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Pit Stops
The weekend of September continues to offer a wide variety of options for
fans to enjoy on live streaming in most cases. The IMCA sanctioned
divisions are not able to run for points this weekend due the fact that
the Nationals are taking place in Boone, Iowa. However, that doesn't
mean that there aren't some good shows happening for Stock Car and
Sprint Car enthusiasts this weekend. The championship season will be
wrapping up at Coos Bay Speedway this weekend, there's a North State
Modified Series race happening at Lakeport, open wheel action takes
center stage at Antioch Speedway and there's Micro Sprint racing at Dixon Speedway. That's just some of what's
happening in California and Oregon.
Antioch Speedway
Antioch
Speedway is coming off of one of their better IMCA Modified and IMCA
Sport Modified programs of the year. With 36 Hobby Stocks in attendance
that night, there were just shy of 80 total cars in the pits. This
weekend shifts back to some open wheel racing and some fendered car
competition as well. The Wingless Spec Sprints compete on the
quarter-mile clay oval along with the Delta Dwarf Cars, Super Stocks and
the Valley Four Bangers.
It was last week when
the first edition of the Antioch Speedway point list was released for
all of the non IMCA sanctioned classes. With five regular shows in the
books, past Antioch champion DJ Johnson is the Wingless Spec Sprint
point leader. Johnson is the only competitor with all Top 5 finishes in
his five starts, including his second win of the year at the last race.
This gives him a 46 point advantage over one-time winner and top rookie
Dylan Bloomfield. Bloomfield is only 14 years old, and he suffered his
first DNF in the most recent event.
Wins at
Antioch Speedway have also been earned by past Petaluma Speedway
champion Shayna Ensign and three-time Hunt Series champion Terry Schank Jr. There was
one Hunt Series event, not counted towards the Antioch totals, won by
Bradley Terrell. NARC/King of the West Series competitor Jarrett Soares
has been doing more wingless racing of late and is third in the
standings, two points ahead of two-time Antioch champion Bob Newberry
and 16 tallies in front of the tide Jeff Scotto and Tony Bernard. At the
moment, the battle for third in the standings is the closest in this
class, but there are several drivers hoping to get their
first win of the season.
The Delta Dwarf Cars
are in their first season at Antioch Speedway as a group, though Dwarf
Cars have had championship seasons here since 1998. Relative newcomer
Travis Day finds himself leading the standings by 18 markers in front of
two-time Dwarf Car champion Mike Corsaro. Only 24 points out of the
lead is young hard charger Devan Kammermann. The championship battle
could be resolved amongst these three racers, none of whom has won a
Main Event yet this year. All three have come close to victory as each
has one season high second place finish. A check of the records finds
two-time Antioch champion Danny Wagner, 2016 title winner Kevin Miraglio,
Sean Catucci and reining NorCal champion Michael "Spanky" Grenert with
wins. Miraglio and Wagner each have two.
Catucci
is next on the point ladder, 50 points out of the lead and 26 behind third
place Kammermann. Only two points behind Catucci is reigning champion
Scott Dahlgren. Dahlgren has finished as high as second twice this year.
Among the drivers anticipated this week are rookies Ellie Russo and
Chance Russell, David Michael Rosa, Roberto Monroy and Mario Marquez.
The
Super Stock point standings have been released, and they've got a close
battle at the top of the list. They've counted the Tri State Pro Stock
Challenge Series visits and the regular shows as the track has an open
door policy that allows any Tri State legal cars to come compete. The
Tri State sanctioned events have been won by Mitch Machado twice and
more recently Richard Brace Jr. However, Tri State competitors Mike
Learn, Ryan Cherezian and Ryan Smith have also won races. Cherezian
tries to support as much Antioch as he can as well as the series. His
win two races ago was his first career triumph.
2013
champion Jim Freethy has a victory when the Super Stocks ran in
support of the Dwarf Car Regionals back in July. Because of that, he
holds a four point advantage over Mike Walko. Walko might be leading the
race, but he was disqualified from a Top 5 finish two races ago. Walko
has ranked on the podium in points at Marysville in the past, but he's
in the midst of his best season yet in Antioch. He's been competing on
and off at the track since his debut in Stock Cars back in 1982. It will
come down between these two. Third place Cherezian holds an 11 point lead over the
steady John Evans as both drivers compete for what could be their best
ranking in the class. Only 23 points behind those two is Chris Long, who
is 12 points ahead of Chad Hammer. Long has finished his high as second
this year as he looks for his first win of the season in the John "The
Bear" Keith owned entry
The Four Bangers have
been offered a purse as long as they can deliver at least five cars.
Since that announcement was made, however, they haven't been able to get
that many competitors. Point leader Jess Paladino has competed at every
event and outran announcer Wylie Wade to pick up the win at their most
recent event. The biggest Four Banger Series anywhere on the West Coast
is the Central Valley Mini Stocks, which are based down in the Hanford
area. Antioch Speedway has been on the radar of Series Director Dan
Myrick for a while now.
The group has their
schedule set for now, and at this time an official Antioch event for the
CVMS Mini Stocks hasn't been scheduled. What reigning CVMS champion Myrick is
offering to some support from a few drivers in his group. Both he and
CVMS point leader Jeff Durant have said they are coming to Antioch along
with Clint Massey and Leo Lotz. Trevor Jolley, who has supported a
couple of shows in Antioch, will be there well. If her Ford pinto is
ready to go, IMCA Sport Modified racer Kelly Campanile could be there. The cars of Wylie Wade and Paladino are anticipated, so anywhere
from a half dozen to 10 cars could be competing on Saturday night in
this class.
It should be a good night of racing
all the way around with a nice variety of cars. The championship
battles are close in some divisions, and it's been so wide open in all
of the divisions involved that you don't know who could come away with
the victory. Though fans can't attend in the grandstands, they can watch
via www.antiochspeedway.tv. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.
Coos Bay Speedway
Though
there is still some action left to go at Coos Bay Speedway on the drag
strip and some special events on the dirt oval. Saturday night will bring
the 2020 NASCAR Whelen All American Series championship race to a
conclusion. The America's Mattress Super Late Models are back to compete for significant point money for the Top 5 drivers in track points
and Top 3 drivers in the State. Also competing will be the Sportsman
Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Outlaws, Hornets and Junior Stingers.
The Southern Oregon Dwarf Cars and OTRO Hardtops will also pay the track
a visit.
When you look at the point fund money
being offered by NASCAR, it's surprising more drivers don't come to
Coos Bay Speedway for a run at the cash. First place in the Super Late Models will receive
$3,500, second place gets $2,000, third place gets $1,200, fourth place
gets $1,000 and even fifth place pockets $800. Plus, there's $2,000 in
State championship money and an additional $1,000 for the top rookie.
There are three drivers vying for the championship going into the night
with only 20 points separating them.
Jason
Johnson out of Gresham got a good start early on with two victories, but
because he was unable to start one Main Event, he lost the lead to 2018
champion Montgomery. Montgomery has picked up a pair of victories in
the last three races and is the only driver with all 10 Top 5 finishes.
This gives Montgomery a 14 point advantage over rookie Braden Fugate and
a 20.point lead over Johnson. If Fugate can't catch Montgomery, he's
still holding on to $2,000 for second. If Johnson overtakes him, it
would be an $800 pass. Mike Taylor is pretty much a lock to earn the
$1,000 prize for fourth, and it appears as if reigning champion Preston
Luckman has his hands on the $800 prize for fifth. Luckman is a
four-time winner this year.
In the Sportsman
Late Models, likely champion Trace Fugate missed the most recent race.
As a two-time winner, he has a 66 point advantage over Jared Simmons
in the race for the $1,000 championship. With $800 on the line for
second, last week's winner Ryan Emry is hoping to overtake Simmons. He
trails him by 12 points.
2018
Street Stock champion Ken Fox leads the division with 12 Top 5 finishes
in 13 starts. This gives him a 10 point lead over reigning series
champion Steve Dubisar. The championship is worth $700, and second pays
$400 as the Top 5 drivers in Division 3 of NASCAR competition get point
fund money. Despite winning five Main Events, including last week, Graig
Osborne is 34 points out of the lead and will likely settle for third
thanks to his absence on one occasion. Sam Talon seems to be a lock for
fourth, while Dustin Hitner leads 2018 Sportsman Late Model champion
Dyllan Siewell by 10 points in the race for for fifth.
Brad
Hicks continues his effort to run out the clock in the Mini Outlaw
division. He's the only driver to compete in all 10 races this year, and
the one-time winner has a 40 point advantage over two-time winner
Tahlan Rogers. Rogers is only 10 points ahead of four-time winner Scott
Beaudoin. The Mini Outlaws have been having one of their best seasons in
years with a better car count than normal. One-time winner Jason Kellam
currently holds fourth by a comfortable margin over Matthew Emry.
Following
his absence from the most recent race, Cottage Grove's Isaac Stere holds
a 32 point lead over William Hitner as they compete for the $500 Hornet
championship. Stere is a two-time winner but Hitner has yet to get a
victory. Kris Parker has a four point lead over John Henry in the
race for third as Kevin Rockwell is 12 points back in fifth. The Top 5
drivers will get point fund money in NASCAR's Division 4. Seth
Christian has three wins and all Top 5 finishes in his five starts, but
he was beat in last week's race by Thane Landis in his first start. The
Hornets have eight different winners in 11 races.
It's
almost a certainty that Griff Smith is graduating from the Junior
Stingers division as he's on his way to his third-straight championship.
Smith is making laps quicker than most of the drivers in the Hornet
class. Last week, he picked up his 10th win in 10 starts. The battle is
for second. With five Top 5 finishes, Cameron Metzgus leads Keegan
Montgomery by 28 points. Montgomery is currently tied with Heather
Burton for the third position. Alex Butler has fallen back to fifth
thanks to mechanical issues. He trails Montgomery and Burton by 12
points.
The Southern Oregon Dwarf Cars will be
back in action. In three previous visits, wins have been earned by
four-time reigning champion Josh King, two-time champion Brock Peters
and Camden Robustelli. King won the most recent race for the group in
Yreka ahead of back of the pack starter Kalvin Morton. Some of the
drivers to watch for this week include Jason Robustelli, Chad Cardoza,
Ryan Smith, Steve Walker and Fred Hay.
The OTRO
Hardtops make their third appearance with their old style Coup and
Sedan race cars. Local Street Stock star Justin Krossman is anticipated
along with Mark Minter, Dean Cast, Matt Butler and Chris Mehrer.
This
race will bring the 2020 NASCAR point season to a close. No streaming
service is available that we know of, but fans can actually come out to
spectate and the concession stands will be open. For further
information, go to www.coosbayspeedway.us or check out the Coos Bay Speedway Facebook page.
Dixon Speedway
Dixon
Speedway will be open for business again this week for a competitor's
only event. Covid-19 guidelines will not allow fans in the grandstands
yet, and we're unaware of any streaming services being offered. The
track does run the Race Monitor app to enable people to watch scoring in
livetime. Competing on the 1/5 mile dirt oval will be the Wingless 600
Micros, Super 600s, Restricted 600s and the Junior Sprint Cars.
It's
already a foregone conclusion that Kelvin Lewis will win the Wingless
600 championship. The question is, can he get his first win of the year?
He's had two runnerup finishes in the last three races and three for
the year. His advantage over one-time winner Cody Gray is 175 points.
Gray leads Travis Sullivan by 56 points. Austin Stone picked up the win
at the most recent event, giving him two wins in the last four races.
The other two wins were earned by Ashton Torgerson.
Likely
Super 600 champion Brad Hannum led much of the most recent race as he
was looking for his fourth win of the season. Unfortunately, he was
passed late by the Ricky Sanders. Sanders has won three of the last four
races, and Hannum settled for his fourth runner-up finish . He holds a
195 point lead over Hailey Wood, who collected her second third place
finish of the year two races ago. Wood is 12 points ahead of Hayden
Saich and 37 points in front of two-time winner Devin Courtnier in a
much closer battle for second.
One of the
closest battles happening at the track is in the Restricted 600
division. Following his second-straight runnerup finish and third Top 3
effort in a row, Bryant Bell holds a 10 point advantage over Izaak
Sharp. Sharp has one win this year, and Bell has won twice. 29 points
out of the lead is Matthew Tatoole, who has been running strong of late.
The championship will go down between these three competitors. Colin
Kirby has a pair of victories this year. One-time winner Brandon Riveira
has a 65 point lead over Austin Wood in the battle
for fourth. Wood won the most recent race, his fourth win of the season.
In
the Junior Sprint division, reigning champion Makayla Tatoole is
fighting to hold on to the point lead as Kyle Fernandez is trying to
overtake her. Fernandez picked up his fourth win of the season last time
out. With her seventh runnerup finish of the year, Tatoole managed to
keep him at bay for one more week. Word is that Fernandez is getting
ready to make the jump into the Bandolero division at Madera. Brody
Rubio has a pair of victories and four third place finishes, giving him a
solid hold on third in the standings ahead of Peyton Whitehouse.
Whitehouse is 23 points over Hayden Stepps in the race for fourth. Both
drivers are still looking for their first podium finish of the season.
They
have a good Micro Sprint program at Dixon, especially in the
Wingless class. As mentioned above, you can at least keep track of the
scoring via the Race Monitor app in real time. For further information,
go to www.dixonspeedway.net or check out the Dixon Speedway Facebook page.
Madera Speedway
The
Madera Speedway racing community is still buzzing following the
controversial Nut Up Pro Late Model race last week, The broadcast ended
with Buddy Shepherd winning, but an appeal from fifth place finisher
Ryan Philpott resulted in the four drivers in front of him being dropped
to the back of the pack as Philpott bagged the $5,000 first prize in
that event. The track put out a press release on the matter, which you
can view HERE.
This
Saturday night, the 1/3 mile paved a little host the Madera Late Models
along with the second appearance of the 602 Crate Modified class. Hobby
Stocks, MST's and Toyota's will also be competing. Fans are still not
allowed in attendance, but thanks to great sponsorship from Mission
Foods and nutupindustries.com, you'll be able to watch all of the action live on the track"s YouTube page.
After
the most recent Madera Late Model show, won by rookie Kabe McClenny,
Lily Mead managed to escape with a nine point lead over Trevor Schlundt.
Both drivers have finished in the Top 5 on multiple occasions, and
Schlundt has a second place finish. Last time out, things didn't go so
well for Trevor as he faded late. He'll be hoping to turn things around
this week. Del McIntosh is 27 points behind Schlundt in third, while
one-time winner Sheldon Cooper has moved up to fourth following his Top 5
finish last time out.
Given the more relaxed
nature of the regular Madera Lake Model shows, some of the 51fifty
Energy Drink Late Model racers have been able to come out and make more laps. In
fact, Kyle Keller and McClenny are counted among the winners so far,
along with Cooper, Jacob Smith, Buddy Shepherd and Jeremy Doss. There
have been no repeat winners in this series yet. Some of the others to
watch for this week include Jon Schlundt, Mike Shapiro and Loren Kutz.
The
602 Crate Modified class is the beginning of a new series that is
running three races each at three different venues. Their visit
earlier this year was quite a thriller as veteran Eddie Secord had his
hands full battling Jaron Giannini. Giannini stalked Secord like a
predator, biding his time until he was able to make the move for the
victory later in the race. Secord settled for second. There was also
quite the battle going on between Justin Johnson and Sam Jacks for
third, which went in Johnson's favor. The track likes to give the fans a
variety of different divisions, and the Modified division should be
entertaining with a dozen or more cars anticipated.
We've
seen Madera veteran Richard Herzog show up in two of the last three
events and pick up the victories in Hobby Stock competition. However,
he's only made those two appearances as he is third in the standings.
The battle had been between Manny Gonzalez Jr and Tyler Rogers for the
championship, but mechanical issues have plagued Rogers in recent weeks.
Gonzalez did get the victory two races ago to hold a commanding 116 point
lead over Rogers. It's not known who might come out for this race, but
some to look for include Dennis Saunders Jr, Don Mead and Brian
Childress.
The MST division was rocked recently
by the bad news of Bert Stephens's wife passing away.
That led to a low turnout at the most recent race and the cancellation
of the show that was to happen at the end of August. The most recent
race was Shaun Reynolds second win of the season, and he leads his
one-time winning brother Ryan Reynolds by just three markers. Stephens
is 12 points back in third in this close battle. Rookie Haley Bugg
continues to improve as she is 48 points back in fourth, 14 ahead of Kyle
LaBrie
The Toyota class has been running a
race within the MST race due to lower turnout. Rookie Andrew Parr is 12
points ahead of Thomas Magray in that battle with JJ Brandsen a solid
third.
Because they can't have fans in the
grandstands, Promoter Kenny Shepherd has made sure they can check out
all the action on the track's YouTube page. This has also been made
possible thanks to the sponsorship of nutupindustries.com. For further information on that and other details, go to www.racemadera.com or check out the Madera Speedway Facebook page.
Lakeport Speedway
This
Saturday night will be the final race of the year at Lakeport Speedway.
The North State Modified Series is making their second appearance of
the year. Also competing will be the Taco Bell Bombers, Legend Cars, Pro
4 Modifieds, Late Models and Four Bangers. Covid-19 guidelines don't
allow fans in the grandstands, but the broadcast will be streamed live
on the NCRA Lakeport Speedway Facebook page.
The
North State Modifieds were in Lakeport last July for a race that was
pretty much dominated by Kyle Tellstrom. Tellstrom, who won the recent
$1,000 prize in an Open Modified show at Ukiah, won the race by over a
straightaway ahead of Charlie Collins. New Lakeport champion Mike
Sullivan ended up third ahead of Scott Winters and Darren Sullivan.
Winters won the final point race for the regular Limited Modified class
last time out. There were 18 competitors in the July visit, and a good
turnout is expected once again for the race that will pay $1,000 to win,
$600 for second and $400 for third.
We
haven't seen the latest point list for the Taco Bell Bombers division.
The previous list showed Donovan Cox leading Amber Portlock and Mikey
Collins by over 100 points. Collins has won most of the races this year,
including the most recent event. Eddie Klein finished second and was
driving Cox's car. Cox was focused on running the Limited Modified show
that night. Jim Kolinborn got a third place finish ahead of fourth
ranked Kinton Waite and sixth ranked Trevor Abella. These three are
among the other is anticipated for this race.
The
last time the Legends ran, Jeremy Doss was picking up the win ahead of
Aiden Daniels and Kylie Daniels. The last point list we saw had one time
winner Kylie Daniels leading Dane Nissan by 25 points, but Nissen
wasn't at the most recent event. Daniels got her win in a photo finish victory over
Nissen. David Dunlap, Tom Summers and Trey Daniels Top 5 made up the
remainder of the Top 5 on the most recent point list as Aidan Daniels
was sixth.
The Pro 4 Modified class has seen
four different winners in four racers, including reigning champion Andy
Leuzinger, Ron Portlock, John Barker and Mike Peterson. It seems like
attrition has been the name of the game as multiple drivers seem to have
mechanical failure prior to the Main Event at their most recent visits.
Hopefully, it will be a stronger showing for them in their final visit
to the pavemed oval this season.
The Late
Models and Four Bangers are on the schedule. We're not sure who, if
anybody, will show up. We do know that the North State Modifieds should
deliver an entertaining show, and the Bombers and Legend Cars have been
exciting to watch this year as well. You can watch the live stream for
free and get other information by going to the NCRA Lakeport Speedway
Facebook page.
Orland Raceway
We
haven't had much luck getting information from the 1/5 mile dirt oval
at Orland Raceway this year. They've had two races, but they've also had
multiple races get canceled for a variety of reasons in the last 2
months. As with most of the other tracks on the West Coast, they are not
able to have fans in attendance. However, no effort has been made to
either offer a pay-per-view streaming service or give the fans a glimpse
of racing for free.
Seeing that the IMCA
classes in California cannot have a point event, management has invited
the Sport Modifieds to town for a non-sanctioned event. The Wingless
Spec Sprints will be there along with the Pure Stocks, Mini Stocks and
Mini Trucks. They've actually been getting a good turnout for the
programs they've had this year, though results have not been made
available to the fans. Word is that the track is getting their MyLaps
scoring system up and running, so official results should be getting
posted in the future.
We know that there were
24 Pure Stocks for the most recent event, which was won by Kevin
Pendergrass. Pendergrass and reigning champion Phil Spencer are the two
winners they've had so far this year. The Wingless Spec Sprints had a
dozen supporters at each of their races, but the results were still the
same. Past Chico and Orland champion Tony Richards was the winner. The
Webster family has enjoyed the winner's circle in Mini Truck competition
as past champion Dan Webster and his son Zach Webster were the winners.
Multi-time champion Tom Davis won the most recent Mini Stock race along
with multiple Mini Stock visits to Susanville.
We're
not sure what results, if any, will be made available. It's also
possible that the track could make the decision to cancel this show due
to the fires in the area. As of this writing, everything was steady as
she goes. For up to the minute information on what's happening and
possible results, go to the Orland Raceway Facebook page.
Mountain Valley Speedway
This
would normally be the biggest race of the year at Mountain Valley
Raceway in Hayfork, and this could be the only race until the New Year's
Enduro the track hopes to host. This is Ninth Annual Clyde Cordell
Memorial race. Cordell was the man who pushed for the opening of the
track at the Trinity County Fairgrounds. Sadly, he didn't live to see
his dream come to fruition, but there have been some good races here
through the years, Many of their biggest turnouts have happened at the
annual race in Clyde's honor.
Normally, this race
is part of the annual Trinity County Fair. However, the cancellation of
the fair put the race for this season in jeopardy. Track officials have
been working non-stop to secure a date, and the September 12th show came
to be. They were going to have a fireworks display, but due to the bad
fire conditions throughout the West Coast, that has been postponed until
possibly the New Year's Eve Enduro. The Hobby Stock, Mini Stock and
Enduro cars are scheduled along with the Modifieds.
We've
seen some good racers in the Hobby Stock ranks at Hayfork through the
years, and that includes past champions Josh Smith, Bill Kasper and Will
Kasper. Kasper and Smith are both past winners of this race as is Burl
Richardson. Brian Young is the 2019 race winner. We're not sure who
might support this show, but it's possible we'll see Josh Smith, Tressen
Smith, Richardson and Russ Newman. There could be at least one car from
the Young family as well. The Hobby Stocks are the headliners for this
program
There seems to be a good mixture of
different types of Mini Stocks at Hayfork. Some tracks in Northern
California and Southern Oregon rely primarily on the Mustangs, but
Hayfork has trucks, Pintos and other makes of four cylinder race cars.
We're not sure who will support this event, but this division has
potential to deliver double digit numbers for this show.
Likewise,
the Enduros have a nice mixture of different makes and models. The
track gets watered for the final Main Event of the night, and then they
turn the wild and crazy Enduro drivers loose on the track. When cars
spin or crash, unless there is an emergency, the race continues without a
yellow flag. This is seen by some fans to be the most entertaining race
of the night, and these Enduro drivers never disappoint. We're not sure
what the roster might look like for this class or the Mini Stocks, but
we know some racers are eager to get back on the track again.
As
with most of the tracks on the West Coast, fan attendance is not
allowed at this time. We're not sure what the track might do in the area
of live streaming, but it could happen on the Facebook page. In the
past, they've had people broadcasting live from the infield. What we can
say is you can go to the Mountain Valley Raceway Facebook page for
whatever updates are made available.
Siskiyou Golden Speedway
With
the fires happening in the Medford area, Promoter Kevin Barba made the
decision on Thursday to cancel the scheduled race on Saturday night.
They have concern for their Medford neighbors, who would probably be
delivering a good portion of the car count they would have had on
Saturday night. There were other issues at hand. The scheduled divisions
were to be the Winged Sprint Cars, Mini Stocks and a non-point event
for the IMCA Sport Modifieds. That was what was announced.
Car
count would not have been very good for the weekend, especially given
the fact that management had not advertised a purse for the Limited
Sprint Cars. Though there's an interest in having races with this class,
the speedway funds don't run very deep. Sprint Car drivers aren't
necessarily known as people who will give away a show at a discount, so
it's difficult to believe that there would have been more than four
cars. Car count wouldn't have been good in this class or overall.
Racers
in the Medford area have had to vacate their homes in some cases. The
damage and devastation will surely add up when it's all assessed. Given
the difficult circumstances, it was an easy decision for management to
make in canceling the show. They had a practice scheduled for Friday
night, which has been moved to Saturday. It will go from 3:30 pm until
dark. Management elected to keep that on the schedule due to the fact
that there were racers wanting to practice. The next event is still
scheduled for September 19th. You can check out the Siskiyou
Golden Speedway Facebook page as adjustments may be made.
Robinson Wins Salute To Gold Cup At Marysville Raceway
Marysville,
CA...September 9...Ryan Robinson won the 30 lap Winged 360 Sprint Car
Main Event Wednesday night at Marysville Raceway. This race was
scheduled two weeks ago as a special salute to the canceled Gold Cup
race that was originally scheduled for Silver Dollar Speedway this week.
Covid-19 guidelines have only enabled the Chico track to open once
since the shutdown. For Robinson, this was his second-straight win, and
he also becomes the only three-time winner at the track this year.
Michael
Wasina and Colby Copeland shared the front row as Robinson started back
in the third row. Wasina set the early pace ahead of Copeland and
Tanner Carrick. A lap six yellow flag waved for Justin Henry in Turn 1.
Wasina led Copeland for one more round before the two drivers tangled.
This was followed by a Lap 8 yellow flag for a Turn 2 tangle involving
Bobby Butler, Sean Becker, Nick Larsen and Billy Butler. Becker and
Bobby Butler were out of the event, and Robinson managed to grab the
lead over new track champion Andy Forsberg and Tanner Carrick. There
were an additional six yellow flags from there, and Forsberg got one
final opportunity to try to make a move on Robinson when a Lap 24 yellow
flag waved for Caden Sarale's second spin in Turn 1. This put the race
into overtime, but Robinson stayed cool under pressure to hold off
Forsberg for the victory. Tanner Carrick settled for third, followed by
Shane Golobic, Blake Carrick, Wasina, Copeland, Jake Haulot, Colby Weisz
and Alec Justeson.
There were 29 cars for the
show despite all the smoke and fires in the area. Forsberg was the
quickest on the quarter-mile clay oval at 12.340, beating the 12.523 of
2018 champion Michael Ing. Unfortunately for Ing, a bad heat race put
him into the B Main. The eight lap heat race wins went to Copeland,
Becker, Robinson and Tanner Carrick. Ing won the 12 lap B Main. There
were five yellow flags, but he led all the way for the victory. Stephen
Ingraham and Ashlyn Rodriguez battled for the second spot early on with
Rodriguez holding position for a lap and Ingraham the next three before
Rodriguez got by. Rodriguez would finish in second, and Ingraham saw
his race end on Lap 7 as Michael Sellers finished third ahead of Jimmy
Stewart and 2017 champion Mike Monahan.
Jim
Brookshire won the Hobby Stock Main Event. Brookshire is the
championship runner-up this year. The point season is over, but this was
his second win of the year. New champion Jesse Van Roekel had an early
battle with Kyle Cheney for the lead. Van Roekel led a lap and Cheney
led a lap. Van Roekel went motoring by to take first on the third lap
and held it until Cheney moved by yet again on Lap 5. However,
Brookshire made what proved to be his winning move on Cheney to grab the
lead on Lap 6. Cheney held second until surrendering the position to
Van Roekel on Lap 9. Brookshire would lead the rest of the way to win
ahead of Van Roekel. The battle was for third later in the race.
Previous winner Jacob Johnson held the position from Lap 12 until being
passed by Cheney on Lap 19. Cheney would grab third at the checkered
flag, followed by Johnson, Hollis Thackeray, Jimmy Ford, Jason Clayton,
Devin Koranda and David Caluya. The eight lap heat races were won by
Kyle Cheney and van Roekel. Bill Clark, Matt Rivera and Marcus Smith
were all Main Event scratches.
Next on the
schedule is the 25th Annual Western States Dwarf Car Nationals, hosted
by the NorCal Dwarf Car Association. On Friday, September 25th, the
Dwarf Cars are joined by The Crate Sprints, who will be having their
championship night. On Saturday, September 26th, the Limited Late Models
have their point finale as part of the Dwarf Car Nationals period for
further information, go to www.marysilleraceway.com or check out the Marysville Raceway Facebook page.
The Editor's Viewpoint
As
I was sitting at my desk on an early Wednesday afternoon looking for
the updates, I wasn't in a good place. It's been a really lousy year,
and I'm ready for it to be over. I really feel like what we're going
through in this world is a paradigm shift. The world we knew before is
going to be a different place than what we see in the future. At least
ways, it's going to become that if people don't get off their asses and
start making their voices heard.
Look around
you. We've had a legitimate protest that discusses issues that we really
should discuss. Then, it turned into riots, looting and violence. Those
protests have been steered by another group that could give a damn
about black lives. They've been steered by antifa and other instigators,
and those groups pretty much suck. We're going through a manufactured
and over-hyped virus that is being used used to destroy our economy and
micromanage our very lives. We are struggling to make ends meet in some
cases. People are losing their businesses. People are losing their homes
and it's going to get worse. Are you paying attention?
I
was looking through Facebook for any information, and Marysville
Raceway Promoter Dennis Gage reassured everybody that the races that
were scheduled for the night would in fact take place. There are fires
everywhere in California and Oregon. It's bad. One person questioned
whether they should have the race. With the smoke in the area and some
of the people in the racing community evacuating because of the fire,
maybe this race gets postponed for another day? I think it's a
legitimate concern.
The remarks came out
against this person. Just stay home. Okay, Karen. Stupid crap like that.
That's par for the course. People are starting to get fed up and
drawing lines in the sand. They're hurling insults at each other. This
isn't even about the fires. It's been brewing since everything started
shutting down. The silent majority is getting pissed. This person who
suggested shutting the place down for the week was not coming at it from
the typical mentality you're seeing from the virus shut down
supporters. That is to say, you're not hearing it from somebody who says
it should be shut down for our own good. People should stay in their
homes, yada, yada, yada. This person was concerned for the loss and the
suffering that is even touching some people in the racing community.
We
got an impassioned response from somebody about why it's important to
race. How we need this distraction in our community to take us away from
all the bad stuff. You know, I get it. The problem is, we need to stop
being distracted and start using our voices. We need to stand up and not
let the powers that be take away the country that we knew. If you don't
think that there's something big going on in this country and the world
that is designed to take away our freedoms as we know them, I'm not
sure what I can say to you. You're not paying close attention.
I'm
not saying that they will ultimately succeed in what they're trying to
do. What I am saying is they are trying to do this. To be honest with
you, I feel like I'm wasting my time with the racing blog. I'm putting
so much time into posting every week for little return. Increasingly,
there's more indifference to what I do, and I don't take it personally.
Times change. The way the sport is reported and all of that changes.
However, I wonder sometimes if I am using my voice in the wrong place.
Maybe I should be engaging in the bigger dialogues of what's going on.
If you can affect one mind, you're making a difference. I don't claim to
have all the answers, and nobody does. But what's going on right now is
not normal.
I'm not sure how much more any of
us can take. Oregon is burning right now. Whole towns have been wiped
out. In Medford, a town that hasn't even had a race thanks to this virus
shut down, businesses have been burnt to the ground. Some within the
racing community have had to evacuate their homes with whatever they
could take. Others within the racing community have offered whatever
they can. They've offered trailers, places to put your things and
whatever is needed. At a time like this, you see the true greatness that
is our racing family. That's one of the reasons I am having a hard time
disengaging. I love the people who are part of this great sport.
You
hear about fires burning down whole communities, but you don't think it
can happen to you. Once upon a time when I started hearing the term
"fire season" created by the media, we were talking about forests
burning down and maybe a few homes. There was the occasional fire that
took out several homes. Over the last few years, we're watching
neighborhoods burn to the ground, and people are coming up with reasons
why. That takes us down a political path, and I'm not going there in
this post. We all have our opinions, and I think there's a little from
Column A and a little from Column B.
Medford
and the surrounding cities have been hit hard by this fire. Many homes
and stores have been lost. When you think about losing your home, it's
not a fun thing. All of the things you've collected have been destroyed.
It's not as simple as going to the store and buying a new one, even if
you can afford that. Precious mementos are lost forever. I can somewhat
relate as I lost a good portion of my possessions when I lost my home,
not to mention my home of 30 years. In that case, it wasn't disaster
related so much as heartbreak related. These people didn't have a
choice.
One minute you're living your life,
doing whatever it is you need to do that day. The next minute you're
hearing about a fire that gets started. I guess it started somewhere
near where the old Ashland race track is. Part of that track still
exists, and there's a Burger King on the land. At least there was. The
fire headed towards Medford, Talent, Phoenix and other areas. Actually,
there were multiple fires. It's a sad situation, and I'm speechless. I
really don't know what to say to anybody who is going through this other
than my heart goes out to them.
I remember
making the trip down to Medford a couple of years ago with Mike to do
whatever we were working on at the time. We were even debating whether
there would be a race due to the air quality. We arrived under a thick
cloud of smoke, and I remember commenting to Mike that it looked like a
war zone down there. In that case, the fires weren't in the area, but
the smoke ended up hovering over. We spent most of August under those
conditions. It's an annoyance to you and there's poor air quality, but
you need to remember that there are people losing their homes as a
result of the fire that the smoke comes from.
I
was looking out my own window as I am a couple of hours north from
Medford. This was on Tuesday night. One minute it's okay out there. As
the sun started to go down a little bit more, suddenly the smoke comes
wafting over our town. There are fires not far from us, though at the
moment they are a bigger problem for other people. For us, it's a
question of air quality. The air quality has been this way since then.
It's a terrible situation, and thousands of people are losing their
homes or at least ways being evacuated. What's most important at a time
like this?
I do understand people needing that
distraction, but it's okay to shut it down for a week. Just a week. You
don't have to be a hero. Promoters are fighting for the racing community
to give them a place to race, and that's a positive. While they're
fighting during this dreadful time, the fans are ignored. Only a few
places can have them in attendance. So basically, the ones who could
pull the plug right now due to the fires are fighting purely for the
racers. The fans don't get to go out to the track anyway. With smoke in
the area, poor air quality and all of that, it really is okay to say,
"Not this week." I'm not dogging anybody for doing what they think is
right, if that means opening the gates. But, it's okay to keep them
closed for the week.
However, racing is what we
talk about here, and right now the only cancellations for this weekend
that we are aware of include Willamette Speedway. They pulled the plug
early in the week due to the fires in the northern end of Oregon. On
Thursday morning, Siskiyou Golden Speedway followed suit. They draw
heavy support from Medford racers, so it was an easy decision to make.
They will still have a practice on Saturday. On Friday morning, Petaluma
Speedway canceled for the second-straight week, citing the poor air
quality in the area. There were other tracks I thought might cancel, but
nothing has been said as of yet.
I
feel bad for the drivers who made the pilgrimage to Boone, Iowa to run
the Nationals. The last couple of days have been pretty much non-stop
rain. Carl Berendsen II has made the decision to head back home. Brent
Curran has made the show, but they're just trying to figure out when the
show will actually happen. From what I'm hearing, they've never had
rains during the Nationals as bad as they're getting now. Very
unfortunate. People plan out their whole year to make that trip, and
then they have to deal with this. Can we all agree that 2020 sucks?
A
thought occurs to me. IMCA has it in the rules that you can't have a
point race during the weekend of the Nationals, but I'm wondering if
they should relax that rule. I know they want to do that so it doesn't
mess up point races in Iowa and areas that are only a few hours travel
to that track. They also have to keep in mind that some people have to
plan out their trips and actually have to skip racing the week before to
make it in time. Therefore, those people are missing point races anyway. They
are already negatively impacting local track point races as this event
has gotten bigger every year.
On one hand, you
could simply extend it another week and say that for two weekends you
can't have a point race for IMCA divisions. That solves the problem of
the people making the longer trips having to skip a point race, but it
screws the tracks a little more. They would have a harder time
booking those two weeks. On the other hand, the drivers who want to go
to this big event are just going to do it and points be damned. Only a
few people will feel forced to stay at their home track for points. In
the end, I doubt IMCA will change anything. This is just something I've
never liked. I've never heard of NASCAR back in the day doing anything
like this, but NASCAR didn't depend on the income generated from one
special dirt track race the way IMCA does.
Last
week, we got news of Shasta Speedway finally getting the okay to hold a
race. They had a race scheduled earlier this year that they canceled,
and this will apparently be the only race for the year on the paved
oval. The date chosen is October 3rd, and it's special for a few
reasons. There will be a North State Modified Series event with a
$10,000 purse They will also be paying $1,000 to win for the Legend
Cars. I would expect good turnouts for both divisions, and they should
do okay with the Hornets and their $300 win race. They have also added
the BCRA Midgets to that show. Whether we actually see results posted, I
couldn't tell you. We haven't been having much luck in that area in the
past few years.
What I can tell you is they
will be the fourth track in California to open with at least some fan
attendance allowed in the grandstands. It started with Susanville and a
socially distanced crowd with no concessions. Marysville Raceway can
have 100 fans with some concessions. Barona Raceway opened with socially
distanced fans last week. We haven't heard how things went, but we can
imagine they did alright. What Shasta is doing is being allowed 200
people, and they will be charging $15 per ticket. You can keep up to
date on those details at the Shasta Speedway Facebook page.
What's
interesting is the fact that since the states haven't given anybody a
clear path to having fan attendance, the individual tracks have had to
deal with their counties. I'm aware that tracks were initially given the
permission to run with no fans, but I don't know how many tracks are
being persistent with their respective county health officials in
regards to getting any fan attendance. If they aren't trying, I would
say that's disappointing. It's not likely that you'd be allowed a bunch
of fans if you were given permission but even 200 or so tickets
available would be appreciated. I'm sure fans would buy them up quickly.
Ocean
Speedway only had the Pat And Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout for
September 25th and 26th, but this has been updated. They will be making
up the Johnny Key Classic on October 17th for the Taco Bravo Sprint
Cars. The IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Mini
Stocks will be on that schedule as well. Furthermore, the track has
added dates with that same lineup on September 18th, October 9th and
November 6th. We've also heard word that the Western Midgets will be a
part of the October 17th show. We're sure to see other tracks booking
November dates in the hopes of getting another race in. The way the weather
is, they may get away with it.
When we began
covering the reopenings of these tracks, the one point race we were able
to keep track of was the IMCA sanctioned stuff at whatever venues
booked them. We knew for certain that once they hit four races in any of
those classes, IMCA would recognize the champions. However, it appears
that Watsonville will be honoring their champions. These are point race
makeup events. The interesting thing about that is IMCA ends their own
point battles at the end of September. This means that the three
additional races for the class at Watsonville would be track points kept
by the track. You can keep track of any additional updates by going to
the Ocean Speedway Facebook page. Furthermore, floracing.com will be
broadcasting all of it.
Orland Raceway has
added the B Modifieds to their program this weekend. They're not a
sanctioned track anyway, though I wonder if they might look at
scheduling four races next season and going with an IMCA sanctioning.
They'd be able to crown a champion that way, and more drivers from
Chico, Marysville and elsewhere might be willing to go under those
circumstances. For Saturday night, they will run an unsanctioned race
along with the Wingless Spec Sprints, Puce Stocks, Mini Stocks and Mini
Trucks. We're eagerly anticipating when the track goes live with their
MyLaps system so that we can start seeing finishes posted officially by
the track.
Promoter Rich Hood's right hand man
Cody Bundy has stated that the track will be trying to honor this year's
remaining dates as scheduled, though participating divisions might
change on any of those nights. Plus, you never know when the county or
other circumstances might cause a cancellation. Bundy also hinted at the
possibility that Orland could go into November with more racing. These
covid-19 circumstances have forced this situation on all of the tracks,
so running later is a way to get more out of an abbreviated season. The
Orland Raceway Facebook page will give you updates, but I sure would
love to see them broadcast something for the fans.
A
frustration I have with this track is I know how good the racing is
there. They're the hidden secret. When Shasta was going strong and Chico and Marysville were roaring along, people might not have noticed Orland.
If you go back to the Paul and Carol Turner era, they had good numbers
and were doing good things there. What Rich Hood has done as promoter has
almost restored this track to that level again, and I hope that this
shutdown situation doesn't kill his momentum next year. He's really done
this the smart way, although he needs to get with the times with
respect to how the information is put out there.
Because
I've always had an affection for this track, I've tried to cover them
through the years when others weren't paying attention. I was having a
conversation with past Orland Promoter Mike McCann recently. Orland
racing goes back at least to the 1970s on the bigger track. They had a
healthy Motorcycle racing program as well. When I talk about Hall of
Fame night, this little track could certainly have one as well. Just do
the blueprint as laid out by Curt and Denny Deatherage in Cottage Grove.
Clipping displays for the fans to see, awards for your inductees and
just make sure they and their families are invited.
What's
that you say? They haven't been around long enough? I strongly disagree
with that idea. There's quite a bit of history to go with in the last
20 years. There's history in the 1990s and late 1980s, though you have
to dig for it. There's also the 1970s. You don't have to have big
inductions. Just do a few people at a time, and I can start the ball
rolling with a few nominations. Multi-time Mini Stock champion Ken Lewis
is at the top of my list. As great as Tom Davis is, Lewis was
phenomenal. Speaking of Mini Stock and Mini Truck racers, I'd love to
induct Olin Crain. He definitely is deserving.
As
far as people behind the scene, Orland has some people who have made a
difference. I would have to learn some of that, but it's not difficult
to come up with the first name. I'd put Paul and Carol Turner into the
Hall of Fame. I know their run didn't end on the highest of notes, but
you can't deny that they brought stability to that track, a consistent
program and started attracting some top drivers from all over the state
to that venue. They brought in Wingless Spec Sprints. They had an
interesting Four Cylinder Modified class. The other Four Cylinder
classes and Pure Stocks were still going strong and it's a no-brainer.
That's what I do.
Mountain Valley Raceway
wisely backed off of the foolish idea that they would have a fireworks
display this Saturday night as part of the Ninth Annual Clyde Cordell
Memorial. I think they were in a celebratory mood, but it's fire season.
It just doesn't work. What they announced was that they're going to
attempt to run the Second Annual New Year's Eve Enduro race. That was an
entertaining show last year, which they did share a little bit of on
Facebook. At the end of the event, they'll light off some fireworks. I'm
not sure what else they might schedule this year, so this might be it.
The
Clyde Cordell Memorial race has been a big Hobby Stock race. I don't
know what the purse will be this year. At times they've paid $500 or
more, but right now it might be about bragging rights and adding your
name to the perpetual trophy. Some good drivers have won that race, and
it means something. Frankly, I'd love to see them put a little more
emphasis on this race and it's meaning for the track. Clyde was the guy
who was behind the idea to bring racing to Hayfork in the first place.
Mini Stocks, the rough and tumble Enduro cars and Modifieds are also on
the agenda.
Hayfork has been another track that
I have endeavored to get results for, and that's not always easy.
Thankfully, they've reached out to me a little more in recent years to
get me that information. They've got some good people out there taking
photography and even doing infield live streams. I would love to see
somebody up in the grandstands doing the live stream from there and
making more out of this. I don't know how many cars will show up, but
even if there's a half dozen Hobby Stocks, those guys will race their
asses off as they always do. The Mountain Valley Raceway Facebook page
is the place to get additional information.
Antioch
Speedway is coming off of the successful third round of the George
Steitz Freedom Series. The championship race will resume for the
Wingless Spec Sprints, Delta Dwarf Cars and Super Stocks. It's actually
pretty close in the latter two divisions. The racing has been wide open
in these classes, and you don't know who might win from week to week.
Antioch has a standing invitation to the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge
Series drivers, and one or two of those drivers may show up to mix it up
with the regulars. For those three divisions alone, it should be a good
show, but they won't be alone.
Antioch
Speedway has been trying to establish a Four Banger division, and we've
documented a little bit of their struggle to get the cars. With some
support from Polar Bear Rolled Ice Cream, management has offered a purse
to these drivers if they can deliver at least five cars, and we know
that Top 5 positions are paying. We also know that Antioch Speedway has
been on the radar of Central Valley Mini Stock Series Promoter Dan
Myrick. Though it was a little bit too late to try to get a full-fledged
CVMS race on this occasion, Dan has attempted to do the next best
thing. He's beating the drum of support.
From
just what Dan has done, we are hearing of several drivers coming to
town, so it's anticipated that this show will meet the threshold for a
purse. Jess Paladino will finally have some cars to race against. Two of
those drivers are reigning CVMS champion Myrick and current point
leader Jeff Durant, but there are a few people lurking. There could be
one or two other top Mini Stock names who show up, and that means it
will be a little bit more interesting. The racing will be available on
internet pay-per-view at antiochspeedway.tv, and you can go to the Antioch Speedway Facebook page for more announcements as they come.
I'm
a little bit disappointed in the lack of buildup for the 18th running
of the Chet Thomson Memorial at Antioch Speedway on September 26th. The
race was established at Vallejo Speedway back in the late 1960s, and
this is the fifth time it's been held at Antioch. It was Chet's son
Tommy Thomson and Dave Mackey who approached management at the time.
With the management change, there was concern about whether the show
would continue, but Promoter Chad Chadwick has kept it on the schedule
as a big part of the show that night.
The two
Facebook pages that have been kept for the current Hardtops movement are
lacking, and I wish that wasn't the case. I know we're going through
the covid-19 situation, but that's not why these pages aren't getting
updated. At the very least, there should be an effort to get cars on the
track. Though fans might not be in the stands, it will be broadcast on
internet pay-per-view. Furthermore, how things go on this occasion will
go a long ways towards deciding where the Hardtops fit on the schedule
at Antioch next year. It's important.
We've
heard of a few drivers from other divisions looking to get into this
class, and one of them is past Orland and Marysville Stock Car champion
Jerry Bartlett. It turns out there's a Bakersfield Hardtop available
that Jerry is looking at, owned by James Bradburn. James actually made
visits to Antioch back when the Hardtop movement was getting established
in the area over a decade ago, and he's one of the last originals in
the current Bakersfield Hardtop effort. One of the other originals, Mark
McCaslin, has sold his cars. One of those cars is owned by California
Hardtop booster Ken Clifford.
I'm a little
concerned about where things are headed for the Bakersfield Hardtop
effort. They seem to be more in the spirit as far as not letting cars
get too exotic. They're rough and tumble, and that's no doubt. They race
for points down there, and things have actually come to fisticuffs in
recent years. They do things a little bit differently down at "Oakie
Bowl". With Bradburn selling his car, it makes me wonder who's leading
the movement down there and what this means for the future. I guess time
will tell, but I would certainly like to see the Northern California
side of things a little better organized when it comes to rallying the
troops. I mentioned above that Orland is keeping the schedule that they
originally booked, and that could mean a California Hardtop visit will
happen in October.
Back on the pavement, you'll
have more opportunities to watch free broadcasts. This is because
Madera Speedway will have a club race on Saturday,and Lakeport
Speedway will broadcast something from the NCRA Lakeport Speedway
Facebook page. The Lakeport show is pretty special as it features the
North State Modified Series and some fast competitors, joined by the
Taco Bell Bombers, Legend Cars and Pro 4 Modifieds. I'm hoping to tune
in for that one.
For Madera Speedway, while
they sort through the excitement and controversy of last week's wild Nut
Up Pro Late Model race, this week's Club Race will feature the 602
Crate Modifieds, Madera Late Models, Hobby Stocks, MST's and Toyota's.
Madera Speedway's Facebook page will point you to the YouTube link to
watch it live for free, thanks to sponsorship from nutupindustries.com.
The 602 Modifieds are running three races each at three different
tracks and it's a growing series. Their first visit about a month ago
was very entertaining. I do like to see Kenny Shepherd attempting to add
other attractions beyond the successful Late Model effort. It's always
nice to have variety.
As we were going live
with our weekend recap blog post last week, there was a controversy
brewing at Madera Speedway. The official finish was protested. When you
are faced with a media deadline, you go with the information that you
have. At the time we went with our post, we reported in the Viewpoint
column that there was a protest, but we went with the article based on
the way the live broadcast went off the air. At that time, that meant
that point leader Buddy Shepherd was the winner ahead of Trevor
Huddleston and Carlos Vieira. With $10,000 worth of prize money based on
those three positions alone, people were going to challenge the
outcome.
To recap, they took a green flag with
Huddleston getting a clear jump on Shepherd. The announcers would later
explain that the flag man was going to call the start back, but he
didn't get the opportunity to do that before all hell broke loose on the
back straightaway. A tap from Shepherd sent Huddleston spinning, and
Vieira and Doss ended up crashing further down the back straightaway.
The track went with the ruling that the restart wasn't going to count
and reverted the lineup back to what it was before they took the green.
That's the way it stood at that the time.
With
that kind of prize money on the line, fifth place Ryan Philpott was a
little bit unhappy that they went with the order they had when the show
went off the air. He filed a protest on the grounds that Vieira and Doss
were crashed. Huddleston was spun on the back straightaway, and that
occurred because of contact from Shepherd. Did the restart really count
or not? The track had to take that into consideration. Furthermore, were
the racers aware that the restart wasn't going to count?
They
determined that the drivers were still racing at that point, so what
happened on the back straightaway had to count. The only other issue you
would have would be whether you penalize Shepherd for spinning
Huddleston or not, but it was pretty obvious. All four drivers were
treated as if they would have been put to the back of the pack on the
next restart. This elevated Philpott to the $5,000 victory as everybody
behind him moved up accordingly. By my way of thinking, that's the way
the show should have went off the air. It was pretty obvious, but at
least the track has the proper procedures in place to make an adjustment
as needed.
You can check out the official Madera Speedway press release on the matter HERE
On
September 19th, Ukiah Speedway will come back with the TNT Towing
Bomber Bash. This race will pay $1,200 to win for the Bombers. After
that, I believe there's one more big event happening in October. The
Bombers at Ukiah are as entertaining to watch as anything else I've been
watching this year, and I always look forward to tuning into the free
broadcast at the Ukiah Speedway Facebook page. The Limited Modifieds,
Jammers and Jalopies will round out that show next week.
I'm
reading this announcement from the Plaza Park Speedway Facebook page.
Of the four Micro Sprint tracks in California, they seem to be having
the most challenge to opening their track under these covid-19
guidelines. They were not given permission to run on September 18th and
19th. Under normal circumstances, this was going to be a special event.
In this case, they were just trying to open to give their racers some
place to go. They were told that not only could they not have a race
with fans, they couldn't have a race at all. It's just a bunch of BS
that we are this late into the year, and county health officials are
still being this authoritarian Yes, I said it. More chicken little,
this guy is falling, BS, and I'm over it.
Not
only should we not be having this happen right now, we should be to the
point where at least some fans are allowed in the grandstands. We've
actually seen reports from reputable outlets highlighting how the
numbers being attributed to the virus were greatly inflated. This is
nothing more than a glorified flu, and the flu kills people as well. You
can't make life 100% risk free. It's never been that way, and it never
will be. I'm sorry to the people who want to have those guarantees, but
you're living in a fantasy land. It will never be that way, and we
either stop living in fear, or we hide in our houses for the rest of our
lives until we're evicted and live on the streets.
Despite
the fact that we're hearing these reports of things not being as bad as
the media is leading us to believe, the narrative continues to be
pushed. Though some places muddle through it, others like Plaza Park end
up getting shut down again. For every report we hear of a track having
something good happen, we get bad news. We are into September now, and
I'm wondering when this madness is going to end. I just see them coming
up with something else to scare us with next year. I don't even think
it's going to matter what the outcome of the election is in November,
though some might believe that a certain outcome will keep this stuff at
bay a little bit. They may be right. Then again, they may not. At what
point do we say enough is enough?
I wouldn't go
any further here on the Plaza Park deal, but they said something on the
social media page that rubbed me the wrong way. They mentioned that
they've been keeping their social media activity to a minimum so as not
to draw attention to themselves. So let me get this straight, you want
to open the race track without letting anybody know? I get it. You're
trying to sneak one through while the people who are against you try to
shut you down. At some point, you claim ownership of what you're doing
or step away from the plate. That's the way I feel about it. I am going to censor my remaining comments here, but part of my frustration is that doing that also excludes and alienates your loyal fans. Not a good move. I'll leave it at that.
Marysville Raceway
went ahead and had that race on Wednesday night. People are questioning
whether they should have. Quite honestly, I'm questioning it as well.
I'm watching people I care about being evacuated from their homes, and
I'm watching fires that aren't too far from where I am now. There is
more to life than going to a damn race track. I get it's the normalcy
that people want, and I get why they feel it's important to have that
race. I still feel they could have waited a week and had it on that
Wednesday, but that's me. This is not about being a Karen, as the
derogatory term goes. It's just about showing some compassion for those
in the community who are suffering.
Regardless,
it was kind of anticlimactic. There were 29 Sprint Cars and about a
dozen Hobby Stocks. Not the greatest turnout of Hobby Stocks, but enough
to put on a show. The Sprint Cars were the show, and you're doing well
when you can get the kind of car count they had on a Wednesday. Ryan Robinson continues
to show that he'll be somebody to contend with for years to come. The
talented second-generation racer held off champion Andy Forsberg for
most of the race and earned his third win of the year. He's the only
three-time winner at Marysville this year.
They
saluted the Gold Cup, which has been one of the biggest Winged
Sprint Car races in Northern California for the past several years.
Promoter Dennis Gage has had a hell of a time trying to get Silver
Dollar Speedway open, but he can get Marysville open. He figured he'd do
the next best thing. I get when he was going for. He wanted to remind
everybody of the Gold Cup, and at least putting that name out there in
some context accomplishes that. He can have 100 fans in the stands,
plus he has floracing.com
showing the live stream. I can't imagine he was disappointed with the
car count there. Just give them a quick show. Most of the top Sprint Car
teams that you would expect were there.
The
Hobby Stock car count was down a little bit, but it really was the only
option as far as having a support class that could give any sort of
turnout. I don't think the Dwarf Car group was up for a midweek race,
and you couldn't have a point event for the IMCA Sport Modifieds as it
conflicts with the IMCA Nationals in Boone, Iowa. The 12 Hobby Stocks
put on a good show, and Jim Brookshire becomes the second two-time
winner of the year as he won ahead of champion Jesse Van Roekel.
I
would assume the Gold Fever Taxi Cab Open in the Sprint Car
Spooktacular event in October will still happen. The next show is the
25th Annual Western States Dwarf Car Nationals, hosted by the NorCal
Dwarf Car Association. They practice on September 24th and race on the
25th and 26th. The track's Crate Sprints and Limited Late Models will
run that weekend for their point finale. But getting back to the Dwarf
Car Nationals, this is where it all started. I know that the Dwarf Car
drivers are chomping at the bit to have this race.
Past
NorCal Dwarf Car Association champion Frank Munroe had a dream back
then to gather the best Dwarf Car drivers on the West Coast in one
location. Marysville was the first place to make it happen, and they
were getting well over 100 cars. At that point, they ran the alphabet.
It's been refined since then to have a Pro group, a Veterans group and a
Sportsman group. You still might get B Mains in some cases, but it also
gives drivers a chance to compete with people in their brackets. It's
hard to believe this event is 25 years old now.
When
they had the Nationals at Petaluma to open their season this year, they
pulled in over 100 cars. I think there's a shot at that happening again
in Marysville. It's usually very well attended, and some of the groups
aren't getting enough racing in as it is. I believe this is the last big
Western States event on the calendar, but they could throw their
support behind some other events in October or later. You never know.
You can find the Western States Dwarf Car Association page on Facebook
and the Marysville Raceway Facebook page will also keep you informed.
I
would like to think that at some point we'll hear some more news on
grandstands opening. Tracks running into late November could have a
chance, but I don't know how big of a chance. I don't know how many
promoters are going to take a swing at getting any kind of attendance,
but I still feel it couldn't hurt to try. The World of Outlaws drafted
their proposal for how tracks could go about opening, and Kenny Shepard
at Madera was the one in California coming up with his own plan to get
Madera Speedway open. Surely, a few promoters could work on drafting
something to present to the state that shows how having some sort of
attendance is possible that could meet safety guidelines?
The
one thing people need to keep in mind is there is a movement to keep
the shutdown going into next year. That's not me projecting doom and
gloom. You can use some intelligence and discern that for yourself based
on what's being said. I'm not saying that will ultimately happen. Lord
willing, people are going to stand up for their rights and say enough is
enough. If people don't, who knows what might happen next. Plan B in
that scenario is for promoters to put their heads together and come up
with a plan to get fans in attendance. I recognize that
they might also have a struggle by then keeping the tracks open just
for people in the pits.
The second weekend of
September is always a challenge when it comes to booking your programs
without the IMCA sanctioned classes. You can add that to the struggle to
open under these covid-19 guidelines. We have some interesting
offerings for the weekend as the show goes on. Streaming services will
keep us up to date, and there are some free options to choose from as
well. I hope things go well this week. We'll stay at the news desk and
do what we can.
I have debated doing this
particular post, because I certainly wasn't feeling it. The fires remind
me that there's more going on right now than simply having a race, so
it's hard to get enthusiastic about it under those circumstances. I sort
of want to disengage a little bit by the end of this month, and some
tracks are adding more to their schedule. The weather is going to tell
you what you can and can't do, and they've been basing what they're
scheduling on the fact that October has usually pretty dry in recent
years and November doesn't even have much rain. We need the rain though,
so I wouldn't mind seeing some.
Will cover
some of the big events beyond September and pick and choose what we do. I
don't think I want to do a weekly news effort that takes me all the way
through the end of November or I'm just going to shut down for the
off-season and books won't even get touched. I kind of miss the days
when we didn't try to book races every month of the year. It wasn't too
long ago when that was the case. Sure, you had your oddball tracks doing
something in November, but it seems like every year more tracks want to
jump into that mess. It's okay to have an off-season. I don't begrudge
promoters doing what they've got to do, and I do wish them luck.
At any rate, I'm going to end this column for now. Until next time...
