I owe an apology to John Soares Sr. In a recent account of the Bay Cities Racing Association Awards Banquet, I referred to John as "the late John Soares Sr."....Talk about a stupid mistake!.....
John, I apologize to you and the family. The reference was made in describing the change of the annual Perseverance Award to the "John & Gladys Soares Sr. Perseverance Award".
Sadly, John's "other half", Gladys, did pass away during the
2006 season. Gladys was indeed that "woman behind the man", having spent many years in the background doing the accounting, ticket sales and the many other duties that are required for a successful promotional entity. And indeed, John and Gladys were among the top race track promoters in California for many years before retiring to Ohio.
John began midget racing with BCRA immediately after WWII at the Bayshore Stadium in San Francisco and captured 28 features along the way. He was also a stellar stock car driver, winning on the 5/8-mile high banks of the Oakland Stadium.
His early promotional tutelage was with Bob Barkhimer Associates before striking out on his own some years later at the Antioch Speedway, then the Petaluma Speedway. As fortune would have it, son John Jr. currently operates Antioch while son Jim handles Petaluma.
On another note, my final roll as a journalist with BCRA will be from the Chili Bowl. If you have a desire to find out how the BCRA guys did, daily results and photos only of BCRA entries will appear on the BCRA website (www.BCRAracing.com) during the fabled event, January 9-13. For all Chili Bowl results go to: www.chilibowl.com.
