April 2005 - Inside Line Column - by Floyd Busby

The opening volley of the '05 season saw two former champions
win the opening rounds of their respective divisions. Thomas
Meseraull, the defending midget champ, scored the win at the Shasta
Raceway Park, while '03 midget lite champion Doug Hunting took the
Placeville lite victory.

The season started off well with 20 midgets signing in at
Shasta and a whopping 27 lites at Placerville. The lites were
scheduled to open the previous week on the Sierra foothills speed
plant, but rain postphoned the start of the season for the division.
At Shasta five WMRA entries were on hand to prep for the
upcoming Pacific Northwest Midget Championship Series which begins on
May 14 at the Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka. The WMRA entries
included two Canadians, Bobby Bird, making the trek all the way from
British Columbia, and Chris Schmelzle from Victoria, BC. Oregon
entries included Alan Norton and Spence Gatrell and from Washington,
young lady Breanna Lopez, making her fourth midget start, was quite
impressive.

Meseraull, back in the Bill Ferrari Beast/Esslinger, took the
win from 14th starting after drawing the "14" pill for the feature
lineup as fast qualifier. He broke the one-year-old record
established by hometown favorite Michael Hubert III.

Among the entries was Bobby Dalton. Dalton, driving his
Beast/Ed Pink Ford, ran several races last year. He is a competitor
in the SRL super modifieds. Several years ago, at age 16, he won a
360 super at a drawing at the Madera Speedway. He began racing and
immediately did well, later to move up to the big-bore supers where
he placed seventh in point last season.

Stephen Barnett, owner of the LeJeune/Fontana driven by
B.C.'s Schmelzle, is now a BCRA member. The owner and driver plan on
concentrating on BCRA pavement races and will surely receive the
"longest haul" award - if there were such an award.
A number of BCRA owners were not ready for the opener, but
are expected to join the series at the next race.
Midget owner/driver Pete Davis had his new Hot Head
Competition Heater at Shasta. The steel-boxed apparatus pre-heats the
fluids in the racing engines prior to track-time. Very compact in a
chrome-plated steel carry box. The Ferrari team is among the first
use Davis' system.

At the midget lite show at Placerville a number of new
rookies were on hand. They included Josh Slater from Placerville,
Matt Sherman of Sacramento, Mark Havel of Reno and Brian Corso,
brother of veteran Sam Corso, of Ripon. The son of veteran Ron
Weimer, Jeremy, will be ready to go soon.

Two new cars added to the lite ranks are owned by long-time
competitor Lonnie Lopez. Lopez drives one of the
meticiously-maintained Suzuki powered Bailey cars while Greg
Bardonnex drives the second #11. The duo have been regulars on the
Lightning Sprint mini sprint circuit, but have opted to concentrate
on the BCRA lites (a mini sprint and a midget lite are the same
cars). Lopez led off the main from the pole, but broke a right rear
brake assembly and faded back a bit. During a yellow flag he was
unable to avoid the car of Chad Compton and overturned at the finish
line to bring out the red flag. When questioned after the races to
see if the disheartening episode would make a difference in which
sanctioning body they would follow, Bardonnex grinned and stated that
"We'll be with you (BCRA) like a fly on flypaper!"...welcome aboard
guys.

Last season Ken Hoover fielded two lites, one for grandson
Joey and the other for April Halliday-Sullivan. This season Ken takes
over the controls of one of the cars and will race against his
grandson.

Missing was last season's runner-up (by only one point) Scott
Clark. Clark has his business in Fremont up for sale and has been so
busy that he has not had the time to update the car and race. He
plans to run some selected races this year. When he sells the
business, it will be our loss, because he plans to move to the
Phoenix area where he'll run sprinters at the Manzanita Speedway.
The BCRA vintage division will make their first appearance on
May 7 at the Reno-Fernley Raceway with the midgets and lites. This
will be a double point race for the midgets and lites.

Pete Bray, the vintage division's spokesman on the board
until recently, is recovering from a heart problem, but plans to take
in Reno-Fernley with his '69 Malloy/Chevy II. Veteran vintage midget
and road racing competitor Stu Donaldson is the vintage division rep
on the current board. Donaldson's son, Mike, drives both the vintage
car as well as a modern-day midget on the circuits.

The BCRA T-shirts will be available soon, one depicting the
'04 midget driver and car owner champions, and the other the midget
lite champs.

This year the annual Jack London Picnic and Hall of Fame
inductions will be held at the Peachtree Golf and Country Club in
Marysville. The date is July 30 and is in conjunction with all three
BCRA divisions competing at Marysville's Twin Cities Speedway that
evening.

At the recent board of directors meeting past-president Bob
Roza was moved to the vice president position after former VP Ralph
Cortez had taken over the presidency a couple of months ago.

Continually gaining in popularity, the 6th Annual BCRA Johnny
Baldwin Golf Classic will again be held at the Oakmore Golf Course in
Stockton on September 18. One of the beauties of Oakmore is that it
is a private facility. BCRA rents the entire facility for the day,
thus, only the BCRA tournament is on the course. The northwest's WMRA
recently held their first golf tournament with 70 duffers teeing off.
BCRA sponsored one of the hole prizes and WMRA will reciprocate at
the BCRA tournament. Race fans are always welcome to participate in
the golf tournament as well as attend the picnic BBQ and Hall of Fame.
The midget lite division has announced the formation of the
BCRA Midget Lite Speedweek. It will encompass three races in one
week: Placerville on Saturday, September 3; Silver Dollar Speedway on
Wednesday, Sept. 7; and Petaluma Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 10. The
Silver Dollar event is the precursor to the annual World of Outlaws
at the Chico facility.

At the general meeting following the '04 season, a suggestion
was made to give separate championships to the midget dirt and
pavement venues. While the overall championship will remain the same
as in the past, trophies will be awarded to the top-three in each of
the two categories.

This writer will be "missing from action" during the month of
May as I and my bride take off for England, Scotland and Ellen's
birthplace of Norway. Midget race result stories will be handled by
others and there will not be an Inside Line column that month. I'll
be kept up-to-date with results on my laptop. Will miss three midgets
events, Reno-Fernley, Redwood Acres and Sacramento. The BCRA
newsletter, which I edit and produce, will be missing also. The issue
that is produced on my return will be a two-month version. Will
return just in time to jump into my wheels and head to Carson City.
During the periods as an official with BCRA, this will be the longest
absence in 51 years!