Limited Late Models Part Of Today's Big Antioch Speedway Event

For all of the official information on Antioch Speedway, Merced Speedway or Chowchilla Speedway, go to The Official Website.

The big money is on the IMCA Modifieds and Sport Mods this week, but it is the West Coast Nationals after all.  Four days of Modified Excitement with a different third division for each race.  This being Day 1, New Years, it is the Limited Late Models.  This is a class that first premiered at Antioch Speedway back in 2000.

Back in the late 1980's, I recall talking with drivers who wanted a Limited Stock class as a between class.  The Late Models were getting too pricey for the locals, and there were Street Stock drivers looking to do a little bit more. I did polls on the subject back then, and this Limited Stock class would have had 15-20 drivers supporting it, while most would have stayed with Street Stocks.

The track would eventually go with Dirt Modifieds, but there was another driver pushing the envelope.  Ron Brown wanted to take his Street Stock and make adjustments, including bigger tires, to run with the Late Models.  That idea was also rejected. I appreciated seeing Ron looking out for the low buck racers, but that's Ron.  If he could help somebody out, he did.  He wasn't a Gold Wrench Award winner for nothing.

Jim Bowman and I had a conversation about where the Dirt Modifieds should have been in the pecking order back in 1992.  He was of the opinion that it should have been a feeder class into Late Models.  I agreed with that.  I even ran a story that drew the ire of a prominent Modified racer who was lobbying for the extinction of Late Models.  But, it made sense. 

If we kept Late Models from going too much further with the changes, this class would have been reasonable for some Modified drivers to get into after a while.  They would have moved up eventually.  Look at it this way.  Scott Busby, Bart Reid, Bobby Hogge IV, A.J. Kirkpatrick and Eric Jacobson were some drivers from the Antioch and Watsonville circuit who made the move.  Keep Steve Hendren, Robert Miller, John Silva, Larry Damitz, Ed Sans Jr. and the guys in the mix, and Late Models would have been poised to end the 1990's strong.

But, NASCAR and racing in general has always been like that.  Price a class out of existence and drop the class with the remaining drivers scrambling to race something else.  It happened with Late Models in 1993.  It happened with the Sportsman class in 1981.  The Dirt Mods have lasted for 25 years, but we have Sport Mods now. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

After the success in 1999 of Wingless Spec Sprints, John Soares Jr. wanted a Late Model class at Antioch.  At the time, his alliance with his father at Petaluma prevented him from starting a class, but he could start a Limited Late Model division.  This would be a car using an older Late Model chassis, and to keep his father off his back, John called them Super Stocks.   No Late Model in the name, but that's what they were.  A working man's Late Model.

Not surprisingly, Ron Brown got on board with this by finding three cars, one for himself, one for his wife Lori and one for a low buck Dirt Mod racer named Clay Twigg.  Ron really wanted this thing to succeed.  Another Late Model enthusiast, Jerry Harless, was on board with this, and a returning Sportsman champion, Mike "The Blue Knight" Gustafson was in as well.

This class was gonna happen.  The first objective was to start racing and build a car count.  Ron Brown was the first champion two years running, but drivers like Street Stock champion "Dynamite" David Rosa, Chester Kniss, Brandi Ford, and George Conner were in on the ground floor with this thing.  It was happening.  Late Model racing was back at Antioch.  This was Late Models as they were a decade or so earlier, but Late Models nonetheless.

What happened next showed that John's idea was popular.  Two drivers from Ruth Motorsports in Chowchilla, Jerry "Hood Pins" O'Hagan and Mark "The Missle" Odgers had cars, and Chowchilla Speedway added the class.  One Watsonville racer who had been supporting Chowchilla, Mike Meazell, built a car as well, and he was one driver who pushed for races at Watsonville.  It happened.  Suddenly, three tracks were doing it, and George Steitz sponsored a series between the three tracks.

In 2002, Gustafson was the Antioch champion and Jerry O'Hagan was the man at Chowchilla.  Meazell, a past Watsonville Pure Stock champion, won the track's first Limited Late Model crown and won at Chowchilla as well.  In fact, I believe he won the Steitz Series title too.  Ken Gregg won it a year later and three straight at Watsonville as guys like Fred Lind, Rich Barbaccia, Jeff Mead, John Harville, Paul Salaiz, Gene Blakeman, Steve Bisordi and Steve Ewbank had cars.

At Antioch, they were getting car counts in the high teens.  Everybody was getting involved.  Daniel "Hot Rod" Hodges, returning Street Stock ace Mike Martin, Pure Stock graduate Ty Duggins, Mikey Slaney, Bill Bihn, "The Hit Man' John Asher and Jeremy Petrell were among the ones who joined the fray.  This class was taking off.

Then, the changes filled the air.  John Soares Sr. had retired at Petaluma in 2002.  I know John Soares Jr. wanted to run Late Model races at Antioch, and he had begun booking CarQuest Late Model shows already.  Once Watsonville got on board, the hard core among them wanted to go the Crate Late Model route and open things up.  After a couple of decent seasons, car count sort of faded at Chowchilla.

Then, Antioch added a Late Model Show, and four years into Limited Late Models, Watsonville opened things up.  Antioch continued running Limited Late Models with drivers like Lori Brown, Ty Duggins, Jeff Silva and John Asher taking their turns as champions.  But, car count took a hit.  Antioch had added their own Crate Late Model show in 2007.

While the Crate Late Models never got too big of a car count, they generally had 8-10 cars.  Limited Late Model Car count dropped.  In 2007, Larry Damitz joined the ranks to race with his grand nephew, Chevy McGinnis, and the class was lucky to field a half dozen cars in 2008.  That championship was won by Gustafson, but a change was coming.

Street Stocks were still getting a dozen or more cars per race.  Track management elected to merge Limited Late Models and Street Stocks with Street Stock drivers allowed to do more to their cars in 2009.  I refer to this as the end of the Street Stocks, though this first championship was won by Jeremy Mendes, who raced Street Stocks the year before.

The Limited Late Models in the class had a late start, but they were the dominant cars in the field.  Gustafson was a distant second after a late start, and Damitz and Mitch Machado were also fast.  I personally count this as part of the Limited Late Model heritage and at best the last year of Street Stocks as we know them.  What came next was further prof.

What was left of the Street Stock class pretty much disappeared, and the half dozen cars the Limited Late Models had two years earlier remained.  These drivers remained dedicated, and new competitors gradually joined the mix.  Machado was fast and he won that first championship, but Damitz would win three of the next four, interrupted only by Hobby Stock graduate Jim Freethy.

The track attempted to make a play for those lost Street Stock drivers by running a Super Hobby Stock class for three years.  After two titles won by Gene Haney and one by Jim Robbins, the class was dropped.  It was interesting to note that John Bellando and two time Street Stock champion David Rosa were among the competitors in this class.  David got to race with his teen age daughter Victoria, who was a top three competitor.

The Limited Late Models didn't stagnate.  Car count increased.  In fact, this division gained more than any of the other classes in 2014 and had car counts in the teens. 

Last season, Damitz won the championship over Mike Hynes by 30 points.  Of the divisions at the track, the Limited Late Models and Sport Mods seemed to have the most loyal support, as Freethy, Mark Garner, Peggy Sue Jarred, Gustafson, two time Petaluma champion Mike Learn, Cecil Henry and John Evans were also among the top ten Limited Late Model drivers.

Today marks the opening day for the Northern All Stars Limited Late Models at Antioch.  It has been reported that these drivers will earn points at all three Oval Motorsports tracks this season for an overall championship in addition to the track championship.

Antioch drivers have supported Merced, where Roy Hart Jr. was the top point earner ahead of Freethy last season.  Larry Damitz is a recent past champion at Merced as well.  Whether Hart, Buddy Thatcher, Ronnie Cole or any of the Merced racers come to Antioch today remains to be seen.

Placerville and Chico have Limited Late Models, and it's not surprising that Ryan McDaniel, Duane Cleveland and Matt Micheli are among the roster.  In fact, McDaniel beat Cleveland and 2014 Placerville champion Micheli for the Chico championship this season.  Whether or not we'll see these guys in Limited Late  Models remains to be seen, but it's likely that some of the Chico stars will show up with Dirt Modifieds for a run at the big money.

And so, Antioch Speedway management has to be pleased with the progress of the Limited Late Model division to have them as part of this big Dirt Modified blowout race.  The track will have Late Models as part of Friday's show.  The Limited Late Models could even compliment Late Models with somebody making a move up at some point.  In fact, I think seeing some of these drivers or Dirt Modified drivers moving up to Late Models is something track management is hoping for.

Whatever the case may be, Limited Late Models put on a good show of their own.  There were several different winners last season.  Even if 80 something year old Damitz may be seen as the man to beat today, it's anybody's guess which driver will be celebrating New Years with a victory at Antioch Speedway.  We'll know more in a matter of hours.

A Limited Late Model race From May of 2014 at Antioch Speedway

The Hobby Stocks Are Coming To Merced On January 3rd

The crews at Antioch Speedway, Merced Speedway and Chowchilla Speedway are working hard to get everything set for the big four race event that will ring in the new year.  It looks like everything is coming along nicely, and Antioch on January 1st will kick 2015 off right.  The Oval Motorsports Website is the place to go to find out all the details.  The excitement begins tomorrow!

Anyway...

I was just watching a video on YouTube.  Hansen Racing does some real nice videos of their Hobby Stock racing.  In fact, when I was "ghost writing" the 2010 season at Antioch Speedway, their videos were useful to my effort.  They make excellent use of the in car camera. 

I'll give you an example at the end of this post.  This was from the 100 lap race last season at Antioch Speedway.  I'm not really a fan of the whole redraw after 72 laps concept.  It pretty much handed the race to Fred Ryland, who wasn't even in the top three at that point. I give him credit for leading the rest of the way.  I say run the deal straight through, but that's my opinion.

For each of the big events this week at Antioch, Merced and Chowchilla, they have a third division in support of IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Mods.  Antioch's dates will include Limited Late Models (Day 1) and Late Models (Day 2).  Four Bangers make their Chowchilla return on (Day 4).  Saturday's race at Merced has Hobby Stocks.

It's a rather interesting story of the Hobby Stocks that goes back to the 1980's.  The three Northern All Stars (I kind of like referring to them as The CAM) tracks figure into this story.  It begins at Baylands Raceway Park.  I miss that place.  I had some good times there.  Got to score the last Enduro for Jim Robbins and his team.  Anyway...

In 1985, Baylands was running these wild and crazy Enduro races with a Destruction Derby to finish the show.  It was a popular concept, and soon all of the tracks followed their lead.  Antioch had its first Enduro in 1986, won my John "Boom Boom" Bellando.   He came from four laps down to win it too.

I think it was Truck Rodrigues who won the first one at Baylands.  He won races there that year.  What they decided to do was run these Enduro cars in a regular program with heat races and Main Events.  I don't know if they actually kept points that year.  Pat Scilley won the championship in 1986.  He was good.  He won the 360 Sprints title a year later.

John Wycoff and this guy named John Silva won the next two.  Silva?  Hmmm...  That name sounds familiar.  He became quite a Late Model driver in the years that followed.  He won the last Enduro at Baylands too.  This class had a ton of cars.  C Mains were needed.  The Straymeyer family, The Cummings family, an up and comer named Jimmy Lavell.  This old man from the days of Champion Speedway named Joe Rolletto.  The list goes on and on.

The NASCAR tracks took notice in 1988.  Watsonville and Antioch both had a Charger class that ran 20 laps, no yellows (only reds when needed).  A guy named Ron Yetter won the championship ahead of this new racer name Fred Lind at Watsonville.  Antioch kept no points, but The DCRR did.  Some new guy named Bart Reid was the top point earner.  Hmmm...  That name sounds familiar too.

Petaluma wasn't going to be left out of this.  John Soares added his own Charger class, and Gary Bonds won that deal.  Then, Baylands closed, and Soares welcomed the American Stocks to Petaluma.  It was a little strange since they already had a 25-30 car Street Stock Show, but now they had an American Stock class that was even bigger.  Guys like Norm Johns, Tim Haskins, Steve "Bubba" Dempsey and Shawn DeForest came up through the Pure Stock ranks.  Sadly, the division didn't make through the last decade at Petaluma for some reason.

Antioch and Watsonville dropped it in 1989.  That made sense at the time.  Both tracks had strong Street Stock car counts, though that class was definitely evolving.  In its last year as part of the NASCAR family, Merced started a Pure Stock class.  They had a big Street Stock show too, but Chuck Griffin saw need for this entry level division.  Alice Hotchkiss wrote her name in the books as the first champion. 

Technically, Pure Stocks don't share the same heritage as Hobby Stocks at Merced.  Technically, that is  It was seen as an entry level class and a step below Hobby Stocks when Merced added that division.  I'll get there in a moment.  A couple of Camaro drivers, Luis Miranda and Andy Welch, dominated the Pure Stocks and won championships, causing Griffin to ban Firebirds and Camaros in 1995.  Lee Willhite won that championship in his big orange car, nicknamed "The Flying Pumpkin" by legendary announcer Johnny Sass.

Ed Marion, Aaron Days, Nathan Corn and a returning racer named Wes Hogan were a part of this deal.  Only Days wasn't a champion, but he went on to bigger things at Altamont Raceway after getting his start in Merced Pure Stocks.  The class never really got huge, and lack of the Camaro's and Firebirds was blamed.  It did get into the high teens, and you could tell the difference between a Pure Stock and a Street Stock by the looks of the cars.

In 1994, Antioch Speedway wanted to start a Pure Stock class, and Turkull Racing and Henry Racing were on board with the idea.  Track management was hesitant to do it and only booked one race that year.  Those two teams fielded three cars if I recall correctly, and Cecil Henry was one of the first competitors in 1995.  He gave it a good effort, but Terrie Wacht wrote her name in the record books at the first lady to win a track championship at Antioch Speedway.  Tom Flanary, Rich "Mad Dog" Gardner Jr. and Donny Babb were other champions that followed.

At Watsonville, they started a division of their own in 1996, and Ken Jepsen staked his claim as the first champion.  Jimmy Bowman  Jr. and Mike Meazell were also on the champion's list before Sam "The Man" Kennedy proceeded to dominate this division.  Pure Stocks were ready to take over as the entry level class that the Street Stocks really weren't anymore.

In 2000, this guy named Tom Sagmiller opened Chowchilla Speedway.  People called him crazy.  On the heels of the closure of San Jose Speedway, this was needed.  What was needed to make this track work was non traditional thinking and a willingness to think outside the box. Sagmiller was the man to do it.  One of his first moves was to start a Hobby Stock class.  Unlike the Pure Stocks at Merced, Hobby Stocks would allow Camaros and Firebirds.

Needless to say, Chowchilla outdrew Merced's Pure Stocks with their Hobby Stocks rather quickly.  Guys were coming from Stockton, Watsonville and Antioch to race.  In fact, a dozen Chowchilla locals built cars for 2001.  "Rebel" Red Williams bested Jerry "Hood Pins'  O'Hagan to win the first title.  O'Hagan won it the next year, and Sagmiller created the Hobby Stock $500, a 50 lap race for $500 to win.  The class was finally getting paid in the state, but not much.  This was one of the bigger races of the year for the class, and Sam Kennedy came down and won this race.  It just so happened he was suspended for a week at Watsonville.  Chowchilla was drawing B Mains for this class in 2001. Antioch was into C Mains by then.

Merced was running Pure Stocks.  Chevy Monte Carlos, Buick Regals and a big old Ford owned by Wes Hogan.  "Rockin" Robin Fast and "Mighty" Mike Hamilton had a great battle for the 2001 championship, won by Hamilton .  There was this new guy named Raul "Showtime" Rodriguez who was rising up the ladder.  The class made it back into double digit car counts again, and Rodriquez was the 2002 champion.

About this time, Griffin could see that Chowchilla had bested him in promoting Hobby Stocks, so Merced added Hobby Stocks as well.  Mark "Freight Train" Funkhouser and "The Ice Cream Man" Marshall Weaver had a good battle that year, won by Funkhouser.  This wasn't the first time Merced had copied Chowchilla, but it helped turn things around for a track that was close to shutting its gates.

The Merced Pure Stocks died for a rather silly reason.  Pure Stock drivers were not allowed to race for money at Merced.  If they did, they were ineligible for Pure Stocks.  Griffin was rather uncompromising when it came to rules, and Chris Shelton and others ran their Pure Stocks in a Hobby Stock race on an off night for their class.  They just wanted to race.  They were out of the Pure Stocks after that, and the class just sort of died with Deak Sherrell as the point leader.  Dan "The Man" Holcomb was the last Merced Pure Stock champion as the age of Hobby Stocks at Merced was beginning.

Gradually, Hobby Stocks have evolved as drivers like Jeremy Prince, Robert Coe, Megan McCown, Denise McCown, Dan McCown, Melissa Hansen, Brad Meyers, Fred Ryland and Kimo Oreta have had their run at the top at Antioch.  At Merced, It's hard to beat the multi time champion Rodriguez for the honors, but drivers like Bruce Nelson, Rich Altamirano, Dave Coleman and Andrew Krumm were others who have won championships.  Ryan Hart has won Merced and Chowchilla titles, and others on Chowchilla's Hobby Stock Champion's Honor Wall include Kevin Pettit, Ryan Larimer, Shane Hausmann, Jarod Fast and Farren Steitz.

The Hobby Stocks aren't really that "Hobby" class anymore.  At Antioch in the 100 lapper from last year, Brad Myers and Fred Ryland were both clocking in with laps in the 17's, and that was on the expanded track.  Street Stocks during Don Shelton and Bart Reid's day were doing 17's.  This is basically just the Street Stock division with a different name.  This is no Hobby Stock in reality. 

Perhaps it's time to start a new class...  Oh, um, on second thought, we have too many divisions already.  For one thing, if you make a bone stock class, people will push for rule changes and track management will cave.  It won't be a "Pure" Stock class for long.  Also, we have Four Bangers.  So far, that division has stayed somewhat true to it's intent for over a decade.  They aren't running wings on them like at Baylands....  Yet.  Oh, I better not give them any ideas.  The Four Bangers are fine as they are.

Saturday afternoon, January 3rd, will be a time for the Merced guys to shine.  I don't know who will be coming for this first point race of 2015.  Rodriguez might be the man to beat as the defending champion.  Marshall Weaver still comes out to play now and then.  Former Chowchilla Champion Chris Falkenberg, Kristie Shearer, Kevin Joaquin, Robbie Loquaci, Ty Shelton and Josh Hensley are others who could show.

Freddie Ryland has been known to travel, so he could be there.  Brad Myers has indicated he'll be coming.  Jim Freethy?  It's hard to tell, but Hobby Stocks will race at Merced once again on Saturday.  This tips off the 2015 season, the 14th year for the division at Merced, now under the Northern All Stars banner.

Who's Coming to Take The Money On New Years At Antioch Speedway?

I did see that they posted pictures of the Antioch, Chowchilla and Merced tracks being whipped into shape for the big shows coming up.  They are on the Antioch Speedway Facebook Page.

As always, you can check the Oval Motorsports Website for the important information on this big event.

So, it just occurred to me that Antioch Speedway is preparing to open it's gates for the 2015 season on January 1st, and there is NO real buzz about this show.  Hmmm...  Seems like somebody really dropped the ball on this one guys.  Ya think?  $2500 to win Modified races this week and $1750 to win Sport Mods, even a $1500 to win Late Model show (based on 15 cars), and yet NOBODY is talking about who might win?

This is a bit difficult to speculate on since we have no idea who may have pre signed for this.  Again, somebody dropped the ball.  Will Bobby Hogge IV be  coming out to play?  After that win in the Pat Pettit Memorial Race at Watsonville last year (his third in four years), Bobby would automatically be the driver to beat.  Can Scott Busby come out to play?  He's done some big things in his career, but I'm racking my brain trying to figure out if he's won a big money race at Antioch before.  Hmmm ...

How about Paul Stone?  I was just thinking about that big win in the Chowchilla Shoot Out back in 2001, the last lap pass on Dave Byrd.  I remember thinking, this man has just stepped up to show that these Valley Racers can beat the best of them.  How about up north?  Randy McDaniel has kicked a few butts in his day.  He's fast.  Richard Papenhausen too.  I'm guessing the 2014 Antioch Late Model Champion will compete in that class on Friday, but he races Dirt Mods too.

Who's coming?  I'd hope they could reach 40 cars for New Years, but with the weather being cold and Christmas having just passed, who knows?  Chowchilla did okay last year with that Dirt Mod and Sport Mod event in January.  Predictions?  I don't know.  Troy Foulger sort of faded on us last year, but he did have a Late Model win.  Kellen Chadwick has been known to take the big money.  On the other hand, Bobby Hogge IV.  Need I say more?

Sport Mods?  I'm tempted to say Nick Spainhward.  Mainly because he seems to be the top dog in the class these days.  It would be nice to hear from one of the best Merced racers I've ever seen, "The Big Dog" Ramie Stone.  I'm not counting on him showing up at Antioch.  Too bad Matt Sotomayor isn't around these days.  So, I'll go out on a limb and say "Fast" Freddie Ryland.  Seems like the man will drive, and win, in anything.

Limited Late Models?  I wonder if there might be an outside player coming in.  I'd love to see Shawn McCoy or Steve Studebaker come in from Petaluma, but as this is a regular point show, I doubt it.  Since it is for Northern All Star points, anybody who wants to play needs to be there.  Jim Freethy?  How about that Garner fellow?  I see Mark won races last season.  Mike Learn, the two time Petaluma champion?  Speaking of champions, I'd love to see Mitch Machado for this, but I doubt it.  How about "The Blue Knight" Mike Gustafson?  He's due for a big win.  Ron Brown, the man who helped put this class on the map.  In the end, I'll pick Larry Damitz, because, well, he's Larry Damitz, and I just love that he's still out there racing.

Really, I have no idea who will win Thursday or Friday at Antioch, not to mention Saturday at Merced or Sunday at Chowchilla.  I predict it will be cold, but the track will be ready  I hope they have a good show.  I'm just disappointed by the lack of hype or excitement for this race, and it's almost here.  So I thought I'd say something.  If he were still here, I know Gary Jacob would be on the scene...

One more note to leave on.   Since this class stared in 1987 here in California, who would you consider to be the greatest Dirt Mod racer?  Tough question, isn't it?  Bobby Hogge IV?  He does have a long resume of big wins and championships.  Scott Busby?  He did a lot as well.  Randy McDaniel?  He was up North winning championships.  Scott Pounds?  And early IMCA Western Regional Champion when the circuit got going here in Californian.  Paul Stone?  Quite a list of championships and wins to his credit.

Michael Paul Jr. or Kenny Nott?  They've done well at their respective home tracks.  Kellen Chadwick?  He won a championship and some big races on the West Coast.  Brian Cass?  Not flashy, but he's a front runner.  Troy Foulger?  Four in a row at Antioch.  Joe Carr?  He's built some fast race cars for people, and he did help put this deal on the map as the first champion in 1988 at Petaluma.  It's an interesting debate.  I have a few thoughts on the matter, but I'm gonna have to get back to more nostalgia with this book I'm working on.  Maybe next time...

Oh, by the way, Low Budget TV put together a nice little highlight video of last year's New Years race at Chowchilla that you may like.  From the looks of it, they had a good show there.

Book Update, Big Races Coming And An Audio Show

I picked up the microphone for another edition of The DCRR Racing Radio show.  I think it's been a while since I did a show.  I want to say 2010?  An interesting anecdote about the show was it started in 1998 as a .wav file that gave me about 11 minutes.

I had the old page on AOL and a host for the audio at Xoom and then Homestead.  Being low buck reporter, I was using free resources.  It was all about getting the word out about the Antioch Speedway racers and creating a buzz for the track back then.

The thing was, I could only go 11 minutes.  Just one second longer and the show was too long.  I'd have to start over.  You could always tell when I knew time was running out.  I started speaking quicker as time ran out.  Then, it was probably a half an hour to upload.  I don't have any of those shows in my archives anymore.

I dropped the show when I had problems uploading new ones.  There it sat until 2000 when I met Joe Martinez at Chowchilla Speeedway in April of that year.  I handed him a copy of the magazine, and we ended up talking on the phone a few days later.  It turns out that Joe actually heard some of those old shows.

Well, I ended up recording  shows for our new web site, California Racing Online (CRO).  Joe produced them and added his touches.  I knew nothing about that stuff.  After that, Don O'Keefe Jr. hosted my shows and other audio on his web site, and then Dana Craig sponsored me a web site of my own.  I could not have done it without people like them and my dad.

Okay, two things...

The process of putting this book together is taking forever.  I'm not making it any easier by adding new stuff all the time.  It started as a Best Of The DCRR Blog book, or I should say three books?  Then, I started adding new content.  I think I've typed over 30,000 new words to make it "better" in my opinion.  I've added photos from my personal archives and some nice pictures that we ran in the magazine from L&J Photography and Green Flag Photography have been added too.

This is NOT a history book.  It's not the book I started this blog to talk about, but it has those elements to it.  The personal anecdotes (and opinions) in this book make it different in that regard.  Plus, I'd be working for weeks and weeks to do that book, and I want something sooner.  This is important to me, because I think a few people might like what I have here.  There are some historical stories in there, so maybe it's version .5 of the racing history book?

The problem is, it is over 400 pages now, and I'm just halfway through formatting it.  More to do, and I keep say, "Oh, I need to add this" as I go.  I'm like a kid in the candy store with that stuff.  I want to get done, because I have a roughly 70,000 word racing auto biography of my time in the sport to finish next.  There's not enough hours in the day, and you don't even want to know about the hours I'm keeping now.  I feel compelled to do this.

I was making plans for New Years to coincide with the Christmas release of this book, but obviously, I'm very late.  I'm not sure the plans I had to ring in the new year will happen.  It will require some effort to make that happen, and it's so cold.  100 pounds ago, I could probably handle it better, but these days...  The cold and the effort needed will probably prevent those plans, so I'm just dropping it for now.  Finishing these books is the priority.

And on New Years, John will be holding races at Antioch.  This will continue the next day, then Merced on the 3rd and then John's latest acquisition, Chowchilla Speedway, after that.  A four day blowout event for racing fans to start the new year.   I still can't believe that man has three tracks, but I always believed John could be a leader in bringing unity to the tracks.

I guess I didn't think it would be him playing the role of a modern day Bob Barkhimer, but perhaps somebody has to do it?  I don't know.  When Barky sold BBA, it slowly went down hill.  The 80's were still good, but it was fading fast.  I stressed so hard on track unity issues that it got to me.  Probably contributed to my departure.  I wanted universal rules and point races, but when you have so many promoter's egos at the table, it's hard to accomplish anything.

John has three tracks now.  With a grace period allowing drivers to make their cars legal, we can get there.  But, will the racers accept it?   I see signs of unrest from my spot on the sidelines.  Car count isn't spectacular, and there are nit pickers out there.  Without John, there many not be racing at Merced Speedway, and they are coming off of a pretty good season for car count.  I think his heart is in the right place.

So, I hope things work out with this.  As for New Years, it's so cold out there, I don't know how this will work for any of the tracks.  For the sake of the sport and the tracks that I love, I hope it works out.  Looking at those old pictures and the stories as I put the book together, I have to say we've had some damn good racing at these tracks through the years.  I hope it continues for years to come.

I remember when they called what was left of the State point race the WAM (Watsonville, Antioch, Merced) Series.  Now, John has put the CAM (Chowchilla, Antioch, Merced) Series together.  Not too bad, if you ask me.  I have to wonder, after the surprise addition of Chowchilla, if a new letter or two could be added to The CAM?  First things first.  It's time to build The CAM into something special.

Anyway, I put a show together in case anybody might be interested.  I cover a few things, there's news and speculation and more on the book.  The first show I did rambled too much, so I had to do a second one. 

I did forget to make a note that I wanted to comment on the report I heard of John Prentice taking over the Hunt Wingless Spec Sprint Series.  Very interesting.  I still wish Antioch would get involved.  Antioch should have started it, which I was lobbying for.  Anyway...  Spiv Sprints at Calistoga?  Are you ready for that?  I'm a little nervous about it, bit we shall see...

Oh, by the way, the new content I typed for this book will be released as posts on The DCRRBook blog in the days ahead, so stay tuned...


The DCRR Racing Radio Show: Episode 1 by GenWhat

A DCRR Book Update, Orland & Antioch News & Vintage Audio Call

I just dove deep into a project I hope to complete in the next week or two, so it's been a challenge finding the time to write anywhere else.  This project has been time consuming.  In the midst of that, I have an update on the name of the Orland race track and future plans there, scheduling at Antioch and Merced and a vintage audio broadcast at Merced Speedway.

But first...

I am hooping to put a racing book together and then edit the auto biography of my time in racing.  Yes, there is a book, and it's big.  It started as three smaller books of about 112 pages each.  It was to be the best content from this blog.  A funny thing happened on the way to putting this thing together...

I was grabbing material I had on certain files that ran in old DCRR magazines.  I resurrected the old Antioch Speedway history piece I had written back in 2000.  It's been updated by a few years, but not complete.  I resurrected the Merced history piece that Gary Jacob and I wrote.  Champions lists followed.  Then, it happened...

I thought to myself, where is Petaluma?  Watsonville?  Baylands?  Heck I even added Vallejo Speedway and Delta Speedway Mini Stock articles.  Champions lists too.  More, more, more.  I'm done adding to it.  I will never get done if I don't stop.

This isn't a history book.  If I am able to do so, the racing history book will take a lot of time to do in the way it needs to be done.  This is sort of a precursor to it.  There is history in this book, but not the way I intend the history book to be.  I have a lot more to share in that book, and it will take a lot of time to do it right.

However, this book has that historic element.  Many of my favorite posts from the blog are in this book, so you don't have to click links to find it.  It will be in the book.  Some of those posts haven't even been put up, though I intend to. Also, older season recaps from Antioch, Chowchilla, Merced.  Pit Stops from Petaluma, Watsonville and Altamomt.  An in depth look at the articles I did when John was bidding for Antioch.  I kind of put my butt on the line there. 

I don't know what it all is, but it will be over 400 pages I think.  I'm not looking to price this book at $75 or $100 like some books, not that they don't deserve it.  I want to make money, I'll be honest, but I want the book to be affordable enough for the reader to want to add it to their collection.  That is if anybody cares at this point.  We'll keep you posted on the progress.  I have to get back to it after this post.

We reported earlier that Orland Speedway has new management.  After holding a meeting at a local pizza parlor last week, the drivers now know that Orland will be running the core classes they've always run, including Wingless Spec Sprints, Hobby Stocks, Mini Stocks and Mini Trucks.  Street Stock drivers may be able to make a case for themselves if they can bring the cars.  This is a smart move for the track as they prepare for a new season in 2015.  We'll see how things develop.


By the way, the tracks new name is Sacramento Valley Speedway, and they have  a new WEBSITE.

Meanwhile, Antioch Speedway has an ambitious plan to open with the big West Coast Nationals on New Years Day and the 2nd of January.  The next two days will belong to Merced Speedway on the 3rd and Oval Motorsports newest acquisition, Chowchilla Speedway, on the fourth.  The question is, will the weather permit this to happen?  

John Soares Jr. will have all of the classes back that competed last season.  This means IMCA Modifieds, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks, Limited Late Models, Late  Models, Four Bangers, 360 Sprints are all back.  Also, John has two (count 'em) two World Of Outlaws races planned for Antioch and one for Merced.  Oh, and that Wingless Spec Sprint class is back for it's 17th season.

You can see the schedule HERE.

Finally, I dug through the archives and uncovered another audio file to share with you.  This is from Merced Speedway 2001.  I was up in the grandstands with the recorder.  A funny thing happened.  Matt of Matt & Glass heard that call online and said Merced needed me.  He sponsored me for four races so that Chuck & Marylee Griffin could hear me and give me a chance.

Thanks to Matt, I got to announce at a track that I've always loved, even from a far.  I got to work with a legend in Johnny Sass.  It was a lot of fun.  This particular race was interesting.  Johnnie Baptista was on a mission and determined to get that win.  But, did he?  Take a listen.


Merced Speedway IMCA Modified Audio Call by GenWhat