It's Important To Remember Celebrate Our Racing Heritage
In my time covering auto racing, I've recognized the importance of
remembering the past. While I feel it is very important to try to
acknowledge all of the racers that are out there doing what they do
these days, it's equally important to remember the past. Racing was such
a central point in my life from an early age that I started compiling
my stat books early on. I also started doing newspaper clipping books.
This started for my home track Antioch Speedway, but I started doing it
for other tracks.
Before I started writing for
Racing Wheels Newspaper, I had people giving me their issues. This was
around 1984, and I would save them. I've been saving them ever since and
have a good collection of the last 20 years that the newspaper was
still in business. I've since added issues from the 1970s and 1960s.
I've been fortunate that while my life has taken a downward turn and
I've lost some things, I've managed to hold on to my racing stats and
those Wheels Newspapers. To me, the history of the sport matters as much
as the current product.
It gives you a broader
sense of what's going on out there. You're a link in the chain. The
sport was here long before you even walked through the gates. As a kid,
you saw your first heroes out there. Then one day, you got involved.
While you were involved, you inspired somebody else to want to be a part
of it. After you walk away, those are some of the people that are going
to be keeping the sport alive. Maybe that's a romantic view, but
there's truth in it. I've always spoken of the heritage of our great
sport, and the reasons are many.
It is a way to
market your race track. By showing your heritage and creating a Hall of
Fame at your particular track, you're not only honoring the racers of
the past, you're also reminding the fans of just how long the track has
been in business. There are people within the community at large that
may not be fans of racing. Some of them may even try to shut you down.
However, if you're in touch with how long your track has been there and
some of the things that have happened through the years, you can remind
them that you've been a part of the community for many, many years. The
race track is an important local business.
I
can speak for Antioch Speedway when I say that had I not been keeping my
records and doing what I do, there wouldn't be a resource to look back
on. The management of the speedway was more interested in the numbers of
the current year. They weren't necessarily storing the older
information. I don't know if there's any other resource out there that
can tell you nearly what I can about that particular track from the time
it opened its gates in 1961 until the current day. Many tracks were
like that. I am pleased to say that tracks are starting to realize that
they should go back and research records on this stuff. It matters.
When
I begin my brief time as Media Director at Southern Oregon Speedway, I
had a game plan for how I wanted to market the track. I could clearly
see that in the immediate years before I got there, not much was done.
Nobody was really writing much, and you didn't see much talk about the
history of that track. I think it's a shame. While there is a Facebook
page for the old Medford Raceway track, there wasn't really anything out
there talking about the early days, 25 years ago, when Southern Oregon
Speedway opened. In addition to my plan to write about everybody who was
a part of the current scene, I also wanted to go back and compile the
records so people could see it all.
It took
several months, but I was able to get probably 95% to 98% of the
winner's list completed. There are a few gaps in 2004 and 2005. I was
able to not only list the champions, but also list the Top 10 in the
standings from the year the track opened onward. This information was
made available on the website that I did as well as in the souvenir
programs. Another goal of mine was to create a Southern Oregon Racing
Hall of Fame. While I envisioned it to be something that looked at
Southern Oregon Speedway and all of the Medford area tracks, I could
make a case for including Ashland Speedway and the Klamath Falls race
tracks as well.
What I was striving for was
acknowledging the heritage of the race track and getting people more
excited about the place. The nice thing was you saw people talking about
it. People would post about it on social media. People did start
caring, and I started seeing a few faces around the track that hadn't
been seen in a while. People might ask, why did I do this? Medford
wasn't my home. That's true, it wasn't. However, it was their home. I
simply wanted to pay respect to that racing community and it's heritage.
As
I have moved on from that race track and am no longer a part of the
team, it makes me smile to see how many people are talking about the
Hall of Fame and days gone by. It's starting to matter a lot more to the
Southern Oregon racing community, and it should. This is their
heritage. Southern Oregon Speedway has been around for 25 years, but
there have been a few tracks in the area going back well into the 1950s
and before that. While they don't have a Hall of Fame night on their
schedule the last I checked, there's a good chance that it will be put
back into place.
That brings me to one of the
things that I will be doing with the Jefferson State Racing News blog.
As I pointed out, I don't think we are going to be covering the current
racing season on a regular basis here. I do that over at The DCRR Racing
News blog for several tracks, but this site will be more about special
articles. I think Southern Oregon Speedway will end up with one of these
special articles, and I have plans for Lakeport Speedway and Siskiyou
Golden Speedway as well. I want to begin to look back and tell some of
the story of the history. I may not have all of the details, but I have a
few. I will learn as I do my research and be able to add to it. You
have to start some place.
What struck me about
Siskiyou Golden Speedway was that the media there seemed to care more
about that track than the Medford media did. I can assure you, I was
sending stuff to several sources, but it was the newspaper in Yreka that
was taking my articles and using them. In fact, the sports editor, Bill
Choy, seemed to look forward to not only the race review articles I was
doing but also the pre-race stuff. We were doing our best to generate
some excitement for the track that's been in Yreka for over 70 years
now. That's part of the process of rejuvenating the program there and
getting the community to want to come back out and watch the races.
When
I say Hall of Fame night, I believe that there is a significant history
and heritage to be honored at the Yreka track. I haven't seen a lot of
talk on social media about the history of racing in Yreka. You don't see
people having that conversation about who the greatest driver is in
that track's history. If you do hear a little bit of conversation, it
doesn't go back as deep as you might think it should. The only way that
changes is to start putting that information together and presenting it
to the people. Show them what's been there in the past, and spark the
memories of the people who were there at the time.
Yreka
has kept some important races on their schedule. I know the Bo Hittson
Memorial race went back to the 1970s. Bo was a racer in Stock Cars at
the time, and he was a police officer. Sadly, he was killed in line of
duty in the 1970s, but they kept that race on the schedule to remember
him. I think it matters. John Arnberg was one of the top Late Model and
Modified stars there and a champion in both classes. He died in a tragic
boat accident, but a race was created to remember him. Again, this is
another race that matters in my opinion.
I
don't claim to have a bunch of information, and maybe what I do have
won't go back further than 30 years without doing more research. I have
better access to the last 20 years, but I think there's another decade
in there. What I do with these stories is what I call a living history. I
might write an initial story or the first version. Then, information
comes across my desk that will enable me to update it and share more
information with the readers. I'm excited to be able to jump in and do
something for the Yreka track, and I have another plan for the story,
which I will announce at the appropriate time.
Two
great Oregon racing historians, Curt Deatherage and Denny Deatherage,
started Cottage Grove Speedway Historical Night. This became a night
that would see the track honor some of it's greats with Hall of Fame
inductions. I think this heritage is going back 20 years now, and it's
significant. What Curt and Danny did was build display boards with
newspaper clippings of the track through the years, and every year they
would add a new board. I think they have something like 15 or 20 boards
now, and the fans really like looking at that stuff. For people who were
there at the time, it's a reminder of those days gone by.
Curt
and Danny created the blueprint that was used when we began the
Southern Oregon Racing Hall of Fame at Southern Oregon Speedway.
Furthermore, I used that model when I began the Antioch Speedway Hall of
Fame. I think it's a good idea, and it's not too difficult to do this.
You have to come up with candidates to put into the Hall of Fame and
make sure you can get them there. Secondly, you create display boards
for the fans to look at. You can invite alumni to the track who may not
have been there in many years, giving them free passes to be there that
night. They do that at Cottage Grove. Then, all you have to do is pick
the night.
The thought process is you can take
the night and do many things with it. You can rent a hall and have a
Hall of Fame dinner. You can have a picnic area and do a Hall of Fame
picnic. You can get a room and have a sort of race track museum that you
use only on certain given weekends. This, of course, requires people to
loan memorabilia or even come in and set up tables where they share
what they have. There are many things that you can do that involve the
racing community. You can even start a race track alumni association
that would ultimately handle it.
When it comes
to the Yreka track, I think current management should strongly consider
doing a Hall of Fame. You only need two or three names to induct that
first year, and I think just about anybody who's been around there for a
while can do that relatively easily. Creating display boards isn't too
difficult. Go to the local library and you can easily accomplish that.
Then, you pick a night and market the hell out of it. Get it in the
newspapers, get it on radio if you can. Fliers posted on telephone
poles. Whatever. I think it would work at the Yreka track.
Regardless,
I have a story idea in mind for Siskiyou Golden Speedway, and when I
have that figured out and put the first draft together, it will be
shared on this blog. I don't know how deep it will go, but we'll cover
as much history as we can to start with. We'll go from there. I picked
Lakeport Speedway, which also has a rich history going back over 50
years. I probably have information going back to the mid 1980s for them,
and the last 20 or so is easily accessible.
The
Lakeport track has been run by the NCRA for decades, and one of the
driving forces in recent years has been Bob and Nadine Strauss. I do
have a great deal of respect for Nadine, who can not only handle the
business stuff, she also writes a good story. She was one of the people
who used to send me articles for the magazine that I did from the late
1980s through the early 2000s. Lakeport also had a Hall of Fame night in
recent years, so they have inducted some people. With the NCRA out and
Furia Motorsports taking over, I don't know what will happen with any of
that.
I do understand the hard feelings, and
while I hope it doesn't complicate things to a point where it makes the
track difficult to run, I still understand people feeling the way they
do. When it comes to the heritage of Lakeport Speedway, perhaps an olive
branch that could be extended is an NCRA Hall of Fame night. Just one
night at the track where they induct new members and celebrate the
track's heritage. They used to have a race for one of their greats,
Deake Lyndall. Maybe that's a place to start? The Deake Lyndall Memorial
Hall of Fame night? I'm just throwing ideas out there.
As
pavement circuits go, what they've done at Lakeport Speedway and Ukiah
Speedway has been good through the years. Both tracks have seen their
good times and their bad times, but they endure. Lakeport has been
fortunate to have the NCRA guiding it, so you haven't seen a bunch of
downtime with that track. Ukiah has sort of had a revolving door of
promoters. If I were to do some sort of history of that race track,
things are so scattered that I'd have a challenge doing it right. It's
one of the reasons I like Furia Motorsports running that track. I know
David, and he's a good man. We need people like him with a passion for
the sport to keep it going.
Last I checked,
Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka has had a little bit of its history
shared online. The Medford crowd used to go down there and do some
racing. I believe they used to invade Shasta Speedway as well. In the
1980s, the track in Eureka was still dirt, but they ended up paving it.
Having been able to watch the free broadcast the current management is
putting out there on YouTube, I must say the track is still looking
quite nice. It's another one of those places with a great heritage, and
it really does matter.
I'd like to go through
Diamond Mountain Speedway in Susanville and American Valley Speedway in
Quincy to put some sort of story together, but these are two tracks that
have had revolving door management through the years. Getting that
information is tough. Even with the technology we have now, you don't
see who gets the wins or how the points are going in Quincy. Susanville
is a little better at that, but tracking down even the last 20 years of
information isn't as easy as it is for other tracks. I continue to
chronicle the Susanville track with The DCRR Blog as best I can.
One
of the reasons I'm not doing weekly stuff here is because I'm trying to
focus that effort on just the one blog at the moment. The plan could
change, but I feel that this is the better way. That doesn't mean I
can't share a results article here once in awhile, and I might do that.
I'm feeling sort of at the end of my reporter phase where I cover the
current product. I'd like to start putting together some history books
for these tracks. There aren't too many of us out there doing this. I
think Dennis Mattish may be the only guy doing anything these days, and
Tom Motter is the only other guy in California I can think of who's done
multiple informative books on racing's past.
I
don't want to drag this column out longer, because I'd really like to
post this immediately. The longer I am editing, the less likely it will
get posted. I recently had a conversation with promising young racing
journalist/photographer, Daren Ricks Campbell. I suggested he take a
look at the possibility of doing some abandoned race track type of thing
on YouTube. If you haven't looked, there are some interesting videos
out there of closed tracks across the country. I started getting into
that through my fascination with urban exploration and abandoned or
dying malls. They show current footage and talk about the history of
those places.
In the Jefferson region, there's a
little bit of the remains of Ashland Speedway, and if you can get
through the blackberry bushes, there's a track in White City that's been
sitting there, whatever is left of it. In Klamath Falls, the old
pavement track is still there, though there's nothing around it. I
mentioned previously the track in Alturas, California. It's been sitting
there for 40 years, and you can still see the track in satellite
photos. Somebody going out there and doing a little bit of research and
showing how things are now could make an informative little video.
I
always wanted to go to the White City track and the Ashland track, but I
never made it. I was told the White City property owner frowned on
people coming out there to look at the track, so I never pursued it.
It's not like I would want to damage anything. I'm just curious to see
what's left. I believe this was the track that Ben Neel promoted for a
couple of years. There were actually two White City tracks, and I don't
think anybody's discussed the other tracks aside from the Medford
Raceway and what was done there. I do have some information in my
archives.
I did walk the track in Roseburg. I'm
not talking about Douglas County Speedway, the track that is currently
thriving as a paved oval promoted by the PRA. I think it was the PRA who
promoted the other track, but it goes back to the 1950s. There's a
storied history to the place. They didn't just run a few races there.
They ran for a good decade, crowned many champions and had many
different winners. Even through the adversity they went through,
multiple incidents resulting in death, the track continued. I've heard
it suggested that the place was cursed. I don't know about that.
I walked two other dead tracks through the years. Back in 1993, I walked what was left of
Vallejo Speedway
in California. It had been closed for 14 years, and yet the race track
was clearly visible right next to the hillside where the grandstands
once were. It was like walking on a grave site, but I'm glad I did that.
I took plenty of photos that day. Growing up, I heard many stories
about that track, so it was good to at least say I had been there.
Currently, houses have been built over the track, so nothing remains of
it. However, it took more than 15 years from the closure of that track
to finally build houses over it.
Eugene
Speedway had its last good season around 1994 or so. They put dirt on
the infield and had a dirt track, which became more popular than the
paved track. Because of neighbors, or one particular neighbor,
complaining about noise, management at the time decided to leave. They
bulldozed the dirt track and took their stuff and headed down the road. A
couple of other people tried to do something, but by the early 2000s,
the grandstands were torn down and that was the end of that. I walked
that pavement track and took many pictures and video footage, but the SD
card I have got corrupted. I haven't been able to go back and try
again.
The third track I walked was the
Roseburg track. It's amazing how much of the pavement is still there.
The crash wall, the fencing. In fact, I think where the fence pole leans
a little bit, that's where the car crashed into the grandstands. I took
many pictures and some video footage of it, and this will eventually be
shared on this blog along with some of the stories I have gathered
through my research, some of the champions and that sort of thing. I
don't know that anybody has even talked about that old track in years.
People probably assume that it's always been Douglas County Speedway at
the County Fairgrounds, but this came before that.
What's
interesting was the track probably could have been revived. I believe
it started as a dirt track, but a freak accident that resulted in the
death of a boy by a water truck led to them paving it. From the 1960s
throughout the 1980s, I think the track remained pretty much intact. I
don't know if anybody ever had a mind to bring it back to life again or
if they had given up completely by then. It would be interesting to see
if anybody ever tried to do something and what happened with the
negotiations. Eventually, a road was built over part of Turns 1 and 2,
and one of the buildings from the track is actually now across the
street. In any case, I have some footage that I will be sharing
eventually.
I believe it was Alan Brown who did
the comprehensive book on tracks that have existed through the years
throughout this country. People don't even know some of those tracks.
What's even more interesting is that Alan wasn't 100% on all of these
tracks. There were tracks that existed that he didn't even know about.
In how many of those cases have they been completely forgotten? His book
did mention a track in Redding, California. I found that a bit odd, but
I've been playing with the Historical Aerials website. It's a really
neat website that has satellite photos from through the years.
I
had no coordinates to go by when trying to track down that location,
and I was striking out. I just happened to be scrolling in the early
1950s or so and found this track. It seemed to be out in the middle of
nowhere. How were the people even getting there? Who raced? How long did
they race? Who were the champions? I don't know any of that, but maybe
the Shasta newspaper has something in their archives. You don't have to
go too far into the future with the satellite images to see that houses
were built over the entire track. Just like that, it was gone without a
trace.
That can be the fate for many of the
tracks we enjoy in the current day. You never know where progress is
going to take us. While we are enjoying our time at the tracks and
watching the present-day stars entertain us, it's good to look back and
remember what came before. That's part of what we do here at DCRR Racing
Media. There are some tracks with interesting history in the Jefferson
area, and I'm hoping to use this blog too shed some light on their
history in future articles.
