Forum: Northern California Sprint Car (go)
Moderators: StuDeedooo

the following is from hoseheads...

That sucks!

What's the commercial development... auto wrecking yard expansion?

Remember when the big three was Knoxville, The Pacific Coast Open at Ascot and the Western World at Manzy?

Two down....

Glad I made it a point to stop there in 2000, but, Igot there on a "thirdmile" night, so, I still didn't get to see a race on the "half." Sad. I feel for all the local/weekly fans.

Like TopWing mentioned....junkyards! If they plan on building homes, or malls, they're gonna have to buy out a ton of land owners!

What a shame. The races between Lealand and Ronnie I saw as a child were some of the best I have seen... Best program ever-The Manzy Mag

Last race is going to be April 11th

http://www.raceimages.net

That really does suck! I loved my trips to Manzy..Nothing better than spring training baseball during the day, then out to Manzy at night, Lots of good memories from the SCRA days there as well. Its a sad day for race fans.

Greg and Mike started something here....

What's you best Manzy memory?

Mine... 1995. Moose and I helped Don O'Keefe build a Beast Silver Crown car to run at the Copper World. We were just a few days short of getting the car finished but since Don and Linda had already paid for and made all the arrangements, we all went without the car. Bob East had Don, Moose and I hang out with his team (Steve Lewis connection I think) that Stan Fox was driving for to just learn how the guys were doing the setups. At night, it was off to Manzy where we all decided to watch from the pits. I wandered over to watch hot laps from the inside of turn three and my god... I wet myself. Unbelievable how fast the SCRA was on that track! We ended up kind of tag-on wrenching for Tom & Laurie Sertich (Moose Racing, go figure) who had NorCal's Glen Carson driving for them. That was fun. As I recall, that night Chuck Gurney (Ed Eulate's (sp) 3DB) and Ron Shuman both bowed out from racing that night, rumor was going around that the track was too fast for them (lol). Someone shunted very badly down the back straight and did some sheet time, don't remember who it was, but his car was dragged into the infield and a tarp put over it... more rumors, but he lived. I can't remember who Richard Griffin was driving for, but he put it over the wall in turn one and they had to fetch him from the junk yard. The next day, we saw him just before getting in his SC car at PIR with two black eyes.

That Race Plant will be missed.

Oh, can't forget the recording I made of Moose snoring... ah, the good ol' days.

You're right Mr. Smoke, I remember now it was the Tamale Wagon he was driving.

yeah ok topwing.................i got film of you with your rubber ducky too.......lmfao

You promised not to tell!!!

Wifey... help!

For those of us living in the area the demise of Manzanita Speedway isn't that surprising. It's not that we need more room for commercial development, itt really comes down to the fact that the promoters dropped the ball over the last few years and let attendance slip. They are now simply selling the property to get out from under it before they lose any more money. Attendance kept slipping because the promoter lost touch with the fans. This might be due to a lockout that happened a few years ago during the ownership struggle. Things were never the same after that. Most of you who have been on here for a long time know that I'm a big sprint car racing fan. During the 90s my wife and I went to over 130 events across California. I moved to Phoenix in 2002 but I became so disenchanted with the way they run the shows there that the only races I have been to were the Western World Championships and the outlaw races. Even going to the Western World Championship was a stretch.

Fans don't want to come to the racetrack and spend six hours waiting for the main event. Maybe you might do that if the weather was bad but not when it's in Phoenix Arizona and the weather is perfect. This promoter was unable to start shows on time and put shows together in a timely manner. Who wants to bring kids to a six-hour race? On the other hand, when you're paying good money to come in the door you want to be able to see the main event. There was way too much downtime between races and it always seemed as if there was some sort of lack of organization. The promoter didn't make any friends with the neighbors either. When you have shows running till 1 AM in the morning, you don't set a good atmosphere for positive relations. It's not that there is a big threat of residential development encroaching upon the area but the ones who were there were happy with the way business was being conducted.

Over the past few years the food has had diminishing quality. It used to be that you could purchase quite a different variety of foods. That's not the case anymore. They didn't have any fry bread or churros at the Western World Championships on Saturday night! How could that happen? I really wanted some fry bread! The parking has changed because of the realignment of 35th Ave. There is no doubt that this had an adverse effect on attendance. The neighborhood is not so great to begin with and who wants to walk around with the family in a bad neighborhood at night with no lights.

Finally, I believe the biggest misstep over the past few years was not putting the announcer out to pasture. Windy is an icon and certainly should be recognized for his dedication and service to Manzanita Speedway. But the times have changed and he didn't keep up with them. All of the shouting and screaming that he does just doesn't go down well after a couple of hours. He doesn't pass along any information that's very insightful. It seems as if they expect you to know all the ins and outs of what's going on with each series. I used to enjoy it when USAC employed Bobby G and he would come down and do the infield announcing for the Western World Championships. Maybe I was just spoiled over the years in San Jose and Chico. But I think that George H., Dennis, Bobby G and the other fine announcers in California do a far better job of keeping the fans informed and engaged in the program.

To say the least, the Phoenix area of racing community is in shock. It's my understanding that they plan to level the Speedway very quickly so that a crane company can move in. The promoters have said that they plan on finding a new location and bringing the Manzanita name back to racing in the future. I will not exactly hold my breath but I do wish them the best of luck. I guess for now I'll have some distinct memories of attending the last race at the San Jose Fairgrounds and the last race at Manzanita Speedway.

Kerry