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Still sitting here waiting for news that greatly impacts my future. I've also been uninspired while I wait for the word and afraid I might say something that sparks unneeded negativity. However, things are happening. I figured I'd dust off a column originally created by my good friend Don O'Keefe Jr. In another odd twist, this is the first time in years that I'm actually opening up a new post here on the blog and typing directly. This is just a few things in brief. I still plan season recap articles for several tracks. Depending on the news, I'll do season previews after that and go about doing whatever in 2019. There will be some Jefferson Racing News thrown in here with the usual DCRR stuff.
News & Rumors
The biggest news of the off season right now goes unreported, because we are waiting for the final outcome. No announcement has been made regarding the protest over the original decision on who was named promoter of Antioch Speedway. This is the fourth week since the protest was filed, and we anticipate that an announcement could be forthcoming at any time. We will refrain from speculation on the topic. The only announcement that has been made regarding Antioch was the opener for the California Hobby Stock Challenge on April 13th.
Likewise, we await word on who will become the promoter at Siskiyou Motor Speedway. We haven't heard any confirmed reports as to who might be interested in taking over the track. We know the SCMA, which has promoted the track for many years, has elected new officials and is proceeding as if they will be in charge once again. We've heard rumors regarding a new special race coming at some point in 2019, and this one will feature Street Stocks. Whether that sparks interest in the track reviving its own class, we don't know. The IMCA Modified Wild West Speedweek Tour is interested in returning in 2019, and the new Tri State Pro Stock Series has tentatively penciled in the Billy Geyer Memorial Race on May 4th.
Merced Speedway was the second California track to offer up a schedule. They aren't overbooking any classes, and the six championship divisions from last season will return in 2019. It's interesting to note that IMCA Modifieds and Sport Modifieds are often times not booked on the same night. Rather than stay dark on the first week of August, the track will open. The local classes can still head to Watsonville for the Mike Cecil Memorial, but Merced has the honor of hosting an Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour, Presented by Abreu Vineyards, race that night. Two USAC Midget races were booked (April 20th and July 27th) along with two BCRA Midget Lites appearances (April 27th and June 22nd). There's also a Hunt Wingless Spec Sprint Series race on July 20th and IMCA RaceSaver 305 Sprint Car races on April 6th and May 25th.
Furthermore, Merced will host a Dwarf Car Nationals event, and it will happen on April 12th and 13th, instead of in July. The season will end with the Fourth Annual John Fore Jr. Memorial on October 26th and 27th, and they will also honor the previous promoter on June 15th with the Ed Parker Memorial. The track will have two two-race series events with Bakersfield Speedway for the IMCA Modified and Sport Modified classes in June and August. Not on the schedule, to the disappointment of many, is the Ted Stofle Classic, Timmy Post Memorial, Bill Egleston Memorial or the Matt & Glass Cancer Fund Raiser. Race Director Doug Lockwood has said the track will honor all of the greats at the Annual Legend's Night Event on August 10th. Interestingly enough, the Sportsman division has had it's marquee night on that occasion, but it's currently not scheduled on that night. Maria Egleston has said that she is looking for a place to host the race honoring her late husband.
A solution to honoring Matt Van Hoecke of Matt & Glass may be possible. This event usually ended the point season, and the new California Hobby Stock Challenge Series will close their season at Merced on September 14th. All Hobby Stock Series events will pay at least $1,000 to the winner as long as they are members. Three of the five other events (the 32 lap Richie McGowan Memorial at Bakersfield Speedway on June 29th, the 80 lap Mike Cecil Memorial at Ocean Speedway on August 3rd and the Danny Simkins Memorial at Santa Maria Raceway on August 31st) all have significant meaning to the people at these tracks. Series organizer Tom Sagmiller knew Matt and could easily make this a special race in his honor. The series opens at Antioch Speedway on April 13th, as mentioned above. Depending on what happens when the announcement is made regarding the track's promoter, that date could be moved.
Not to be left out of the series conversation is the Tri State Pro Stock Series. Nevada's Gordon Russell Jr and Oregon Outlaw Pro Stock competitor Roy Bain began talking about a four race series. This idea was basically sparked by the idea that the Oregon group had the Billy Geyer Memorial at Yreka and the Nevada group had the Gordon Russell Sr Memorial in Cedarville and a big race in Nevada. Plus, there has been an interest from Nevada competitors in making a visit to Southern Oregon Speedway. As things were coming together, however, past Orland and Marysville champion Jerry Bartlett expressed his desire to sell his Sport Modified and return to his Stock Car roots. Bartlett went to Tony Noceti of Stockton to get a race date, and things began to come together swiftly. Stockton was so interested that a second date there was brought to the table, and it got bigger from there.
While rules are being hashed out, Nevada Pro Stock and Oregon Pro Stocks are legal, and it was mentioned that Bakersfield Pro Stocks and Marysville Super Stocks (without wings) were pretty much legal. Drivers were instructed to send their rules for approval, and they would run their track's rules for these events. The schedule will include the Billy Geyer Memorial at Siskiyou Motor Speedway on May 4th, the Gordon Russell Sr Memorial at Cedarville on June 29th, a July 13th race at Stockton Dirt Track, August 17th at Reno-Fernley Raceway and the finale at Stockton on September 14th. This is where the "better" comes into play. Many time champion Robert Miller and his brother have stepped up to sponsor the Stockton finale as a memorial to their father. It will be the Al Miller Memorial and pay at least $5,000 to win, making this the biggest paying Pro Stock race on the West Coast. All races will pay at least $1,000 to win. Southern Oregon Promoter Mike McCann expressed interest in getting a date, but by then it was too late.
For the first time in some 20 years, the Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association will not be hosting a Western States Dwarf Car Nationals event. Word was that WSDCA leadership felt that Southern Oregon Speedway did not want to host the show, which is a sentiment that has never been expressed by that track's management. The hosting honors slipped past PHRA and down to the Northwest Dwarf Car Association, who requested co-host help from SODCA. The two worked together for a Regional event at Coos Bay Speedway two years ago. This time around, the request was denied. Therefore, the NWDCA, Oregon's third Dwarf Car group, will host the Nationals event at Cottage Grove Speedway in August. Southern Oregon Speedway is working on something, but details are still being hashed out.
There will be an awards banquet for Southern Oregon Speedway on January 26th. Management is working on scheduling at the moment, and all divisions featured this season are expected to be included next year. A few surprises will be forthcoming. As a bit of a teaser, the Iron Giant Street Stock Series should be heading back to the track in May, and the West Coast's premiere Street Stock Tour has some nice surprises in store in the form of additional tracks. One track being considered is Siskiyou Motor Speedway as it is hoped to entice California drivers to come race. Rumors have persisted that Street Stocks might be brought back to the Medford track. Management is not pushing this narrative. There were also people in the Yreka area insisting that there is something to pursue at that track. Whatever the case, it could be that the Iron Giant Street Stock Series could have a double header weekend on Memorial Day at Medford and Yreka. By the way, California Hobby Stocks seem to fit better with the more traditional Street Stocks of Oregon.
Willamette Speedway Promoter Jerry Schramm made an announcement in September that he is upping his game with the IMCA Stock Cars. There will be a purse increase of $500 to win and $100 minimum for 10th, plus point fund money for the Top 10 point competitors. The addition of IMCA Stock Cars to the roster this year was seen as a shot at the Street Stocks. There are more metric cars in the Street Stocks these days, and all it's going to take is other tracks starting IMCA Stock Cars to give this class a foot hold in Oregon. This seems inevitable, though one might think that a place like Medford or even Yreka would be a better place to start, rather than a track with a thriving Street Stock division. We'll see if this latest announcement will establish the IMCA class as anticipated.
In a bit of a head scratcher, Watsonville's Ocean Speedway has announced a new Midget division is coming in 2019. Past track promoter Mike McCluney is spear heading this effort. McCluney has spent recent seasons involved with the Focus Midgets and is no doubt inspired by the success of the Northwest Focus Midgets in Washington. However, that success is in no small part due to the promotional efforts of Carla and Gaylon Stewart. In California, the traditional BCRA Midgets are struggling, causing some observers to say that it might be time for BCRA to drop pavement and concentrate on growing car count on the dirt again The Focus Midgets at Madera and Ventura struggle to get more than six cars on any occasion . Is this going to work at Watsonville, which is traditionally a Stock Car track? If it had to be open wheel, wouldn't the Spec Sprints, which had a double digit average at the time of its termination, be a better fit?
The fact is, it would seem that Watsonville is ripe for its own Super Stock/Limited Late Model class in the vein of Petaluma or Antioch if a new division must be added. Car count would most likely hit double digits in a reasonable time as perhaps a few names not seen in recent years at the speedway return. On the other hand, one could make a case for staying the course with what the track already has. Numbers were up in most of the classes, and the racing was good this season.
There are grumblings in the Spec Sprint ranks regarding rules changes, and some are starting to speculate that it could become a Wingless 360 Sprint Car class in three years. There have been people pushing for rules changes since the division was started in 1999, but Antioch Speedway has mostly stayed the course with the rules that were originally written by Don O'Keefe Jr. A couple of years ago, there was some talk about a 6-10 race Wingless 360 Series in Northern California due to the fact that track's like Petaluma, Watsonville and Placerville were booking dates. There is a certainly an interest in such a class without sacrificing the Spec Sprint rules to do it. We'll have to see what happens here.
Interestingly enough, a few teams have discussed the possibility of a new series. The bigger challenge is could you form something when Petaluma, Watsonville, Merced are unlikely to book initial dates and Antioch Speedway is up in the air? How badly would the racers want this, and would making trips to Orland, Yreka and other such places be worth pursuing to get it started? Two years ago, multi time NCMA champion Scott Holloway made some noise about trying to convince his old club into coming back to the dirt. The NCMA has quietly crept along as one of California's oldest continuing open wheel sanctioning bodies. Does anybody have the will to step up to the plate and take a swing here?
Sonny Sell and a team of volunteers have been working a little bit at a time towards getting Rocky Hill Speedway in Porterville cleaned up and suitable for racing again. Sonny is taking it one day at a time and not making any grand announcements on when the first race will be. Down the road in Hanford, Keller Auto Speedway management made a late decision to go ahead and have a January banquet to honor this year's top competitors. What is interesting is that they only held about ten total events this season, and the only point listings you could find on the website all year were the IMCA Stocks Cars.
Hanford is where the first IMCA Stock Car program began on the West Coat about 15 years ago, and they were getting as many as 16 cars on occasion this year. Brock Hamilton will strep up this year to collect the championship hardware. Alan Mendes, Prestin Martin, rookie Shawn Schwartzenberger and Larry Thompson made up the remainder of the Top 5. The Mini Stocks also had a six race series. Jason Cook won four races, but his absence from one race dropped him to fifth. Andy Boydstun emerged as the surprise champion. Andy was either racing his Mini Stock or offering his truck as a push vehicle at various Sprint Car events this year, and he held off Paul Schwartzenberger by just ten points for the title. Clinton Massey, Gene Glover and Cook rounded out the Top 5. Boydstun also topped the point list after four races at Kern County Raceway.
There will be a King Of Kings Winged 360 Sprint Car champion, and Matthew Moles will be claiming the honors. Only he and second ranked Tucker Worth competed in all five Hanford races. Cole Macedo and Jace Vanderweed tied for third and Craig Stidham was fifth. You could find the State of California IMCA RaceSaver 305 Sprint Car points online, but a Hanford list wasn't released until recently. State champion Grant Duinkerken won the local title as well, but he did so by just a point ahead of Zane Blanchard. Brendan Warmerdam held off Blake Robertson by just four points for third with State point runnerup Albert Pombo in fifth. Speedway officials will be handing out the hardware on January 12.
Schedules are going to start coming out in the days ahead. Merced Speedway wasn't the first California track to release a schedule. That honor went to All American Speedway in Roseville. After lengthy negotiations to secure the contract as promoter, NASCAR K&N West Series race promoter Bill McAnally had an abbreviated schedule this season. He's planning a 14 race season next year that will feature Late Models, Modifieds, Bombers, F4's and Jr Late Models most of the time, among other classes. The track will also host some Enduros and a visit by the Big Rigs. October 13th will also be the night for the NASCAR K&N West Series.
Up until recently, a New Years race at Antioch Speedway might have been possible. Incumbent promoter John M Soares favored the idea. Jeremy Prince anticipated that January 1st might be the day his team could begun working on the track. As mentioned above, there was no final decision on who will promote the track for the next five years as of press time. Soares has been making plans for what will race there, and no major changes in the roster were anticipated. The Prince team was making plans as well. Despite the terrible injury sustained by Prince at Dixon in October, there is no worry about work being taken care of. Jeremy already has a team in place to do what needs to be done as he recovers. The 2019 season should go on as scheduled. The only question now is, who will be promoting the show.
This might have been the end of this part of the column, but we've heard a couple other scheduling news items. There had been rumors of Tony Noceti of Stockton 99 Dirt Track Speedway hosting as many as eight B Modified races, and this is true. There was also a rumor that Noceti was looking to run a New Year's race. This is also true. Noceti will run his first B Modified race that night along with A Modifieds, Bombers and B4 Mini Stocks. The latter two divisions will continue to be core classes on the Stockton 99 Pavement Track, which also has Late Models and Mini Cup cars as regular classes. Several other special attractions will continue on the pavement, and there will also be about a half-dozen open wheel nights that will feature the Gunslinger Sprint Cars, Legends Of Kearney Bowl Super Modifieds and other open wheel classes.
Open wheel racing will remain a staple on the Stockton Dirt. King Of The West/NARC Fujitsu Sprint Cars, Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Series, Presented by Abreu Vineyards, Sprint Cars and Hunt Wingless Spec Sprints will be there. The LeRoy Van Conett Salute, Gary Patterson Memorial and Asparagus Cup Sprint Car races will be there, but Noceti's New Years race is the first step towards him establishing his own program on the track as well. The afore mentioned Pro Stocks will have two dates, and really the dirt tack offers a little something for everybody.
The NARC/King Of The West Sprint Cars have announced a 19 race schedule with a date to be announced. The first eight races will take place at eight different tracks, and this schedule is bigger than last year. Kern County Raceway, Petaluma Speedway, Ocean Speedway, Silver Dollar Speedway, Santa Maria Raceway, Placerville Speedway, Stockton 99 Dirt Track, Keller Auto Speedway, Tulare Thunderbowl and Calistoga Speedway are all on the schedule. All of the traditional big races, such as the Dave Bradway Jr, Memorial, Pombo-Sargent Classic and the Gary Patterson Memorial, remain on the schedule. The intriguing item of note is that dates line up in August and early September that raise the possibility that Speedweek could return. Jim Allen has hinted at making this happen since the NARC name was brought back.
The stretch of races that makes one curious about what could be happening includes Placerville (August 21), a pending date (August 22), Stockton 99 Dirt Track (August 23-24) and Calistoga (August 31, September 1). However, NARC officials haven't made any announcements in regards to that. It could be that they are waiting to see what comes of the pending date. What track might that be? If we might speculate, our first thoughts were Watsonville or Petaluma, but we believe that would have been announced. Merced could be possible, but again, this probably would have been announced. Antioch Speedway perhaps? We're not going to get into any of this other than to say that our sources indicate there was somebody who hopes to be representing Antioch Speedway for the next five years who was in Reno and was talking to various groups. You can find the NARC/KWS schedule HERE.
Before we close, we head back to Hanford where we not only see a new schedule, but also a nice example of two tracks working together. Hanford has rebranded their Winged 360 Sprint Car class Kings Of Thunder and is sharing them with neighboring Tulare Thunderbowl. This leads to a 15 race schedule between the two tracks with nine at Hanford and six at Tulare. The season will kick off at Hanford on February 23rd, and it includes a joint appearance with the World of Outlaws in March at Tulare and support of Sprint Car Challenge Tour races at both Tulare and Hanford. While we wait for the full Tulare schedule, we have a 14 race Hanford schedule.
Hanford will continue to feature the Winged 360 Sprint Cars and the growing IMCA RaceSaver Winged 305 Sprint Cars. There will also be point series events for the IMCA Stock Cars, Mini Stocks and IMCA Sport Modifieds. They have attempted to book Sport Modified races when Merced Speedway is not running the class. The Sport Modifieds have four dates, which would meet the minimum total required for IMCA to acknowledge it as a series. However, the final race can not be for points due to it conflicting with the IMCA Nationals in Iowa. Management will have a point fund for the series and will reportedly have a one race throwaway rule.
In an effort to continue an old tradition started by Don O'Keefe Jr, we're gonna present to you some news and rumors. It's up to you to decide what is news and what is rumor.
The NARC/KWS Sprint Car Tour will be bringing back Speedweek in 2019.
Willamette Speedway will be sold soon and Jerry Schramm will begin his plan to make big improvements to Sunset Speedway.
The Late Model class at Southern Oregon Speedway will be promoted bigger than they ever have before at that venue as a new sponsor comes on board.
Antioch Speedway will return to IMCA for both Modifieds and Sport Modifieds.
An interested party would like to buy Hills Ferry Raceway with intentions of running some bigger car races on the track in addition to other forms of racing.
Rocky Hill Speedway will open to racing again in 2019.
In an effort to boost car count, Siskiyou Motor Speedway will have at least some Friday night races in 2019.
In an attempt to bring new drivers to the track, Antioch Speedway will cut a smaller track in the infield for Outlaw Kart and Micro racing.
Coos Bay Speedway will continue their partnership with NASCAR for a third season.
Placerville Speedway will continue to feature Winged Sprint Cars, Limited Late Models, Pure Stocks and Mini Trucks next year with visits by the NCDCA and BCRA and a big season finale two day event for USAC West Coast Midgets.
Silver Dollar Speedway and Orland Raceway will both drop the Wingless Spec Sprint division, leaving Antioch and Petaluma as the last tracks to have their own divisions.
Merced Speedway will begin to induct members into the track's Hall Of Fame in 2019.
The odds of a tenth outdoor race track opening for racing in Oregon have improved.
Despite the fact that there are three interested parties willing to invest in sponsoring the event, All American Speedway will once again not have a Vintage Classic in 2019.
