News & Columns

July 2005

On June 4th the BCRA Vintage midgets were invited to be a part of the BCRA Mighty Midgets at the ¼ mile paved track at Lakeport California. Ten Vintage midgets made to trip to support the regular midgets. The weather was great until the Sun went down then it was windy and cold. Very strange weather for the month of June in Lake County California.

A new BCRA member made his first outing with his beautifully restored K.K. midget with a Ford Falcon motor. Harold Dickenson and his son Dan have been restoring the car for over a year. They have done a great job and the car looks better than when it came out of the K.K. shop back in the forties. Unfortunately the problem bug bit them and they worked all night trying to shake the bug. I am sure that Harold will get it corrected for the next event on the schedule. Another vintage member Phil Finger made his first show this season with his K.K. with a freshly rebuilt V8-60. He also fought the problem bug all night.

This is one of the first Vintage events that we have had such a variety of motors in the cars. We had two Ford V8-60’s, one Offy, one Ford Falcon, two Daimlers (mini Hemi’s) and four Chevy II’s. BCRA now has the first two midgets that were originally built for the V8 Daimler motor. Frank Goularte has the Edmonds chassis and Stu Donaldson has just finished the first Benson chassis. They both make quite a sight and sound leading the field down for the green. I have been bugging Stu to get me several "Before and After" shots of the restoration for the VOR. "Before and After" section.

The highlight of the night was that it was my wife’s birthday. We caught her be surprise with two birthday cakes for all of us to enjoy. I will not reveal her age for fear of retaliation.

The next event on the BCRA Vintage schedule is July 1st at Sacramento Raceway. Sac. Is a ¼ mile dirt track and we have not been there in several years. We are eager to go back to a local track.

On July 16th. B.C.R.A. Vintage midgets are invited to Roseville Speedway for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the track. The day’s festivities start at 3:00 P.M. with a Barbecue and Static display. A little while later all classes of Vintage cars will one at a time take a lap around the track and the announcer will give the fans the details and history of each car as they roll around the track. Then after that is completed the fans are invited to come to the infield to view the cars up close and meet the drivers/owners. This should be a great time to show and tell the race fans about you and your car.

Check out the BCRA web page to see several great action photos from Lakeport. Go to "bcraracing.com" then click on "midgets" then click on "photos" then click on the M & M Photo page and scroll down to see the shots taken by Matt Sublett. Matt and Mark are brothers and they are the official BCRA Photographers. Any photos can be ordered by contacting them at mrksub@aol.com.

As they say keep it between the fences and keep at least three wheels down and see you on the next lap.

Pete