August 2005 - Inside Line Column - by Floyd Busby

John Sarale has taken over the point lead in BCRA's midget division. Thomas Meseraull had gotten off to a great start by claiming the first two main events. He held about a 140 point lead before he opted to run at the Pikes Peak International Raceway on the mile oval, missing Lakeport on July 2. After returning, Meseraull lost points at the next race at Antioch when he flipped in a heat race and was out for the evening. He further lost ground when he ran the Belleville Nationals instead of BCRA's Twin Cities race.
Meanwhile, Sarale had been running very well, with two feature wins and other high-placing finishes. When the smoke cleared, it was Sarale with a 40-plus advantage over Meseraull. It should be interesting over the final races of the season as Meseraull very much wants the championship before leaving BCRA and moving to the Midwest next year.
Three BCRA vintage midget drivers have stood in judgement recently. It wasn't an officer writing a speeding ticket, nor standing in front of a judge....the crime - speeding on the race track! BCRA's vintage division was devised as a venue to exhibit the fine old restored race cars on-track and in static displays.
On-track, the idea is to exhibit, not truly race. Herein lies the problem. It can be difficult to hold it down and not "put your foot into it", especially for retired former drivers who partake of the exhibitions.
At the July race at the Twin Cities Speedway in Marysville, vintage driver Mike Donaldson, after being warned, was set down for the remainder of the season for overly aggressive driving, although this does not affect driving the regular midget. On week later at Lakeport visiting outstanding former drivers Johnny Anderson and Jimmy Screeton drove in the preliminary "heat" race, and were very fast....too fast, passing the regulars twice. They were both told that their evening was over and they could not drive in the "main event".
Who was this enforcer of the rule book?...none other than Stu Donaldson...yes, it was his son, who drives one of Stu's vintage midgets, that he set down for the remainder of the season. At Lakeport Anderson was driving one of Stu's cars also!
Disqualified Jimmy Screeton had been driving the famed "Shanoian Offy", which made an unexpected appearance at Lakeport.
This car is certainly one of the most famous midgets in the western states. The first driver to even sit in the cockpit was NARC great Leroy VanConnet. Chuck Gurney drove it to the win at the first Copper World Classic at Phoenix. Among the drivers were Jan Opperman, Gary Patterson, Hank Butcher, Larry Rice, Ken Nichols and many others, including Screeton who had his very first race in the number 17 midget. The 1970 Offenhauser powered Benson is owned by the Shanoian family and has more than 100 main event victories.
Doug Hunting continues to lead the midget lite division standings. Defending champion Scott Kinney finally got his first feature win of the season at Antioch on August 6. The lites have been keeping a steady 18 to 24 car count at their events.
The lites run their three-race "Speedweek" beginning September 3 at the Placerville Speedway, then on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico as the opener for the World of Outlaws. Sept. 10 is the final series race at the Petaluma Speedway with the Budwesier Midget Lite Series. All three races are double-points and the Placerville event is the annual Tracy Taylor Memorial race.
The annual BCRA "Jack London Bash" picnic and Hall of Fame inductions were held for the first time at the Peachtree Golf and Country Club in Marysville, just down the road from the Twin Cities Speedway. It was a very hot day, but everyone seemed to enjoy the outing. The food was great and the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies went off without a hitch. Unfortunately, we had been unable to find a relative of inductee Johnny Smith, so his plaque awaits. Chuck Gurney and John Riley Jr. were there to accept their inductions. Frank Fiore's son, Frank Jr. arrived from Pennsylvania to accept for his ill father. Members of the families for Vic Gotelli, Milton Lund and Hugh Purdy accepted. Many fine donations were up for the taking in the raffle. Hard-working Amber Lindsey, owner/driver Joe Lindsey's grandaughter, and her friend Stephanie, sold the raffle tickets and helped the master of ceremonies (me) pull the winning tickets. Tom Motter was there selling his new book "Indoors, Volume 3 Tracks of the West"....which reminds me: The 2004 BCRA Yearbook is still available. 100 pages, mostly in color. All three divisions plus special events. $32.00. I'll pay the tax and shipping. Send to Buzco Enterprises, 1114 Lovell Ct., Concord, CA 94520 (talk about a brazen promo...but it is my column!). The vintage division and midget lites had a number of cars on display and Rick Haugh has his regular midget there also.
That evening all three divisions ran down the road at the Twin Cities Speedway. With the Belleville Nationals the same evening, we knew that were to loose a number of cars - Meseraull, Kaplan, Pierovich, Boyden and Gard. Their absence was made up by a number of unexpected entries - Adam Young from Arizona, Terry Tarditi for the first time in his own car in two years, Rick Haugh and John Haugh for the first time this season, and new rookie Steve Rhodes, a Civil Engineering student at Chico State. The quarter-mile dirt oval was in the best shape of the season for the open-wheelers. Nine vintage midgets were on hand.
BCRA made its first appearance at the Meridian Speedway, a suburb of Boise, Idaho, in about ten years. This marked the second and third rounds of the Pacific Northwest Midget Championship Series with 31 cars signing in from BCRA, WMRA and IMRA. It also marked the first time that I have been to Meridian, and became the 70th different track at which I've worked in an official capacity in the past 52 years.
Meridian was a one-groove track, disallowing a lot of passing, but, the programs were quite good. Meseraull won on Friday with Brian Olson second. That reversed on Saturday with Olson-Meseraull at the finish. Both nights lost their leaders in mishaps, giving the Meseraull-Olson duo the advantage. On Friday Kenny Ferris was leading when a fuel line pulled loose causing much confusion to his rear. Meseraull and Olson missed the evading cars to end up front. On Saturday Eric Mostin was driving a fine race when he spun in water emitted from the car of Pete Davis. Olson and Meseraull ended up in front again. This is not to say that they were not racing well, in fact Meseraull-Olson did more passing than about anyone.
Meseraull, winner in the opening round at Redwood Acres, continues to lead the four-race series. The finale will be on Sept. 24 at the Shasta Raceway Park in Anderson.
Bob Dalton got bit!....bit by the driving bug!...Bob Dalton, father of midget driver Bobby, decided to add the team dirt car to the hauler and take it to Meridian. If he were to take the green flag in qualifying both nights, he would get the tow money amounting to $500. That would nearly pay the fuel expense in their large hauler. A good idea. On Friday Bob had USAC sprint car driver Cody Veenstra drive. On Saturday Veenestra had a sprint car race in Salt Lake City, so Bob drove the Brayton Chevy Beast himself. This was the first time that he had ever driven a midget. His former experience was in modified stock cars in the 1980's as well as world record runs at Bonneville (He held the land speed record at 298 mph in a small block Chevy streamliner that he had built. The record has since been surpassed). So, what happens....he arrives at the Lakeport race, proudly flying his yellow rookie flag to once again drive...yes, the bug got him!...The "like father, like son" slogan is reversed with son giving dad the pointers.
BCRA is looking for an official for the midget lite division.
Call the office at (209) 830-9928 evenings.
The scheduled race at the Altamont Raceway Park on Labor Day, September 5 has been cancelled.