The Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway returns to action on January 31st when the quarter mile paved oval, located in Blythe-California, begins the second leg of its 2008-2009 Winter Blast Racing Series. While the show the speedway has prepared is completely loaded with potential racing excitement, it will also have a somber aspect to it. The entire evening will be dedicated to the memory of southern California racing icon Richard Hooper.
Richard Hooper left us this past December 6th following a lengthy, and hard fought, battle with cancer. His passing created a huge void in the lives of all of us who experienced the privilege of calling him friend.
Among those many friends is Greg Scheidecker the Promoter of the Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway. Lucas Oil and Scheidecker reopened the speedway with the first ever Winter Blast Racing series in the 2002-2003 season. Hooper was the track's first ever Late Model champion and he continued to race at the speedway all the way through September of last year.
But the racing relationship between Hooper and Scheidecker was considerably larger than just promoter and driver. The two men were racing colleagues, and sometimes strong rivals, at race tracks all over the southwest region.
In a recent telephone interview Scheidecker recalled one particular race that he ran against Hooper back in 1993 at the Willow Springs Speedway in Rosamond-California. Laughing, Scheidecker said "that particular night at Willow Springs Hooper and I were having a knock down drag out fight on the race track. We pushed and shoved each other all night long. Don't get me wrong it was a great race but as I recall we knocked each other out of the race and neither one of us finished it. Over the years we often got together and found ourselves laughing about what happened that night."
Turning serious Scheidecker said "Richard Hooper was true friend to nearly everyone he raced with. He was a shining example of what the true meaning of the term racing family was really about because he was willing to do literally anything to help somebody. I can only imagine that his group of race teams, (known as Hooper's Herd), feels like they're in a world of hurt without Richard there with them. He ran a first class racing operation. Late Model stock cars that he fabricated over 20 years ago are still on the track and winning races. The present day success of young Austin Murphy, campaigning a Hooper built car, is a good example of that. Simply put, Richard Hooper was good for auto racing."
The Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway's January 31st tribute to Richard Hooper will feature the Late Models racing for double points. The Legend and Bandolero cars will also be competing for double points. Rounding out this very full show will be racing action from the speedway's Street and Factory Stock divisions. For more information dial up the speedway's website at www.i10speedway.com.
