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A REVELATION AT BAKERSFIELD
by Norm Bogan |
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Bakersfield Speedway has been on the edge of
the oil patch for six decades.
The landscape looks like giant grasshoppers munching on the
groundcover. Back in the forties, this same landscape appeared as
thousands of toothpicks reaching for the sky.
Of course the grasshoppers are the oil wells pumping black
gold from this rich underground source and the toothpicks were the
long ago dismantled wooden and later metal oil derricks that covered
the rolling hills and plains surrounding this southern San Joaquin
Valley metropolis. In
fact, the actual location of Bakersfield Speedway is in the aptly
named community of Oildale. The Speedway has taken on different surface
conditions and configurations.
After World War II, the likes of Bill Vukovich would race in
Saturday Midget contests on the oiled dirt surface.
By the sixties, the tight quarter-mile bullring had been
paved and stock cars became the kings.
A number of racers from the Saturday night races, labored
during the week as oilfield “roughnecks”.
This tough breed of men, many who had migrated during the
Great Depression and Dust Bowl periods from Oklahoma looking for a
better life in California. The
racecars had similar personalities to their drivers, with heavy-duty
parts collected from abandoned trucks.
I recall these cars sporting full-floating front spindles and
rear axles with eight lug nuts. In the seventies came another speed emporium
east of town, with a high-banked half-mile paved oval.
Bakersfield Speedway first changed the track surface to clay
and later relocated the pit area, allowing the back straightaway to
be moved further out, with the corners becoming wider and more
sweeping in the new one-third mile configuration.
This provided an excellent venue for open-wheel racing and
soon programs for Midgets and Sprints were back on the schedule. Now you know the history of the speedway, which
has enjoyed sanctions from nearly every racing club in the Golden
State, plus national organizations such as the United States Auto
Club and World of Outlaws. Last fall at the Promoter’s Workshop in Reno, several of the different racing clubs from Central and Southern California embarked on an idea to make their rules packages compatible, allowing racers to compete at more venues and also making it possible to have a Speed Week or All-Star competition combining several of these clubs. While the different clubs found this to be beneficial, it also meant compromise on things like engine specs, tires specified for a certain club and also muffler requirements due to stringent noise rules at most racetracks throughout California. The original package worked out to be a five
race series called Grand Slam.
The basic cars would be non-winged 360 sprint cars that were
currently campaigning with the Ventura Racing Association (VRA), the
Bandit Racing Club, which raced mostly at Hanford and Santa Maria
and previously at Bakersfield and include the local Santa Maria
sprints. The program
was agreed upon and races were scheduled in July at Hanford, August
at Santa Maria and Bakersfield and culmination of the Grand Slam
series with a two-day event on Labor Day weekend at Ventura Raceway. Initially, there was some reluctance by some
teams having to invest in new equipment (mufflers and tires) in
order to compete in the series.
However, by the initial race at Hanford, thirty-three cars
were on hand, all meeting the requirements.
The following show at Santa Maria, forty-two cars signed in
and for this weekend’s show at Bakersfield, forty-eight cars were
in the pits. Two stock
car classes supplemented the program, each with about twenty
competitors providing for a full night of racing. Word of the exciting shows at the two earlier
venues, must have gotten out, because there was a twenty-thirty
minute backup at the ticket window, indicating that a larger crowd
than expected was on hand. The
second clue was when the food concessions ran short early in the
evening. The best
indicator was a nearly full grandstand. Greg Porte collected the quick time honors at
13.008 seconds. There
were five heat races transferring the top three to the feature, with
the balance of the field running in one of two Semi Mains.
Rusty Carlile, John Burnett, Jonathan Logan, Luis Espinoza
and Jimmy Reeves collected the heat race victories.
Each Semi would transfer four cars to the feature to set the
field at twenty-three. Greg
Porte and Jim Richardson claimed the two Semis. The track was well prepared and maintained,
causing several racers to declare that this was the best surface
they had raced on at Bakersfield.
Kudos goes to the track prep crew. After the two stock car classes completed their features, there is usually a rite of passage as a goodly part of the crowd packs up and leaves, uninterested in the open wheel race. Well, tonight was different, as a small portion of the crowd left, but by comparison with these races over the past couple of decades, this crowd was waiting for the thirty-lap sprint car Main Event. Burnett starting on the outside pole got the
jump and the early lead, closely pursued by Carlile.
Burnett broke the front suspension, not only losing the
point, but also making him the first car out of the race.
Rusty then assumed the up front spot with several in close
pursuit. As many of the
pack ran in the bottom groove, Peter Murphy took his mount up on top
and made his move from tenth starting position, picking off one or
two cars a lap, before the final strike carried him around Carlile
and out front. About midway through the feature, a near full
moon ascended above the eastern horizon.
With whatever magical powers the bright orb possesses,
suddenly we had about three red flags for flips that included Blake
Miller, Clark Templeman, Jimmy Reeves and collected several others.
It came down to a green, white, checker finish with Murphy
ahead and Richard Harvey Jr. chasing.
Following, were Rob Kershaw, Greg Taylor and Kevin Kierce.
The man from down under, Peter was such a gentleman in the
post race interview, complimenting the track crew for a fine job and
acknowledging the clean racing with his fellow competitors. It is now three down and two to go, with the Aussie out in front scoring a second and two firsts in three outings. Labor Day weekend at Ventura will complete this year’s version of the Grand Slam Series. There are indications that several other tracks are considering adding a Grand Slam show to their 2006 schedules and that other associations are looking at the format and may want to join in also. With indications that some sponsorship funds may also be available to support this series and provide for an increased purse, the future looks exciting for non-winged 360 racing on the West Coast. |
