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Hunt Series Sprint Cars, Late Models, Chet Thomson Hardtop Race Headline Track Or Treat Night At Antioch This Saturday

Antioch, CA...Racing resumes at Antioch Speedway this Saturday night for the second to last time this year. We're at the time of year when the weather starts to change, but the mild temperatures expected on Saturday night will be inviting to racing fans who are looking to fill their need for speed.

Track or Treat Night means that during intermission the drivers will pull out to the infield and hand out candy to the kids, who are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes. Costumed kids 12 and under get in for free, and general admission has been reduced to $15 for the remainder of the season. Competing on this occasion will be the Hunt Wingless Spec Sprint Series, Limited Late Models, Hardtops, Super Stocks and Mini Stocks.

Originally, this race was scheduled to be a local Wingless Spec Sprint show. However, the Hunt Magnetos Wingless Series enjoyed their visit on Backpack Night in July so much that they requested a third visit. They have two more races remaining to settle the championship battle in their 15th season.

Not only will the tour be competing for $1,500 to win once again, the winner will claim the Panfili Cup. This big trophy was created in honor of Antioch Speedway Hall of Famer Rick Panfili, who lost his battle with cancer in 2022. Rick supported this division stronger than anybody during the first 20 years of this division at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds racing facility. Brentwood's Blake Bower won The Panfili Cup last year after an intense battle.

This is the eighth race of the season for the Hunt Series, and reigning series and two-time Antioch champion DJ Johnson of Stockton seems to have hit his stride. Johnson has won three races this year, including the recent two events at Petaluma. Unfortunately, this is when two-time winner and Antioch champion Jake Tuttle of Oakley started having a little bit of bad luck. Johnson now leads Tuttle by 42 points.

Only one point behind Tuttle and still very much in the championship battle is Josh Young of Roseville. Young has wins at both Placerville and Petaluma in Spec Sprint competition, but his two seconds and a third remain his best efforts with the series this year.

Antioch's Shawn Arriaga won the Randy Larson Memorial at Petaluma to kick the season off. He was leading the standings going into Backpack Night at Antioch in July when bad luck knocked him out of the battle for the lead. He is 17 points behind Tuttle in fourth, 52 points ahead of Nick Larson of Vallejo. Heath Holdsclaw of Loomis, Ethon Lanfri of Milpitas, Yuba City's Josh Wooten, top rookie Tyler Cato of Santa Rosa and Roseville's Brent Steck make up the balance of the Top 10 coming into the night.

The Hunt Series has achieved its goals of increased car counts for the tracks they visit and better payout for the drivers since it was established in 2010. Santa Rosa's Terry Schank Jr won three of the first four championships to set the standard. Early season Antioch winner Shawn Jones of San Jose and Jake Morgan of Roseville are two-time champions, and DJ Johnson would like to join them in that accomplishment.

The Wingless Spec Sprints and Limited Late Models provide plenty of speed for the fans. This will be the fourth and finial race of the Late Model mini-series. Rod Oliver of Yuba City has been a good supporter of Antioch in the past, and he finds himself leading the series by 16 points over Ray Trimble of Auburn. Oliver has a second and two thirds for his best Antioch efforts, but he was a feature winner at Placerville earlier this year.

Last time out, Randy Shafer of Vacaville collected his first win in the division in a race that was in doubt all the way to the finish. Other drivers anticipated for the show include Paul Gugliemoni and brother Clark, both of the Vacaville, Chester Kniss of Antioch and son Buddy Kniss of Oakley. Livermore's Shawn DeForest scored an impressive win last week in Marysville and could be on hand for this show as well.

The Chet Thomson Memorial Hardtop race is the biggest event of the season for the class, and they should draw their biggest car count of the year. Last season, a field of 17 competitors showed up for a race won by reigning track champion Joel Hannagan of San Jose ahead of Mike Gillard of Atwater. The race was a crowd-pleaser. For Hannagan, it was his fourth-straight win in this race.

Since this race was added to the schedule back in 2016, Jason Armstrong of Placerville has two wins, while other victories have been recorded by Terry DeCarlo Sr of Martinez and Kimo Oreta of Vacaville.

The Chet Thomson Memorial itself was created at the old Vallejo Speedway in 1967. "Chargin" Chet Thomson teamed with car owner Bob Thomas to win the 1962 Vallejo Speedway championship, and both men were eventually inducted into the BCRA Hall of Fame. Being one of the most beloved members of the Vallejo racing community, it was decided to create a special race in his memory in 1967.

Julian "Catch Em" Castro got the first win, and Phil "Bang Bang" Pedlar, "The Sun Drop Kid" Larry Damitz, Laney Westbrook, Jim Kaiser, Larry Hall, Chet's son Tommy Thomson, "Big" John Veil, Leroy "Go Get Em" Geving, Augie Fonseca and Skip Brown won the other races. Westbrook and Pedlar each won it twice. Tommy Thomson got together with Dave Mackey and Ken Retzloff and decided to bring the race back nearly 40 years later at Antioch Speedway.

Last season, the Hardtops raced for their first Antioch championship since 1964. Hannagan won that title and was leading the standings until the most recent race. He suffered a rare mechanical failure to fall out early, and Merced Sportsman champion Mike Gillard used his second Antioch win to gain a four-point advantage going into the finale. Gillard also has six wins in Sportsman competition at Merced this year.

Don Slaney of Martinez has a good hold on third, while Roseville's Joe Shenefield sits comfortably in fourth. Multi-time Merced Sportsman champion Rick Elliott is six points ahead of Dexter Long of Ballico and 24 over Ken Clifford of Placerville in the race for fifth. A good turnout is anticipated, and this may include Mike McCann of Oregon. McCann founded the modern era Hardtop movement in California back in 2002 after successfully promoting several championship seasons at Sunset Speedway in Banks, Oregon.

Saturday's show will also wrap up the Super Stock mini-series. Ryan Cherezian of Knightsen will wrap it up merely by starting the race. Reigning champion Mike Learn of Petaluma won another title at Petaluma, and he leads multi-time Antioch champion Jim Freethy of Danville by 14 points. Paul Hanley of Emerald Hills is fourth. Learn won the most recent race, while Antonio Aragon of Reno, Nevada and Cherezian were the other winners. Cherezian won on Larry Damitz Memorial night.

The Mini Stocks are running for bragging rights, and Santa Rosa's Tom Brown has quite a bit to brag about these days as a three-time Antioch champ and five-time Petaluma title winner. Brown has collected 43 feature wins between the two tracks since winning his first title in 2018.

Brown held off 2023 champion Tom Davis of Los Molinos by a mere six points this year despite being eliminated in a crash with Davis at the point finale. Davis won that night, and the two drivers are tied atop the all-time Antioch Mini Stock win list with 15 each. This race may not be for points, but it is for the bragging rights of being the all-time winner.

Tony Quininez of Corning finished a solid third this year. He won a race last year. Though he had a late season triumph in Susanville this year, he was unable to win at Antioch. He'd like to change that on Saturday. Other drivers to watch for include top rookie Jackie Price of Antioch, Matt Wirth of Oakland and Tom Carse of Novato. We might even see an appearance from Merced champion Chris Corder of Modesto.

There's a lot of fun on the schedule this Saturday night. With candy for the kids and some fast racing action on the track, the second to last race of the season at Antioch Speedway will be a night to behold.

The gates will open at 4:00 with the first race starting at 6:00.

Adult tickets are $15, Senior/Military $15, Kids (5-12) $15 or free if wearing a Halloween costume and kids four and under free.

For further information, go to http://www.raceantiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway by PROmotions Facebook page.

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