June 2006 - Inside Line Column - by Floyd Busby

Somewhat unusual!...at the BCRA midget race at the Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka, not a single car spun from hot laps through the main event. The only caution flag came out during the feature for a stalled car. Good work on a very fast 3/8-mile paved oval.
On the midget lite scene, Sam Corso finally equalled his family member Chris DeRuyter. Corso brought his Honda Blackbird powered Stealth home for the win at the Reno-Fernley Raceway. Corso had loaned his mount to DeRuyter for the opening race at Marysville where the former champion came out of retirement to win the feature.
In between the opener and Reno-Fernley feature wins have gone to brothers Greg and Jeff Griffin, Greg at Chico and Jeff at Petaluma.
Board member Rick Holbrook finally got back "on-track" at Reno-Fernley after experiencing nothing but problems with his old powerplant at the first three races. A new motor did the trick.
At the Lakeport Speedway midget race on June 3rd few recognized Skip Joaquin. Joaquin had run the BCRA midgets from 1967 through the early 1970's. There were probably only four people in the pits that Joaquin recognized, having not been to a midget race in nearly 40-years. He enjoyed talking to Norm Rapp, Floyd Alvis, Jimmy Montgomery and myself, who were present during his racing years.
Joaquin had driven for Montgomery for a couple of seasons. Montgomery had long ago quite fielding cars and since had become the BCRA statistician/historian as well as registrar at the midget events.
During Joaquin's time he put the Montgomery Ford V8-60 into the Turkey Night Grand Prix semi at the Ascot Speedway in Southern California, besting a number of Offys' that did not make the program.
Joaquin was so impressed with the present-day midgets and the vintage division that he has vowed to return soon after retiring as a Teamster Organizer next month.
The midget go at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville included a cast of 19 cars with Travis Berryhill taking his first of two consecutive features. Berryhill, starting up front, ran his own race on the very dry-slick dirt oval, forcing his competitors to keep up.
Rookie Darrin Bolton too managed to finesse the track and placed a very creditable second while some of the hot-shoes seemed to overdrive the track.
Berryhill came back the following weekend to capture the Redwood Acres Raceway feature on the fast and smooth Eureka speedplant over fast qualifier John Sarale and Ralph Cortez. This was the first BCRA race for the newly acquired Cortez Sesco Mopar powered Beast.
Midget campaigner Michael Hubert III took perhaps his last ride with BCRA at Lakeport, at least for some time to come. The young third-generation driver will be moving back to North Carolina where he will become a Nextel Cup crew member, plus gain a bit more education. He will leave for the south following the Nextel Cup race at the Infineron Raceway June 25.
Bill Ferrari, who fielded the car in which Thomas Meseraull won the 2004 midget championship, retired shortly after that season.
Ferrari will be coming back, but this time in the vintage division.
He has purchased the famed Sim Clark car. Most of Clark's 45 feature wins, one indoor and five overall championships were won in this car with such drivers as Tommy Copp, Bob DeJong, Hank Butcher, Johnny Anderson and Gary Ponzini. Ferrari is looking for a driving suit and helmet, etc.!
The new BCRA T-Shirts finally arrived....and gorgeous they are! Both the midget and midget lite versions can be obtained via the BCRA website: www.BCRAracing.com. Go to the "BCRA Gear" section. $15 bucks plus $3 shipping....take a look!....The 68-page BCRA 1005 Midget Yearbook is still available at $20 plus $3 shipping. Check it out in the "BCRA Gear" section of the website or call me at (925) 825-1043.
At the Lakeport midget race a memorial lap was run in memory of Howard Segur Sr., The last of the founders of BCRA. Frank Goulate drove his vintage Damiler Hemi powered Edmunds with the traditional checkered flag around the oval while the BCRA members stood along the edge of the track near the finish line. Following the slow memorial lap Goulate applied the power and skirted the track with the flag waving briskly a final time. A fine tribute to a fine competitor.
Vince Petruzzi, one of the "old-timers" in BCRA, passed away.
He was an early inductee into the BCRA Hall of Fame, that distinction coming back in 1987. At that time he was among a number of inductees that included Boots Archer, Ed Normi, Jerry Piper, Art Shanoian, Lenny Gonsel and Floyd Busby Sr. Following WWII Petruzzi fielded the famed Acme Special Drake with a number of noted drivers. Perhaps the car and driver's "claim to fame" came on the Oakland Stadium 5/8-mile track when driver Eddie Bennett flipped while high up on the paved banks of the track. The photo of Bennett and the other scattering cars made most every newspaper in the U.S. The car bounded outward from the high degree banking and looked suspended high over the lower part of the track.