Saturday December 07, 2002, 06:25:05 PM
Jim Luff remembers as a teen-ager riding his motorcycle on the hills overlooking what is now Mesa Marin Raceway. Larry Collins started picking up trash around the track when he was a junior high and high school student. Judy Salamacha got acquainted with auto racing when her son, Jeremy, began driving race cars.
Today, they report to founder and president Marion Collins as the top-level management staff of what has grown from a racetrack to a community industry. He opened the track in 1977.
Luff has come on board as general manager. Larry Collins is senior vice president and finds himself in more meetings than ever before. Salamacha is vice president and is best known for her promotional and publicity work, although she is involved in all phases of the operation, including scheduling and recruiting sponsors.
Also a part of the management team is Leslie Lipscomb, director of operations and leader of the education program in high school motor sports. And Stephanie Brantley is office manager.
It's quiet at Mesa Marin Raceway now, with press box views on a bright fall day scanning from Rio Bravo Country Club to Bear Mountain. But the quiet is deceiving, says Larry Collins. "Actually, we work harder during the off-season. We've had meetings every day since the season ended. We don't have time to get everything done before the new season begins," he said.
Mesa Marin has a year-round staff of 15, and there are 15 or 20 other people employed by other racing industry businesses established on the race track grounds, including a number of racing teams.
That busy silence will continue at Mesa Marin Raceway until next March 20-23, when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to Bakersfield. That will bring race cars and racing fans from all over the country. Collins estimates it will inject some $15 million into the local economy, with motels and hotels being filled from Delano to Frazier Park.
"This is the birthplace of the NASCAR Truck series," said Larry Collins, pointing out that the NASCAR Craftsman prototype racing truck was fabricated by Gary Collins, son and brother of Marion and Larry Collins, and his team at the West Coast Car Fabrication shop in a blue building on the Mesa Marin grounds. That was the winter of 1993. On July 30, 1994, the first NASCAR Craftsman truck exhibition race was run at Mesa Marin Raceway. In 1995, the race at Mesa Marin was featured on television's ABC Wide World of Sports.
After a year's absence, the truck series will return to Bakersfield next March. Salamacha said the principal sponsor, Lucas Oil, wanted local co-sponsors in order to bring the race here. The team went to work and sponsors responded. The list includes Thompson Motorsports (Rialto Concrete), Time-Warner Cable, Ken Small Construction, Greater Bakersfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, Jim Burke Ford and the California Trucking Association.
Marion Collins said Bakersfield has become a hub of NASCAR racing for this part of the United States.
Luff, 40, was made general manager recently, wears two management caps these days. He also operates Limousine Scene, where he has been involved for 10 years. He noted that two of the busiest weeks of his life came together this fall. The Bakersfield Business Conference Oct. 12 put all of his limousines on the road. Then the 25th anniversary Mesa Marin Fall Classic, Oct. 19-20, had everybody going full bore, including Luff, who escorted Brittany Spears at the race event, amoung other chores.
Mesa Marin's payroll swelled to about 120 for the two-day October Classic, taking care of the needs of 11,000 spectators plus those of 200 drivers (and their racing teams.)
Marion Collins has a theory about being prepared -- include everybody in everything. "The more you know about everything, the better job you do. We treat everybody that way," he said.
Salamacha wound up at Mesa Marin because of her son, Jeremy. Judy and her husband, Bob, gave Jeremy a trip to a driving school as a high school graduation present. Jeremy later took up racing at Mesa Marin. He introduced his mother to Marion Collins. She had been vice president of community affairs for Castle & Cooke for seven years when she left to form her own marketing company. She landed the Mesa Marin account, then found it was taking too much of her time. In 1995 she came on board full time, closing her own business.
Salamacha said she joined the company just as NASCAR was starting to peak in popularity.
Bob Salamacha is a retired Shafter High School teacher and the Salamachas now reside in Morro Bay. That makes Judy somewhat of a commuter, but she stays in constant touch electronically with the track, its clients, associates and the media. She says she is always present for race weekends.
"We feel fortunate to have Judy stay on," said Larry Collins. "We have a great team, with Jim added to our management staff."
Both Larry Collins and Salamacha travel quite a bit for the company, including attending the Daytona 500 several times.
Larry Collins said the fame of Mesa Marin is spreading. He said if he is any airport in the U.S. wearing a Mesa Marin logo on his clothing, people will recognize it and ask questions.
