It seems to me sometimes that many fans of NASCAR stock car racing think that all the great races and all the great stories over the years have taken place in the southeast.
Any of our group who read Tim Leeming's daily History Minute posts would long since have shed that line of thought as Tim has recapped great events all over these United States.
I was fortunate back in the 1980s to weekly travel to a track holding a Winston Cup, Winston West or other great stock car racing event.
In 1985, I was in my second year as Motorsports Coordinator for Southland Corporation in Dallas, Texas and their sponsorship of varied racing endeavors under the logos of 7-Eleven, CITGO and Chief Auto Parts.
I had really come to like the NASCAR Winston West Series as a result of our sponsorship of car owner George Jefferson and 2nd year driver, Derrike Cope. Those fellows were a sponsor's dream - always willing to do anything asked and usually more.
On June 6, 1985, the series was scheduled to stop at the beautiful Mesa Marin Raceway (now bulldozed)in Bakersfield, California for the Suncrest Motorhomes 200. This was my second trip to Mesa Marin - I had been in 1984 and thought it one of the best tracks I'd visited anywhere in the United States.
The representative from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in Winston-Salem, NC for the Winston brand on the Winston West circuit was an old friend from my days at Wrangler - Dan Henley. Assisting Dan for Winston was another RJR rep many of you "insiders" will remember - "Double D" - Dennis Dawson. Dan and Owen Kearns of NASCAR West had arranged a prime seat for me next to Owen and his wife Kathy in the NASCAR control booth. Another friend, David Allio was assigned by Winston to shoot the series for RJR.
Our 7-Eleven entry had a terrible day and night. The new T.O.E. - Tony Oddo Engineering-power plant was making no horsepower and Derrike's Thunderbird simply wouldn't run. That was reflected in the finishing order where Derrike is shown in last place with engine failure.
Mesa Marin was a gorgeous track with wonderful racing and June 8, 1985 was no exception.
Side-by-side and nose to tail were the norn at Mesa Marin. When the race was over, my old friend Dan Henley with Winston got to pass out hats to a first time winner. That winner was Ruben Garcia, who would make 44 NASCAR Winston West starts between 1979-1988. Ruben happened to also be sponsoring this race via the Suncrest Motorhomes he sold in southern California.
If NASCAR ever wants a poster racer to showcase diversity and struggling up from nothing, they need to put Ruben Garcia's face on that poster.
Ruben's usual family accompaniment wasn't at Mesa Marin that beautiful June evening. They were at the bedside of Ruben's critically ill father who would pass just three days after Ruben's first win.
There was great emotion in the victory lane interview as Ruben interrupted the television interviewer from SuperStation WTBS in Atlanta to dedicate the win to his father.
Who was Ruben Garcia? Ruben was of Latin American heritage and knew only 5 words of English when he entered first grade in South El Monte, California. Ruben would later serve his country in Viet Nam and return home to the United States in 1970. The only job he could get was in a warehouse earning $2.50/hour.
By the time of his first win in 1985, Ruben was selling $32 Million of Suncrest Motorhomes annually to his Southern California neighbors and sponsoring two stock car races and his own car in Winston West.
Below is a wonderful portrait of Ruben written in September 1985 by the late motorsports writer, Shav Glick of the Los Angeles Times. As NASCAR preaches diversity, tries to woo the Spanish speaking audience, and attempts to promote its humanitarian efforts, it ought to look over its shoulder and ask what Ruben Garcia is doing these days. He's the guy who donated race winnings to Mexican earthquake relief and sponsored NASCAR races when there were no sponsors.
By the way, Ruben came back to Mesa Marin later in 1985 and scored his second Winston West win. They'd be his only two, but how special they were.
Motor Racing / Shav Glick
Ruben Garcia Gets Things Done
September 26, 1985
SHAV GLICK
Los Angeles Times
Ruben Garcia of South El Monte is a man with a penchant for accomplishing things in a hurry.
In 1970, just back from Vietnam, he got a job as a warehouseman in a motor-home factory for $2.50 an hour. Today, at 39, he is president of R&R Custom Coachworks, Inc., in South El Monte, where he did a $32-million business last year selling Suncrest Motorhomes.
In 1984, after having not raced for five years--and only occasionally before that--Garcia decided to enter NASCAR's Winston West Grand National stock car series.
He finished second to Derrike Cope of Spanaway, Wash., in Rookie-of-the-Year standings, and this year, he won his first race, June 8 at Mesa Marin Speedway in Bakersfield.
Now, with three races left, Garcia is third in the standings, behind veterans Jim Robinson of North Hollywood, the defending series champion, and Hershel McGriff of Bridal Veil, Ore., who won his first race before Garcia was born.
The race Garcia won was sponsored by the company he owns. This Sunday afternoon, at Willow Springs Raceway, a 2.5-mile road course about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles, his company is sponsoring another 200-kilometer race with a $37,290 purse.
"There would be no race at Willow Springs this year if I hadn't got my group together to put it on," Garcia said. "There were only 1,900 paid at Willow Springs last year, but I felt the race was important enough to save.
"The public is not aware of Willow Springs, which makes it difficult to obtain a sponsor, but it is probably the finest road-racing course for spectators on the West Coast. And I keep hearing about how far away it is, but it's not more than a half-hour farther than Riverside, and no one thinks twice about going there for a race."
Garcia, the promoter-sponsor-driver, would like to win his own race again.
"We have an '85 Chevy Monte Carlo with a chassis built by Ivan Baldwin that I think is the best in the West," he said. "I hope to get the pole Saturday, but McGriff is so tough. He's such a great qualifier, and that has never been my strong point. But I think I can do it. I have a positive attitude about the race Sunday. I know I am capable of winning."
Garcia did not think that way before his surprising win at Mesa Marin, a half-mile banked, paved oval.
"Before the first race this year I had a talk with myself," Garcia said. "I said: 'Ruben, can you really become as good a race driver as Hershel McGriff or Jim Robinson or Jim Bown?' And the answer was no. I hadn't reached the stage where I felt that I belonged. Then a strange thing happened, maybe at Mesa Marin, maybe before. I learned to be part of the machine. It was a feeling that was alien to me before this year."
Three things stand out when Garcia recalls win No. 1.
"When I passed Hershel McGriff that night, I was so overcome that I had tears in my eyes," Garcia said. "I had never passed a race driver of his caliber before.
"I had been following him for about 40 laps. We were both running fast, and I figured I would just follow him home and finish second. I'd never been better than fourth in my life before.
"I was happy about running second when I realized how easy I was sticking with him. Suddenly, I thought: 'Hey, I can get by.' I tried it once, and he shut the door on me, but the next lap I tried it again and got to the front.
"There were still 60 laps to go, and I was hanging on every lap. Jim Bown and Hershel kept the pressure on me all the way. Several times, I thought Bown was going to pass me. I didn't know it, but he was a lap down.
"I got so tired that I told (crew chief) Ron Esau on the radio that I didn't know if I could make it or not. You should have heard Ron. He said, 'You can't be tired. You're going to win this race.'
"The fans were going crazy when Bown and I were going at it the last 20 laps. I think it was because we ran such different lines. Bown ran the regular oval-track line, but all my training had been on road courses, so I ran a totally different line. I was breaking earlier, setting up for the turns differently and coming off the corners at a crazy angle. It must have been quite a sight."
The win was bittersweet for Garcia. His brothers and sisters, who regularly attend his races, were not there because their father was hospitalized with a failing heart. He died three days later.
"Dad wasn't there, but he got to see the trophy I won," Garcia said. "I was the last one to see him alive. He died that day, right after I had been there with the trophy."
Now, a plaque on the dashboard of Garcia's car reads: "In memory of Frank J. Garcia. My Dad."
Garcia, whose mother was born in Mexico, has pledged half his winnings Sunday to Mexican earthquake relief.
"I was born in Los Angeles and went to El Monte High School, but I'm a Chicano through and through," he said. "In the first grade in East Los Angeles, I knew only five words of English.
1985 Suncrest Motorhomes 200
NASCAR Winston West Series race number 4 of 12
Saturday, June 8, 1985 at Mesa Marin Raceway, Bakersfield, CA
200 laps on a .500 mile paved track (100.0 miles)
Time of race: 1:19:30
Average Speed: 75.472 mph
Pole Speed: 90.475 mph Cautions: 7 for 29 laps
Margin of Victory: 26 sec
Attendance: n/a
Lead changes: 8
Fin St # Driver Sponsor / Owner Car Laps Money Status Led
1 3 32 Ruben Garcia Suncrest Motorhomes (Fred Stoke) Chevrolet 200 6,080 running 62
2 2 04 Hershel McGriff Mark C. Bloome / Stanton Industries (Gary Smith) Pontiac 200 2,560 running 64
3 5 78 Jim Robinson Hammer Security (Lois Williams) Oldsmobile 200 2,085 running 7
4 20 98 Jim Bown Wholesale Truck Parts (John Kieper) Chevrolet 199 1,335 running 0
5 7 33 M.K. Kanke Kanke Racing Pontiac 198 1,075 running 1
6 4 73 Bill Schmitt California Cooler (Bill Schmitt) Chevrolet 197 1,250 running 55
7 19 99 Blair Aiken Fred Stoke Enterprises (Fred Stoke) Chevrolet 193 1,240 running 0
8 9 83 Sumner McKnight Aero Wash (Sumner McKnight) Ford 193 940 running 0
9 16 10 Gene Thonesen Thonesen Racing (Gene Thonesen) Buick 182 680 running 0
10 14 94 John Soares, Jr. RPM Products (John Soares, Jr. / Mike Kard) Pontiac 177 780 running 0
11 13 9 Jim Danielson Chico Auto Parts (Skip Tarter) Chrysler 171 560 running 0
12 12 91 John Krebs KC Racing (John Krebs) Oldsmobile 168 740 running 0
13 15 45 Ron Daniels Erlich Motors Chevrolet 166 500 running 0
14 11 18 Glen Steurer Stick Only / Hooper's (Glen Steurer) Buick 116 680 oil leak 0
15 10 16 Bill Osborne Hackmankars (Bill Osborne / Wayne Hackman) Buick 91 460 engine 0
16 8 25 Bill Sedgwick Sedgwick Racing (Bill Sedgwick) Buick 74 440 overheating 0
17 6 35 Pat Mintey Stick Only (Pat Mintey) Chevrolet 59 400 overheating 0
18 1 12 Terry Petris Petris Homes / 3-Way (John & Terry Petris) Chevrolet 45 730 engine 11
19 17 22 St. James Davis St. James Racing (LaDonna Davis) Chrysler 38 560 engine 0
20 18 07 Derrike Cope Jefferson Racing / 7-Eleven (George Jefferson) Ford 37 590 engine 0
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 02/05/22 11:52:36AM
