The average person living in Antioch, Weed or Escalon, probably has no idea of the amount or the quality of professional race car drivers that come from Northern California. In fact in 2011, Jimmy Boyd from Woodland was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa and in June of 2012, Johnny Anderson of Carmichael will be inducted in the Hall of Fame as well.

National Series Champions

2011 USAC National Drivers Champion & National Midget Champion, Bryan Clauson.

Bryan Clauson who grew up in Antelope before moving to Indiana, won his second straight USAC National Drivers Championship. Bryan also won the USAC National Midget Championship. He came in 8th in Silver Crown and 8th in National Sprint Car. Bryan also ran a partial schedule in the Firestone Indy Lights Series and hopes to qualify for the Indy 500 this year.

2011 American Le Mans Series Champion, Joey Hand from Sacramento, CA.

Joey Hand from Sacramento had the best year of his career winning GT Championship in the American LeMans Series. He started the year as teammate to Scott Pruett winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Later he won the 12 Hours of Sebring, making it a clean sweep of the 2 biggest sports car races in the country. In the 24 Hours of Le Mans he came in 3rd nearly winning the Triple Crown of endurance racing.

2011 World of Outlaws Champion Jason Meyers from Clovis, CA.

Jason Meyers from Clovis won his 2nd consecutive World of Outlaws Sprint Car Championship with 9 wins in 2011. Jason recently announced that he is retiring after 14 races in 2012 to spend more time with his growing family.

2011 Grand-Am Rolex Series Champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas

Scott Pruett from Auburn won the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series for a record fourth time. In 2011, Scott with teammate Memo Rojas, won 5 times including the Rolex 24 at Daytona. He is definitely the Richard Petty of Sports Car racing.

Regional Series Champions

Tyler Dolacki from Madera won the USAC Western Dirt Focus Championship.

Geoff Ensign from Lakeport won the Inaugural USAC Western Classic and Western Classic Dirt Championships.

Andy Forsberg from Auburn won the California Sprint Car Civil War Series Championship with 5 wins for the year.

Tony Hunt from Lincoln, an 8-time USAC Champion.

Tim Kaeding from San Jose won the Golden State King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series Championship.

Garrett Peterson from West Sacramento won the USAC Northern Pavement Focus Championship.

Tommy Tarlton Jr. from Easton won the ASCS Southern California Region with 5 wins in the series.

Richard VanderWeerd from Visalia won the USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Car Championship.

Some other Northern California race car drivers who had successful seasons include:

Drag Racing

Robert Hight from Alturas, CA competes in the Funny Car division of the NHRA .

Robert Hight, orginally from Alturas, came in 4th place in NHRA Funny Car standings.

Karen Stoffer, from Minden, NV finished in the 6th spot in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycles.

NASCAR

A.J. Allmendinger from Los Gatos finished 15th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings with 1 top 5 and 10 top 10 finishes. After the season, A.J. was signed to drive the No. 22 car for the legendary Roger Penske. He also got off to a great start to 2012 by winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Matt Crafton from Tulare ended the year in 8th place in the Camping World Truck Series with 1 win and 5 top 5’s.

Matt DiBenedetto from Grass Valley, at the age of 19, finished in the 4th spot in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East with 1 win and 7 top 5’s.

Justin Funkhouser of Paradise finished in 12th place in the K&N Pro Series West.

Jeff Gordon who grew up in Vallejo before moving to Indiana, finished in 8th place in the Sprint Cup standings. Jeff a 4-time champion, won 3 races in 2012, making 85 for his career.

Cody Hodgson from Escalon, 19 years-old, finished in 11th place in the K&N Pro Series East.

3-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series Champion Eric Holmes from Escalon, CA.

Eric Holmes, the 3-time champion from Escalon, was the 2nd place finisher in the K&N Pro Series West with 2 wins in 2011.

Ryan Philpott from Tracy was 9th in the K&N Pro Series standings in his first full year in the series.

Greg Rayl from Salida finished the season in 11th place in the K&N Pro Series West.

Jack Sellers, the 66 year-old from Sacramento, finished in 13th place in the standings of the K&N Pro Series West. Jack has raced in the series every year for the last 27 years.

Open Wheel

J.R. Hildebrand from Sausalito, CA.

J.R. Hildebrand from Sausalito, finished 14th in his rookie year in the IndyCar Series. J.R. the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion finished 2nd in the 2011 Indy 500 after a dramatic last lap wreck.

Sports Car

Jonathan Bomarito from Monterey finish in the 3rd spot in the Grand-Am Rolex Series GT division.

Dane Cameron of Glen Ellen was 4th in the Grand-Am Rolex Series GT division. He also competed in the American Le Mans Series finishing 14th in the LMPC class.

Jon Fogarty from Palo Alto, a 2 time champion, finished in 4th place in the Grand-Am Rolex Series DP division.

Bill Lester from Oakland and teammate, Jordan Taylor celebrate a win.

Bill Lester, who grew up in San Jose and Oakland, finished 2nd in the Grand-Am Rolex Series GT division. Bill was only 2 points behind the champion while winning 2 races in 2011.

Seth Neiman of San Francisco finished 7th in the American Le Mans Series GT standings.

Henri Richard of Los Altos Hills was the Grand-Am Rolex series Rookie of the Year and finished in 9th place in the DP standings.

Johannes van Overbeek of Sacramento was the 6th place finisher in the American Le Mans Series GT standings.

Sprint Cars

Robert Ballou from Rocklin finished in 7th place in the 2011 USAC National Sprint Car Series standings. Robert also finished 11th in the National Drivers standings.

Keith Bloom Jr. from Anderson finished in 11th place in the USAC National Sprint Car Series.

Damion Gardner from Concord was 6th in the USAC National Sprint Car Series and 13th in the National Drivers standings.

Bud Kaeding from Campbell finished tied for 8th place with Bryan Clauson in the USAC Silver Crown Series.

Kyle Larson from Elk Grove, CA. Photo courtesy of Steve LaMothe.

Kyle Larson, the 19 year-old from Elk Grove had a breakout season in 2011. He was the only driver other than Tony Stewart to ever win a race in all five of the top Sprint Car Series in the same year. He won in World of Outlaws, ASCS, and the top 3 USAC divisions. He also won the biggest race on the West Coast, the Gold Cup in Chico. Kyle finished 2nd in the USAC National Drivers Championship. He also finished 3rd in both the USAC Midgets and Silver Crown while winning Rookie of the Year in both divisions.

Paul McMahan from Elk Grove was the 4th place finisher in the 2011 World of Outlaws standings. Paul had 4 wins and 10 Quick Times.

Kody Swanson from Kingsburg, after suffering a near fatal crash in Indiana, still finished in 10th place in the USAC Silver Crown standings and 14th in the National Midget Series. Kody also was the 5th place finisher in the National Pavement Series.

Tanner Swanson from Kingsburg was 7th in the USAC Silver Crown and 10th in the USAC National Midget Series. Tanner also finished 2nd in the National Pavement Series and 14th in the National Drivers standings.

The California Automobile Museum will host the Sierra Mustang Club in its Car Club Cavalcade Exhibit for the month of December. From December 3 through January 6, visitors will enjoy an array of cars from throughout the history of the original “pony car.”

The Ford Mustang, introduced on April 17, 1964, was a clever re-imagining of the Falcon compact sedan as a sporty coupe with a long list of options that allowed buyers to customize their cars as true luxury or performance machines - or both. Other manufacturers rushed to copy the Mustang’s formula, as well as its long-hood, short-deck styling, giving birth to a boom of so-called “pony cars” that peaked in the late 1960s. Over the last 47 years, the Mustang has consistently been one of America’s favorite performance cars, and its history has been marked by many exciting variations with a common basis in the original car’s winning formula. The Sierra Mustang Club will showcase cars from all eras of the model’s history in this exciting display.

The California Automobile Museum is located at 2200 Front Street, Sacramento, CA 95818. The public can contact the Museum by telephone at 916-442-6802, or visit its website at www.calautomuseum.org. The Museum is open seven days a week from 10:00am-6:00pm, and on the third Thursday of every month until 9:00pm.

The Car Club Cavalcade is a monthly exhibit at the California Automobile Museum. The Museum offers Car Club Memberships to all interested car clubs, and Car Club Members have the opportunity to feature members’ cars in the Museum for one month in the Car Club Cavalcade exhibit. More information on Museum Memberships is available at www.calautomuseum.org/html/membership.html.

The mission of the California Automobile Museum is to preserve, exhibit, and teach the story of the automobile and its influence on our lives. The Museum is a 72,000 square foot facility and has 140 to 160 cars on display. The permanent exhibit showcases vehicles in chronological order from the early 1900s to the 1980s. Other ongoing exhibits include Going Green, WUNDERCARS!, Legends of Speed, and James Dean, as well as the Car Club Cavalcade Exhibit.

Octoberfest 2011 presented by the Capital City Cruisers.

The Capital City Cruisers‘ OctoberFest 2011 and Toy Run was held Saturday, Oct. 22nd in the Lowes parking lot in Citrus Heights, CA. Toys were collected to benefit the Gifts From the Heart program in Sacramento County. The weather cooperated by warming up to the 80’s by mid afternoon. I believe there were a little over 200 cars squeezed into a pretty small area. Several other local car clubs participated, including: Rods & Relics, Midyear Sting Rays, and the River City Chapter of the Falcon Club of America. It was a great day for a great cause with a lot of great cars.

Here are a few of our favorites:

A totally restored 1967 Chevelle SS 396 owned by Dennis Ensley from Meadow Vista, CA.

A better view under the hood of this beautiful 67 Chevelle SS.

A very rare 1968 Shelby GT 500 owned by Tom & Dee Agan from Roseville, CA.

A 1939 Ford Pickup with a stock 85 hp Flathead V8 owned by Fred Krohn from Rocklin, CA.

A flamed 1963 Ford Falcon convertible owned by Ken & Kathy Knutson from Fair Oaks, CA.

A very clean 1952 Chevy Pickup owned by Dale Petersen from Roseville, CA.

A 1950 Ford Custom.

For more photos of OctoberFest 2011, please visit our photo gallery.

PINE GROVE, CALIFORNIA (September 20, 2011) – On Saturday night, 19 year-old Matt Scott won his sixth Late Model main event of 2011 at All American Speedway to take the NASCAR Late Model championship. With the championship, Matt Scott Racing will now move into the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, West beginning at All American Speedway on Saturday October 15.

“The level of competition is a lot higher in the West so I’m really just looking for a good top-five finish or top-ten finish to get my feet wet,” Scott said.

The 2011 NASCAR Late Model championship is the second straight for the 19-time main event winner.

Scott not only won the race on Saturday but he also took quick time in time trials with a 13.80 second lap around the one-third mile asphalt oval. An invert of seven placed Scott seventh on the grid for the 50 lap main event with Scott jumping up to third by lap 12.

After taking second from NASCAR West regular Travis Milburn, Scott began to reel in rookie Dylan Hutchison for the lead. On lap 44, Scott moved past Hutchison to drive to a comfortable victory before a large crowd of supporters on championship night.

Matt Scott's No. 35 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS

“I was biding my time to get through pack so I’d have a car left for the leaders,” Scott said. “I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to reel in Hutchison because he was so far ahead so it was nice to get the win!”

Scott finished within the top-four in all 14 races for the NASCAR Late Models this year at All American Speedway and starting his NASCAR K&N Pro Series, West career at the speedway should give him a good opportunity for success.

“It would mean a lot to win the race as I’ve watched the series race at Roseville over the years and with it being our home track,” Scott said. “There’s definitely a bunch of nerves going into it as I want to do well.”

Matt Scott Racing took delivery of a NASCAR K&N Pro Series, West car last week and will carry co-primary sponsorship from Kamps Propane and RPM NorCal in its debut on October 15. Additional sponsorships are needed to fill out the car for October 15 and for the 2012 season where Matt Scott Racing intends to run the entire season.

“This is a good chance to partner up with a corporate sponsor or maybe even an up-and-comer who would like to grow with us as we go up the NASCAR ladder,” Scott said.

Race fans can help support Matt Scott Racing by making a $5 donation towards tickets for the October 14 Late Model race at All American Speedway. The $5 donation can be made at www.mattscottracing.com. Matt Scott is also in contention for the national Most Popular Driver poll on Speed51.com where fans can vote once daily.

Nineteen year-old Matt Scott from Pine Grove, CA.

Potential sponsors are urged to contact Steven Blakesley at steven@norcalmedia.com or (916) 509-7049 for details on sponsoring Matt Scott Racing.

Matt Scott Racing’s 2011 NASCAR Late Model championship was made possible by BJB Enterprises, Inc., RPM NorCal, Karp Capital, Kamps Propane, Jimboy’s Tacos, CatchYourEye.com, Halm Metal Fab, Pardee Lake Recreation, DoubleTree Hotel Monrovia, Hobbs Construction, T.A.S. Construction, Sumseeds, Red Corral Auto, and Blakesley Sports Media. Matt Scott would like to thank his crew, sponsors, and fans for their support this season.

Race fans can learn more about Matt Scott Racing at www.mattscottracing.com or “Matt Scott Racing” on Facebook.

Darrel Hampton

Fountain Hills, AZ

J.R. Hildebrand drives the No. 4 National Guard car for Panther Racing.

In 2009, driving in the Firestone Indy Lights Series for Michael Andretti, he won the pole and the race in Sonoma on his way to 4 wins and the series championship. Last year at Infineon, JR raced for the first time in an IndyCar and was involved in a crash on lap 38 and finished in 24th place. This year, with a lot more experience and a great Panther Racing team behind him he hopes to get that first career IndyCar win.

J.R. Hildebrand on the track at Infineon Raceway.

Last week, some of the IZOD IndyCar series drivers including J.R. Hildebrand took part in a full day of testing at Infineon Raceway. Fans as well as Media were treated to a Press Conference in the tracks Panasonic Technologies Media Center. In attendance at the press conference was my friend, Lindi Bess, a columnist at SkirtsandSkuffs.com. Lindi was kind enough to provide us with this short excerpt as well as some nice photos.

J.R. Hildebrand answers questions at Infineon Raceway. Photo courtesy of Lindi Bess of SkirtsandSkuff.com.

JR Hildebrand was asked, “Its been an interesting rookie season, you’ve had an opportunity to improve yourself in alot of different venues, but where you’ve shown the brightest is the ovals, would you care to comment on that?”

“It’s obviously because I’m an awesome oval driver….(laughs) Our team has a long history of being an accomplished oval team and that played a big role in it. I think our focus because of that has flip flopped a little to try and improve our road course situation. We don’t always come into places with pole sitting data from the year before so that makes it a little tough to figure out just what we need to do but we’ve definitely been doing a lot of things over the last two, three road course weekends in particular to try to start remedying that situation and I certainly think we are on the upswing with it. Its really been nice to have those races that we’ve been competitive in. Its a shame last weekend (New Hampshire) that we weren’t able to complete the race because we ended up with the a really quick race car for the long runs but its just kinda the nature of how it goes and I’d be happy to admit that I’m still learning and figuring things out so all in all we’ve had a really strong season for being a one car team and its been my rookie year. Hopefully I can continue figuring things out and we continue to get better from here.”

J.R. Hildebrand in his National Guard Helmet.

On Wednesday, J.R. was interviewed on the Grant Napear show on Sports 1140 in Sacramento. He talked about what it’s like to be back home in his native Northern California, as well as his mentality following his crash during the Indy 500. He also talked about his beloved San Francisco Giants, as well as the 49ers and possibly taking new Head Coach Jim Harbaugh (a part owner of Panther Racing) on a ride around Infineon. To listen to the very interesting interview, click here.

For a complete listing of J.R Hildebrand’s race statistics please visit his driver page at www.racing-reference.info.

The Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma can be seen Sunday at 1:00 pm PDT on the Versus network.

Scott Speed from Manteca, CA with his wife, Amanda.

CHARLOTTE, NC (August 22, 2011) – Scott Speed has signed on with Whitney Motorsports to run the rest of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) races in the No. 46 Ford Fusion.

Speed has recently been driving the No. 37 Ford Fusion and has qualified for all three NSCS races that he has attempted. Speed also just came off of a sixth place finish for Kevin Harvick Inc. this past weekend in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Montreal.

The No. 46 Ford Fusion, with the FR9 Roush Yates engines, owned by Dusty Whitney, plans to run the remainder of the races this season in the NSCS starting at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend.

“I really like Dusty and his guys,” said Speed. “They work really hard with the little amount that they have. There is a lot of passion over here and I love how tight of a group we are, we are the underdogs and I love it.”

Speed has 79 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, with one top-five and three top-10s, nine top-10s in 14 starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and one win, four top-fives and nine top-10s in 16 starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

“Scott has shown us what a tremendous asset he is,” said Dusty Whitney, owner of Whitney Motorsports. “We are extremely excited about having him drive our car. He is a great guy with an amazing talent. We hope to make our mark before the season is over.”

“We have sponsors lined up for Atlanta and Kansas, and are on the prowl for the other races. I feel that Scott and this team have a lot to offer anyone that wants to get into the sport of NASCAR.”

The No. 46 Ford Fusion sits outside the top-35 in the NSCS Owners Points, therefore Scott Speed will have to qualify the car at each race.

- Scott Speed, Inc., Press Release

At what appears to be the highest price paid at public auction for a collector car, the first 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa sold for $14.9 million Saturday night at the Gooding auction in Monterey. Gooding officials are still tabulating the final price with premiums, With premiums, that price rose to $16.39 million, a figure that easily surpasses the $12.2 million (with buyer’s premium) paid for another 1957 Testa Rossa at RM’s 2009 Leggenda e Passione sale in Maranello, the prior high-water mark for Ferraris and collector cars in general.

According to Gooding’s description of the Testa Rossa, chassis No. 0666 TR, it is not only the first 250 Testa Rossa built, but was also campaigned by Scuderia Ferrari when new, piloted by a number of racers including Masten Gregory and Phil Hill. Luigi Chinetti then bought it and campaigned it as part of the NART team at the 1958 Le Mans with Dan Gurney and Bruce Kessler at the wheel. It was at Le Mans that Kessler nearly destroyed the car after a collision with a Jaguar D-Type; a subsequent factory rebuild ensued, and though Chinetti then sold the car shortly after, it did return to Le Mans the next year and continued to race through 1964. Though it was separated from its original engine and set afire during the 1960s, it has since been reunited with its original engine, treated to two restorations and taken first in its class (twice) at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

While the $14.9 million is the highest auction price paid, it still does not qualify the Ferrari for the title of world’s most expensive car. That goes instead to the 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, sold in a private transaction (also brokered by Gooding) to the Mullin Automotive Museum for between $30 million and $40 million last year.

Written by Daniel Strohl