|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| DOWN
HOME AT THE VRA 2002 AWARDS BANQUET by Norm Bogan |
|
|
|
For many racing associations, their awards banquet is held at some plush hotel
or restaurant. It is a special time
with a lot of glitz dispensed along with the hard earned awards in the various
classes. For the Ventura Racing
Association, they didn’t even know if there would be a banquet.
Earlier accounts have chronicled the attempts to shut down the Ventura
Raceway and its weekly programs. Once
a schedule was arranged for 2003, then they could proceed with banquet plans. Now with the season already one race down, the VRA was able
to finally hold the celebration to honor their heroes.
Ventura has been a sleepy beach community about seventy-five miles north of downtown Los Angeles. For generations, this was an agricultural area with large citrus groves, strawberry fields and many row crops contributing to the salad bowls on dinner tables around the world. Since the early 1900s, another source of income was the exploration for oil. Recently, many high tech industries have located to this area because of the same great climate that made agriculture so dominant for over a century. During the past twenty-five years, Ventura Raceway has depended on their friends and neighbors from the nearby communities in Ventura County and adjoining areas. The people that raced here were the folks that lived next door, went to the same churches, had kids going to school together. On Saturday night, they went to Seaside Park (Ventura County Fairgrounds) for the race show. Many of today’s stars grew up playing under the bleachers, until bitten by the racing bug. These folks were generally hard working middle class citizens. They didn’t have too much glitz in their life, so they didn’t need it at their banquet. What better place to hold the banquet than a building at the fairgrounds, usually set aside for flower shows. With a stage in place and seating for over two hundred, the Promoter, Jim Naylor, and not some celebrity emcee greeted us. Assisting was the General Manager, Cliff Morgan, along with the gals we encounter at the pit shack each week, doing much of the coordination. This was a celebration of down home folks and what better place to have it than just beyond the backstretch wall. A trademark for years has been the participation by local merchants and businesses at Ventura Raceway. This was again manifest as there were a number of door prizes donated by the neighborhood enterprises. An example was a night for two at a local resort. Numerous dinners at local restaurants were included in door prizes. Many of the racing part and accessory companies, some located nearby, provided gift certificates for the racers to claim needed parts to carry them through the new season. A chassis company offered discounts on a complete chassis and also on chassis parts, while one of the engine builders offered gift certificates for parts and services. Ventura has always been known to provide a jacket for the champions in each division. A local trophy company prepared some beautiful hardware to be distributed to the top five drivers in each category. There was racing apparel from both Ventura Raceway and several of the sponsors, distributed. Special plaques were given to the Rookie of the Year, Hard Luck Driver and Sportsman in each division. One of the class jesters made by the VRA each year is the recognition of their staff, who labor tirelessly during the year to keep the shows going, most as volunteers, who do it for the love of the sport. This is one of things that set Ventura aside from many other venues. They have all their own equipment, trained fire crews and EMTs on the track at all times. They have a crew of scorers who work each race and help to maintain accuracy. The well-organized staff has made it possible to run multiple classes each week and keep the show within the time constraints. At the banquet, these people get the justified recognition. There were no tuxedos and gowns at this event. This was like a family reunion and everyone just dressed casually and enjoyed the program and an outstanding feed of salad, roast beef, beans and garlic bread. This event is a fun outing, when many can just socialize, not having to thrash on their car as they do on most Saturday nights. Look for the VRA to survive for many more years and continue to have these annual get-togethers to review the past year’s accomplishments. |
