Taking a job in Petaluma, Ca. - What's out there?

Get out to mean Genes digs at the end of March ... world of outlaws sprint cars (Calistoga) and Santa Rosa VFWhas a bitchen swapmeet right there on hiway 12..... gotta search that one for the date, wedsnday nite braket racing should start at infineon coming month also

 

Does anything good happen at that little track in Petaluma?

 

I have heard that before and I'm pretty excited about meeting new folks. I've been in Sac for 11 years now and I'm ready to ditch!

 

Check out their site: Petaluma Speedway

The Rip City Riders are based in Petaluma. They put on a great cra and motocycle show at the fairgrounds every year.

 

They also have some pretty good auto swapmeets and the track is dirt which is fun. If you get a chance head up to Windsor, off Shilo Rd . A guy has a hella shop with alot ( I mean a hella lot!) of gas station stuff if your into that ... nice guy. I can PM you the address. And the Tardel flathead ranch is there also, I am not sure if his door is always open.

Up or down the 101, alot to be seen.

 

I like going to a random track night in the summer so that sounds fun. Up here in Sac we have a track that does no brakes motorcycle racing on a dirt track and we usually take the family two or three times every summer. Are there any good shops in the Northbay? Living in Sac I have gotten used to driving right over to Vintage Ford whenever I'm bored.

 

I'm not aware of any shops like Vintage Ford around these parts. There is Vic Hubbard's over in the east bay in Hayward.

There is also the Calistoga Speedway. They host some great sprint car racing.

 

We ran SuperStocks (aluminum bodied alcohol carbed cars) at Petaluma for years in the 80's, then 360 sprints, and later a 410 Shaver-engined car. In those earlier days, track politics sucked pretty bad with the owner, probably better now. Calistoga is the deal, as it's a good 1/2 mile track- we ran with the World of Outlaws a few times (behind the WOA?) up there, those boys get cookin' pretty good up there on the long track. We pitted next to Sammy Swindell one night, that guy was passing cars three at a time on the outside going through bumpy 1&2, led by a big margin until 3 laps from the end and slowed way down- looked at his tires after the race, and both rears were worn down to skins- even with the "hard" compounds. Jimmy Sills used to bring his stretched two-seater car with a genny race engine, you could go for a ride and he'd take you within a couple seconds of the times the racers were running while you sat in the back and pretended to steer for $130
In the old days, pre-wing and mufflers at Calistoga, there was a guy running a 427 High Riser with Algons- you should have heard that critter come off Turn 4 past the grandstands A couple guys with the little Chebbies would get by him in the corners, and he would hook up and blow past a few down the straights, repeat, repeat... Looked great with those pentroof valve covers sticking out of the hood, too. There was a guy running an Offy at the same time, so it definitely sounded different than today- especially without the mufflers. A buddy of mine has the heads and Algons off the 427 on his pulling truck, and I have the sprinter headers out in the shed
They had a flattrack motorcycle race at Calistoga last year, complete with about a dozen 5'10"+ blondes in 5" heels and not much else walking around on the dirt track, escorting the riders to their bikes- as most of the riders were about 5'7", it was quite a sight

 

Welcome to the North Bay...biggest adjustment you will have is putting on a jacket on summer evenings when the wind starts blowing in from the coast (beats 95 at 10:00PM). Beautiful country, great people and a pretty good car scene.
Biggest downer is that speed shops are all " .com " and work out of the back of a UPS truck.

 

Nope, my neighbor across the street owns the local speed & machine, and it's for real- if you need something done, gimme a holler

 

Beautiful area, wonderful weather, cost of living astronomical!

 

AMA mile dirt-track racing returns to the Sonoma County fairgrounds in Santa Rosa on September 30, first time since it went away in the mid '70s. Beautiful track, great accommodations, tickets go on sale in March.

Mike

 

i've been living a long time petaluma and i highly recomend it. hope you find it to your liking

 

We originally tried to find a place in Petaluma but couldnt find anything that fit our needs (garage, kids, dogs) that was either within our range or level of decency. There was a couple of times I showed up to look at a house on the east side only to find out it was a dump and to meet 4 other couples who also were there to rent it. We really like the west side though. Oh well, Rohnert Park here we come!

 

Welp, you gots the In-and-Out burger right there ... you wont go hungry! LOL