Home » Dwarf Car Nationals Returns to Antioch Speedway Friday And Saturday

Dwarf Car Nationals Returns to Antioch Speedway Friday And Saturday

By Candice Martin

by CC News
Antioch Speedway

Antioch, CA — Antioch Speedway has another big event coming this Friday and Saturday night. This is the annual WSDCA Dwarf Car Nationals, hosted by the Delta Dwarf Cars. Delta President Danny Wagner of Bay Point and his team organizes this event for all the visiting drivers, which includes getting special awards for each night and post race meals and cornhole tournament.

The Nationals isn’t just a race, it’s also kind of a Dwarf Car family get together. Some of the very best in Dwarf Car racing from throughout multiple western states will be competing in three different classifications, Pro, Veteran and Sportsman.

The track has also added extra attractions to each night. On Friday night, the Wingless Spec Sprints and IMCA Stock Cars will compete. A night later, we will see the Tri State Pro Stocks, IMCA Modifieds and Print Club Mini Stocks.

The oldest Dwarf Car sanctioning body in California and second oldest on the West Coast is the NorCal Dwarf Car Association. Early in their existence, Frank Munroe joined and became president and a multi-time champion.

NorCal offered some of the fastest drivers and the biggest car counts at that point, but Frank had a bigger vision. At Marysville, he created a Dwarf Car Nationals event, and over 100 cars were a normal occurrence in the early years.

Frank had a bigger vision. He wanted to unite all of the Dwarf Car groups under a universal rule set and start having National and Regional events at other venues. This gave birth to the South Bay Dwarf Car group in Watsonville, the Redwood Dwarf Car group in Petaluma, the Southern California group and the Delta Dwarf Cars in Antioch, along with several other groups out of state.

Wagner was the instigator in creating the Delta Dwarf Car group. He saw great opportunity as a past NorCal champion to get Antioch involved in a bigger thing. This led to a Regional race at Antioch that first year, which became a Nationals two years ago.

This series is bigger than any of the individual association point races. The Nationals has a championship series of its own. The featured class is the Pro division, and they generally get enough cars to have a B Main. Drivers are competing all weekend, starting with earning Top 10 Preliminary finishes on Friday, which puts them in the Fast Dash on Saturday to determine the first five rows of the feature race. The Main Events on Saturday are the money races.

Antioch Speedway

Tommy Velasquez III #14 is the reigning WSDCA Pro division champion. Photo by Katrina Kniss

Last season, Camarillo’s Tommy Velasquez III was the Pro series champion. The Velasquez family reformed the Southern California Dwarf Car group 2 years ago. Currently, Wagner leads Nick Velasquez of Camarillo by five points with Trent Morley of Woodland Hills 14 points back in third and Michael Tobiason of Ramona 18 points back.

You’ll find much competition in the Pro division, and last year’s race was won by former Antioch regular Adam Teves of Concord.

The Veteran division is for drivers over 45 years old, and they are as fiercely competitive as the Pro’s. Reigning champion Mike Reeder of Placerville holds a one point advantage over past Veteran’s champion Kevin Bender of Rocklin. Tom Morley of Woodland Hills is 25 points back in third, two ahead of Mark Biscardi of San Jose.

St Helens, Oregon competitor Teagan Fischer is about ready to graduate to the next level. In the meantime, Teagan holds a six point lead over Greeley, Colorado driver Marek Pipe 18 points back in third is Dennis Tower of Rainier, Oregon.

Local stars, such as Devan Kammermann of Dublin, David Michael Rosa of Antioch, Chance Russell of Antioch and Travis Day of Concord are among those anticipated. Russell is listed in a tie with Kammermann for the Antioch point lead, though this will not be an Antioch point race.

Also anticipated is local star and 2021 National Sportsman champion Ellie Russo of Bay Point. Recently, Russo and Wagner took a vacation in Hawaii, and Wagner and her got engaged.

Antioch Speedway

Troy Foulger #49 picked up the big win in the Soares Memorial IMCA Modified race. Photo by Katrina Kniss

In the IMCA Modified division, Troy Foulger of Oakley finally picked up his first win of the season last week as he is leading in the pursuit of an unprecedented sixth division championship. His advantage is 19 over IMCA National rookie leader Andrew Pearce of Oakley. 33 points pack in third is 2019 champion Buddy Kniss of Oakley. The Modifieds have been a wide open affair so far with four different winners in four races.

The Wingless Spec Sprint division is in its 25th championship season, and Hunt Series regular Jarrett Soares of Gilroy holds an eight point advantage over the returning Kevin Box of Bethel Island. The close battle finds Oakley’s James East 12 points out of the lead in third and two ahead of season opener winner Shawn Arriaga of Antioch.

Foulger finds himself leading two championship battles. He holds an 11 point advantage over two-time reigning champion Travis Dutra of Concord in the IMCA Stock Car class. Rio Vista racer Kenneth Robles is 17 points out of the lead in third, one ahead of his father Jason Robles.

The Print Club Mini Stock battle finds two-time reigning champion Tom Brown of Santa Rosa winless so far, but his back-to-back runner-up finishes gives him a 40 point advantage over two-time winner Tom Davis of Los Molinos. Davis is a multi-time champion at Orland Raceway, and he’s currently tied with season opener winner Dana Gardner of San Bruno. Don Abitz is 18 points behind the duo in fourth.

While we haven’t seen the point list for the Tri State Pro Stock Series, we can tell you it’s been highly competitive. At the Rocky Nash Memorial in Oregon recently, 2021 champion Justin Crockett of Arroyo Grande picked up his second win of the season after making a late pass on Grass Valley’s Richard Brace Jr. The wins this year have gone to Fallon, Nevada racer Travis White at Placerville and Jeffrey Hudson of Keno, Oregon at the Larry Damitz Memorial at Antioch a few weeks ago.

The Pro Stock division is keeping the Super Stock style of racing alive as it brings together the best drivers in three different states. The Saturday show for them should see the likes of three-time Antioch champion Jim Freethy of Danville, Mike Walko of Oakley, Chad Hammer of Antioch and Joey Ridgeway of Antioch to represent the local contingent.

Normally, the local fans have to travel somewhere to see a second night of racing, but this weekend we will be offering two competitive shows to enjoy.

On both nights, the gates will open at 4:00 with the first race starting at 6:00. Adult tickets are $20, Senior/Military $15, Kids (5-12) $15 and kids five and under free.

For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway by PROmotions Facebook page.


For more upcoming events in Contra Costa County, visit our events calendar, click here.

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