Hall Of Fame Night Saturday At Southern Oregon Speedway
The Cascade Wingless Sprint Car race ends the month. It’s $3,500 to win. Then, another race I’m very proud of, the R Charles Snyder Salute on September 1-2. We’ll be offering $5,000 to the IMCA Modified winner again that week and drivers will be coming from all over the West Coast for that one.
It will be another special evening at Southern Oregon Speedway this Saturday. It’s Hall of Fame Night, and the track will be inducting five new members into the Southern Oregon Racing Hall of Fame. There will also be six divisions of racing, including IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Late Models, Bobbio’s Pizza Mini Stocks, JOAT Labs Hornets and OTRO Hardtops.
Racing has been around the Medford area for many years. The racers currently compete at Southern Oregon Speedway in White City. There is also another White City location that had racing for a few seasons. Medford had racing in multiple locations through the years, including the popular Medford Speedway, which was located at the Posse Grounds. There was even a track in Ashland for over a decade.
Last season, the Southern Oregon Racing Hall of Fame was created to begin to honor the greats of the past. Seven people were inducted last season, which included Harold Hardesty, Ben Neel and Don Harper, among others. This year, Hall of Fame Night at Southern Oregon Speedway will add five new people. Going in this year will be Bruce Rayburn, Dane Smith, Dick Wallace, Dave Duste and Rick Hunsley.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Rayburn was a force at the Medford Speedway. He won three Late Model championships in a row. He was also known for building fast race cars. Dane Smith was not only a very athletic man who enjoyed competing in sports, he was one of the top Late Model drivers and a champion in the 1970s and 1980s. Smith and Rayburn both competed at several different tracks and scored wins, including Southern Oregon Speedway.
Dick Wallace was a top Stock Car racer going back to the 1960s at the Medford Speedway and won championships in the 1970s. Rick Hunsley was one of the top Stock Car drivers and a championship contender when the track closed in 1989. He gave the Medford racers another place to go while a new track was being built when he became promoter for several seasons in Yreka. Rayburn was a champion in Yreka in the IMCA Modified division, and Duste won three championships there as well. Duste began racing Street Stocks at Medford Speedway before moving up to Modifieds. He won over 20 Main Events at Southern Oregon Speedway and finished second in three of the first four seasons in which the track operated.
You are likely to see several racers from the past in attendance this Saturday night as the newest class of competitors gets inducted into Southern Oregon’s Racing Hall of Fame. There will also be four display boards near the entrance to the grandstands that show clippings and photos of various highlights through the years.
And then there’s the racing. Saturday night has a great lineup that will be led by the IMCA Modifieds. Two-time champion Albert Gill holds the lead by 18 points ahead of Zach Fettinger. Gill is still looking for his first win of the season, but Fettinger has won three of them. Gill has gotten the lead as a consistent Top 3 finisher. It’s a bit closer behind Fettinger as rookie David Satterfield trails by two points, Nick Trenchard is four points behind and Jantzen Knips is seven points back. Trenchard won the Roger Haudenshild Tribute Race back in June, which paid $2,000. During the absence of the division, he won the prestigious Beads Shipwreck Nationals in Elma, Washington once again.
The IMCA Sport Modified division has been growing by leaps and bounds this year with several new drivers in the field. In his third year in the class, David Marble has finished in the Top 5 for most of the races after winning the season opener. He leads Branden Wilson by 32 points. It’s closer in the race for second as Wilson is one point ahead of Willie McFall, two ahead of Tony Duste and three in front of Tony Bartell. Of those drivers, Wilson is the only one to get a Main Event win. 2016 Yreka champion Jimmy Lipke has come close with back-to-back second-place finishes as he has moved into the Top 10 in the standings.
The Late Model division continues to be a close race. Nathan Augustine wrecked the car that he opened the season with after getting a win in that car. Because Don Garrett Jr let him drive his car one week, Augustine maintained until he debuted his new car last time out with another win. The reigning champion leads rookie Miles Deubert by 17 points and John Dees by 26. Deubert surprised the field when he won the season opener, but he has struggled just a bit in recent races. John Dees now has three second place finishes and nearly got the win last time out. Fourth place Dave Foote remains in the championship hunt as a one-time winner and reigning champion Bob Dees is currently fifth in the standings.
In the Bobbio’s Pizza Mini Stock division, David Steele has won six of the seven Main Events. Not surprisingly, he holds a commanding 48 point lead over Hunter Magnan in the championship race. Magnan is battling Kristopher Mix for second in the standings, and their race got a little bit too close for comfort as they crashed across the finish line last week with Magnan in second. Mix is a Main Event winner this year and trails Magnum by just 22 points. Steve Goetz, Garrett Fredrickson and Michael McLeod make up the rest of the Top 6 going into Saturday night.
In the JOAT Labs Hornets division, Bree Tritchler seems to be hitting her stride. With four seconds and a win in the last five races, she has moved into a nine point lead over 2016 champion Tim Hedges. Hedges overheated last week and fell out early in the Main Event. Bree’s teammate Chris Boynton is third of the standings, but after Brandon Wonsyld won for the second time last Saturday, he only leads by three points. Dylan Irving is 13 points back in fifth. Irving is the only one of the three without a feature win this year, but he won his third Trophy Dash last week.
The Old Time Racers of Oregon Hardtops round out this program and give the fans a glimpse of what headlined tracks throughout the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. These beautiful Coupes and Sedans from the 1940s have V6 Motors and run on slick tires. They don’t run for points, but feature wins so far have been recorded by Mark Minter, Bill Trotter and his son Dusty Trotter. Justin Krossman has been competing in Dusty Trotter’s old car and lost a very close race to Minter last time out. The Hardtops always entertain when they’re in town.
If you want a little bit more racing, Friday night will offer a full program of Outlaw Karts on the little track. Point races are heating up there as well. Carson Henson leads Malachi Johnson and Uriah Sanders in a three-way battle for the Beginners Box Stock championship. Keaton Augustine is leading Ryan Hirschbock and Jacob James in another good battle in the Box Stocks. Vinny DeBenedetti leads another close battle with reigning champion Trevor Grimes in the 250 Karts. Steve Rambo tops the UAS Speedway Kart standings and Reece Slyter leads the 500 Open Karts. Last week saw the biggest turnout of the season for the Outlaw Karts and it was an entertaining show from start to finish.
Gates open on both nights at 5 p.m. with the first race starting at 7 p.m. General Admission for the Friday Kart show is $10 and gets you pit access. On Saturday, General Admission is $12 with Veterans, Seniors and Juniors (7 to 12) $6. Children 6 and under are free. After the heat races have concluded, the new group of Hall of Fame members will be inducted in front of the main grandstands.For further information, go to www.southernoregonspeedway.com.
Southern Oregon Speedway Point Standings
IMCA Modifieds
89 Albert Gill 201
88 Zach Fettinger 183
211 David Satterfield 181
54n Nick Trenchard 179
7 Jantzen Knips 176
1m Mark Wauge 148
555 Bo Shields 126
0 Duane Orsburn 124
2g James Welshonse 123
73m Dave Duste Jr. 118
IMCA Sport Modifieds
4m David Marble 226
12w Branden Wilson 194
7m Willie McFall 193
23 Tony Duste 192
27 Tony Bartell 191
14 Billy Richey 141
30 Mike Medel 138
4y Jimmy Lipke 132
11j Jesse Merriman 130
401k Brian Knorr 119
Late Models
24 Nathan Augustine 163
38 Miles Deubert 146
16 John Dees 137
75 Dave Foote 129
6 Bob Dees 111
05 Don Garrett 83
7 Eric Massey 76
22 Mike Linder 60
66 Garrett Dees 57
46 Darren Coffell 35
JOAT Labs Hornets
17 Bree Tritchler 238
14t Tim Hedges 229
28 Chris Boynton 189
7 Brandon Wonsyld 186
11 Dylan Irving 176
54d Ashtin Hedges 163
27j Jenna Hedges 153
007 Jason Stoutenburgh 139
26 Zach Nelson 135
8g Derrel Nelson Jr. 91
Bobbio’s Pizza Mini Stocks
67 David Steele 263
33m Hunter Magnan 215
89m Kristopher Mix 193
55 Steve Goetz 160
45g Garrett Fredrickson 129
3 Michael McLeod 119
14t Ashtin Hedges 75
0 Gary Anderson 54
4m David Marble 30
007 Cameron Hall 28
