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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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RON
CHAFFIN: “FROM
TURNIPS TO TORSION BARS” |
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The
central San Juaquin Valley has been a hot bed of open wheel auto racing for the
past sixty-plus years. Names like
Vukovich, Carter and Boyd come to mind when we consider racing and Fresno in the
same thought. Ron Chaffin was born
in Fresno and raised in nearby Madera, where he still resides.
He was near forty years old and a successful businessman, before getting
involved in sprint car racing.
Ron
operates Madera Produce, which acts as a wholesale produce supplier to
restaurants and small markets throughout central California.
The Chaffin family established the business in 1948, with Ron joining in
1956 and assuming the reins in 1974, so his Dad could cut back.
Now, Ron’s two sons, Ron Jr. and James are involved in the day-to-day
functions, allowing Dad more time to play.
Chaffin also has a daughter, Cynthia and between the three kids, they
have presented him with seven grandchildren.
The children don’t share their father’s fervor for auto racing. As
a teenager, he wasn’t able to participate in high school sports or attend
college, since he worked in the business after school.
Eventually, he did some drag racing at the Madera Airport in the late
fifties as a member of the Madera Clutchers car club. Chaffin
got involved in auto racing in 1978, when he and a buddy were co-owners of a
sprint car team, which raced at Santa Maria through 1981 with driver, Ernie
Smithey. In 1982, after looking
into a Super Modified, they put together a pavement sprinter operation to run at
the local Madera Raceway with John Ryals at the controls and collected one
feature win. Becoming somewhat
burned out, Ron switched to less horsepower as he got a fleet of hay-burners and
ran in the “sport of kings” for a while. On
a whim one evening in 1991, Chaffin journeyed Kings Speedway in Hanford for a
sprint car show and once again was hooked on these fire-breathing beasts.
Soon he was providing sponsorship to one of the local racers and
eventually got together with Gene Manhire from Fresno, providing sponsorship and
an engine from 1992 through 1994. In
1994, Manhire brought veteran race mechanic, Bruce Bromme Jr. on board to
maintain the racecar. During this
time, the team participated mostly in wing sprint car races and experienced
limited success. At the end of
1994, Ron traveled to El Centro for a season ending non-wing race with SCRA,
becoming enthused by the competition he started to bounce ideas off Bromme about
starting their own team. Things
moved quickly as Bromme was soon assembling the racecar and equipment at his
shop in the central coast town of Templeton.
The Bromme family was already renowned as the Kings of Ascot, tallying
over one hundred victories on the legendary racetrack.
A new “Little Red Sucker” was coming to fruition and now they needed
a driver to take them to the heights once enjoyed. Sometimes
funny things happen when you least expect it; fate just jumps up and grabs you.
Lealand McSpadden, the famous “Tempe Tornado”, had mentioned to Bruce
that he had always wanted to drive a Bromme car.
Chaffin knew of McSpadden, but had not yet met him or seen him race much,
but trusting Bruce’s judgement, Lealand was tabbed to pilot the “Madera
Produce Special” for the 1995 season. For
anyone who thought McSpadden was washed up, they were in for a loud awakening.
Winning ten features on this tough circuit and securing both the 1995
Drivers championship and the first Owners championship for Ron Chaffin.
Chaffin had experienced more success in this one season, than throughout
all his previous involvement in auto racing.
At the last race of the year, McSpadden announced his retirement after
twenty-five years of racing sprinters. At
the 1995 Awards Banquet, Chaffin and Bromme announced their new driver would be
Richard “The Gasman” Griffin, a hard charger from Silver City, New Mexico.
Chaffin collected a new chassis at the banquet as a door prize and one of
the other competitors, suggested that Ron would need it as Griffin had a
reputation of being a “win it or wear it” driver.
The
Gasman begins his sixth season at the wheel of the Madera Produce Special.
Since joining the team, he has brought Chaffin five additional Owner
titles and has won the last three Driver titles.
Griffin’s twenty-eight feature wins coupled with McSpadden’s ten,
make the Chaffin/Bromme team a very successful operation. Leading
to this success is a team that has worked together for years.
With Bromme as the Crew Chief, he is joined by longtime crewmembers, Gary
Tanaka, Mike Tanaka and Eric Kaufman. This
group presents Griffin with a well- prepared and finely tuned John Boy chassis
powered by a potent Shaver engine. Chaffin
provides the primary funding to keep the team going, but receives additional
help from friends and business associates.
These include: Arizona Race Mart in Phoenix, Goudy Wheels in Atascadero,
Circle C Marketing in Malin, Oregon, CDS Distributing in San Francisco, Wildwood
Inn in Twain Harte and Del Mar Wire in Ontario, California. Chaffin
says that with work and race commitments, there isn’t time for other hobbies.
Ron prefers to drive to the races rather than fly, so he can enjoy seeing
the country, often accompanied by his longtime companion, Frankie Phelan.
On the long hauls to Phoenix or the Midwest tour, you will find Chaffin
in the cab of the hauler, sharing driving duties with Bruce.
Often, you will encounter a red Corvette with license plates reading
"SPRNT 50" on the way to a race, that’s Ron.
Ron
named Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix as his favorite track, where both McSpadden
and Griffin cut their teeth and each has accumulated many victories for Chaffin.
Ron feels that former driver and SCRA President, Ron Shuman has done a
good job of taking the club to the next level and gaining increased exposure for
the racers. Chaffin would like to
see the purses increase to help offset some of the expenses.
Asked when he will hang it up, Ron responded, “when I run out of
money”. |
