News & Columns

BCRA Vintage Third Annual Picnic

Mother Nature gave us a beautiful day to have our Third Annual BCRA Vintage Picnic on October 15th in the beautiful fresh country air at Frank & Kay Goularte’s Rancho in Brentwood California. Fifty plus BCRA members and race fans were on hand to enjoy the friendship and great food. Thanks to Bob and Shirley Munier for their delivery of the great TriTip for all to feast on. Along with that we had jumbo hot dogs and chili. Kay did a great job of organizing the side dishes that several members brought for all to enjoy. I know that if anyone went home hungry it was his or her fault.

Tar Baby (1948 Ford Pickup) and Pickles (1936 V8-60 Rail Midget) brought Paul and June Ferreira to the picnic for all to enjoy. After all had had their fill it was time to make a few important announcements. The BCRA Steering committee by unanimous vote selected Paul and June Ferreira as the recipients of the 2006 BCRA Vintage Perpetual Trophy. This honor is awarded each year to a Vintage member that most embodies the perpetuation of the Vintage RaceCar era. Paul and June have participated for several years with Pickles and Tar Baby and are an important reason that the BCRA Vintage Division is as big a success that it is today.


The DeMartini family, Joe, John, and Joe Jr. brought their newly restored Kurtis Kraft V8-60 midget to be placed on display for all to enjoy. Frank Goularte placed his 1970 Edmonds Diamler powered Midget for all to enjoy and he also led tours of his Race Memorabilia Shop. Ron Dunn and the Bayshore Bandits, Bobbie and Tim brought Ron’s newest toy a 1930’s era Model "B" powered Roadster.

Several of the current BCRA Board of Directors were on hand to visit with the Vintage members. Joe Lindsey, Rick Holbrook, Stu Donaldson our Vintage Coordinator. Linda Manning BCRA Office manager and hubby Tom Manning the current BCRA Chief Referee and "midget"(BCRA Mascot). Scott Erwin the Assistant Referee came to enjoy the day with the Vintage members. Floyd Busby stopped by for a short visit and took several photos of the activities including the presentation of the Trophy to the Ferreira’s. Steve and Bobbie Hazleton, Vallejo Speedway II former promoters, came by to visit and give the vintage members an up date on their efforts to find a location for their new racetrack. They hope to be able to locate North of Sacramento in the not too distant future and Steve said he would keep us posted on the effort.

Another of our important guests at the picnic was The New BCRA Midget Champion Driver /Car Owner John Sarale and his lovely wife Shay and their two year old son Caden, a future BCRA Midget Champion and Jacee their 6 month old daughter.

The 2005 Vintage Picnic started before 10:00 A.M. and concluded after sundown. This year’s event was the best by far. The response from many first timers was that they would be back next year. Everyone would like to thank Frank and Kay for the use of the Goularte Rancho and all the extra effort that they put out to make this years Vintage Picnic the greatest. Thanks to everyone that brought dishes and drinks and for all their help.

All of this fun and expense was covered from the sale of the 2005 BCRA Vintage Calendar over this past year. BCRA received national exposure on the Dave Despain "Wind Tunnel" show on Speed Channel last year. Thanks to Rusty Browning and Tommy Belfiore for the production of the new 2006 BCRA Vintage Calendar that is now available. This year we have a Calendar Girl (Kay Goularte) and Calendar Guy (Frank Goularte). Call me or email me petebcra1@sbcglobal.net to place you order.

See you all next year at the races.

Pete Bray