Pit Stops - Weekend Preview

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Pit Stops

In October, you will start seeing racing seasons winding down throughout California. In fact, there's usually not much happening in Oregon at all. Interestingly enough, that's not what's happening this year. Thanks to the covid-19 shutdown that kept most tracks from opening before the month of June, there are some tracks trying to make up for lost time. The unfortunate part of that is that fans are still not going to be allowed to attend most of these races. Fortunately, you'll have races being broadcast on various streaming services on the internet, and there are even going to be tracks offering free broadcasts. This column will take a brief look at some of the coming action.

Antioch Speedway has wrapped up championship racing, but the track is far from done. The $1,000 to win Hobby Stock race that was set to happen on October 24th has been moved ahead to this Saturday night. The reason for this is the track is working with Merced Speedway, which will be running the John Fore Jr/Bob Smith Memorial race on October 23rd and 24th. The Hobby Stocks are just one of the exciting divisions that have been scheduled for the big Merced show, which will also include IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, House of JuJu Central Valley Mini Stocks and California Sharp Mini Late Models. Check out the Merced Speedway Facebook page for updates and be ready to watch the action at www.floracing.com.

Antioch Speedway will be broadcasting on the www.antiochspeedway.tv service. In fact, announcer Wylie Wade will probably do a pit walk before the races, which would be shown on the Antioch Speedway Facebook page if it happens. The track was hoping to add a third division to this lineup as the Super Stocks are running in support. Unfortunately, they couldn't quite figure out the equation for this one. Winged 360 Sprint Cars are running in Watsonville, Wingless 600 Micros are running at Petaluma and the track opted not to add IMCA Sport Modifieds.

Point racing is done, but new Hobby Stock champion James Thomson has plenty of reason to want to be there this Saturday night. It's not just the $1,000 prize to win, it's the fact that he would love to record his first victory of the season. Thomson led the pack with six second place finishes, enabling him to win this year's championship ahead of Brianna Troen and Jake Bentancourt. Troen is another driver who has several Top 5 finishes this year who would love to collect her first victory.

There were 30 cars in action last week, and the speedway has seen multiple occasions where their car count has gone well into the 30s. The class is seeing it's best numbers in several years, and that's expected to be the case this week. We're not sure if three-time winner Travis Dutra will be ready for this show. Travis has been missing in action for the last few weeks or very possibly could have won the championship. Previous winner Jason Robles has been the fastest guy in the field in recent weeks, and he may be the driver to beat on this occasion. Don't be surprised if somebody from the IMCA Modified or IMCA Sport Modified ranks gets a ride in a Hobby Stock for this show, which will certainly make things even more interesting.

You can count on some top drivers from other venues coming to Antioch for the bigger prize, though we won't speculate on who that might be. The local stars will be the ones hoping to bag the big bucks. Some of the drivers to look for include Gene Haney, Larry McKinzie Jr, Gavin Griffitts, Josh Leach, Ken Johns, Charlie Bryant, Michaela Taylor, Angela Brown, Jewel Crandall and Chris Bennett. Hobby Stock enthusiasts will want to check this show out as it's the big one of the year. The division will still have more races before the season is done, weather permitting.

The Al Miller Memorial race for the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series and local Super Stocks will pay $2,500 to win on October 31st and $200 to start. There could be some Tri State drivers coming out for the tuneup race this week, including reigning Tri State Series champion Mike Learn and Jay Bryant. Bryant has been a big booster of the sport. Not only has he thrown some purse money into the Tri State Series this year, he's also the title sponsor of Antioch's Hobby Stock class with his Jay's Mobile Welding Service business.

Mike Walko can mark the checkbox where it says track champion. He won his first Super Stock title on the strength of the big Larry Damitz Memorial win last week. Walko won the championship ahead of Jim Freethy and the steady John Evans. All three competitors could be there this week, although it's possible that multi-time Antioch champion Fred Ryland could be piloting Freethy's #99 car this week. Fred has won both races that he started this year. Other drivers who could be there this week include Chad Hammer, two-time division champion Mike Gustafson and Chris Long in the John "The Bear" Keith owned entry.

Petaluma Speedway will be taking another shot at a USAC sanctioned program. In this case, both the USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Cars and the USAC Western Midgets in a co-sanctioned race with the BCRA Midgets will be on the bill. Also competing on the 3/8 mile Adobe oval will be the Western Midgets and the Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micros. An anonymous sponsor has chipped in to allow anybody who hasn't run with the USAC group to race without buying for a membership. The USAC Sprint Car portion of the program will now be $1,000 to win.

Unfortunately for USAC, their point racing effort in California never got going this year due to numerous cancellations. Petaluma has been the biggest supporter of the group this year, and this will be the third visit for the USAC Sprint Cars this season. Wins have gone to 2018 champion Austin Liggett and Geoff Ensign in the Petaluma visits. Last week, it was 2019 point runnerup Ryan Timmons grabbing the victory at Placerville. We're not sure who might show for this race, although Petaluma stars such as Bradley Terrell, Shayna Ensign, Daniel Whitley and Matthew Haulot could be among the field. Past Antioch champion Billy Aton and Antioch area stars DJ Johnson, Ricky Brophy and Shawn Arriaga could be there as well. Car count should be in the double digits for this race.

The West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame was unable to have their ceremonies this year due to the covid-19 situation. Still wanting to do something positive for the sport, the organization has put in some point fund money for a two Petaluma race Midget series this week and next week. The USAC and BCRA Midgets will co-sanction this show. The last time the Midgets were in Petaluma, it was Alex Schuette turning in a rather dominant performance in victory. Alex looked good at Placerville, but Scotty Farmer of Brisbane, Queensland Australia looked even better in scoring the victory. The Midgets produced 17 cars for their show at Placerville, and it was certainly an entertaining event. Bakersfield's Brody Fuson finished second that night ahead of CJ Sarna and past champions Frankie Guerrini and Shannon McQueen.

When Schuette scored the victory back in July at Petaluma, he beat Austin Liggett by half a lap as Cory Elliott, Ben Worth and Sarna made up the balance of the Top 5. Most of these drivers are anticipated. The BCRA side should be represented by such noteworthy competitors as Hall of Famer Floyd Alvis, reigning champion Robert Carson, David Prickett and Blake Bower. Just for the Wingless Sprints and the full Midgets alone, this show should be worth viewing.

The Ecotec Western Midget class has grown rapidly in its two years. The division began building its ranks at Watsonville and Ventura last year. With Ventura not running this season, the group has been looking to Petaluma for more opportunities. In July, David Prickett picked up the win ahead of Tyler Slay, Evan Bonnema, Tyler Dolalcki and Theron Smith. Prickett has won all but one race this year on the circuit and is the reigning Watsonville champion. It was his protege Tyler Slay getting the other win at Watsonville. These Midgets are exciting to watch and breathing some new life into the Northern California effort. Other drivers to watch for include Ventura champion Randi Pankratz, Jon Santibanes, Blake Bower and Cameron Beard.

The point race for the 600 Micros is over, and we couldn't hazard a guess as to who the champion is. It could be past champion Jim Beck, who is a feature winner this year. One might expect it would be Koen Shaw, who has three victories to his credit. However, Shaw also missed a race. If Shaw is there this week, he'll certainly be fast. George Nielson is also a winner this year who could be in the hunt, along with hard charger Kyle Grissom, Rob Brown, Shiloh Borland, Carroll Mendenhall, Savannah Brown and reigning champion Justin Adiego.

Petaluma Speedway will still have more racing to come on the 24th. The Spec Sprint portion of the show will now be a Hunt Series show that night, and you can find out more information by going to www.petaluma-speedway.com or checking out the Petaluma Speedway Facebook page.

The Johnny Key Classic was revived at Ocean Speedway over a decade ago. When the track decided to add Winged 360 Sprint Cars to their format. It was natural to bring the Johnny Key race back. This will be the 60th running of the big event, which started at the old paved San Jose Speedway and continued at the San Jose dirt track after that until that track closed. Trivia buffs will note that Jason Statler won the first Key race at Watsonville, which was the biggest win of the longtime NARC/King of the West Sprint Car racer's career. Justin Sanders has won two of the last three Key races, and 10 time Civil War Series champion Andy Forsberg won in 2015

Not only is this a special race that everybody wants to win, it's also a point race. Bud Kaeding had been holding a huge point lead, but the track employees a throwaway rule. After all of that has been factored in, Hanford's Mitchell Faccinto has emerged with the lead. Both Faccinto and Kaeding have four Top 5 finishes, but Faccinto has a feature victory, giving him a six point advantage over Kaeding. Reigning King of the West and King of Thunder champion DJ Netto is one of two two-time winners at Watsonville this year, and he trails Faccinto by just seven tallies in what is now a three-car battle for the championship. Only 28 points back is Blake Carrick. He is also a Watsonville winner this year along with victories at Placerville and Marysville.

Joining Faccinto, Netto and Carrick on the winner's list are reigning Chico champion Sean Becker, Shane Golobic and two-time winner Justin Sanders. Those three drivers could be there offering some tough competition. The roster is expected to stretch into the 30s, and other drivers to watch for include Kurt Nelson, Kaleb Montgomery, Koen Shaw, reigning champion James Ringo, Jason Chisum and rookie Max Mittry. 

We haven't heard if the track is keeping points for the IMCA Sport Modifieds and Modifieds this week. By the sanctioning body's own rules, point racing is over. Jim Pettit II won the IMCA Modified championship by six points over Cody Burke and 28 ahead of State champion Troy Foulger. It was Adriane Frost beating Gavin Espino by five points to win the IMCA Sport Modified championship as Kelly Campanile was 31 points back in third. We can tell you that IMCA Modified feature winners this year included Pettit, Foulger, Bobby Hogge IV and Dylan Thornton. Hogge had three victories, while Pettit had two. IMCA Sport Modified wins this year were earned by Frost, Jim DiGiovanni, Fred Ryland, Andrew Peckham, Brent Curran and Tanner Thomas. Peckham had three wins, while Ryland and Curran had two. We're not sure who might show up for this race, but the Sport Modifieds should have a decent turnout.

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With eight races in the books, Joe Gallaher leads the Hobby Stocks by 43 points over Steve Remde and 53 ahead of past champion Terry Campion. Campion won the 40 lap race earlier this year, and Gallaher is a two-time winner. Campion is only four points ahead of the three-time champion Rob Gallaher and six in front of Jerry Skelton in the battle for third. Rob Gallaher has a win, while Bakersfield area racers Dylan Wilson, Nick Johnson and Johnny Wood are also winners. Johnson has a pair of victories.

Ryan McClelland seems to be on his way to the Four Banger championship. Should he stumble, two-time champion Kate Beardsley is there to make a move. Beardsley has all Top 5 finishes in her seven starts, but she has yet to win. She won the championship last year without any victories. McClelland has a division leading four victories. Nicole Beardsley is 14 points behind Kate Beardsley in third, but she has one victory to her credit. She is also 13 points ahead of Tony Gullo in the battle for third. Other wins this year have been recorded by 2018 CVMS champion Greg Baronian and John Grilli.

The big race will be broadcast on www.floracing.com. Watsonville intends to have another race with these five divisions along with the Western Midgets, on November 6th. You can find more information at www.racepmg.com or through the Ocean Speedway Facebook page.

Fans looking for a free broadcast need look no further than Madera Speedway. All season long, Promoter Kenny Shepherd has been giving away the broadcasts on the track"s YouTube page. This Saturday's event will be a MavTV Series race. It's also the final point race of the season for the Nut Up Pro Late Models, 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models and the Bandoleros/Mini Cups.

Madera Speedway Pro Late Model point leader Buddy Shepherd was less than thrilled to settle for the $5,000 second behind Irwindale star and $10,000 winner Trevor Huddleston last time out. However, the win moved Shepherd closer to his third series championship. He leads the group with four victories and a 76 point advantage over Ryan Philpott. Following his third place finish last time out, Ross Strmiska moved to within 25 points of Philpott. Though Strmiska has finished as high as second this year, Philpott is on the winner's list along with Jeremy Doss and Dylan Zampa on one occasion each. Blaine Rocha is only 16 points out of third, while Sheldon Cooper holds down the fifth position. Cooper leads the combined points for the Nut Up Pro Late Models and Madera Late Models. Zampa, Joey Iest, Austin Herzog, Glen Cook and Doss make up the balance of the Top 10 going into the night.

In the Junior Late Models, Bradley Erickson was forced to settle for second last time out behind Cole Brown. However, the four-time winner leads the two-time winner by 64 tallies as he gets closer to winning the division championship. Jake Bollman is only 24 points behind Brown in the race for second. Jake has finished second on multiple occasions, but he is getting closer to grabbing his first win. Only 22 points behind Bollman is another driver who has finished as high as second this year, Kercie Jung. Kabe McKinney has won a Madera Racing Series Late Model feature race, but he'd love to win one of these shows. He holds fifth in the standings, followed by brother Kale McClenny, Brody Armtrout, Kasey Kleyn, Robbie Kennealy and Cassidy Hinds

It's also noteworthy that the Junior Late Models don't usually get the big prize money. On Saturday night, thanks to sponsorship from Frank's Radio, Mission Foods and 51fifty Energy Drink, the Top 5 finishers will each pocket $1,000, the next five finishers will win $500 and the next five finishers will each earn $250. There's also a $500 prize being offered to the hard charger of the race. The extra prize money could increase the field in this class just a little bit.

In the Bandolero Series, Jeffrey Erickson has won all eight races, giving him a 48 point advantage over Caden Cordova. Cordova led several laps last time out, but he settled for his fifth-straight runner up finish that night. Cordova is 36 points ahead of Joey Kennealy in a closer race for third. Nathaniel Edwards and Wyatt Sansom make up the balance of the Top 5. Rebecca Dubie holds a commanding lead over Harley Kennealy and Evan Laires in the Mini Cup ranks. Dubie has six wins this year as Kennealy and Laires each have one. Kennealy has been missing from the last two races due to engine issues.

The track is able to give away the broadcast for free on their YouTube page thanks to sponsorship from www.nutupindustries.com, Mission Foods and 51energy Energy Drink. You can find out more information on that at www.racemadera.com or by going to the Madera Speedway Facebook page.

Another track likely to be offering a free broadcast for the fans to enjoy is Ukiah Speedway. When they've been doing this, it's been offered at the Ukiah Speedway Facebook page. They had to cancel a race in the past few weeks due to fire crews being located at the fairgrounds, but the TNT Towing Bomber Bash will go on this Saturday night. They will have a 35 lap Main Event paying $1,000 to win, followed by a 55 lap Main Event paying $1,500 to win. The Limited Modifieds will be there along with the Jammers, Legends of the Pacific and the Pro 4 Modifieds. The track has indicated that they might add another race in November.

This race is likely to attract top competitors from Lakeport, Eureka and Shasta. The point battle for the Bombers finds Charley Tour leading with three wins in the seven races. It's not even close with Loren Powers Jr over 100 points behind. Powers is trailed by two-time winner Brenton Smith, Roy ingalls Jr and Brandon Powers. Charlie Collins and Jeremy Doss have one win each, and both drivers are anticipated in the quest for another win. Some of the other drivers to watch for include regulars Drew Smith, Josh Smith, Peggy Tour and Raymond Taylor, along with other hard chargers like Denny Casada, Forest Kuecker, Tony Ramazotti and Jordan Krupa. The Bombers at Ukiah are always exciting to watch, and this event will be even bigger.

Jason Philpot has been the star of the Limited Modified class with five wins in seven starts. This gives him more than 100 points on Tyler Caturegli as Roy Ingalss Jr, Sammy Nuno and TJ Buzzard make up the balance of the Top 5. Sierra Furia and Mike Lovell are the other winners this year as hard chargers like Bo Robertson, Kylei Keown, Dennis Anderson and Tim Buzzard Sr are also in the hunt. Philpot has been so fast at Roseville that he wrapped up the championship there last week. He comes into the night as the driver to beat.

We're not sure who will be coming with Legend Cars and Pro 4 Modifieds, but there could be a good turnout of Legend Cars. Both groups haven't had too many opportunities to race on the fast paved oval, so this should be good. Cody Winchell was the winner of the September Legend Car race ahead of Derek Copeland and Scott Sabol as eight drivers came to compete. 

The Jammers run the Seniors and Juniors together. Junior star Christian Sanchez has won many of the combined races this year, but Michelle Robertson got the win in the Senior group last time out as the overall winner. John Parker was the only car in the Pro group for several races and leads Elizabeth Ingalls in the point battle. Sanchez has been the big star of the Juniors this year, winning all but one of their races. Second ranked TJ Sorrels was the other winner, and Sanchez has a comfortable lead over Sorrels in the standings, followed by Hailey Glass and Charles French. 

The track would normally run the Street Stocks and B Bombers with the Bombers, but they are being advertised as having their own race on this occasion. Charley Tour was driving a Street Stock in the B Bomber/Street Stock race in September and won in an exciting finish. Dave Land is listed as the point leader ahead of Nate Hoban and Horse Hawthorne in the B Bomber division. The track is hoping to develop something here that gets big enough that they will have their own race in the future, but they're planning to have their own race this weekend.

Back in the 1980s, Marysville Raceway created the Gold Fever Open show. The track had a strong Late Model and Street Stock program back in those days, and that October event was even bigger. It wasn't uncommon to see over 40 cars in each class back in those days. As time has gone by, the track has continued to have a Gold Fever race, and it's evolved in recent years to become the Taxi Cab Open. This year marks a subtle change in that as the event has been renamed the Taxi Cab Challenge. They are going to try to have a more structured set of rules for each class.

The divisions remain the Limited Late Models, Super Stocks, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks and Hobby Stocks. Some of these divisions might seem a bit redundant, but there are subtle differences to the classes. The Limited Late Models run the Placerville ruleset that Marysville adopted two years ago. The Super Stocks were the class that Marysville ran, though the track ran the class with wings. The Street Stocks were somewhat similar to the Super Stocks without wings. Pure Stocks run a ruleset based on the Placerville class, and Hobby Stocks are more in line with the rules as Marysville sees them. Prior to 2016, the show consisted of Late Models, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks, but two of the classifications branched off to give the show it's current five division lineup. In recent years, there have been drivers attempting to run two and even three classes.

Dan Brown Jr won the Limited Late Model championship this year, while Dan Jinkerson was the top point earner at Placerville. It was a good year for the class as there were usually enough cars to put on a decent show. Matt Micheli won the division championship last year and was also the winner of this race ahead of Jay Norton and Trey Willard. Rod Oliver won the race the year before that, and an anonymous driver, going by the name Buster Himan, won the race ahead of Oliver the year before that. Ryan McDaniel claimed the Limited Late Model wins in 2015 and 2016.

It's interesting to note that the track announced that the Super Stock division would be running Tri State Pro Stock Challenge rules. The Tri State Pro Stock Challenge itself clarified that this is not an official race for the group, but the track is hoping to follow their model to attract more cars for this portion of the show. 

It was two-time Tri State winner Jesse Gonzalez winning last year ahead of two-time Petaluma champion Steve Studebaker and three-time Tri State Series feature winner Richard Brace Jr. Multi-time Marysville champion James Castleberry, Rod Oliver and Jerry Bartlett won the previous races with Bartlett winning in 2015 and 2016. This has been the division to attract the Petaluma and Chico cars in recent years, but some of those drivers have also raced with the Street Stocks.

Brace picked up the win in the Street Stocks last year ahead of Studebaker, Brent Lawrence and Placerville star Les Friend. Lawrence has done well in this classification with wins in 2018 and 2015, while Shawn Smith won in 2017 and Bartlett got the win in 2016. You're likely to see some mix and match going on as drivers run both the Street Stock and Super Stock shows again this year. Part of the beauty of the Taxi Cab Challenge is that drivers are doing different things with rules that allow them to run multiple classes and get more laps. Prior to 2015, the Super Stocks and Street Stocks ran under the Stock Car moniker. The 2014 race was won by reigning Tri State Series and past Petaluma champion Mike Learn.

The Pure Stocks and Hobby Stocks ran together at one time, but drivers started pointing out the differences between the rules in both classes. The Pure Stock division runs the Placerville ruleset, and it's no surprise that drivers from the El Dorado County Fairgrounds track have done well in this race. Jason Palmer won last season's show ahead of Friend, multi-time Placerville champion Nick Baldwin and Jared Hess. Chase Brigsby, Baldwin and Orville Owens won the previous three races. Hobby Stocks and Pure Stocks ran together in 2015 with Baldwin winning ahead of Brian Cooper and Lauren Dreiss. Word is that Cooper is trying to find a ride for this show. 

Marysville has a nice Hobby Stock division, which saw the championship go to Jesse Van Roekel this season over Jim Brookshire. They delivered enough car count last season to require a B Main. The feature race was won by Orland star Rick Etchieson ahead of Jason Palmer and rising young star Jacob Johnson. Johnson has won at Orland and Marysville this year. Past champion Brian Compton rattled off three-straight wins from 2016 through 2018.

Fans of fendered race cars might enjoy this show. We're not sure what the car count will be, but these events usually end up being pretty entertaining. They'll be broadcasting this on internet pay-per-view at www.floracing.com. For further information, go to www.marysvilleraceway.com or check out the Marysville Raceway Facebook page.

At Siskiyou Golden Speedway, management remains committed to trying to establish a new tradition of racing in October at the Northern California track. Booked this weekend will be the IMCA Sport Modifieds, Outlaw Pro Stocks and Mini Stocks. We're not sure what sort of car count they will get as the numbers weren't very strong last time out. As this is a point event for the Outlaw Pro Stocks, which are based largely out of Klamath falls, Oregon, the turnout should hit the double digits for them at least.

Last time out, 2019 IMCA Sport Modified champion Ethan Killingsworth pocketed over $800 for winning both the Main Event and the special Crack The Whip Challenge race. Killingsworth could enter this show as the driver to beat as Medford area racers Jorddon Braaten and new champion Mike Medel aren't anticipated for this one. Rapidly improving rookie Ryan Peery hopes to offer some competition. Other drivers to watch for in the group include Colt Boswell, Randy Wright, Jace Wright, Chad Worthington and Parker Finley.

The amazing thing happening in the Outlaw Stocks is that they've held six races in Yreka and one at Coos Bay. There has yet to be a repeat winner. The winner's list includes rookie Darek Alford, reigning champion and current point leader Scott Flowers, past Chico champion Phil Marino, championship contender Matt Harlow, Jeff Haudenshild, Jesse Gonzalez and Johnny Cobb. For Cobb, Harlow and Alford, it was their first wins. Some of the other drivers to watch for include Scott Bennett, Dennis Burtenhouse Jr, Colby Hammond, Ginny Flowers and James Flowers.

We're not sure what sort of Mini Stock turnout might happen, and it's also possible that the track could add the Jefferson State Jalopies at the last minute. They ran the Jalopies and Mini Stocks together last time out. Kassidy Wilkinson got the win on that occasion ahead of Ashtin Hedges and Hunter Magnan. It was a Mini Stock sweep of the podium as Karl Bernstein led the Jalopies for the first time this year. Bernstein and Jalopy champion JJ Smith have been spearheading the move to establish the Jalopy class, but we're not sure if they will be a part of this program. You can find announcements at the Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page, and it's possible that they could be broadcasting the show there as well.

 

 

The Editor's Viewpoint

One of the things I was going to comment on last week was the Hot Rod Party thrown by Pete Paulsen. Pete has been doing these events for decades now, and this one had significant meaning. He says this is the last big car show that he's going to do in the fall. This means it's the end of an era. Pete hasn't ruled out doing smaller car shows and is in fact planning one in June of next year, but these big ones take a lot out of him.

Pete is 83 years old now, and he's taking care of his ailing wife. Simply planning this year's event and trying to bring it all together was challenging for him. However, he wanted to make this one happen and go out on a high note. By all accounts, this was a success. They had more cars this year than last year. They had Candy Clark from American Graffiti and Timmy from Lassie there meeting the people and signing autographs. From everything we've heard, everybody had a good time this year.

Antioch Speedway Hall of Fame announcer John Myers has been an MC for these events for several years, and this one was bittersweet. John has moved to Montana, but he's always made the trip back for this show. Sadly, his co host Wolfie passed away last year. When John comes out to these events, he always makes it a point to stop off at Antioch Speedway and visit everybody. I wish I could have been there to say hi to him. He reports that he had fun flagging some races and announcing with Wylie Wade, and the car show will be another fond memory to look back on.

When I think of Pete Paulsen, I think of those classic red, white and blue painted race cars with the #66. The Pete Paulsen House of Wheels Special. Pete was a car owner champion at Antioch Speedway, and he took the wheel of his own truck and won the championship at Antioch. I always admired the presentation of his race cars, because they were some of the nicest looking cars at the track. While he has been racing for all these years, he always enjoyed bringing people together and raising money for causes. In recent years, he's been gathering bikes for underprivileged kids, and Myers even brought some bikes from Montana to help the cause this year.

Pete also promoted Delta Speedway. This wasn't the Delta Speedway that basically runs the Micro Sprints that we see now. Back then, they had Micros, but they also had Outlaw Karts and several divisions of Four Cylinder race cars. Pete competed in those classes as well. At one time, they were even running Figure 8s. Two of Antioch Speedway's biggest names, Kellen Chadwick and Nick DeCarlo, started racing Karts at Delta when Pete promoted the place. I'd say he's had a great career in motorsports.

I also appreciate the fact that Pete has volunteered to help some of the Antioch Speedway shows in recent years. When I was trying to get a little more promotion for the Larry Damitz Memorial Super Stock race, Pete was the one who sponsored the trophy on multiple occasions. He's also sponsored the trophy for the Chet Thomson Memorial Hardtop race. I can only say I salute Pete, and I wish him the best moving forward. Also, best wishes to his wife. 

I have admittedly become more nostalgic about the good old days as I've gotten older. This is one of the reasons I'm looking ahead and beyond my follow-up to Just A Kid From The Grandstands to the next book. I want to start putting together some nice history books involving Antioch Speedway and other venues. Editing does become a tedious process, and I'll never really get anything going as long as I'm involved in the current media effort. I make racing such a big part of my life as it is, but there are days I want to disengage. I'm trying to figure out how to best proceed with this blog in the future after I wrap up this season's media effort.

Preserving history is important, and I had a thought as I was looking at eBay for some reason last week. I think I was doing a random search that led me to Antioch Speedway. They had an Antioch Speedway shirt on sale there. This is one that took a logo off of one of the programs from the 1970s, blew it up and gives longtime fans a nice retro shirt for their collection. I believe they do this with other tracks as well. I'm sure the person selling these shirts doesn't own the logo or anything like that, but who does at this point? What are the copyright laws when it comes to selling vintage things like that? This person isn't selling just one shirt. They are printing new ones with that logo on them as somebody buys them.

What blew me away was the 1983 souvenir program for Antioch Speedway that was selling for $58. This hits home to me because I've had my extensive souvenir program collection thrown out on me. I once had that program, and it certainly wasn't one of the better programs in the track's history. They didn't even have a roster printed in the program that year, nor did they have that many pictures in it. What I recall about that program is it was so bad that it led to my desire to want to create a better souvenir program and was also part of the reason I got into racing media. That program sucked so bad that a not even 15-year-old kid felt they could do better.

Who owns the copyright on something like that? I know that particular program was an original, but could somebody recreate these programs? I'm sure there are people who own different programs from different years, but what is the copyright law on something like this? I know the race tracks weren't thinking about that so much back then. They just needed something that had rosters in them that enabled them to call out the lucky numbers. They made a little bit of money off of those programs by the time the year was over. Sometimes, you'd buy programs that you wanted to keep and other times they were pretty bad and easily discarded.

I loved the programs I had from the late 1970s up to about 1981. There were lots of pictures and rosters. I remember scanning photos, so at least I have that in my collection. I thought back in the days when I first got my scanner that it would be nice to scan the entire programs, just in case. However, it seemed like too much work and I didn't bother. I sort of wish I had now. If I had my collection, I could make perfect scans of every page and create a PDF file for upload on the web. Or, I could create a file that could be put on a print on demand site for sale. Actually, anybody could do that.

I guess I was just thinking that it's a rip off when you look at some of the programs that are being listed on eBay and how much they want for them. There wasn't much to some of those programs, and I've seen some that go for $100, assuming somebody ultimately buys them. Somebody who was resourceful enough could recreate those programs in their entirety and make them available for the public. They could even find a place to print them, for those who want a hard copy. You don't have to gouge people to do something like that. That same 1983 program could be done as a print on demand thing and sold for a fraction of that ridiculous $58 price.

It just made me think a little bit as I saw that. It's one of the reasons why I want to start putting together actual racing history books with some of my photos, complete with statistics, stories and all of that. The guy who's leading the way in preserving history through books is Dennis Mattish. Dennis has a book coming out soon about Baylands Raceway, which you can add to his books on San Jose, Watsonville and San Francisco area racing. They are all top-notch, and I intend to add them to my collection when I'm budgeted enough to do it. Dennis was a heck of a photographer, and he still gets out there and takes some really nice shots.

We have a great racing history at Antioch Speedway that stretches back to the early 1960s. It's time to begin putting something together to remember all of that. For that matter, tracks like Petaluma, Merced, Vallejo, Bakersfield and so on have lots of history. Something can be done that would really bring back the fond memories. I know you're talking about a niche market. I don't expect that many of the books I create will sell very well, but there are some people who will be interested in them. This is why I don't worry about stepping out of the current media effort when there's so much history that can be remembered. There are stories to be told that people who didn't live in those times would still love to read, and those cars were so much more appealing, at least in my opinion.

You're still going to be dealing with a good news and bad news situation going forward. Because of the covid-19 guidelines, tracks are trying to make their way through this mess. I am seeing people reacting to bad news by saying that things are just going to change when the election is done. Let us suppose that the politician we think is fighting against this BS wins. I'm not going to name politician's names here, but I think people know who I'm talking about. Does that automatically mean that everybody pushing for lockdowns, face masks, mandatory vaccines and all of that are going to just shut up and quit? Don't you think this could be bigger than just one election?

I hesitate to go further in this subject, because I will get political. The one thing I will say is that this strikes me as a time when we can't sit on our butts and let somebody else take a stand. How many people are in that mode trying to fight back against the unrealistic and unreasonable restrictions? If more people had the courage to just stand up and say enough, I don't think we'd be going through what we're going through right now. No one politician is going to change this, and I'm not going to get any deeper into that here. People will be fitting me for a tin foil hat next, and that's not what this column is supposed to be for.

I just mention that racing is being greatly impacted by what's going on now the same as everything else. Every time Perris Auto Speedway makes an announcement, they're canceling another race. In this case, October 24th, which was to be a PASSCAR Stock Car oriented show, has been canceled. The management is pretty much laying it out there. They are not opening because of the situation regarding fans. Only a handful of tracks had the courage to just say no when it came to racing without fans. A few tracks dabbled, and a few tracks have gone all in. We'll see what their accountants think about all of this when they count the money. I have a feeling we're going to start hearing about tracks closing if 2021 does not see a return to normalcy.

Don't expect Paris Auto Speedway to have a race this year. Much like Ventura Raceway, Santa Maria Speedway and Tulare Thunderbowl, it ain't happening. Hermiston Raceway in Oregon got the green light to attempt a race on October 24th. I don't know if they're trying the two race in one day format where they bring in 250 fans for each showing or not. Since they are back in Phase 2 again, they want to attempt something. The other three shows they did actually generated quite a bit of money from the front gate as fans were paying $20 per ticket. Best I can tell you is to go to the Hermiston Raceway Facebook page.

The news in Las Vegas has not been good. Being the science fiction geek I am, I noticed that the Star Trek gathering they were going to have in December has been canceled. Since they've taken my beloved franchise and made it woke, I could care less. I say, call me when Star Trek is Star Trek again. Otherwise, no thanks. The point is, they're not allowing gatherings, and fans will not be gathering at the Duel In The Desert at Las Vegas either. They made the announcement on Wednesday night that there will be no tickets sold to fans. It's all about getting people through the back gate, due to the restrictions imposed on the track by Health Officials.

What it looks like Vegas will be doing is funneling everybody through the pits and letting people sit in the grandstands to encourage social distancing. This would appear to be the model that Hanford has been using. However, they are saying that you have to be attached to a race car to be able to buy a pit pass. They're allowing 10 people, counting the driver, per car. You're talking about well over 300 cars in the pits, so they're going to do all right when it comes to being able to pay the purses they are offering. Plus, they've got sponsorship. 

I think some of these tracks just count on the idea that Health Officials aren't really watching them closely in the pits. In areas where you might only be able to have 250 people gathering in one place, it's obvious that some tracks are not following those guidelines. They are not selling tickets to the people in the grandstands, so officials are happy that they're crippling the tracks when it comes to business in that regard at least.

One comment I read from a fan really sums up the displeasure some fans are feeling. They made the comment, "Good luck getting your fans back next year." There's actual truth to that statement that I know promoters have either thought about or better think about. You're training fans to sit at home and watch the show on their computers. Also, some people are gradually becoming non-fans. They're getting on with their lives and doing other things. This is why we need to get some sort of normalcy back to the sport. I would estimate that tracks all across the country, especially in states that have clamped down the hardest, are going to see lower than average attendance numbers in 2021. That is assuming we can have as many fans as we want without restriction by then. There could still be limitations imposed.

It's the third weekend of October, and there are several tracks on our radar. We will try to cover as much action as we can here on the blog. People sitting up in the cheap seats will have Ukiah Speedway and Madera Speedway to watch. Ukiah has has one hell of a Bomber show, in my opinion. This will be the TNT Towing Bomber Bash. There will be two Main Events, paying $1,000 and $1,500 to win, respectively. The Limited Modifieds will be there among the other divisions, and other information and the broadcast can be found at the Ukiah Speedway Facebook page. Management has indicated that they may attempt to add another race in November, weather permitting.

Kenny Shepherd at Madera Speedway leads the charge when it comes to including the fans for free. He knows the situation is lousy. He's also probably lost a significant chunk of money this year, and it's likely due to sponsors like nutupindustries.com, 51fifty Energy Drink and Mission Foods that he's able to do what he's been doing. He's been trying to create content for MavTV, which was probably one of the driving forces for him to continue this year under these lousy circumstances. Saturday will be the point season finale for the MavTV Series Nut Up Pro Late Models, 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models and Bandoleros/Mini Cups. You can go to the Madera Speedway Facebook page for further information on where to find the stream, and the track isn't done after Saturday either.

I don't want to get too much into previewing the races in this column. We'll probably go a little bit crazy trying to cover as much of this stuff as we can. Antioch Speedway has done some major scheduling adjustments for October, and that left management a little bit concerned over lack of car count heading into this Saturday's show. Originally, the $1,000 to win Hobby Stock race was to happen on October 24th. This was already announced when Merced Speedway made it official that they were doing the John Fore Jr/Bob Smith Memorial show that night, and they would have a Hobby Stock race paying $1,000 to win.

Antioch management did not hesitate to take the race from the 24th and move it to the 17th. They could have easily let go of the race, but I think Promoter Chad Chadwick wanted to give the Hobby Stocks a big show. They certainly deserve $1,000 to win and $100 minimum to start based on the car counts they've been delivering. Therefore, the race on the 17th made sense. However, it became obvious that the Super Stock show probably wouldn't have a lot of cars, and the track was trying to figure out how they could fill the field.

To me, the obvious choice was to add the IMCA Sport Modifieds. I don't see how Antioch couldn't get a dozen to 15 cars to show up for that. Without looking much at what else was going on, the track initially tried to entice Winged 360 Sprint Car drivers to come. They retracted this when they realized that Watsonville was running the 60th Johnny Key Classic. There was no way Antioch could compete with the big show at Watsonville. The next move was to add the Wingless 600 Micros, but that date got pulled a day later when they realized they were booking on top of Petaluma Speedway.

While Antioch running their Spec Sprint show head to head with Petaluma last week definitely impacted the other track, I don't really believe this Wingless 600 Micro Sprint race would have had an impact. Petaluma gets a dozen to 15 of those cars, but they're not drawing that many competitors from Delta Speedway or Dixon Speedway, two tracks that weren't running their Wingless 600s this week. It probably could have worked, but Antioch did the right thing. I will repeat, Antioch management and Petaluma management needs to sit down and have a meeting of the minds. Racing in the area would benefit if these two tracks would work together for the betterment of each other.

I don't think it made a big difference moving the Dwarf Cars from the 16th and 17th to the 23rd and 24th. There was nothing major happening for the group on either weekend. This date was always put on the schedule to do something really big for this class. Before Antioch was given their July Regionals event this year, I know the track was hoping that they could be considered for a Nationals show. They're paying $1,500 to win the big Dwarf Car show and $200 to start. They're running a twin heat race format, similar to what they did for the Bill Bowers Memorial IMCA Modified race. Six drivers will lock into the Saturday show, and there's no reason to think Antioch won't have a bunch of Dwarf Cars that weekend. As always, keep up with Antioch Speedway on their Facebook page and tune in to their pay-per-views at antiochspeedway.tv.

I know Watsonville will have over 30 Winged 360 Sprint Cars for the Johnny Key Classic. I'm not sure what the format or the pay will be, but the Sprint Cars have been supporting this track pretty well as it is. With the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Mini Stocks on the bill, the floracing.com broadcast will be worth tuning into. They were going to have the Western Midgets there, but the group had already been invited to Petaluma Speedway for the first of two consecutive shows there. Watsonville has played a pivotal role in helping establish that division, and they'll get another opportunity at their finale on November 6th. As always, the Ocean Speedway Facebook page is where you want to go to get your information.

Petaluma Speedway will have the USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Cars and the USAC/BCRA Midgets. They are waiving the sanctioning fee to anybody who hasn't raced this year. This is a good opportunity for a driver to remove their wing and run with the USAC Sprint Cars without having to pay a fee to run for just one race. An anonymous sponsor has come in to make sure that the Sprint Cars pay $1,000 to win. The West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame has put in money for a combined point fund for the Midgets this week and for the final race there on the 24th.

I do hope for the best at Petaluma. I think the Western Midgets can give them double digits, and I know that the Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micros can do the same. There should be at least a dozen Sprint Cars, and probably close to 20 Midgets, so the floracing.com broadcast will be worth checking into. The one thing I don't expect is a group of drivers from Southern California coming up north with their Sprint Cars, so I hope there is good local support. As always, going to the Petaluma Speedway Facebook page is the way to get any other information you may need.

We'll be monitoring the Siskiyou Golden Speedway show this week, and the big show at Cottage Grove Speedway is on our radar. In addition to the regular six divisions they've been running all year, The Grove will also have the Wingless Sprint Series and the Northwest Focus Midgets ($1,200 to win), so you can expect over 100 cars to fill the pits. I'm sure Ben Deatherage will be announcing the show that will be broadcast on internet pay-per-view at Dirt Oval TV. We know Willamette Speedway will be running a show as well, and the Oregon weather will allow it to happen this week.

As for Yreka, I don't necessarily think it's a smart move for the track to be going into October. I don't think there's as much opportunity as they believe there is. I also think management needs to start thinking about the next new division they can create in house. The Jefferson State Jalopies are neat race cars, but that's not the class that's going to grow big. Actually, they would be smart to add the Jalopies to this race if JJ Smith and Karl Bernstein have the cars ready. I don't know that they'll get very many Mini Stocks, so if only a few of those show up, they can run them together again. I would expect a double digit turnout for the point race for the Outlaw Pro Stocks, but I'm not sure if the IMCA Sport Modifieds will get there or not. The Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page is the place to go for information, and if they broadcast, that's where it will happen.

Marysville Raceway has ended their season with the Gold Fever Open shows for many years. I saw a couple of their big Late Model and Street Stock events back in the late 1980s, and they were very entertaining. They've changed the name from the Taxi Cab Open to the Taxi Cab Challenge. It's a subtle change, but it has meaning. It looks like they're going to be focusing more on rules in these different divisions than in the past. You'll have the Placerville Limited Late Models, Super Stocks, Street Stocks, Placerville Pure Stocks and Marysville Hobby Stocks. Because they are being more rules oriented, I'm not sure how much you'll see drivers going from one division to the other, as has happened in recent years. You might get a driver driving running their same car in three different divisions. At this point, I wouldn't even predict what the car count will be, but I know they will be on floracing.com. That's the main reason Dennis Gage has even moved forward with as much racing as he has this year.

I noticed an interesting little note attached to the Super Stock portion of this program. They indicated that the Tri State Pro Stock rules would be an effect. What's interesting about this is that they didn't officially contact Tri State Series Race Director Roy Bain for his input. It should be noted that Roy has tried to work out a deal with Gage as racers have been wanting to go to Marysville or Chico. Unlike Rick Faeth at Petaluma, it doesn't appear as if Gage has warmed up to the idea just yet, but it's obvious he's been looking at the successes that this movement has had.

Let's also point out another thing. They had a Super Stock division at Marysville that ran with wings. It sort of floundered, but on a good day they could get 10 cars. They still have Super Stocks without wings at Chico, which has only had a couple of races this year. What they did with their own Super Stock class is remove it in favor of the Placerville rules Limited Late Model class. In fairness, car count has actually increased there since opening up the rules. Technically, Marysville doesn't have a Super Stock class anymore, so maybe contacting the guy who is organizing the Tri State Series wouldn't be a bad thing to do?

I watched Roy's live update on the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series Facebook page, and it's obvious he was a little annoyed by what happened. Not mad, just annoyed. He just wanted to clarify that even though they evoked the name of the Tri State Series at Marysville, this is not a series race. When you work hard to build something up and negotiate through all of this covid-19 BS along the way, you're adding value to the name. 

I don't think it was unreasonable to contact Roy. He's not a hard guy to find on Facebook, and he might have been able to help Marysville a little bit with this show. Would it have been a full-on Tri State race? Probably not. Then again, they could have talked about the possibility of something next year if things went well, and Roy certainly would have beat the drums to get a little bit of support for Marysville.

These types of things happen sometimes in the sport. For instance, as the Modifieds were making their way out west, you would find tracks either calling their division an IMCA type Modified or just calling them IMCA Modifieds. Whenever the sanctioning body got word of something like that, they would send a nice little cease and desist letter to the track. Then again, you're dealing with an association that's been around for decades, where the Tri State Challenge Series has only been around for a couple of years. When people put an effort into building a name brand, of course they should feel some pride in what they've accomplished.

When I'm reporting something on this blog, I try to go to the official race track source first. Even when I do that, what I read from the track and post here may change the next day. It's always my intent to be as accurate as possible. When the Stockton Dirt Track announced that their New Year's race for next year will include the Dirt Modifieds, B Modifieds, Bombers and Basically Four Cylinders, they didn't include the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series in their announcements. 

I've been told by Bain that they are indeed a part of the show. The only reason I didn't mention that is because the track didn't make it official, but I have no doubt that the division is included. The Pro Stocks were certainly an entertaining part of this year's New Year's race in Stockton, and I'm aware that Promoter Tony Noceti was happy with the group. Frankly, I'm just happy to hear that the dirt track is racing again and looking forward to the Gary Patterson Tribute weekend coming up on the first week of November. As always, go to the Stockton Dirt Track Facebook page for updates and announcements.

In fact, I would recommend fans check out the Stockton Dirt Track Facebook page now. It's early Friday morning as I add this. We heard rumors that fans were allowed to buy passes to get into the Stockton 99 Speedway races recently, and those rumors were confirmed when Tony Noceti and Gary Thomas put up a video explaining how the Gary Patterson Tribute weekend events were going to go. They're selling hot pit passes and cold pit passes, and we need to pay attention to the terminology here. It's interesting that we've been speculating on ways for the fans to come in through the pits and find their way to the stands. This is something we've talked about for a while now.

As Noceti explains, the cold pit pass idea is something NASCAR has been doing. Fans, family and sponsors can buy a cold pass and hang out in the pits for a couple of hours until the track goes hot, which means cars start going out for mud packing. Then, the fans can find their way over to the stands. Since Health Officials are letting tracks have people in the pits to run these events, tracks are getting creative about ways to get fans in the pits to find their way to the grandstands. As we've said, Health Officials won't let most of the tracks open up their spectator gates, but this is an angle that Stockton is working.

It means that fans can pay for a cold pass into the pits, but those tickets are going to be a little bit higher than usual, probably due to insurance reasons. It's $30 to get in with a cold pass. When you think about it, it's not that much different than a ticket to a NARC/King of the West race as it is, so I don't think the die hards are going to have an issue paying that if they can find their way to the grandstands and watch the 37th running of the Gary Patterson race. This will also be done at the Sunday Stock Car oriented program as well. Once again, you can go to the Stockton Dirt Track Facebook page for any updates.

If you're reading this, it means I went beyond writing this column and decided to edit it. Even though I have pushed myself to do these previews for the last couple of weeks, it will be stopping. I decided there was enough going on and enough information out there to go ahead and do this one. I'm not delighted about so much racing going on all the way into November, but it's not a big issue covering the races. If I'm sitting at my desk on race night, and there's live scoring or a broadcast that I can watch, how much of a hassle is it to cover it at that point?

I'm getting myself into more of a nostalgia mode, which is actually a good thing. I'm trying to motivate myself for the serious editing that I'm going to have to do for the next book. Back in the day, once I got started on these things, I'd get obsessive about it. I was okay with late nights and doing a lot of work. The danger I have is when I shut my mind off to all of this stuff, everything ceases. That's not what I want to do here. I want to get the book done and released. I'm thinking about all of that and giving some thought to how to proceed in 2021 with this blog. There will be big changes, but how active will we be?

I've hardwired my brain to treat each post like a digital version of my old magazine. This is not something that necessarily needs to happen in the future, and I'm ready to explore concepts for how to cover more with less and how to make the process go easier. There will be no commitments to anything next year, because I have an annoying habit of following through and not stopping until it's done. Once I get started, that's how I'm hardwired. I don't want to make a big commitment for 2021 when it comes to racing. The wild card in this is if I land a gig as a media person and announcer at a track. The likelihood of that happening isn't very good, but something like that would keep the blog going weekly.

At this point, I'm shutting up. I've written entirely too much as it is. Until next time...