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I don't know if any of you on here know my dad or not. He wasn't a computer user so he was never on this message board. My dad passed away early on the morning of November 18th.
He was a long time racing fan, having attended races at Ascot and Perris regularly over the past 40 years. He began going to midget races at Airport Speedway in Fresno immediately following the war. He was friends with Bill Vukovich Sr and went into the service station business with Vukovich. They owned two stations in Fresno until Bill's death.
His first date with my mom was a Big Car race at the old Sacramento fairgrounds in 1965. My dad took me to my first race in Tucson when I was 6 months old. Beginning in 1974, we would go to Ascot weekly until the track's closure. When the sprint cars had no home track we would travel to the races together to places like Manzy, Tulare and Hanford, among others.. When Perris opened in 1996, we started going there up until I moved to Oregon in 2008. He continued to go after that, but in the past year or so he didn't make as many races because of failing health.
My dad was a big fan of Mike Spencer. In fact, he pretty much liked whoever was driving the 50 car. He especially liked Spencer, though and thought he was one of the smoothest drivers he had ever seen. He really liked Bruce Bromme Jr. He liked Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick. He used to follow the old CRA Midwest tours and later the SCRA tours.
My dad loved people and made many racing friends over the years. It is my hope that some of them will see this post. I want them to know but don't know how to contact them.
I miss my dad. He was my best friend. I have already begun to introduce my young son to racing so we can hopefully share the same bond as he grows up and carry on the Van Natta tradition.
John Van Natta
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