Welcome to “Yuma Speedway 101″
April 15th, 2008, 2:32 pm · Post a Comment · posted by rhoeft
Yesterday I was shooting my mouth off about Yuma Speedway and its owner, the Cocopah Indian Tribe.
Today, I want to talk some more about Yuma Speedway.
I want to clear the water, so to speak, so we’re all on the same page, as far as the history of track is concerned. Let’s call this, “Yuma Speedway 101″ (I’ll warn you, it’s going to be a l-o-n-g one, but please bear with me).
Tomorrow, we’ll tackle “Yuma Speedway 102.”
While I’m no expert or historian by any stretch of the imagination, I believe I do know more about the track than most. It comes from having lived here for over 30 years and following the track and racing in Yuma with a passion.
The track was built and opened as a quarter-mile dirt oval in 1968 by a local visionary named Frank Golden. By visionary, I mean Golden picked what I believe is the perfect location, on the side of the mesa overlooking the Yuma Valley at Highway 95 and County 15th Street. He also had some grand dreams for the track, but, unfortunately, he lacked the financial means to bring any of those dreams to fruition.
Unfortunately, as it seems to always go with race track owners/promoters and drivers, there was also some trouble, some friction. I remember getting anonymous phone calls from people who said I needed to check into how the rules at the track weren’t being enforced, or how the rules applied to some, but not to all. And to be honest, in the 30-plus years I’ve been in Yuma, I’ve been hearing the same complaints over and over.
Anyway, Golden and his drivers had a major falling out, and those unhappy drivers split off and opened their own track, Quechan Speedway, in Winterhaven. The split was after the 1978 season, and Quechan Speedway opened shortly thereafter.
After that, Golden, tired and in failing health, sold his track. And two owners later the track still sat idle, rotting, reduced to not even a mere image of what it once was.
Enter Jerry Thomas. The Yuma paving contractor became the fourth Yuma Speedway owner and proceeded to transform it into a state-of-the-art facility. When he was done, there was nothing remaining of the original track, except the wooden grandstand and that gorgeous view of the Yuma Valley.
The nearly $1 million in changes included enlarging the racing surface to three-eighths of a mile with first-class lighting and a scoreboard; a pit area outside the oval, with lights; a shower and restroom facility for the drivers and crews in the pit; a new, multi-level, combination scoring tower and refreshment stand and offices up top; a new women’s restroom; a new ticket booth; a new pit booth; and a lighted parking lot.
When I saw it for the first time in its finished state, I was like Dan Akroyd in “The Great Outdoors,” and all I could say was, “W-o-w.”
In fact, it was such an impressive facility, that one racing publication proclaimed it “the best dirt oval this side of the Mississippi.” Yes indeed, Jerry Thomas had done a remarkable job.
And needless to say, the racers agreed to return. They closed the gates at Quechan Speedway after the 1988 season, and life was good, again, at Yuma Speedway, or rather, the new Yuma Speedway.
But Thomas wasn’t done. No, not by a long shot. Along with a first-class racing facility came first class shows. He wasn’t banking on local programs alone. At the git-go, in 1989, Thomas and his friend, Jeff McAnally, acting as co-promoters, brought in top-level shows, including the World of Outlaws, USAC midgets and some of the best late model racing in the Southwest.
The second year, Thomas went it alone as the promoter and the shows were equally as impressive. But it also took its toll on the owner, and he grew tired of being a promoter too and chose to let someone else deal with the headaches. As I said, race track owners/promoters and racers almost always find a way to disagree about something.
Anyway, first in line, after Thomas and McAnally gave it a try, was the combination of Andy Therkildsen and Steve Brucker for a year (1991); followed by Therkildsen as a solo act for two years (1992 and 1993). Therkildsen had a good run, and also made a valiant effort to get the Slick 50 Sprint Car World Series to call Yuma Speedway home. And he came oh so close to sealing the deal for the nationally televised winter racing program, which instead moved from Manzanita Speedway to Canyon Raceway. All I can say is, what were those people thinking?
Therkildsen also recognized the need to use Yuma Speedway for over events besides racing, like concerts, and he managed to bring in Brooks and Dunn, yes, the Brooks and Dunn, for a show, which, unfortunately, received little publicity or exposure in Yuma. And it was right after the duo was named CMA Vocal Duo of the Year in 1992.
Anyway, Therkildsen also brought in circus performances, and stadium type off-road racing shows.
And then, Therkildsen was gone. I was not privy to what transpired, but I can’t help but believe the track would still be open and thriving today if Therkildsen, love him or hate him, was still on board.
When he exited, local racing icon Kent Rautenberg took the controls in 1994, but, unfortunately, only lasted half a season before leaving town. Thomas then ran the track as the interim promoter before handing the reigns over to Mark Norris in 1995, who made a go of it for three seasons.
And Norris, like Therkildsen, love him or hate him, made things happen at the track. He introduced the wildly popular “Ego Challenge,” where anyone off the street or in the grandstand could bring their everyday car — or truck — to the track, and take it for a spin on the racing surface. It was actually a timed-lap, and the event winner was the driver who had the quickest time.
He also brought in the popular, three-day-long Dwarf Car World Championship, and re-introduced Yumans to the SCOA winged sprint car series.
For the record, SCOA officials fell in love with Yuma Speedway and referred to the facility as their “home track.”
Then, through a course of action that still nobody has fully explained to me, sort of like the circumstances surrounding Therkildsen’s departure, Norris was out. He had lasted three seasons, longer than anyone. He made no bones about the fact that he was losing money, but he explained openly that he had a five-year plan, and he expected to be in the red during the first three years before finding his way into the black.
But he was out and Dome Valley farmer Ronnie Moore was in as the newest promoter.
Moore, hailed as the man who would “save racing in Yuma,” opened the track, renamed “Yuma Speedway Park,” under his direction for the first time in 1998, and for the last time in 1999.
The irony is, when rumors were running rampant in 1999 that the track might be closed in 2000, Moore made a tearful promise to the drivers and crews assembled for a drivers meeting one fall night, that there would be a 2000 season.
But all the drivers found was a chained a locked gate, to which Moore explained he and his father had purchased the track from Thomas after the 1998 season, and after the conclusion of the 1999 season, he said he didn’t have enough money to make the payments and operate the track too.
Of course, there were also some hurt feelings. Just like I said earlier, race track owners/promoters and racers almost always find a way to disagree about something. And in this case, Moore wanted nothing more to do with it. He took the attacks personally. So he locked the gates, put the entire facility up for sale, and the circle track has been idle ever since.
Oh, there are ongoing sand drag races up on top, which Moore actually introduced to the facility in 1998. But he said the sand drags in 2000 and thereafter were being run by a group that leased the facility from him. Other than that type of racing, there hasn’t been a stock car or sprint car grace the oval in over eight years now.
As a side note, as with Therkildsen, there were several speedway regulars who were unhappy with Norris as the track’s promoter, who were happy with his departure and Moore’s arrival. All to which, I like to point out, if Mark Norris — or Andy Therkildsen — were still here today, and still promoting the track, good, bad or indifferent, all of those crybabies would still have a place to race.
OK, Moore finally sold the track to the Cocopah Indian Tribe in 2005, and while the tribe seems content to keep the sand drags alive, it is yet to make a move toward re-opening the circle track, which is a subject we covered yesterday.
Sad, isn’t it? Here we have what is considered one of the best racing facilities in the country, right here in our own backyard, and, with all respect to the sand draggers, it’s doing nothing.
