The history of late model racing at Redwood Acres Raceway (1988 - today)

#16 Rusty Olson, #1 Billy Clarkson and #48 Jim Walker at Redwood Acres Raceway, 1995

I am very anxious and excited for a couple races that are coming up at Redwood Acres Raceway. July 4th will feature the Firecracker 100, the second Tri-Holiday Classic late model event which is in its first year at RAR. On the first of August, the premiere super late model touring series on the west coast, the Spears SRL Southwest Tour will be racing for the second time at RAR and the first since 2013.

Late model racing has been a staple of Redwood Acres Raceway ever since the track was repaved before the 1988 season. RAR's late model division at the time was the super stock class. The super stocks were basically like the NASCAR Southwest and Northwest Tour cars at the time. The idea was to have the cars be able to race on the local level while also being able to race the touring series without having to make a number of adjustments to the car or even having a completely different car. The super stocks lasted at RAR only three seasons from 1988 to 1990 and the track was dominated between Jim Walker and Randy Olson. RAR also hosted the NASCAR Southwest Tour Series which several local drivers raced in but never won. The closest any RAR driver came was in the 1990 Olympia 100 when Randy Olson finished second (unfortunately I don't have video of that race.)

1990 also marked the first year that RAR hosted a large open competition race. From the 70s and on through the 80s, open competition events were the biggest races held at tracks all over the west coast. Northern California's top two open comp races through those years were at Shasta Speedway every spring and fall. The spring race was the Laura Robinson Nor-Cal 150 while the fall race was the Western 150. Both races were shortened in the late 80s to 100 laps while the fall event was renamed in honor of Toby Elder. Officials at Shasta, RAR and Silver State Raceway in Carson City, Nevada partnered together to create a three-race open competition championship series at the end of the year, the Tri-Western 300 with each track hosting a 100-lap race. The series proved to be a huge success with Randy Olson winning the races Silver State and RAR races and taking the championship. Robert Sprague was the winner of the Shasta event.


In 1991, the super stock class merged with the street stock cars and turned into the sportsman division. It benefited both divisions as more cars were able to race but the rules for the division were different enough that several super stock drivers, namely Walker didn't race weekly. It was also during that year that Frank Roman's Nor-Cal Late Model touring series made its first visit to RAR. The Nor-Cal Series had rules that were more aligned closer to the rules of the Tri-Western 300 open competition races. Nor-Cal wasn't a competitor to NASCAR's Southwest Tour but served as an option for late model touring racing for Northern California drivers who couldn't afford the budget it took to be competitive in in the SWT.


RAR continued to host the NASCAR SWT, Nor-Cal Series and Tri-Western 100 events through the early 90s. In 1995, RAR hosted its final NASCAR SWT event, the Hamm's 100. At this point, the cost of being associated with NASCAR and hosting a SWT event was not worth the benefit. It was a sad but necessary loss.

The Nor-Cal Series became more prominent at RAR and continued to host races at the track until the end of 1998 when Frank Roman stopped promoting the series. RAR promoters Rich and Linda Olson took over the helm and formed the Tri-State Challenge Series which picked up where Nor-Cal left off and lasted until the end of 2000. (Sadly I have no video of any of the Nor-Cal or Tri-State races from RAR through the late 90s.) In 2001 the series was renamed to the North State Challenge Series.

#80 Derek Thorn and #20 Howard Ford at RAR during a 2006 NSCS race

The NSCS struggled in 2002 and 2003 but by 2004 it was the top late model touring series on the west coast (in my opinion.) The series came to a demise in 2008 but at that same time the Airport Auto Brokers Late Models series gained steam and raced at the Acres several times between 2009-2012. In 2013 the AABLM became the Pacific Challenge Series and RAR hosted two races that year. 2013 also featured the first race at RAR for the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series.

Rich and Linda Olson stepped away from promoting RAR following the 2013 season while Blair Aiken and his daughter stepped in to fill the void. The sportsman division was renamed to the late models and the rules for the division changed to reflect those of other tracks in the region.

You can find results of many of the events I mentioned by visiting the following page: http://www.thethirdturn.com/wiki/Redwood_Acres_Raceway#tab=Event_History

Northern California racing legend returning to the track?

By Matthew J. Sullivan

Saturday July 23rd marks the second of two visits for the Airport Auto Brokers Late Model series at Redwood Acres Raceway. Among the names expected to show up are AABLM points leader and winner of the first race at the Acres just a few weeks ago, Trevor Cristiani, David Miller, Corey James, Howard Ford and Randy Houston among others. There have been rumblings that a particular driver might show up to race his late model for the first time this season. According to two-time Redwood Acres Raceway track champion, Mic Moulton, this driver tested his car last Friday on the 3/8-mile paved oval. His name: Jim Walker.

The name Jim (or Jimmy) Walker is highly regarded and respected amongst race fans all over Northern California and Southern Oregon. For over 40 years the Ferndale, California dairy man has raced a baby blue (aka Walker blue) and silver numerated 48 car first on dirt then later on pavement tracks all over the west coast. The bulk of Walker’s early racing career with the latter stages in recent times has been focused on racing at his home track in Eureka, California, Redwood Acres Raceway.

It is rather unfortunate that younger generations of race fans did not get to see just how great of a race car driver Jim Walker was when he was in his prime. It is even more unfortunate that documentation of so many of Walker’s victories are only left to race fans who were witness. In the 1970s, Walker was a terror on the dirt at the Acres winning numerous main events and several track championships. For a time, Walker was booed by local fans because of his monopolization of race victories. However, that did not last long as Walker’s quiet manner and clean but hard driving won over those who were once not fans of his.

From the mid 1970s on through the mid 1980s, Walker progressed from racing on the dirt to racing on the pavement, a change that occurred seamlessly. Walker’s biggest and most prestigious victory came in the 1976 Permatex 200 at Riverside International Raceway in the sportsman division, better known today as the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Among those whom Walker outlasted that day include Bobby Allison, Neil Bonnett, Ivan Baldwin and Hershel McGriff. Just a few weeks later, Walker made the long trip to Florida to race the Permatex 300 sportsman event at Daytona International Speedway. Unfortunately, he was caught up in a lap 30 wreck and suffered a fractured left knee. Even so, Walker was able to come through to win the NorCal 150 Spring open competition event at Shasta Speedway that year.

Walker turned in two of his biggest race wins in the 1977 season first by holding off Joe Ruttman in inferior equipment and winning the Rose Classic 150 open comp race. Later in the year, Walker took home his only NASCAR Winston West victory winning the Winston 100 at Shasta Speedway in a race that featured the talents of Donnie Allison, Chuck Bown and Bill Schmitt. Throughout the 1980s, Walker continued his winning ways claiming victories in the 1981 Evergreen Speedway leg of Speedweek, the 1981 and 1984 Western 150 events at Shasta Speedway. In 1985, Walker narrowly lost the inaugural NASCAR Northwest Tour event at Evergreen Speedway to Garrett Evans. Keep in mind that these are all events that are documented on the Internet, it does not include numerous other races and wins that happened.

When Redwood Acres Raceway was paved for the 1988 season, Walker moved his focus back to racing locally while also racing open comp and other late model touring events sparingly. Walker fought off Randy Olson in both the ‘88 and ‘89 seasons to win the track championship. Though Walker’s win count was low in the 90s, he was still a major factor in every race he ran. In 1995, Walker took home the Laura Robinson 100 open comp victory at Shasta Speedway. Walker’s two most recent main event victories came in the Tri-State Challenge Series at Ukiah Speedway in May of 2002 and at Redwood Acres Raceway in the second night of the 2003 Fair Classic for the North State Challenge Series.

Since 2006 Walker has raced only four touring series events, all at Redwood Acres Raceway. The major factor in this is likely due to the unfortunate accident Walker endured a few years ago while working on his property when his Caterpillar rolled causing serious injury. Should Walker race this weekend’s AABLM event at the Acres, it quite possibly could be one of the last times that race fans can see the legendary Northern California racer behind the wheel.

Along with the visiting AABLM tour cars will be the regular schedule of real stocks, roadrunners, thunder roadsters and sportsman cars. Do not miss out on what promises to be an exciting night of racing at the Acres!