June 2004 - Inside Line Column - by Floyd Busby

The rookies keep on shining in the BCRA Midget ranks.
Eighteen-year-old Brian Gard garnered his first feature win at the
Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka, joining fellow rookie and
Placerville winner Michael Hubert III in the winner's circle.
In the most recent race leading up to this column, a
second-year driver won his first feature, and did it in his own home
town of Lakeport
Eric Mostin took the win in what could only be described as a
"photo finish". The win was so close that the charging Thomas
Meseraull thought that he had won, but instead finished second for
the fifth time this season. Meseraull was probably a bit startled
when Mostin, who had spun after the checkered flag, jumped from his
Beast/Gaerte and gave Thomas a big "bear-hug". The Lakeport Speedway
track management later reviewed the video of the race and even in
frame-by-frame motion it was indeed a dead-heat, which gives the win
to the car leading the previous lap.....so the three scorers were
correct.
A rookie has also stood out in the Midget Lite division!
Youngster David Maples took a feature win at Marysville. Though not a
rookie, Chad Compton won his first career main event in the Budweiser
sponsored race at Petaluma.
Most of the BCRA Midget pavement contingent looked forward to
the co-sanctioned race with the Washington Midget Racing Association
at Roseburg, Oregon. Few were disappointed. The 4/10-mile paved oval
offered challenges and produced some very good racing. Arriving on
Friday afternoon we were blessed with beautiful weather. But race day
Saturday was cold and blustery. The grandstads at the Douglas County
Fairgrounds are huge, covered, and seat over 5,000. Though not
filled, the promotion was happy with the results and wants to do it
again in 2005. That feature was won by Marc DeBeaumont's Western
States Stealth Distributor house car with Jerry Coons at the wheel.
Former two-time BCRA Midget Lite champion and Midget rookie Greg
Dennett placed second over WMRA's Brad Curtis.
Talk is of at least two BCRA/WMRA races next season, one
again at Roseburg, and one perhaps at the Shasta Speedway in Anderson
where we did a co-sanction last season.
Speaking of Anderson, we stopped by the facility on our
return from Oregon to see the changes that were to be made. What a
surprise. We had heard that the track was to be extended in the
third/fourth turn. Indeed it has been, but much more has been done to
the fairgrounds facility. The pit area has been greatly expanded
northward where the back gate road had been. It is entirely paved. In
the past the track was without walls except for the front straight.
The back stretch had a wall set back some distance from the track.
That is all changed with full concrete crash walls around the entire
track.
Greg Dennett has two back-to-back Midget trophy dash wins to
his credit, Eureka and Lakeport.
Each season we can look forward to fine coverage by the
Eureka Times Standard when we make out annual pilgrimage to the
Redwood Acres Raceway. The paper always runs a full story with a
photo in the sports section prior to the race, then sends a staff
photographer to shoot the race. The photographer apparently uses a
very long telephoto lens and captures fantastic photos, head-on of
the cars exiting the fourth turn. These shots show groups of Midgets
in very close quarters. Following the race the sports page included
several of these wonderful shots. Our appreciation to the Times
Standard for a job well done!....they, of course, didn't realize that
two of the head-on shots had the cars of two BCRA board members in
the lead, President George Chandler's #19 with Jim Silva driving and
Treasurer Joe Lindsey in his Gambler/Esslinger, each winning heat
races.
At this juncture of the season Scott Clark holds a narrow
point lead over Sam Corso in the Midget Lite driver standings. The
two are reversed in the car point standings that Clark won last
season.
The annual BCRA "Jack London Bash" and Hall of Fame
inductions is nearly upon us. Again this year it will be held at the
El Dorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville, site of the speedway.
Its on July 10 and everyone is invited.
This year's HoF inductees are Johnny Anderson (Midget
Driver), Molly Barkhimer (Midget Official), Joe Bonafacio (Hardtop
Owner), Chuck Booth (Midget Driver), Ronnie Hulse (Midget Driver),
Fino Sacullo (Midget Owner), Dave Strickland (Midget Driver) and
Chuck Webb (Hardtop Driver).
The festivities get under way at 10 a.m. with the BBQ tri-tip
lunch served at noon. The HoF inductions begin at 1:30 p.m. The
picnic also includes hot dogs, chili, potato salad, soft drinks,
water and dessert. The BCRA vintage division will have several cars
on display. All for $10 with advanced reservations. $14 for drop-ins.
Kids 10 and under are $4. To make reservations call the BCRA office
at (209) 830-9928 evenings or fax to (209) 836-2297.
Following the day's activities, the Midgets and Midget Lites
will race on the quarter-mile dirt oval, the Lites minus the wings.
The 5th Annual BCRA Johnny Baldwin Golf Classic set for July
25 is gaining speed! Jimmy Sills will be the Honorary player. The
golf committee has attained the services of noted chef Jack Harris to
provide the BBQ chicken and burgers, plus trimmings, following the 18
holes of golf. Harris is the resident chef of Zins Valley Restaurant
in Napa. One of the beauties of the Oakmoor Golf Course in Stockton
is that it is a private club. We rent the entire site and are the
only players. It is located at 3737 North Wilson Way, just a stone's
throw south of the Stockton "99" Speedway. The fee, which includes
green fees, cart beverages, BBQ lunch and prizes is $75.00. All fans
are welcome....call the BCRA office to make reservations.
One of BCRA's fine contingency sponsors is TCR Performance in
Bakersfield. The company has been purchased by Randy Eidson, who is
continuing the relationship with BCRA that was started some years ago
by former owner Larry Brown.
When Tyler Franklin arrived at the Petaluma Speedway on May
22 to compete in the Budweiser Midget Lite race, he did so
immediately following his graduation from Sonoma State College. He
placed third. Congratulations Tyler!
At the June 5th Lakeport race a memorial lap dedicated to the
late Leroy Geving was run. The memorial lap was made by Glenn Carson
in Doug Bock's Midget and Frank Goularte in his Daimler powered
vintage Midget, running side-by-side, each with large checkered
flags. Geving was a four-time BCRA Hardtop driving champion in 1959,
60, 63 and 64. Leroy was inducted into the BCRA Hall of Fame in 1997.
In the June issue of the BCRA Newsletter "Inside Line" I ran
a little story entitled "The Race Lost in History!". I had hoped that
the story would garner answers to the questions in the story, and it
did. Several people are helping me to put this particular race into
perspective. I even received a call from noted national Midget
historian Ed Watson, who gave me some information. I have come to
find that the race in Weed, located in far Northern California, was
in July of 1938, not 1939. I was there with my father as, what I
thought was a three-year-old, but I was a year younger. Following is
the story as it appears in the newsletter:
"In 1939 a Midget race was held in Weed, located several
miles above Shasta. I remember my father telling me about it, plus I
have photographs of a three-year-old sitting in a Midget.
In 1939 the Midgets were just being organized by the Bay
Cities Roadster Racing Association. The two Northern California
sanctioning groups, STAR and NCMRA, had been feuding and the results
was disbandment of both - so, races at that time were non-sanctioned.
My father, in fact, promoted two such Midget races at a Japanese
baseball park in San Jose. (I still have the accounting of the races).
But, my interest was Weed. Several years ago I began the task
of detailing the event in order to do a story.
Two years ago I spent several hours in the once-lumber
company town nestled below the snow-capped Mt. Shasta. I visited
local historians with no luck. At a suggestion of a town resident, I
visited the man who had been the local newspaper editor at the time.
The elderly gentleman invited me into his home. He had no
recollection other than to where the location of the track had been.
It had been built next to a large barn-like dance hall next to the
Highway 5 just south of town. After showing me his vast collection of
old printing and logging memorabilia, he suggested that I check with
the newspaper in Shasta and view their archives. As I proceeded south
I stopped by the newspaper and was told that all archives were kept
at the newspaper in Yreka, some miles in the wrong direction - so, my
sleuthing was finished for that day.
On the recent trip to the race in Roseburg I stopped in Yreka
and the hospitable publisher went into storage and brought out the
entire 1939 archives. After nearly an hour of searching the yellowing
pages, I could not find a mention or ad pertaining to the race of '39.
If nothing else, this has become a lesson to me about
procrastination. If I had pursued this years ago, people who had been
there - had raced there - would have been available to interview.
As it stands now, it is a race "lost in history"!