Antioch Speedway, Marysville Raceway, More

First of all...

The DCRR Racing Media Books

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

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

And

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

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

If You Like Reading Our Articles

Support Us Via The Go Fund Me The Tip Jar HERE

Also...

DCRR Racing Media And PR Consulting  HERE

From the Grandstands By Ron Rodda HERE

Antioch Speedway Racing Discussion Can Be Heard HERE

Southern Oregon Speedway Racing Discussion Can Be Heard HERE

The DCRR Racing Radio Show

Backup Link HERE

From the Grandstands By Ron Rodda has interesting insights into how Marysville and Dixon reopened HERE

Antioch Speedway Has Most Successful Practice Day In Track History

Antioch, CA... May 16...Antioch Speedway opened the gates to its racers for the first time since the covid-19 shut down. The results were absolutely amazing. Roughly 100 competitors across multiple divisions came out to test their cars on the newly reshaped quarter-mile clay oval in anticipation for the opportunity to go racing again soon. Though the speedway has had preseason practices with a little over 60 cars before, this turnout dwarfed every other practice event in track history. 

Promoter Chad Chadwick has announced a Memorial Day Weekend event that will take place on both Saturday and Sunday next week, featuring the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks. As expected, those three divisions brought out a good portion of the competitors for this practice session, joined by drivers with Limited Late Models, Wingless Spec Sprints, Winged 360 Sprints, Dwarf Cars, Midget Lites and Four Bangers. It seemed everybody wanted to be a part of the reopening of the speedway, even if this was only a practice day. 

Chadwick and his crew had whipped the quarter-mile clay oval into good shape. It was smooth with multiple grooves, and the drivers were taking advantage of the opportunity to test their setups. In the IMCA Modified division, some of the top stars anticipated for the big race next weekend were there, led by last season's West Coast Nationals winner Kellen Chadwick and four-time Antioch Speedway champion Troy Foulger in the Bowers Motorsports Modified. These two competitors are early favorites to win the $1,900 first prize money being offered for the win in Sunday's race.

Three-time Petaluma Speedway Super Stock champion Mitch Machado was on hand with his IMCA Modified, and others from the division included reigning Antioch Speedway champion Buddy Kniss, Sean Wilson, Josh Combs, Raymond Lindeman and last season's top Antioch rookie Frank Furtado. These drivers were happy to get in some practice, and most of them are among the 40 drivers who have expressed intentions to be a part of the Memorial Day Weekend action.

The IMCA Sport Modified division had a few Antioch Speedway champions in the group, led by reigning division champion Tommy Fraser. Two-time champion Trevor Clymens and past champions KC Keller and Fred Ryland were also there. Ryland is coming off of his second Merced Speedway championship season. Wife Patti Ryland was also making laps. These five competitors could very well be the drivers to beat next weekend, but there were others making practice laps who should not be counted out. 

Having won the IMCA Sport Modified portion of last year's West Coast Nationals, Kenny Shrader was on hand to get in some good laps. A sampling of others who were out there making laps included Nick Caughman Jr, Chuck Golden, Chris Bennett, Ryan DeForest, Dwayne Short, Gavin Espino, Paul Espino and Kevin Brown. Last report had roughly 35 competitors signed up for the Memorial Day Weekend action. 

The Hobby Stock racers are all looking forward to getting back into racing conditions next weekend. Ocean Speedway star Joe Gallaher was there to tune of for next weekend. Last year's championship runner-up, Brianna Troen, was also making some good laps. Some of the others out there getting some track time included Angela Brown, Judy Allison-Arth, Mitchell Locicero, Jacob Mallet Jr and Madison Motts.

While the other divisions wait patiently to find out what race dates they will get, they were still anxious to get practice. With reports circulating of a big Pro Stock/Super Stock race coming to Antioch in the near future, Bakersfield Speedway star Ryan Smith came to town just to do some practicing. Terry DeCarlo had his car back together following a Stockton crash earlier this year, joined by Ryan Cherezian, John Evans, Jon Haney, Pete Coberley and others. Dennis Souza was there with his Late Model.

Two-time Wingless Spec Sprint champion Bob Newberry, Nick Robfogel, Dylan Bloomfield, and Shawn Arriaga were part of a good group of Wingless Sprint Car competitors out there making laps. The Dwarf Cars were also well represented, including two-time division champion Mike Corsaro, last season's championship runner-up Devan Kammermann, Roberto Monroy, Mario Marques, Travis Day and several others.

Everybody was in good spirits at a time when we could all use something positive to talk about. The drivers were given plenty of opportunity to make laps in all of the divisions, and the track held up pretty well. Following this amazing practice day, the anticipated roster for the Memorial Day Weekend event should increase above the 100 drivers known as of now. Though the grandstands will not be open to spectators due to the rules in place during this covid-19 pandemic, it will be available online at SpeedshiftTV. For up-to-the-minute information on all matters concerning the track, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.

Racing Slated For Antioch Speedway 
This Saturday And Sunday

Antioch, CA...The news the racers have been anticipating for the past two months is finally here. Racing returns to Antioch Speedway's quarter-mile clay oval on Saturday and Sunday, Memorial Day Weekend. Promoter Chad Chadwick has been working with various county officials and going over covid-19 guidelines that will enable the racers to gather for two great nights of racing. Though the grandstands will be empty on both nights, the event will be broadcast via the premier internet streaming service, SpeedshiftTV. 

Saturday's qq show has been slated to be a regular paying event for IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks. The Sunday portion of the program is being held in memory of the late George Steitz. An increased purse will be on the line for all three divisions. Steitz was not only one of the most respected special events promoters for Stock Car racing for some 15 years, he was also a Sportsman track champion at Watsonville and Merced and Late Model champion in Hanford, a State Sportsman champion and Watsonville Speedway Hall of Famer.

For the IMCA Modifieds, the Main Event winner will receive $1,900, and it pays $200 minimum just to start the feature race. For the IMCA Sport Modified, it's $900 to win with a minimum of $100 to take the green flag. The Hobby Stocks will be running for double their winner's prize from Saturday at $300 to win on Sunday. At the time of this writing, roughly 100 drivers had signed up to compete among the three divisions with enough drivers signed up to pretty much guarantee there will be Semi Mains for both the Modifieds and Sport Modifieds.

With the kind of money being offered, you can pretty much count on the top IMCA Modified drivers to be in Antioch as it is. With no other tracks in California offering an option, it guarantees that anybody in California wanting to race will be in Antioch. Leading the charge will be last year's $7,500 West Coast Nationals prize winner Kellen Chadwick. Chadwick won the two biggest races on the West Coast as he was a winner in the R Charles Snyder Salute in Medford last September as well, which paid $5,000. To get the Antioch win, he had to pass highly-decorated champion Bobby Hogge IV on the last lap. Hogge is also planning to compete.

Not to be forgotten on the list is four-time Antioch Speedway champion and current reigning Merced champion Troy Foulger in the Bowers Motorsports Modified. Nick DeCarlo bears the distinction of being the only driver to win IMCA Modified championships at Watsonville, Petaluma and Antioch. He will be competing in this race. Reigning Antioch champion Buddy Kniss, past Chico champions Duane Cleveland and Ryan McDaniel, Bakersfield champions Robby Sawyer and Brad Pounds and Bakersfield legend Scott Pounds are among the others on a list of 40 drivers who have committed. The list also includes some top drivers from Oregon, including Colin Winebarger, Nick Trenchard, Joey Tanner and John Campos as well as Nevada IMCA Modified star Robert Miller..

Antioch's two biggest IMCA Sport Modified drivers, two-time champion Trevor Clymens and 2015 title winner Fred Ryland, are both signed up to race. Ryland is the reigning Merced champion, and these two drivers figure to be at the head of the pack. Joining Fred will be his wife Patti Ryland, who was Top 5 in the standings at Merced last year. For the first time since his days in the Hobby Stock division, Trevor Clymens will be joined by both of his brothers, Tommy and Todd. Tommy was Top 5 ranked at Antioch in his first full season in the class last year. Reigning champion Tommy Fraser should be there, and another past Antioch champion, KC Keller, has also committed to this race.

Not only is Jeremy Hoff a past Antioch champion, but he is also a Merced title winner. He has committed as is Marysville Raceway star Jimmy Ford. Ford is a two-time Mini Stock champion at Marysville and has won several races in the IMCA Sport Modified division as well. The father and daughter team of Todd and Haley Gomez will be coming to town along with such notables as Les Friend, Ryan DeForest, Dwayne Short, Kevin Brown, Adriane Frost and newcomer Jacob Haas. As with the IMCA Modified field, over 30 drivers have committed to the IMCA Sport Modified portion of the show.

Only Chris Bennett will be doing double duty in a Hobby Stock and an IMCA Sport Modified. Two multi-time Ocean Speedway champions Rob Gallaher and Matt Kile are both coming. Also on a stellar list of competitors will be last season's championship runner-up, Breanna Troen, Josh Leach, James Thomson, Jacob Mallet, Ken Johns and more. 

There will be two exciting nights of racing at Antioch Speedway, and everybody is looking forward to being there and showing that they can go racing and do so under the covid-19 guidelines. Though the fans may not be able to buy tickets to the grandstands, they can still enjoy every lap of the excitement by ordering the event on SpeedshiftTV. For up to the date information on what's happening with this show and other information that you'll need to know, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.

Robinson Holds Off Becker For Marysville Raceway Win

Marysville, CA...May 16...Second-generation racer Ryan Robinson scored the victory in the 25 lap Winged 360 Sprint Car Main Event Saturday night at Marysville Raceway. The event was started earlier in an effort to beat the rain, and there were sprinkles as the IMCA Sport Modifieds were running the final race of the evening. Five-time Chico champion Sean Becker made a late move in the Jim Van Lare owned entry to pressure Robinson late, but Robinson would prove to be up to the challenge in the Todd Weiher owned Sprinter.

Blake Carrick led the opening lap before Ryan Robinson made an inside pass in Turn 2 to grab the lead. Ryan's sister Jodie Robinson settled into third, and Nick Larsen spun for the first yellow flag on lap six. Jodie Robinson moved into second behind Ryan as Carrick had problems and dropped back a couple of positions. After Jacob Tuttle and Brent Bjork tangled in Turn 2 for a lap 11 yellow flag, the Robinson siblings maintained first and second on the restart. However, Becker settled into fourth and slipped past JJ Hickle for third on the 18th lap. Ryan Robinson caught slower traffic by then, and Becker used an outside pass on the backstretch of the 19th lap to take second from Jodie Robinson. Ryan Robinson showed just a little bit of smoke, but he was maintaining the lead when Larsen brought out the final yellow flag on the 23rd lap. Becker began to give Ryan Robinson some serious pressure on the restart, but Robinson held off Becker's last lap challenge for the impressive win. Tanner Carrick finished third ahead of Jodie Robinson, Hickle, reigning Placerville champion Andy Forsberg, Geoff Ensign, Brad Bumgarner, Caden Sarale and Jesse Love.

Tanner Carrick turned the quickest lap of the 32 competitors with a 12.562 effort, being the 12.683 of Becker. They ran four eight lap heat races with wins going to Ryan Robinson, Love, Jodie Robinson and Blake Carrick. Jake Haulot won the 12 lap B Main after early leader Britton Bock had problems late and fell back to fifth. Sarale finished second ahead of Larsen and Anthony Pope.

Past champion Philip Shelby scored a thrilling victory in the 20 lap IMCA Sport Modified Main Event. A crash in the fourth turn on the opening lap forced a complete restart and eliminated Todd Cooper, Andrew Peckham and Richard Vander Ploeg. Timothy Allerdings would lead the opening four laps ahead of Shelby. Shelby made an inside pass in the fourth turn of the fifth lap to grab the lead from Allerdings as Shawn Smith settled into third. However, Shelby spun in the first turn for a lap six yellow flag. Allerdings took command of the race on the restart ahead of Jason Ferguson and Smith. However, Shelby made a serious charge to the front. A low pass in Turn 2 of the 10th lap gained Shelby third from Smith, and he moved past Ferguson on the outside down the back stretch of the 11th lap for the second position. However, Allerdings had a decent enough lead that he seemed headed for victory. Unfortunately, Bryce Campbell got sideways in front of Allerdings in Turn 2 of the 18th lap. This enabled Shelby to duck low inside both drivers and emerge with the lead. Shelby brought it home to a satisfying win, followed by a disappointed Allerdings, Ferguson, Scott Savell, Smith, Hunter Merritt, Campbell, Donnie Fortney, Mike Adams and Mike Merritt. The eight lap heat race wins went to Cooper and Shelby.

Past champion Ryan "Ice Chip" Winter scored the victory of the 20 lap NorCal Dwarf Car Main Event. The race got off to a somewhat rocky start with Dan Geil leading a pair of laps before Shawn Jones and Winter went charging by on a lap three restart. Following a yellow flag for Kenny Cucuk on the fouth lap, Winter took the lead from Jones on the restart. However, Jones regained the lead a lap later. Winter remained persistent and got by Jones on a lap 9 restart to regain the lead. However, Jones battled back. An outside pass on the frontstretch to the 14th lap put Jones back into the lead. Winter kept his poise and made a backstretch pass on the 16th lap to regain the lead for good. Ryan Winter went on to victory ahead of Jones, reigning champion Michael "Spanky" Grenert, Buddy Olschowka, Ben Wiesz, Geil, Justin Winter, Kevin Bender, Corey Eaton and Tim Fitzpatrick. Eight lap heat race wins went to Shawn Whitney, Grenert and Ryan Winter.

Racing is scheduled to continue next weekend, but the date is still influx as of this writing. To find the current scheduling information, go to www.marysvilleraceway.com.

Remembering Kent Bickford

It's been one of those weeks. I'd just heard the news of one of the members of our racing family passing away when I got word that we lost Kent Bickford. Though I heard that he wasn't in the best of health, it still caugt me by surprise. Kent and I hadn't been in touch all that much in the last decade or so, but we kept in touch either by phone or in person at the track quite a bit back in the 1990s.

I was wandering the pits for the West Coast Nationals at Antioch Speedway last year. I think I was standing there trying to figure out what I wanted to do as they were calling the pit meeting. I glanced over to my left and noticed Kent Bickford sitting in a chair in an enclosed trailer looking over at me. Of course, I knew I needed to go say hi to him. It had been too long, and it was great catching up with him. As if I didn't know pretty well by his posts on Facebook, he was very proud of his son Ty and his daughter Paige. 

He was just happy to be there in the pits with Ty, who was finally getting his opportunity to race again. We caught up on things. I don't tend to look at the 1990s as the good old days, but damn. That was 20 plus years ago. I think one of the things I liked about Kent was he and I were kindred spirits of sorts. We both have a low tolerance for the BS and would call it out when we saw it. Needless to say, both of us got ourselves in hot water with track management at various times. I think that was the subject of some of our conversations back then.

We called him The Bad Boy. He started racing Street Stocks back in 1991. He proudly boasted that his paint job was ugly so that people would notice him. He did okay with that ugly car that he started with. I don't think he made it into the Top 20. He didn't have the budget of the top guys, but damned if he didn't try. He eventually did become a Top 20 driver before moving up to the Dirt Modified division. That was a gutsy move for Kent, who like I said, didn't have the budget of some of the other teams.

What was interesting was he was Top 10 ranked twice in his Dirt Modified career, and damn it, he was also a feature winner. He was proud of that. Heck, I was proud of him. Of course, Kent still had that chip on his shoulder. He was not only The Bad Boy, but he proclaimed on the back of his race car for all to read, "No respect." I don't know if he felt like he really didn't get any respect or this was a motivating factor or whatever. I know he got the attention of people. I think anybody who bothered to talk to him found out pretty quickly that he wasn't a bad guy.

One of the occasions in which I got called to "the big red trailer" involved Bert talking to me about Bickford. I was probably defending Kent on something in my Editor's Viewpoint. It's in my stack of magazines, so I'd have to look it up. What I wrote was that perhaps Kent should change his nickname to The Good Boy so they'd stop picking on him. Something like that. Of course, I was being sarcastic with what I wrote. Bert mentioned that maybe that would be a good idea. I think I brought that up to Kent in one of our conversations and we had a good laugh about it.

I know he didn't race as much as he would have liked to when John took over the track. He ran the Modified to some Top 20 success in multiple seasons. When he was able to do so, he proudly passed the torch to his son Ty. I know that Kent had health issues, but I really don't think he minded being on the sidelines and watching his son race. As I said, he proudly boasted about his son and his daughter in multiple Facebook posts that I've read in more recent years. 

I've met all kinds of people in my time in the sport. Kent was a good guy, but he was a lot like Rich Richards in one respect. He was a guy who had no problem calling BS when he saw it and speaking up for what he believed in. Even if it got him into hot water, he stood by his beliefs. I have much respect for him in that regard. I think he sticks out to me because I really didn't get a lot of regular phone calls from racers back in the 1990s. People might call occasionally, but Kent was somebody who would call when he had a question or just wanted to chat. He was a friend. 

I know he's no longer hurting, so that makes me feel better. I'm also glad to know that he was able to enjoy a few nights at the races with his son last year. He will certainly be missed by all of us who knew him. My condolences go out to Ty and Paige and the Bickford family.

In Memory Of Pat Bisio

Just heard the word that Pat Bisio has passed away. Very sad to hear the news, and my condolences go out to his family. Pat started racing Hobby Stocks at Antioch Speedway in 1998 when the management changed. I remember the yellow #66 car. Mostly what I remember about Pat was even though he was a big guy, he was very good-natured. I don't think I'd want to piss the guy off, but I never saw him really go after anybody either. He was one of our Top 20 drivers.

I also got word around 2000 that Pat and his people were looking to put a race track in at the old Martinez dump site. I was a bit skeptical, but it turns out they really were trying. They had multiple meetings, but unfortunately they couldn't make it happen. I think it would have been a winner had they been able to do it, but this didn't stop Pat from wanting to be more involved in the sport and trying to promote it.

He ended up getting a Wingless Spec Sprint. On one hand, I'd say I was surprised to see him do that. On the other hand, it highlights what was so good about this division. People like Pat could finally get to run a Sprint Car. People who maybe never thought they could before the Spec Sprint division came into being. He raced at Antioch, but he also started making trips to Orland Raceway back when Paul and Carol Turner were promoting the place. They were about at the end of their 10-year run at the speedway, and the future for the track looked bleak.

It turned out that Pat would be a part of a team along with Ralph Jacobo and others who would see to it that the track would open again. He still ran his Sprint Car there and also got a Hardtop. He was able to live his dream, and I know he had to be happy about that. Though I hadn't seen him all that much, I do remember back when I was ghost writing Antioch and Orland's stories around 2010. He invited me up to Orland to check out a race.

I always liked the guy. Just good-natured and fun to be around. When he started, he knew he didn't have the best looking car at the track. In fact, his nickname was Mister Hoop T. I didn't know that he was sick, and I'm just sad to hear about us losing another one of our racing family. Again, my condolences go out to the Bisio family.


Marysville Raceway Unofficial Race Results May 16, 2020
360 Sprints
A Main
Ryan Robinson
Sean Becker
Tanner Carrick
Jodie Robinson
J.J. Hickle
Andy Forsberg
Geoff Ensign
Brad Bumgarner
Caden Sarale
Jesse Love
Jake Haulot
Alec Justeson
Jacob Tuttle
Anthony Pope
Blake Carrick
Justyn Cox
Michael Ing
Mike Monahan
Nick Larsen
Brent Bjork

B Main
Jake Haulot
Caden Sarale
Nick Larsen
Anthony Pope
Britton Bock
Jeremy Wilson
Pat Harvey Jr
Steven Snawder
Braidon Moniz
Lonny Alton
Kevin Lovell
Ashlyn Rodriguez
Colby Wiesz
Anissa Curtice

IMCA Sport Modifieds
Phillip Shelby
Timothy Allerdings
Jason Ferguson
Scott Savell
Shawn Smith
Hunter Merritt
Bryce Campbell
Donnie Fortney
Mike Adams
Mike Merritt
Jimmy Ford
Shaun Merritt
David Larabee
Richard Vander Ploeg
Todd Copper
Andrew Peckham

NCDCA Dwarf Cars
Ryan Winter
Shawn Jones
Mike Grenert
Buddy Olschowka
Ben Wiesz
Dan Geil
Justin Winter
Kevin Bender
Corey Eaton
Tim Fitzpatrick
Wade Ehrlich
Derek Droivold
Josh Wiesz
John Williams
Shawn Whitney
Jeremy Blackshere
Hailey Wiesz
Wyatt Monks
Dylan Shrum
Kenny Cucuk

 The Editor's Viewpoint

Sometimes it feels like we're living in some sort of Fantasyland when you look at the way the world is today. It leaves me wondering if worrying about racing should be such a big priority for myself. Don't get me wrong, I love the sport. However, I see some real things happening in this world that will greatly affect the way we live going forward. Things are changing, and I'm not so certain that those changes are for the better. However, it seems to me that a not-insignificant segment of the population is content to just go along with whatever happens.

I'm saddened to hear the news of some of the people we have been losing recently. That's just a part of life. However, we've also been given news of three people who were part of the Antioch Speedway community who passed away in the last week. First, it was Pat Bisio. Then, it was Kent Bickford. Today I heard the news of Diane Reid. I knew all three of them and they were all good people.

Diane Reid is the mother of Street Stock and Dirt Modified champion Bart Reid and his brother Jim Reed, the man responsible for giving Bart some really fast race cars to drive. This was back at a time when I was doing my magazine, and of course the Reid family subscribed. Diane was usually the one I talked to when it came to renewals. But, we would talk about the race that happened that night too. She was definitely proud of her sons, and I always enjoyed my interactions with her. 

I did something on Facebook for Bisio and Bickford. Those articles will be shared In the blog post, so I'm not going to rehash things too much. I liked both people. Bisio was a prime example of somebody who stepped up to try to help make the sport better. Whether it was attempting to get a new race track built in Martinez or going to Orland and helping keep that race track alive, he was a guy who made a difference. He was one of the nicer people that I remember dealing with when John took over Antioch Speedway.

Bickford was another guy who I considered to be sort of a kindred spirit. We both have a low tolerance for BS. This translated into both of us speaking out against things we didn't like seeing at the speedway, and both of us would get into hot water from time to time. I liked Kent and enjoyed our conversations. We had many of them both at the track and on the phone. I know from his Facebook posts in recent years how much he loved his kids and how proud he was of them. I'm glad he got to see his son Ty race again at the West Coast Nationals last October. I was also happy that he and I had a nice conversation that day.

With this virus, it seems like the news changes daily. I'm trying to refrain from getting political here. Yes, I know people are dying. But, I also see what's going on and how this is being used. A lot of us do. Regardless, we have to deal with the situation and figure out how to make racing work within the guidelines. Promoters have real questions to ask. The biggest one is, can I open my race track and make money in this situation? How is it possible for me to do so? Virtually every promoter across this country is asking themselves these and other very important questions.

News changes daily, and last night saw a break in the news in Washington State. The promoters banded together to approach the governor. They were looking for a way to start opening race tracks again. Everything had been shut down. The problem is that some businesses will go under if they're not able to open up. This isn't just about racing, but any store that you might go to. The mom and pop stores are the ones who are suffering the worst, and some families will be forced to close businesses that they have been running for many years, sometimes generations. Some of those borderline race tracks might just go under because they can't race the way they need to right now. 

What the Washington promoters sought was a road to getting back into action again. This doesn't mean that suddenly they are going to throw open the gates and have a crowd to watch a race within the next week. However, they got guidelines that will allow them to start on that path. This may mean limited practices or practices with the regular racing crowd. It would eventually get to opening up without fans for the tracks that want to do so or opening with a limited amount of fans. Ultimately, the goal is to open up with a full crowd. When that might happen in Washington, I can't say.

The uncomfortable truth is that even with opening to a crowd, there is probably going to be a change in how we do that going forward. This virus is forcing a paradigm shift on us. We'll be having discussions about people's civil liberties versus health concerns in the days ahead. However, if you have a race track, you just want to open up. If you're able to open up with a full crowd eventually, you just want to know how that's going to be accomplished. I don't know exactly what that means, but it could mean changes in how you run the race track. I won't speculate any further at this time. 

It was Wednesday night when I heard the rumor that Coos Bay Speedway Promoter Drake Nelson had an idea to reopen the place. He was the one big track in Oregon that had been having limited practices. I'm not sure how many he has had, but there have been multiple practices. Practices don't pay the bills. Nelson bought this track from Chuck Prather prior to the 2017 season, and he needs to do business to keep those gates open. He got creative, and I almost couldn't believe it when I heard what he did. It could be viewed as a middle finger to the governor. It will almost certainly be viewed by the racers as a great way to attempt to back out to the track again.

After consulting whomever he had discussions with, Nelson decided to rename the track Coos Bay Speedway Bar And Grill. Did you notice the difference? The track is now a bar and grill. This is because as we enter the next phase in the return to full business in Oregon, a bar and grill can open with social distance guidelines in place. People have to be 6 feet apart and other such rules. Obviously, the bigger establishments might be able to fit more people. One place might allow 25 customers, while another might allow 15. Businesses will be happy to get what they can under the circumstances, but it's still going to be a rough road ahead.

What Nelson cleverly attempted to do is skip through a few hurdles. Some tracks are just trying to have practices and hoping to run in front of empty grandstands. Under the guidelines, Drake was hoping to have a race in front of a socially distanced crowd. This meant certain rows in the grandstands wouldn't be open and people would be sitting six feet apart. I'm not sure what the maximum occupancy of the place is, but my guess is between 500 and 700 people can be seated under these guidelines. How much different is that crowd from a normal crowd at Coos Bay these days, other than the fact that people wouldn't be sitting next to each other?

On Friday night, he held a drag racing event under the guidelines that he was implementing. There was just one problem. He never got approval to do anything of this nature, and he ended up receiving a cease and desist letter. He was shut down cold. This was painful to see, because I was surprised he was going to even attempt to do what he did in the first place. The guidelines are clear, and the governor's executive order was pretty clear. We are not to have mass gatherings and sporting events in the state through September or when a vaccine is made available. We can debate how constitutional this is and whether or not the governor is overstepping her boundaries, but this is what she put in place. 

I know the racers are climbing the fences wanting to get out there and do what they love. I am privy to some information of racers who attempted to stir up some crap at one of the race tracks, which was definitely a low blow from some petty individuals. Crying, complaining and bitching at track management for not opening is misplaced anger. At the end of the day, this is a business. If a promoter doesn't feel like they can make money at what they are doing, they are not going to open up the gates. Some, but not all of the promoters in Oregon put their entire efforts into their race tracks. It's a business to them. Some tracks in Oregon are being sold for over $1,000,000 each. So yeah, it's a business that provides a place for racers to go out and have fun doing what they love. It gives the fans a place to go.

We all want this madness to end, because there's a good segment of the population who detects much BS and fear tactics associated with what's going on right now. There is also a segment of society sitting in disbelief, knowing deep down that it's not right but not really voicing their opinion. The segment of the population who is getting into the fear and chastising everybody who questions what is really going on here should give us pause for concern. I'll leave it up to you to interpret what's going on and where this could go, but I will say with this. When I look at what's going on in the world, sitting here writing about whether a race track will open or not is low on my priority list. It's that thing called freedom that this country was founded upon. It matters a little bit more, and race tracks are just a part of the much bigger picture of what is at stake.

I don't fault Drake for trying. I seem to recall the Sacramento Raceway drag strip. At various times, they've attempted to open dirt oval tracks in that area for race cars since West Capitol Speedway closed down. There is an oval track next to the drag strip that probably ran Micros, Motorcycles and that sort of stuff. They needed to get permits to run various Stock Car divisions in the 1990s. Their clever way of making it happen was to rename the track a stadium oval. They were able to hold races for five seasons in the 1990s and even had races going into the next decade. So yeah, I get being creative with the name and why that's done.

Promoters are handling this in many different ways. Some are sitting back and really thinking about it. Some are jumping in and trying to make something happen now within reason. Some are desperate enough to jump into the lead with whatever idea they may have. The guy in Indiana made it about his constitutional rights, which I very much respect. In the end, he received a cease-and-desist order and concrete blocks in front of his track's entrance as a response from the government. All he could do after that was organize a protest in the area, but he didn't end up having a race.

Playing the legal game sounds like an enticing idea. A little thing like changing your track into a bar and grill might seem like a good idea, but you have to look at what you're zoned to do and other such things. I can assure you, their lawyers understand exactly what the executive orders and laws mean. So, when you get cute, they will have a response. The executive order was pretty clear, and it says that we're not having racing in May for sure. In June, chances are only slightly better. However, when I hear them say the end of September, that seems to clearly define what they mean.

Oregon promoters could follow a similar path to what the Washington promoters did, but the clock is also ticking. We're going to burn one of the good months with no races. In Oregon, you generally get five good months of racing opportunities, and you still deal with rainouts. In short, we will probably have lost one third of the racing season opportunity by the time something can begin to happen. It's looking more and more like Oregon racing could be a write-off for the year, but that could always change. As I say, it's a fluid situation. 

Drake never got to the point of making an official announcement about what he intended to do on Memorial Day Weekend, but bits and pieces of it were leaked online. He was looking to have a two-day racing event. With the entire state going without any racing, Drake had an opportunity to invite any division he wanted. He had to be aware that drivers in divisions that he doesn't even feature would be interested in making the trip to the bay to do some racing, and that was exactly the case. I'm not sure how the conversations got started, but some of the drivers of the IMCA Sport Modifieds and IMCA Modifieds had reached out, and Drake appeared to be receptive to the idea

Over on the Pacific Sport Modified Facebook page, several teams and sponsors had pitched in for over $1,200 worth of money towards their purse on Memorial Day Weekend. Word was there were some good sponsors chipping in for the IMCA Modifieds as well. Obviously, Drake's Late Models and other regular divisions wouldn't be left out of the loop either, but I was hearing different reports that car count might be limited. The number I heard was 16 cars per division. If a division was unable to produce 16 cars, then whatever they didn't produce could be used by other divisions. Basically, if he was going to have five divisions, the maximum car count he would have allowed would have been 80. I'm not sure how many crew members each car would have been allowed. It's a moot point. There will be no race now.

I'm not sure if Heather at Cottage Grove Speedway was influenced by what Drake Nelson was talking about, but she made an announcement on Friday that she was pursuing a path to opening her gates. This is a woman who's on the hook for seven figures to buy that race track from Jerry Schram. Obviously, she needs to open up and do something. She hinted at some resticted practices before the end of the month. She followed that up by saying that sometime after that, there would be racing. It would likely involve a limited amount of racers in each division with drivers who have been supportive of the speedway most recently getting high priority.

This is what she said on Friday. It was still somewhat vague, but given what just happened at Coos Bay Speedway, what she said on Friday may have actually changed. As I said, things change daily. The best way to find out what's going on at your race track is to check their Facebook page or their website. Willamette Speedway continues to take advantage of the shutdown to try to make the necessary repairs mandated by the county, so the shutdown doesn't hurt them too badly as long as they can get the work done. It makes it more possible that they will be ready to go when the time comes. Loren Kruesi has recently been more open on Facebook about things that have been happening at the track.

Some of the tracks in California have already said they aren't doing anything this month, and some are unsure they're going to do anything in June. It's hard to get a feel for the situation. Watsonville has a target date for June 5th, so our fingers are crossed for them. Merced Speedway has a target date for Memorial Day Weekend to make an announcement on when they're going to race, if they know by then. Susanville got the go-ahead to have limited practices. Siskiyou Golden Speedway management is hoping to be allowed to go to the track to do anything. I'd like to say the tracks will be back doing practices or some sort of racing by the end of June, but we'll see. I'm writing this on Friday, and there could be a clearer picture on Monday that sounds better or worse. It changes daily.

Marysville Raceway can claim that they had the first race at a big track since this virus. Was it a pretty sight? Not really. There were rough moments. The track wasn't in the best of conditions, but damn it, they made it happen. I was waiting to hear some official announcement from the track on social media that they were running this past weekend. The announcer alluded to something early in the evening, but I wanted clarification. I never got it. It occurs to me why Marysville Raceway wasn't being flashy about last weekend's races either. There's good reason for that. 

Dennis Gage had done the math. He knew he could open in front of an empty grandstand if he paid everybody half the regular purse, so he went for it. Obviously, there were businesses interested in throwing money into the purse, but Dennis had to look at it from dollars and cents. If he's going to lose money, he's not going to open the gates. He knew that if he held a race in front of no grandstands for half the purse and drew only his main crowd, he could make it work. He wasn't looking to make a big statement. He wasn't trying to get all of the race cars he could get from out of town or any of that. He was just trying to get his operation back up and running again and get back to the path of normalcy. What I found encouraging was how many racers were willing to go ahead and run knowing that they were only getting half the purse.

They still had a turn out of about 70 cars across three divisions for the most recent race. I think people have to be happy with how things have gone so far as Marysville Raceway is in racing season now. That's right, the track is keeping championship points for the Sprint Cars and the IMCA Sport Modifieds. The track still had some rough spots to it, but everybody did their best to put on a good show. The program was moved up an hour to beat the rain that was coming, and they pulled it off. That's got to be considered another victory.

The Mel Hall Memorial race was going to happen this coming weekend, but obviously now isn't the time. It would be a Sprint Car Challenge Tour race, and that won't be happening until we can get further along to a point where we can get fans in the stands. Therefore, management is rescheduling Mel's race for later in the year, but they still want to race on Memorial Day Weekend. They also need SpeedshiftTV, and that won't be available on Saturday night. Management was looking at either Friday night or Monday afternoon, but they were leaning towards Monday. The quickest way to find out what's up for sure is to go to the official track website or Facebook. 

While Ukiah Speedway was making the announcement that their Memorial Day Weekend event was done and Bakersfield Speedway was confirming that they would not be trying for a Memorial Day Weekend race, Antioch Speedway was opening up. Promoter Chad Chadwick had already spoken with the people he needed to talk with and made the announcement of a Memorial Day Weekend race. Saturday would be a regular purse. You heard that right, no cut in the purse. Sunday would be an increased purse in a race that would be run in memory of George Steitz. This past weekend, Chadwick opened the gates for some practice laps.

In the back of my mind, I knew that this playday at Antioch Speedway could be a little bigger than usual. I mean, you have racers who have been sitting on the sidelines and waiting impatiently for two months. They just want to put their cars out on the track. That's all there is to it. If it just means practicing for now, there are teams willing to do just that. We know three of the divisions are running on Memorial Day Weekend, but the other divisions are waiting for announcements to be made concerning their race dates. Therefore, those divisions are even more desperate for track time. 

The end result was some 100 cars in the pits. There's never been a preseason practice at Antioch Speedway with a car count that comes even close to that. This was simply amazing, and I'm sure it was a morale booster for management at a time when it was certainly needed. I'm not privy to all of the discussions that Chadwick has had with various officials to figure out exactly what needed to be done. Some businesses in Contra Costa County aren't even open yet, so this was huge. Being able to open the gates to do anything was big enough. Having a full scale practice with a race coming up next is almost a miracle when you think about it.

Chadwick really had a vision about what the race track needed to be. Obviously, the track shape itself has been a hotly discussed topic at the track for the past few seasons. Chadwick wanted something a little wider with plenty of room for side-by-side racing all the way around. There's enough room to go three-wide without any issue. Drivers were taking advantage of the racing surface, which held up nicely. By all accounts, this thing went very well, and optimism has to be high leading into the race ahead.

Getting back to the big weekend, the word was out. Who wants to come racing at an IMCA Modified, IMCA Sport Modified and Hobby Stock event? As I am writing this, the roster between the three divisions is at least 100 cars, and my estimations are that it could be 120 or 130 by the time this race happens. It might sound like the track is just getting greedy and trying to get as many cars as they can. Obviously, they want cars and they are allowing six people per car. However, they are also observing strict guidelines and engaging in social distancing. If the pits run out of spots for the cars, cars will be parked in the parking lot.

The important thing to demonstrate is that you can comply with the guidelines as laid out for you. There are certain things that are expected of Chadwick and his crew, and if they fail or if the racers fail to follow the rules, this could put the track back a step and also negatively affect Contra Costa County itself. I'm confident in everybody involved that they can do this right, and I know Chad will do what's best for everybody going forward. That's all you can ask for in a situation like this. 

What I've noticed on Facebook is people complaining because the crowd can't be there. I admit it seems silly to me. You can easily allow no crossover between the pits and the grandstands, thereby limiting the chance that anybody in the grandstands could catch anything from the people in the pits or vice versa. Then, you could socially distance the crowd in the grandstands and get between 500 and 700 people. I don't think the speedway average for crowd is much bigger than this, and having a crowd would certainly help at a time like this. Though I think Chad has crunched the numbers and will do well with his Memorial Day Weekend event, having a crowd would put it over the top.

Fans are frustrated because they want to be out there with their friends. They want to see the sights, hear the sounds, experience the smells and everything associated with being out there for a night at the races. While they will be able to watch this event online via SpeedshiftTV, it's not the same as being there live and witnessing it first hand. However, we have to start somewhere to get to that point. Chad determined that this was the best way to take the first step. If it all goes well, I think there will be good news ahead. Other than that, I'm going to wait and see and hope for the best. It's still a risky endeavor to even attempt this given the current situation in the county.

After Placerville Speedway held their successful playday, I thought for sure we might hear an announcement from Scott Russell about a race coming soon. We haven't heard anything as of this writing. At least ways, we didn't hear any good news. What we did hear from the El Dorado County Fairgrounds is how they are fighting to keep the annual County Fair alive. They alluded to the fact that this is an important event when it comes to generating revenue that keeps the fairgrounds open. They also mentioned that it could put the fairgrounds in danger if they close the County Fair for the year. With Placerville Speedway sitting on that property, this is not the kind of news we need to hear. This is what I mean by this virus situation having negative repercussions on the sport we love.

I'm beginning to understand how big it is that Dennis is doing what he's doing at Marysville. He has effectively started the first championship point season of the year in California, and it looks like they're going to keep going at it with no crowd until they can get some crowd and eventually a full crowd. If you are a Marysville racer, I would urge you to show them your support. If you are mechanically inclined and a fan not associated with a car, I might even suggest reaching out to the racing teams to see if they can use an extra hand on their car. If the position is available to be filled, this is a way you can support a racer and the track at the same time. I know that despite this making enough financial sense for Dennis to even give it a try, he could certainly use whatever support he can get.

I would also suspect that Dennis is looking at how to get Chico Silver Dollar Speedway open. However, this one is a fairgrounds track instead of the private property that Marysville is. There are additional hurdles. One bit of good news is that it's in a county that's apparently ahead of the curve. They may be more receptive to at least doing practices there, so we'll be keeping an eye on the Silver Dollar Speedway web page and Facebook to see what happens. Not far from there, Cycleland Speedway has already held a pair of successful practice days. Their intent is to have a season that stretches all the way through October, and it will start this weekend.

Cycleland is a different sort of animal. It is on a private property, which probably helps get things going. However, it is also an Outlaw Kart program. It's my experience that a lot of the Outlaw Kart programs are not fan-driven. That is to say you don't sell very many tickets to people who just want to sit in the stands and watch. I don't believe they would allow fans at this point anyway, but most people that go to these types of shows are affiliated with a race car to begin with. They generally sign in to the pits. I'll just turn my head and not notice the fact that we're still having mass gatherings at these race tracks, just not on the grandstand side. Hey, whatever gets the track open, right?

It's not easy to get a track open, and even private property tracks don't have it easy. Santa Maria Speedway was going to hold a closed practice this past weekend. Track management was negotiating with county officials and was fully ready to implement strict covid-19 guidelines for the people who had already committed to show up. This went back and forth, a deal looked like it had been reached and then the rug was pulled out from underneath them before they could do this closed practice last Saturday. This demonstrates how much of a struggle it still is. As much progress as we seem to be making in some places, we are still spinning our wheels in other places. However, it looks like restricted practices will be going on at Diamond Mountain Speedway in Susanville as well as well as Madera Speedway.

I'm not sure exactly what is going on at Orland Raceway, but something was brought to my attention that is a little bit disturbing. Apparently, Glenn County Fair Board members had a discussion on the agenda back in February to consider demolishing the grandstands or refurbishing them. I'm not up to date on any other information. Destroying the grandstands? I don't know exactly what that means, so I won't speculate too much. Obviously, you need grandstands if you're going to have a race track. I'm also told that this is not necessarily a new discussion.

It's been known that these grandstands have been a little bit older. Though they are handicap compliant, they are also a bit run down. I'm sure the discussion is what the cost would be for refurbishing the grandstands versus demolishing them. You never want to hear about demolishing grandstands without a financial plan in place to build new ones. Once those go down, say goodbye to your race track. 

San Jose Speedway is a prime example of that. They demolished those stands to make way for an amphitheater that never came to to be. Had those grandstands still been standing when the amphitheater idea fell through the cracks, we might still be talking about the race track at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds. If somebody wants a track there now, they will have to build the whole thing. 

This led to an interesting discussion with Mike McCann, who promoted Orland Raceway for a season and a half. As I said, it's known that the grandstand discussion was going to come up eventually there. What I was saying was this would be the perfect opportunity to overhaul the race track if a financial deal could be put into place to build new grandstands in the event that the stands had to be torn out. Orland sits in the shadows of Silver Dollar Speedway, but I still regard it as a diamond in the rough. 

Imagine expanding the track to a legitimate quarter-mile clay oval while demolishing and rebuilding the grandstands. Suddenly, running a 410 Sprint Car or 360 Sprint Car program or at least getting special races would be viable. Not only would you have presumably better grandstands, but you have a track that is more satisfactory to the Sprint Car teams. I'm sure the top California Sprint Car series would be receptive to having such discussions. McCann let me in on a little bit of information about what was going on when the original 1/6 mile track was built on that spot back in the early 1980s. Evidently, they made commitments that might prohibit making a quarter-mile clay oval on the property. Well, that sucks. 

Mike is very astute and does his homework on things. While I was thinking that the idea would be dead, he pointed out that the two series in question would be receptive to going to Orland Raceway and running on their 1/5 mile if their purse was paid. I couldn't get into the mind of Rich Hood to even know if that was possible, but I tend to doubt it. He's been working on a sort of smart growth plan for the track that has been effective these past four years until the virus shut things down. Now, we have a grandstand discussion happening at the fairgrounds, and I'm curious what the context is. Is the track itself in danger? I just don't know.

The other thing Mike pointed out was something that was obvious to me though I wasn't thinking about it. They do Sprint Car racing at Ventura Raceway, which is another 1/5 mile clay oval. It's an amazing Sprint Car show there. Even 20 Sprint Cars on the track still manages to thrill the crowd in those tight confines. The trick is making the track wide enough, which Jim Naylor has done quite well in Ventura. The same could hold true for Orland Raceway, if there was a desire to make that happen. For now, we're just trying to figure out when Orland Raceway can open for anything this year, and now they might even need to wonder what the status is on the grandstands for the future.

To give a little bit more clarification, Cycleland Speedway begins their racing season with the Jim Shirley Memorial this Saturday night. I'll be honest with you, this track has generally slipped underneath my radar, although I did think it was cool that around the time that Delta Speedway was running Mini Stocks on their little track, Cycleland was doing the same. Trivia buffs will note that Ryan McDaniel was one of the Mini Stock competitors back in those days, and we've all seen what a force he is in IMCA Modified and Limited Late Model racing since then. 

Anyway, this track is all about Outlaw Kart racing from the Beginners Box Stocks all the way to the Open 500 and Sportsman divisions. There are five different classifications, and they will all be in action on Saturday. They intend to run pretty much weekly from then all the way into October as they are intent on having a championship season. I would advise people to consult the Cycleland Speedway website for all the other particulars they need to know if they go there.

Dixon Speedway will be going for it. Jeremy Prince has two events scheduled this weekend for his full complement of Micro Sprint divisions. They stay active on Facebook and their own web page, so you can get all of the details that you need to know. They are keeping an eye on things to make sure people follow the covid-19 rules, so I'd advise the racers and crew members to read up on that. The racers will be in store for a well run program if the event they had a couple weeks ago is any indication. There were over 80 competitors for that one, and I expect the trend will continue this week or they may even see an increase in cars.

It all starts with some tracks opening and showing that they can do what they do and goes from there. As these tracks have success, others will be taking looks and jumping into the fray, but I couldn't give you a time table for that. It doesn't help the morale of the racing community that some tracks think they're going to do something and get shut down. Nobody said navigating through all of this mess would be easy. In any event, this is where we're at now. Fans of Antioch and Marysville will be able to watch the action on SpeedshiftTV. I don't know if Dixon will be bringing in Dirt Oval TV or somebody else or maybe not televising it, but I'd say the chances are good they'll do something. You just have to keep an eye via their social media outlets.

There was another update from the Noceti Group for the Stockton tracks. They are looking for people"s support in writing letters to the San Joaquin County Supervisors regarding opening up all businesses in the area. They are making it clear that this isn't just about getting racing going again, but also about getting business going again. Tony Noceti has forged a great relationship with the businesses in the area and recognizes that they all work better together. You can go to the Stockton 99 Speedway or the Stockton Dirt Track Facebook pages to get the particulars of what they are needing, but my advice is to support them by writing letters if you can.

One final note has come from Oregon, but it's a developing story. As of now, the only oval track doing anything this weekend will be the practice at Cory and Sandy Penfold's Marion Creek Speedway. It's a practice that will run a racing sort of format. Just for fun, no prize money or any of that. They've had a couple of these sessions this year that have gone over pretty well, so they should do okay for the Oregon crowd with Outlaw Karts that wants to get some laps in. Cory is still working on various improvements to the track as it's a work in progress. However, things are looking good.

People may not remember, but Baker City, Oregon has a race track. There were actually a few tracks within the radius of each other as Eastern Oregon had dirt track racing for a couple of decades from one track to the other. Sadly, nothing is happening there these days. The last track that was running nearby got shut down as it shared the land with a rodeo. That was Elgin Outlaw Speedway. Baker City Speedway had a couple of good years and big ambitions, but they weren't to be. The track still sits there for sale, though I'd be surprised if somebody jumps in there and gives it a whirl. You face an uphill battle building a racing program there, but you never know unless you try.

What I have heard is that a church in Baker City is challenging the legality of the governor's orders and just won a victory in court as I'm writing this on early Monday afternoon. My guess is they didn't feel it was reasonable to say no mass gatherings or sporting events through the end of September. In this case, the church goers simply went to congregate and share their faith with each other. Getting together via the Internet just doesn't mean the same to them, so the challenge was made.

I've been told that they have had an initial victory, but the governor's office was going to challenge this in a higher court. This is a developing story. I don't believe the phase process will suddenly disappear. Some counties are in Phase 1 or Phase 2. Before the order from the governor, I figured that we could possibly open up tracks for racing either at the end of June or July without the crowd. Maybe later in July it would be possible to have a limited amount of fans in the stands, which might make it feasible for tracks to open. Every promoter will be different, and a lot depends on their particular county.

There are promoters who are not keen on opening their tracks without restrictions. Though they may want to do so to challenge the order, the repercussions for attempting to open the way things are now are not very good. Would the community stand behind the promoter who was hit with a serious fine and help pay it? Perhaps, but who knows? Some promoters are asking themselves some difficult questions right now. The legal challenges are just beginning, so the state of racing in Oregon can change for the better in the near future. That remains to be seen. 

If I were to speculate on things, my guess is that the first promoter to step into the fray would be Drake Nelson of Coos Bay Speedway. If he thinks he has a chance to open based on what the courts rule, he will seriously think about it at least.  Other tracks may follow if the first track is successful in doing what they do. We all want normalcy in our lives again, and everybody's getting frustrated. We'll see what happens here. I do caution that even if court rulings go well, it's still going to be a process. Put another way, simply opening up your race track one time this year in front of fans for some good old-fashioned racing would have to be considered a victory.

I realize that there was a big decision looming on the horizon for myself personally prior to the news that everything was getting shut down in March. I was getting a good vibe that things were going to work out the way I was hoping, but everything kind of grinded to a halt. I had a date set in my mind for the answer I was looking for so that I could make the decision that needed to be made. It came and went due to the circumstances we are in. However, a new date has emerged, and I'm still looking at the decision. It's not something I want to do, but for my own sanity and peace of mind, it's time. Whatever comes, I'll explain it at the appropriate time. 

That should just about wrap things up. I've been trying to get things written and ready to go early to enjoy a more relaxed week. I probably should put everything out on Sunday evening, but I'm 50/50 as I finish writing this. It will be ready to go, but I'm tempted to wait just a bit longer to see if anything revolutionary is announced in the next 24 hours. We shall see. But as for now, I'm going to end this column. Until next time...