Cajon drivers making other plans

Fallbrook’s Cajon Speedway drivers who had planned to run during the 2005 Cajon Speedway season are in the process of determining their other plans for 2005.

Scott Denton, Keith Krueger, and Mike McGlone will likely be running on dirt tracks this year, Bob Caron plans to compete in a touring series, Mike Salm may run occasionally at Irwindale Speedway but will focus on his children’s racing activities, and former Fallbrook resident Pat Garity is contemplating the choice between the dirt tracks and a year off.

“Like everybody else, we’re disappointed,” said Linda Costello, who co-owns McGlone’s car along with her husband, Roy.

McGlone and Denton ran in the Bomber Stocks division at Cajon Speedway. Perris Auto Speedway doesn’t have a Bomber Stocks class, but the regular racing includes a Street Stocks division. “They have the closest rules to the Bomber class we’ve been in,” Costello said.

Costello feels that the Monte Carlo McGlone drove at Cajon Speedway is too big to be competitive at Perris. The Costellos purchased a Camaro in 2004. “Now we will start to work on it,” Linda Costello said. “Right now it’s a bare frame.”

Costello and her husband will likely sell the Monte Carlo, possibly to a driver at the Blythe track where they found a buyer for the Gran Torino McGlone drove prior to the switch to the Monte Carlo.

The first Street Stocks race at Perris was run February 26, and the Camaro likely won’t be ready for the next race March 19. “We’ll take our time and maybe by Summer we’ll be able to run a race or two at Perris,” Costello said.

The 2005 Perris Auto Speedway schedule calls for 17 Street Stocks races, including the February 12 race which was rained out and has not yet been rescheduled. The Perris season runs from February through November.

After building the car, McGlone and the Costellos will also test the Camaro before racing it. “It will be a nice little break for us, I think,” Linda Costello said.

They will also observe other Street Stock drivers at Perris during that time.

McGlone drove a Speedway Midget on dirt tracks before blowing an engine in 1999, so the switch to Perris will be a return to dirt racing for McGlone. “He’s familiar with dirt, and I think he’ll actually shine up there,” Costello said.

Pitting on the dirt will be a new experience for the Costellos. “We’re going to miss the concrete pits,” Linda Costello said.

Perris Auto Speedway is approximately 40 miles from Fallbrook while Cajon Speedway is approximately 55 miles away. Costello said that she won’t miss the commute or the traffic to El Cajon. “We’re going to miss our Cajon friends,” she said. “We’re just really going to miss all that. It’s a real shame.”

McGlone was 13th in the Bomber Stock standings in 2004. Denton finished second, nine points behind track champion Brian Fitzgibbons. Although Denton had set his sights on the season championship, the stakes of the competition in 2004 reduced his enjoyment, and his second child was born November 5. Denton planned to race only part-time in 2005, but now his part-time plans will place him at dirt tracks.

“I think I’m going to both Perris and Barona,” Denton said.

Denton plans to run the same Nova he ran at Cajon Speedway in Perris’ Street Stocks division. “Think I’ll do my practice driving out at Barona, get that out of the way first,” he said.

Denton also expressed the possibility of serving as a crew member for another Street Stocks driver before racing on the track himself. “I don’t want to just bring my Nova out and trash it,” he said.

Perris is a half-mile oval while Barona is a quarter-mile oval. Cajon Speedway has a 3/8-mile oval.

On September 11, the Nova’s throttle stuck during a practice lap and Denton hit the wall, causing significant frame damage. He borrowed the Chevelle he had sold to Lyle Driscoll for the final three races of 2004. “I’ve got some work to do to the Nova to get it back,” he said.

Although Denton has never raced on dirt, he grew up in Lake Charles, LA, and drove on numerous dirt roads before moving to San Diego County. “Maybe it will all come back,” he said.

In addition to his Nova, Denton also owns an LTD which competed in the Factory Stocks division at Cajon Speedway. Keith Krueger was the usual driver of the LTD at Cajon Speedway, although Denton sometimes substituted in Krueger’s absence, as did two of Krueger’s brothers.

After the 2004 Cajon Speedway season ended, Krueger drove the LTD in the Factory Stocks division at Barona. With the elimination of the 2005 Cajon Speedway season, Denton will be doing some of the driving in the LTD. “I’ll drive some and he’ll drive some,” Denton said.

Since the Perris season has already begun, the pressure of the points race no longer exists for Denton - which means that he does not have to compete in each race. “I can do it when I want,” he said.

One of Denton’s Cajon Speedway crew members, Dick Laycock, drives in the touring Lightning Stock class, and Denton may also spend some nights on Laycock’s crew. “He helped me out all these years,” Denton said.

Krueger had planned to race part-time at Cajon Speedway and part-time at Barona Speedway in 2005. The elimination of the Cajon season means more races at Barona. “We’re going to do the Barona season,” he said. “I’ll run the Factory Stocks out at Barona.”

Krueger’s brothers Kevin and Kelly drove a Lincoln in the Factory Stock division at Cajon Speedway when neither of the brothers substituted in the LTD. “I talked to my brothers and they’ll be switching over to the dirt,” Keith Krueger said. “We’ll be racing if we’ve got to race wagons. We’re going to race something.”

For Krueger, the elimination of the asphalt season may be a benefit. “I’m way more comfortable on the dirt track than I ever was at Cajon,” he said.

Krueger began his dirt racing career with karts on the dirt oval in Carlsbad. While his only Cajon Speedway win came in a 2003 consolation main and he finished no higher than 13th in a Cajon Speedway main event in 2004, he won his second-ever Factory Stocks main event at Barona and had also been a winner in his second kart race.

Not only does he feel that his driving will be more competitive on a dirt track, but he also feels that car repair work will diminish since dirt tracks have a cushion at the top just before the wall. “There’s not as much carnage,” Krueger said.

Krueger didn’t rule out the possibility of driving at Perris, although he would not be able to do so in the LTD or the Lincoln without converting those to the Cruiser class in which one driver controls the steering wheel and brake pedal and the other driver operates the gas pedal.

Although Krueger looks forward to concentrating on dirt, he regrets the closure of Cajon Speedway. “It was fun,” he said.

The failure of the negotiations to run a full 2005 season doesn’t eliminate the possibility of occasional races at Cajon Speedway in 2005. “If they run some racing out there, we’re going to be there,” Krueger said.

In 1955 Earle Brucker Sr. obtained a 50-year lease from the County of San Diego for surplus Gillespie Field airport property. Brucker, a former player and coach for the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team, had planned to build a baseball stadium for use as a Spring Training facility. After the ballpark was built, negotiations with the Detroit Tigers fell through. In the 1950s what was then known as County Stadium hosted motorcycle races, high school football games, circuses, and rodeos.

On January 24, 1961, the San Diego City Council voted to expand Balboa Stadium, clearing the way for the Los Angeles Chargers football team to move to San Diego. The Chargers’ move to San Diego meant the end of stock car racing at Balboa Stadium, and in 1961 racecar owner Tom Jackman spoke to Brucker about the possibility of hosting stock car racing. A quarter-mile dirt oval was constructed at County Stadium, and the first stock car races at Cajon Speedway were held on July 15, 1961. The track was enlarged to three-eighths of a mile in 1964 and was paved in 1966. In 1986 Cajon Speedway became a NASCAR-affiliated track.

Management of the track spanned three generations of the Brucker family. Steve Brucker took over as promoter of the track after it received its NASCAR sanction while his brother, Kevin, became the track’s manager.

On April 14, 2003, Steve Brucker was murdered at his home during a robbery attempt. The trial of the four defendants is expected to begin this year. Tragedy continued for the Brucker family when Kevin Brucker’s wife, Doris, was diagnosed with brain cancer.

The worsening of Doris Brucker’s brain cancer and the upcoming murder trial of the four defendants accused of killing Steve Brucker led to Kevin Brucker’s decision not to continue as promoter. On January 5 Brucker announced that he would not serve as the track promoter in 2005. The announcement three days before the awards banquet for the 2004 season allowed for some discussion prior to the banquet about interested potential promoters renting the track from the Bruckers, and by the banquet Brucker had heard from three interested groups.

Former racers Mark Norris and Bo Lemler emerged as the partnership likely to operate the track in 2005. Successful negotiations, however, required not only an agreement between the Brucker family and Norris and Lemler but also a three-month lease extension from the county to complete the season (the lease expires August 15) and negotiations involving the concession rights. After nearly two months of negotiations, Norris announced on March 1 that he and Lemler were not willing to meet the conditions imposed to rent the track from the Bruckers.

On March 4 Doris Brucker passed away. “This family’s just been inundated with tragedy, not to mention the lease expiring,” Krueger said.

Because Gillespie Field receives grant money from the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA and not the county has the right to determine which parts of Gillespie Field must be used for aviation-related purposes and which parts can be used for non-aviation activities. The FAA has informed County Airports that the Cajon Plaza property will be used as aviation land, so it would literally require an act of Congress to extend the Cajon Speedway lease past November 15.