Forum: Northern California Sprint Car (go)
Moderators: StuDeedooo

Planning a trip to SF over the next few months - flexible with dates - to visit family. Looking for ideas on when / where to see the local races. I prefer the 410's, but love anything open wheel and on dirt. Here in South Central PA the Grove runs Friday night and Lincoln on Saturdays...looking for something similar. Is there a CA Speedweek? Again no set schedule, but appreciate ideas. Funny enough I lived in SF for ten years in the mid 80's - before the internet and had no idea sprints were so popular in CA. Thanks in advance.

here are some links to sites that you can check schedules on and see what may work for you.

ocean speedway: http://www.oceanspeedway.com/

petaluma speedway: http://www.petaluma-speedway.com/

silver dollar speedway, placerville speedway and GSC and civil war http://www.handyracingpromotions.com/

to indy and beyond!!

"Funny enough I lived in SF for ten years in the mid 80's - before the internet and had no idea sprints were so popular in CA."

Considering that Baylands, probably one of the top 10 tracks in the country in that decade, was only about 30 minutes from SF.... yes I would call that "funny".

I remember reading about the track in various area newspapers, Circle Track mag, Open Wheel mag, Racing Wheels, NSSN and even Stock Car Racing mag when Dave Byrd and Jim Pettit were battling for the state championship. Unless you were stuck at "Haight & Ashbury", don't know how you could miss it!

Also, Chowchilla will share the 360's with Ocean Speedway this year...http://www.racechowchilla.com/

Maybe he wasn't into open wheel racing during that time period. Prior to Baylands it was super modified racing at San Jose and West Sacramento and only the traveling NARC (Northern Auto Racing Club) series for the sprinters. As for your trip to SF you can't go wrong with the links provided above. Have fun!

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS

Well the GSC runs every weekend from the end of March to the end of August this year so I am sure you will find a good race to go to. Also Silver Dollar (Chico) runs a 410 point show just about every Friday night. There is also a 360 series called the Civil War, and tracks like Petaluma and Ocean speedway in Watsonville have a 360 series. We don't have a CA speedway anymore I would say my favorite track close to the bay area would be Friday night 360's at Ocean Speedway(Watsonville) and Saturday night GSC Petaluma! It looks like the weekend of April 17th and 18th would be the best weekend for getting 2 races in. You missed some good sprint car racing back in the 80s, but I am glad you are coming back to the bay area to see some racing and I hope you have a good time

We have friends in Pittsburgh, PA and I went to Lernerville on a Friday night and had soo much fun. I wanted to go to Williams Grove but I didn't have time.I heard there is lots of tracks on the Eastern side of the state as well!

Looking forward to the new Golden State King of the 
West series schedule! 

Winged sprintcars = the fastest and most exciting 
racecars on dirt! 

Thanks for the great replies. I'll take some time to look over the info later tonight. I grew up on sprint car racing here in PA, but just never thought to look into CA sprints, and certainly didn't know they were so popular there. Of course I now realize I missed out on ten good years....lol. I grew up - and currently live - in Gettysburg, PA, and I am very fortunate to be so close to so many tracks...Lincoln, the Grove, Selinsgrove, Port Royal, etc... In fact I just got back from Lincoln...another packed house. Thanks again..I look forward to the trip.

Bay area sprint car tracks include: Petaluma (Sat. nights) and Ocean/Watsonville (Fri nights) - both wing 360's. Antioch runs a few 410 shows each year (Sat. night) and Calistoga runs 410s Memorial Day weekend.

I recommend April 17th Ocean and April 18th Petaluma. The Ocean show features their weekly 360 class but the field is stacked with Brent Kaeding, Bud Kaeding, Brad Furr, Jason Statler, Evan Suggs and many more. The Petaluma show features the Golden State Challenge series which is very similar to the All Stars that race in PA occasionaly (410 wing). You will see the top Cali wing drivers such as Johathan Allard, Tim Kaeding, BK, Tyler Walker and more.

Another good weekend would be Calistoga double header on Memorial Day weekend.

A third option is the GSC double header on May 29-30 weekend at Ocean and Placerville.

http://www.handyracingpromotions.com/gsc/2009/index.html

Hey folks thanks again for the great replies. I just have to settle on a date. Sounds like the 360's are pretty popular out there. We're still fortunate to have a significant amout of 410s running - even with the numerous tracks, but I think the 360 class is not that far away. We have so many 410's and 358's that there just isn't enough sponsorship money to go around...