July 2002 - Inside Line Column - by Floyd Busby

Thirty-three cars, 500 laps. How about on a quarter-mile
paved oval. Maybe a $35,000 purse. If we ran it the night before the
Indy 500, we could call it "The Little Indy 500"! - sounds
farfetched! - not really. Taking a very hard and serious look at the
prospects of such an event is Stockton "99" Speedway co-owner Ken
Clapp.
Clapp has talked with USAC Western States impresario Tommy
Hunt about such a race. It would be BCRA and USAC sanctioned, with
the possibility of contacting the northwest's WMRA for a three-way
sanction. Clapp wants USAC to make it a national points event.
The figure of $35,000 was put forward when Clapp informed me
of the possibilities.
Also undecided is whether to go a straight 500 laps with fuel
and tire stops under racing conditions or to have two or three
mandatory 15-minute breaks for pitwork.
Qualifying would be over the four-lap route on Friday. I
would fully expect a 50-60 car entry field with a semi to transfer
eight or ten cars to the main.
The response that I've received when spreading this around
has been almost unanimously positive. The purse structure could make
it the richest short track midget race in the western states.
Back on the BCRA midget front, June 1st saw the midgets
appear at Bob Carroll's Shasta Speedway in Anderson. Floyd Alvis took
quick time over the 16-car field, as well as the win a very strange
main event on the very fast 3/8-mile paved oval. It isn't often that
you see a midget burst into flames. That night we had three such
incidents. Rob Russell experienced a broken fuel line in hot laps and
jumped from the flames on the backstretch. I was impressed with how
fast the fire crew and fire engine got to the scene and put out the
fire in the Guerrini Gaerte/Stealth. In the feature Travis Johnson
spun in his own oil and banged the wall backwards with the Trout
Gaerte/Beast in flames. Later in the race Ken Molica pulled to the
infield with his Brayton Ford/Stealth aflame...what a red hot night!
- but the strangeness wasn't over yet. The top three cars had lapped
the remainder of the field in the 40-lapper. At tech inspection for
the top three cars, second and third were disqualified with rear
widths over the maximum, handing the two positions to cars that were
one lap down. The Design 500 Sportswear contingency goes to the last
car running on the leader's lap - that was the winner, Alvis!
Cliff Servetti was resigned to not run the Shasta Speedway
show. His pavement Buick Brayton/Stealth was heavily damaged the week
before at Stockton, but crew chief Scott Bertkin pitched in with many
midnight hours to have the mount ready for a very appreciative
Servetti. Servetti was leading the race when the injector nozzles
clogged while ideling under the caution flag for a DNF.
The next stop was the Reno-Fernley Raceway in Nevada. Smooth
as silk, the hard-packed sand 3/8-mile takes its toll on tires. Most
every car destroys two right rears, a left rear and right front
during the evening. Thomas Meseraull complained when it was announced
that the main event would be only 20-laps instead of 30, not
realizing the consequences of a longer race. At the conclusion of the
feature the right rear on the Walker Eslinger/Stealth was completely
smooth and probalby would not have lasted more than another couple of
laps for Meseraull. Shain Matthews hadn't run a midget since the
Chili Bowl, but his recent 410 sprint car experience must have helped
as he won the feature after passing Meseraull in the final laps. He
was also fast qualifier. The promotion wants BCRA to return for two
shows next season. Our guys will have to determine if they want to go
through eight or nine tires instead of only four or five!
Our next stop was Rick Farren's Watsonville Speedway. Back
after an absence of more than two years was Terry Tarditi. Usually
running his spec. sprint car at Antioch, the Friday race at
Watsonville allowed him to dust off the 'ol T&T Trucking
Esslinger/Ellis to compete and finish third behind Larry Brown and
Lee Yetter. Brown, the manufacturer of the TCR chassis, made his
first appearance with BCRA of the season. Yetter was impressive and
Ronnie Day was spectacular, driving the Sala machine as though it was
a sprinter with wings. Veteran Cliff Servetti climbed aboard the #70
Walker car as his own mount was disabled at Reno-Fernley with a
broken engine. One of the most impressive drives was that of Rick
Faeth. Battling with several cars, Faeth ran as high as second, but
dropped out while third with an in-an-out box that would't stay in
gear.
On the midget lite front, sixteen-year-old Brad Sweet
continues to dominate the Antioch Speedway with three consecutive
wins at John Soares Jr's oval. The very young looking high school
student drives for veteran Harley VanDyke in a VanEllis/Honda.
Defedning champ Greg Dennett continued to top the points chart over
brother Todd and Don VanDyke. Incidently, the lite division is
looking for a race result writer. When the pro photographers Mark
and/or Matt Sublett are at a lite race, they volunteer to write the
story for the BCRA website, racing papers and other racing websites,
but BCRA needs it's own scribe to be at all of the races - any
volunteers?
BCRA's vintage division had a dozen or so cars at the Shasta
Speedway with several coming south from Oregon and Washington. Also
on hand were two vintage sprinters. Plenty of track time.
Seven persons who have been associated with BCRA in various
categories will be inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of
Fame. The only inductee who is still active is Ken Clapp of Stockton
"99" Speedway. Clspp's credentials go far beyond one local track. He
is a retired Vice Presidnet of NASCAR who had promoted stock car
races on the west coast for many years before becoming a NASCAR
executive. He did most of the work to put together the NASCAR venture
to Japan a few years ago. Although retired, he still puts in a lot of
time and effort as a consultant to the Daytona Beach empire. Others
to receive induction on July 26 in Southern California include Bob
Barkhimer, John Soares Sr., Cos Cancilla, Marvin Panch, Charlie
Curryer and Bruce Alexander (Bruce's Tires were used by many BCRA car
owners in the early days) - Congratulations!