
Gary Marsh
Tim Balding
Chris Sieweke
Todd Hermosillo
Steve Studebaker
Jeff Browne
T.J. Etchinson III
David Spriggs
Jesse Burks
Aaron Crowell

IMCA Sport Modifieds
Fred Ryland
Guy Ahlwardt
Andrew Pearce
Adriane Frost
Chuck Weir
Timothy Allerdings
Andrew Peckham
Chase Thomas
Nathan Rolfe
Max Baggett
Markus Frazier
Justin McPherson
Steven Allee
Gavin Espino
Dwayne Short
Kelly Campanile
Charlie Hunter
Jason Jennings
Frank Cefaliello Jr
Samuel Mason
Billy Robertson

Hobby Stocks
Johnny Wood
Bruce Nelson
Rob Gallaher
Kyle Wood
Joe Gallaher
Steve Remde
Domossie Scoggins
Sam Kennedy
Bobby Huckaby Sr
Jerry Skelton
Logan Clay
Mitch Lettunich
Bobby Huckaby Jr
Travis Avila
Ken Winland
Ryan Muller
Mark Morton
Devin Belton
George Silva
Brady Muller
Norm Ayers DNS


Madera Speedway Unofficial Race Results August 1, 2020
Late Model
Kyle Keller
Shelden Cooper
Loren Kutz
Del McIntosh
Lily Mead
Trevor Schlundt
Mike Shapiro
Howard Holden
Hailey Liles
Jon Schlundt

SWT Trucks
Main 1
Austin Edwards
Ronnie Davis
Brent Adams
Ed Cutler
Parker Jones
Steve Reeves
Curtis Burns
Sean Davis
Keaton Swane
Ricky Bogart
Brian DuBoise
Nash Youngren

Main 2
Parker Jones
Ricky Bogart
Ed Cutler
Austin Edwards
Nash Youngren
Brent Adams
Brian DuBoise
Curtis Burns
Keaton Swane
Ronnie Davis
Steve Reeves
Sean Davis DNS

MST/Toyota
Shaun Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds
Bert Stephens
Dennis Brannon
Haley Bugg
Andrew Parr
Thomas Magray

CVMS Mini Stocks
Rod Baronian
Greg Baronian
Steven Brown
Ryan Doglione
Gene Glover
Jeff Durant
Destiny Joplin
Shawn DePriest
Mitch Pasquale
Ethan Griffioen
Justin Griffioen
Dan Myrick
John Williams

Hobby Stocks
Richard Herzog
Dennis Saunders Jr
Manny Gonzales Jr
Tyler Rogers
Don Mead
Brian Childers


Redwood Acres Raceway Unofficial Race Results August 1, 2020
Late Models
Luke Hall
Eugene Palmer
Ed Rasmussen
Dustin Walters

Bombers
Lauren Powers Jr
Charlie Tour
Sam Brown
Donnie Brown
Jordan Krupa
Raquel Krupa
Daniel Pinne
Bridget Steeves
Brandon White

Mini Stocks
Jarrett Mayo
Gary Klientobe
Gannon Cyphers
Brett Murrell
Bubba Klientobe
CJ Dalton


All American Speedway Unofficial Race Results August 1, 2020
NASCAR Return to Roseville
Late Model Feature 1
Cole Moore
Mike Beeler
Matthew Wendt
Shannon Mansch
Chris Scribner
Gracie Trotter
Hans Beeler
JJ Ferguson
Angelina Dempsey
Kylie Daniels
Thomas Martin
Lance Halm
Cameron Legue
Rick Scribner

Late Model Feature 2
Cole Moore
Matthew Wendt
Mike Beeler
Gracie Trotter
Chris Scribner
Shannon Mansch
Aidan Daniels
Kylie Daniels
Kenna Mitchell
Angelina Dempsey
JJ Ferguson
Thomas Martin
Hans Beeler

Jaws Gear Limited Modified
Jason Philpot
Michael Mitchell
Don Shalla
Josh Blackwood
Jon Yourd

Super Stock
Jill Schmidt
Andrew Peeler
Tim Walters
Phil Wilkins
Chris Paulson
Brandon Diede
Tim Williams
Andrew Kemp
James Shelton
Blake Dismoma

F4
Richard Innis
Ray Molina
Jerry Nunes
Dennis Crook
Matthew Fuhs
Brian Spencer
John Sproule
Vic Theberge
Nathan Cleaver

Jr. Late Model
Aidan Daniels
Lane Anderson
Kenna Mitchell
Trey Daniels

Mini Cup/Bandolero
Kenna Mitchell
Bella Thomsen


Coos Bay Speedway Unofficial Race Results August 1, 2020
Whelen Fan Appreciation Night Outlaw Pro Stock Challenge
Winged Sprints
Austin Sause
Ian Bandey
Lawrence Van Hoof
David Marble
Donovan Prather
Ricky Hulsey
Trent Ding
Michael Cinollo
Davina Jordy

America's Mattress Super Late Models
Braden Fugate
Brody Montgomery
Jordan Wright
Jason Johnson
Jeremy Short
Mike Taylor
Dennis Souza
Larry Fuller
Hannah Robinson

Sportsman Late Models
Jesse Gonzalez
Ryan Emry
Scott Flowers
Johnny Cobb
Trace Fugate
Rick Lukens
Andrew Short
Colby Hammond
Jared Simmons
James Flowers
Brionna Fuller
Samantha Packard
Scott Bennett
Steve Borror
Garret Smith
Matt Harlow
Mike McLeod
Dillon Solum
Darek Alford

Street Stocks
Graig Osborne
Ken Fox
Dyllan Siewell
Steve Dubisar
Blake Lehman
Sam Talon
Matt Breiter
Blake Gower
Tyler Tullos
Sam Taylor
Dustin Hitner
Devin Keefer

Mini Outlaws
Scott Beaudoin
Jason Kellam
Matthew Emry
Seth Christian
Ty Whitney
Frank Monza
Chris Patterson
Brad Hicks
Tahlen Rogers

Hornets
BJ Hussey
Isaac Stere
John Henry
john mcneil
Seth Christian
William Hitner
Meg Smith

JR Stingers
Griff Smith
Alex Butler
Cameron Metzgus  
Drake Vincent
Alexus Baker
Heather Burton
miles kirns
Eli Luckman
Teagan Montgomery
Nicole Emry
Lily Metzgus


Dixon Speedway Unofficial Race Results August 1, 2020
Wingless
Ashton Torgerson
Kelvin Lewis
Blake Bower
Austin Taborski
Austin Torgerson
Travis Sullivan
Blake Parmley
Nate Wait
Chris Parmley
Cody Gray
Drew Laeber
Matt Santana
Logan Calderwood
Steve Bettanini
Derrick Patterson
Tucker LaCaze
Matthew Kaiser
Jeremy Chapman
Cameron Paul
Sage Bordenave
Jared Byrd
Izak Johnson DNS

Semi Main 1
Nate Wait
Drew Laeber
Logan Calderwood
George Nielson
Brandon Alvarado
Allen Sheridan
Kyle Grissom
Jarrett Heimlich
Joe Silva
Don McLeister

Semi Main 2
Steve Bettanini
Izak Johnson
Matt Santana
Ryan Holden
Taylor DeCarlo
Jim Beck
Justin Stretch
Chuck Patterson
Savannah Brown

Super 600
Ashton Torgerson
Austin Torgerson
Cody Key
Jeffrey Pahule
James Andrichuck
Hayden Saich
Brett McColloch
Jarrett Heimlich
Dennis Scherer
Hailey Wood
Jessica McManus
Anthony Lewis
Todd Job
Ricky Sanders
Brad Hannum
Jason Chapman
Justin Stretch
Cameron Paul
Devon Courtnier DNS

Restricted
Colin Kirby
Bryant Bell
Izaak Sharp
Matthew Tatoole
Brandon Riveira
Austin Wood
Colton Key
Teagen Moles
Tallon Becker
Tuesday Calderwood
Rylee Whitehouse
JJ Loss
Kyle Cravotta
AJ Neilson

Jr Sprints
Brody Rubio
Makayla Tatoole
Kellen Harper
Hayden Stepps
Ryder Byrd
Peyton Whitehouse
Briggs Davis
Ryder Johnson
Kyle Fernandez


Cottage Grove Speedway Unofficial Race Results August 1, 2020
Limited Sprints
Kinzer Cox
Jake Wheeler
Shane Forte
Steven Snawder
Tyler Thompson
Camden Robustelli
Brett McGhie
Jared Hood
Donny Waddell
Pat Desbiens
Justin Ellertson
Orion Redmond
Tim Minter
RJ Baker
Johnny Burke
Brian Crockett
Mike Wheeler
Tyler Driever

Late Model
Jim Whistler
Chad Groves
Mark Wauge
Kye Frick
Brian Smith
Chuck Christian
James Slover
BJ Donofrio
Randy Barley
Ryan Ronning
Bruce Rayburn Jr
Doug Elkins
Eric Massey
Greg Heinrichs
McLain Beaudoin DQ

IMCA Modified
Collen Winebarger
Eston Whisler
Chad Groves
Bricen James
Travis Peery
Nick Trenchard
Ryan Baker
Brad Martin
Paul Culp
Steven Sturdevant
Aaron Sheeler
Curtis Towns
John Campos
Jake Mayden
Jesse Williamson
Kevin Williamson
Ray Bloom
Sam Potter
Paul Rea
Doug Lockwood
Brody Sim
Dwayne Klein
Jesse Bailey

IMCA Sport Modified
Jorddon Braaten
Doug Coffman
David Schmidt
Braedon Hand
Art Hiatt
Hunter Bloom
Jordan Henry
Travis Pruitt
Skyler Winebarger
KC Scott
Shawn Hand
Dalton Bloom
Michael Melton
Michael Lavery
Roger Bell
Theran Trissell
Jeff Cluff
Isaac Sanders
Steven Sanders
Tanner Krohling
Matt Brown

Street Stock
Dakota Goddard
Sean Cronk
Garrett Barth
Jody Tanner
Phil Lovvorn
Troy Chamberlain
Michael Hollingsworth
Robert Hughes
Braedon Castro
Trevor Points
Adam Applebee
JJ Irvine

IMCA Sport Compacts
Barry Cannon
Jeremy DeGroot
Mike Cockerline
Cole Trissell
Scarlett Drake
Kelsey Drager
Brad Martin
Kimberly Cannon 

The Editor's Viewpoint

Friday was a slow news day for racing. Given the covid-19 guidelines and the tracks scrambling to get streaming services, I was a bit surprised that no track had anything on their schedule that night. This would be a night for Ocean Speedway or Silver Dollar Speedway under normal circumstances. However, Watsonville was always going to have a Saturday night program for the Mike Cecil Memorial race, and Silver Dollar Speedway only managed to get open for their first event since the shutdown on Sunday, July 26th. They had to assess everything and didn't have a plan for Friday.

It's more interesting to note that there wasn't even a Sunday race planned. Petaluma was scheduled to be dark for the weekend. There was no need to move to Sunday, which they have been doing in order to get internet pay-per-view through Flo Racing. There was nothing going on at Marysville or Placerville, so the track could have even opened for Saturday night. For whatever reason, Antioch Speedway hasn't had Flo Racing since they botched a program a few weeks ago, which makes me wonder what's going on there. We ended Friday without even knowing if Antioch was going to have a streaming service, which would be the first time since the reopening there that no streaming service was available for the fans.

I still say they always had a guy who could have helped in that regard with Brett Phillips and his drone. I have heard the grumbling from the racing community that bought subscriptions to Flo Racing when they thought that was where they could watch Antioch. It made sense. You don't want to pay $20 every time you want to watch a stream, and Flo Racing has several other California tracks on any given weekend. When they switched to Dirt Oval TV, people were pissed. Then they went back and forth. The people want some sort of consistency here, but the track is just trying to make sure they have anything to offer at all. That's one of the challenges of negotiating through this virus situation.

I waited and waited all week to hear anything, but there was nothing until Saturday morning. Wade, the announcer, did a brief update to let everybody know that the track had created its own service at antiochspeedway.tv. I've been speaking about this very concept since before I returned to racing prior to 2015. The Antioch webmaster and I have had several discussions about that during the past year or two, so I do agree with the idea. The timing was lousy, especially since it came with another announcement that the track had created a new Facebook page. I'm not going to comment on that here. I'll do that further down. 

The problem is it's yet another streaming service for the people who bought subscriptions to Flo Racing. Also, you waited until Saturday morning to tell them there with a little reminder that you also had a new Facebook page. I kind of wonder how much thought is going into some of the things going on down there these days. The idea wasn't bad. The rollout was just poorly executed. The other thing is you don't know how your streaming service is going to work. Will it be buggy? Will it work for the whole night? A few weeks ago, they were having problems with keeping a stream up, and I sort of think that might have led to the parting of the ways between the track and Flo Racing. 

While I understand that there is money being left on the table if you don't have a pay service, what could have been done is the track could have debuted the new streaming service with a free sample. Make sure you've got all the bugs worked out. Heck, beat the drums and get 200 people watching just to see if your servers can handle it. When it does work, then you put the pay model up. I'm not really sure who's advising the management down there, because there's some things going on there that make me wonder. I'll leave it at that. The show went on, and that's the main thing.

We had more doom and gloom as we entered the month of August. The kind of news from certain tracks that makes you think that maybe fan attendance just won't happen there at all this year. It's realistic to have those thoughts at this point. What's going on in the world right now is not very good, and obviously racing has to suffer through it. 

A track in Lincoln, Pennsylvania reported that a vendor had tested positive for covid-19. They were able to have fan attendance, and the souvenir stand he ran was shut down. When you hear the news of one or two bad things, it gets magnified sometimes. Health officials may not be willing to bend that much. I don't think it's impossible that we'll have fan attendance at more tracks before the season is done, but I no longer have hopes of a majority of tracks getting spectators before the year is up.

Actually, what's passed for a racing season is in its stretch run at most places. Marysville Raceway only has two point events remaining in August before they have a few special events and call it good. It seems as if only Antioch Speedway,  Petaluma Speedway, Ocean Speedway and Madera Speedway are aiming a bit higher with their schedules. Nobody had a more ambitious schedule listed than Antioch Speedway, not even Petaluma. In the case of places like Bakersfield Speedway and Merced Speedway, you're looking at promoters who are going to pick and choose what dates to run, and it won't be every week.

There was some Hunt Wingless Sprint news that came from Merced. They originally had a date scheduled at Merced Speedway on September 12th, which has been canceled. The track only has the California IMCA Speedweek Series on its radar for August 13th. That's not to say they won't do anything else, but special events are not necessarily going to happen. I still see Doug Lockwood looking at doing another event with his core classes after the Speedweek race, but I won't speculate any further than that. He'll have to number crunch that and see what works for him. Of course, if he doesn't manage to book four IMCA sanctioned events for the Sport Modifieds or the Modifieds, there won't be a track champion there for the first time since 1949.

The Hunt Series also lost Placerville Speedway on August 8th. In that case, I don't think it was because Scott Russell worried about purse or any of that. There's enough people involved in the Hunt Series that will pitch in there that it would have been handled. I think it had more to do with the fact that they were hosting the first California IMCA Speedweek race on the 10th, and they wanted to make sure track conditions were right. The Hunt Series will be a part of the Johnny Soares Classic on August 22nd at Petaluma Speedway, which is a head-to-head date between that group and the local PitStopUSA.com Wingless Spec Sprints. It's starting to look like it will be a huge race.

As I said when I speculated about the California IMCA Speedweek Series, there is great potential for that to be the big highlight of the year. That's what made me so excited when Lockwood stepped up and worked with five other promoters to make it happen. As of Friday, the IMCA Modifieds had 32 drivers registered to run the series, while the IMCA Sport Modifieds had 28 competitors. I don't think it's unrealistic to expect a minimum of 40 cars in each class at at least some of those events. It's going to be good for sure. We should start hearing news on format as well as other sponsors that might chip in to make this thing even bigger.

August will see Keller Auto Speedway open for a pair of races during a week's time. The August 8th affair will feature the local King of Thunder Sprint Cars, RaceSaver Sprints, IMCA Stock Cars and Mini Stocks. On the 14th, the two Sprint Car classes are replaced by the two Modified classes for the Speedweek event, while the other two classes remain on the card. This will also be a House of JuJu Central Valley Mini Stock Race. At that point, they will have reached the four races minimum to crown an IMCA Stock Car champion. That's more good news, and I have a hunch there will still be at least one more race in Hanford before the year is done. As we mentioned last week, the IMCA Stock Cars will also run at Merced on the 13th, and the CVMS group will hit Bakersfield on the 15th.

We got another announcement from Siskiyou Golden Speedway, but it wasn't as good as I thought it might be. I still believe that the way the July 3rd race was botched and they went so far over curfew had a negative impact on the track. It's just speculation on my part, and I won't go any further than that. They have reasons for not running on the 8th or the 15th. When they say they're going to do something on the 22nd, I know they plan to. Fires could affect that, of course, but otherwise they have a practice that Friday and a race on Saturday. The three prime divisions for this track are IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Modifieds and Mini Stocks. Could it be all three that night? I don't know. If they get an IMCA Modified race in, they will have a champion in that class as well as Sport Modifieds.

We're not going to see racing at Southern Oregon Speedway this year. That's my prediction, although it isn't an official announcement. We know the track won't be running any of the special events that were booked. Without fan attendance, it just doesn't work for management. Racers aren't going to be happy to hear that, but some understand that you can't even pay a regular purse without having fans in attendance. As I'm writing this, there's a big fire happening in the area, so it's the time of year when it gets really smoky down there. I think it's problematic to even get fans when you can have them under those circumstances. The novelty of having a race might get people to come out at least once in those smokey conditions, but you certainly couldn't do it on a regular basis.

Southern Oregon Speedway racers are now forced to travel elsewhere to get their racing fix, and there are some racers who are just parking their cars. It's a crap year. Maybe things will get better next year? I can't really express my disappointment adequately in regards to this whole year. There's not much I can do other than sit on the sidelines with everybody else. The sad part is that I'm of the belief that I won't set foot at that racing facility again. I won't speculate any further on things. I am trying to figure out what my own future is and coming to terms with the likelihood that I'm done. It's been a strange year for me doing a media effort from my desk and not being at a race track.

If you follow this blog, you might be aware of the fact that I did cover racing from afar for a full season without even attending a race. After I declined an offer to return to Antioch Speedway that year, which I still think about sometimes and wonder what if, I proceeded to cover the entire Antioch Speedway season along with Orland Raceway in 2010. It's all up there in the blog archives. The only thing I didn't save online was my audio shows due to the fact that I didn't have a place to store them. So yeah, I have done this before, but not to the degree I'm doing it this year. My curiosity when it comes to wondering where this is all heading has spurred me forward every week when I have wanted to walk away. 

You wonder, is a track going to open under these crappy conditions? Can they put together a sustainable business model to make it worthwhile? What track will open next? Who will get fans? Can anybody sell concessions? What's the governor going to say next? There are many things that you can't anticipate. Every day becomes a new adventure in this uncertain time. I guess the idea of documenting this whole mess has kept me moving forward. The fact that it will be up for the record as long as we're able to keep the blog alive has its appeal. I never take it for granted that it will continue to be up there, but it's there for now. 

When it comes to a track like Yreka, I know it becomes problematic for the promoter to run races. I've heard through the grapevine that he's just doing it for the racers. It's not even a profitable endeavor for him. At a certain point, you start looking at the numbers. I'm not saying you throw in the towel, but if there is an excuse for why you can't run a race on that particular week, you take advantage of it. We'll try again next week. At least you're seen as the one who is trying when others aren't. You're still gaining a few points in that regards. Even if they fumbled a couple of things, you can't take the effort away from them.

Under the circumstances, I think you could make a very good case for wanting to book a special race there and organizing something bigger. I do think if they did it right, there's a chance they could make a few dollars. It would take some organizational effort, and there would still be risk. I can't speculate on what they are thinking down there, but the risk may be why they don't pursue this big idea much further. 

It wouldn't surprise me if they did something a little extra special, but knowing the way they fly by the seat of their pants down there, it would come together quickly, rather than being something planned out to make it more effective. They could have something big with heavy Southern Oregon support if done correctly. In the meantime, the Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page will have the announcement of what is next on the schedule when the time comes.

So the good news is always balanced by bad news these days, and Oregon was due to get hit with something negative. I was making a big deal in the previous column about how the state will have had five different tracks run a race since the virus shut down, three of which have actually been able to have spectators. Hermiston Raceway put together a brilliant plan, in my opinion. They designated both areas of the track and could put 250 people on each side. This meant they could sell tickets to 250 people, and with a $20 price tag, it turns into $5,000 for a sellout. The events they've been having so far have been selling out.

The only thing that was going to stop the track was the governor coming up with orders to shut the place down. We've been hearing in Oregon about counties that have had high numbers of people testing positive for covid-19. Mind you, not symptomatic, not sick, but supposedly testing positive. Umatilla County is one of those places, and they were slapped back down to Phase 1 as of Friday. The speedway was forced to make the announcement that they would have to cancel their twilight and evening programs scheduled for Saturday night. Will that put a muzzle on the rest of their season the way they put a muzzle on people's faces when they are out in public? Could be. There were only three other events left. We'll just have to watch the Hermiston Raceway Facebook page and see what's next.

Ocean Speedway pulled in just under 70 total cars for their three division Mike Cecil Memorial race. A lot of the air was let out of the balloon, so to speak. With the Cecil family no longer involved and the purses greatly reduced, the car count took a big hit over what it's been in recent years. I know there will be speculation as to whether or not this race.will even exist on the schedule in 2021, and I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Management did about as good as they could do considering they only announced the race was still happening on Monday. A few people pitched in and the money went up a little bit for the drivers. 

They were regular distance Main Events, but once again the IMCA Modifieds jumped out as the division to steal the show. Jim Pettit II took the lead from Troy Foulger late in the race. Chester Kniss led that race for a while and even lost and regained the lead from Austin Burke. There was lots of excitement in this race. They had 24 starters. There wasn't much drama going on in the IMCA Sport Modifieds. When you have Fred Ryland starting up front, it's not always so easy to beat the guy. He is still one of the best. 

We're seeing the end of an era when the Hobby Stock division isn't getting extra laps. This has been an 80 lap race in recent years, and it stems from the fact that the race was originally a 100 lap affair for the Street Stocks. Giving them 20 laps is sort of anti-climactic at this point. You had Merced star Bubba Nelson and three-time track champion Rob Gallaher mixing it up at the front of the pack, but it was Johnny Wood beating them all to claim the victory. If this turns out to be the final Mike Cecil Memorial race night at the track, the three winners can say they were the last to win on this occasion.

The Madera Speedway Club Race was certainly interesting to watch. Kenny Shepherd continues to give away the show for free. There was a bit of a speed bump early on when the Legends of Kearney Bowl Super Modifieds took to the track. It figures that would be the moment when it happened. The stream went down temporarily. I was looking forward to watching the full race. I did catch the tribute that they gave to Kenny Takeuchi, which I thought was classy. Both Kenny Shepherd and Outback Andy said some kind words. These are beautiful race cars, and the guys did a good job running up front and giving us taste of vintage Super Modified action.

I have to tell you, I liked the show the Central Valley Mini Stocks put on. There were about a dozen CVMS competitors, and I know some of their racers were reluctant to do the pavement. What we saw was a race that had to be restarted and then went 30 laps without a yellow flag. We saw the Baronian brothers running at the front of the pack with Rod holding off Greg to get the win. I really believe in the vision that Dan Myrick created with this group. 

The other thing I believe is that this division would work well at this race track. I know the track did try to get a Four Banger class going a few years back. I have to believe that a guy with the connections that Kenny Shepherd has could work out something with a wrecking yard, get cages put into 10 cars and put a class together in the future. Antioch Speedway did a similar thing back in 2003, which helped launch the division.

The Late Models had me thinking. Of course, we all know that the MavTV tapings with the Nut Up Pro Late Models and the 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models are the centerpiece of what happens at this track. They deserve the headlines. There's a different sort of vibe happening with the regular Madera Late Model show. 

They've got drivers in this field that don't always go to the bigger shows, but they're showing up for these smaller races. It's like another group. It's competitive, but it's not this ultra competitive show that goes on at MavTV. I like it. Drivers like Lily Mead and Trevor Schlundt are getting a little bit more confidence here, and that will help them be more competitive against the stars of the bigger series. Kyle Keller got the win, but Loren Kutz certainly gave a good accounting of himself before finishing third.

I really like what Kenny does at this race track. I don't think you can fake it. The guy does care about the racing community. He clearly has the ingenuity and the people to put up a pay service. He could have been charging for the quality of the stream he's been giving away for free. That's not what they want to do. They want to include the fans. They want the fans knowing everything that's going on at that race track while they can't sit in those stands, because Shepherd wants the fans back as soon as they have the go-ahead to open the grandstands. This makes Kenny maybe the leader when it comes to opening these tracks in this difficult time that we're going through.

I was watching the show at Douglas County Speedway, which a local radio station streamed on their website at 541radio.com. They had two radio DJs announcing the races. It wasn't a huge car count. There were a tick under 40 total cars. Watching the Hardtops was nice. They are a centerpiece division at this track, and when you think about it, this modern Hardtop movement that made it into California started in Roseburg back in the 1980s. Guys like Mike Batman and Kyran Greene, along with the day's winner, Harlan Cox, remain leaders in this effort. The original OTRO, which is also based out of Roseburg, brought eight cars to Coos Bay from what I've been told. That happened last week. 

Hardtops were one of the reasons I wanted to watch Roseburg. They have a Sport Modified division, which they choose not to sanction through IMCA. I don't see a lot of IMCA pavement races, though back in the 1990s there were some. I know that Madera and Lakeport were sanctioned. Anyway, the Watson family and the Harvey family are basically keeping this thing going with several cars. The Harvey family is still mourning the loss of their patriarch, Roy Harvey.

Roy was a fixture at this race track for many, many years. He died as a result of an injury he sustained while running in the pits. I don't know how old he was, but I'm guessing he was in his 80's? He was still running around in the pits and enjoying himself. I guess he died being at the race track, which was where he loved to be. Tom Elam, who is a top Modified and Late Model competitor, won on this occasion.

They don't have the big Mini Stock count or Street Stock count. In fact, no Street Stocks supported, and only four Mini Stocks were there. The Hornet division, on the other hand, is getting support. there are some new drivers out there, so the ones with more experience were in heavy traffic quickly. It made for some interesting moments for sure. The guy who won a lot last year and was the champion, Rich Dickinson, picked up the victory. The races got done right around 5, which worked perfect for me. I was able to go from there to watching Madera and monitoring Watsonville.

Dixon Speedway was back to having about 80 cars again. There were 36 Wingless Micros. I'm kind of surprised that management hasn't been able to get a streaming service out there or at least figure out a way to give people a glimpse of the races. They're going through August without any fans in the stands, but they do keep the Race Monitor app going to keep track of live scoring. That's something at least. 

It's a good show, and I think people would like to see it. They did have streaming service a time or two earlier this year, but that was with Fast Four Media. I believe they were back at the Kart show at Cycleland Speedway. From what I understand, Cycleland Speedway has been hitting home runs both with Karts and Flat Track Bikes.

Dixon Speedway featured the Torgerson brothers prominently. Ashton Torgerson had one of those nights racers dream of. Not only did he win the Super 600 Main Event, he won his second-straight Wingless feature race. The Wingless race saw him have the lead and lose it, only to battle back and get the win. 

That's a field of tough competitors, and any one of a dozen or more of the racers who line up for a feature race can win on any given night. It's a quality field for sure. The one thing about the Dixon crowd is that some of these drivers will eventually find their way to Sprint Cars or perhaps even go Stock Car racing on the pavement. I noticed Angelina Dempsey's name at Roseville in a Late Model that night.

Speaking of Late Models, Coos Bay Speedway had them under the NASCAR banner. I thought for sure they would take a hit in car count, but they still had nearly 80 total competitors for Saturday's show. A couple of divisions didn't see the numbers drop nearly as bad as I thought they might. For the Late Model division, they ended up with nine cars. 

Bear in mind, they are running for NASCAR Division 1 money, meaning the champion there will get $3,500 as well as a shot at $2,000 in State championship money. Right now, Jason Johnson is leading, but it's anything but comfortable with 2018 champion Brody Montgomery finishing as well as he has been lately. He finished second on Saturday.

The Fugate family has been on the move. It's sort of the same thing that Montgomery has done. He started down in the Hornet division, went on to become a Sportsman champion and is now one of the stars of the Super Late Models. Braden Fugate was a Hornet feature winner, Sportsman champion last year and he just picked up his first Late Model win by holding off Montgomery. At last report, the top Late Model rookie in the Division 1 class gets $1,000, and that would be Fugate the way things are going. He's third in track points, so he's got a shot at the title still. Meanwhile, Trace Fugate, who also was a Hornet winner in the past, leads the Sportsman Late Model class this year.

The Sportsman Late Models had their annual shootout with the Outlaw Pro Stock gang from Klamath falls. Management had already worked it out where the Tri State Pro Stock competitors could run if they wanted, and Jesse Gonzalez took them up on the offer. The Fallon, Nevada competitor was the class of the field as he won from the fifth row. Track regular Ryan Emry managed to grab second with the Outlaw Pro Stock reigning champion and point leader Scott Flowers third. Trace Fugate handled himself well in fifth in the 19 car field.

I thought the Street Stock division might take a hit with Cottage Grove running the class, but they still brought a dozen cars to field. Graig Osborne lives in Creswell and would have had an easier time going to Cottage Grove, but he returned to Coos Bay to get his third-straight win over point leader Ken Fox. Looks like Graig is trying to win the championship and that win will certainly help his cause. 

The Street Stock division at Coos Bay so far has been an MVP class. They've been booked heavier than the other classes and are still able to perform pretty well. The Mini Outlaw numbers were up as well with 11. This is a division that last year might bring two or three cars sometimes, so the track has to be happy with them.

The Sprint Car division has about a half-dozen cars owned by the track's old owner, Chuck Prather. He rents the cars out and has somebody doing maintenance. Chuck wanted to start this division at the track, and he had the money to make sure there would be some cars. When he promoted Southern Oregon Speedway for two years, he brought his cars there as well. Actually, when he moved up to Oregon and bought Coos Bay Speedway, he had a half dozen Hardtops. These were the cars he was running at Sacramento Raceway and Roseville back in 2003 and 2004.

I didn't think there would be a huge car count in the Sprint Car class as Cottage Grove would be featuring their Limited Sprints. They did manage to pluck Ian Bandey out of the field, and David Marble came from the Medford area to race. However, it was Austin Sause winning this race ahead of Bandey and incoming point leader and 2017 champion Lawrence Van Hoof. According to my notes, that was Austin's first win. All in all, it sounded like a good night at Coos Bay from start to finish.

I don't know if Promoter Drake Nelson has a mind to book one of his Wednesday night shows again. You never know what he could do. Oregon has had five different tracks running since the shutdown with Coos Bay, Roseburg, Cottage Grove, St Helens and Hermiston. There's a hint that we could hear something from Willamette Speedway, but whether it'll be a practice or a race is something I don't know. On the Coos Bay schedule, they have the Tidal Wave 50 scheduled for August 15th. This is a bigger Late Model race that paid $1,200 last year to win. I don't know what the track is going to do. Since they can get fans, they may go ahead and do it. The best thing to do is look at the Coos Bay Speedway Facebook page for announcements.

Information is not quickly forthcoming from Antioch Speedway or Orland Raceway for that matter, but I managed to get a little bit of info. I'm sitting here on a Monday waiting for the any details I can get as we try to wrap up the blog post for this week. I'm inserting these observations before the statements I need to make regarding Antioch Speedway and my involvement. I do wish they would be a bit quicker on getting results out to the people. That doesn't seem to be high on the priority list at Antioch, and Orland does things a little bit differently. 

It has always been my understanding that eventually Antioch Speedway management would switch over to digital electronic scoring, but there were other financial needs that required attention first. This is something that may or may not happen this year. I'm not privy to that information and don't wish to speculate any further. However, I wouldn't be surprised if it happens next year. When it does, I would imagine that you'll be able to go to MyLaps and find results and they might even do live scoring via Race Monitor or whatever. In the meantime, we have to wait for them to post results.

Maybe the Sprint Car drivers were raced out after the week they had before. The numbers were strong all weekend long from Watsonville to Placerville and Chico. By the time they got to Antioch Speedway, even though nobody was running against them, there seemed to be a lack of interest. I counted about 14 cars in that field from the information I gleaned. That's better than a kick in the ass, and it's better than what they would average for a regular Sprint Car show last year. It's not the kind of numbers that management hopes for when they can't get fans in the stands. In the end, Colby Johnson picked up the Sprint Car win. He had a good battle at the previous race with Chase Majdic before finishing second, so he was due.

I have no idea how many Dwarf Cars showed up, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had the biggest turn out of the night. I do know that Kevin Miraglio, the 2016 champion, got his second win of the year. He was the winner in the last May race, when the track had 37 Dwarf Cars. Kevin is legitimately one of the best Dwarf Car drivers out there. He tends to run at either Antioch or Petaluma, and he likes to compete in the Veterans division when the Nationals and Regionals events happen, wherever that might be. 

The Super Stocks had at least eight cars from what I could see. Thanks to an in car camera from Chris Long, I was able to watch the race. That Main Event went non-stop and was very entertaining as drivers mixed it up in the Top 3. Eventually, past Petaluma champion and reigning Tri State Pro Stock Series title winner Mike Learn got the lead and pulled away, leaving a good battle for second. Jim Freethy eventually made the move on the final lap to get that position.

It's also worth noting that people were talking about the mask patrol in the pits. It was a few weeks ago that the California governor decided to mandate masks throughout the state, but people have been slow to put them on. I don't necessarily blame them. I know I wouldn't want to be out in 100 degree weather and have to wear a muzzle on my face. However, it's serious business when there is a threat that you could get shut down because of it. 

I've heard a few rumors on what's going on down there, and the track wasn't taking any chances. Therefore, if they saw you out of your pit area and you weren't wearing one of those masks on your face, you were likely to get a warning to put it on. Don't assume the tracks will just be able to run every race they have planned with a governor who is liable to change the rules at any time. It's better safe than sorry.

The question on my mind was how many Hardtops would they get. The California Hardtop group circled this one on their schedule, and there were some supporters from there. The big surprise was Mike Friesen and his team bringing three cars from the Merced area. They also compete in the Super Modifieds, so I was surprised they didn't go to Madera to compete with the Legends of Kearney Bowl. It was a good turnout for the group at Antioch, All things considered. I'd say they have an outside chance of getting double digits for the Chet Thomson Memorial race in September, which that race deserves.

There seems to have been a little bit of bumping and grinding, but I didn't see the footage to offer any opinion. The Sun Drop Racing Team was none-too-pleased as apparently they were on their way to victory when something broke. They seemed to indicate that the contact they had from somebody while working their way the front caused that, but I don't know. I didn't see it. I do know that the Junkyard Dog, owned by Doug Braudrick, picked up his second sweep of Main Event and heat race action with Joel Hannagan behind the wheel.

As usual, the Hardtop's biggest booster, Ken Clifford, had GoPro cameras in some cars. Braudrick was his featured driver. While people want to go back and forth on controversies, Ken just wants to race and see people run clean. He wants to put the word out there, and the footage he offered on Sunday morning was good as usual. I know Ken and some of the other drivers from up north will be looking forward to Placerville on August 15th. I'm not sure who might come from the Antioch area to support that show, and I noticed a Marysville date at the end of August. Is that something the group acknowledges? I know they'll be looking at Orland Raceway and seeing if they can salvage a date now that they are open.

I know that Promoter Rich Hood's right hand man Cody Bundy indicated on Sunday night that he would get the Orland results posted sometime on Monday. As I'm doing this, there have been no Orland Raceway results. Christina Meeds was out there doing her usual excellent job of taking photos. She showed a brief glimpse of the Wingless Spec Sprint pace lap, and I counted 10 cars for that. It's never a surprise to say this, but Tony Richards won that Main Event. As a past champion at both Orland and Chico and the guy who dominated things last year, he's the guy to beat there.

It looked like they hit double-digits in the Mini Truck division as well, and there were closer to 20 in the Pure Stock division. I don't have a total in the 250 and 600 Micros, nor do I have information other than to say they had cars. Reigning track champion Phil Spencer ended up winning the Pure Stock race, while the always exciting to watch Dan Webster won the Mini Trucks. Everybody was just happy to finally have a race at the 1/5 mile dirt oval at the Glenn County fairgrounds.

There was a bit of a snafu when it came to pay out. No details were announced on what the payout was going to be, and the track didn't have the fans to draw on. They intended to pay a purse, but they weren't set up to pay it after the races. There was some question about that. I'm not privy to how much money they will pay, but Bundy let it be known that they would either be mailing checks out or paying people before the next race. Yes, it sounds like they intend to have another race if they can, and the Orland Raceway Facebook page is the place to check for that information.

The Tom Manning Memorial race will happen at the Stockton 99 Speedway this Saturday. I was hoping to get results from the Stock Car themed event last week, but nothing has been posted as of yet. I'm glad they're doing the race for Tom, who was about as fair as they come as a chief steward, though a little bit rough around the edges. He ruled with an iron fist sometimes, but he cleaned up some of the BS when he first came to Antioch back in 1993. This will be an open wheel themed race with the Gunslinger Sprint Cars, BCRA Midgets, Focus Midgets, Vintage Midgets and the Legends of Kearney Bowl Super Modifieds, and The New Stockton 99 Speedway Facebook page should have details on that.

Another race that could be on the radar will happen at Diamond Mountain Speedway in Susanville. Their last attempt to have a race was canceled due to fires in the area, and this one is an I-80 Series race, which features IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and the Northern Nevada Sprint Cars. I don't know what's running on Friday or Saturday, so I don't want to speculate too much beyond the idea that the Modified classes should be there both nights and probably the Hobby Stocks as well. Go to the Diamond Mountain Speedway Facebook page and look for the official announcement.

I'm not necessarily happy with the management of Antioch Speedway right now, so I want to be careful where I go with this. At a later date, I may expand on this, but I'm only going to explain what's necessary to explain here. I understood when I went down to Antioch last October that I didn't fit into the picture of the new management's plans. We simply weren't having good interactions, and there was ample opportunity for he and I to sit down and have that conversation. Despite that, and in good faith, I gave him my free media effort to help him hype up his big event and didn't ask for anything. Of course, nothing was offered either. Somebody else got paid the money and did next to nothing. Chances are if you saw an article somewhere regarding that race, I was the one who wrote it.

Regardless, I boarded my train back to Oregon knowing that I didn't fit into the picture if things changed. John Soares and I, however, had good interactions. This time, I was going to be sure that if he held onto the track for another year, I would be down there come hell or high water. John told me I could stay down there the entire winter, but that was problematic for me. I didn't have the money to keep feeding myself, even if I could stay at the track office. 

Plus, John made it clear that negotiations were still ongoing and I might not fit into the plans. I already knew I didn't. When the October 31st deadline came and no formal deal was reached yet, John told me that he was giving it more time. I knew it was time to get on the train. I hated leaving the area, but I've got to look out for my future and not lead with my heart. A bad move at this point could leave me homeless as I am lucky to be in the situation I'm in now.

Anyway, I pretty much knew when the deal was done that I didn't fit in there. However, I was working closely with one of management's people to help them do what they were doing. Eventually, they started breaking off conversations with me too and got weird about things. I knew that wasn't a good sign. 

The handwriting was on the wall, so for the past month or so, I've been planning on cutting the remaining ties. This included me removing my Antioch Speedway news blog site and taking down the Facebook page that I had been maintaining for over a year. There were some assurances made by management that were never followed through on regarding the Facebook page, but I'll leave it at that. When the virus shutdown hit, a lot of things grinded to a halt where I was concerned.

That still left me realizing that I needed to step out of the way and let them do what they needed do. There couldn't be any official connection between me and the track or any perceived official connection. It wasn't just about deciding when to remove the Facebook page. I had also taken on the duties of organizing Antioch Speedway Hall of Fame night for the past two years. I just decided when I got that deal started that we needed to stop talking and start doing. I know everything I did wasn't perfect, but I'm proud of the effort. It's been established, and now it just needs to be improved upon and made bigger.

I put an arbitrary date up as August 1st, and there's a reason I did that. On the off-chance that I might do Hall of Fame night this year, that was my deadline date, which is actually a month later than I prefer to start putting things together. This involves the lengthy process of getting nominations and talking with people. I really should have had a committee set up, but I will admit I flaked on that when the virus shutdown happened. I'll take responsibility for that. I'll also take responsibility for the fact that I had no desire to do a Hall of Fame night at Antioch Speedway if there couldn't be fans in the grandstand this year. 

The real reason for waiting until August 1st is I felt it was the absolute latest time that I could organize it and put the necessary things in place. When I say that, I'm talking about coming up with nominations, deciding on who gets inducted, securing the funds to make sure the awards are there and putting together any necessary material to promote the deal. This usually involves the display boards that the fans get to view on race night. I wanted to know by August 1st if there was any sign of us getting fans, and there was none. That's not even taking into account how I would be getting down there and where I would stay or how much it would cost. 

As I could see the handwriting on the wall for me doing the Hall of Fame, I needed to find somebody I was confident could head this thing up. I'm not going to struggle to put things together living in Oregon. I have a desire to get back to Contra Costa County. There were hopes, however unrealistic, that my return down there could be facilitated through my involvement at the track. I will get back down there, but when I do, I'm doubtful that I will be involved at the speedway or even involved in racing at that point. This was the perfect time to make this move. 

If you know me, you know how hard it is to let go of these things. Antioch Speedway lives with me every day in my heart. When I walked away from the sport back in 2003, I thought about the track all the time and continued compiling statistics and just watching from afar. It wasn't easy to walk away then, but when I finally made the decision to do it, it was easy. Right up until Saturday, I was still having that discussion with myself. How do I let go of my involvement with the track? How do I let go of running Hall of Fame night? You just have to do it. Time moves on, and new people come in who want to do things differently and see no use for anything you have to offer. 

The Facebook page was a gray area. I started that as a way to help John. There were discussions about me coming down there last year. Even though they kind of broke down, I was still volunteering my effort. I was rising above and doing things that actually encroached on my time at Southern Oregon Speedway on race night. I did it because I wanted to help, and I grew the Facebook page that way. 

When you put something out on Facebook these days, you can get over 1,000 views very quickly, and that can only get better with more promotion. I hadn't formally given the page over to the track or been commissioned to do so. If I was commissioned to create the page in the first place, I wouldn't feel it was my property. This was a gray area. If I had moved down there last year, I would have considered it the track's property and relinquished it upon request.

Communications between myself and management had broken down, and I could get into details on what happened. Maybe at a later date or maybe in my book I will. Suffice it to say, I was deciding when and where to make the decision to flip the switch off. It coincided with my effort to hand Hall of Fame night off to somebody so that it could continue to be run by the community. I was very confident in my choice of Chris Briggs, and he accepted the offer. I've also let him know my thoughts on things and that I am open if he wants to consult with me on anything.

On Saturday, Wade did one of his video updates. I really think they bungled some stuff down in Antioch, but that's just my opinion. The way they rolled out their streaming service, which I think is a good idea, was poorly executed. They chose to make that announcement on the morning of the race as well as announcing a new Facebook page. I'm beyond disappointed in management, and I also feel just a little bit disrespected by them. This is why I want to measure my words here. I don't think it would be appropriate to say how I really feel about things at this time, so I'll just leave it at disappointed.

Had management come to me respectfully instead of doing things the way they did, which I won't get into, they could have taken over the Facebook page that I created. I had no problem doing that, but I'm not going to be disrespected and treated like what I'm doing doesn't matter. You might get away with that sort of thing 25 years ago, and I'd just take it. Not this time. I could have thrown a link up to the new Facebook page on the old page so people knew, but I decided to shut the light switch off. You guys want a Facebook page, build up the new one. You didn't have to do it this way, but it was your choice. My choice is to get out of the way.

From here going forward, I will continue to write about Antioch Speedway when I have information or observations. That's what this blog is all about, just like the magazine was all about that. I will not claim that I am official, although I will strive to get the official information as released by the track. That's about all I can do. Honestly, I don't know how much longer I'm going to continue the current media effort on this page. I'm at that point now where I need to let go and move forward with other ideas and plans. As long as I have this blog, however, or as long as I have any presence on the web that covers racing, you can count on me writing about Antioch Speedway when I am moved to do so..

My move to pull down the Facebook page was not out of ill will. They wanted to do a new page, so having the second page, even if it had more followers, was counterproductive to the track. Reoving the Facebook page and the Antioch Speedway racing news blog needed to happen for everybody involved to move on. I'm just going to be an independent reporter observing and offering my thoughts as I go on from here. I can't say that I don't feel hurt, and I can't say that those feelings don't bring out the desire to go negative. I will say that I am trying to understand that I feel this way and not let it seep into my effort. I'd rather just wish them luck from here. 

I've been honest when I say that turning the track around down there isn't as easy as a catchphrase or just doing a couple of things and thinking it's going to happen. The fact that they are dealing with the pandemic like we all are makes it that much more challenging. It's not an easy task that the management has taken upon themselves, and there's no guarantee that it will work. With everybody behind them, they've got a better chance, and I do wish them success. Failure could ultimately mean the closure of the track, and none of us want that to happen. I know I don't.

Hall of Fame night is a way to celebrate the heritage of that race track, but I still believe that fans should be involved. It should be done in front of fans. I shared a few ideas I had with Chris, and he told me what he was thinking. I feel confident that he can take this thing in the direction it needs to go. What I want to see is Hall of Fame night happening 10 years from now and things I could have never pulled off by myself actually happening. There are so many people that deserve to be inducted, and we all have our opinions on that. Chris will take this thing and do what needs to be done with it.

Some people might be wondering who Chris is, so I'll tell you a little bit about him. His father raced in the Sportsman division in the 1970s. He's been going to the track since he was a kid. His brother-in-law and his nephew are both IMCA Modified racers. You know them has Chester Kniss and Buddy Kniss. The family is now three generations into the sport. He created the Antioch Speedway Days Of Old page on Facebook to celebrate the track's history and get people sharing pictures and stories from the good old days. When I thought about it, he was really the only choice there was in my opinion. I've always had respect for him and his sister and their family.

Other than that, I want to move forward from this. It's like I told my good friend Don in Indiana. This is a hard decision for me to make, but it's a necessary one. He was encouraging me to do this a few weeks ago, but I hesitated. I did understand that I would feel relief once I made this move, and I do. The hurt feelings will move to the background in time, and I'll make my way from here. I don't know where that will be, but that's the thing about life. You never know what the next day will bring you. 

As i sit here on a Sunday morning in Oregon, I'm still heartbroken that my involvement at Southern Oregon Speedway has ended the way it has. It's looking more and more doubtful that we're even going to have a race at that track this year. Management doesn't think it's financially viable to open the track with no fans in the grandstands, and I'm inclined to agree with them. A lot of people are going to speculate on what's happening in the future there, and I'm really not going to get into things as far as the track is concerned.

Only thing I will say is I wish we could just have one more night. One night where we gathered all of the divisions and just made a show of it. Maybe we can get 250 people in the stands? Just do something to rock the place and give everybody a reason to smile at a time when they need it. We were making such progress at this track, and this year was going to be big. Then the damn virus shut it all down. There are tracks opening, and people look over at us and say, "Why aren't you doing it?" I get it, but these are financial decisions. As somebody who doesn't have much money, no home and only a few precious possessions, I know all too well about protecting what you have.

I really feel like I witnessed my last race at Southern Oregon Speedway last year. It's funny that I left the place thinking I wouldn't be back when I thought I was going to move back to the Antioch area. When that fell through, I was still hopeful that we could at least enjoy this year. I stressed out a lot over the last few years trying to help keep things going in the right direction, and I wanted to have a year where I enjoyed it more. I wanted to look at more people in the stands, more cars in the pits and be able to stop, take a breath and smile. We worked hard for this, and the virus wiped it out. I thought we had a good schedule that I could at least enjoy, and it went away just like that.

In a very real sense, we are facing some serious changes in our way of life in the future. People are hoping things can go back to normal, and there's a chance that normal won't look like it did. The powers-that-be want to change that, and they'll have their way if people don't start asking questions and saying no to some things. I'm sure racing will go on until the powers-that-be tell them that it's not essential. Promoters are willing to open their tracks without fans in the grandstands, even if they can't have any for the entire year. If it becomes a pay-to-play thing with no fans, some promoters will keep doing what they do.

Granted, I'm looking at this from a doom and gloom scenario. We don't know what the future will bring. We don't know what things will be like in 2021. We can only look at the way things are going now, the attitudes and the rhetoric being thrown around and guess. I hope that we do get back to some sort of normalcy. I hope that racing bounces back bigger and better than it's been for a long time. I hope that Antioch Speedway thrives and has some great years ahead of it. I wish the same thing for Southern Oregon Speedway. People talk about how great it was in the early days, but we've given them a glimpse of what things can be like there if they want it and are willing to rally behind that track. It's up to them.

I'm inclined to cut back on my weekly blog posting effort once championship seasons are done. Some tracks aren't keeping points, so I'm going by the IMCA barometer. IMCA cuts their season at the end of September. That might be the time in which I start posting on the blog only when I feel like it. 

When October comes around, I know I'm going to be feeling the blues that I'm not down in Antioch as I've been for the past few years. It doesn't mean I won't be watching from afar, and if I am watching, I'll be writing articles as I always do. The likelihood of me doing a weekly effort in 2021 on this blog is not very good, though there will be posts here and there.

Honestly, I wasn't going to do what I've done this year. The intriguing aspect for me was watching these tracks try to negotiate through covid-19 guidelines. How were they going to open? How were these shows going to go without fans? Were racers going to get on board? We had ups, and we had downs, and I tried to document that as we've gone along. 

It's kind of cool that as long as I'm able to keep the blog alive, people will be able to look back at the 2020 archives and read things as I wrote them. Then again, do you really want to relive this year? I sometimes hope that we'll wake up from this nightmare and realize it didn't happen. Then again, there's a part of me that sometimes wishes I could wake up in the past. Anyway...

I feel myself nearing the finish line, and I'm almost relieved. Whatever passes for a season at some of these tracks will end by the final weekend of September. There's races left after that, so we'll probably try to cover some things. I'm just not going to beat myself up if there's no information on certain things that I would like to cover. That's not my fault, and it's not my responsibility to put word out if the track doesn't care. Therefore, I will relax my schedule by the end of September if not sooner and call it good. I do salute the promoters who have tried, though the bottom line will not be good for most of them. You just have to decide whether it was worth the effort in a business sense or not.

We'd better hope that things change for the better and don't continue down the path that we're headed. The world as we know it will change, and not for the better. It really feels that way to me. I think that's one of the reasons why I sometimes have a hard time motivating myself to do another post. I struggle to get support here, and I see the bigger picture. I hope I'm seeing things worse than they actually will be, but my instinct doesn't let me down at certain times. I'm trying to stay positive here and at least trying to look on the bright side when it comes to what we are doing right now at these race tracks.

In any case, we're done for another week. It was an easy weekend to cover. It still blows me away that Saturday was the only night that these tracks opened. Promoters are booking things on the fly, and I would think that somebody would move their date or put a race in there on Sunday or Friday just to go after streaming services and race cars. Then again, I've said that the numbers will go down at certain times. You've got to put some thought into those moves. It's been working out for some places, but at other times those numbers dip. It's not as easy as just putting a date out there and expecting the cars to show up. 

Speedweek is a series we can all look forward to. There's a few big moments remaining on the schedule otherwise, and my advice is to enjoy them if you can. Go to the races if you're able to and support the streams if it's in your budget to do so. Appreciate what you can, while you can. In this uncertain time, you never know what can be taken away from us next. Keep your eyes on what matters the most. Never let the people who matter to you forget how you feel about them.

On that note, I'll end this column. Until next time...