Greetings from Watsonville, California
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From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Watsonville Fairgrounds Speedway
Dirt oval
Lifetime track #142
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Watsonville Fairgrounds Speedway
Dirt figure 8
Lifetime track #537
I first went to the Watsonville Fairgrounds Speedway back on June 29, 1982. Prior to about track #430 I did not record specific notes about the tracks I visited. My records do show that Dave Byrd #7 (above) was the feature winner in ’82. The family and I were seeing races during the area’s annual strawberry festival. We were spending a week or so camping with our Starcraft popup camper in Northern California.
Just six days earlier I had seen sprint car racing at Baylands Raceway Park. Lealand McSpadden won the main event that night in the black and yellow #01 sprinter. In total I went to Baylands four times before it closed in 1988. Something happened at Baylands that I had never ever seen before. I hope I never see it again.
At the end of intermission just as the sprint cars were pulling onto the track an accident occurred. A spectator was crossing from the grandstand area in turn one back into the pit area. It’s not common, anymore at least, to have spectators walking across a track at anytime for any reason. On this night the spectator took a risk. Sprint car driver Shane Carson hit the man with the full force of a winged sprint car. I read that the impact broke one of Carson’s ribs. When I looked up from reading my program the spectator lay in a crumpled mass in the middle of the first turn. He was dead.
Well, I certainly have more memories of Baylands than I do Watsonville. However, I know that famed racechaser Gary Jacob (above) made Watsonville one of his weekly hangouts. We saw oval racing there on a Friday night. Then we came back on the Fourth of July, a Wednesday night, where “open comp figure 8s” were on the race itinerary. At the time only racing on ovals and road courses counted in the trackchasing hobby.
However, in 2001, trackchaser Allan Brown proposed to the group that figure 8 racing be a countable form within trackchasing. The group thought about this idea and approved Allan’s recommendation. Beginning in late 2001 figure 8 tracks would now add to a trackchaser’s lifetime totals.
However, there was some controversy associated with the new figure 8 rule. The rule voted on was simple. It basically asked the question, “Should we count figure 8 racing in the hobby of trackchasing?” The group voted “Yes”. However, another question soon was raised. What about figure 8 tracks that had been seen before the rule adding figure 8 tracks was proposed? Should THEY count?
Will White was the trackchasing commissioner at the time. As I understand it Will simply asked Allan if he meant for his new rules proposal to be “retroactive”. Did Allan intend for his rule to allow trackchasers to count the figure 8 tracks they would see in the future AND also count the figure 8 tracks they had seen in the past? This was an interesting dilemma.
The group had never been faced with adding an entirely new type of configuration, i.e. figure 8 tracks to the existing oval and road course figurations. When trackchasing’s founding fathers drew up the original “guidelines” ovals and road courses were included.
Over time there has been a good deal of discussion over whether or not any tracks, for whatever reason, should be counted retroactively. Should basketball go back and allow all shots made beyond the nonexistent three-point line to count even though at the time there was no three-point line? That wouldn’t happen.
I feel it was a mistake in judgement for Commissioner White to simply ask Allan Brown if he “meant” his rules proposal to be retroactive. Allan said he did. However, this point is somewhat moot or maybe not. I suspect that the voting trackchasers would have approved that figure 8 tracks be counted retroactively. Everyone is always looking for the easy way out right? It’s the American way.
In order to be completely factual I must tell you this. The person who stood to benefit the most from retroactively counting figure 8 tracks was the rules proposer himself, Allan Brown. As I recall Allan was able to add 38 tracks to his lifetime list….retroactively. I added ten figure 8 tracks to my list based upon how this new rule came down. Here’s a list of the figure 8 shows I saw before figure 8 racing was approved for trackchasing.
Retroactive figure 8 track list – added late 2001
Manzanita Speedway – Phoenix, AZ
Orange Show Speedway – San Bernadino, CA
Watsonville Frgrds Spdwy – Watsonville, CA
Ascot Park – Gardena, CA
Citrus County Speedway – Inverness, FL
Rockford Speedway – Rockford, IL
Indianapolis Speedrome – Indianapolis, IN
Flat Rock Speedway – Flat Rock, MI
Raceway Park – Shakopee, MN
South South Speedway – Rochester, WA
I cannot ever recall seeing a “figure 8 only” racing show prior to figure 8 racing being a countable configuration in the hobby of trackchasing. However, as we used to say at Procter & Gamble, “You get what you measure”. I have now seen nearly 300 figure 8 tracks, more than any other trackchaser.
Do I believe that figure 8 tracks should have been counted retroactively? I’ve thought about this some over the years. I’ve probably gone back and forth many times with my opinion on this. At this point I don’t really have a problem with figure 8 tracks being counted that were seen before the figure 8 rule was proposed and passed. If someone saw that type of track then I’m willing to give them the credit. I don’t benefit one way or the other from having this opinion.
You might have remembrances about the Watsonville Fairgrounds Speedway. If so, please feel free to share in the comments section below. If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com. I’ll try to include them here.