Merced Speedway, Antioch Speedway, Petaluma Speedway, Madera Speedway, Stockton 99 Speedway, More

First of all...

The DCRR Racing Media Books

Just A Kid From The Grandstands:  My Time In Auto Racing

Stories of my time in auto racing from the beginning to 2003 Available on Lulu in Paperback And Hard Cover

And

Don's California Racing Recollections:  Best Of The Blog And Beyond

Racing History, Stories, Statistics And Pictures
Available via print on demand at Lulu in Hard Cover or Paperback

Disclaimer 

For years we've made a commitment to cover motorsports on the West Coast, and we're very proud of our record. We always endeavor to give you the most accurate information possible, but sometimes some details aren't available to us when we go to press. Therefore, we want to remind you that any finishes listed in the articles and stats posted on this page are unofficial. As always, we refer you to each race track's webpage for official results and point standings. Our goal is to cover racing to the best of our ability, but we are an unofficial news source for the tracks covered in each post. Thank you for reading and thank you for your support.

If You Like Reading Our Articles

Support Us Via The Go Fund Me The Tip Jar HERE

Also...

DCRR Racing Media And PR Consulting  HERE

From the Grandstands By Ron Rodda HERE 

Blakesley Sports Media HERE

Short Track Live HERE

DRC (Daren Ricks Campbell) Motorsports Media HERE

The DCRR Racing Radio Show

Backup Link HERE

 

 

 

News concerning Stockton Fairgtounds

Read HERE

 

Laney, Dotson, Johnson, Wolford Win 

John Fore Jr/Bob Smith Nationals At Merced Speedway 

Merced, CA...October 24...Cody Laney won the 30 lap IMCA Modified Main Event Saturday night at Merced Speedway. This was the Fifth Annual John Fore Jr/Bob Smith Memorial Dirt Track Nationals, and the Torrance driver collected $2,000 for his effort. Over 150 competitors signed in to compete in the five division program on the quarter-mile clay oval.

Laney started on the outside front row next to two-time Merced Speedway champion Randy Brown and bolted into the lead at the waving of the green flag. Brown settled into second ahead of Jim Pettit II. DJ Shannon made a high move in Turn 4 of the fifth lap to take third from Pettit and went low in Turn 2 a lap later to grab second from Brown. The race was destined to go without a yellow flag. Most of the competitors were working the outside line, including Laney. By the halfway point of the race, Laney caught slower traffic. Shannon broke away from the pack and tried to reel in the flying Laney. The battle seemed to be for the fourth position between Pettit, Troy Foulger and Ethan Dotson. Shannon had Laney in his sights with five laps to go, but Laney went low and quickly got around a few slower cars. That proved to seal the deal as Laney brought it home to an impressive victory. Shannon settled for a $1,000 second with Brown a $500 third. Pettit finished fourth, followed by Foulger, Dotson, Dylan Thornton, Robby Sawyer, Jerry Flippo and Bobby Hogge IV.

The IMCA Modifieds had 40 competitors for this race. The top 3 finishers in all four eight lap heat races would make it into the Main Event. Wins in those races went to Dotson, Foulger, Kellen Chadwick and Cody Laney. Gavyn Manning won the first 10 lap B Main from the pole. Ryan Porter was an early second, but Josh Combs got by to finish in that position as Porter settled for third ahead of Darrell Hughes II. Troy Morris III and Jerry Flippo shared the front row of the second B Main and scored the 1-2 finish as Bryan Clark and Shane DeVolder also made the transfer.

Ethan Dotson won of the 25 lap IMCA Sport Modified Main Event. Dotson had an impressive evening as he also won the IMCA Stock Car race. His Sport Modified win was worth worth $2,000, and he had to charge forward from the sixth row to get it. 

Driving for Darren Thomas, Troy Foulger set the early pace from the pole ahead of Jason Nation. Andrew Pearce spun in Turn 3 for a Lap 2 yellow flag. The first restart attempt was botched when Pearce stalled entering the track. Foulger continued to lead Nation and Bobby Hogge IV on the restart, but Hogge went high in Turn 4 on Lap 4 to take second. Nation came roaring back on the inside down the frontstretch a lap later to regain second, and Dotson used an impressive outside groove effort to put himself in the battle. Dotson was up to fourth by Lap 5 as the leaders were all running closely. Dotson made what proved to be the move of the race when he went high in Turn 4 on Lap 8 to pass everybody for the lead. Foulger was still running second in a close battle with Nation. A low pass in Turn 4 on Lap 12 put Nation into second. By the 20th lap, Dotson held a straightaway advantage over Nation, but a yellow flag for a spin in Turn 2 bunched the field. Dotson continued to lead Nation and Foulger on the restart. Contact with Chase Thomas in Turn 4 saw Fred Ryland stall in Turn 2 for the final yellow flag on Lap 22. This didn't slow Dotson as he maintained command on the restart and brought it home to victory. Nation was a $1,000 second with Foulger a $500 third. 14th starter Hogge managed a fourth place finish ahead of Nick Spainhoward, Chase Thomas, Billy Simpins, Tyler Blankenship, Todd Gomez and Andrew Peckham.

There were 40 IMCA Sport Modifieds, and eight lap heat race wins went to Dotson, Jason Bannister, Spainhoward and Ryland. The first of two 10 lap B Mains was led early by Speedweek champion Garrett Jernagan. Unfortunately, his race came to an end after three laps. Blankenship took the lead in a battle with Peckham, and they would finish in order at the checkered flag. Third went to Kaylin Lopez ahead of final transfer Jeremy Hoff. Hogge had the outside front row for the second B Main and won that race ahead of David Pearson, Tanner Thomas and Kodie Dean. Dean made a last turn pass on Trevor Clymens to steal the final transfer

Nick Johnson won the 20 lap Hobby Stock Main Event. The Bakersfield racer pocketed $1,000 for his winning effort. Nick Johnson had the outside front row for the race and charged into the lead at the start ahead of past Merced champion Michael Shearer and multi-time Watsonville champ Matt Kile. Trying to get second from Shearer, Mitch Enos ended up hooking with Shearer down the front straightaway. The two cars broke free as Kile moved into second, but Enos ended up with a flat tire. Tyler Johnson had settled into third, and a low pass in Turn 2 of the sixth lap gained Tyler Johnson second. Cody Johnson followed closely into third. Tyler Johnson went a little too high as they worked the eighth lap and drove off the track in Turn 2. Cody Johnson was second when the yellow flag flew on Lap 9. Nick Johnson continued to lead Cody Johnson and Johnny Wood on the restart, but a final yellow flag waved a lap later. Nick Johnson continued to lead Cody Johnson and Les Friend on the restart. Nick Johnson began smoking heavily during the final half-dozen laps with Cody Johnson pressuring him for the lead. Friend had a battle with Wood and Ricky Childress Jr for the third position that went three-wide at times. Despite the smoking issues, Nick Johnson managed to hold off Cody Johnson for the hard fought victory. Childress made a late move around Friend for third as Friend settled for fourth ahead of Wood, Austin Van Hoff, Kile, Donald Hiser, Allen Neal and David Schuyler.

As with the two Modified classes, the Hobby Stocks had 40 cars and ran four eight lap heat races. The wins went to Tyler Johnson, Cody Johnson, Childress and Tim Elias. Kevin Irwin took the lead from Race Shelton on the third lap and went on to win the first 10 lap B Main. Chase Aue moved into second on Lap 4 and finished there, followed by DJ Keldsen and Shelton. The second B Main saw Porterville's Karl Noland and Hiser battle for the lead early. Neal got by both of them by the fourth lap and led the rest of the way for the victory. Hiser settled for second ahead of Noland. When Logan Fernandez spun in the final turn, Jeff Lacy took the fourth and final transfer position.

Ethan Dotson won the 20 lap IMCA Stock Car Main Event. The win was worth $600 for Dotson, who led a Bakersfield driver sweep of the Top 4 positions. Dotson led at the start ahead of Cody Johnson and three-time Watsonville champion Rob Gallaher. Gallaher went low in Turn 2 on Lap 3 to take second from Cody Johnson, but an outside move down the backstretch two laps later regained Johnson the position as Randy Brown followed into third. A yellow flag waved on Lap 9 for Bruce "Bubba" Nelson. Dotson continued to lead Cody Johnson and Brown on the restart as Nick Johnson settled into fourth. The battle was for second, and Brown made an inside pass on the backstretch on Lap 14 to take the position. However, Johnson remained committed to the outside groove and beat Brown back to the line a lap later. Nick Johnson used an outside pass on the backstretch on Lap 19 to take the third position from Brown. Dotson went on to the satisfying win, followed by Cody Johnson, Nick Johnson, Dylan Wilson, Brown, Garrett Corn, Jeff Streeter, Chad Johnson, Josh Nichols and Rob Gallaher. The eight lap heat race wins went to Dotson and Brown.

David Wolford Jr won the 20 lap House of JuJu Central Valley Mini Stocks Main Event. His first ever win with the group paid $500 and made him the eighth different winner in 10 races this year. Three-time Merced champion Chris Corder had the pole for the race and charged into the early lead ahead of Clinton Massey and Dakota Keldsen. As they went down the backstretch, the sideways Massey went into the path of Keldsen, resulting in Massey spinning and making contact with Keldsen, who brushed the back wall. The Lap 5 yellow flag saw Keldsen's race come to an end. Corder continued to lead as David Wolford Jr moved past Gene Glover for second. A yellow flag waved on Lap 6 for Ryan Doglione on the back straightaway. Corder led the next restart, but a low pass in Turn 4 of the eighth lap gained David Wolford Jr the lead. Matthew Herod took third from Glover with incoming point leader Jeff Durant following into fourth. Wolford was setting a good pace and hit slower traffic by the 13th lap, and the final yellow flag of the race flew on Lap 15 for debris in Turn 4. Undaunted, David Wolford Jr resumed command on the restart and brought it home to an impressive victory. Herod moved around Corder for second on the restart and would finish there. Corder settled for third, followed by Durant, Glover, Jason Cook, Brandon Wolford, Massey, Joseph Marsh and Tyler Post. The six lap heat race wins went to Doglione and Keldsen.

The track has a couple of big events coming up in November during Thanksgiving weekend. To get the information on scheduling, go to www.mercedspeedway.net or check out the Merced Speedway Facebook page. The event will be broadcast on www.floracing.com.

 

 

Sawyer, Dotson, Johnson Win Opening Night of 

John Fore Jr/Bob Smith Memorial At Merced Speedway

Merced, CA...October 23...Robby Sawyer won the 25 lap IMCA Modified Main Event at Merced Speedway Friday night. This was the opening night of the Fifth Annual John Fore Jr/Bob Smith Memorial Dirt Track Nationals event, and the win paid the past Bakersfield Speedway champion $1,000. There were 130 cars in the pits for the five division program.

Gavyn Manning and Ethan Dotson shared the front row of the 20 car Main Event. Manning led the opening lap. Dotson had been making impressive slide job passes in the IMCA Sport Modified Main Event to get that win earlier in the evening. He attempted a slide at job pass on Manning through Turns 3 and 4 as they worked the second lap, but the duo made contact as Dotson gained the lead. A low pass in Turn 2 on the third lap gained Sawyer the lead. Dotson begin to slow with a flat tire as Manning moved into second ahead of past Merced champion Randy Brown. Justin Dunn stalled in Turn 4 for a Lap 11 yellow flag. Sawyer led Manning and Brown on the restart, but a yellow flag waved one lap later for Dylan Thornton. Sawyer led the restart as reigning Merced champion Troy Foulger used an inside move to slip into second. An outside move on the backstretch of the 14th lap put Brown into second, and the final yellow flag waved on Lap 17. Sawyer continued to lead the restart as Shane DeVolder made a big move into second. DeVolder kept the pressure on Sawyer in the waning laps as Foulger and Brown had a good battle going for third. Sawyer managed to hold off DeVolder for the victory as Foulger was a strong third, followed by Brown, Bakersfield champion Jerry Flippo, Paul Stone, DJ Shannon, Bobby Hogge IV, Darrell Hughes II and Austin Kiefer. 

The 36 car field ran four eight lap qualifying heat races with the wins going to Foulger, Stone, Dotson and DeVolder. Kellen Chadwick won the first 10 lap B Main from the pole ahead of Hogge, Brian Cass and Trevor Fitzgibbon. Flippo moved into the lead early in the second B Main and held off Thornton for the victory. Troy Morris III and Hughes also made the transfer.

Ethan Dotson put on perhaps the drive of the night in winning the 25 lap IMCA Sport Modified Main Event. The win paid the Bakersfield driver $500. Bobby Hogge IV had a front row start for the race and charged into the early lead ahead of Trevor Bannister and multi-time State champion Nick Spainhoward. A low move in Turn 4 of the second lap gained reigning champion Fred Ryland second. Dotson moved into fifth on the eighth lap and made a slide job pass through Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 9 to take fourth from Spainhoward. Dotson made a slide job move around Bannister in Turns 1 and 2 on lap 11 to gain third. Dotson wasted little time with Ryland as he made a low pass in Turn 3 on Lap 12 to grab second. Hogge held a straightaway advantage on Dotson at that point, but he closed in on him in about six laps as Hogge caught slower traffic. Dotson made a slide job move through Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 21 to take the lead from Hogge. The lead duo battled fiercely in the closing laps. Dotson made better moves in traffic and prevailed ahead of Hogge, Ryland, Spainhoward, Jason Nation, Bannister, Andrew Peckham, Kaylin Lopez, Andrew Pearce and Tyler Blankenship.

There were 35 IMCA Sport Modifieds for this show, and the eight lap heat race wins went to Nation, Dotson, Bannister and Pearce. They ran two 10 lap B Mains with the Top 4 drivers transferring into the show. Lopez made a Turn 2 pass on Darren Thomas on the fifth lap of the first B Main and went on to victory. Darren Thomas settled for second ahead of son Tanner Thomas and Blankenship. Todd Gomez led all the way to win the second B Main ahead of Chuck Weir, past Watsonville champion Joe Antonetti and Tyler Thomas.

Nick Johnson won the 20 lap Hobby Stock Main Event. Johnson had to win one of the B Mains to get into the show, and the Bakersfield driver received $400 for his Main Event win. It was Cody Johnson racing into the early lead. Following a Lap 1 yellow flag for Logan Clay, Cody Johnson led fellow Bakersfield racers Ricky Childress Jr and Johnny Wood on the restart. Les Friend battled Johnny Wood for third and took the spot on lap six as Cody Johnson and Childress were having a side-by-side duel for the lead. Following a Lap 8 yellow flag, Cody Johnson continued to lead Childress, Friend, Wood and Nick Johnson. Nick Johnson made a strong outside move down the backstretch on Lap 11 to grab third. A Lap 13 yellow flag flew for Race Shelton, and Nick Johnson moved into second behind Cody Johnson on the restart. A low pass in Turn 4 on Lap 15 gained Nick Johnson the lead from Cody Johnson. Childress made an outside pass down the backstretch on Lap 18 to take second from Cody Johnson, and the final yellow flag of the race waved on Lap 18 for Chase Aue. Nick Johnson continued to lead Childress on the restart, and they finished first and second, respectively. Cody Johnson settled for third, followed by Friend, Johnny Wood, Tim Elias, Tyler Johnson, Allen Neal, Kristie Shearer and Larry Mackinzie Jr.

There were 37 cars for this race, and Clay, Mackinzie, Johnny Wood and Childress won the eight lap heat races. Friend started on the front row of the first B Main and scored the victory as Tyler Johnson came from 10th to finish second ahead of Karl Noland and Nick Coffman. Mitch Enos led the first six laps of the second B Main before being overtaken by fourth row starter Nick Johnson, who went on to victory. Enos settled for second ahead of Dave Schuyler and Jack Roberts.

Cody Johnson won the 20 lap IMCA Stock Car Main Event. The win paid the Bakersfield driver $300. Cody Johnson had the pole for the race and took the early lead ahead of Garrett Corn and Ethan Dotson. DJ Shannon spun for a Lap 3 yellow flag. It was Nick Johnson moving into second behind Cody Johnson on the restart. While the two Johnson's battled for the lead, Corn ran a strong third. Bruce "Bubba" Nelson spun in Turn 2 for a Lap 6 yellow flag. Cody Johnson continued to lead Nick Johnson on the restart as Randy Brown moved into third. Brown spun in Turn 4 for a Lap 9 yellow flag. Shannon spun in Turn 2 on the first restart attempt. Cody Johnson continued to lead the next restart as Dylan Wilson settled into second ahead of Corn. Jeff Streeter slipped past Corn for third on Lap 16 with Wayne Dotson following quickly into fourth. Cody Johnson built a straightaway advantage over Dylan Wilson by the time the checkered flag waved. Streeter was a solid third, followed by Dotson, Chad Johnson, Nelson, Corn, Rob Gallaher, Troy Patee and Rod Bane. Dotson and Brown won the two eight lap heat races as 17 drivers came to compete.

Riley Jeppesen won the 15 lap California Sharp Mini Late Model Main Event. The win paid $150. Jeppesen had the pole for the race and led third starter Carson.Guthrie at the start. As Jeppesen and Guthrie pulled away in a close battle for the lead, Emali Van Hoff and Kennzzie Brown had a good battle going for the third position. When the leaders caught traffic with three laps to go, Jeppesen put a little bit of distance between himself and Guthrie. Riley Jeppesen went on to win ahead of Guthrie, Van Hoff, Tyler Tucker, Brown, Melinda Clay and Ryder Jeppesen. Riley Jeppesen also won the eight lap heat race.

For information on what's happening at the track, go to www.mercedspeedway.net or check out the Merced Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Brown Wins Dwarf Car Mania At Antioch Speedway 

 

Travis Day #88 is the Antioch Speedway Delta Dwarf Car champion. Photo by Paul Gould

Antioch, CA...October 24...Darren Brown won the 30 lap Delta Dwarf Car Main Event Saturday night at Antioch Speedway. This was the first ever Dwarf Car Mania event, and the El Cajon visitor pocketed $1,500 for his winning effort. By virtue of their Top 6 performances on Friday night, Ryan Winter, Brown, Danny Wagner, Michael "Spanky" Grenert, Tim Fitzpatrick and Scott Dahlgren all qualified automatically for Saturday's show without needing to run a heat race. That proved to be a good thing as the drivers who started in the first two rows ended up finishing in the Top 4. Front row starters Winter and Brown battled at the head of the pack with Brown taking the checkered flag ahead of Winter. Wagner held off Grenert to grab the final podium position in third. Kevin Miraglio finished fifth, followed by Brandon Wiley, Mark Hanson, Nick Velasquez, Dahlgren and Tommy Velasquez III.

The field increased from 37 cars to 43 for Saturday, and they ran five eight lap heat races. Just the winners of those races advanced into the show, and those victories were collected by Hanson, Miraglio, David Michael Rosa, Wiley and Mike Corsaro. The two 14 lap B Mains would transfer the Top 5 out of each. Mark Biscardi won the first race from the second row, followed by Ventura star Nick Velasquez, Dylan Schrum, Chance Russell and Sean Catucci. After a bad heat race, Tommy Velasquez III lined up in the last row of the second B Main and charged all the way to the front for the victory. Buddy Olschowka finished second, followed by Eric Weisler, David Rosa and new track champion Travis Day.

 

Ken Retzloff #99 won the Bay Area Hardtop Main Event. Photo by Paul Gould

 

Ken Retzloff won the 15 lap Hardtop vs Sportsman Main Event. Retzloff was making his first start of the year. While practicing his car at Antioch earlier this year, he had a brush with the wall that left his chassis damaged. He would enjoy a perfect evening with wins in both his heat race and the Main Event. Retzloff started in the second row of the Main Event, and he wasted little time charging into the lead. Only one yellow flag waved when Top 3 contenders Mikey Slaney and Rick Elliott tangled in Turn 4. Mike Friesen held second behind Retzloff on the restart as Watsonville Speedway Hall of Famer Jerry Cecil was running third. Elliott quickly recovered in fourth, making it three Sportsman cars chasing the Hardtop of Retzloff. Cecil and Elliot would both get past Friesen before the race ended. Retzloff was the happy winner ahead of Cecil, Elliott, Friesen, the Hardtops of Matt Taylor and Ken Clifford, the Sportsman of Jeff West and the Hardtop of Slaney. Dave Mackey retired the Dudley Brothers Tribute Hardtop with mechanical issues after hot laps. Elliott won his six lap heat race ahead of Taylor. Slaney led early in the other heat race before being overtaken by Retzloff and settling for second.

Racing returns on Saturday. The Halloween night special will feature the $2,500 to win Al Miller Memorial Tri State Pro Stock Challenge race along with IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Wingless Spec Sprints. The event will be broadcast at www.antiochspeedway.tv. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Winter Wins Night #1 Of Dwarf Car Mania 

At Antioch Speedway

Antioch, CA...October 23...Ryan Winter won the 25 lap Delta Dwarf Car Main Event Friday night at Antioch Speedway. This was the opening night of Dwarf Car Mania, and the Top 6 finishers of this race transferred automatically into the big money show on Saturday night. Winter is a past champion with the NorCal Dwarf Car group, and he had to win one of the B Mains to get into the feature race.

They ran two sets of eight lap heat races that calculated finishing and passing points to determine the Top 12 Main Event qualifiers. The rest of the field would have to run one of the twin 14 lap B Mains to earn a start in the Preliminary Feature. Darren Brown and Mark Hanson, who was substituting for Devan Kammermann, were the only drivers to win both of their heat races. The other heat wins went to reigning South Bay Dwarf Car champion Mark Biscardi, Brandon Wiley, past Antioch champions Nick Squatritto and Kevin Miraglio, David Michael Rosa and Jack Haverty. Danny Wagner had a pair of second place heat race finishes. 

The two 14 lap B Mains would transfer six cars from each. Southern Oregon Dwarf Car star Camden Robustelli had a pole position start for the first B Main and held off Ventura star Tommy Velasquez III to win that race as Haverty, Tim Fitzpatrick, Squatritto and Buddy Olschowka also made the transfer. After a bad heat race, Winter started last on the grid in the second B Main and made his way past polsitter Sean Catucci for the win. Catucci settled for second ahead of Travis Day, Ellie Russo, Randy Miramontez and Eric Weisler.

Brown and Hanson brought the 24 car field to the Main Event green flag. Hanson would have problems and ended up a disappointing 11th. Brown charged into the lead and had to battle Wagner and reigning NorCal Dwarf Car champion Michael "Spanky" Grenert early on. Winter had to charge from the seventh row, but eventually he found his way past Brown to grab the lead and victory. Brown settled for second ahead of Wagner and Grenert. Fitzpatrick started back in the 10th row and finished fifth with 2019 Antioch champion Scott Dahlgren making the final transfer into Saturday's show in sixth. Haverty, Weisler, Wiley and Catucci rounded out the top 10 at the checkered flag.

For further information on what's happening at the track, go to www.antiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway Facebook page.

 

Robfogel Grabs First Hunt Series Win At Petaluma Speedway

Petaluma, CA...October 24...Nick Robfogel won the 25 lap Hunt Series Wingless Sprint Car Main Event Saturday night Petaluma Speedway. This was the first win for him in this series, which was making its second appearance at the speedway this year.

Robfogel started up front and raced into the early lead ahead of Matt Stewart and Jarrett Soares. Geoff Ensign moved around Soares for third on Lap 2 as Robfogel led on Lap 9, and the first of only two yellow flags waved on Lap 10. Stewart continued to lead Robfogel and Ensign on the restart as three-time Hunt Series champion Terry Schank Jr settled into fourth. Robfogel got around Stewart to reclaim the lead on Lap 13, and the final yellow flag waved on Lap 17. As Robfogel continued to lead Stewart on the restart, Schank got around Ensign for third. Schank took second from Stewart on Lap 23, but he couldn't challenge Robfogel, who brought it home to a satisfying win. Ensign settled for third, followed by Shane Hopkins, Stewart, Bradley Terrell, Soares, Ricky Brophy, Tony Bernard and Kami Moniz-Costa. Soares set the fast time on the 3/8 mile adobe oval at 15.185, beating the 15.219 of Stewart. Robfogel. Dylan Bloomfield and Schank won their respective eight lap heat races.

Frankie Guerrini won the 30 lap BCRA/USAC Western States Midgets Main Event. This was the first win of the season for the past BCRA champion. Blake Bower had a front row start and charged into the lead ahead of Jake Andreotti and Michael Faccinto. Guerrini took third from Faccinto on Lap 3 and got around Andreotti for second a lap later. A yellow flag on Lap 5 signaled the end of the race for Alex Schutte. There was another yellow flag of lap later. As Bower continued to lead Guerrini on the restart, previous winner Maria Cofer settled into third. A final yellow flag waved on Lap 7. Bower led just one more lap before Guerrini went motoring by for the lead. By the 15th lap, Guerrini already held a straightaway advantage over Bower with Cofer not far behind in third. Cofer finally found her opening and got around Bower for second on Lap 26. By then, Guerrini was half a lap in first. Guerrini cruised to victory ahead of Cofer, Bower, Shannon McQueen, Andreotti, Faccinto, Scotty Farmer, CJ Sarna, reigning BCRA Midget champion Robert Carson and Blake Brannon. Schutte had the fast time of 15.039, beating the 15.297 of Faccinto. McQueen and Cofer won their respective 10 lap heat races.

Darren Brent won the 20 lap Western Midget Racing Main Event. Brent hails from San Diego, and this was his very first start with the group. Keoni Texeira, who has competed with the Northwest Focus Midget group in recent years, set the early pace ahead of Brent and Cory Brown. Brent slipped past Texeira for the lead on Lap 5. By the 10th lap, Brent already had a straightaway advantage over Texeira. A lap later, both Brown and Randi Pankratz moved by Texeira for second and third. By the 16th lap, Brent was leading Brown by half a lap. Pankratz slipped past Brown for second on the white flag lap, and Brent cruised to victory ahead of Pankratz, Brown, Texeira, Paul Sanders and Jerry Fletcher. Brent won the eight lap heat race ahead of Texeira. There were 10 cars, but Tyler Dolalcki, Antonia Boscacci and Shawn Arriaga all scratched after hot laps. Tyler Slay was unable to make the Main Event call after mechanical issues in the heat race.

Koen Shaw won the 20 lap Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micro Main Event. This was the fourth win for the 360 Sprint Car star. 2019 champion Justin Adiego jumped into the early lead ahead of multi-time champion Jim Beck and last week's winner George Nielson. Shaw slipped past Nielson for third on Lap 5 and took second from Adiego a lap later. Shaw quickly closed in on leader Beck and made what proved to be his winning pass on Lap 12. Adiego's run in third came to an end for a Lap 16 yellow flag. Shaw continued to lead on the restart as Beck was receiving pressure from Nielson. Nielson briefly got past Beck for second on Lap 18, but Beck regained the spot a lap later. Shaw went on to victory ahead of Beck, Nielson, Kyle Grissom, Brian Slubik, Carroll Mendenhall, Trevor Mendenhall, Rob Brown, Amber Fields and Adiego. The eight lap heat race wins went to Sam Borland and Shaw.

The track has added the special Todd Damron Memorial race for the General Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Cars next Saturday night. For further information, go to www.petaluma-speedway.com or check out the Petaluma Speedway Facebook page.

Aguirre Wins Third Straight, 

Schlundt Late Model Champion At Madera Speedway

Madera CA...October 24...Jason Aguirre won the 40 lap Late Model Main Event Saturday night at Madera Speedway. This was the championship finale for the Madera Club Race divisions, and it was also Aguirre's third-straight win.

Aguirre had a front row start for the race and bolted into the lead at the green flag ahead of overall Late Model champion Shelden Cooper and new Madera Late Model champion Trevor Schlundt. A Lap 5 yellow flag waved for a Turn 3 spin involving Brandon Burd. Aguirre continued to lead Cooper on the restart as Mike Shapiro went past Schlundt on the backstretch to gain third. Jon Schlundt spun on the backstretch for a Lap 10 yellow flag. Aguirre continued to lead Cooper and Shapiro for just one lap before a yellow flag flew for a Richard Herzog spin on the back straightaway. Aguirre continued to lead Cooper on the next restart as Trevor Schlundt went past Shapiro on the backstretch to regain third. . Aaron Mullins was running fourth. The final yellow flag waved on Lap 17 when Shapiro and Del McIntosh tangled. Aguirre continued to lead Cooper and Trevor Schlundt on the restart, and championship hopeful Lily Mead moved into fifth behind Mullins. Mead made an inside pass in Turn 4 on the Lap 29 to take fourth from Mullins, but Trevor Schlundt had a pretty good lead on her in third. Aguirre held a straightaway advantage over Cooper by then as he brought it home to the impressive victory. Cooper settled for second, and Trevor Schlundt used his third place finish to clinch the championship over fourth place finisher Mead by a slim margin. Burd recovered for a season best fifth place finish, followed by Shapiro, Herzog, Eric Seely, McIntosh and Mullins.

Aguirre set the fast time of 15.024 on the 1/3 mile paved oval, just barely beating the 15.052 of Cooper. They ran two eight lap heat races with the wins going to Aguirre and Cooper.

Ryan Reynolds won the 30 lap MST/Toyota Sedans Main Event. This was the third win of the season for Reynolds, who was locked in a close MST championship battle with his brother Shaun going into the night. Shaun carried a three point advantage into this race. The track hadn't declared who the champion was at press time, and it's close enough that we're not going to call it here.

Ryan Reynolds and Shaun Reynolds have been having a close battle at the front of the pack in every race they start, and it was Ryan charging into the lead when the green flag waved with Shaun Reynolds and Haley Bugg not far behind. By the 10th lap, the brothers were running side by side with Ryan on the outside and Shaun on the inside. New Toyota Sedans champion Thomas Magray got lapped on the 12th circuit, but his closest competitor Wyatt Cantrell was down two laps and ended up pitting on Lap 14. Bugg spun for a Lap 17 yellow flag. The restart saw Bugg make contact with Shaun Reynolds in her bid to take over second, resulting in both spinning. Magray got a "lucky dog" to put him back on the lead lap, and the restart saw the MST of Nick Thompson and the Sedan of Magray tangle in Turn 4 for a red flag. Both drivers were eliminated in the melee, and Cantrell returned for the next restart. Ryan Reynolds continued to lead Shaun Reynolds on the restart, and they would finish in that order at the checkered flag with Bugg a solid third. Despite being down seven laps, Cantrell used his fourth place finish to get the Sedan win as the MST of Thompson and the Sedan of Magray completed the finishing order. Shaun Reynolds had the fastest MST lap of 16.505, beating the 16.591 of Ryan Reynolds. Magray was the fastest Toyota Sedan at 17.859. The Toyota Sedan of Jillaun Holden scratched prior to qualifying. The eight lap MST heat winner was Ryan Reynolds, and Magray won the Toyota Sedans heat.

Manny Gonzalez Jr wrapped up the Hobby Stock championship with a win in the 30 lap Main Event. Gonzales led the Main Event from the start and led every lap in victory with Nick Rowe managing to stay on the lead lap in second. Gonzales set the fast time of 16.277 and also won the eight lap heat race.

With point racing wrapped up, the track is planning one final race on November 14th. This will be the Triple Turkey Open race, featuring Late Models, 602 Crate Modifieds and Hobby Stocks. It will also serve as championship banquet night. For further information, go to www.racemadera.com or check out the Madera Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

ARCA West Series And Southwest Tour 

Put On A Show At Kern Raceway

Bakersfield, CA...October 24-25...Taylor Gray won the ARCA West Series race Sunday afternoon at Kern County Raceway Park. This was the NAPA/Eneos 125, presented by the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame. Gray led much of the race on Friday night at All American Speedway in Roseville before losing out in a wild finish to eventual winter Gio Scelzi. The win came aboard the Ford Performance car owned by David Gilliland.

Gray had the outside front row starting position for the race, but point leader Jesse Love led at the start. A yellow flag flew immediately for Jack Wood in Turn 2. Marson Diaz took the lead on the restart, only to surrender the position back to Love on Lap 6. Love led through a pair of caution flag periods, but Diaz moved into the lead on Lap 32. Gray made what proved to be his winning pass on Lap 54. The seventh and final yellow flag waved on Lap 106 for Love, who spun in Turns 1 and 2. Gray led the restart and the rest of the way for the much-needed victory. Diaz piloted Kathy Venturini's Solid Rock Carrier Toyota to a second place finish to stay within 16 points of Love in the championship battle. The Fords of Blaine Perkins and Trevor Huddleston finished third and fourth, respectively, followed by Gracie Trotter, Kyle Keller, Todd Souza, Love, Scelzi and final lead lap finisher Wood.

Derek Thorn won the Wild West Shootout Boogey Man 100 Late Model race. The current series point leader had the pole for the race and led all the way in victory. Thorn led at the waving of the green flag, followed by Jacob Gomes and Dan Holtz. The first yellow flag waved on Lap 18, and Preston Peltier moved from fourth into second behind Thorn on the restart. Gomes held third as Peltier ran closely with Thorn at the front of the pack. Holtz moved past Gomes for third on a Lap 26 restart, but following a Lap 28 yellow flag, Gomes regained third on the ensuing restart. Thorn was getting plenty of pressure from Peltier as the race continued. Jace Hansen took third from Gomes on a Lap 48 restart, and the Lap 50 mark found Thorn leading Peltier, Hansen, Christian McGhee and Gomes. Peltier suffered mechanical issues while challenging Thorn for the lead and retired with Hanson gaining second over McGhee. Thorn never quite shook Hansen over the final 30 laps, but he still prevailed at the checkered flag. Gomes regained third on Lap 72, only to surrender it to McGee on lap 90. Thorn scored the impressive win ahead of Hansen, McGhee, Brandon Farrington, Gomes, Holtz, John Dillon, Blaine Rocha, Carlos Vieira and Kyle Neveau.

Jeremy Doss won the 60 lap Spears Modified Series race. Doss drives the Wilcox Automotive sponsored Modified.  Travis Thirkettle set the early pace ahead of Doss and William Guevara. Doss slipped past Thirkettle for the lead on Lap 3. In the early stages of the race, Doss had Thirkettle running closely behind him as Guevara, Travis McCullough and incoming point leader Eddie Secord had a good battle going for third. Secord took forth from McCullough on Lap 17. Doss had built nearly a straightaway advantage over Thirkettle when a yellow flag slowed the pace on Lap 20. Doss continued to lead Thirkettle and McCullough on the restart, and another yellow flag waved on Lap 26. Secord moved into third behind Doss Thirkettle on the lap 27 restart, but yet another yellow flag waved a lap later. Doss continued to lead Thirkettle on the restart as McCulloch briefly regained third. However, Secord moved past McCullough for the position on Lap 29. Secord set his sights on Thirkettle and made the pass for second on Lap 38. Doss had built another good lead over Secord when a yellow flag waved on Lap 50. Doss led the Lap 51 restart ahead of Secord, but Secord briefly surrendered second to Thirkettle on a Lap 53 restart. The determined Secord regained second on Lap 56, but Doss pulled away in the lead on his way to the victory. Thirkettle settled for third, followed by McCullough, Guevara, Jim Coffey, Jeff Longman, Ed Coffey, Brady Melo and Chris Dalton.

Blaine Rocha won the 60 lap Pro Late Model Main Event. Kyle Keller raced into the early lead ahead of Hans Beeler and Chris Dalton. Rocha slipped past Dalton for third on Lap 5 before a yellow flag waved for Robbie Hornsby. Keller continued to lead the restart as Rocha moved by Beeler for second. Rocha put the moves on Keller to take the lead on Lap 11. As Rocha continued to stretch his advantage, the battle was for second between Keller and Beeler. Beeler really put the pressure on Keller as the race moved past the halfway point and made his move on Lap 41. Beeler would pull away from Keller. However, Blaine Rocha held a straightaway advantage by the time the checkered flag waved. Hans Beeler settled for second ahead of Keller, Cassidy Hinds, Dalton, Mike Beeler, Jim Wulfenstein, Hornsby and Dylan Garner. Joey Iest and Trevor Huddleston were Main Event scratches.

Paul Ebersbaucher won the 40 lap Super Stock Main Event. Polesitter Anthony Mainella led a lap before Ebersbaucher went racing by. Mainella had problems on Lap 4, but he would make a resurgence as the race wore on. Greg Puskarich settled into second on Lap 5 and took up pursuit of Ebersbaucher. Ron Cross ran third until surrendering the position to Mainella on Lap 34. Mainella moved around Puskarich for second on Lap 35 and began to pressure Ebersbaucher for the lead. Mainella briefly grabbed the lead on Lap 39, but Ebersbaucher made a last lap pass to regain the lead and victory. Mainella settled for second, followed by Cross, Puskarich, Kenny Harrison, Ron Christy and Gene Fife.

On Saturday night, the Pro Late Models and Super Stocks both ran Main Events while the touring groups ran several hot lap sessions. The Pro Late Model win that night went to Blaine Rocha. Chris Dalton led a lap before surrendering the point to Dylan Garner. Third row starter Trevor Huddleston moved into second on Lap 2 and put the moves on Garner for the lead on lap four. Unfortunately, Huddleston's run at the front of the pack ended with mechanical issues on Lap 30 with Garner leading the pack back to the yellow flag. However, Rocha took the lead on the restart and led the rest of the way for the victory. Garner held second until surrendering the position to Joey Iest with two laps remaining. Rocha held a comfortable lead over Iest at the checkered flag. Garner settled for third, followed by Robbie Hornsby, Cassidy Hinds, Hans Beeler, Dalton, Kyle Keller, Jim Wulfenstein and Mike Beeler.

Anthony Mainella won the 40 lap Super Stock Main Event. Mainella had a pole position start and led the race all the way in victory. Kenny Harrison ran second for four laps before being passed by Paul Ebersbaucher. Harrison was still running third ahead of Ron Cross, but Harrison's run came to an end on Lap 37. Mainella won ahead of Ebersbaucher, Ron Cross, Kenny Harrison, Mike Puskarich, Greg Puskarich, Gene Fife and Ron Christy.

For further information on what's happening at the track, go to www.kernraceway.com or check out the Kern Raceway Facebook page.

 

 

Austin, Solari Win Season Finale At Stockton 99 Speedway

Stockton, CA...October 24...Cameron Austin won the North State Modified Series 60 lap Main Event Saturday night at Stockton 99 Speedway. The season finale for the NSMS Modifieds was also the Mike Lehman Memorial race. It was Austin's second win of the season and it paid $3,200.  Darren Sullivan was a $750 second, and Kyle Tellstrom used his $650 third place finish to wrap up this series championship.

Rich Lindgren raced into the early lead ahead of Jacob Hess and Darrin Sullivan. Sullivan took second from Hess on Lap 6 and made a low pass in Turn 2 on Lap 10 to grab the lead from Lindgren. Darrin Knight made an inside pass in Turn 4 on Lap 11 to claim second, and a Lap 14 yellow flag waved for Cody Braund. Robert Schmidt spun in Turn 2 to botch the first restart attempt. Sullivan continued to lead Knight and Austin when racing resumed. The battle between Tellstrom and Scott Winters for the fourth position got a little too close as they tangled for a Lap 25 yellow flag. Sullivan continued to lead Knight and Austin on the restart, but Austin slipped past Knight for second on Lap 27. A lap 28 yellow flag waved for Ian Elliott on the back straightaway. Sullivan remained the leader ahead of Austin and Knight on the green flag, but Austin began pressuring him for the lead. An inside pass in Turn 2 on Lap 39 gained Austin the lead. Knight took second from Sullivan on Lap 43 as Keith Bloom and the resurgent Tellstrom filled out the remainder of the Top 5 at that point. A Lap 51 yellow flag waved for Sal Lopez in Turn 2. Sullivan took second from Knight on the restart as Austin continued to lead. Tellstrom also managed to get around Bloom at that point. A final yellow flag waved on Lap 53. As Austin continued to lead Sullivan on the restart, Tellstrom moved into third. Knight had problems and headed to the infield . Austin went on to lead the rest of the way for the victory. Darrin Sullivan settled for second ahead of Tellstrom, Bloom, Mike Sullivan, Brian Collins, Lindgren, Dustin DeRosier, Chris Salmina and Winters.

Sam Solari won the Stockton Late Model 100 lap Main Event. By virtue of his second place finish, Eric Nascimento wrapped up the season championship. Ty Carlson started on the outside front row and raced into the early lead ahead of Nascimento. Previous winner Larry Tankersley gained second on Lap 8 and put the moves on Carlson for the lead on Lap 11. Gary Shafer Jr moved into second on Lap 19 and got past Tankersley for the lead on Lap 22. Shafer led much of the race as Solari settled into second on Lap 22. The battle heated up as they got to Lap 80, and Solari made what proved to be his winning pass on Lap 82. Shafer held second until surrendering the position to Nascimiento on Lap 92. Solari went on to victory ahead of Nascimento, Shafer, Tankersley, Carlson, Joe Hylton, Seth Holman, Greg Uffins, Aaron Shankle and Daniel DeVore.

Alan Rider won the 20 lap Bomber Main Event, and Jenna Ramos used her second place finish to wrap up the division championship. Rider had the pole for the race and led all the way. Ramos was a race long second and didn't finish too far behind Rider at the checkered flag. 2019 champion Mikala Stearns held third for a lap before being passed by Kyle Singleton. Singleton held the position for just two laps before Stearns grabbed the third position for good. Only one second separated the top three cars as Rider won ahead of Ramos, Stearns, Singleton, Troy Walz, Rob Slagle, Anthony Powell and Kelsey Luft.

Joe Flowers wrapped up what has been a dominating season for him in the Basically Four Cylinder class with another 20 lap Main Event victory. In the process, Flowers clinched the championship. Andy Rumsey had the pole and sprinted into the lead at the green flag, followed closely by Flowers. On the 13th lap, Flowers moved past Rumsey. Josh Cross settled into third on Lap 3 and also ran closely in the battle up front. Flowers went on to win, followed not too far behind by Andy Rumsey and Cross. Friday night Roseville winner Matthew Fuhs finished fourth, followed by Nick Hall, Ethan Rumsey, Dave Keller, Rod Prevateli, Roseville champion Roy Molina and Barrett Sugden.

Evan Laires won the 15 lap Mini Cup/Bandolero Main Event. In the process, he clinched the division championship. Jordan Mast had the pole for the race and charged into the early lead ahead of Cameron Carroway. Carroway's race ended on the fifth lap with Evan Laires now taking up pursuit of Mast. Mast had problems on Lap 12, enabling Laires to gain the lead over sister Molly Laires. However, Molly Laires had problems on the last lap. Evan Laires grabbed the victory a straightaway ahead of Gage Wicke. Mast settled for third, followed by Lucas Burton, Molly Laires, Carroway and Cash Holman.

The season at the Stockton 99 Speedway has come to a close, but the Stockton Dirt Track roars to life with the Gary "The Preacher" Patterson Tribute race two-day show on November 7th-8th. For further information, go to www.stockton99.com or www.stocktondirttrack.com or go to the new Stockton 99 Speedway Facebook page.

 

Scelzi Scores First ARCA Menards West Series Win In Wild Finish At Roseville

Roseville, CA...October 23...Gio Scelzi won his first career ARCA Menards West Series race Friday night at All American Speedway. The Napa 125, presented by cashinthecan.com was the ninth race of the season. Scelzi is one of the top Winged 410 Sprint Car racers in California, but he's in his rookie season with the series. This was his first career win, and it came aboard the Napa Auto Parts/Curb Records Toyota, owned by Mike Curb.

The race had three yellow flag periods during the first half, but nobody was eliminated. The lap two yellow flag waved due to a Turn 1 incident involving Todd Souza, Holley Hollan and Takuma Koga. Marson Diaz had the outside front row starting spot and led the first seven laps before being overtaken by Taylor Gray. Driving the Ford Performance entry owned by David Gilliland, Gray seemed to have the dominant car for most of the race. He led until lap 121.  A Lap 116 yellow flag flew for a crash in Turns 3 and 4, involving Jack Wood, Gracie Trotter and Diaz. Diaz was unable to continue.

Scelzi bolted into the lead on lap 122, but he surrendered the point to Gray a lap later. Hollan spun, but no yellow flag flew. As they exited Turn 4 towards the white flag, Scelzi tried to make a run on the inside of Gray to regain the lead. The two drivers made contact as they hooked together down the front straightaway. Scelzi emerged with the lead, and Gray spun. Scelzi motored on to the victory. With severe body damage, Todd Souza still managed a second place finish in the Central Coast Cabinets Toyota, owned by Kelly Souza. Irwindale star Trevor Huddleston drove the Sunrise Ford/Eibach/Haas Terraclean Ford, owned by Bob Bruncati, to a third place finish. Point leader Jesse Love finished fourth, followed by Blaine Perkins, Hollan, a disappointed Gray, Wood, Koga and Trotter.

Jason Philpot won the 40 lap Jaws Gears And Axle Limited Modified Main Event. The sixth win of the season for the Roseville champion paid $550. Philpot is also the champion at Ukiah Speedway. Mike Gorham set the early pace in a race that was destined to go non-stop. Dan Shalla was an early second, but he surrendered the position to Sammy Nuno on Lap 2. Derek Doering moved into third a lap later and charged past Nuno for second on Lap 4. Philpot made his way into the third position on Lap 8. Gorham and Doering had a close battle going at the front of the pack, but Philpot rapidly reeled them in. By the 20th lap, it was a three-car battle up front. Doering and Gorham crossed the line on Lap 23 side by side. Doering led Philpot past Gorham on Lap 24, and the duo pulled away from Gorham. With Philpot pressuring Doering the final 10 laps, Doering was still keeping his cool. However, Doering had problems on the final lap as Philpot drove by for the lead with Gorham second and Nuno third. Doering settled for fourth ahead of Shalla, John Yourd and Arnie Wentworth.

Roy Smith won the 40 lap Super Stock Main Event. Smith started at the back of the pack in the non-stop race. Jeremy Fritts set the pace for a lap before surrendering the spot to Erick Ray. Blake Disomma was third at that point and took second from Fritts on Lap 3. Andrew Kemp moved into third on Lap 4, but Andrew Peeler moved into third on Lap 8. It was a close battle at that point between Ray, Disomma and Peeler, but Smith had moved into fourth. Peeler took second from Disomma on Lap 10 with Smith also getting by for third. Smith closed in on the battle between Ray and Peeler, and Smith and took the lead on Lap 16. Peeler moved into second, and Smith and Peeler began to pull away from the pack at that point. Despite constant pressure from division champion Peeler, Smith kept his cool and scored the victory. Ray settled for third ahead of Disomma, Kemp, Brandon Diede, Gary Eisenhauer and Fritts.

Mathew Fuhs won the 30 lap F4 Main Event. This was another Main Event that went without a yellow flag, and Fuhs pocketed $250 for his victory, which included $100 for being the hard charger of the race. He started last in the 11 car field. John Sproule  set the early pace ahead of Brian Spangler and Richard Innis. Innis took second from Sprangler on Lap 2 and grabbed the lead a lap later. Dennis Crook settled into third at that point. Matthew Fuhs took third from Crook on Lap 9. Innis held a decent lead over Fuhs at that point, and new champion Ray Molina took third from Nunes on Lap 12. Fuhs was rapidly closing in on Innis, and the lead duo were battling at the front of the pack by Lap 17. Molina was closing in on them as well, and Fuhs took the lead from Innis on Lap 18. Molina battled Innis until making the pass for second on Lap 28. However, Fuhs was not to be denied as he went on to victory ahead of Molina, Innis, Nunes, Vic Theberge, Sproule, Crook, Spangler, Dan Cherry and Thomas Cherry.

For news and other information regarding the speedway, go to www.allamericanspeedway.com or check out the All American Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Johnson Wins Track And Treat 200 Enduro Race 

At Douglas County Speedway

Roseburg, Oregon...October 24... Ron Johnson won the Track N Treat 200 lap Enduro race Saturday night at Douglas County Speedway. The event featured a costume contest and trick-or-treating for the kids. Johnson is one of the track's regular PRA Hornet stars.

There were 34 competitors for this long distance event, and 25 of them went at least half the distance. Johnson was the only driver to go all 200 laps and won the race by a two lap margin over Paul Corbet. Cottage Grove Limited Sprint star Ricky Ashley was four laps down in third, while Eric Dean was six laps down in fourth. Brandon Norton went 192 laps, which was good enough to gain him the fifth position. PRA Hornet star Ryan Dickinson and Charles Peck were both nine laps down and finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Wayne Clink and Willamette IMCA Modified star Jesse Williamson were both 10 laps down to finish eighth and ninth, respectively. PRA Hardtop star Mike Batman was 11 laps down on 10th, two laps ahead of reigning PRA Hardtop champion Kyran Greene. Cottage Grove IMCA Sport Modified star KC Scott, John Doyal, Kristopher Parker and Coos Bay Speedway Street Stock star Leroy Rockwell rounded out the Top 15.

For news and information on the plans for 2021, go to www.douglascountyspeedway.com or check out the Douglas County Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Al Miller Memorial Wraps Up 24 Consecutive Weeks 

Of Racing At Antioch Speedway

Antioch, CA...Despite the struggles that race tracks have had getting reopened and negotiating through the covid-19 guidelines that have been put in place, Antioch Speedway has been the most active track in California. This Saturday night will be the 24th consecutive weekend of racing on the quarter-mile clay oval. This will also be a special occasion as the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series returns for the Third Annual Al Miller Memorial race. The track will be hosting their final Wingless Spec Sprint race of the season. Championship racing is over for everybody else, but the IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modifieds are getting one final tune up before the Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas two weeks from now.

Perhaps the most in demand touring group on the West Coast this year has been the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series. Director Roy Bain has worked with any track who has shown an interest, and the group has visited Antioch Speedway four times this year. Despite the fact that they've held 11 events so far this year, they are not crowning a champion. However, there's a significant amount of purse money on the line this Saturday night. Drivers who make the Main Event will receive a minimum of $200, while the winner will leave with a $2,500 paycheck. This has been made possible thanks to such sponsors as Winning Attitude Motorsports, Jay's Mobile Welding, Travis Peterson, Baker Motorsports and Terence Webster.

The occasion is to pay tribute to Al Miller. Al Miller was a racer and the father of Robert Miller and Randy Miller. He is the one who mentored Robert as he started his career on the dirt tracks at the age of 16. Robert has gone on to do many things in the sport, but it was all made possible thanks to his father, who was a fixture at the old San Jose Speedway and other racing venues.

 

Perhaps the biggest star with the group this year in terms of consistency in his performances has been three-time Petaluma Speedway champion Mitch Machado. Machado has a pair of Antioch wins to his credit and has finished second an additional two times as well. The only driver with more wins than Machado is Richard Brace Jr, who has notched a pair of wins at Petaluma and one at Antioch. This duo could be the drivers to beat, but the talent in the field will be significant for sure.

The driver with the most Top 10 finishes this year is Bakersfield area racer Chris Smith. He has seven of them, including a pair of runner-up finishes and a third. Smith is still looking for his first win, but son Ryan Smith won earlier this season in Susanville. Nevada racer Jesse Gonzalez kicked things off with a pair of wins in Stockton. Susanville Promoter Jeff Olschowka has also notched a pair of victories. Also noteworthy with strong runs this year are two-time Antioch champion Kimo Oreta with a pair of seconds, reigning Western Pro Stock champion Justin Crockett, Ryan Cherezian and Wayne Coffman each with one second. Reigning Chico Super Stock champion Matt Micheli has a pair of thirds as reigning Tri State champion Mike Learn, Jay Bryant and multi-time Watsonville Hobby Stock champion Matt Kile each have one third.

Some of the local contingent is expected, including new Antioch champion Mike Walko. Walko earned perhaps his crowning achievement in terms of victories by taking the honors recently in the Larry Damitz Memorial race. Series competitors Cherezian, Bryant, Learn and Ryan Smith each have one Antioch victory, and IMCA Sport Modified star Fred Ryland has earned a pair of Antioch triumphs. The #99 car of Jim Freethy is anticipated and could end up being driven by Ryland this Saturday. We haven't heard that announcement. Other local stars to watch for include Top 3 ranked John Evans, two-time champion Mike Gustafson, Jimmy Robbins and Chris Long in the John "The Bear" Keith owned car. Kellen Chadwick will be competing in the Lyle Hopper car.

Drivers are anticipated from all over California and possibly even Nevada. In fact, it's possible that the numbers could reach into the 30s, and two dozen entries won't be a big surprise. Fans of Pro Stock/Super Stock racing will want to keep their eyes on Antioch Speedway as this division takes center stage.

We didn't get a clarification of when the championship season was going to end and assumed it might have happened on October 10th. However, the Wingless Spec Sprint battle will actually conclude this week. Like several other Antioch divisions, there is still some more racing scheduled for them in November, but this will be the last point event. Originally, that race was to happen last Saturday night, but it was moved to this week in order to work with a Hunt Wingless Series show that was taking place at Petaluma Speedway. It's possible that there could be some Petaluma support in town for this race, and there should be a good turnout.

DJ Johnson would have to stumble pretty badly to let his second Antioch championship slip away from him. He leads all competitors with three feature wins and seven Top 5 finishes, giving him a 48 point lead over 14-year-old rookie Dylan Bloomfield. Bloomfield has a win and six Top 5s to his credit, and he should pretty much wrap up a minimum second place effort by taking the checkered flag on Saturday. Petaluma area racer Tony Bernard, a past Street Stock and IMCA Modified racer, has a 12 point lead over ageless veteran Roy Fisher in the battle for third in the standings. Both drivers have six Top 10 finishes. Past Petaluma champion Ryon Siverling is 34 points behind Fisher with a pair of Top 5 finishes to his credit. 

In addition to being an opportunity for drivers to rise up the point ladder, this is another shot at Main Event glory. In addition to Johnson and Bloomfield, other wins at Antioch have been earned by Shawn Jones, three-time Hunt Series champion Terry Schank Jr, most recently Jimmy Christian, past Petaluma champion Shayna Ensign and Bradley Terrell in the Hunt Series show. Some of these drivers could be there, and others to watch for include two-time Antioch champions Bob Newberry and Dan Gonderman, Jarrett Soares, Jeff Scotto, Alan Miranda and Kevin Box.

The IMCA Modified championship was won by Troy Foulger. The teaming of Foulger and Billy Bowers has been a powerful combination. This was their fifth championship in Antioch, and they won the 2019 Merced Speedway championship together. In fact, Foulger held off Jim Pettit II to win the State title. He beat Pettit by 31 points to win the Antioch crown, while Pettit finished 11 tallies ahead of past Antioch champion Kellen Chadwick for second. 2019 champion Buddy Kniss and 2018 State champion Shane DeVolder make up the balance of the Top 5 in the standings. We're not sure who might show up and who might save their car for Vegas, but some of the drivers to watch for include past Antioch, Petaluma and Watsonville champion Nick DeCarlo, JC Elrod, Kim Oreta, John Pierce and past Antioch champions Bobby Motts Jr and Aaron Crowell.

The IMCA Sport Modified division had perhaps its strongest season at Antioch yet. The battle went down to the very end with Trevor Clymens notching his third track championship by just four points over past Limited Late Model title winner Mark Garner. Clymens had one win and seven Top 5 finishes in his impressive effort. Past Antioch champion KC Keller picked up a pair of wins and led the division with eight Top 5 finishes, keeping him within 14 points of Clymens by the end of the season. One-time winner Kenny Shrader and last season's championship runnerup Kevin Brown rounded out the Top 5 in the standings.

Also noteworthy this year is 2015 title winner Fred Ryland and 2019 State champion Guy Ahlwardt's three feature wins. Also on the winner's list this year was 2019 champion Tommy Fraser, Michael Johnson, Brian Cooper and Speedweek champion Garrett Jernagan. Some of the Antioch racers are preparing for Vegas and may not come to the show. Drivers to watch for include sixth-ranked Tommy Clymens Jr, Andrew Pearce, Chuck Golden, Todd Gomez and Jason Jennings.

The action will surely be fast and exciting this weekend, and it's the last opportunity to catch an internet pay-per-view at the track before things go dark until the open wheel oriented program on November 21st. You can check out the internet pay-per-view at www.antiochspeedway.tv. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway Facebook page.

 

Siskiyou Golden Speedway Wraps Up Season 

With Halloween Special

Yreka, CA...The season is about to come to a close at Siskiyou Golden Speedway. This Saturday night is the Second Annual Trunk And Treat Halloween special show. In addition to the candy giveaway for the kids prior to the races, the track will be hosting a night of Outlaw Pro Stock, IMCA Sport Modified and Winged Sprint Car racing.

Though championship point racing is over in Yreka, The Outlaw Pro Stocks will be concluding their point battle this Saturday night. Remarkably, the group has had eight races with eight different winners. All but one of these races has taken place at the Yreka track with the other race happening at Coos Bay Speedway. Both reigning champion Scott Flowers and Matt Harlow are on the winner's list. Flowers holds a 39 point lead over Harlow going into this race. Flowers also leads the division with three runner-up finishes and has a pair of third place efforts. Harlow has a second place finish among his other best efforts.

Much like Harlow, Johnny Cobb also picked up his first win this season. Cobb is 28 points behind Harlow, but he's locked in a closer battle for third. Just one point behind him is the tied James Flowers and rookie Darek Alford, while Colby Hammond is six points back. Alford is also a feature winner this season, and he kept himself in this battle following his third place finish last time out. Though Hammond has yet to win this season, he does have a season best second, while James Flowers has a season best third.

Other drivers on the winner's list this season include Jeff Haudenshild, past Chico champion Phil Marino, 2016 series champion Steve Borror and Jesse Gonzalez. The odds are we could see our first repeat winner this week, but there are still some drivers on the roster who are capable of getting their first wins this week. Others to watch for include Dennis Burtenhouse Jr, Arlen Garrison, Rick Lukins and past Yreka IMCA Modified star Pablo Duran.

Speaking of the IMCA Modifieds, they were originally scheduled to be at this race, but management decided to remove them when they feared they wouldn't get enough cars for the show. The IMCA Sport Modifieds are back. Though point racing is over, there's still the matter of who will be the final winner of the year. When the points were all calculated, two-time Medford champion Mike Medel claimed the honors this year ahead of 2019 champion Ethan Killingsworth and three-time Medford champion Jorddon Braaten.

Braaten tops the leaderboard in Yreka with an impressive seven feature triumphs. In fact, he likely would have been the champion had he not vacated the battle to compete in the IMCA Nationals in Boone, Iowa. Jorddon picked up the win last time out, while Killingsworth had a stellar performance at the first October event. He won both the Main Event and the Crack The Whip Challenge race to pocket over $800 in purse money. Killingsworth did not have a good night last time out, so he'll be hoping to rebound this week.

Chico and Marysville star Tyler Rodgers has been at both October races and has a pair of third place efforts to show for it. He runs strong everywhere he goes and would have to be considered a threat to win on this occasion. Likewise, impressive rookie Ryan Peery has a pair of Top 5 finishes in October, including a second place finish last time out. He also had two wins this season. Some of the drivers to watch for this week include Colt Boswell, Parker Finley, Chad Wormington, Gary Foster, Jace Wright and Randy Wright.

While the IMCA Modifieds have been removed from Saturday's activities, management has added the Limited Sprints. According to Speedway media director Misty Buschman, they have 10 commitments. However, we have yet to see a list of who those drivers are. When they ran the October race last season to close things out, they had an eight car field. Jake Wheeler picked up the win on that occasion, and he has a pair of seconds and a win this year at Cottage Grove Speedway. If he's there, he could very well be the driver to beat. David Marble, RJ McGahuey and TJ Winningham are three other Medford area drivers who could show up, but it's possible that there could be some representation from Roseburg and Cottage Grove. it'll be interesting to see who shows up for this race.

This will wrap up the 2020 season at the track, and admittedly it's been a challenging year for Promoter Kevin Barba to negotiate his way through. Misty has indicated that she will try to go live on the track's Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page, giving the fans who cannot attend due to covid-19 guidelines an opportunity to see what's happening.

 

 

Marysville Raceway Ends Season With Paul Hawes Memorial

Sprint Car Spooktacular Saturday Night

Marysville, CA...The 2020 season comes to an end at Marysville Raceway this Saturday night with the annual Gold Fever Sprint Car Spooktacular race. The open wheel classes are showcased at the quarter-mile clay oval, and the race has special meaning. It is now being named after past Promoter Paul Hawes, who lost his battle with Cancer earlier this year. The Winged 360 Sprint Cars will be headlining this show along with the Winged Crate Sprints, Wingless Spec Sprints and the Pepsi IMCA Sport Modifieds.

In recent years, the numbers have been pretty good for this show with the Winged 360 Sprint Cars as they've needed a B Main in four of the last five races. This year's champion, Andy Forsberg, has won the last two Gold Fever races and three of the last five. Placerville star Jimmy Trulli and Jonathan Allard are the other winners during the last five races. Though Andy was a one-time feature winner this year, he had his ups and downs and wasn't quite as dominating as you might expect him to be. Last season, Forsberg picked up his win ahead of Shane Hopkins and Cole Macedo, who finished second to Forsberg in the race the year before.

The numbers have been pretty solid for the Winged 360 Sprint Car show at Marysville all season long as the track ran several events on Wednesday nights to accommodate the Flo Racing broadcast. 2019 champion Michael Ing didn't crack the win column this year, but he still managed to finish second in the standings. He should be out to get a win this week. Third ranked Blake Carrick has won Main Events at Marysville, Watsonville and Placerville this season and would have to be considered a legitimate threat to win along with brother and two-time winner Tanner Carrick, who ranked fifth in the standings this year behind Alec Justeson. Some of the others to watch for this week include Brad  Bumgarner, Kevin Lovell, Korey Lovell, Nick Larson, Mike Monahan, Billy Wallace, multi-time champion Colby Weisz and Pat Harvey Jr.

The Winged Crate Sprint division has been a part of this show in recent years. This season saw the championship honors go to Brett Youngman, making it two seasons in a row for him. Brett won three of the point races the group had as well as the two non point shows they had before the season started. He won the championship by just six points ahead of David Sims, who could be out to get his first win of the year. Mike Ballantine, Cameron Haney Jr and Dusty Barton make up the balance of the Top 5 in this year standings. Jeff Macedo and Drake Standley are also feature winners this year. Macedo is a winner of this race, and Haney Jr won it last year. In fact, there have been five different winners in the Last 5 years with Tim Sherman Jr, Tyler Meadows and Justin Henry also putting themselves on the list. There could be as many as 10 cars for this race.

Wingless Spec Sprints were a regular part of the Marysville roster for several seasons, but the introduction of the Winged Crate Sprint division proved a drain on the Spec Sprint car count. They haven't crowned a champion here in a few seasons, but the Spec Sprints remain a part of this show. They could get anywhere from six to a dozen cars. Three-time Hunt Wingless Spec Sprint champion Terry Schank Jr may be one of them, and he won last year ahead of Josh Young and Nathan Johnson.  Schank won the race in 2017 as well. Jake Morgan, Shawn Jones and Peter Paulson are the other winners of the last five races. It's hard to guess who might be among the roster this week, but there could be a few Marysville area drivers waiting for the opportunity or Orland racers who might come for a visit.

Perhaps as a way to add just a little bit more punch to this race, the Pepsi IMCA Sport Modifieds were added to this show last year. They've generally been getting 12 to 16 cars this year, and they had perhaps the best championship battle at the track. In the end, new State champion Timothy Allardings managed to win a close battle with two-time Mini Stock champion Jimmy Ford. Ford was the winner of this race last year, and he had to beat hard-charging brothers Todd Cooper and Brian Cooper to do it. 

The Sport Modifieds are usually very entertaining, and some of the drivers to watch for include Mike Merritt, Philip Shelby and Scott Savell, who made up the balance of the Top 5 in this year's standings. Merritt and Shelby are both past champions, and Shelby had two wins this year. Andrew Peckham and Justin Funkhouser were also winners this year who could be there along with Donnie Fortney, Shaun Merritt and Shawn Smith.  

The track will be allowing the first 100 people who are in line to buy tickets to spectate, but other fans won't be left out. This event will stream on internet pay-per-view at www.floracing.com. For further information, go to www.marysvilleraceway.com or check the Marysville Raceway Facebook page.

 

 

 

Antioch Speedway Unofficial Race Results October 24, 2020
Dwarf Car Mania Night #1
Delta Dwarf Car
Main Event
Darren Brown
Ryan Winter
Danny Wagner
Mike Grenert
Kevin Miraglio
Brandon Wiley
Mark Hanson
Nick Velasquez
Scott Dahlgren
Tommy Velasquez III
Buddy Olschowka
Tim Fitzpatrick
Mike Corsaro
Chance Russell
Eric Weisler
Sean Catucci
Mark Biscardi
Travis Day
Dylan Shrum
David Rosa
David Michael Rosa

B Main 1
Mark Biscardi
Nick Velasquez
Dylan Shrum
Chance Russell
Sean Catucci
Dennis Gilcrease
Ellie Russo
Austin Quilty
Jack Haverty
Darrin Davis
Chris Becker
Zach Armstrong
Shawn Jones
Camden Robustelli DNS
Roger Shores DNS
Nick Squatritto DNS

B Main 2
Tommy Velasquez III
Buddy Olschowka
Eric Weisler
David Rosa
Travis Day
gage meyers
Tom Van Tuyl
Justin Bingman
Antonio Miramontez
Randy Miramontez
Chuck Eaton
John Tardiff
Timmy Ryan
Joe Leduc DNS
Roberto Monroy DNS
Tyler Quilty DNS

Hardtops/Sportsman
Ken Retzloff
Jerry Cecil
Rick Elliott
Mike Friesen
Matt Taylor
Ken Clifford
Jeff West
Mike Slaney
Dave Mackey DNS


Antioch Speedway Unofficial Race Results October 23, 2020
Dwarf Car Mania Night #1
Delta Dwarf Car
Main Event
Ryan Winter
Darren Brown
Danny Wagner
Mike Grenert
Tim Fitzpatrick
Scott Dahlgren
Jack Haverty
Eric Weisler
Brandon Wiley
Sean Catucci
Mark Hanson
Tommy Velasquez III
Ellie Russo
Randy Miramontez
Corey Eaton
Kevin Miraglio
David Michael Rosa
Buddy Olschowka
Camden Robustelli
Mark Biscardi
Nick Squatritto
Travis Day
Nick Velasquez
gage meyers

B Main 1
Camden Robustelli
Tommy Velasquez III
Jack Haverty
Tim Fitzpatrick
Nick Squatritto
Buddy Olschowka
Mike Corsaro
John Tardiff
Darrin Davis
Joe Leduc
Chance Russell
Justin Bingman
Roberto Monroy  DNS

B Main 2
Ryan Winter
Sean Catucci
Travis Day
Ellie Russo
Randy Miramontez
Eric Weisler
Dylan Shrum
Chris Becker
Antonio Miramontez
Dennis Gilcrease
David Rosa
Roger Shores DNS


Merced Speedway Unofficial Race Results October 24, 2020
John Fore Jr/Bob Smith Memorial Night #2
IMCA Modifieds
Main Event
Cody Laney
D.J. Shannon
Randy Brown
Jim Pettit II
Troy Foulger
Ethan Dotson
Dylan Thornton
Robby Sawyer
Jerry Flippo
Bobby Hogge IV
Paul Stone
Darrell Hughes II
Gavyn Manning
Josh Combs
Justin Dunn
Bryan Clark
Shane DeVolder
Troy Morris III
Ryan Porter
Kellen Chadwick

B Main 1
Gavyn Manning
Josh Combs
Ryan Porter
Darrell Hughes II
Larry Wise
Brian Cass
Dalton Houghton
John Pierce
Mike Shepherd
Harley Turner
Ricky Thatcher
Justin Hart
Robby Jeppesen
Justin Yaeger
Jesse Burks DNS

B Main 2
Troy Morris III
Jerry Flippo
Bryan Clark
Shane DeVolder
Austin Kiefer
Michael Scruggs
Tim Balding
Danny Roe
Dakota Schweitzer
Rick Diaz
Bill Vieselmeyer
Billy Griffin
Trevor Fitzgibbon
jerry Marsh

IMCA Sport Modifieds
Main Event
Ethan Dotson
Jason Nation
Troy Foulger
Bobby Hogge IV
Nick Spainhoward
Chase Thomas
Billy Simkins
Tyler Blankenship
Todd Gomez
Andrew Peckham
Tanner Thomas
Kaylin Lopez
Chris Sieweke
Nick Tucker
Fred Ryland
Kodie Dean
Jeremy Hoff
Jason Banniste
David Pearson
Andrew Pearce

B Main 1
Tyler Blankenship
Andrew Peckham
Kaylin Lopez
Jeremy Hoff
Les Friend
Tony Peffer
Adam Baker
Joe Salvi
Tommy Clymens
Aaron Farrell
Dwayne Short
Garrett Jernagan
Joe Antonetti
Gavin Espino

B Main 2
Bobby Hogge IV
David Pearson
Tanner Thomas
Kodie Dean
Trevor Clymens
Chuck Weir
Tyler Thomas
Vaughn Vondera
Ryan DeForest
Jim Reed
Tony Hornyack
Cale Kanke
Paul Espino
Frank Cefaliello Jr

Hobby Stocks
Main Event
Nicholas Johnson
Cody Johnson
Ricky Childress Jr
Les Friend
Johnny Wood
Austin Van Hoff
Matt Kile
Donald Hiser
Allen Neal
David Schuyler
Race Shelton
Michael Shearer
John Tevis
Jeff Lacy
Tim Elias
Jakob Ebersole
Chase Aue
Kevin Irwin
Tyler Johnson

Hobby Stocks
B Main 1
Kevin Irwin
Chase Aue
DJ Keldsen
Race Shelton
David Schuyler
Billy Nelson
Kyle Wood
Jack Roberts
Ken Winland
Derek Ogden
Anglea Brown
Cody Brown
Dexter Long
Raymond Noland
Domossie Scoggins DNS

B Main 2
Allen Neal
Donald Hiser
Karl Noland
Jeff Lacy
Jakob Ebersole
Kevin Lesch
Logan Fernandez
Larry McKinzie Jr
Xavier Baez
Nick Coffman
Dustin Donathan
Zac Johnston
Logan Clay DNS

House of JuJu Central Valley Mini Stocks
David Wolford Jr
Matthew Herod
Chris Corder
Jeff Durant
Gene Glover
Jason Cook
Brandon Wolford
Clinton Massey
Joseph Marsh
Tyler Post
Leo Lotz
Danny Myrick
Jose Rosales
Ryan Doglione
Dan Myrick
Dakota Keldsen
Shelby Neal

IMCA Stock Car
Ethan Dotson
Cody Johnson
Nicholas Johnson
Dylan Wilson
Randy Brown
Garrett Corn
Jeff Streeter
Chad Johnson
Josh Nichols
Rob Gallaher
Joe Gallaher
Mark Morton
Bruce Nelson
D.J. Shannon DNS


Merced Speedway Unofficial Race Results October 23, 2020
John Fore Jr/Bob Smith Memorial Night #1
IMCA Modifieds
Main Event
Robby Sawyer
Shane DeVolder
Troy Foulger
Randy Brown
Jerry Flippo
Paul Stone
D.J. Shannon
Bobby Hogge IV
Darrell Hughes II
Austin Kiefer
Trevor Fitzgibbon
Justin Dunn
Brian Cass
Kellen Chadwick
Jim Pettit II
Jeffrey Hudson
Gavyn Manning
Troy Morris III
Dylan Thornton
Ethan Dotson

IMCA Modifieds
B Main 1
Kellen Chadwick
Bobby Hogge IV
Brian Cass
Trevor Fitzgibbon
Mike Shepherd
Tim Balding
Ricky Thatcher
Justin Yaeger
John Pierce
Dalton Houghton
Larry Wise
Rick Diaz

B Main 2
Jerry Flippo
Dylan Thornton
Troy Morris III
Darrell Hughes II
Bryan Clark
Dakota Schweitzer
Ryan Porter
Robby Jeppesen
Danny Roe
Steve Streeter
Jesse Burks
Josh Combs

IMCA Sport Modifieds
Main Event
Ethan Dotson
Bobby Hogge IV
Fred Ryland
Nick Spainhoward
Jason Nation
Jason Bannister
Andrew Peckham
Kaylin Lopez
Andrew Pearce
Tyler Blankenship
Jeremy Hoff
Billy Simkins
Darren Thomas
Todd Gomez
Cale Kanke
Tanner Thomas
Tyler Thomas
Chris Sieweke
Joe Antonetti
Chuck Weir
Les Friend

B Main 1
Kaylin Lopez
Darren Thomas
Tanner Thomas
Tyler Blankenship
Nick Tucker
David Pearson
Aaron Farrell
Jim Reed
Gavin Espino
Paul Espino
Kodie Dean
Chase Thomas

B Main 2
Todd Gomez
Chuck Weir
Joe Antonetti
Tyler Thomas
Chris Sieweke
Vaughn Vondera
Frank Cefaliello Jr
Dwayne Short
Joe Salvi

Hobby Stock
Main Event
Nicholas Johnson
Ricky Childress Jr
Cody Johnson
Les Friend
Johnny Wood
Tim Elias
Tyler Johnson
Allen Neal
Kristie Shearer
Larry McKinzie Jr
Jack Roberts
Nick Coffman
Chase Aue
Kyle Wood
Timmy Crews
Race Shelton
David Schuyler
Karl Noland
Mitch Enos
Logan Clay

B Main 1
Les Friend
Tyler Johnson
Karl Noland
Nick Coffman
John Tevis
Kevin Irwin
DJ Keldsen
Dustin Donathan
Derek Ogden
Austin Van Hoff

B Main 2
Nicholas Johnson
Mitch Enos
David Schuyler
Jack Roberts
Domossie Scoggins
Ken Winland
Angela Brown
Jeff Lacy
Andrew Shelton
Steve Torres
Donald Hiser
Cody Brown DNS

Mini Late Models
Riley Jeppesen
Carson Guthrie
Emali Van Hoff
Tyler Tucker
Kennzzie Brown
Melinda Clay
Ryder Jeppesen

IMCA Stock Car
Cody Johnson
Dylan Wilson
Jeff Streeter
Ethan Dotson
Chad Johnson
Bruce Nelson
Garrett Corn
Rob Gallaher
Troy Patee
Rod Bane
Renn Bane
Nicholas Johnson
Randy Brown
Joe Gallaher
D.J. Shannon


All American Speedway Unofficial Race Results October 23, 2020
ARCA Menards West Series
NAPA 125 Presented by CashInTheCan.com
Gio Scelzi
Todd Souza
Trevor Huddleston
Jesse Love
Blaine Perkins
Holley Hollan
Taylor Gray
Jack Wood
Takuma Koga
Gracie Trotter
Bridget Burgess
Mason Diaz
Bobby Hillis Jr

Jaws Gear & Axle Limited Modified
Jason Philpot
Mike Gorham
Sammy Nuno
Derrick Doering
Don Shalla
Arnie Wentworth

Super Stock
Roy Smith
Andrew Peeler
Erick Ray
Blake Disomma
Andrew Kemp
Brandon Diede
Garry Eisenhour
Jeremy Fritts

F4
Matthew Fuhs
Ray Molina
Richard Innis
Jerry Nunes
Vic Theberge
John Sproule
Dennis Crook
Brandon Spangler
Dan Cherry
Thomas Cherry
Brian Spencer


Petaluma Speedway Unofficial Race Results October 24, 2020
Hunt Wingless Spec Sprints
Nick Robfogel
Terry Schank Jr
Geoff Ensign
Shane Hopkins
Matt Stewart
Bradley Terrell
Jarrett Soares
Ricky Brophy
Tony Bernard
Kaimi Moniz-Costa
Bob Davis
Shayna Ensign
Scott Clough
Dylan Bloomfield

BCRA/USAC Western States Midgets
Frankie Guerrini
Maria Cofer
Blake Bower
Shannon McQueen
Jake Andreotti
Michael Faccinto
Scotty Farmer
CJ Sarna
Robert Carson
Blake Brannon
Sparky Howard
Floyd Alvis
Jarrett Soares
Kyle Beilman
Randi Pankratz
Alex Schutte
Brody Fuson

Western Midget Racing Association
Darren Brent
Randi Pankratz
Cory Brown
Keoni Texiera
Paul Sanders
Jerry Fletcher
Tyler Slay

Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micro Sprint
Koen Shaw
Jim Beck
George Nielson
Kyle Grissom
Brian Slubik
Carroll Mendenhall
Trevor Mendenhall
Rob Brown
Amber Fields
Justin Adiego
Sam Borland
Savannah Brown
Rick Alonso
Shiloh Borland


Stockton 99 Speedway Unofficial Race Results October 24, 2020
Stockton Late Models 100 Laps
Sam Solari
Eric Nasicemento
Gary Shafer Jr
Larry Tankersley
Ty Carlson
Joe Hylton
Seth Holman
Greg Uffins
Aaron Shankle
Daniel Devore
Dominic Lopez
Garland Powell
Roy Luft
Steve Cabral
Anthony Powell
Dennis Byers
Joey Stearns

North State Modified
Cameron Austin
Darrin Sullivan
Kyle Tellstrom
Keith Bloom
Mike Sullivan
Brian Collins
Rich Lindgren
Dustin DeRosier
Chris Salmina
Scott Winters
Darrin Knight
Rick Avila
Sal Lopez
Ian Elliott
Cody Braund
Chris Lyon
Robert Schmidt
Jarred Hess
Rick Allen
John Baker

Bomber
Allen Rider
Jeana Ramos
Mikala Stearns
Kyle Singleton
Troy Walz
Rob Slagle
Anthony Powell
Kelsey Luft

Basically 4 Cylinders
Joe Flowers
Andy Rumsey
Josh Cross
Mathew Fuhs
Nick Hall
Ethan Rumsey
Dave Keller
Rod Previtalli
Ray Molina
Barrett Sugden
Jordan Lovelace
Jeff Harris
Mark Hunt
John S
Andrea Rumsey
Katy Hunt
Robert Flegal
Mathew Rosana
Vick Theberge

Mini Cup/Bandolero
Evan Laires
Gage Wicke
Jordan Mast
Lucas Burton
Molly Laires
Cameron Carroway
Cash Holman


Madera Speedway Unofficial Race Results October 24, 2020

Madera Late Models
Jason Aguirre
Shelden Cooper
Trevor Schlundt
Lilly Mead
Brandon Burd
Mike Shapiro
Richard Herzog
Eric Seely
Del McIntosh
Aaron Mullins
Jon Schlundt
Jeff Mead

Toyota Sedan/MST
Ryan Reynolds
Shaun Reynolds
Haley Bugg
Wyatt Cantrell
Nick Thompson
Thomas Magray

Hobby Stocks
Manny Gonzales Jr
Nick Rowe


Kern County Raceway Park Unofficial Race Results October 25, 2020
2020 ARCA Menards West Series results
2020 NAPA/ENEOS 125 Pres. by West Coast Stock Car HOF
Taylor Gray
Mason Diaz
Blaine Perkins
Trevor Huddleston
Gracie Trotter
Kyle Keller
Todd Souza
Jesse Love
Gio Scelzi
Jack Wood
Bobby Hillis Jr
Takuma Koga
Joey Iest
Bridget Burgess
Holley Hollan
Ryan Repko
 
SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Late Model Series
Wild West Shootout - Boogie Man 100
Derek Thorn
Jace Hansen
Christian McGhee
Brandon Farrington
Jacob Gomes
Dan Holtz
John Dillon
Blaine Rocha
Carlos Vieira
Kyle Neveau
Buddy Shepherd
Cale Kanke
Chris Clyne
Keith Spangler
Eric Schmidt
Joey Iest
Dean Thompson
Bobby Hodges
Jim Vermillion
Scott Sanchez
Preston Peltier
Mark Neff
Linny White
Andy Allen
Thane Alderman

SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Modified Series
MotorCity GMC 60 presented by K&N Filter
Jeremy Doss
Eddie Secord
Travis Thirkettle
Travis McCullough
William Guevara
Jim Coffey
Jeff Longman
Ed Coffey
Brady Melo
Chris Dalton
Billy Mitchell
Douglas Carpenter
Brock Melo
Mark Allen
Sam Jacks
David Millard

Pro Late Models
Blaine Rocha
Hans Beeler
Kyle Keller
Cassidy Hinds
Chris Dalton
Mike Beeler
Jim Wulfenstein
Robbie Hornsby
Dylan Garner

Super Stock
Paul Ebersbaucher
Anthony Mainella
Ron Cross
Greg Puskarich
Kenny Harrison
Ron Christy
Gene Fife


Kern County Raceway Park Unofficial Race Results October 24, 2020
Pro Late Models
Blaine Rocha
Joey Iest
Dylan Garner
Hornsby
Cassidy Hinds
Hans Beeler
Chris Dalton
Kyle Keller
Jim Wulfenstein
Mike Beeler
Trevor Huddleston

Super Stocks
Anthony Mainella
Paul Ebersbaucher
Ron Cross
Kenny Harrison
Mike Puskarich
Greg Puskarich
Gene Fife
Ron Christy


Hermiston Raceway Unofficial Race Results October 24, 2020
Late Model
Dave Garber
Andy Brown
Dale Wenneberg
Kalynn Jeffrey
Cody Denton
Tom Abercrombie
Scott Graf
Chad Ayers
Cody Cronwell
Ken Bonney

Street Stock
Brandon Little
Bart Hector Jr
Luke Klingenberg
Travis Mckinley
rick gerrad
Billy Scribner
Bart Hector Sr
Terry Lydell
Jake Klingenberg
Dillon Huffines
Daniel Hood

Bomber
Kedric Preston
Shade Coe
Arlen Calley
Kari Goodheart
Ron Wilbur
Mel Leinbach
Tracy Howell
* 117
Michael McNeely

Hobby Stock
Travis McKinny
Scott Burby
Garrett Huffines
Jesse Vincent
Billy Scribner
Mike Denton
Corkey Harbison
Jody Duncan
Jake Dudney
Neil Nelson
Josh Henney

INEX Legend Car
Brock Denney
Chris Bellanca
Trace Thompson
Jose Zamudio
Broc Nelson
Larry Badoux
Curt Boyle
Randy Copeland
Jason Payne
Dan Rogers
Brock McDonough
Bill Kik
Brice Denney
Steve Berven
Josh Wharton
Keith Van Dyne
Corey Boyle
Ben Matheson

Mini Stock
Scotty Murphy
Kyle Matthews
Mike Savage
Travis Barnes
Kolby Brown
Steve Thompson
Herbie Jim
John Hagood
Ron Wilbur
xander peters
11

Hornet
Colton Fisher
Kris Marlow
Sean Zieske
Kyle Franklin
Mason Hagood
Joe Dunn
Jack Guier
* cleaver
Kyle Suchy
Jeffrey Holway Jr
Tristian Trujilio
DJ Masters
Justus Zamudio
Seth Holinbeck


Douglas County Speedway Unofficial Race Results October 24, 2020
Track N Treat Enduro 200
Ron Johnson     200
paul corbet     198
ricky ashley     196
eric Dean     194
brandon norton     192
Ryan Dickenson     191
charles peck     191
wayne link     190
jesse willamson 190
Mike Batman     189
Kyran Greene     187
kc scott     186
john doyal     185
Kristopher parker 179
leroy rockwell     171
david phillips     170
april hillyard     167
David suttie     166
dusty Singleton 165
george hickman     163
cherish wilson     152
jacob mast     146
michael kennerly 133
Bart Pulse     122
Andy Nelson JR     121
burnie bryant     79
Brandon Belt     70
zach Asumudi     68
Jeremy Simms     41
Tyler Organ     35
Austin Rea     31
Andrew Nelson     27
zane hillyard     26
william parsons 23

 

 

The Editor's Viewpoint

It's Thursday night as I'm compiling a few thoughts heading into the weekend. It's interesting to see that November has a race scheduled for every weekend in California, provided the weather enables it to happen. I think the promoters are willing to take that gamble because they've lost as much racing as they have this year, but also because it hasn't been getting as wet in November as it used to. Why not go for it? You could see a few more tracks trying to get a date in there once they look at what's been booked and what they can potentially book.

It's kind of funny that two tracks that were big on November races in the southern half of California are no longer open. We used to get the Veterans Day weekend race at Porterville, and there was also the Turkey Classic race that they had at Pearsonville. All of this was Stock Car-oriented stuff. Porterville started getting into having a Thanksgiving weekend race of their own before they closed once again a few years ago. Around the time of the holiday this year, it's going to be mostly about open wheel racing, but there is some great IMCA Modified and Sport Modified action planned at Antioch and Merced. By the way, Rocky Hill Speedway and Pearsonville Speedway still sit idle. Just putting that out there.

Antioch Speedway recently grabbed the November 21st date, which is a bit of a surprise to me. I'm not exactly sure what management thinks they're going to accomplish running a Winged 360 Sprint Car, Wingless Spec Sprint and 600 Micro race against Placerville Speedway. Granted, Placerville is running a NOS Energy Drink National Midget and BCRA Midgets Lites race. It's not the same thing. On the other hand, I think Promoter Scott Russell was sort of counting on a captive West Coast audience tuning into the Flo Racing broadcast. They still will, but now some of the Sprint Car fans could be pulled away to the Antioch broadcast. I'm probably making more out of it than is really there. It's just that Antioch Speedway isn't necessarily a Sprint Car Mecca these days. Then again, they'll have their own in-house broadcast at antiochspeedway.tv as always.

I could be nitpicking about that, but the fact is I'm not exactly fond of the amount of racing they're planning for November. As I said, the weather is just as much a factor in this as anything. Promoters have been booking later into the year because of it, and this virus shut down stuff has them looking even harder at make up for that lost time. November is more about the open wheel shows than anything. 

A good portion of California IMCA Modified and Sport Modified racers will head to Las Vegas for The Duel in a couple of weeks, so tracks haven't looked too seriously at doing anything with them until later in the month. I'm kind of surprised somebody didn't roll the dice and book something just for the drivers who aren't going to travel. If a promoter thought they could make a dollar out of it, they probably would.

Still on everybody's mind is when are we going to have fans. Every time a race gets announced, somebody will ask that question in the comment section. The answer hasn't been very satisfying for fans in most cases. At few places, such as Stockton and Hanford, point out that you can buy a pit pass. At least in the case of Stockton, they are defining different levels of pit passes as a way to get people into the pits and funnel them into the grandstands when it's time to actually race. The idea hasn't caught on yet. I already pointed out that some promoters just don't want to deal with the political BS that could come down on them. It's basically about how many competitors and crew members you can get in the pits, plus whatever revenue you can get from internet pay-per-view. Not an ideal model for sure.

If you were watching last week's debate, you might have further hope that if a certain candidate wins the election, everything's just going to open. I'm not trying to get political here, but President Trump certainly framed the narrative in a way that would suggest that he's wanting to fling the doors back open and get it all going again, while a potential President Joe Biden might want to shut everything down tighter if just one doctor or "respectable" scientist says that's the way to go. Don't think that it's necessarily going to be that easy. There's more going on here. A voter thinking that one of these men will do whatever when it comes to opening and closing might cast their vote that way, and that's about all voters can do I suppose, other than taking more of a stand within their own communities.

I was trying to find out why Cottage Grove Speedway canceled last weekend. The track put up a press release on their website, but all it alluded to was how one bad actor could spoil it for everybody else. Somebody complained. In what context? Did somebody go to the county? Were they told they had to shut down for the rest of the year? It certainly sounds like something along that line of thinking, but we can't really be sure when we haven't heard anything more official. I was looking, but I found nothing.

I was talking to Southern Oregon Speedway Promoter Mike McCann about what a 2021 season might look like. We're all hoping that we can enter 2021 and pretend that 2020 didn't happen. He and I are a bit pessimistic that the restrictive nature of these guidelines will completely go away. We also both agree that even if they do, we're going to feel some of the effects of what happened this year. Economically, people are going to be hurting. The government throwing a few hundred dollars at the people won't necessarily fix that. Down in Medford, there's the added issue of people having to rebuild after the fire. People lost their homes, and quite a few businesses were burnt down as well. Not an ideal situation.

I see the 2020 covid-19 mess as a momentum killer for the 25-year-old racing facility. We entered the picture with things in shambles. People did not have a high opinion of the way the place had been run for the previous half dozen years. When we came in, we certainly weren't compared in a negative light to what immediately proceeded us. Nobody could tell us that those were great years. Whenever I heard somebody talk about the past, they were talking about the beginning of the place. Of course the numbers were going to be huge then. After the Medford Raceway closed, people in Medford waited seven years for a new track. It was the land of milk and honey, and John Skinner was enjoying what the late Claire Arnold might refer to as a bonanza. That's a promoter leaving the track with two bags of money after each race.

Mike can be very frustrating to people who don't know him. He employs the Racing 101 philosophy. He started with the basics. This is the way your program was going to go, this is the way the payout was going to go and these are the divisions. You could set your watch by it. People knew what they were getting. Even though there were grumpy people out there, they got on board with us because they knew what they were getting. They knew if something wasn't right, we'd address it immediately when there was an issue that needed to be fixed. You might not have been a big fan of Mike's, but you had to respect him for his consistancy.

2020 had the most ambitious schedule yet. There were more bigger money events. Another new special show was added to the equation. August was going to continue to be a month with one big show after another. I discussed my thoughts on that with Mike. Will 2021 be a season that will try to pick up the 2020 schedule and do it then? What role will the economic situation play in that? I don't know. We exchanged our ideas, and that's pretty much where I'm going to leave it. I'm not sure where I'm headed for next year. On the off chance that Medford ends up being that destination for another year, all I can say is I'll do my best. I'm not optimistic that I will be there, but I'm going to drop my speculations on that subject.

I will talk about one thing that we were talking about late in the first season. It's a big race that never quite materialized. We were talking about the old school Late Model and Street Stock big money special. Actually, this was something Mike was pretty high on. Medford had some big races through the years, going back to the old track. The new track didn't embrace Late Models the same way, although there were still a few big moments. The open show that they had to end the year was huge, and certainly it was a sight to behold. They ran all of the classes together for that one.

You would see cars with sideboards and wings. The Late Models, Pro Stocks, Street Stocks, Super 4s and even some Modifieds and Mini Stocks would run that race. There could be 60 or more cars. I kind of like the idea of seeing the different types of cars running together. Mike actually started promoting events like that in Eugene in the 1990s, and Medford picked up on that idea when Eugene closed. Mike would have run the races straight up on time trials, so the faster Late Models would start up front. It would be a tall order to make it into the show with the other types of cars, but a few would certainly accomplish the goal.

The show we were talking about was a Late Model and Street Stock deal. Mike wanted to bring in The Iron Giant Street Stocks. I can admit that Mike and the Street Stock Series leaders were initially talking about two dates for 2020. When he promoted Eugene and Sunset afterwards, Street Stocks had a big role. We couldn't deny the show that the series gave us in 2018. There were some mixed messages and bad weather in 2019, but we were beyond that. We knew we'd have the May race, but Mike was keen on getting the class out there later in the year. They were potentially going to be part of the Cottonwood Classic in August, but scheduling happened in such a way that Coos Bay had them booked for their Battle Of The Beach that weekend. Scheduling can be a pain in the ass sometimes.

I could never get Mike to pull the trigger on that big show to end the year. As Mike was pretty much looking to wrap up everything by mid September, it's not like we couldn't have come back with a special show at the end of the month. It could have worked, and Mike was basically bouncing the idea around in his mind. He liked the concept, but there were other factors in the decision. Could something like that happen in 2021? I don't know. It would certainly be cool for the Medford fans as the track is starting to get a little bit of Late Model credibility. The Street Stock drivers have given the track good reviews as well, and I bet they could have 50 to 60 cars just between the two classes.

Shifting gears to California, we know that Oregon's own Moxie Media will be down in Stockton on November 8th for the Dirt Modified, B Modified, Basically Four Cylinder and Bomber race, which also features the exciting Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series. Cory Penfold and his crew will be handling the internet pay-per-view at the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series Facebook page. This is all happening while there's a bit of speculation about whether racing will continue on the dirt track in Stockton that much longer. As we reported last week, the mayor is keen on the idea of turning the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds into a homeless camp.

What I like is that Promoter Tony Noceti is sort of shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Yeah, I doubt that's going to happen. I got a track to run." Once he finally got the approval for the Gary Patterson Tribute weekend event, he moved full speed ahead. He wasn't content just to have the big NARC/King of the West Winged 410 Sprint Car and Winged 360 Sprint Car show for November 7th, which will be broadcast at floracing.com. He added the Stock Car program the next night and practice on the 6th. It will be a busy weekend in Stockton, and Tony has been working on the schedule for next year, while promoting the Stockton 99 Speedway as well.

It was announced on Thursday that the Winged 360 Sprint Car show will now pay $2,000 to win, $1,400 for second, $1,000 for third and $200 minimum to start. They are hoping for a big turnout for this show, which was initially going to be a Sprint Car Challenge Tour race. The tour shut down this year thanks to the virus, but I know that the intent is to use those rules and see many of the top drivers come to town. I think they will do okay with both Sprint Car groups, although I'm still surprised that the Hunt Wingless Sprint Series wasn't included. They might have felt that there wouldn't be enough time to make it happen that night, so I understand that.

Tony is all in with the cold pit pass concept. It's a little bit more expensive than a front gate ticket, which the track is not allowed to sell. You pay $30 and go into the pits before mud laps begin. This also gives people an opportunity to see the cars and maybe get a quick word or autograph from their favorite racer. Once the engines fire up, the path will be cleared to go to the grandstands and grab a seat, which is being done in the interest of social distancing. Technically, these are not fans. They are participants. You've got to love that. You can check out the Stockton Dirt Track Facebook page for announcements.

Dan Myrick is not done with the 2020 season after all. He announced on Wednesday that the House of JuJu Central Valley Mini Stock Series is looking to do a double header weekend in November. That's right, two nights of racing. This Saturday at Merced was to be the 10th and final point race of the season. They're now thinking about extending things. I was wondering if Hanford was going to be a CVMS race anyway, since the Mini Stock division was included as part of the November 14th show there. Either way, they were going to do all right in car count, but what Dan has in mind should increase the count even bigger.

I was curious when I saw the announcement that the Hardtops were added to Antioch Speedway as part of the Saturday portion of Dwarf Car Mania. Management wanted that second division, since there weren't going to be as many races as Friday. Just having something that could give you a couple of heats and a Main Event was the goal, and the track found themselves in conflict with the Hunt Series, which hastily booked the date at Petaluma. It has me speculating if the Hunt Series might be included in one of the Antioch races still to come in November for the Wingless Sprint class.

The roster of available divisions didn't leave Antioch many options. You couldn't book either Modified class because of Merced, and management did think about adding the Hobby Stocks. This is ironic since the $1,000 to win race was moved a week earlier to not conflict with Merced. The thinking was that there were probably a dozen or more drivers who were going to stay in Antioch anyway, so why not add it? They never formally made an announcement as I'm sure they were doing their best to cooperate with Merced Speedway. Though they could have done that, or even kept the Spec Sprints on the schedule as booked, I think they did the right thing.

With the Super Stocks having a big race the following week as part of the Tri State Challenge Series Al Miller Memorial and the Mini Stocks just not delivering cars yet, this left the Hardtops. The thing about that group is that it's not very well organized. You have a challenge getting the guys to show up for a race they know about two months in advance sometimes, so adding them at the last minute was sure to conflict with people's schedules. A few teams already let it be known that they had other engagements, which cost the class some cars

What I find interesting is the Sportsman contingent let it be known that they would be bringing cars to Antioch. This is interesting, because there's an unclear message at Merced Speedway right now. Does the Sportsman division have a place on the roster there in 2021? I'm not trying to stir anything up, but I find it interesting that they couldn't be included in anything the track is doing this year, while the California Sharp Mini Late Models can. We're talking about the same sort of car count, which is in the 6 to 10 car range. We wouldn't be having a discussion about the Sportsman division at all if not for the late Chuck Griffin, who added the class to the Merced roster back in 1999

I'll be honest with you. I don't want to see this division fade away. I like these cars too much. If Merced management doesn't feel that the division is important enough, I like that Promoter Chad Chadwick will give them a look and that there are people in the group who are looking at other options as well. These cars need to live on and have a chance to promote this division in a way that could see it grow even bigger. I have felt since I helped facilitate their visit in 2000 to Antioch Speedway that it could be a place where this division could grow. When the division came to an end in 1981, Antioch Speedway was still there fighting for the class to the end.

We don't have to speculate on where the division stands with Chadwick, who remembers watching the division in the 1970s at Antioch Speedway. In a pre race broadcast on the track's Facebook page prior to the Chet Thomson Memorial, he spoke of having talked with the group about having some dates next year. He also reassured the Hardtop people that they were still going to be included in 2021 as well. This is important. Actually, I could see the track booking the two divisions together, if the drivers are okay with racing each other. The speeds are comparable. Personally, I'm mixed on the idea of doing it on more than a special occasion.

I was doing the math as I was trying to figure out who the Hardtop "fun point" leader is. It's Ron Ruiz going into the weekend with Ken Clifford the only driver with a mathematical shot. In the five races leading up to Antioch, there have been 13 different Hardtops who have competed this year. There are nine cars I can think of off the top of my head that had been at a race track last year. There has got to be at least 10 drivers with cars who have competed in the last few years, so the Hardtop movement is far from dead. It certainly needs leadership to bring it together in a better way and show what can really be done here.

I haven't gotten to the bottom of who's leading the charge for the Sportsman division, but I have a hunch it comes from the Mike Friesen camp. The team has three of the five Sportsman cars that have been to Antioch this year. The other two are the last two champions of Merced, Watsonville Hall of Famer Jerry Cecil and Rick Elliott. Something special can happen with the Sportsman movement, and I have speculated in the past about what could happen if this division is given the opportunity to race as its own class at Antioch.

There are people in Antioch interested in either building a car or acquiring one of the cars from down in The Valley. I've had discussions with one of the founders of the modern Sportsman movement, Luis Miranda. He actually wrote the rules with Chuck Griffin. I say there are more than 16 cars. I think it's around 20, give or take a car. Miranda says there are 16. Either way, 10 of them ran at Merced last year, and that leaves six cars sitting there just waiting to be bought. As I said, I think there's more than that. A nice car owned by Larry Perini still sits in waiting, so Antioch racers could start fielding cars if it looks like their home track is keen on doing something more with this class.

The final thought I'll add in my speculation here is that Merced Speedway hasn't said the division is dead. I understand that General Manager Doug Lockwood is trying to put just the right amount of divisions out there with what he scheduled, and he hasn't had that many dates. There's a bit more organization behind the California Sharp Mini Late Models and an effort to put new drivers in new cars. 

The Sportsman division doesn't have that level of promotion at the moment, so if it's a choice between the two classes given the few dates available, it's no surprise the Mini Late Models got the nod. It's also helpful that this division has young drivers in it that move up to other divisions that run at Merced. The bottom line is nobody said that the track wasn't going to have the division next year. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

What could easily happen is Merced shares the Sportsman division with Antioch. Let's face it, a half dozen races is probably enough at Merced, and three or four visits to Antioch to get started is plenty. If doing that would get new cars built and increase the numbers on any given race night, management at Merced might look at that as a positive. 

They're going to be building up an IMCA Stock Car class in Merced, the same as Antioch. There are quite a few big open wheel specials that I'm sure Lockwood is keen on booking next year. Divisions will be shuffled around there, just as they will be in Antioch. So if drivers get enough dates at both tracks to keep the class going, I don't see where that harms the Sportsman division at all. All will become clear when schedules start getting announced.

 

The IMCA Stock Cars delivered 16 cars on Friday night and 14 on Saturday night, and there was a healthy dose of local participation within the division's ranks. This bodes well as Merced Speedway gets ready to have a regular point race for this class in 2021. It wouldn't be too much of a surprise to see drivers such as the Johnson family coming to Merced whenever possible, but you also have to be mindful of nights when everybody's got something booked. You're going to need local support to grow this deal, and I think they will have that at Merced. I don't know how quickly the locals will be able to deliver a double digit car count, but it won't surprise me to see it happen in short order.

GM Doug Lockwood would have to consider the race a success. There were over 130 cars on Friday night, and those numbers increased to over 150 on Saturday night. When you think about it, Merced hasn't had that much opportunity to host races since the shutdown rocked the sport, but they've certainly made it count. Noteworthy on Saturday was the fact that the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks all delivered 40 or more cars, and that meant officials were going to have to hustle. 

On Friday night, they got right up against the 11:00 curfew. I've had this debate with others about whether tracks need to do any grooming between the heat races and the Main Events. It used to be that a promoter or the track prep guru would get on the track after heat races if they saw something that they felt was going to cause problems later on in the evening. These days, they get on the track quite often, whether it really needs it or not. I just shake my head when I look at that. If you've got a bad rut somewhere, fix it. Otherwise, throw some water on it if it's needed and let's go racing.

Track preparation is a science, and Merced has some good people involved. Sometimes you can miss the mark no matter how hard you work on it. What they did between the heats and the Main Events on Friday actually helped make for some better racing. On Saturday, I found it interesting that they didn't do anything with the track. They certainly had a little bit of time in which they could have done something. However, there might have been a concern that racing would go long. Given the fact that they got close to curfew on Friday, I'm thinking Doug figured the track was smooth enough that they should just go for it. I think it was a good call.

I could talk about the winners themselves, but we have articles that get into this in more detail. Bakersfield's Ethan Dotson is somebody who is worthy of note. He won both the IMCA Sport Modified Main Events and also the IMCA Stock Car race on Saturday. I think he won just about every heat race he was in. This guy is the real deal, and the only reason you don't hear about him winning championships in the IMCA Modifieds is because he chooses to travel to some of the bigger races back east. When there's money on the line in California, he is usually in the hunt. In my opinion, Dotson was the driver of the night on Saturday.

It was also interesting to watch Ethan go flying through the pack on Friday night. There was still a little bit of a bottom groove during the IMCA Sport Modified Main Event, and Ethan started using some textbook slide job moves through the turns as he picked off the drivers in front of him, one by one. Once he got the lead, he was gone. Probably because he had the success he did in the Sport Modified race, it looked like Ethan tried a slide job on Gavyn Manning early in the IMCA Modified Main Event. That one didn't go over very well, and Ethan's race was done just that quickly. As the saying goes, some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug.

The Bakersfield drivers came out in full force for this show, and they gave a good accounting of themselves as usual. Whether it was the Johnson family in the IMCA Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks or Robby Sawyer in the IMCA Modifieds, they left town with some of the hardware. I was impressed with the racing I witnessed on floracing.com. Honestly, I could go on and on about things I liked, but i must say that the program was run smoothly and the racing was exciting to watch all weekend. I also endorse the move to bring in Steven Blakesley to do the announcing on Saturday night. They've got a good guy at Merced. I think he needs more time on the microphone, but he has potential.

I wasn't going to jump into the Mini Stock incident during the early portion of their race, but it exploded on social media. Clint Massey was driving it hard to Turns 1 and 2, and he got way sideways. Dakota Keldsen looked to be a bit smoother, and came out of Turn 2 holding his line. Massey crossed the front end of Keldsen and got tapped, bouncing him into the Gene Glover car and then back into Keldsen, who hit the wall. A lot of finger pointing ensued. Should Keldsen have lifted as he held his line coming out of Turn 2? Should Massey have found the brake pedal or lifted himself? Put it this way, if somebody lifts in this incident, everybody proceeds down the back straightaway as normal. 

This doesn't beat the Nick Baldwin rollover at Marysville, where he had plenty of opportunity to decide to lift and not take his car into a big tire off the back straightaway and flip. It's okay to lift for a lap and come back at it a lap later. I happen to enjoy watching both drivers, and I don't like jumping into incidents like these. My opinion is that Keldsen had the line and did everything just fine. He doesn't have to lift here. Massey could have slowed down just a bit. In fact, even if Massey lost a position or two, I wouldn't be surprised if he got around everybody eventually. He's probably had the fastest car within the House of JuJu CVMS group in recent weeks.

Dan Myrick made a valid point about how social media breeds things like this. Does it really help racing when people bring these matters out in the public for everybody to put in their two cents? Probably not. I saw people taking shots at the CVMS on that thread, as if that group has all bad drivers. Just to put it in perspective, some of the good things on the horizon for the Mini Stock division are happening because of the CVMS and the work Myrick is doing. Tracks like to run these cars for free. Myrick has put together the bigger group that brings the bigger car count and therefore shows the value of these cars. That translates into purse money. You might want to think about that before you go bashing an entire group over one incident.

There will be more racing in Merced towards the end of November as the track has the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets coming to town. That race will be on November 25th, supported by the Winged 360 Sprint Cars. It looks like they are practicing on the 24th, but the track will also have racing for the 600 Micro Sprints and the BCRA Midget Lites. Stock Car enthusiasts should know that the track will have IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA RaceSaver 305 Sprint Cars, Hobby Stocks and Mini Late Models on the 27th. Scheduling could change, things could get added or whatever, and the best place to keep track of that is the Merced Speedway Facebook page.

Honestly, I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed in the turnout at Dwarf Car Mania at Antioch Speedway. I'm not sure that Promoter Chad Chadwick is disappointed, but I believe they should have produced a field of 50 cars or more for the $1,500 to win and $200 minimum to start prize money. Since there were over 40 cars on Saturday, management might have been happy with that. There was certainly plenty of racing to be viewed on antiochspeedway.tv, and you definitely needed to show up on Friday to put yourself in the position you needed to be in on Saturday.

There was no sign of Shawn Jones on Friday, and I thought maybe this was because he decided to support the Hunt Wingless Sprint race at Petaluma on Saturday. Jones showed up on Saturday, but the normally very dominant Dwarf Car competitor didn't make it out of the B Main. It turns out that the Top 4 finishers on Friday night were the ones mixing it up at the front of the pack on Saturday. Southern California racer Darren Brown, who is the one guy who seems to have Jones's number on occasion, left town with the $1,500 prize.

I can talk about being disappointed in the numbers, but this was still one of the best supported Dwarf Car races in Antioch history. Only the Regionals event in July had more cars. I'm thinking that the fact that the Todd Damron Memorial race was added this Saturday as a last-minute scheduled race at Petaluma might have affected Antioch a little bit. There wasn't much General Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Car support to be had in Antioch. It will be interesting to see how close the Petaluma car count for $525 to win gets to what Antioch just had, but I'll get into Petaluma here in just a moment.

Car count thoughts aside, the Dwarf Cars have been an MVP division at Antioch this year. The decision to join the Western States Dwarf Car Association seems to have helped the cause a little bit. Like I said, management may not be that disappointed in the turnout. I think this was the biggest promoted Dwarf Car race on the West Coast that wasn't a Nationals or Regionals race in years, but I'd have to dig up the information to find a race that compares to this in that category. As there were several new drivers in the Dwarf Cars at Antioch this year, it seems like the ranks are growing.

When you book a race at the last minute, you're never sure what you're going to get. I'm convinced after witnessing what I saw last weekend that Antioch could have just left the Wingless Spec Sprints on the schedule as originally planned and had about the sort of car count they were going to get all along. Only two Antioch racers made the trip to Petaluma to support the Hunt Series race. I think management was trying to work with the Hunt Series as I know they'd like to have another visit from them in the future. That left them to decide to add the Bay Area Hardtops to the schedule during the week.

As I've said, sometimes you can struggle to get a car count from the group when the drivers know two months in advance that there's a race. There were too many drivers who had made other plans. With enough advanced warning, the car count could have been twice as big for them on Saturday. Drivers such as Jason Armstrong, Ron Ruiz, Tommy Thomson and Joel Hannagan had other things planned, so that left five actual Hardtops to show up to compete. This included the division debut of past Antioch Limited Late Model and Street Stock star Mikey Slaney and Ken Retzloff making his first start of the year. Retzloff ended up being the class of the field, which didn't surprise me any.

There were four cars from the Sportsman division, and I might be expressing an unpopular opinion here. First and foremost, I support the Sportsman division. I am biased because that's the division that I would consider my all-time favorite class. I also support having a shootout race between the two groups at some point because the speeds are somewhat comparable, even with wings on the Sportsman cars. However, I don't like the idea of the two classes running together all the time as you're trying to market distinct and unique divisions.

There is a different look to these cars. While I do like the variety of different looks, you get them anyways when these divisions run by themselves. If you're going to try to sell Hardtop racing, you need to have Hardtops out there by themselves. Likewise, if you're going to sell the Sportsman class, it needs to run by itself. It sounds to me like this is something the management at Antioch Speedway will be pursuing next year, based on the pre-race interview that Chadwick gave to announcer Wylie Wade before the Chet Thomson Memorial race last month. 

I don't want to repeat myself too much here. I do like that the Sportsman group appears to be getting organized. This may be a necessity to continue on. I don't want to put words in Doug Lockwood's mouth as to where this division stands at Merced Speedway. At the appropriate time, the track will announce its schedule for next year. I would like to see the drivers pursue Merced Speedway first and foremost, since this is the track that launched the modern movement. However, I wholeheartedly endorse a few visits by the group to Antioch Speedway as its own entity.

I have long felt that the division could grow at Antioch Speedway as well. There are people keen on building cars for this class if they know they actually have races at Antioch. This sort of thing isn't going to happen unless the drivers have incentive to start building cars. There are plenty of Antioch people I've talked to through the years who like this class, but they're not going to build a car if they always have to tow down to Merced to race. I'm not sure where any of this is headed, but it's obvious that Antioch Speedway has an interest in the Sportsman division. I definitely endorse that idea.

In saying that, the Hardtop movement in Northern California is comparable to the Legends of Kearney Bowl in terms of how many cars are built and available right now. In the last two years alone, we know that about two dozen Hardtops that have competed at one venue or another. I did a roster earlier this year that suggested there could be over 40 cars in Northern California. Some of those cars have been sitting for a while, and I might have a duplicate car or two on that roster with different owners. However, I think it's safe to say that there are probably over 30 Hardtops in Northern California.

It's high time that this movement got organized. If it's believed that the Bay Area movement and the Northern California movement have different philosophies and different visions, so be it. However, leadership and organization is what is needed to deliver as many cars as possible to the track. The Hardtop race cars practically sell themselves. People like these cars, and tracks like the idea of bringing them out for a visit or two. With a little bit of organization, they can deliver a dozen or more cars to any date they are booked for and it can get even better.

The reason the Bay Area Hardtop movement came into being was because there was a belief that they could organize and do things a little bit better. In saying that, I'm not taking a shot at the California Hardtop leader, even though I don't generally agree with the way he does things. What I am saying is it's one thing to create the new movement, but it's another to actually get organized and deliver the goods. There's a revolution in the wind in Antioch. Right now the Hardtops have the advantage, and a little organization will help keep it that way. 

Nobody's telling me anything official, and this is just me speculating. However, it wouldn't take much other than management getting behind the idea for the Sportsman division to sweep the Hardtops right out of Antioch. You want to be the Bay Area Hardtops and grow this deal? You better get organized and work on delivering as many cars as possible anytime you're booked. By the way, Bay Area Hardtops doesn't necessarily mean Antioch only. Last I checked, there are tracks like Watsonville, Petaluma and the Stockton Dirt Track within the radius. Just a thought.

Moving ahead to this week, Antioch Speedway will be hosting the biggest Pro Stock/Super Stock race on the West Coast in recent memory. It is the Al Miller Memorial race, and it's a Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series event. It's the 12th race for the series, and it's paying $2,500 to win and $200 to start. I'm hearing from Roy Bain that there could be more than 30 cars for this race, and drivers will certainly be flocking from all over California, Nevada and possibly Oregon. This will be huge. This portion of the show will be broadcast at the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Facebook page for a pay-per-view that will feature Moxie Media's own Cory Penfold announcing.

As if that wasn't enough, the Wingless Spec Sprints will be there for what is their final point event of the season. The track will also offer one final tune up for the IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modifieds before The Duel In The Desert takes place in Las Vegas a couple of weeks from now. It's going to be a full slate of racing, and it wraps up 24 consecutive weekends of activity on the quarter-mile clay oval. They will have more racing in November. You can watch the official internet pay-per-view at antiochspeedway.tv. For further information, go to the Antioch Speedway Facebook page.

For Petaluma Speedway, Saturday was another open wheel special show. It was all about the USAC/BCRA Midgets and the Hunt Wingless Sprint Series. Thanks to sponsorship money from the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame, the Midgets had some point fund money for just a two race series. I also noticed that the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame threw some support behind the ARCA West Series race at Kern Raceway down in Bakersfield. In any event, Frankie Guerrini, a past BCRA Midgets champion, grabbed the point fund money as he collected the victory on Saturday. Not even previous winner Maria Cofer could stop him.

I would caution the Western Midget Racing group to be careful with their scheduling. The every other week at most racing schedule is what's going to grow the Ecotec Midgets. Attrition cut the car count by a few cars by the time the Main Event ran, and there wasn't a lot of excitement as Darren Brent cruised to victory. The Micro 600s increased their ranks back to double digits again, but nobody seems to be able to match Koen Shaw when he's there. I get the impression that Shaw would be more of a Micro 600 supporter if there were more quarter-mile or bigger track options in addition to Petaluma.

I think Petaluma might have paid a little bit more for the purse as this was a Hunt Wingless Sprint Series race, but I don't think they got the kind of car count they might have expected. There were some key names missing from the lineup, and this allowed somebody else to step up and claim the glory. While Geoff Ensign was piloting the Sparky Howard owned car, not even he was a match for Nick Robfogal. Robfogal had just about as much pressure as you can get, and yet he still persevered and won his first race. That was enjoyable to watch.

Petaluma might be done by now if we hadn't gotten the sad news of the passing of Todd Damron. I know Todd had friends in Petaluma as he had friends everywhere. They had already announced the Todd Damron Memorial race for next year and beyond, but that wasn't good enough for Promoter Rick Faeth. Therefore, they're paying $525 to win this Saturday afternoon's race. There will be no streaming service offered, though I suppose they will be on the Race Monitor app. They're encouraging people to stream the race on their Facebook pages. You can keep track of all of that information at the Petaluma Speedway Facebook page. 

Madera Speedway didn't go out on a high note. This was a Club Race, and the car count was less than desired. The Madera Late Model show, compared to their Nut Up Pro Late Model races, has a different caliber of driver. A couple of drivers run both, but most of the drivers in the Club Race deal stick to those races. It was nice to see Lily Mead go down swinging as she tried to overtake Trevor Schlundt for the championship. Trevor was just a bit faster in finishing third to win that deal. Jason Aguirre wasn't going to get beat by anyone as he ended things with his third-straight win, but Shelden Cooper was a jubilant second as he wrapped up the overall championship.

My big criticism with Madera Speedway is that they don't do enough for the entry-level classes. The formula that Kenny Shepherd seems to employ is one where they're bringing in the kids through the 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models and the Mini Cups/Bandaleros. When the Focus Midgets were barely chugging along, they were using that as another vehicle to get the kids in. What they're not doing is trying to encourage more everyday people to get involved. That is to say the middle class working people. You would tend to get people like that into your Hobby Stock or Toyota Sedans classes, and that's not happening.

I don't know if it's because of a lack of promoting or what the deal is down there, but it's been that way for a while. In fairness, the numbers weren't great when Kenny stepped in, but he's done nothing to improve those numbers either. The Toyota Sedans have been around there for a while, and they used to have a good car count. There always used to be a decent Hobby Stock/Street Stock class, and I believe there still should be. When you're watching two Hobby Stocks going around the track or a total of six MST and Toyota Sedans, you know there's a problem here. Even without the pandemic, these numbers weren't going to be much better.

So, if I have to be a little bit critical of a promoter I think is doing an outstanding job this year, this is where it's at. Kenny needs to do something with these classes. Don't let them fade away. We want to promote not just the kids getting into the sport, but people in their 30s, 40s or even 50s who might want to take a shot at a little Saturday night glory. These are the people who might want to go racing but don't want to go broke doing it. Otherwise, you've got racing fans waiting for the MavTV taped races, where they know they'll get a lot of Late Models. Everything else will be something people might be more inclined to skip.

I like that they are keeping things like the Harvest Classic on the schedule. There are a couple of others that normally happen when there's not a pandemic. These are open wheel programs, and there's an issue with that as well. The offset Super Modifieds don't have the numbers they used to have. There's been some movement to build a Winged Sprint Car class for the pavement tracks, such as Kern Raceway and Stockton, but even that has stalled. To Kenny's credit, he tries to keep some of this around, but it won't work if you don't have a division to build around this deal. I don't know what the answer is here, but if it's not going to be the offset Super Modifieds, I still think it would be in the track's best interest to find something open wheel that they can build upon.

 

Let's face it, Stock Car racing is Kenny's strong suit. He's ran with NASCAR, and he's been up and down the road. It's not surprising to see the Nut Up Pro Late Models and 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models doing as well as they do, and I give him a ton of credit for that. I actually like the Challenge Cup thing that he seems to be flirting with. This is a division that uses the ARCA West rules with the idea of giving racers a place to go that's close to home. I can easily see the Challenge Cup races fitting in on a Club Racing night. When I was monitoring the ARCA West races last weekend, I had the realization that Shepherd could probably build his car count up to match the bigger series in short order. He had six cars for his last race, which was just under half the count that hit Roseville on Friday. 

On the other hand, Kenny could always come into an agreement with the ARCA West people to book one of their races in the future. I think those guys would do well on that track. Madera will be back on November 14th for the Triple Turkey Open, featuring the Late Models, Crate 602 Modifieds and Hobby Stocks. It will also be the banquet night for them. You can find more information on the Madera Speedway Facebook page.

I wasn't planning on monitoring things from Roseville or Kern Raceway last weekend. Steven Blakesley is pretty much on top of the Roseville stuff, but it was happening on a Friday. I wasn't overwhelmed, so I watched the scoring loop. I give Bill McAnally credit for making some sort of season happen there this year. I heard he was going through some hurdles to put together the six race season that he managed to promote. I understand that Bill faces some other obstacles at the Placer County Fairgrounds, so I give him credit for keeping the continuity going there.

The Late Models had wrapped up their season the week before. The way the NASCAR deal works, the paved tracks in California usually run twin Main Events for them. One of the selling points at Roseville was the fact that there were only six weekends of racing for his NASCAR deal, and his lead four divisions all got some point fund money. I like the NASCAR deal, which is paying the Top 5 drivers in the four chosen divisions some point fund money. I don't think Roseville particularly set the world on fire with car counts in any of these classes this year, but the show went well and the track had set up its own online streaming service with the very capable Blakeley announcing.

For Friday, the Late Models were not there with the other three classes, but that's because McAnally brought in the ARCA West Series. This is the same series that ran under the NASCAR West banner for many years. There's a great heritage here, and I'm a bit disappointed to see NASCAR back off of another one of its regional series. They've already given up the Southwest Tour, which I'll get into in a moment. They also don't have the old Regional point races they used to have. They basically do track point races and State point races, but that's another subject.

There were 13 ARCA West cars at Roseville, and I'm thinking that's a little bit low. However, if we go back about 25 years, I remember the NASCAR Winston West not having that many more cars when they visited Altamont Raceway Park. This thing has been sort of coasting along for a while now, and I suppose cost of the race car is one of the factors. I looked at the roster, and the only longtime racing name I recognize is Todd Souza. It actually brought a smile to my face to see Todd end up second on Friday night.

Todd came up through the ranks of the Watsonville Speedway Street Stocks and Late Models before making his way to the Southwest Tour and eventually the ARCA West Series. He persevered in this race to get that second, but the finish is what got everybody talking. Anybody who's been paying close attention to the Winged Sprint Cars in California knows who Giovanni Scelzi is. Gio has been very impressive, but he stepped up the ladder into the Stock Car world and got a ride in the NAPA Auto Parts/Curb Records Toyota this year.

Taylor Gray led most of the race at Roseville, but he left the door open just a bit too wide as they raced to the white flag. That was all Scelzi needed to drive through and collect his very first win. I'm happy to see a guy like Gio getting this opportunity, although I'm sure the finish will have people talking. It seems like these short tracks are a breeding ground for wild finishes like this. If there is a consolation prize for Gray, he redeemed himself on Sunday with his win down in Bakersfield ahead of Marson Diaz. Diaz has an outside shot at the championship.

My first glance at the roster for Friday night had me thinking, who are these guys? Then again, I knew Todd, and Trevor Huddleston certainly rings a bell with his accomplishments at Irwindale and Madera. I have seen a lot of talk about Holly Hollan, although she's still going through the learning process a little bit. The two names that jumped out at me are Jesse Love and Joey Iest. These are two drivers that I'm sure Kenny Shepard and Madera Speedway will claim as they climb the ladder in the sport.

Love won the Focus Midget championship at Madera before claiming the Junior Late Model title in 2018. Iest was a star of the Focus Midgets before winning the Junior Late Model title last year, so they've definitely come up through the Madera farm system. I had no clue that they had already run eight races in the ARCA West Series prior to Roseville. 

Love is on the verge of the championship as long as he can just maintain going into the last race. He's driving the NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota for Alex McAnally. I have a hunch he could be the next West Coast driver to catch an opportunity with the NASCAR Xfinity Series. This is not something I follow very closely, but I'm sure some of these teams running with ARCA West are satellite teams to the NASCAR Cup owners.

It's the big dream. One day you're going to catch an opportunity to run with the big boys on TV every week. Back in the old days, one of your Saturday night racers might eventually work their way into an opportunity with one of the regional touring series and might even catch a break and go National. Things have changed so much that these young drivers basically have to have a big sponsor right now as that's what helps lands them the ride with the big team. I would say that every team you watch on TV has a half a dozen or more young drivers in line who are gunning for that seat. You face long odds.

Love jumps out at me because I've seen this kid race Sprint Cars with wing and without, and he's already accomplished a lot between that and especially on the pavement in Stock Cars. As long as he's bringing the right attitude with him, his talent could take him a long way. Obviously, he'd like to add this ARCA West championship to his resume, and there's a good chance he can get that done. It was nice to glance at what this series is up to this year as I admit I usually don't give it a second thought. It's still alive and kicking, although the NASCAR banner has been replaced with the ARCA banner. There's a long history associated with that sanctioning body as well.

Nothing really jumped out at me about the regular Roseville divisions on Friday night other than Jason Philpot being his usual fast self. Between Roseville and Ukiah, he was the guy you would want to bet money on in Limited Modified competition. He won roughly a dozen races between the two venues and counts himself as a champion at both tracks as well. All in all, this was a decent way for All American Speedway to wrap things up, and you can keep an eye on the track's Facebook page for future updates. Like all of the other tracks on the West Coast, Bill McAnally will be hoping for a better year next year.

The southern half of California has had a miserable time trying to get things going. As I've mentioned recently, Santa Maria, Ventura, Paris and Tulare haven't opened this year since the shut down. The Bakersfield tracks, Orange Show, Hanford and Merced have only opened sparingly. When the Kern County Raceway Park facility got the opportunity to run a big event on the pavement track, they didn't hesitate to go for it. I'm hearing rumors that the dirt track may have a race scheduled in November, and I suspect we'll hear an announcement soon if that's the case.

They didn't go in half-hearted with this one. In addition to the ARCA West Series, they also had the spears Manufacturing Southwest Tour Late Models and Modifieds along with the local Kern Raceway Pro Late Models and Super Stocks. The two local classes ran Main Events on both nights, and it was nice to see Madera Late Model regular Blaine Rocha collecting the glory on both occasions. I believe Trevor Huddleston was leading when he broke on Saturday, and he scratched from Sunday's action. 

Sunday was the night to be there, although I'm not sure they allowed spectators in the stands. I'm sure there was a streaming service you could view, although I didn't investigate that. I spent Sunday watching the live scoring loops on Race Monitor. I almost didn't realize that they had two different apps going as one was for the Southwest Tour group and one was for the local classes

If I'm remembering my history, past T Car and Saugus Promoter George Stiles actually had a hand in putting the rules together for the Southwest Tour when it was under the NASCAR banner way back in the 1980s. The idea was to give the pavement and even dirt Late Model guys a way to get into a bigger Tour for more exposure. It was supposed to be somewhat of a launching pad for drivers to either go into the NASCAR West Series or even bigger. We've seen such Watsonville, Antioch and Merced stars as multi-time champion Jim Pettit II, Dave Byrd, Doug McCoun and Todd Souza take this route.

While.Pettit was on his run as a champion and perennial contender, NASCAR divested of the tour, but it didn't go away. They went under the SRL banner, which is where they are now. Even now, they attract good turnouts. Although the Southwest Series is not something I cover regularly on this blog, I always look to see how many racers show up. It's a rare occasion when they have less than two dozen cars, which was about what they delivered on Sunday. Derek Thorn has been one of the bigger stars in recent years with multiple championships, and he got the glory on this occasion as well.

It's kind of interesting that while Stockton 99 Speedway was hosting a North State Modified Series race that delivered over 20 cars, there were 16 Spears Modifieds at Bakersfield. Jeremy Doss would be a factor with either group, and he's run with both. However, he and Eddie Secord are battling for the championship with the SRL, so that's where both of them were on this occasion. Doss got the win. I can't imagine a fan of pavement racing would have been disappointed with the show they had on Sunday at Kern Raceway. There were plenty of cars and good racing for sure. I would keep an eye on the Kern Raceway Facebook page for any announcements of race dates to come.

I wanted to keep an eye on live scoring at Stockton 99 Speedway, but only the North State Modified Series kept the scoring app going all night for people to see. These guys have been doing a fantastic job. I regard this series as the premier pavement effort for Modifieds in California. I think you'll usually find them at Ukiah, Lakeport, Eureka or Shasta, but they will make trips South on occasion. If I heard correctly, this was their first race at Stockton. I don't know who the lady is, but she was broadcasting on the group's Facebook page once again. They do that there. She didn't bring excitement to her tone, but you got all the facts and she was pleasant to listen to while watching the action on the track.

Stockton already had a big show planned with their regular lineup. It was the double point season finale, and that meant a 100 lap Late Model race, along with the Bombers, Basically Four Cylinders and Mini Cups. They got an earlier start to this race and wrapped up somewhat early. I did notice quite a few people up in the grandstands, but Promoter Tony Noceti is employing the "bring them in through the pit gate and let them sit in the stands" formula. He's selling hot passes and cold passes, as we mentioned above. If it's helping put a few dollars into the funds, I say more power to him.

Looking into this weekend, Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford will be having the Tom Tarlton Classic. This will be a $21,000 to win race for the Winged 410 Sprint Cars, and I'm surprised that they're going ahead with this event as scheduled. I'm not sure who might be coming in from out of the state, but I'd be dumbfounded if there weren't at least two dozen drivers on hand for this one. They are selling pit passes to people not associated with race cars and allowing them to work their way up into the grandstands. I believe floracing.com will have the broadcast. If the Sprint Cars aren't enough, the USAC Western States Midgets will be there for $2,100 to win as well. You can go to the Keller Auto Speedway Facebook page for more information on that.

On Saturday night, Marysville Raceway is going with the annual Sprint Car Spooktacular Gold Fever race. It has now been given special meaning as it's been named after the late Paul Hawes. Paul was the promoter for several seasons after Mel Hall passed away. The Winged 360 Sprint Cars will be competing in this race along with the Wingless Spec Sprints, Winged Crate Sprints and the Pepsi IMCA Sport Modifieds. It's probably a good move to include the Sport Modifieds as they should deliver a double-digit turnout, and the Winged 360s will be the strongest turnout. The other two Sprint Car classes are anybody's guess as to what the numbers will be, but the action will be broadcast on internet pay-per-view at floracing.com once again. For further information and updates, check out the Marysville Raceway Facebook page.

Siskiyou Golden Speedway is also on our radar for this weekend. They will be running a Halloween special, and they're looking to get an earlier start. They want to do a Trunk or Treat candy giveaway for the kids before the races. It's certainly been a trying season for Promoter Kevin Barba, but they've managed to make it to the finish line. I'm not crazy about the October races there, but as they had a dozen Pro Stocks and a dozen IMCA Sport Modifieds at the previous race, I'm guessing they were satisfied. This final race has deviated a bit from what was originally scheduled.

They are running Winged Sprints along with the IMCA Sport Modifieds and Outlaw Pro Stocks. This is a point race for the Pro Stocks as they wrap up their championship season. According to Misty Buschman, who went live on Sunday at the track's Facebook page to give an update, they've had 10 commitments from the Limited Sprint crowd. I was checking social media to see if there was any chatter on the subject but I couldm't find any. Based on what I've seen happen there when they've tried to do a deal like this before, I can see them having five or six cars, but I don't know beyond that. Pro Stocks will probably get a double digit count, and the Sport Mods could as well.

I saw the remark from the Crebs Racing Team. Jeremy Crebs is one of their area drivers, and they were voicing disapproval of the track canceling the IMCA Modifieds from the show. I hate to say it, but I have to side with Crebs. I've been saying all along that if the track wants to reestablish this division, they need to be consistent in booking and in purse. Without that, they'll never get this thing off the ground. They had an ample shot to get some momentum this year with Southern Oregon Speedway not opening at all, and I admit the numbers weren't spectacular. However, they had better numbers in this class this season than they've had in recent years. 

I'm going to be interested in seeing if there are in fact 10 Sprint Cars that show up. I feel like the IMCA Modified drivers have a right to feel insulted when told that a division the track doesn't normally run is guaranteeing them 10 cars and this is reason enough to strike the IMCA Modifieds from the schedule. Misty left an opening for these drivers to commit to Saturday's race by Monday night, but I wasn't expecting things to change. To be honest, even if they give you a half dozen cars, you'd be wise to keep them there. I don't think anybody's going to complain if you're not able to pay a full purse due to the fact that you can't have fans in the grandstands. It's either that or no race at all.

I like that Kevin keeps moving this deal along. They've made improvements to the facility, but the racing program itself still needs some tweaking. They still need to develop some new in-house divisions, which don't necessarily have to be upper tier. Mid-card or lower card classes are needed as well. They need something that can deliver cars. I don't think Kevin promised things would turn around there overnight, which was smart. It will really take a few years to get going, but new divisions are needed in the future. Their neighbors to the north in Medford will probably be active again next year, which should be the case with most of the West Coast tracks once they know they can do business as normal. 

I probably sound like a broken record here, but I'm talking sense. You have to put up with the lean times when you're building something. Having six IMCA Modifieds show up is better than none at all, and you can build on that. I wouldn't have dropped the class from this weekend's schedule, but I would have explained that purse will be adjusted based on car count and the fact that no fans are allowed. In any case, the final show will take place this Saturday, and Misty says she will try to stream it live on the track's Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page.

 

I probably don't need to add this as it's just giving me more to edit before posting, but Cory Edwards had another interesting rant on social media. Is he still the director of the San Jose Speedway Hall of Fame? I don't know. I don't doubt that he's been involved in the sport during the glory years of San Jose Speedway. I've been told from people who were there that this is the case. What I do question is whether sometimes it would be better for him to measure his words or just keep certain opinions to himself if it's not going to serve to help make things better in one way or the other.

I should probably let it go, but there are a few things I'd like to point out. He and I are in agreement when it comes to Bob Barkhimer. He may have been the greatest promoter in racing that California ever had. He was that good. He certainly had his moments where the drivers stood up against him, and sometimes his pride might have hurt business a little bit. However, he built an incredible racing empire. I personally believe that Bob's name should still be remembered in the sport at certain Northern California tracks to this day.

Cory points out that Bob pretty much called the shots and controlled these tracks, but I think it's important to point out something else. Bob had certain people that he counted on to promote these places at the track level. Bob could only be in one place at a time, and San Jose Speedway was a palace. It's still beloved by people who were there, and the pavement track has been gone for over 40 years. People like Jerry Piper, John Pershing Soares and Bert Moreland were counted on to keep these other tracks going, and they were exceptional at what they did. Honestly, if I had my way, there would be a Founders Cup race that remembered these men every year at some venue. As I don't have the power to do that, it probably will never happen.

I take exception to Cory naming Kenny Shepherd and John Prentice and taking shots at the tracks that they promote. First of all, I'm not aware of anything Kenny has ever done to Edwards. Kenny took a track that was in serious decline and has built up a remarkable Late Model program that gets them TV notoriety and is actually promoting young stars that we might just see hit the big time one day. It also should be pointed out that Kenny has let the fans enjoy the racing action at Madera for free all year. What exactly has he done wrong? He even led the way in drafting his own plan to get the track open while meeting health guidelines this year.

Cory took a shot at Prentice earlier this year, and I'll leave all of that in the past. Was John getting creative with what he was doing and maybe overstepping the lines? I don't know. I do know that if you're a racing fan and something like that is going on, you don't go to county officials and flap your cake hole to get the place shut down. Edwards did that. And to think, Prentice was the promoter that gave Cory the venue to present his San Jose Speeway Hall of Fame awards. I just don't get the animosity here either.

I think Cory hit on something about the uncertain times we're going through right now. Yes, business is hurting. What do you expect these race tracks to do? I don't know if any promoter is specifically making money, but bills are getting paid. Revenue is still being generated at the fairgrounds level at certain venues, and continuity continues. It is not an ideal situation. Fans haven't been allowed at most of these tracks, and people are starting to get into the habit of not even paying attention to racing at all, even with internet pay-per-view as an option.

I share the concern about how these tracks are going to do with attendance next year. Will the fans come back if they are allowed to? I have a feeling those numbers might take a hit, and some of the sponsorship money that was once available may not be there either. As I've been saying all along, we're going to feel the effects of this year's covid-19 shut down in many ways, and it's my hope that it won't be as bad as some of us fear. I don't get what attacking these tracks and these promoters actually accomplishes here. Either help be a solution to the problem or walk away gracefully and remember the good old days.

Guys like Al Pombo, Marshall Sargent, Bill Scott and so on are no longer racing, and I'm sure Cory misses those guys. Guys like Dennis Furia Sr, Marv Wilson, JD Willis, Dana Auger, Buzz Enea, Len Mello and so on meant a lot to me, but I don't think we'll be seeing amy of them racing again. We don't have the racing we once had, and it usually takes special occasions to get the car count we like to see. On the other hand, if you're going to tell me that Troy Foulger, Bobby Hogge IV, Kellen Chadwick, Ethan Dotson, Jim Pettit II and so on are boring to watch, I'll end the conversation there. Or, for those of you Sprint Car people, I know you enjoy watching guys like Bud Kaeding, Shane Golobic, Andy Forsberg, Sean Becker, Blake Carrick, DJ Netto and so on out there on the track.

I do sometimes think the sport has passed me by, and I do long for the old days. I don't know that my input is wanted by the promoters these days. I don't even know if I have the energy to dive in one more time to try to help a track, although I also doubt that the offer will be made to me. I do know that as long as there are cars on race tracks, the dream lives on. It still matters. Even if you don't think it compares to the good old days, these are still good days for the people who are going out there every week. That's what matters, or at least that's what should matter.

Cory insinuated that the fairgrounds are all going to be threatened to be turned into homeless encampments or worse. We've touched on this idea, which has been proposed for the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds in Stockton. While I think it could be a model for other fairgrounds if this is allowed to happen in Stockton, we're not there yet. It's not going to be a case where suddenly all fairgrounds tracks go in that direction, although I would still worry about the future of racing at fairgrounds tracks. I would encourage people who could invest in private property where a track could be built to do so if the hurdles aren't insurmountable, but that's another subject.

Homeless camps at fairgrounds is just a discussion right now, and it's one that racers and fans alike should stand up against. Go to the meetings. Write letters and tell the local politicians that you're not okay with this idea. Do it in a respectful manner. I recall watching the San Jose Fairgrounds track go down, and it went with a whimper. When it came time to go to meetings and speak up, nobody wanted to do it. The promoter walked away, the racers remained quiet and even a certain racing TV show didn't think it was worth giving it any time on the next broadcast. Only a 10-year-old boy with a petition spoke up for a city's racing tradition that spanned back many decades. Now, San Jose has nothing.

My point? Whether it's a city talking about turning a fairgrounds into a homeless encampment or wanting to turn it into a strip mall or whatever, you've got to speak up for the sport. Petaluma could still be in danger of losing its track. Watsonville could as well. When you're called upon to stand up for racing, do it. If you're not a person who goes to that track, but you can get there to help speak up for racing, do it. We're all in this together if we want to see the sport thrive. So basically, there doesn't have to be a homeless camp plan for these fairgrounds tracks. It can still go another way, and I can assure you that Stockton Promoter Tony Noceti will fight hard for the racers.

When I sift through the rantings of Cory Edwards, I see the pictures of racing from days gone by. I know the guy loves the sport. I know he has memories of better days. We all get older, and sometimes we forget that people are still out there enjoying good racing today. Maybe we think it doesn't compare to what we witnessed, but does that make us right? I won't question the man's passion, but I do wish he'd think before he speaks sometimes. We all have a right to our opinion, including him. It's just that if you really care that much, you should step up with a plan to help make it better.

If the doors remain closed on my return to a race track and I'm never able to pick up a microphone again, I can still do something positive. Even as we begin our plan to move away from the current media effort, there's still the question of books and bringing more history to light. I have some clear ideas on where I want to go with things. I only lack for the time to do it and do it right. By helping bring history to light in much the same way as guys like Dennis Mattish and Tom Motter have done, I feel I can help educate people who weren't there. It serves as a way to show the people who don't know how we got here. For others, it's a happy trip down memory lane.

 

About the only good thing I can think of about running a couple of days later than originally intended is that there's always that bit of news that I can add to the post at the very last minute. As I'm sitting here on a Thursday morning, I wanted to check on the latest regarding the fairgrounds in Stockton and this homeless encampment idea. When I reported on it in this column last week, I was skeptical because the sources that were reporting it were not reputable. The only thing that made you wonder was the fact that they quoted Tony Noceti in the article. What I'm trying to figure out is if Tony actually said anything at all or if somebody grabbed a quote out of the wind.

I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of talk about something actually did happen, but actually seeing something green lit is another matter. They tried to make it sound like this was just going to happen, and I don't think the wheels go in motion that quickly. It takes a little bit of time and public discussion if you're going to take a facility like the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds and just turn it into something like that.

As I also mentioned, there are other fairgrounds talking about using part of their facility for homeless encampments, which I believe would only be a temporary solution to a larger problem. Simply taking an entire fairgrounds and turning it into this seemed ridiculous to me, but other people in the racing community were already grabbing onto the story. I figured I'd put in my two cents.

A few days ago, a reputable news source, the Stockton Record, put out a story. The notes that were circulating came from a Stockton area Homeless and Water Task Force meeting that occurred on October 14th. The article points out that they discussed locating an emergency shelter at the fairgrounds, but they made no immediate plans to make it happen. The October 14th meeting was about coordinating the local and state government agencies in order to reduce the impacts of homelessness on the water resources in Stockton.

The Stockton Shelter For The Homeless CEO Jolynn McMillan said the rumors were completely false. She said there was zero plan of moving a regional homeless service out to the fairgrounds. The article is an eye opener, and it puts these rumors into perspective. There doesn't appear to be a big plan to get rid of the fairgrounds or turn it into some sort of homeless sanctuary. Could they do something on a smaller level there? That I don't know. Other Fairgrounds have talked about this sort of thing, but there's no major changes in the wind in Stockton according to this article.

As I said, I didn't really want to get into this, because it sounded ridiculous. As other people were talking about it in the community, I figured I'd offer my take on the situation. I'm glad a more reputable news source jumped in and got to the bottom of this. However, I do stand by the statement that I made above. When you're aware of a threat against your race track or another track that you might care about, be ready to stand up for the track in a respectful manner. All it takes is one or two people to screw up the whole deal. I'm probably 15 or so miles away from a track here in Oregon that got taken out because of one whining neighbor. It can happen anywhere.

 

I think that about covers it for this week. All in all, it was a pleasant weekend of racing, and we're just about ready to wrap up October. We'll still keep plugging away here doing our thing, but this will be the only post for the week. There isn't too much on our radar this week, but I am interested in how things go at Antioch, Hanford, Yreka, Marysville and Petaluma. The weather is looking decent for October, so I suspect things will go on as scheduled this weekend at least.

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