Tim Newey, Author at NorCal Car Culture

California Sprint Car Civil War Series began the year in Petaluma

Andy Forsberg of Auburn, CA on the track at Petaluma Speedway. Photo by Steve LaMothe.

Race number one in the famous California Sprint Car Civil War Series was last Saturday, April 9th at the Petaluma Speedway. This series features limited “360” sprint cars racing at several tracks in Northern California. In Petaluma with 37 entries, they had 4 heat races, a “B” Feature and an “A” Feature event.
The Heat winners were: Nick Green from San Jose, Cody Lamar from Rio Linda, Jeff Griffin from St. Helena, and Billy Butler from Sacramento. The “B” Feature winner was Shawn Wright of Lodi. The 30 lap “A” feature winner was five-time Civil War Series Champion Andy Forsberg of Auburn, CA. Andy also won the Pit Stop USA fast time award with a lap of 13.005 seconds at Petaluma Speedway. He was driving the Friends and Family Racing #x1 car owned by Steve Tuccelli and Alan Bradway.

Andy Forsberg of Auburn, CA wins at Petaluma Speedway. Photo by Steve LaMothe.

Here are the series standings after the first race:
1) Andy Forsberg of Auburn
2) Geoff Ensign of Sebastopol
3) Sean Becker of Antelope
3) Alissa Geving of Penngrove
5) Mason Moore of Princeton
5) Steven Tiner of Visalia

2011 Civil War Series Poster designed by Steve LaMothe of Sacramento.

For more information on the California Sprint Car Civil War Series go to their website: www.civilwarsprints.com.

Our thanks to Steve LaMothe from Steve’s Racing Photos for the generous use of his photos.

NorCal Drivers Racing Highlights: April 8-10, 2011

#01 TELMEX BMW driven by Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas.

This week’s pick for “NorCal Driver of the Week” is Scott Pruett from Auburn, CA. He is already considered the “Richard Petty” of sports car racing, but he just keeps on winning. Scott Pruett along with co-driver Memo Rojas last years Grand-Am Rolex Series Champions won the final three races of 2010 and have made it 3 for 3 so far this season, in the race at the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.

A young Scott Pruett at the 1987 24 Hours at Daytona. Photo Courtesy of Kenneth Barton Motorsports Photography. — A young Scott Pruett at the 1987 24 Hours at Daytona. Photo by Ken Barton.

Scott had this to say after the race: “The 90 team had everybody covered today. We caught up to them after I got in the car, and we cut down about an eight-second differential between us and them. I’m sliding around and he looked pretty pasted down to the ground. I just thought, ‘You know what?’ These guys are really strong here today. You never know how it’s going to play out, but they were certainly in the catbird seat to sneak in a win this week.”

Jonathan Bomarito from Monterey, CA, driver of the No. 70 MazdaSpeed/Castrol Edge Mazda RX-8 also had a good day in the Grand-Am series race coming home 3rd in the GT Class. Jonathan said: “We had an amazing race car today. I’m a little bit bummed that we weren’t on the same lap with the top two to be able to race with those guys.”

J.R. Hildebrand from Sausalito charged hard in the final quarter of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama to end up with a respectable 13th place finish. He is now in 13th place in the IZOD Indy Car Series points standings and maintained his spot as the leader in the rookie of the year standings.

A.J. Allmendinger from Los Gatos raced in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at Texas Motor Speedway. He struggled to a 19th place finish, 2 laps down but, due to the misfortune of fellow Northern California driver Jeff Gordon, he moved up a spot to 13th place in the points standings.

Photos courtesy of Kenneth Barton Motorsports Photography.

Most Famous Names in the Car Industry

If you were going to come up with a list of the most famous people in the car industry in the last 50 years, you would probably include names like Lee Iacocca, Richard Petty, A.J. Foyt, Dale Earnhardt, Don Garlits, Andy Granatelli, Mario Andretti, or Wally Parks. But the two men in this picture definitely deserve to be included in that group.

Carroll Shelby with his good friend Parnelli Jones.

Parnelli Jones was just one of those names I knew when I was a kid in the 60’s. Maybe it was because in 1963 he won the Indy 500. Throughout the late 50’s and 60’s, Parnelli won races in all kinds of racing. He won 15 races in the NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model Series. He won the USAC Sprint Car Championship 3 times. He was the USAC stock car champion in 1964. He had 25 midget car feature wins in occasional races between 1960 and 1967. Later in his career, Parnelli started Off-Road racing, winning the Mexican 1000 twice, as well as the Mint 500 and the Baja 500.

Carroll Shelby is best know for the cars he developed like the Shelby Cobra, Shelby GT500 and even the Dodge Viper. Many do not realize the he began his career as a pilot and a race car driver. Carroll served as a flight instructor and test pilot for the Army Air Corps in World War II. He was the Sports Illustrated’s driver of the year in 1956 and 1957. He went to Europe in 1958 and 1959 and raced in the Formula One Series. In 1959, Carroll driving an Aston Martin, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He retired the following year and started a race car driving school and the now famous Shelby American Company. He teamed with Lee Iacocca at Ford to produce high performance Mustangs and then later Iacocca asked Shelby to join him at Chrysler to help develop the Dodge Viper. He is still going strong, can be seen regularly at car events, and his cars are more popular than ever.

For more information on Carroll Shelby, go to his company website: http://www.shelbyamerican.com/.