Antioch, CA...It's been a long and exciting season at Antioch Speedway. This Saturday night, the track will be wrapping up it's 65th consecutive year of racing with its 25th event of the season, and it's a special occasion. In keeping with the Halloween theme, it's time for the annual Track or Treat event.
This is a show the racers enjoy being a part of as they bring their cars to the infield to meet with the kids and hand out candy and hero cards. All children 12 and under in Halloween costumes will be getting in for free. In addition to the Halloween goodies, they will be treated to five divisions of exciting racing action on the 3/8 mile clay oval.
The Hunt Wingless Spec Sprint Series is in the late stages of their 15th Anniversary Season, and they come to town for the fourth and final time. The Hobby Stock division also be competing along with the championship season finale races for the Late Models, Super Stocks and Hardtops. This is also the tenth time that the Chet Thomson Memorial Hardtop race will be held at Antioch Speedway.
Some of the best Wingless Spec Sprint competitors will be in Antioch for the Hunt Magnetos Wingless Spec Sprint Tour, Presented by Transport Products Unlimited. The last three times they were in town, they saw a familiar site as Jake Morgan of Fair Oaks scored the victory on every occasion. Not surprisingly, Morgan is leading the battle to claim his third Hunt Series championship.
Morgan's biggest competition has come from Antioch champion Bob Newberry of Brentwood and Josh Young of Roseville. Newberry has a third and one of his four runner-up finishes this year at Antioch, while Young has a pair of seconds and a third. Young has won twice at Antioch in regular competition as has Newberry, but he also has Hunt Series wins at Placerville and more recently in the Johnny Soares Classic at Petaluma.
While Young has earned only 22 points less than Morgan at Antioch, the Hunt Series title comes down to how well the drivers do at all five of the tracks during the 13 race season. Currently, Morgan leads Newberry by 103 points. With a win at Marysville this year, Eathon Lanfri of Milpitas is third, trailing Newberry by 27 points in a closer battle for second.
Braidon Moniz of Waianae, Hawaii is the top rookie on the circuit and ranks fourth overall, 29 points ahead of Josh Wooten of Yuba City. Rookie Daniel DeKeyser of Kelseyville is still within striking distance of Moniz, 83 points back in sixth, as Jeff Scotto of Brentwood, Paul Vandenberg of Sacramento, Carson Hawkins of Santa Rosa and Young make up the balance of the Top 10 going into this race.
Saturday's race for the Pacific Coast Hobby Stocks is about bragging rights to the winner and handing out candy to the kids. Grayson Baca of Brentwood has won the championship on the strength of five victories and a division-leading 12 Top 5 finishes. His girlfriend, Jewell Crandall of Antioch, had a career best season in second, while Brentwood's Charlie Bryant ended up third. After last week's event, the Baca and Crandall teams indicated they were planning to call it a season.
Bryant could enter the show as the driver to beat, and he's well overdue for a victory following his $1,200 runner-up finish last week to Nicholas Johnson of Bakersfield in the Hobby Stock Nationals. With two wins this year, 2020 champion James Thomson is looking forward to competing. Following his Top 10 finish last week, Josh Appelbaum of Antioch and Nikki Skidmore of Benicia are both anticipated among a field of 12 to 16 likely competitors.
Rod Oliver of Yuba City will stake a claim on his second-straight Antioch Late Model championship merely by taking the green flag this week. Oliver had one win at Antioch and two at Placerville, where he also won the championship. He finished third in the Xtreme Late Model Series race to Shawn DeForest of Livermore and Ray Trimble of Auburn.
DeForest started his Xtreme Late Model championship run with a win early in the season at Antioch and completed it with his third win of the season at Marysville last week. With one win at Marysville this year and four at Placerville, Trimble enters Saturday's show and a tie with DeForest for second. DeForest moved into that tie following his second Antioch win last time out.
Meanwhile, Tim Yeager of Belmont holds a slim seven point advantage over Anthony Slaney of Martinez in the race for fourth. Slaney has won six times on the circuit this year, three at Antioch.
The Super Stock division wraps up its 25th Anniversary Season at the speedway on a sad note. Long time Street Stock/Super Stock competitor Shawn McCoy of Petaluma died at Marysville Raceway while competing in the Tri State Pro Stock season finale. McCoy wasn't just one of the racers, he was an iconic figure within the Petaluma Speedway community.
Nicknamed The Iron Man for making 870 consecutive starts at Petaluma from 1980 through 2022 without missing a race, McCoy had more starts at the speedway then anybody in the track's history. Along with countless feature victories along the way, McCoy was the 1988 and 1996 champion. In his later years, he competed in both Dwarf Cars and Super Stocks, and he finished fourth in the standings in both divisions this year. Antioch Speedway will run a memorial lap in his honor Saturday night.
Petaluma's Mike Learn wrapped up his Petaluma championship season with five victories there, and he also won his second Tri State Pro Stock championship. With two wins in Antioch, he leads Brentwood's Fred Ryland by 28 points in the championship battle. Paul Hanley of Emerald Hills, Randy Miramontez of Santa Rosa and Phil Marino of Chico round out the Top 5 going into the finale.
In September, Antioch Speedway inducted Vallejo and Contra Costa Speedway legend Chet Thomson into the Hall of Fame. In the early 1960's, "Chargin Chet" had six feature wins in a very competitive Hardtop field at Antioch and ranked fifth in 1964. He went on to win a Vallejo Speedway championship and was on his way to another when he was diagnosed with Cancer and had to retire from racing.
In 1967, Vallejo Speedway created their signature race, the Chet Thomson Memorial. This was a Hardtop race from then until it was switched over to Super Modifieds in 1978. The track closed at the end of the 1979 season. Laney Westbrook and Phil Pedlar were both two-time winners of the race back then with other notables, including "Big John" Viel, Julian Castro, Leroy Geving and Larry Damitz winning this race as well.
When Dave Mackey got together with Tommy Thomson and then Promoter John Soares, it was decided to bring this race back to Antioch in 2016. Damitz suffered mechanical problems in his one attempt during the modern era to run this race. He passed away in 2017. Damitz and Tommy Thomson are the only two competitors to run this race at Vallejo and Antioch.
This race is notable for being the biggest Hardtop race in California. Placerville's Jason Armstrong got it started with back-to-back victories over Ken Retzloff, who has since relocated to Indiana. Running with a body from a car raced by Southern Oregon Hall of Famer Harold Hardesty, Terry DeCarlo of Martinez won this race in 2018 ahead of the persistent Kimo Oreta of Vacaville. Oreta turned the tables on DeCarlo by holding him off for the 2019 victory.
During the last five years, the Chet Thomson Memorial race trophy has gone back to San Jose as the victories have been scored by Joel Hannagan aboard the Doug Braudrick owned Junkyard Dog. Perhaps Doug's biggest challenger has been Mike Gillard of Atwater, who is the current Merced Speedway Sportsman champion. Last season's race produced quite a bit of drama.
Gillard had taken the point lead from Hannagan going into the race, and even if Hannagan beat him, he could still have won the championship with a second place finish. Gillard was leading the race when he made contact with a slower car on the backstretch and suffered front end damage. Hannagan went on to win the race with Late Model star Shawn DeForest driving the Tommy Thomson owned car to a second place finish. DeForest will be competing in the green #39 car again this week.
Not surprisingly, Hannagan is the odds on favorite to win again. He's won five of the six races for the Hardtops this year with Gillard the other winner. He will wrap up his third-consecutive championship just by starting the feature race. The Hannagan team prides itself on making a great presentation, and many people say their candy apple red Hardtop is the prettiest race car at the track. They always look forward to Track or Treat night and interacting with the younger fans.
Don Slaney had a fifth place finish in this race two years ago and has finished second four times this year. That gives the Martinez resident second in the standings by a comfortable margin ahead of Joe Shenifield of Roseville. Shenefield is the only driver besides Hannagan to finish in the Top 5 in the standings during the last three seasons.
Reportedly, the Slaney team will be fielding two Hardtops as Mike Slaney makes a rare start in the car normally driven by his uncle Don. Gillard has been a force at Merced with 13 wins in the last two seasons and back-to-back championships, but he has his eyes on the big trophy for the Thomson race this year. When you have Gillard and Hannagan on the track together, you're guaranteed an exciting battle.
Saturday's race will put a nice bow tie on what has been a fun season at Antioch Speedway. You'll get to see the state's most exciting Wingless Spec Sprint Tour and the always enjoyable Hobby Stocks along with Late Model and Super Stock thunder. Vintage racing fans will love the look of the old style Hardtop and Sportsman cars. This will be your final opportunity to see a race at Antioch Speedway this year.
The gates will open at 5:00 with the first race starting at 6:00.
Adult tickets are $15, Senior/Military $15, Kids (5-12) $15 and kids four and under free. All kids 12 and under in their Halloween costumes will get in for free.
For further information, go to http://www.raceantiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway by PROmotions Facebook page.
Picture info:
Two-time Hunt Series champion DJ Johnson #33 working the outside grove on Chris Guilfuss #5x and John Ulrich #m5. Photo by Katrina Kniss.
Hobby Stock star Aidan Ponciano #225 leads Josh Appelbaum #7, Jared Baugh #07 and Nicky Skidmore #00 out of the turn. Photo by Katrina Kniss
Super Stock championship contenders Mike Learn #11 and Fred Ryland #99 battle for position. Photo by Katrina Kniss.
Xtreme Late Model champion Shawn DeForest #72, Tim Yaeger #17 and Andrew Pearce #28g. Photo by Katrina Kniss.
Five-time Chet Thomson Memorial winner Joel Hannagan #16, Joe Shenefied #15 and Don Slaney #4ud. Photo by Katrina Kniss.
- Wylie Wade on Oct 23, 2025
- Article Date: 10/22/2025 by Candice Martin, Photos by Katrina Kniss