The Mel’s Diner Show and Shine is every Wednesday at 4pm at Mel’s Diner, 1730 Grass Valley Highway.
Tag: Auburn
California Sprint Car Civil War Series began the year in Petaluma
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.
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
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.
The late Gary Ormsby from Auburn, California – 1989 NHRA Top Fuel Champion
I wanted to include Gary Ormsby in our Northern California Race Car Driver directory, so I looked him up on Google. To my surprise, there was no website about him, no fan page, not even a wikipedia page. So I decided to write what I could find and then ask for help from you. If anyone can help me with more details of his amazing life I would appreciate it. I am even trying to write a wikipedia article on him too. Please email me here: tnewey@norcalcarculture.com.
Gary Ormsby was the 1989 NHRA Top Fuel Champion. He owned Auburn Toyota and Auburn Subaru Hyundai in Auburn, California. His crew chief was Lee Beard. Together they were within one round victory of winning the championship in 1990 as well. He died the following year of intestinal cancer in Roseville, California on August 28, 1991.
One of Gary’s first cars, Vagabond, a 1962 AA/Fuel Dragster.
It was during 1990 that he set the (at the time) World Record of 4.881 seconds at 296.05 mph in Heartland Park, Topeka Kansas. He helped put that track on the map in the drag racing world. Since then, they have named one of the roads around the raceway, Gary Ormsby Drive.
In 1989, Gary destroyed 2 cars in terrifying accidents on the way to winning the championship. He had to drive an old retired car that he had on display in the showroom of his car dealership in Auburn to finish the season. This video shows the 2 accidents.
Gary Ormsby was one of the best drag racers to come out of northern California. I am anxious to learn more about him and his racing career. There is a great article on Lee Beard and Gary Ormsby and their championship season together here.
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