Once Gary and I had committed to it, we were all in. The West Capital Alumni Association’s All American Vintage Classic has existed for twelve years. The first one was organized by Brenda Anderson, wife of Sacramento short track legend Johnny Anderson. Bonnie Chisholm was a board member back in ’06 and took over the event reins the following year. Chisholm also heads up the vintage segment at the Louie Vermeil Classic at Calistoga each Labor Day and that is how my buddy Gary Barnes and I came to be invited.

Now Barnes and I had never driven our race cars on asphalt before…and that is where the Voytek brothers come in. They were planning to attend the Classic anyway so when they offered to crew for us and lend us their pavement expertise, it was pretty much a no brainer.

We arrived in Roseville (CA) on Thursday at dusk. Many of the participants were already there including a Super Modified that was very familiar to me. One of the last races I attended at the old San Jose Speedway was the Johnny Key Classic in 1976. And here before me, literally moments after pulling through the pit gate, appeared the winning car from that event. Thus began an awesome weekend that at times bordered on the surreal.

Friday began with a race memorabilia swap meet. The number of vendors was small but somehow everyone in my party found something they couldn’t live without.

Naturally, I wanted to race with Gary. Yes, my 1985 Sargent is technically a Super but in reality the car has more in common with his ’80 Stanton Sprint Car than the other Supers on hand. It has torsion bar suspension, no starter and I run it without a wing. The officials wouldn’t have it (a Super is a Super; a Sprint Car is a Sprint Car… I guess). Instead they tossed me in with a mixed group of varied experience. I recognized the #5 car from the pages of Vintage Oval. I even remembered the guy’s name: Dan Green. He was one of Legends of Kearny Bowl up from the Fresno area. Also in our session was the Duke McMillan built #0, recently restored by Mike Sargent and driven by Jim DaRe.

The green light blinked on and we were underway. The #5 was circulating slowly, clinging to the bottom groove. DaRe meanwhile chose the high line and really starting hauling the mail. I was somewhere in the middle. I dove in under the #5 and powered away. Within a few laps I was gaining on him again! The #0 in contrast, flashed by me for a second time! On the checkered flag lap the three of us arrived in turn four together. DaRe on the outside, I commit to the bottom, #5 in the center. The #0 easily crossed the line first; I accelerated past the #5 but got a shot in the right rear for my efforts. When I came back around on my cool off lap, #5 was parked sideways at start/finish. “Uh-oh” I thought, “I’m gonna get blamed for that.” It turned out Green no longer owned the car and the new owner of #5 was letting his wife take a test drive. (A rookie ribbon tied to the back of the cage might have been a good idea).

“You see the painted stipe around the bottom?” the head official asked me. “Yeah, I guess.” I said. “You have to stay to the right of that.” He told me I was fast but I was going to wreck somebody. “You need to move up a groove, work on being smoother, slow down to go faster, etc.” I told him I understood and promised to behave myself. In the final session I kept my nose clean. I ran by myself and worked on driving smoother.

Saturday morning we pushed all the cars over behind the grandstands. There was a hot rod show, other display vehicles and vendor booths- all of it, free to the public. Around noon the alumni association honored their new inductees and we all enjoyed a great barbequed lunch. I estimated the group under the pavilion at 350 but Chisholm revealed later that the head count was actually 380- a complete sellout. Afterward we pushed all the cars back to the pit area and track time commenced.

I feel like I continued to get smoother, driving deeper into the turns and braking less, rolling on the throttle earlier. My lap times were likely coming down but my engine temp was starting to climb. I eventually dropped some fluid on the track and found myself back under scrutiny. For my final session we switched out the radiator cap and closed off the overflow making a contained system. I vowed to pull off if the temp got higher than 240.

I was laying down my best laps of the weekend when rivulets of water began streaming down the face of the dash. Then: “Ka-booof!” The lower radiator hose blew and I became a passenger on my own personal carnival ride. Luckily I stopped without hitting anything, faced up the banking between turns three and four. I checked for oncoming traffic just in time to see #5 (of all possible cars) hit my water, do a quick 360 and kiss the retaining wall! My Vintage Classic ended there.

I was glad to hear that damage to the #5 was minimal. Calling it a “racing deal” is cop out so if I spoiled his and his wife’s weekend, I take responsibility and apologize. Gary meanwhile did awesome. He led the Sprint Car finale for eight laps before finishing second.

Throughout the weekend there was serious buzz about this being the last Vintage Classic to be held at All American Speedway in Roseville. I certainly hope that that is not the case. Thanks again to Bonnie Chisholm and all the people that help make this event one of the greatest vintage racing events I have ever attended.

When the dust settled…
Rob Lindsey of Wilsonville, Oregon was the 2017 WSS (Wingless Sprint Series) Champion.

Four years ago, the first Feature I submitted to Roddin’ & Racin’ NW was the story of Lindsey’s (and teammate Rich Gentes’) first crown winning season. Back then they achieved it with consistent high placings but no outright wins. In 2014 the team ventured into winged sprint car racing and chased that dream for two full seasons. When the NWWT (Northwest Wingless Tour) combined with the ODSS (Oregon Double Shot Series) in ’16, Lindsey and Gentes returned to the non-wing ranks to contest for the title. They captured the year’s opening event at the high desert Madras Speedway (5/7) and never looked back. The 2016 schedule consisted of thirteen races at six different venues. (Two of those events unfortunately, were rained out). In the eleven races run, Lindsey won four (two at Madras and one each at Grays Harbor and Willamette Speedway). He placed second in another five events, third once and a season low of seventh at Sunset Speedway in Banks, OR on 7/23. It was a year any team would be proud of without a single DNF (Did Not Finish) and Lindsey and Gentes celebrated their second championship at a gala awards banquet held at Pumpkin Ridge Country Club near Banks.

The 2017 schedule showed similar promise- It again was comprised of thirteen events at all the same dirt venues. At this years’ Opener however, sixty-plus year old sprint car aficionado Gary Lynch captured the win. To the uneducated, this may sound like an upset but the Redmond, OR based owner of his own performance products company, has raced the open wheelers since the 1970’s! Lynch schooled the tour in his own backyard and served notice to fans that this season would be different. Round two went to the Mayor of Cottage Grove, OR – Kyle Miller. Miller (now piloting Katy Adelman’s #6) is virtually unbeatable at his home track so this could hardly be called “an upset”. What did raise a few eyebrows was the WSS’s first visit to Elma, Washington where Pat Canfield emerged victorious. Canfield (a former sprint car champion in his own right) is unable to devote himself full-time to racing these days due to work commitments but must be taken seriously whenever he competes. He drives with tremendous heart and seems to especially like the large ovals.

It wasn’t until the fourth event (a return visit to Grays Harbor) that defending champion Lindsey scored his first ’17 win. Then it was back to the Grove 6/17 where Miller again captured the laurels.

When the tour paid their first visit to Willamette Speedway this season, there was a first time winner- Lance Hallmark. Up from the midget ranks, Hallmark and his devoted crewman/brother- in- law “Rhino” make a formidable team and it was only a matter of time before they hit pay dirt
.
The Wingless Nationals were held July 8th at Cottage Grove and (surprise) Miller won his third WSS race of the year.
The following weekend the tour returned to Madras for the first time since the Opener and the series’ only female competitor, young Lindsay Barney finished first. (That’s six different winners in eight races for anyone that’s counting!) Then Barney backed that up with a repeat performance at the Banks bullring 7/22 proving she too, is a force to be reckoned with and is capable of winning on any given night.

When the WSS returned to Willamette after a two week hiatus, Rob Lindsey looked poised for his second ’17 win but spun from the lead on a restart after losing his brakes. All eyes refocused on the veritable dogfight between Barney and local hot shoe Bricen James for second which now became the battle for the win. Then seemingly out of nowhere, 6/24 winner Hallmark arrived on the scene and simply motored past both of them—Unbelievable!

Lindsey got his due on eclipse weekend, claiming his second victory of the season at Madras 8/19. When the tour made their annual trek to Coos Bay Speedway for the Ironman Wingless Sprint Challenge, Lindsey repelled a stellar field to add a third win to his year’s tally.“Ironwoman” Barney captured the hearts of the spectators however, storming from the back of the grid to finish a remarkable second.

On Sept. 9th a strong field of eighteen assembled at Sunset for the season finale but it was not to be. Mother Nature finally took one for herself and the ’17 campaign ended on a soggy note. In actuality however, the champion had already been decided. Though hard driving Tim Alberding had chased Lindsey all season long, he was ninety points behind going into the final night. Candidates for most improved driver, Barney and Hallmark finished third and fourth in the standings respectively. 2014 series Champion, Brad Rhodes (profiled in these pages a couple years back) finished fifth.

Lindsey heaps the credit for his success on his team co-owner and tireless crewman, Rich Gentes, proprietor of Maxline Custom Cases. Speedmart, XXX Chassis and Summerfield Golf Course and its residents deserve mention here as well. All of the WSS competitors will be honored in a victory banquet held the first weekend of November near Willamette Speedway this year.

The 50s in the Fall Car Show in Lebanon has been put on by the Rollin’ Oldies Car Club for the past 27 years. The club was formed in 1990 by founding father Harry Carter. Today the club has over 120 members as well as several lifetime members. Those who are host cars do not compete for trophies. The show is open to all ages and groups of vehicles.
This year was one of the biggest shows with over 236 assorted vehicles. With that many cars it took up pretty much all of the space of the beautiful River Park which has been the site of the show since the beginning. The only exceptions were when the park was being revamped in some way.

With cars from all over we were treated with oldie, but goodie, sounds from Russ Strohmeyer of Stro’s DJ Service.
The Rollin’ Oldies Car Club is very active in Lebanon. The show has been at River Park from the start. With donations from the club, for example, there has been a new flagpole installed at the park.

Other donations are unique to the needs. Lebanon is home of COMP-Northwest Medical School. The club has purchased medical bags for the student doctors to help them out with expenses. Other moneys go to scholarships for LBCC Auto Shop students, different charities like soup kitchens and the Oregon Veterans Home, also in Lebanon.

Just about every car show has a raffle drawing. This show had some great prizes. The most unique prize I have ever seen was a case of toilet paper. The guy who won that was very happy!

“Rocketeer” Rich Bailey brought his blown alcohol dragster. Rich not only races the dragster, but he displays it at shows, too. This year, after a summer of racing he finished 5th in points, racing at tracks throughout the west coast. Between races he has shown the car at the state fair and several car shows throughout the state, which helps his sponsor Burgerville of Albany and Capital Auto Group of Salem. Not only does it look great, but it sounds great. “Let’s fire this beast up!” is something you always want to hear at a show. Rich and his crew did just that. He started the dragster and, yes, it did sound great!

“Ava”, a love story…After WWII a young man bought a new car, a 1946 Desoto coupe. He dated a young lady from Redmond. Back then to date a young lady you needed an escort, but this Desoto did not have a back seat. The escort had to follow in another car. So, there was more alone time for this young man and his young lady friend. You may think the young lady’s name is Ava, but the car’s name is Ava. Jim bought the car new in 1946 and drove it all the time until 1972. He married his lady friend and they lived together until Jim passed away from cancer. Before he died he put Ava in a heated garage, up on blocks for the next 42 years. In 2017, Jim’s wife passed and the family sold the car to Ray and Dianne Lancaster of Salem. Ava is all original. A 236 flathead six cylinder automatic top shift transmission.

Without the back seat the trunk is huge, big enough to sleep in. Only 531 were made. Now there is a new love story with Ray and Dianne Danny Petersdorf from Salem has owned his ‘59 Pontiac Catalina for over four years. The car is all original except the interior having been redone. Everything else done on the car is “age correct” including Danny’s hairstyle—a purple mohawk—cool! I know they had different hairstyles back then, including mohawks, but maybe not purple!

A true custom, Dan Pullen’s 1949 Chevy Fleetline. Back in the 50’s you built customs from parts of different cars. Dan did just that. He has owned the car since 1987. The car has been chopped, lowered with air bag suspension with a 4 bar rear end. He took parts from a ‘57 Chevy dash, ‘62 Cadillac taillights, ‘57 Chevy grill bar, and an Olds windshield. Dan did all the bodywork himself. He did a great job of splicing and dicing which turned out to be one of the smoothest bodies I’ve ever seen.

Founding father, Harry Carter, who is no longer with us, would be very proud of what the Rollin’ Oldies have done over the last 27 years and what is in store for the next 27 years and longer.

Oregon’s own Petersen Collector Car Auction held their auction in Salem in September and it was a great success. With 92 cars consigned to them they had a 42% sell through. That’s significant because their auctions ARE reserve auctions, meaning the car owner can put a minimum sale amount on their car. With a reserve on the car it can’t be sold for less than the reserve amount unless the owner lifts the reserve. Your car won’t be sold at a loss or for less than you wanted to take for it, but you, the owner can remove the reserve if the bid gets to an amount you are willing to take for your car.

Some auctions are ‘no reserve’ auctions meaning, your car simply sells for the highest bid, not at Petersen Auction. As the seller you “reserve” the right to not sell your car for less than you want to sell it for. I like it because I can remain in control. Consignments are being taken now. Call 541-689-6824 for more info. The next opportunity for you to buy or sell at a Petersen Auction will be February 3rd, again in Salem at the Fairgrounds. See you there!