Antioch Speedway, Petaluma Speedway, Madera Speedway, Ukiah Speedway, Siskiyou Golden Speedway, More

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Pit Stops

Labor Day weekend is upon us, and it's also the stretch run for the abbreviated season. the IMCA Modified and IMCA Sport Modified divisions have two big offerings, the doubleheader weekend at Siskiyou Golden Speedway and the third round of the George Steitz Big Kahuna Freedom Series at Antioch Speedway. There's a big Late Model show happening on the pavement at Madera Speedway, and the Bombers take center stage at Ukiah Speedway. There's lots of great excitement on tap, and most of it will be available on internet streaming services or even for free on the internet since fans won't be able to attend in most cases.

Antioch Speedway

One of the big things Promoter Chad Chadwick introduced to the 2020 schedule was the George Steitz Big Kahuna Freedom Series. The first round of this series set an Antioch Speedway track record at about a 150 cars back in May. The second event happened on July 4th, and the Labor Day weekend offering will again include the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks for a bigger purse. You'll be able to watch all of the action on the www.antiochspeedway.tv pay-per-view streaming service. 

We've actually had 10 IMCA Modified point races to date. There's only two point events left. The Freedom Series wins have gone to Oregon's Collen Winebarger and track point leader Troy Foulger. Driving the Bowers Motorsports Modified, Foulger not only leads the Antioch standings, he's also leading the State point race. He's been the most consistent Top 5 finisher in the group as he's only failed to earn a Top 5 finish once in 10 starts. Foulger has two victories and has finished second in two of the last three races.

The driver forcing Foulger to settle for second on both occasions was three-time winner Kellen Chadwick. Chadwick's third win came in the Hetrick Memorial race two weeks ago, and that moved him into a tie with Jim Pettit II for second in the standings. Given the nature of the IMCA point system, it's going to be a tall order reeling in Foulger. He leads Chadwick and Pettit by 29 points. Reigning champion Buddy Kniss holds the fourth position by three points ahead of one-time winner Shane DeVolder. Some of the drivers to watch for this week include JC Elrod, Antioch Speedweek winner Nick DeCarlo, Bobby Motts Jr, Aaron Crowell and Kimo Oreta.

The Freedom Series for the IMCA Sport Modifieds has seen past State champion Brian Cooper and KC Keller grab the victories so far. We've had eight different winners in 10 races as only reigning State champion Guy Ahlwardt and two-time reigning Merced champion Fred Ryland have won twice. However, the championship battle right now appears to be between the consistent Mark Garner and the division's all-time Main Event win leader Trevor Clymens. Garner is still searching for his first win with a season-high third, while Clymens won at the beginning of August. Garner leads by five points.

If the two drivers in front of him stumble, 2017 champion Keller could still make a move. He's 21 points out of the lead. Keller has a win and three additional podium finishes, but his absence on one occasion is what's keeping him from leading now. As it is, he leads one-time winner Kenny Shrader by 17 tallies in the race for third. 20 points behind him is Ryland, and 23 points back is last season's point runner-up, Kevin Brown. These drivers are all anticipated this week along with Tommy Clymens Jr, reigning champion Tommy Fraser, Todd Gomez and Andrew Pearce.

The Hobby Stocks have had 11 races at Antioch. Travis Dutra is leading the charge. He has six podium efforts, and that includes a division-leading three victories. Dutra comes into the week as one of the hottest drivers, but you also have to consider James Thomson. Thomson has put together three consecutive runnerup finishes as he's beating on the door to his first win of the season. Last season's point runnerup, Brianna Troen, has a second and a third as she looks for her first win, and Larry McKinzie Jr has impressed with three third place finishes.

Past champion Brad Myers and Jason Robles count themselves among the winners this year, Bakersfield racer Nick Johnson and three-time reigning Watsonville champion Rob Gallaher each have a pair of victories and Watsonville point leader Joe Gallaher has a win as well. The most recent race, which saw 30 Hobby Stocks in the field, went to Placerville point leader Les Friend. There should be a good turnout of competitors this week, and others to watch for include Gene Haney, Mikayla Taylor, Domossie Scoggins, Jake Bentancourt, Lori Brown and Josh Leach.

As we were editing this column, the track released a point list for the Hobby Stocks, and Dutra is in fact leading the standings by 46 points ahead of Troen. Thomson is 58 points out of the lead and only 12 behind Troen in a closer race for second. McKinzie has been holding steady and ranks fourth, eight points ahead of Jake Bentancourt and 32 over Leach.

For fans of IMCA Modified and Sport Modified racing along with Hobby Stocks, Antioch Speedway is the place to check out in the Bay Area on Saturday night. It's unfortunate that we're still still not allowed fans in the grandstands, but www.antiochspeedway.tv will be offering streaming services. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway Facebook page.

Petaluma Speedway

On the heels of a program that saw nearly 100 competitors show up across four divisions last week, Petaluma Speedway is back in action again this Sunday night. The 3/8 mile adobe oval will be hosting the BCRA/USAC Western Midgets, which in itself is the first night of a two-race series that will wrap up at Petaluma on October 24th. Also competing will be the General Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Cars, Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micros and Jake's Performance Hobbies Mini Stocks. With fans still not allowed in the grandstands, you can watch all of the action on internet pay-per-view at floracing.com.

Though this is a mixture of BCRA and USAC drivers, usually it's the USAC drivers who rise to the top. Last time out, 2018 USAC runner up Alex Schuette won the Main Event by a half-lap ahead of 2018 USAC West Coast Sprint Car champion Austin Liggett and last season's point runner-up, Corey Elliott. Only fellow USAC racer Ben Worth managed to stay on the lead lap with those three drivers as there were 19 competitors taking the green flag. 

Some of the drivers anticipated for the show include reigning BCRA champion Robert Carson, past BCRA champion Frankie Guerrini, BCRA legend Floyd Alvis, CJ Sarna, Terry Nichols, David Prickett and Mike Leach Jr. The West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame has pitched in to help make this two-race series possible, and there's a point fund being offered. You can find out more about that by going to www.bcraracing.com.

It seems like the MVP of the 2020 season when it comes to car count is the General Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Cars. They've been having the biggest Dwarf Car gatherings for regular shows anywhere on the West Coast this year, and there were 37 drivers in action last time out. Coming off of the win he had the night before at Antioch, reigning NorCal champion Michael "Spanky" Grenert was hoping to make it his second Petaluma win of the year, but he was thwarted in his endeavors by past NorCal champion Ryan Winter. That was Winter's first win of the season, moving him into third in the standings. Grenert leads reigning Redwood Dwarf Car champion Chad Matthias by 70 points, and Matthias leads Winter by 29.

Only 20 points behind Winter is local competitor Matt Haggemann, and Jimmy Damron is 21 points back in fifth. A check of the winner's list finds past NorCal and Watsonville champion Shawn Jones with two victories and one win each for Southern California star Darren Brown and two-time Antioch champion Danny Wagner. Dwarf Car racers are flocking to Petaluma these days, and others to watch for include Carroll Mendenhall, Garrett Brady, Zach Albers, two-time champion John Peters, Michael Affonso and rookie Joey Lingron.

There have been five Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micro events held so far, but the point standings only reflect three of those events. Multi-time champion Jim Beck had a good car last time out, but mechanical issues saw him watching the finish from the sidelines. What he saw was a very dominant performance by Koen Shaw, who lapped all but the Top 5 finishers by the time the checkered flag waved. This was the third win of the season for the Watsonville Sprint Car star. George Nielsen joins Beck and Shaw on the feature winner's list. Some of the stars to watch for this week include Kyle Grissom, Rob Brown, Carroll Mendenhall, Savanah Brown, Amber Fields and reigning champion Justin Adiego.

The car count in the Jake's Performance Hobbies Mini Stock class has been down this year for whatever reason. 2018 champion Tom Brown hopes to become the first repeat two-time champion in this class in the last 15 years, and winning the three events held so far has certainly helped him in that endeavor. Only rookie Jake Barretta has been at all three events, and he trails Brown by 24 points. If Barretta can't beat Brown, he'll have himself another title. Some of the drivers to watch for this week include Roberta Broze, Cody Bolles, Casey Monahan and Austin Lodin.

This race takes on a more open-wheel flavor, but it should offer plenty of excitement. Promoter Rick Faeth would love to have fans in the stands, but covid-19 guidelines won't let that happen just yet. Therefore, you can watch it all on internet pay-per-view at www.floracing.com. For further information, go to www.petaluma-speedway.com or check out the Petaluma Speedway Facebook page.

Ukiah Speedway

Ukiah Speedway Promoter David Furia was on the ground floor of creating a really nice series for the Bombers last year called the Upstate Bomber Series. The covid-19 virus shutdown wiped out the schedule as intended, but that didn't stop he and management from Redwood Acres Raceway from doing a two-race deal. The second Upstate Bomber race happens at Ukiah this Saturday night, joined by the local Limited Modifieds, Open Modifieds, Jammers and the Bandoleros and Legend Cars, if any of those drivers come out to compete on the paved quarter-mile oval.

One of the top local Bomber racers is Loren Powers Jr, and he went to Eureka last week and scored an impressive victory. He's also the driver who won the Upstate Bomber race there earlier this year. However, Powers is still searching for his first win at his home track. Currently, he trails Charley Tour by 92 points in the track championship race. Tour has been the model of consistency with five Top 5 finishes in six starts, including two wins. He won the last time out and may be the driver to beat this week. Another driver who has been fast this year is Brenton Smith. He has two wins in his four starts, but mechanical failures sidelined him early last time out. He is a solid third in the standings. The next battle finds Roy Ingalls Jr leading Brandon Powers by 37 points in the battle for fourth.

The purse will be $1,000 to win for the Bombers with $800 for second and $400 for third as it pays throughout the field. This should bring some top competitors from Lakeport, Shasta and Eureka. Some of the drivers to watch for include Raymond Taylor, Ron Duke Sr, Forrest Kuecker, Josh Smith and Late Model veteran Denny Cashada. Charlie Collins out of the Lakeport area has a feature win to his credit and could be a big contender this week.

The Limited Modifieds at Ukiah have been putting on a good show all season long. The driver who's been the most impressive with six Top 5 finishes in his six starts is Jason Philpot of Sacramento. Philpot also has four wins. His lead over Tyler Caturegli is 77 points. Tyler has five Top 5 finishes, but he'd love to make the $500 prize his first win of the year. Roy Ingalls Jr is holding third by 18 points over TJ Buzzard. Sammy Nuno is 39 points behind Ingalls. Those drivers may top the list of potential winners, but both Sierra Furia and Mike Lovell could be there to make a play at their second wins of the season. Others to watch for include Bo Robertson, Dennis Anderson, Kylie Keown and Erick Ray.

The Jammer division runs the Pros with the Juniors together, but John Parker has really been the only Pro showing up and is dominating the points in his classification. Christian Sanchez has been pretty dominant in the Junior class with four wins in five starts. He has a 64 point lead over TJ Sorrels, who is the only other driver with a win in the group. After blowing a motor, Hailey Glass missed the most recent race and dropped over a hundred points behind Sorrels in third. She leads the steady Charles French by just 25 points.

We're not sure who will come race with $1,000 on the line, but the Open Modifieds are surely going to draw a decent turnout for their portion of the program. TNT Towing and Lake County Pumps are both sponsoring prize money for this event. There were eight drivers ready to give the Ukiah pavement a chance back in July when the Open Modifieds were in town. Semi Tour, who also likes to run the Bomber class, picked up the win in the Main Event that night, followed by Jason Philpot, Tyler Caturegli, Dustin ReRosier and Charlie Collins. With the prize set at $1,000 to win, there might be a better turnout for the open class this time around. They are also offering an additional $200 prize to the top finishing 602 Crate Modified.

We're not sure who might show up with the Bandoleros or the Legend Cars. Occasionally, there are one or two drivers showing up and making laps, but management would love to get enough cars in either classification for a race. With Lakeport dark this week, it's possible some of their Legend Car racers may come out and run, but we can only speculate on that. 

It's a strong lineup of racing for Ukiah this weekend, despite the fact that the infield dirt track won't be ready for the Jalopies on this occasion. Fans aren't allowed in the grandstands just yet, but Furia Motorsports, thanks to some great sponsorship, has been offering the livestream to the fans for free on the Ukiah Speedway Facebook page. That's where you can go to get the latest information on what's happening at the track.

Coos Bay Speedway

Saturday night will be the second to last NASCAR Whelen All American Series championship event at Coos Bay Speedway. The exciting lineup will include the America's Mattress Super Late Models, Sportsman Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Outlaws, Hornets and Junior Stingers. Making their final point race appearance of the year will be the Winged Sprints. There's no live streaming that we're aware of, but fans are able to attend the races at Coos Bay Speedway.

Brody Montgomery seems to be peaking at the right time in the Super Late Models. Following his first win of the season two races ago, he gained the lead from Jason Johnson, who had a bad night. Last week, Montgomery scored a second place finish ahead of championship rival Braden Fugate. This gives Montgomery a 12 point lead in the race for the $3,500 first prize. Montgomery leads the pack with all nine Top 5 finishes, and Fugate has eight of them, including a feature win. 16 points out of the lead is two-time winner Johnson. In terms of point find the money, it's $2,000 for second and $1,200 for third, which isn't bad at all. Mike Taylor has a solid hold on fourth as he is one of four drivers who has made every race. Reigning champion Preston Luckman has only competed five times, but his four wins give him fifth in the standings by 64 points over rookie Hannah Robison.

Past Winged Sprint Car champion Lawrence Van Hoof has managed to grab the point lead despite not winning a race this year. He does lead the field with three Top 5 finishes, and that gives him a 32 point lead over Ian Bandey and a 36 point advantage over one-time winner Austin Sause. Sause might have been leading, but he missed the most recent event. Though Bandey and Sause have a shot at the championship, it's likely that they're battling for second. There have been five different winners as Southern Oregon racers Tanner Holmes and RJ McGahuey have wins, and Tyrell Mead and Colby Thornhill have also scored victories.

When other tracks were unable to run this year, the Sportsman Late Model numbers inflated, making the racing more interesting. There have been eight different winners in nine races, and only point leader Trace Fugate has more than one victory. He's also the only driver to make every race, and it's a foregone conclusion that he'll win the $1,000 championship. The battle is very much for second as there is point fund money on the line there. Following his season-best second-place finish, Jared Simmons moved 14 points ahead of Ryan Emry, who is a feature winner this year. However, much like fourth-ranked Phil Lovvorn, Emry may be racing at Willamette Speedway this weekend. Second place is worth $800. Also of note is young Brionna Fuller, who came to town and picked up her first win in this class last week.

The Street Stock division has been having their best season in years as double-digit car counts have been the norm. 2018 Sportsman Late Model champion Dyllan Siewell won the $500 prize in the Battle At The Beach last week. After his third place finish last week, two-time winner Ken Fox maintains a 12 point advantage over reigning champion Steve Dubisar. Both drivers have two victories to their credit, but Fox has 11 Top 5 finishes. Third-ranked Greg Osborne has 10 Top 5 finishes, but the four-time winner has missed a race to keep him 38 points out of the lead. Other drivers to watch for this week include Sam Talon, Michael Hollingsworth, Dustin Hitner, Troy Chamberlain and Charlie Withers.

As the only driver to make all nine races, one-time winner Brad Hicks has a 42 point lead over two-time winner Tahlan Rogers in the Mini Outlaw championship race. At this point, Hicks is hoping to run out the clock and win the title. Scott Beaudoin got his fourth win of the season last week and is 56 points out of the lead. Jason Kellam is a solid fourth.

In the Hornet division, Seth Christian has had the hot hand as he picked up his third win in four starts last week. However, Cottage Grove's Isaac Stere leads the standings by 88 markers ahead of William Hitner. Isaac has two wins out of his eight Top 5 finishes. Hitner isn't really being challenged by John Henry and Kevin Rockwell, who are tied for fourth, 104 points behind him. Only two points behind Henry and Rockwell is Kris Parker. This has been a competitive division with seven different winners in 10 races.

There's only been one winner in the Junior Stingers class, and that is two-time reigning champion Griff Smith. With nine victories, he holds a commanding 110 point lead over Cameron Metzgus. Metzgus and Alex Butler have both earned five Top 5 finishes, but Butler has fallen out of second after mechanical issues two races ago. Heather Burton is only 20 points behind Metzgus in the race for second, and Teagan Montgomery is only 36 points behind Metzgus, two ahead of Butler. One of the hottest drivers at the field lately is Lily Metzgus. She picked up her second-straight runnerup finish last week.

Coos Bay Speedway has stood head and shoulders above all of the tracks on the West Coast due to their ability to open up their grandstands for fans and sell them food. Promoter Drake Nelson has called the state's bluff on the covid-19 guidelines, and he's gotten away with it since June with weekly activity at the oval or the drag strip. Fans who want to go witness a race in person can go to Coos Bay Speedway for some NASCAR action this Saturday night. For further information, go to www.coosbayspeedway.us or check out the Coos Bay Speedway Facebook page.

Siskiyou Golden Speedway

With Southern Oregon Speedway unable to open this weekend for the Fourth Annual R Charles Snyder Salute, Promoter Kevin Barba seized on the opportunity to book an exciting two-race show this Friday and Saturday night. The IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modifieds will be in action along with the Outlaw Pro Stocks on both nights. The Mini Stocks are racing on Saturday as well. As the track has reached the four race minimum threshold from the sanctioning body, IMCA will crown champions in both Modified classes. Since fan attendance is not permitted due to covid-19 guidelines, the track will have a pay-per-view streaming service available through the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series Facebook page. It's only $9.99 each night.

The purse money on Friday night will be dependent on car count or any sponsorship money that might come in. As it is, the track's media director, Misty Bushman, has announced that they will be paying $800 to win the IMCA Modified race on Saturday and $700 to win the IMCA Sport Modified race. There's still some effort being made to increase the Outlaw Pro Stock purse on Saturday as well. With a little bit of extra money on the line and the fact that Medford and some of the tracks south of Yreka won't be running, an increase in car count is anticipated.

It's been great to see Travis Perry not only back in action in Yreka once again, but also helping work behind the scenes to make things better. Travis is a multi-time champion at the speedway with a championship in Medford as well. He's been leading the standings from the start after winning the first two races. Currently, he leads past multi-time Yreka and Medford champion Albert Gill by 14 tallies. Gill needs to make up a little bit of ground to have a shot at Peery before the window closes with IMCA at the end of September, and he had a respectable showing in Cottage Grove last week in fifth. He also managed to hold off Peery for a second place finish at the most recent Yreka race.

The recent race was won by Jeffrey Hudson aboard the Don Romer car. Hudson has looked fast in his visits and mounted a big challenge for the $1,500 to win race on July 3rd before problems sent him to the pits. He currently ranks sixth in the standings. The other win this year was earned by division rookie Justin McCreadie, and that happened to be the night when the $1,500 was on the line. $800 is nothing to balk at, and reigning champion and third-ranked Duane Orsburn hopes to have something to say about that. He trails Gill by 19 points in the race for second and leads Jeremy Crebs by four tallies. 11 points behind Orsburn is Springfield, Oregon's Paul Culp. We're not sure who all is coming as we write this, but we expect a double-digit car count for the show.

There is some optimism that the IMCA Sport Modified division might hit the 20s in car count for the show. Jorddon Braaten has been the star of the show so far. The three-time reigning Southern Oregon Speedway champion has racked up five victories, winning the most recent point race by half a lap ahead of reigning champion Ethan Killingsworth. As Braaten is headed to Boone, Iowa, we're probably not going to see him this weekend. Killingsworth might have been a little bit frustrated at settling for another second. He has four Top 5 finishes, but he's still looking for his first win. He trails two-time Medford champion Mike Medel by 22 points as Medel trails Braaten by 34. If Jorddon is indeed bailing out of the race, the championship battle may come down between Medel and Killingsworth.

Rookie Ryan Peery grabbed the $400 prize in the non point event last week, giving him his first win in the division. He's currently fourth in the standings, 30 behind Killingsworth and seven ahead of past Yreka champion Colt Boswell. Colt's brother Ryder Boswell is only five points behind him, and the Boswell Brothers will be hoping to grab a victory. We anticipate some Medford drivers coming for this show, and word out of Yuba City is we might see a few drivers who normally race at Marysville. This could include this year's Marysville runnerup Jimmy Ford and Marysville and IMCA State point leader Timothy Allerdings.

At press time, we haven't seen the current point list for the Outlaw Pro Stock Association, but three of their four events have been held in Yreka this year. Coming off of his impressive win at the last Yreka race, reigning series champion Scott Flowers leads the Yreka totals by eight markers ahead of Matt Harlow and nine in front of Colby Hammond. We know that Flowers is leading the association standings. Harlow won the season opener after taking the lead from Hammond late in the race. Rookie Darek Alford, a local star, picked up his first win in the second Yreka race. Alford is only 12 points out of the Yreka lead back in fifth, one point behind Scott's son James Flowers. Some of the stars to watch for include Rick Lukens, Dennis Burtenhouse Jr, Johnny Cobb, Jeff Haudenshild, Arlen Garrison and Scott Bennett. Lukens looked impressive with his second place finish last time out, and Burtenhouse led much of that race.

With five races in the books, David Steele leads the Mini Stock standings going into Saturday night. As he has four wins and a second to his credit, that comes as a surprise to nobody. We haven't seen an update after the most recent Steele victory, but prior to that he's leading fellow Medford racer Ashtin Hedges by 17 points. Hedges is the only driver to beat Steele in Main Event competition this year. He also leads three-time reigning Yreka champion Mike Whitaker by 23 points, though Whitaker was absent from the most recent race and will drop further. Hunter Magnan and three-time champion Marilyn Yawnick made up the balance of the Top 5 after four races. Some of the drivers to watch for this Saturday include Steve Goetz, Terry Alford Sr, Darrel Nelson Jr, rookie Paige Boswell and Kassidy Wilkinson.

Trying to run something a little bit more special than your average race can become challenging when doing so without grandstands. However, track management is confident that this two-day offering will work out well. The Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series Facebook page will be offering the Pay-Per-View as mentioned above. You can find out more information by going to The Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page.

Madera Speedway

During this time of the pandemic, Promoter Kenny Shepherd has successfully drafted the five phase opening plan that he's been using to get the show back on the road on the 1/3 mile paved oval. Since the gates opened, nutupindustries.com has allowed the fans to watch for free as they've sponsored the Madera Speedway YouTube page. That will again be the case this weekend, and it's a huge event for them. It's also one of those events that will be taped simultaneously for future airing on MavTV. 

It's a risky proposition for promoters to try so hard to pay bigger purses when they can't have fans in the grandstands, but Kenny keeps doing things to try to make it better. It certainly wouldn't be possible without the sponsorship that they have been able to get. On Saturday night, the Nut Up Pro Late Models, 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models and the Bandoleros vs the Mini Cups will all get to do some racing, but it's also a big night. It's the second round of the Race 2B Drug Free Big3 Series for the Pro Late Models.

What that means is the drivers will be racing for some serious money. The Top 3 finishers in the Pro Late Model Main Event alone will receive a total of $10,000, and that's not all. Have you ever heard of a big money Semi Main before? You're getting one on Saturday night. That race will be $3,000 to win with second getting $750 and third getting a $500 prize. There's no catch. You don't have to park your car for the rest of the night to get your money. You can transfer and go for the bigger money. That bigger money will include $5,000 to win, $3,000 for second and $2,000 for third. 

Considering the serious coin that the track is offering for this one, the car count is expected to inflate for this race. Even drivers who don't think they have a shot at the $5,000 Main Event prize have incentive. There are people who know they might have something good enough to win a Semi Main, so you might see a few local racers and people from outside of the area that you haven't seen in Madera for a while. Car count is expected to inflate into the 30s for this race, and it's going to be an exciting show. This is the biggest paying pavement Late Model show on the West Coast. Has there ever been a $3,000 to win a Semi Main before?

This will be the sixth round of the Nut Up Pro Late Model Series. With three wins to his credit, Buddy Shepherd has been tough to beat. However, Dylan Zampa joined Jeremy Doss as the only other drivers to get a win this year. Zampa looked quite impressive as he forced Shepherd to settle for his second runner-up finish of the year last time out. You can bet that Dylan Zampa will have his eyes on the big prize, but Shepherd may come in as the favorite. He holds a 40 point lead over the consistent Ross Strmiska. Ross has a second and two thirds among his best efforts, giving him a 30 point advantage over Ryan Philpott. 12 points behind Philpott is Blaine Rocha, and Dylan Zampa is 23 points back. With the money on the line, it's possible you could see somebody show up who hasn't raced at Madera all year to make a run for the money. It's going to be exciting to watch.

The 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models have certainly been exciting to watch this year. Bradley Erickson has a 44 point lead over Cole Brown following Brown's win at the most recent event. Both Erickson and Seth Wise have a pair of victories. Brown isn't too comfortable in second with the consistent Kercie Jung only 14 points behind him. Jung has four Top 5 finishes in a row, including a second place finish. Jake Bollman is next in line, 21 points behind Jung as he continues to improve with each start. Bollman had a second place finish two races ago, which helped him move past Wise by 23 points. With other hard chargers in the field such as Brody Armtrout, Kabe McClenny, Kassidy Hinds and Kale McClenny, these Junior Late Model drivers have been putting on a good show this year.

The Bandoleros and the Mini Cups run together to help with the car count, but they keep separate point listings. All five of the Bandolero races have been won by Jeffrey Erickson, giving him a 41 point lead over Caden Cordova and a 53 point advantage over Joey Kennealy. Cordova is coming off of back-to-back second place finishes as he aims to get the win this week. 

After getting four wins in a row in the Mini Cup class, point leader Rebecca Dubie was finally bested by her championship rival, Harley Kennealy. Dubie leads Kennealy by just seven points. As more competitors start showing up, there's more of an opportunity to gain in the standings for Kennealy. Evan Laires, Molly Laires and Bella Thompson have joined the action in recent races.

It all adds up to an exciting night of racing at Madera Speedway, and you can watch it all for free at home thanks to nutupindustries.com paying for the streaming service. It will also be a professional broadcast quality event. To find out more, go to www.racemadera.com or check out the Madera Speedway Facebook page.

The Editor's Viewpoint

The meaning of the last day of August isn't lost on me. I was wrapping up my blog post Monday morning when it hit me. I had a pretty good weekend, but I was busy at the desk the whole time to make sure things got done. I could have put the post out very early on Monday morning. All the stuff that we intended to cover had been written and gone over, but I needed to do the usual audio show that goes with the post. I was a little bit tired. Though I knew what I wanted to do on the show, I figured I'd get some rest. Typical of the way we do things, I got up on Monday morning and added Cottage Grove. This is because I had information at the last minute that made it worth doing a story. 

In the midst of a few things trying to go wrong and me starting to stress out a little bit, the meaning of the day became clear. It was 13 years ago on Monday that I lost my sister. Sometimes you don't think about those things. I greatly miss my sister and my father every day. I'll tell you this much. What I've been able to accomplish in racing would not have happened if not for the support she gave me and the support my father gave me. What I have accomplished, whatever that is, is because those two people believed in me. Not a day goes by that I don't miss them.

The days and the years can pass, but the hurt never completely goes away. Life goes on. Suddenly, it's been a year since you lost them. Then it's 5. Then it's 10. I hadn't been thinking about that until I looked at the calendar and also noticed memories on Facebook. Yeah, it's been 13 years. The best years that we were able to have with the old magazine and when I became the announcer, did publicity and other things at Antioch Speedway happened with my sister being involved in what I was doing. I gave myself permission to shut down for the rest of Monday, even though there was stuff I would have liked to do. It can wait another day.

They told us when they started shutting everything down that the roadmap to reopening would mean that mass gatherings weren't permitted through September at the earliest. They didn't say when in September, so don't get excited just yet. Out here on the West Coast, we have governors that don't seem to mind keeping things shut down. You have to take that into consideration when you begin to feel a little bit optimistic. I don't want to jump on the topic so much here. I like what I wrote on the subject in this column on Monday. I think it puts things better than I can at the moment.

I know I come off as a broken record on certain topics. I feel like the states should have addressed small crowds at the local sports level. Maybe you have reason in this overhyped pandemic to not want major sporting events to have big crowds. I'm talking about stadiums that can seat twenty thousand, thirty thousand or more. Even then, social distancing is possible. Those stadiums are so huge, you could have 2,000 people gathering, and at least it would be something. Maybe they could develop a plan on that level, but that's not what I'm talking about here.

On the Motorsports level, if you're saying you can have 250 people or more gathering in the pits for a race on any given day, you ought to be able to have that many in the stands. You can social distance. You can handle whatever safety measures need to be taken care of. Maybe the tracks opened as they did. Just the competitors and the restrictions involved back then. By the time we got to July, there should have been a way to move forward with a few spectators. By the time we got to where we are now, I don't even think there should have been a problem with half capacity allowed, if nothing more. No plan has been drawn up to my knowledge. The closest thing is what they do at Hermiston and Roseburg in Oregon.

The reason I have to say you take the good with the bad is because on September 1st Oregon Governor Kate Brown made an announcement. She extended the State of Emergency for another 60 days, meaning we are still in the Phase 2 stage of things. This allows 250 people or less in a mass gathering. Don't expect them to suddenly open the gates for fans at whatever races are left, though Drake Nelson will continue to give the middle finger to the governor and do what he does at Coos Bay Speedway until they stop him. Roseburg will go with the 250 fan plan for their next race on September 26th, but we're waiting to see when Hermiston will get their next race. They just announced it won't be this weekend as they are still in Phase 1.

You don't get many racing opportunities in Oregon as you get later into September. It becomes hunting season, so some of the racers don't even care at that point. The other thing is it starts raining in Oregon. The pavement tracks can risk it a little bit later into the year as they're not dealing with wet grounds. You just have to dry the track. If your race track gets too wet at the dirt track level, you're screwed. The only track that is thinking about going later into the year is Cottage Grove Speedway, but that's all to be announced.

There is some good news to report down at Merced. After the Speedweek Series concluded, General Manager Doug Lockwood had hinted that the next race on the schedule would be the John Fore Jr/Bob Smith Memorial race. An announcement has been made on that event and an additional race. This is fifth running of this event, so the track gets to keep a little bit of continuity going in this lousy time. Doug isn't talking about any attendance being allowed in the stands, but I will consciously point out that there's a little time between now and October 23rd and 24th. You never know what can happen. Dare we hope for good news in that area?

I'm thinking as long as the weather holds out for it, October is going to be a big month for special events. This race should do well. The Friday night portion will see the IMCA Modifieds receiving $750 to win, the IMCA Sport Modifieds getting $500 to win and the Hobby Stocks picking up a $400 first prize. They will also have the IMCA Stock Cars for $300 to win on Friday. After the race they had at Speedweek, there's no way Doug could pass up this opportunity to feature the IMCA Stock Cars again. Besides, we're going to see more of this class at Merced next year I'm sure. The California Sharp Mini Late Models get their second and perhaps final race of the season with $150 offered to the winner. Not bad at all.

Saturday night is where business really picks up. The IMCA Modifieds get $1,500 to win, and the IMCA Sport Modifieds receive a nice $1,200 winner's payday. One of the bigger Hobby Stock payouts of the year will see the Hobby Stocks receiving $1,000 to win. I'm a little concerned by that with Antioch Speedway advertising a $1,000 to win Hobby Stock race on the same night, though there are enough cars out there that this can still work. Merced will have a $600 to win IMCA Stock Car race, and the Mini Stocks will get $500 to win. That last part had me thinking that Dan Myrick and the CVMS group would officially sanction this race, and they made that announcement official at about the time Merced was making the announcement that the big racing weekend would happen.

Antioch Speedway had announced a Thanksgiving weekend special event that would happen on November 27th and 28th, but Merced Speedway has just made the announcement that they're running on Friday night, November 27th. They mention the possibility of a two-race series, but Antioch has restated that they are running on both nights. My guess is Merced could be partnering up with either Bakersfield or Hanford, but that hasn't been announced yet. 

What has been announced is that the final race of the year at Merced Speedway will pay $1,000 to win for IMCA Modifieds, $600 to win the IMCA Sport Modifieds and the standard $150 to win for Hobby Stocks. The IMCA RaceSaver 305 Sprints get $1,000 to win, and the IMCA Stock Cars will have a $400 to win race as well. When you book on the fly, you can't help but grab dates that others have attempted to schedule. It'll be interesting to see how things play out that weekend.

Sonny Sell has been trying to save the Thanksgiving weekend in Porterville for a couple of years now, although we haven't heard much news lately. Rocky Hill Speedway had grabbed ahold of that weekend, and I really think it could have been a good tradition down there. Sadly, we haven't heard much, but I know that if Sonny is involved in anything there, that's a week that he would like to do something as well. There's also the Veterans Day weekend show that is a tradition at Rocky Hill. I'm not sure what will happen there, but I have a hunch we haven't heard the last of the Porterville track. However, if this turns out to be a good thing for Merced or Antioch, this could be the beginning of something there. I'm going to put it at 50% that fans will be able to attend the races at Merced or Antioch by then, if the weather allows it to happen. 

Southern California has been severely restricted in what they can do. Irwindale Speedway, of all places, has been the leader down there. They don't run every week. It's every few weeks for them. When they open, they're running a NASCAR Whelen All American Series program, and that includes twin Main Events for the Late Model division. Those are the drivers competing for the $3,500 championship. There's no fans in the stands as far as I know, but streaming pay-per-view service is part of the deal. Ventura Raceway, Santa Maria Raceway, Bakersfield Speedway, Kern Raceway, Orange Show Speedway, Tulare Thunderbowl. Either nothing is happening there or next to nothing. Keller Auto Speedway is reportedly getting close to having another race.

At Barona Speedway, they're getting ready to have a race with spectators. They have admission prices listed on the Barona Speedway Facebook page. I don't know what they might be doing regarding concession stands, but it seems like if you're a fan down in the area, you can go watch the races there this weekend. The only other track in California that's had that option this year is Diamond Mountain Speedway in Susanville. In Marysville, if you're among the first 100 people, you've been able to check out the past few races. It's interesting to see that as much of a pain in the butt as it's been to get tracks opened down south, Barona Speedway is opening with fans.

Have I mentioned how much I don't care for the term socially distanced? Your being social at a distance? Isn't that contrary to what being social is? I don't know. I do know that I've been seeing reports that most of us have already known for a while now. The numbers they've been using to scare the crap out of everybody about this virus have been inflated. The actual number of people who have died primarily because of the virus is a drop in the bucket. Anybody who's been paying attention knows this, but it's interesting to see the bigger media outlets finally admitting it too. Does that mean we're going to see a change in things? Are things going to start opening up? I don't know. I just know that it's nice to see some truth being put out there. The people still need to make their voices heard. Sitting around and waiting for somebody else to say it isn't going to help so much.

The last bit of optimism down in Southern California comes from Perris Auto Speedway. The reports we've been getting from them have been pretty consistent. As they go into a month, every race they had scheduled for that month has been canceled. This is a venue that tends to have big Sprint Car shows, the slam-bang Night of Destruction events and the full slate of PASCAR Stock Car events. The Night of Destruction has been canceled for this weekend, but right now they are tentative about being able to have the annual USAC/CRA Mark Howard race on September 26th. They might have more to say about that within a week or so leading up to that date. You'll have to watch the Paris Auto Speedway Facebook page for that news.

I talked a little bit about this on my show on Monday. The whole season's been lost at Southern Oregon Speedway. We know that now. I realize that everything that we've done to build things up, all the momentum, it's all been lost. We are back to square one again, and there's no guarantee that when the gates open again in 2021, unless something else stupid happens, the numbers will pick up where they left off in 2019. You can be hopeful of that, but there's no guarantee. What's going to happen to the Late Model and Sprint Car divisions that have been built up? Where will the IMCA Modifieds and Sport Modifieds stand? You get the picture. That's an unknown.

A few weeks ago, we lost the Fourth Annual Hall of Fame night, and this weekend is the R Charles Snyder Salute, or it should have been. Those nights are special to me, because I'm the one who instigated them. I don't think either would exist if I hadn't been flapping my mouth since the day I got up here. I'm a tradition and history minded person, and I respect Southern Oregon racing history. Hall of Fame night has been a winner. The biggest night of the year has been the R Charles Snyder Salute. 

True, that was the weekend of the Lon Skinner Memorial, but if we're honest, that night had gotten stale in recent years for whatever reason. Compare the numbers that we had for this race for the past two years to the last several of those Lon Skinner races. Not even close. We put two of the biggest car counts on the track for those events that have been seen there for the last 10 years.

There are a few reasons for that. We did things that made Southern Oregon Speedway a place people wanted to be again. We had work to do, but we were making clear progress. We ran a consistent and fair show. We might have stumbled here or there, but people pretty much knew we were going to work to make things right. I take a lot of pride in the work that I did. One of the reasons I've kept my mouth shut on this subject lately is because I knew we probably weren't racing this year, and it pissed me off. I came into the year not knowing if I would be back in 2021 as it is, but I felt like some really big things were lined up for the season. All was lost.

I knew enough in my research that Charles was a beloved figure in the community. I researched him a little bit before even coming to Oregon, and I had it in my mind that we should honor this man. I didn't know that it would take the place of the Lon Skinner race, but I knew it needed to be on the schedule. I was in Uncle Rich's ear about it as well as Mike McCann's constantly that first year. "We need to do this. We need to do this." Mike will chew on certain things for a while and then make a move when he feels the time is right. He was listening, and 2017 was the year we made that race happen as well as Hall of Fame night. 

I was right. The people were excited about the night. People wanted to see some of the best IMCA Modified and Sport Modified drivers on the West Coast come to Medford. Travis Snyder embraced the show. We even had some good support from Travis Hoppes for a couple of years. It was good in that sense, but I hate the way nights get away from us there sometimes. 

I don't know what it is about that venue, but when you get that many cars out there, it is a struggle to not take all night. I don't think John Skinner even worried about it. He just ran as long as he needed to, but Mike and I did stress on getting it done. When it's something that's out of your hands, that's one thing. When you do it to yourself, that's another. But overall, this event has been a big success.

I can't let this moment pass without mentioning Bryan Hammond. He passed away at Southern Oregon Speedway moments after taking a checkered flag in a Top 10 finish in the Pro Stock race at the R Charles Snyder Salute last year. I did interact with Bryan a little bit before the race. He was a guy who got into racing later in his life and seemed to enjoy every minute of it. He supported the association whole heartedly and even sponsored them on more than one occasion. It was definitely one of the saddest moments I ever witnessed, but the one nice thing was he died doing something he loved.

The people in Medford are all left to wonder what will happen in 2021. I don't know the answer to that. 2020 has been lost, and Siskiyou Golden Speedway was poised to step in and take up some of the slack. They haven't had an ideal situation either. It seems like Kevin Barba had a lot of momentum on his side until the July 3rd and 4th weekend came. They fumbled in such a way that it killed the momentum, but he and his team haven't given up. They've stayed committed. This brings us to Labor Day weekend as they take another swing at it. There's just a little bit more money than usual on the line for the IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modifieds.

As I understand it, they have qualifying day on Friday. I'm assuming there's some sort of preliminary Main Event, but I don't have all of the details at the moment. I do know that Saturday night is $800 to win for the Modifieds and $700 to win for the Sport Modifieds. The Pro Stocks are running two complete shows. I've gotten conflicting reports on what the Mini Stock division is doing, but it appears that they are racing on Saturday night. It's time to take another swing at a big show, but are the racers on board this time?

The numbers haven't been as good as they probably should be the last couple of weeks. Let's face it, the Medford racers aren't doing much of anything. It's kind of disappointing to see the people who could come to Yreka taking a look that way and saying, "No thanks." The other thing they are doing is having Friday night practices, and I notice teams that haven't come out to race on Saturday. They come out for Friday practice instead. Is it counterproductive to hold a practice the day before your race? Is it costing you money in the long run? I don't know the answer to that, but it's just something I am looking at and thinking about.

I feel like if they can't put up car counts in the teens in both Modified classes this weekend, they need to take a look at what they're doing the rest of the year and ask themselves if it's really worth it without fans? They should be able to get car count that high at least. They are going to have an internet pay-per-view service thanks to Roy Bain on the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series page. Roy is able to do a pay-per-view service through Facebook that is functional enough. The track needs whatever revenue they can generate, and Roy is willing to help them out with that. Even if it's just a couple hundred dollars, it's still something that they need pretty badly right now.

Roy isn't claiming to be a professional broadcaster. Even before he and Gordon Russell Jr put the Tri State Series together last year, he would go live on Facebook at the Outlaw Pro Stock races. It's a way to put the word out about your group, and Roy has created quite a bit of buzz about the Pro Stocks through Facebook. Marketing matters people, and Roy gets that. Facebook was looking at what he was doing as he continued doing these live streams on race night and also doing updates on the Tri State page as needed. This is why they granted him the ability to do pay-per-views.

It's still a work in progress. He's figuring out what he needs and how he needs to do it, but the first test run of the pay-per-view happened at Antioch Speedway. Anybody who was there watching through him was able to keep up with what the Pro Stocks did that night. Roy and I have been talking since before the July race. He reached out to Kevin Barba and Misty Bushman to see if he could help them get a streaming service going for the July 4th weekend. It almost happened, but they went another way with disappointing results on that occasion.

Roy hit me with an offer to announce that weekend had he gotten the gig to broadcast the show. We even spoke about the possibility of me helping out this weekend. It's just not easy for me to get down that way. I really don't have the drive in me to jump on a bus and head down there for a weekend and head back. I think about the only place I would have done that for was Antioch Speedway. I kind of hoped at one time as they were trying to get started that I could go down there and help them for a few weeks to get it up and running. I could have helped get Wade more organized or do whatever I could to help that track. The call never came, and I'll get over it eventually. 

Yreka wouldn't have been an issue for me if it had been easy for me to get down there. I handled their newspaper media for four years, and this is the fifth year for me covering the track on the blog. I'm familiar enough with the racers down there that I would have been able to add a little bit of color and present the track the way they need it. Unfortunately, it's not to be. If there's a way I can help Roy out so that he can be more effective, I will certainly do that. Roy is one of the good guys. He's been an MVP for a few promoters, delivering them good shows with the Pro Stocks. Roy would be the first to say he's had some great support through sponsorship. 

My fingers are crossed for Yreka to hit a standing double if not a homerun. Just get decent numbers. I'm hoping to see the Pro Stocks come out in better numbers than they did the last time, and the two Modified classes should at least hit double digits in their classes. I would hope the IMCA Sport Modifieds have a shot at getting in the 20s. The intangible here is how many drivers are going to head north for the show at Cottage Grove Speedway, which takes place on Saturday and Sunday. I don't have the answer to that, but I always tell people to go to the Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page for updates from Misty on whatever might be the case.

As I was putting things together for the post this last week, I noticed Orland Raceway had some pictures posted. There's actually a little bit of Orland news, and it's good. I didn't have full results to go with, so we were unable to put an article together. There were 26 Pure Stocks and 12 Wingless Spec Sprints last week. They also had Mini Stocks, Mini Trucks and Micros. As far as winners, I understand Kevin Pendergrass won the Pure Stock race, Tony Richards won the Wingless Spec Sprint race, Zach Webster was the Mini Truck winner and the Mini Stocks went to Tom Davis.

They've had their challenges trying to get a race in. This was only their second event. They were going to come back after the first one, but the excessive heat led to a cancellation. Then they canceled one because of smoke. The one bit of encouraging news we're hearing is that Orland is getting into the 2020s. That is to say they now have electronic scoring. They are still working out all the bugs, but what it means is they should start posting results on MyLaps very soon and they might even be looking at running the Race Monitor app so we can see scoring in live time. This is incredible news for that track. Orland has been the best kept secret in Northern California through the years.

I have been somebody who's hunted for clues through the years to write stories for that track. I've gotten some good ink in newspapers down there to help spread the word, and I know we had an impact on them when it came to drawing fans. It also helped that Christina Meeds was getting them pictures as we would get full coverage in the sports pages down there. I feel pretty good about that, but the track has walked very slowly into the Social Media age. Christina has done her best to get them to open their eyes. Electronic scoring is big, because it does a lot of the work for you.

You run the MyLaps system, make a couple of adjustments as needed. When the night's done you just hit send. It does the rest. If you've got the Race Monitor app going in the background, people will just see the statistics live. This is also something that's going to happen at Antioch Speedway at some point. At least ways, electronic scoring. I can't vouch for Race Monitor, although I'm hopeful that they run the app in the background. Some of the places go with the other company, My Race Pass, but others use both. There's no harm in using both, in my opinion. For Antioch, it was a no-brainer to go in this direction. 

I've heard there's a little bit of throwing each other under the bus going on down there. The results weren't getting posted because the scorekeeper is lagging. The scorekeeper is not getting the points together and this and that. I don't know. I know that had I been down there, this stuff would have been handled. That's what disappoints me. I think what management has done there under these difficult circumstances is impressive, but I have a record of helping new promoters at different venues get things done. I could have done the same for my beloved home track, and I wanted to. Even if I was only down there temporarily, I wanted to help. Again, I was never asked. Disappointing

I am encouraged to see Antioch Speedway doing what they can to make the results more accessible to the people. It needed to happen. When people have gotten Chad Chadwick's attention and offered things that could help the situation, he's been very receptive. Whether that's been sponsorship or people offering shows to him. We saw the Hunt Series event come together practically overnight. The Tri State Pro Stock Series has been able to work their way in there three times with more visits to come. We've been making noise here on the blog about the Central Valley Mini Stocks. In my conversations with Dan Myrick, I've even mentioned Antioch to him, and it looks like there's a date on September 12th that could see some of the CVMS guys come to town.

I do believe strongly that Chadwick needs to find somebody down there who can build cages for cars and help get some cars ready to debut for 2021. This is something that could be started now, and I know they can find buyers for cars pretty quickly. I know he's committed to this class. Considering there haven't really been many cars showing up, it shows something that he's willing to pay a purse if they can even give him five vehicles. Myrick will bring you more than five. What he's done to show the value of Four Banger racing is simply amazing. 

The Central Valley Mini Stocks are the premier Four Banger series anywhere on the West Coast. Where else do they have a series sponsor like House of JuJu of Clovis and Morro Bay offering point fund money? Again, September 12th isn't an official CVMS race at Antioch, but Dan is getting some racers to come out and support the show. He will be one of them. I think the next official race for the group is on September 26th at Bakersfield Speedway. At least, that's what they have listed, but I'm curious what Bakersfield will announce as I don't see anything at the moment

Getting ahead of this weekend's event for just a moment, I've looked at the Bill Bowers Memorial race. I like that Chad renamed the event from the West Coast Nationals, because I like events that honor great people. Bowers was certainly one of the great ones, which is why we inducted him into the Antioch Speedway Hall of Fame last year. This will be the biggest IMCA Modified and IMCA Sport Modified race anywhere on the West Coast. Southern Oregon Speedway has handed the mantle over to Antioch as of last October when Chad had his first huge event. It's $5,000 to win for the Modifieds and $2,000 to win for the Sport Modifieds at last report. It goes from the practice, barbecue and cornhole tournament on October 1st to two great nights of racing, the second of which will be with the big money on the line.

I'm kind of happy I am a few hours behind schedule as news breaks hourly in some cases. Last night I had checked the schedule for the Bowers race, and IMCA Stock Cars weren't there yet. This is something that Brian Pearce, the right-hand man for Chadwick, floated on Facebook over a month ago. He asked the IMCA Stock Car community who might be interested in being a part of the big weekend, and the overwhelming response was positive. You had drivers from Bakersfield, Hanford, Merced and Watsonville expressing their approval of the idea. The response came swiftly, but not so swiftly was the official acknowledgement that the division was added to the show.

On September 3rd, it was made official, and that's a good idea for a few reasons. First of all, let me say to the Hobby Stock community that the there was a race initially announced at $1,000 to win on October 24th for your class. I think the reason for no inclusion of Hobby Stocks at the Bowers Memorial race is because this division could deliver 30 or more cars on that occasion. Management has reason to expect big car counts in the IMCA Sport Modifieds and IMCA Modifieds, so there's no reason to overdo it too much in car count. The IMCA Stock Cars won't.

I believe you could get the biggest car count in California IMCA Stock Car history, but getting 20 cars would accomplish that task. They're not going to take too much time from the program if you are talking about maybe two or three heat races and a Main Event on both nights. This also gives Antioch Speedway fans a sneak peek at what's coming in 2021. The look of the cars and the style of racing is slightly different from Hobby Stocks, and being that it is IMCA sanctioned, it becomes a big night in California for the sanctioning body. Though I count myself as more of a Hobby Stock fan than a IMCA Stock Car fan, I wholeheartedly endorse this move. Bill Bowers Memorial weekend at Antioch Speedway just got better.

What has also been announced is that this Saturday night is the third round of the George Steitz Big Kahuna Freedom Series. George was the instigator behind the Freedom Series being created by Tom Sagmiller at Chowchilla, and it's been a nice little deal for Antioch Speedway. The first round was the biggest car count in Antioch Speedway history with about a 150 cars in the pits. I don't think the numbers will be quite that big, but they should get a good turnout for an increased purse for IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks. Antiochspeedway.tv will be the place to watch and the Antioch Speedway Facebook page will have more details.
 

I've been impressed with some of the things that Kenny Shepherd does at Madera Speedway. It blows me away that he's giving away such a quality broadcast for free every week. Nutupindustries.com is the sponsor making that happen, and as they record footage for MavTV this weekend, you can watch it live once again. It will be the best of pavement Late Model racing this weekend for sure. The Nut Up Pro Late Models have a great field of competitors, and this time they're running for $5,000 to win. Second place is getting $3,000 and third is getting $2,000, so the money really is on the line in the second round of the Race 2B Drug Free Big3 Series.

As if that isn't enough, Kenny got the inspiration from somewhere to pay $3,000 to win the Semi Main. What? You heard me, $3,000 to win the Semi Main. If you win that race, you are not being forced to miss the Main Event in order to collect that money. You can transfer and go for the bigger money. Just finishing second in this race is $750, and the $500 for third isn't bad either. I know what you're thinking. Go slow and intentionally run the Semi Main to win that money. I don't see that necessarily happening, because the risk is you might get caught up in a crash doing that. However, it's hard to tell what people might use for a strategy on this occasion.

If you've been watching the broadcasts, you've probably enjoyed watching the young kids 10 to 16 years old piloting the 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models. I admit I am only begrudgingly getting on board with this idea, but if I fully end up accepting the premise, I'll give a lot of the credit to Shepherd and the program he runs here. There will also be some kids competing in the Bandoleros vs Mini Cups, so the show will be quite enjoyable. You've also got Steven Blakesley and Outback Andy Foster doing the announcing. You can go to the Madera Speedway Facebook page for more details.

Ukiah Speedway doesn't have quite the notoriety that Madera does, but they have a nice show there. I've made no secret of my appreciation for that paved oval. It's a racy little joint that I liked from the first moment I went there back in the 1990's with Gary Jacob. There's an Upstate Bombers Series race, which means drivers from places like Eureka, Shasta and Lakeport should be on hand to battle the local stars for $1,000 to win. This division has been very enjoyable to watch as far as I'm concerned. The Limited Modifieds will race for $500 to win, and I think they were trying to get an Open Modified show for $1,000 to win.

They don't have high-dollar equipment, but they are broadcasting these shows for free on Facebook. The quality has been good enough that I've made it a point to watch it live. That's the plan this weekend as well. I need to figure out what the guy's name is who does the announcing there. I've enjoyed listening to him. I believe they've got the Jammers running there and I think the Bandoleros and Legend Cars are welcome. I'm not sure they will get any, but you never know. The infield track will not be ready in time to have the Jalopies, unfortunately. You can go to the Ukiah Speedway Facebook page to find other details.

At Petaluma Speedway, you may not be able to watch the USAC/CRA Sprint Cars as originally scheduled, but the Sunday show will offer the USAC Western Midgets vs the BCRA Midgets. Thanks to the support of the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame, Sunday's race and the race on October 24th will have its own separate point series. I think we should get a good turnout of Midgets. Considering the way things have been going with the General Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Cars, we'll probably have a bunch of them as well. I'd like to say we're going to get a bunch of Jake's Performance Hobbies Mini Stocks, but that hasn't been the case so far. The Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micros should do okay. 

I'm kind of surprised they didn't throw in the McLea's Tire Service IMCA Modifieds for this one. Looking at the date, I thought it would fit in perfectly. You could piggyback off of the Antioch show. There's a few drivers who seem to be running for IMCA State points, so you might have gotten a couple of extra cars in the field to maintain their point efforts. I'm sure what they have planned will work just fine. Floracing.com will offer the broadcast for this one, and you can find further details at the Petaluma Speedway Facebook page.

I think Drake Nelson can see the finish line at Coos Bay Speedway. He jumped ahead of everybody else in getting his place opened and reaped the benefits in bigger car counts and crowd attendance. It wasn't the best of news when he got hit with the suspension of his liquor license a couple of weeks ago, but he soldiered on with a couple of events that could still have fans but no beer sales. When Willamette Speedway opened up, he took another hit in the car count department. Willamette has held events for the past three weeks, and Coos Bay is pretty much getting their regular crowd now.

I was cranky when Willamette Speedway decided to run a $1,000 to win 40 lap Street Stock show. I felt, and still feel, that they were mimicking what Coos Bay had been planning to do all along. I understand that when somebody offers you money during a pandemic when you can't afford to pay a full purse, you take it. So, I get why Loren would take the money and do it. It still didn't sit right with me, because Coos Bay had a special Street Stock show planned that week. 

Why did the money have to be put on the line at the same time Coos Bay was running their show? Both tracks did okay. Coos Bay got their 15 cars, which is still really good for them. Willamette had enough cars for a B Main and had most of the big stars. Kyle Yaeck left town $1,000 richer, which is a surprise to nobody. At Coos Bay, 2018 Sportsman Late Model champion Dyllan Siewell got the win and the $500 prize.

Coos Bay will wrap up their Limited Sprint point race on Saturday, and it's interesting how it all cycled back to Lawrence Van Hoof. Lawrence hasn't been the fastest guy in the field, but he does have more experience than any of their regulars. I suspect he'll try to bag his first Main Event win of the year in their sixth event this weekend. I wouldn't expect more than 8 or 10 cars at the most as Cottage Grove Speedway will have two races this weekend for that class. I'm still wondering if the September 26th show will be an ISCS Limited Sprint event as originally scheduled and what the pay might be. I can see Brian Crockett allowing them to reduce the winner's prize just a little bit under the circumstances. If they can make that happen, Drake might take the deal and see what Cottage Grove support he might get.

It's all about the NASCAR Whelen All American Series at Coos Bay. The drivers who have signed up for this thing know that at the end of the season they get point fund money. The biggest chunk of that money goes to the America's Mattress Super Late Models, and it's still going to be a battle between Brody Montgomery, Braden Fugate and Justin Johnson. It seems to me that Montgomery is peaking at just the right time, but there are still two races to make it happen. The track championship is worth $3,500, but the Top 5 drivers get pretty good money out of it.

Saturday's show will be important. The Sportsman Late Models get a $1,000 championship, the Street Stocks are running for $700 for the title and the Hornet champion gets $500. Point fund money goes to the Top 5 in those classes as well, and Mini Outlaws and Junior Stingers will round out a full program on Saturday. They remain the only track in Oregon that can have a seemingly unrestricted amount of fans in the grandstands, and more information can be found at the Coos Bay Speedway Facebook page.

I don't think that anybody would dispute that the premier Street Stock series over the last few years on the West Coast has been the Iron Giant Series based in Oregon. Oregon seems to have been caught in a time loop. While the Street Stocks evolved in California to become Super Stocks/Pro Stocks, time stood still in Oregon. The Street Stocks of the 90s live on here, but the formation of the Iron Giant Series was necessary after promoter and track owner Jerry Schram got a little bit upset with the group and started IMCA Stock Cars at Willamette and Sunset. It took Chris Sine and James Whitehouse to organize something really spectacular. 

It is not uncommon to see over 20 Street Stocks show up at any of their events, and the Iron Giant race at Willamette Speedway on Labor Day weekend was the one that capped it all. This event has paid $5,000 to win in the past, but everything came to a grinding halt thanks to the virus shut down this year. Whitehouse suspended operations, but he didn't say it was dead. As River City Speedway in St Helens, Oregon got open, they found a place for the Iron Giant Series to run on Labor Day weekend. When they made that announcement, there was no word at Willamette Speedway that the track would open under any conditions, so the Iron Giant Series got behind this deal as the only race they would sanction. 

I admit I was a bit disappointed that the Iron Giant Series didn't formally endorse the Battle At The Beach at Coos Bay Speedway last week. After all, that race was created for them. Drake Nelson has been getting such good numbers this year that he went ahead and kept the race for the local Street Stocks there, but it would have been nice to see the series page formally endorse the show. Privately, Whitehouse endorsed it on his own page, but there might have been some politics behind the move. With Willamette reopening and paying $1,000 to win that weekend, maybe he didn't want to piss off Loren Kruesi. That's just speculation.

What is known is they have a two-day show happening at River City Speedway this weekend, and it's paying $700 to win. That's as of now, which means it will be the second highest purse for the division in Oregon this year behind what Willamette just did. Knowing how the people support this class, that number could go up by the time race day happens. It won't be the final race for the Street Stocks in Oregon, but it could be the last big race for them, depending on what happens to the Prather family race at Coos Bay in October. I'm sure they'll make an announcement at the River City Speedway Facebook page, which is likely to broadcast the show for free as well. 

We've heard a little bit of chatter from Mountain Valley Raceway in Hayfork. They've had the September 12th date on their schedule for a while now, and they recently announced that this would be the annual Clyde Cordell Memorial race. Clyde was instrumental in helping get the track going there. Sadly, he didn't live to see the fruits of his labor. This is usually a race they have during the Trinity County Fair, but that's been canceled this year. To keep this tradition going, they've made this show his race, and they will have Hobby Stocks, Mini Stocks and Enduro cars there. It looks like they'll be shooting off fireworks, though I'm unaware of any fan attendance being allowed or what sort of broadcast they might have. Information can be found at the Mountain Valley Raceway Facebook page.

We're watching the season hit the stretch run. I don't know how much I will be worried about doing weekly stuff after September, but I would like to make sure we have race result articles posted for the tracks we've been covering while they're still trying to do something. I don't see us maintaining two posts a week at that point unless I feel it's absolutely necessary. It's getting time to disengage. I need to actually go through my stuff and find the content that I typed for the book prior to arriving in Oregon. It's editing time for that one. I could end up working on two books simultaneously, as I did six years ago, but I'm not sure what the second project would be if I do it.

I'm bouncing around a few ideas for special articles that I might post on the racing news blog in the days ahead. It's been inactive as I've just done all of my reporting on the DCRR Racing News blog this year. As I've got four years of history on the other blog, I have no desire to remove it entirely. I've got a couple of ideas that I'm gathering information on right now and just need one good day to start putting something together. I'm also contemplating a rebranding of that blog in the future, though everything is still in the thought process at this time. I doubt anybody would be interested, but I would entertain selling the Jefferson Racing News blog as is with all the content intact.

Labor Day weekend racing should be good. I hope the tracks enjoy some good support in the pits. We're all looking over at the governors and wondering if they're going to loosen things up a little bit. When we hear certain reports about where the numbers really are, you start to wonder if they'll admit that maybe we've overreacted just a little bit. It won't give us back the time that we lost, but at least we can begin to move ahead and pick up the pieces from the damage that's been done. I don't know what will happen, but I try to be hopeful. We'll be at the news desk monitoring as much as we can again this weekend.

On that note, I will end this column. Until next time...