rocketman
Nitro Member
Cap Racing remembers Champion Raceway as local racers ask what happens next? At Capitol Auto Group Racing - Rich Bailey
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Champion raceway
- Thread starter rocketman
- Start date
What happens next is the County (who owns the facility) is trying to settle up with Jim Taylor, who owes them a considerable bit of money. They will then put out an RFP (request for proposal) to anyone interested in leasing the drag strip. BTW, the County is open to a long term lease to offset any expenses for improvements.
Sadly, Jim left the track in pretty sad shape. A lot of it is cosmetic, but NHRA wants 300' of the track in concrete and the pits paved before they will give back a points meet or bracket finals.
The track has the potential for great things, IF we could just get the right person in there. If you know anyone with the financial backing, experience, and desire have them call the Jackson County Parks Dept. and talk to John Vial.
Sadly, Jim left the track in pretty sad shape. A lot of it is cosmetic, but NHRA wants 300' of the track in concrete and the pits paved before they will give back a points meet or bracket finals.
The track has the potential for great things, IF we could just get the right person in there. If you know anyone with the financial backing, experience, and desire have them call the Jackson County Parks Dept. and talk to John Vial.
Oh....Jackson County Motorsports Park........
It doesn't compare to OCIR in anyway......
I think what Rich meant was the situation feels like OCIR when it closed, not that the track had the same feel as OCIR. Any racer hates to loose their local track no mater if it's a super track of a small 1/8 mile track.
Paul
Nitro Member
Is this the one in San Francisco across the freeway from Candlestick Park and behind the Schlage Lock plant ?
I saw some neat races there.......ask Don Schumacher !
And Steve Evans announcing !
John, I live close to SF now, not too far from the site of the old Schlage lock plant but that drag strip was long gone by the time I got here.
Can you tell me anything more about it, ie name, years of operation, etc?
I've tried searching on it but I can't find anything. Apparently there was a oval dirt track course there also.
Champion Raceway in So San Francisco was an 1/8th mile track. I worked there with Steve Evans as my boss. We did both Champion & Fremont tracks. As I recall, keeping in mind this was a while back, it ran during the later part of the '60s and wasn't open very long. Perhaps not more than 2 years, if that. Fun races though and the 'brothers' did some heavy betting on the cars.
One time, we had a match race between Chi-Town & Jungle Jim. Jungle did a fire burnout and caught the wheel wells on fire. To put them out, he went on down to the end of the track, made a u-turn and was coming up in the same lane Pat Minnick was in. Austin Coil is backing Pat up and Pat is frantically trying to signal him that Jungle was coming up behind him. Jungle calmly pasted next to Chi-Town, made another u-turn and staged. The crown went wild!
One time, we had a match race between Chi-Town & Jungle Jim. Jungle did a fire burnout and caught the wheel wells on fire. To put them out, he went on down to the end of the track, made a u-turn and was coming up in the same lane Pat Minnick was in. Austin Coil is backing Pat up and Pat is frantically trying to signal him that Jungle was coming up behind him. Jungle calmly pasted next to Chi-Town, made another u-turn and staged. The crown went wild!
Paul
Nitro Member
Pat, thanks for posting that full name and that great memory from the track, searching on that name led to the link below from the HAMB forum with some more info about it. I've walked around in that area before and I think I can see where it must have been located, pretty amazing to here that Jungle Jim, Austin Coil and Don Schumacher raced there.
History SF Champion Raceway? - THE H.A.M.B.
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Paul
Nitro Member
Whoa, I found another link about Jim McLennan that describes the Champion Raceway in detail, including pictures, its at:
Jim McLennan - Photo Profile
Its pretty crazy, from the pictures they show that have Candlestick park in the background I can see exactly where it was, I can actually see the land it was located on right from my shop.
Too bad I got here around 20 years too late but I got to race at Baylands/Fremont so what the heck.
Jim McLennan - Photo Profile
Its pretty crazy, from the pictures they show that have Candlestick park in the background I can see exactly where it was, I can actually see the land it was located on right from my shop.
Too bad I got here around 20 years too late but I got to race at Baylands/Fremont so what the heck.
It was open and running in the early '70's......about '71-'72.some of the cars were running of it was poorly lit on the top end. Some cars were running off the track at the end into the mud. Don Schumacher Won that night and off to Fremont the next night .......as I remember.
It was a fun place back then !
Tom
Nitro Member
I do not remember the track. We spent most our weekends running the Great Highway at the beach. Allot of money and cars changed hands there.
