2006 All-American Vintage Classic Huge Success!

The WCRA comes through in a big way

Primo A. Giusti

It is official: The 2006 All-American Vintage Classic, Annual WCRA BBQ and Hall of Fame inductions is now a part of racing history.

I congratulate this year's Hall of Fame inductees: Howard "Captain America" Holtsman; "Quick Nick" Rescino; Johnny Soares; Richard Wyrsch; Duwayne Starr and Kenny Woodruff.

The 2-Day event was unparalleled in Oval-Track vintage racing history, in my opinion, and was like taking a step back in time for me.  The sounds and smells over the course of the event awakened a flood of my childhood memories.  Dad used to pick me up every Wednesday on his way to Ascot when he drove for Ernie Ruiz and the open-cockpit sprinters and midgets took me right back!  Methanol fumes permeated the air and the sound of Offys was like music to my ears.  We had my newest grandson, Colin, with us and he definitely has Giusti blood in his veins - the "noise" (as environmentalists and lightweights would call it) never phased him.  His mother said that he was wide awake every time I was on the track and either quiet and content or sleeping as long as cars were racing!  Considering that he is only two months old as I write this, he was wonderfully behaved over the entire three days we were there!

My family was also selling programs throughout the event so we were quite busy, to say the least.  But we had it easy compared to Brenda Anderson and Bonnie Chisholm - those two were tireless.  I should take a moment to acknowledge the ENTIRE board of the WCRA for their tireless efforts over the last year to bring this wonderful event to fruition:  Bob Wise, President; Bob Silva, Vice President; Brenda Anderson, Secretary/Treasurer; Bruce McFarland and Bonnie Chisholm, Members at Large.  Others I should acknowledge for their efforts are the Event Officials: Rick Poppert, Track Director; Glen Brummels, Track Steward; Tom Motter, WCRA Observer; Buford Motley, WCRA Technical Inspector and the ageless Kenny Takeuchi, Chief Announcer and former voice of the famous San Jose` Speedway...  professionalism & a great voice that haven't changed since my early teens... it was a personal pleasure to see and hear Mr. Takeuchi again!

The racing was not completely without incident as BCRA legend Norm Rapp's throttle stuck coming off the chute and he roared past one midget but hit Rosemary Bray in the beautiful maroon #47. He had been working on the Baiza midget #36 Sesco before the event so I guess something wasn't fixed right. It was full bore, but Norm is a pro and that is probably why no one but the cars got hurt..  During the Hardtop practice on Friday racing legend Red Mullican, driving the #18 owned by Ken Bonnema, was running hard (and smooth) when he attempted to "thread the needle" going into turn 3 when the car on the top lost control and slammed into him pretty hard.  Again there was damage to cars, but no injuries as a result.  One has to credit not only track and WCRA officials, but the drivers as well.  This was an exciting event with high speeds, yet everyone stayed within their own comfort/ability zone - KUDOS GUYS!

We broke Friday during practice, just a breather blowout and clutch-rod bent, but enough to sideline me for the night.  Saturday morning, before leaving Modesto, my friend Al (THANKS) fabricated a new clutch-rod and picked up a set of valve covers from a NASCAR team he works with and still made the BBQ... thanks for everything to you and Barbara!  Our car is underpowered and I am a limited talent behind the wheel (also over seventeen years since I sat behind the wheel of a race car) and the tires are rocks, but I managed to never end up last.  That, and I kept her "wheel side down and outta the fence" so it was a very good outing.  Everett Edlund was there and was VERY fast, DUH!  But he was gracious enough to take it easy during the "races" so the rest of us didn't look too bad.  The "Al Pombo" super was there and the man himself was cruisin' the pits.  Billy Anderson got a ride in a super and I was honored to be passed by him, a true racing great, in the main on Saturday.  John Brockover was there with an original early "offset" super that was really fast until he broke a right-rear axle and had to put her on the trailer.

Parnelli Jones was very gracious and as fast as ever!  When Johnny Anderson was testing the Sprinter #3 on Friday after it dropped off the trailer when he first unloaded it and bent the headers where he went into the garage of Bufford Motley's late Thursday night and it must have tweaked the rear end cause every time he got on the throttle the back end tried to swap on him. A couple times of that and he knew it was to dangerous for him or Parnelli to get in so he parked it. Johnny is too heads up a driver to ignore the warning signs. And although it hurt that Parnelli didn't get in his car, everyone went home safe.  The sprints and midgets were all fast and absolutely spectacular to behold.  There is just something, I don't know... romantic, about the old open-cockpit sprinters and midgets that I find simply irresistible.  From a two-stroke marine powered midget circa 1932 to the "Land O' Lakes" champ car, every possible iteration of these two classes was present.  Johnny Anderson was fast, as usual, as was Parnelli and many others.

The hardtops were absolutely a BLAST to watch, from Red Mullican Friday night to Ken Bonnema back in the car Saturday.  Now, I fear that there was a little misunderstanding between those two.  It seems Ken offered the car to Red for Friday with the intention that he would drive it Saturday, but Red thought he had the car both days.  An unfortunate misunderstanding and I hope they got it all worked out, as I like and respect both men!  Hila Sweet was supposed to drive but it appeared she didn't safely fit into any of the cars, but I could be wrong on this one... it was difficult to keep track of everything that was going on.

We only ended up with two track roadsters running, but both were beautiful!

As for the trophies, of our own WCRA members we ended-up with 4 out of the 5 wins. Johnny Anderson won best in midgets, I believe Jim Perry got 1st or 2nd in the supers, Bruce McFarland got a place too, and I think Lynn Marston took 1st in his 1950 flathead track roadster. Best fan appreciation on the Sprinter went to Parnelli's #21 owned by Marv Price and Tom Hanna from Portland Oregon.

Well, I know this is a condensed version of the weekend, but the best I can do with all that was going on.  I can honestly say that if you missed it... YOU MISSED OUT!  I know that life happens and that we can't always make it to every event we would like to, so I am not trying to make anyone feel bad.  If the WCRA decides to do this again next year my advise would be to DEFINITELY GO!  I know that we had many souvenir programs left and I will post a couple of pages to entice those of you who couldn't make the show to buy a program now so you can also share in this unique experience -- as soon as we figure out the logistics and details as to how you can purchase a program I will post it on the site.  Well, that's all for the moment.  Be well and Happy until next time when I'll "See you at the Races"!