Merced Speedway News, Possible Orland Raceway December Race, More

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Merced Speedway News, 

Possible Orland Raceway December Race, More

There's news from Merced regarding the new promoters at Merced Speedway. It has just been announced that S&S Motorsports are the new promoters of the 68 year old racing facility. S&S Motorsports is a partnership between past track champions Paul Stone and Chris Shannon.

In recent seasons, while he has stepped out of the spotlight and supported his son DJ's racing effort, Chris Shannon has still been a sponsor of the speedway and several cars. The Shannon Pump business is highly respected in the community. Chris has raced in the past in Late Models and is also a past Modified champion at the speedway.

Paul Stone started out racing in the Mini Truck division at the speedway in the 1990s and is also a multi-time IMCA Modified champion. He and brother Steve were investors in the opening of Chowchilla Speedway back in 2000. He has won several Main Events at the speedway in recent seasons while also competing at various venues across the country.

Both Stone and Shannon are excited about building upon the foundation established by the late Ed Parker. To help them in this goal, they have brought in Doug Lockwood as the Race Director. Lockwood has spent recent seasons serving in that capacity with the USAC Sprint Cars and Midgets. He has also been involved in the Chowchilla Barn Burner Series.

Doug grew up at Merced Speedway and began pitting for people such as Steven Williams before branching out to become an official. He is enthusiastically looking forward to doing what he can to help make the speedway even better than it's been in recent years.

They will have a tough act to follow as Parker had strengthened the car counts in the IMCA Modified and IMCA Sport Modified divisions, and the speedway saw perhaps it's biggest car count ever this last season with over 130 cars in the pits.

No major changes are being announced in regards to the divisions being offered as regular classes. The IMCA Modifieds and Sport Modifieds will be back with the popular IMCA sanctioning. The local Hobby Stock, Mini Stock, Valley Sportsman and Mini Late Model divisions will also be a part of the program.

There is also an interest in having certain Sprint Car series races and perhaps other special attractions on the 2019 schedule, but nothing has been finalized on that front. The RPM Promoter's Workshop in Reno will happen at the end of the month, and negotiations are sure to take place. The team will announce the schedule and any rules adjustments in the not-too-distant future, and fans are advised to look for the track on Facebook or at the official website, www.racemerced.com.

Speculation is that many of the races that have special meaning to the Merced racing community will remain on the schedule, but as always, there will be a negotiation to finalize those details. The important thing is that Merced Speedway will continue to operate in 2019 and beyond.

The news at Antioch Speedway is not as clear-cut. After the RFP packages were graded by the board committee, a winner was declared last week. Within hours, an official protest was filed in Sacramento. Exactly what was protested was not disclosed to this corner, but officials are reviewing everything meticulously before making any official announcements. With a large gathering of racing enthusiasts at the recent fair board meeting, the board announced that they could not comment on the bid as it was under protest.

Obviously this has caused speculation, and some people have probably commented on who the promoter is, though that is not official. As to the rumors that schedules and rules are being worked on for 2019, that is likely true among all of the potential promoters. Given that the offseason goes by rather quickly, anybody who would be named the official promoter of Antioch Speedway in 2019 would want to have things in order for special announcements as soon as possible. Beyond that, we are going to reserve speculation until an announcement is made. We anticipate hearing the news by no later than next Friday.

Word from Yreka has been pretty quiet. At the end of October, the contract between the Siskiyou County Fairgrounds and the Siskiyou County Motorsports Association was set to expire. There have been rumblings that the fair board was looking for somebody else to run Siskiyou Speedway or even considering promoting the place themselves. However, we've heard nothing on the subject in recent weeks. Scheduled topics at the November 20th fair board meeting include the big race track and the smaller Outlaw Kart track. At that time, plans should be revealed.

The Siskiyou County Motorsports Association is moving ahead with business as usual, anticipating that they will be in charge of the speedway in 2019 as they have been for the past 19 years. They have also announced that there will be an association meeting on the 20th which will reveal the results of the board member elections.

It's difficult to speculate who might actually step up to take on the promotional job at a speedway that has had its car count decline steadily in recent years. Just keeping those gates open is a challenge, but it's one that the association has been willing to take on. If faced with the possibility that nobody wants to bid other than the association, would the Fair Board choose to leave it the way it's been, take it on themselves or even consider closing the gates? We're hoping they at least keep it going with the association, but we can only speculate.

The Tri State Pro Stock Series finally announced their five races for the 2019 season. Though it had been speculated that Southern Oregon Speedway would become the fifth track in the series, no attempt at negotiations with Southern Oregon Speedway promoter Mike McCann was made. Instead, the series will have a race in Yreka, which is the Billy Geyer Memorial race, a race in Cedarville, which is the Gordon Russell Sr Memorial, a race at Reno-Fernley Raceway and two races at Stockton 99 Dirt Speedway. Sponsorships are in the process of being secured for point fund and race purse money.

There isn't a lot of news coming out of Southern Oregon Speedway. Plans call for the divisions everybody saw compete at the speedway last season to be back in action again next year. As of now, signature races for the speedway, such as the R Charles Snyder Salute, Rodger Haudenshild Tribute, the Wild West Speedweek IMCA Modified race, Ironhead Nationals Sprint Car race, Hall Of Fame Night and the Cascade Wingless Sprint Car Challenge race, should all be on the 2019 schedule when work begins on that.

Management was pleased with the progress made in the Kendall Oil Winged Sprint Car and IMCA Sport Modified divisions. IMCA Modified car count was up slightly, and most of the track's divisions maintained their numbers. There is speculation of something big in the works for the Late Model division, which is in its third year. This could lead to bigger and better things for the division, though we will refrain from saying what any of that means.

As of now, the Western States Dwarf Car Nationals event, which has been hosted by the Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association for some 20 years, will not happen at Southern Oregon Speedway in 2019. An agreement could not be reached with the Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association. Word is that the Nationals race will be taken to Coos Bay Speedway next season, though what that date might be remains to be seen. As of now, the Northwest Dwarf Car Association will host that race. Several northwestern states racing promoters, including Drake Nelson of Coos Bay, will be at the WARPA meeting that is taking place in Portland this weekend.

Racers are anxiously awaiting news on when Southern Oregon Speedway will be hosting the awards banquet. We can say that it looks like this will happen either on the third or fourth week of January. Details are being finalized. The Top 10 drivers in all of the track's core divisions will be honored, and "Rookie Of The Year" winners will be awarded as well.

Work continues on the preparation of Rocky Hill Speedway in Porterville. Though nothing is being planned for this year, the hopes are that the gates will open for at least some races in 2019. Sonny Sell has remained mum on any of that as the immediate goal is to make the facility worthy of having a race. Several people have volunteered their help in various areas to help him get the job done.

And finally, there is the potential for a special race at Orland Raceway in December. This event would serve as a fundraiser for the people who lost their homes in the Camp Fire in Paradise recently. The fire took a toll on the racing community as several teams that were supportive of racing at both Orland and Chico lost their homes and their race cars.

Past Orland Mini Truck champion and past promoter Dan Webster has spoken with current promoter Rich Hood and the Glenn County Fair Board about the possibility of having a special race, and all parties have come out in favor of the idea. However, Webster wanted to know that there would be support among the racers if such an event was booked. The proceeds would go to people who are in need of the help.

Response has been overwhelmingly positive among the track's core divisions, the Pure Stocks, Mini Trucks and Mini Stocks. Drivers from the California Hardtop Association and Sport Modified divisions have also expressed an interest in supporting the show, and a rough estimate would suggest that a field of competitors somewhere in the 60 to 70 car range could be possible. This race is all about helping people, but it would also strengthen Orland Raceway's reputation as a track that gives back to the community.

The Editor's Viewpoint

I always say I don't want to be long-winded with this column, but let's see if I can pull it off this time. The fact is, there was going to be no posting today until I heard the news from Merced Speedway. It caught me by surprise as my sources told me that the decision probably wouldn't come down until the end of the month. Perhaps things were expedited here?

What my sources had told me initially was that the board was ready to deal with somebody very early on until it was pointed out that the track needed to go out for bid by law. I have been told by somebody in the know that they could have awarded the track to somebody on an interim, one-year basis, but they chose to put it out for bid. They actually sought out qualified promoters and sent registered letters to potential candidates. They were covering their bases.

I heard that the Stone family and Chris Shannon were interested in the track. What I didn't hear was that these two entities were interested in going into business together. As it was, I felt that they were individually both qualified to get this job done. As a team, watch out! The track has been awarded to S&S Motorsports, which consists of Paul Stone and Chris Shannon.

What you need to know about these two people is they are longtime supporters of Merced Speedway. They care a great deal about the racing community, and at times they have been known to put their money where their mouth is. Both have sponsored various racers. Stone has gone as far as investing in the opening of Chowchilla Speedway in 2000. Shannon sponsored at least one race at the speedway over these past few seasons. Both are past track champions. There's not a doubt in my mind that they are qualified to do this job.

For the Race Director, they brought in Doug Lockwood. To me, this seems like a great choice. I think he's a disciple of the Doug Williams school of racing, which earns him points in my book as well. He has spent the past several seasons as an official for USAC. I can imagine that it might have been bittersweet for him to resign his post with that group, but taking on the job at Merced Speedway I know is a dream come true for him. He's coming home to the track he loves.

People are already speculating about this and that, but they need to stop. They are not dropping any divisions. Six divisions will crown champions at the banquet in January. They are the  IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, Mini Stocks, Valley Sportsman and Mini Late Models. All six divisions will have a spot on the schedule in 2019. However, you need to bring in special attractions here and there, and there will be Sprint Car racing. What exactly that means, we'll have to wait and see. They will be at the RPM Workshop in Reno seeing what they can get done. But don't worry, there will be a good schedule and racing will go on In 2019. To my knowledge, this will be the 70th consecutive championship season at the track.

Something I get sentimental about is the nostalgia races that honor the tradition. However, knowing these guys, most of those special events will probably remain on the schedule in 2019. I won't speculate what those are or when they will be. I was never worried about the track closing as I know that the Merced County Fairgrounds is supportive of racing and feels it's a very important part of what they do.

We were expecting that we would know for sure who was running Antioch Speedway in 2019 by now. They went through the process of grading the RFP packages that were submitted. A winner was actually posted at the fairgrounds, as per the procedure. However, within 24 hours, the results were protested. What the protest is, I'm not going to speculate. Fact is, if you are a bidder and you don't win, you have the right to do this. It has happened in the past.

As I'm writing this, the protest is being reviewed by the people up in Sacramento, and they will do their due diligence. On this level, they want to make sure that they dot all the i's and cross all of the t's before rendering their decision. Once that decision is made, they want things to proceed expeditiously.

Does this mean that the original winner will get the track, the next in line will get the track or could this thing go back out to bid again? Obviously, we don't want to see it go out to bid again as this will delay things more. I won't speculate on what is going to happen.

The important thing to me is that Antioch Speedway opens their gates for a 2019 season. I'm also hoping that the divisions that had a chance to race in 2018 will continue to get that opportunity without a bunch of major rules changes making it more difficult for them to be there. There has been much speculation made, and some people are out there declaring the winner already. There is no official winner just yet. However, I have no problem believing that all of the potential promoters are working on 2019 schedules and rule sets. You need to get started on those things as soon as possible.

Late last night, it was brought to my attention that an effort is being made to put on a race in December at Orland Raceway. At first glance, I'm not in favor of racing this late into the year, but there is good reason for this race to be put out there. Past Mini Truck champion and past Orland promoter Dan Webster proposed this idea as a way to raise funds for the people who lost everything in the devastating Camp Fire in Paradise. That fire affected the racing community as several racing teams that race at both Orland and Chico were among those who lost their homes.

Dan has spoken with Rich Hood, who is the current Orland Raceway promoter, and Glenn County Fair Board officials. It seems like everybody is in favor of this idea if support can be thrown behind this by the racers. As the fairgrounds is being used right now, all of the logistics would have to be planned out. Webster has put the word out to the racers to find out who would come, and many of the drivers in the track's core divisions are supportive. In fact, several Sport Modified and California Hardtop teams also want to race if this happens.

That's where we are at this point. If something were to happen, you would likely see the news on the Orland Raceway Facebook page. When we know something, we can put the word out. I have offered my writing services if they are needed. It really makes me feel good to see how much the racing community rallies behind their own at a time like this. Some good people I know have lost everything.

I'm getting a kick out of the updates from Rocky Hill Speedway in Porterville. Sonny Sell and others are out there doing everything they can to get that place whipped into shape for some racing in 2019. In fact, they seem to be doing this at night too. There was a picture on social media of Sonny on a tractor that had headlights. Hey, whatever you need to do to get the job done. Central Valley Mini Stock President Dan Myrick was out there today offering a hand as well. I have no doubt that racing will happen there in 2019, and if our media effort is going in full force, I intend to include the Porterville track in what I do.

Right now, what my next plan will be is in limbo. I cannot sit here and tell you that I am doing anything for sure in 2019. The blog will stay here and be used in some capacity, but how often is the question. Things were offered to me for the 2019 season that had me very excited and optimistic, and that has been in flux in recent days. It's been a roller-coaster ride, to be sure.

To be honest with you, it's also been very difficult for me to focus when I sit down to write. I want to do some non-racing material, and my brain just won't go there. I want to work on racing material, and my brain is having the same problem. In the midst of all this, I've had some sad news in my family as another person dear to me has passed away. Seems like I'm losing the people who meant the most to me in my life.

So what I do in 2019 is up in the air. I can only tell you that I'll do my best. If I'm involved for another season in racing, I will go all out in what I do to help make things better. Other than that, I'm just going to keep my mouth shut and hang back in the shadows for a few days. I find it better to do that than to say something that ultimately leads to negativity from others.

On that note, I'll end this column. At least I didn't take as long this time...