Novebmer 2004 - Inside Line Column - by Floyd Busby

Enter the twilight zone!...that period of time between the
end of the racing season and the beginning of the new....
The new looks very promising and the old was indeed an
exciting and successful season.

At the annual awards banquet Thomas Meseraull will be honored
as the new champion midget driver with 3D Racing taking the car owner
title (driven by second-place and rookie of the year Greg Dennett).
Scott Kinney will accept the midget lite driving accolades with Scott
Clark taking his second consecutive car owner title.

The final two shows for the midget division included the
season-ending 2nd Annual Johnny Baldwin Classic at the Santa Maria
Speedway. What started out with a bang ended in a whimper as the rain
gods descended upon Santa Maria in torrents, ending BCRA's signature
race prematurely.

The skies opened up as the semi-main was being staged, thus
no semi or 50-lap main event with $15,000.00 on the line.
With the NMRA TQ's and the California Lightning Sprints on
the agenda, the overall racing format was more than half completed
when called, thus no refunds to the fans. Each of the 29 midget
entries received equal shares of the portion of the purse provided by
the track. Robby Flock got his full $1,000 from Hoosier Tire West for
his win in the six-car, six-lap "Dash for Cash".

The event included non-BCRA entries such as national point
leader Bobby East, defending USAC Western States champion Steve
Paden, Flock, Rick Hendrix, Garrett Hansen and track record holder
Danny Stratton, as well as Johnny Murdock who towed from Dallas,
Texas.

BCRA's newly crowned driving champion Thomas Meseraull was
fast qualifier over Stratton.

The previous week BCRA joined with USAC for the annual Kings
Speedway co-sanction.

Stratton took Hanford after a brush with BCRA's Ryan Kaplan
for the lead. Thirty-one cars were on hand with Paden taking quick
time. At the start of the feature a tangle approaching the starting
line involved three cars flipping. Wally Pankratz, Jerome Rodela and
Shannon McQueen inverted short of the line with Matt Streeter knocked
into a spin. Pankratz and Rodela were sent to the hospital and
released.

In attendance at Hanford was Don Meachum. Don was a top BCRA
midget driver from 1959 through 1976 with four feature wins. During
that time Don ran a number of seasons with national USAC, winning
nine features. He had just returned from Australia where he was
invited to attend and compete in the "Vintage Gathering". Don spent
three days each in Sydney, Brisbane and Caims. He had raced the famed
Myron Caves Offy down under in his racing days. At the vintage
gathering, with 76 vintage midgets entered, he drove one of the Bob
Ottoway vintage midgets and had a great time, even driving in one of
his old uniforms (wish I could fit into a '60s outfit). After the
race he attended a dinner at a nearby hotel where numerous awards
were handed out. He was able to visit with several drivers he had
raced against in 1968, including George Tatnal, Sid Middlemass and
Howard Revell.

Don is a member of the Central California Hall of Fame and
will be nominated to the National Midget Hall of Fame in 2005.
Progress for the 2005 racing season is well under way. Most
of the midget pavement races have been secured. Most of the dirt
track races are formulated at the Promoters Workshop in Reno in early
December. The dirt track promoters finalize their scheduling of the
sprint car "Civil War" series and "Golden State Challenge" before
offering dates to other sanctioning organizations such as BCRA. We
know that we will run at most of these tracks, but the specific dates
are determined in Reno for the midget, midget lite and vintage midget
divisions.

The BCRA midget lite division will again run both winged and
non-wing events in '05. The vintage division will run only at BCRA
midget and midget lite events.

One race that is close to reality is a two-day co-sanctioned
BCRA/WMRA/IMRA midget race at Meridian, Idaho. It has been quite some
years since BCRA ran in Meridian, located close to Boise.
For the first time in many years BCRA will have a yearbook.
The 2004 season book will highlight all three divisions. At this
point it looks to be about 80-pages or more in color and will sell
near the $30 mark. When the specifics become available we'll let you
know. It is expected to be published in mid-January.

BCRA vintage division held their annual picnic at the Frank
Goularte ranch in Brentwood. About 60 were in attendance under
drizzling skies, but the weather didn't thwart the enthusiasm of
those assembled. The vintage division has calendars available and
have produced a childrens color book with outlined pictures of the
vintage midgets for youngsters to color. The 11"x17" single sheet
laminated calendars at $8 plus $4 S&H can be ordered from Pete Bray
at (209) 586-4838.

Veteran BCRA Hall of Fame midget driver Hank Butcher, winner
of 79 BCRA features as well as eight USAC national wins, was inducted
into the National Midget Hall of Fame recently. Hank was unable to
attend the ceremonies in Indiana, so will receive his plaque and
accolades at the BCRA awards banquet presentation.

At the recent BCRA General Membership Meeting, new board
members voted in include Billy Graham Jr and Drew Barney (midget
lite), and Stu Donaldson (member-at-large). Retained on the board is
George Chandler (president), Ralph Cortez (VP), Rick Holbrook
(secretary) and Joe Lindsey (treasurer).