July 2003 - Inside Line Column - by Floyd Busby

Second-year driver Travis Berryhill enhanced his plan to win
the 2003 BCRA Midget championship by claiming his first win at the
Lakeport Speedway on June 7. The former Antioch Speedway spec Sprint
Car Champion has edged into the point lead as driver, car owner and
has taken the lead in the BCRA Shasta Marina Resort Pavement
Championship Series. In each case, he leads over perennial champ
Floyd Alvis. The '03 season marks the first time that the Travis team
has fielded its own cars for pavement and dirt racing.
As Berryhill was taking the feature win at Lakeport, another
driver was expending his finest career drive. Gary Dickenson held the
second position, refusing to be intimidated by highly-pressuring
Sterling Pratz. Near the race's end, Pratz and John Sarale were
having a dogfight for third until Marc DeBeaumont took the duo on the
outside. When he moved under Dickenson, they touched, sending
Dickenson into the outer line with two laps remaining. This dropped
him to finish fifth, erasing what would have been his best finish.
But it was still a stellar effort, especially when considering that
Dickenson drives a change-over Pontiac/Stealth that he uses on both
pavement and dirt in this age of specialized cars for each venue.
BCRA's annual Hall of Fame and "Jack London Bash" Picnic is
almost upon us. July 12 is the date and the El Dorado County
Fairgrounds, site of the Placerville Speedway, is the place. Racing
fans are always welcomed at this fun day that opens at 10 a.m. A
great BBQ lunch of tri-tips and hot dogs is served at 12-noon. The
informal Hall of Fame ceremonies is set for 1:30 p.m. The cost is
$8.00 with reservations. Kids 10 and under $4.00. Call the BCRA
office evenings at (209) 830-9928. Walk-on charge is $12.00.
This year's inductees are Julian Castro, Hardtop Driver; Ken
Fox, Midget Lite Official; George Narou, Midget Owner; Clyde Palmer,
Midget Driver; Ed Parmlee, Hardtop Owner; Tracy Taylor, Friend of
BCRA; Everett Turnross, Midget Official; Ray Wise, Midget Driver.
It's always a lot of fun with much in the way of "bench
racing" with the many old-timers who make it an annual pilgrimage.
The facility at the fairgrounds is well shaded. The evening's racing
program will include BCRA's Midgets, Midget Lites and Vintage Midgets.
Greg Dennett seems determined to make it three championships
in a row by taking the most recent race wins at Petaluma and Antioch.
He held a 52-point edge over Doug Hunting as of this writing. Scott
Clark was only 17 markers behind Hunting.
Out of necessity, Greg has worn two hats during the season up
to the June 28 race at the Twin Cities Speedway in Marysville. Since
the beginning of the season, BCRA has been looking for a Midget Lite
Referee and Pit Steward. In the meantime, Dennett, a Midget Lite
representative on the BCRA Board of Directors, has assumed many of
the duties at the tracks. With the help of his wife, Tonya, who
handles the registration duties, Greg weighs each car and does the
tech of the three top finishers following the race. Some could
consider this a conflict, as he is also the top-running driver and
his dad owns the car. Greg has been very careful to make sure all was
above board and BCRA owes him and Tonya a big debt of gratitude for
stepping in and handling the important duties while still maintaining
his racing presence, not an easy task! Beginning at Marysville on
June 28 Rick Holbrook will take over the duties as Head Official.
Tonya will continue in the capacity of Registration.
Sam Corso won his second Midget Lite feature of the season,
doing the job at the Marysville facility on June 21.
What ever happened to Terry Tarditi?....BCRA's three-time
champion (1996-97-98) put aside his stable of Midgets several years
back and built a sprint car for the Antioch Speedway's Spec Sprint
series, where he won that title.....but, alas, his speed on the
ground began to fade and his interest in flying began to increase. He
obtained his private license, then decided that small light planes
could not be put into the "excitement" category....so what would you
do in this instance?...of course, you'd buy a pristine WWII P51
Mustang!
That's exactly what Tarditi has done. First he researched the
'51s available. He did this with the aid of Danny Martin, a noted
expert on the P-51. Terry and Danny travelled to England to look at a
plane that was commissioned in April of 1944. It was housed in the
Duxford Air Museum in Duxford, England and was owned and flown by
David Gilmore, the lead singer with "Pink Floyd". The beautiful P-51
was completely restored and had been fired-up on a monthly basis.
The deal was struck and the plane completely disassembled for
shipment to the states. It took an extra month to reach the Oakland
Terminal after the British government lost the paperwork in England.
Terry, the owner of T&T Trucking, used one of his flatbed trucks to
transport the container to Hollister, the hub of warbird activity in
Northern California. Terry flies his Aero Commander down to Hollister
on a regular basis where he and Martin work and putting it back
together.
Meanwhile, Tarditi has been taking instruction for about six
months in a racing version of a North American AT-6 trainer, used
during WWII to train P-51 pilots. He will also practice in a tandem
P-51 before making his first solo flight, hopefully by the end of
June. The plane will be based in the Lodi area.
Would love to coax Tarditi back to the BCRA Midget wars, but
I guess he prefers 450 mph and diving at 505 mph at Mach .78 to any
subtle activity such as driving race cars....perhaps we can coax him
to "buzz" Stockton "99" Speedway during a BCRA Midget race in 2004!
Some could call it the "great experiment".....When BCRA and
WMRA co-sanctioned the "Pacific Northwest Championship" race at the
Shasta Speedway in Anderson on June 14, the big question was tires.
BCRA runs on Hoosier and WMRA on McCreary American Racer tires. With
Shasta utilizing transponder timing on each of the 36 cars, it became
apparent from the first hot lap session on that the greatest concern
of the BCRA entries was true - The McCreary's were faster than the
Hoosiers because of a much softer right rear compound on the McCreary
tires. This is not to fault the Hoosiers. At the beginning of the '03
season BCRA, along with USAC and most every Midget racing
organization in the U.S. who used Hoosiers, elected to go to the
harder 7.8 compound on the right rear for the reason of economy -
they last far longer than the old 7.3's previously used - but it
became a very uneven playing field at Shasta. Of the nearly dozen
WMRA and IMRA McCreary cars, almost all were faster than BCRA's
fastest.
Its difficult to write this type of report without sounding
like "sour grapes" - it is not. In actuality, if the playing field
were 100-percent level, the powerhouses of WMRA such as Rick Moss,
Ken Ferris, etc., could well have been in the winner's circle anyway
- those guys are fast on anyone's race track and they've proven it
time-and-again when traveling south to compete in the co-sanctioned
BCRA/USAC events at Stockton and Madera. They win a lot - and deserve
it. A care-in-point, several seasons ago Ferris competed with BCRA at
Stockton. Lining up for the feature, it was noticed by one of Terry
Tarditi's crew members that Ferris' left rear tire had gone flat. The
Tarditi team member grabbed a wheel/tire from the Tarditi pit and
quickly installed it on Ferris's Gaerte/Beast....naturally, Ferris
came from way back to win the race!
Even with the disappointment by the BCRA entries of not
having equal footing, it was a great show before a large and
enthusiastic crowd. Ferris won over Moss with WMRA's Brian Olson
third and IMRA's Steve Spoor fourth. BCRA's Berryhill was the best
finishing BCRA driver at fifth, followed by Floyd Alvis and a great
finish by Gary Dickenson after starting 24th.
Old-timers will remember Dave Strickland. Received a call
from the former BCRA Midget driver from his home in Denver. He has
been battling cancer for a few years and fortunately seems to have
the upper hand.
Dave, fresh from his homeland in Colorado, made his BCRA
entry during the 1963 Oakland Exposition Building indoor races,
driving an old railer. I first met Dave after the C-Race in which we
both were entered. He started on the outside of the second row and I
was on the inside of the third row. At the green, the front end of
the old railer snapped and hit the deck, causing most of us to pile
into the dysfunctional machine.
At the beginning of the '63 outdoor season, with a little
financial help from Dave to bring my old Ford V8-60 up to par, he
drove my car at the Kerney Bowl in Fresno. Even though the car did
not perform well, Dave did, and he immediately attracted the eye of
Emery Graham. Graham, one of BCRA's top car owners at the time, put
Dave into the cockpit the very next race. From that point, and
through the 1967 season, Dave drove for some of the best, including
still-active Bob Rosen. Rosen still owns the Offy that Dave drove.
Dave won four BCRA features and placed second to Bill
Vukovich Jr. in the '67 standings and third in his last season before
moving back to his homeland.
From that point he competed in national USAC events, winning
25 features to place him in a tie for 13th overall in wins with
Parnelli Jones. He was also tied with Tony Stewart until last year.
Back in the 60's, Dave and his wife Jean and their son and
daughter, along with my family, took the kids on several outings. At
the Flieschacker Zoo in San Francisco Dave Jr. got his first "ride",
a miniature race car on a revolving platform. Since then Dave Jr. has
won many Midget features.
The June 14 race at the Shasta Speedway was held on Flag Day.
All 36 Midgets sported small American flags attached to their roll
cages to celebrate the occasion - nice touch!
Contingency sponsor C.L. Bryant has added 15-gallon fuel
awards to the 5-gallon awards that they have given over the past
couple of seasons to the Midget and Midget Lite divisions. The
certificates are given in blind draws among the entries for each race.