|
Silver
Dollar Speedway
Chico, California:
When I sat down last spring with Brad Furr,
I asked him what his most favorite and his least favorite tracks
were. Needless to say,
Knoxville is on a large majority of sprint car drivers
“favorite” list. That
would lead me to his other answer…. Chico.
The first leg of my trip this summer took
me to Chico, California for the Civil War Series of Sprint Cars.
The Silver Dollar Speedway promoted by John Padjen
Motorsports is not far off Interstate 5 just north of Sacramento and
provides a great night of racing.
Although racing has been around in Chico
since 1948, it moved around a lot in before 1962 and the present
location of Silver Dollar Speedway.
From the beginning Silver Dollar Speedway has been the only
dirt racetrack in Northern California to run a Friday night program.
(Since I was traveling, this drew me to SDS).
Northern Auto Racing Club made Silver Dollar Speedway it’s
home when it started racing there in 1968 under Valley Auto Racing
Association (VARA) promotion.
West
Capital Speedway Promoter John Padjen obtained control of the Silver
Dollar Speedway in 1978 and continues to offer a wide range of
racing events. Padjen moved to sprint cars as the headline class
starting in 1983.
The
Gold Cup Race of Champions was moved to Silver Dollar in 1980 and is
now considered one of the premiere events in the sprint car racing
on the west coast. As a
matter of fact….. IT’S GOING ON RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Silver Dollar Speedway special events
include the Civil War Series, the Golden State Challenge, as well as
the Gold Cup.
When I got to the track after driving 7
hours from Los Angeles, getting lost among the fields above
Sacramento, it was nice to come upon Silver Dollar Speedway.
It really isn’t a hard track to find.
It was my fault for following an internet based directions
program. I definitely
took the long way to get to the speedway. I will say though that I thought I had arrived at the
speedway on one of the hottest days of the year, or so it seemed.
The management at the track is very
courteous and friendly. I
spent the first hour chatting with the paddock folks about racing in
Northern California. (This being my first time and all). They all seemed to smile when I mentioned that they were the
only ones racing on Friday.
The facilities there are pretty good.
Everything a racer needs is in the pits.. gas, food and clean
potties. There was also
plenty of room for all of the cars and haulers.
More room than a lot of tracks I have visited. The remainder
of the facility is very well kept.
I walked around to the front of the track where there were a
number of vendors selling everything from diecast collectables to
t-shirt to food and beverages.
Race operations went very smooth the night
I was there. Granted, there was only one class racing, so I could
not really see how things were run on a multi-event night.
The program ran smooth and the fans were given a real good,
clean race by the Civil War Series cars.
I recommend you start your weekend of right
and get over to the Silver Dollar Speedway for a great night of
racing. This track is
one of the best in Northern California.
You can get more information at http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com/silver_dollar/index.html Check
out my Silver
Dollar Speedway Photos Here.
| 
