BAY CITIES RACING ASSOCIATION
By Floyd Busby
AN APOLOGY TO JOHN SOARES SR.
I owe an apology to John Soares Sr. In a recent account of the Bay Cities Racing Association Awards Banquet, I referred to John as "the late John Soares Sr."....Talk about a stupid mistake!..... John, I apologize to you and the family. The reference was made in describing the change of the annual Perseverance Award to the "John & Gladys Soares Sr. Perseverance Award".
Sadly, John's "other half", Gladys, did pass away during the 2006 season.
Gladys was indeed that "woman behind the man", having spent many years in the background doing the accounting, ticket sales and the many other duties that are required for a successful promotional entity. And indeed, John and Gladys were among the top race track promoters in California for many years before retiring to Ohio.
John began midget racing with BCRA immediately after WWII at the Bayshore Stadium in San Francisco and captured 28 features along the way. He was also a stellar stock car driver, winning on the 5/8-mile high banks of the Oakland Stadium.
His early promotional tutelage was with Bob Barkhimer Associates before striking out on his own some years later at the Antioch Speedway, then the Petaluma Speedway. As fortune would have it, son John Jr. currently operates Antioch while son Jim handles Petaluma.
|