INDUSTRY, California — Bobby “Boogaloo” Schwartz gave himself a belated birthday present Wednesday night when he led every lap of the weekly speedway motorcycle 500cc Division 1 feature at Industry Speedway. He celebrated his 54th birthday a day earlier. His wife and six-year old son were present for his second victory this season at Industry Speedway in front of almost 500 fans of the two-wheel sport. The Costa Mesa-resident, many-time speedway cycle USA champion and veteran of European racing, had an active fan club of more than 1,000 fans about 20-years ago. He still takes time to talk to fans; he posed happily with pee-wee and junior class riders on the podium after he received his second winner's trophy in four weeks.
With 15 D-1 riders racing in three four-lap heat races, Schwartz had finishes of first, second and third for 9-points. He placed third in his semi-final four-lap race and led all four laps of the last chance race to earn the fifth and final feature berth. He defeated runner-up Shawn McConnell, the promoter at the speedway cycle track in San Bernardino, by a length. McConnell had won all three of his heats for the maximum 12-points before coming up one position short of making the feature.
All five riders drew numbered golf balls for their starting positions from the inside row to lane five next to the crash-wall. Austin Novratil, a 15-year old D-1 rookie who won all three of his heats for the maximum 12-points, picked the pole position. Mike Faria, last week's feature winner, Schwartz, Eddie Castro and three-time Industry 2010 feature winner Buck Blair, were alongside in lanes three through five respectively. At 9:36 pm the green light flashed and the starting line tape lifted. Schwartz out-dragged Novratil to the first turn and led the fast-improving teen from Huntington Beach all the way. Novratil, who spent a month in England racing earlier this year, trailed Schwartz by two lengths at the checkered flag. Blair, Faria and Castro followed closely.
Chris Jones, of Aliso Viejo, won the five-rider, 5-lap support division race after starting with three other riders ten-yards from the starting gate. Two riders fell on the initial lap in turn three, causing a red flag and complete restart. As is his custom, Jones stopped his cycle at the finish line after his third main event triumph and executed cartwheels across the finish line in his leathers and wearing his steel left boot. Announcer Bruce Flanders and spectators counted off his cartwheels as he topped his prior marks of three and seven for a new track record eight. Dylan Beard and his sidecar rider Crystal Laurie won their second four-lap sidecar main event in a close, three team race run in the usual clockwise direction. Paraplegic driver Bryan Motis and sidecar “swinger” Brandi McElroy, a three-time winning team this season, trailed by five yards.
Rocco Scopellite, 14, of Huntington Beach, led all four laps and won the three rider Junior 250cc main event. New rider Broc Nichol, 12, from Lomita, made an inside pass at turn four on lap 2 and won his second four-lap Junior 150cc class main in a three-rider field. A pair of pee-wee mains for riders five and up went to Sebastian Palmese, 7, in a six-rider field of 50cc cycle riders that included two first-time racers. It was the sixth victory in 11 weeks for the Santa Margarita resident. In his first night of racing at Industry, Logan Scantlin, a 9-year old from Covina, won a two-rider race with Matthew Duffy, 9, on slightly more technical mini cycles.
CARS: As advertised, Tom Malloy and Trench Shoring brought out two of his 65 historic racing cars from his automotive museum in Corona. USAC 2000 Western Midget Series champion Wally Pankratz, 64, drove the Rosie Roussel No. 96 California Roadster Association winning T-bucket track roadster powered by a four-port Riley. It was his first time in a track roadster that raced under the CRA banner at many California tracks such as Carrell Speedway in Gardena and Huntington Beach. USAC midget and sprint car driver Marc Hart, a 40 year old former Ventura resident who has lived at Lake Elsinore for ten years, drove the USAC Champ Trail car. It was the white and red numeral No. 2 Wilke Leader Card Spl. 255 cu. in. Offenhauser raced in 1959-60 by driver Rodger Ward and wrenched by winning mechanic/car builder A. J. Watson, whose names were still lettered on the car. Ward refused to race the car at the one-mile Langhorne (PA) Speedway dirt mile track because he considered the circular track too dangerous. Jimmy Bryan, a multi-USAC Champ Trail champion and the 1958 Indianapolis 500 winner, came out of semi-retirement to race it at Langhorne in the 100-mile USAC National Championship race on Sunday, June, 19, 1960. He set second fastest qualifying time in a field of 24 and started second in the 18-car, 100 lap race. On lap 1 in the first turn Bryan spun towards the infield, dug in and flipped several times, killing him instantly.
Pankratz and Hart took the two historic cars onto the Industry Speedway track at 7:25 prior to the National Anthem and ran several warm-up and hot laps outside of red cones placed above the speedway cycle groove. The 255 Offy sounded a cylinder down and had a fuel feed problem. Hart cleared a fuel line in the pits along with new father Jerome Rodela, a two-time USAC Western Midget Champion. Open-wheel drivers J. J. Ercse and Steve Howard were present as well. At 8:25, before cycles heat race round three, Pankratz and Hart returned to the track in the two cars. After a few warm-up laps, both drivers ran about eight simultaneous hot laps on the tenth-mile dirt track. They both ran ten second laps and had the top dirt flying in the turns. Loose dirt landed about six rows up in the turn one grandstand that was vacated for safety. Spectators were able to view the cars and talk to both drivers before and after their demonstration laps. The two cars were pitted behind the first turn grandstand, just inside the main entrance, so fans were able to watch the pit work and examine both cars throughout the evening.
Promoter Jeff Immediato, in his third year at Industry Speedway, made it back to the track to oversee his current 14-week motorcycle series at The Grand Arena in the Industry Hills Expo Center. He missed the last month after suffering a heart attack. Doctor at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach installed a stint and he passed stress tests before returning to his promotional endeavor. “It's great to be back,” he told well-wishers. He plans to oversee the next three Wednesdays of cycle racing that will conclude on September 1 with the California State Speedway Cycle Championship.
