May 2003 - Inside Line Column - by Floyd Busby

BCRA experienced its first two co-sanctioned events with USAC
National. Marc DeBeaumont came out on top in the BCRA midget point
standings, both as a driver and car owner with his Ed Pink Ford
powered Stealth.

Tacoma, Washington's Travis Johnson was at the second race,
the "Fred Gerhardt Open Wheel Classic" at Madera. Travis plans to
compete in most of the BCRA pavement and dirt races this season with
two new cars. The cars are registered to his father, Lloyd. The
personable driver will certainly deserve an award for the most
distance traveled at season's end.

The regular season for the BCRA midgets begins on May 10th
with the annual stop at the Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka. The
largest midget field ever at the 3/8-mile paved oval is expected and
may include Washington's John Starks according to his dad and car
owner-builder Arnie.

The Redwood Acres race is also the beginning of the
seven-race Shasta Marina Resort Pavement Championship Series.
The midget lite division has completed two races with one
rainout. Cameron Beard started the season off well with a win at the
Twin Cities Speedway in Marysville. Following the rainout on April 12
at the Placerville Speedway, the lites returned the following week
with defending champion Greg Dennett taking the checkered flag.
BCRA's popular vintage division had eleven cars
up-and-running at the Madera BCRA/USAC National. Also vintage-wise,
in a special ceremony to commemorate Fred Gerhardt, the former
Gerhardt Offy #45 midget was driven by Bill Vukovich Jr. and the
beautiful #45 Gerhardt Indy roadster, driven at the speedway by Chuck
Stevenson, was piloted around the Madera oval by George Snider.

BCRA statistician Jimmy Montgomery has compiled a listing of
BCRA main event midget wins by drivers and car owners since 1945.
Leading in the driver win column is the great Johnny Baldwin
with 133 victories, followed by the legendary Freddie Agabashian with
105. The only active driver in the top-ten is Floyd Alvis with 49.
Following Aggie in third is Hank Butcher at 79, Jerry Piper with 60,
Ed Normi at 56, Marvin Burke with 51, Alvis, Johnny Boyd with 47,
Mike McGreevy with 44 and Rick Bussell at 43. The next ten in line
are Burt Foland, Ken Nichols, Terry Tarditi, Earl Motter, Woody
Brown, Fred Friday, Johnny Smith, Johnny Soares, Dick Atkins and
Johnny Anderson. A total of 257 drivers have earned main event wins
in BCRA. Several names not usually associated with BCRA from other
forms or racing or organizations who are in the win column include
Joe Leonard, Billy Boat, Sleepy Tripp, Davey Hamilton, Chuck
Stevenson, Billy Garrett, Nick Rescino, John Starks, Edgar Elder,
Bill (Sr.) and Eli Vukovich, Gary Patterson, Johnnie Parsons, Billy
Cantrell, Clyde Palmer, Shoprty Templeman, Termite Jones, Ned Spath
and Tony Stewart.

Did you know that famed Indy car owner Al Dean of the Dean
Van Lines cars that raced in the Indianapolis 500 in the 1950's and
60's won 15 BCRA main events and is placed 37th of the 318
feature-winning car owners?...or that one of Indy's most famous crew
chiefs George Bignotti is first in the BCRA car owner win column with
144? Jack London is second with 120 wins. Following those wins with
such drivers as Freddie Agabashian and others, London became a
long-standing business manager for BCRA. During his reign as manager,
he campaigned his famous Offy in national events with such drivers as
A.J. Foyt and Burt Foland. Third on the list is Lenny Gonsel, whose
famed "Yellow Bird" midgets took a total of 81 feature wins. Next in
line is Jesse Beene at 57, Sim Clark with 45, Stan Brooks with 43 and
Ray Bussell at 38. Only two owners who currently compete are in the
top-ten. Bob Rosen is eighth with 37 and Floyd Alvis is tied for
ninth with Tom Dupont at 36. Our statistician Jimmy Montgomery has 12
feature wins under his belt.

Among the BCRA midget car owners who also entered cars at
Indianapolis are Fred Gerhardt, Myron Caves, Jerry O'Connell and
Frank Fiore. Several well known drivers who were not known as car
owners that made the owner win column include Freddie Agabashian,
Mike McGreevy, Bob Sweikert, Bill Vukovich, Johnny Baldwin and Glenn
Carson. (This writer purchased the former McGreevy midget and drove
it indoors in the Oakland Exposition Building in the early 60's -
sure wish I had it now!).

Also, pertaining to this writer, the conclusion of the 2002
season was an anniversary of sorts. The 2003 racing season ushers in
my 51st year as a scorer. Started at the Oakland Stadium scoring hard
tops in 1953 at age 17 and have officiated at 67 different race
tracks.

Budweiser has come on again this season as a sponsor of the
midget lites at the Antioch and Petaluma Speedway.
Patriotism reigns high in the Silva household. The son of
midget driver Jim Silva, Pvt. E2 Christopher Silva, is awaiting
deployment to Iraq. The 20-year-old is a member of the 3rd Infantry
and is a Cavalry Scout in Unit 464. Stationed at Fort Stewart,
Georgia, Christopher is packed and ready to go and is looking forward
to the challenge. Christopher graduated from high school in Manteca
before enlisting. He got a taste of racing in 2000 when he competed
during the season in the 250 modified midget division at the Delta
Speedway - God speed Christopher.

BCRA will be running two more shows at the Stockton "99"
Speedway. Down the road a bit lies the Delta Speedway. BCRA midgets
ran there some years ago. The small dirt bull ring was home ground
for a number of drivers who later turned to the BCRA midgets and
midget lites, including five former Delta champions. Among those are
midget lite owner/driver Scott Clark, a 600 champ, and midget drivers
Rob Russell and Jimmy Christian, 250 champions. Former BCRA midget
lite champ Chris DuReuyter was also a 600 titilist. Former BCRA
midget driver Chuck Gurney Jr. got his start by winning both the 250
and 600 championships.

Another Delta graduate is Steve Roza. Roza made his rookie
midget debut this season in the former Pete Baraldi Stewart now owned
by his dad and BCRA president Bob Roza. Steve's ten years of
experience started at Delta in the 250's before moving to mini
sprints and then the BCRA midget lites. The 32-year-old rookie is a
graduate of Fresno State University, where he met and married his
college sweetheart Jennifer, and works as an insurance adjuster in
Fresno. The junior Rozas' have a son and daughter. The team installed
an Esslinger engine in the car, but retained the black and blue color
scheme in honor of Hall of Famer Baraldi. While Steve will be going
for the BCRA rookie title on pavement only, he is meanwhile scouting
for a dirt ride.

Looking for an officiating job?....The BCRA midget lite
division is currently seeking both a referee and pit steward. The
referee, of course, referees', and is also required to handle the
tech duties, including weigh-ins of the cars. The steward job
description includes sign-in and getting the cars into line for the
various events, plus helping the referee with tech. Interested
parties may call the BCRA office at (209) 830-9928....yes, they are
paying jobs!

BCRA owner/driver Rory Price of Edmunds, Washington, recently
sold his entire race team. The BCRA feature winner is looking for a
ride.

While preparing for the season opener on March 30 at the
Stockton "99" Speedway, both the Frank Guerrini Jr. and Bill Ferrari
cars developed serious engine problems during a practice session at
Stockton. This eliminated Rob Russell and Sterling Pratz from the
co-sanctioned BCRA/USAC National races.

At a mini sprint race held on the Perris half-mile in
Southern California in March, our guys were looking good with heat
race wins by Cameron Beard and Greg Dennett aboard their BCRA midget
lites. In the main event BCRA's Doug Hunting was leaving the pack
when he blew and DNF'ed. BCRA champ Dennett was running toward the
front of the pack when his injectors began fouling. The track
announcer put Greg's predicament into perspective when he announced
over the public address system that Greg was, "fading faster than a
K-Mart T-shirt!".

Cliff Servetti's Custom Engine/Custom Car Care business in
San Francisco will again sponsor the Division-2 midget plaques
awarded to D-2 trophy dash winners. Division-2 is for cars that are
powered by older style racing engines such as the Chevy II and VW.
They compete against the regular midgets under normal circumstances,
but when enough entries are on hand, they compete in their own dash
and heat race as well. The division expects several new "older" cars
this season.