This year covering motorsports was different for me. Although I have been reporting on national motorsports for about 20 years, I had never focused on a local track and the local drivers that race on it week-in and week-out.

This past year, I decided to cover All American Speedway in Roseville, and I also attended five out of the 11 Camping World West Series races, and I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve had doing both. It has been great getting to know the local drivers and their teams, the officials, the announcers, the safety workers and, in fact, everyone it takes to put on Saturday night racing.

New Beginnings
I started the year meeting and interviewing Eric Schmidt, the 2007 NASCAR Whelen All American Series Late Model champion at All American Speedway. I learned from Schmidt just how competitive and determined local drivers are. I learned about the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Program and the drivers at All American who were participating in it. I met Frank Jordan, who along with Schmidt runs Golden State Racing, and I interviewed Kristin Bumbera, Golden State’s Drive for Diversity driver.

I was surprised and impressed by the number of women drivers competing in weekly racing at the speedway, and how well they were doing. Shannon Mansch, Laura Hayes, Bumbera, Katie Hager and Makena Bell in the Late Model Series, and Dana Kelly in Bombers, are all top-notch.

When I interviewed Bill McAnally and got a tour of his race shop, I was also impressed. I had no idea a race team of that magnitude was in our area. Since then, I’ve gotten to know McAnally’s Camping World drivers Eric Holmes, Austin Cameron and Moses Smith, and by getting to know them, and by going to the Camping World West races, I’ve gotten to know more drivers.

The thing I like about local Saturday night racing and Camping World Series racing is that the drivers are accessible and you have more rough-and-tumble racing than in the higher divisions. It’s really competitive and they put on a good show. Best of all, it’s fun!

That’s not to say I would give up covering national motorsports. I have been photographing and writing about NASCAR, NHRA, IndyCar and AMA racing at Infineon Raceway for 20 years, and I’ve also covered NASCAR Sprint Cup and NHRA at Las Vegas, Phoenix and Pomona and have enjoyed it all.

Infineon is a state-of-the-art facility and I have been lucky to make many good friends there. Racers love coming there because they are treated really well. I have so many great memories from Infineon, from meeting Dale Earnhardt Sr. and seeing him win there to watching my first NHRA drag race.

I love NHRA drag racing. The excitement is so intense, the results are so immediate and the fans get to go in the pits, meet all the drivers and see teams working on their cars. If you’ve never gone to an NHRA race, you are so missing out.

Close to Home
But this year, the local racers won my heart.

There were special times. One was flying down to Irwindale in a private plane on the Fourth of July for the NASCAR Camping World West Series race. Irwindale is a beautiful track, and McAnally was there with Holmes, Cameron and Smith, along with Schmidt and Frank Jordan of Roseville. After a great day of racing, we left the track just as fireworks were going off in every direction—so many that I got dizzy watching them all. It just doesn’t get any better.

Another great memory I’ll keep from this year is getting to know Paulie Harraka Jr. and watching him race. Harraka is a great kid, a great racer and a smart guy. He flew out from his home in New Jersey almost every weekend to race at AAS as Bill McAnally Racing’s Drive for Diversity Late Model driver. Harraka is very respectful and he was always available with quotes whenever I needed them. Watching his team work on his car with Harraka right in there with them was always interesting, and getting to know Paul Harraka Sr. was great, too.

Harraka Jr. was the 2008 NASCAR Whelen All American Series Late Model champion at AAS, as Schmidt was the year before. Harraka also raced his first NASCAR Camping World West Series race this year at Altamont and did a great job, then raced at AAS in his second NCWW Series race and did another fantastic job. I believe this kid is going places.

Getting to know Shannon Mansch – whose car boasted The Sacramento Union logo this past season – has also been a highlight for me. She and her husband Mike are great people, as are their team members. I hung around with them a lot this year and had some fun times with them in the pits, and later at the AAS awards banquet.

Bomber driver Eric Bocksberger and Mike and Dana Kelly are also great. Seeing Dana and her smile when she won the improved driver award at the AAS awards banquet Nov. 15 was priceless.

So was the time that track announcer Chase Montgomery went racing with Bocksberger in one of the Bomber races, then told me that I should do it because it was so much fun. He set it up for me to race with Bocksberger, but I was worried I’d get car sick. It’s a good thing I went out for some hot laps with Bocksberger before the race, because one more lap and I would have really embarrassed myself. Needless to say, I didn’t go racing. Now, if I could have driven the car, everything would have been just fine.

There are still so many more drivers to get to know from AAS and I’ll be back next year for that. In fact, I can hardly wait for the next racing season to begin. But for now, I’m signing-off. Have great holidays. I’ll see you next year.

Pick up next week’s Union for a story on the history of the Sacramento Raceway by Lance Armstrong.