TRACK NAMESAKE GEARS UP FOR RACES WALT JAMES VINTAGE RACE CAR GATHERING SET FOR WEEKEND.Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer ROSAMOND - At age 81, Walt James still
James Still (July 16, 1906 – April 28, 2001) was an Appalachian poet, novelist and folklorist who lived most of his life in a log house along the Dead Mare Branch of drives the grader and water truck preparing the dirt racetrack that bears his name for vintage car vintage car Noun a car built between 1919 and 1930 vintage car n → coche m antiguo or de época vintage car vintage n racing today and Sunday at the 12th annual Walt James Vintage Race Car Gathering. If James has time, he plans on racing himself in his Ford flat-head powered 1959 sprint car on the 3/8-oval dirt track he helped build at Willow Springs Willow Springs may refer to:
``I've been doing it all the time,'' the Acton resident said of the preparation. ``I built the track years ago and I just kind of inherited it.'' Nearly 100 racers from Canada to Florida have brought their vintage midget, sprint cars and roadsters to race. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. James, the racers are all age 40 and above. ``We're joking they're senile senile /se·nile/ (se´nil) pertaining to old age; manifesting senility. se·nile adj. 1. Relating to, characteristic of, or resulting from old age. 2. blind guys wanting to drive again,'' said James, laughing. ``It's a giant swap-meet play day for all the old cars. It's just a big gathering of vintage race cars.'' Four thousand to 5,000 spectators are expected for the two-day vintage racing event. Free camping is available. Hookups are only available near the oval for $25 per night. Pit passes are $15 a day or $25 for both days. Children ages 8 and under are free. Racing will be held 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today and Sunday. James has been a fixture in the racing world for years. He built and managed the 600-acre Indian Dunes Motorcycle Park in Valencia in the 1970s and 1980s. It was shut down in 1985, and the 27,000-home Newhall Ranch housing tract is planned there and on surrounding acreage. After it closed, James moved over to the Willow Springs Raceway Willow Springs International Motorsports Park is located near Rosamond and Lancaster, California, and is about an hour north of Los Angeles. It is a historic race track, in existence more than fifty years, with the first race in 1953. The main track is a challenging 2. , where a track was named in his honor. The Acton resident was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Iowa in 1993 after spending a lifetime working for the betterment of open-wheel automobile racing automobile racing, sport in which specially designed or modified automobiles race on any of various courses. Automobile racing originated in France in 1894 and appeared in the United States the following year. . He will be racing as No. 15, which he used when driving in the 1940s at Rosamond Dry Lake and El Mirage. His son used the number when he raced with World of Outlaws The World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American motorsports sanctioning body. The body sanctions two major national touring series. It is best known for sanctioning a national tour of sprint cars. . James' racing was interrupted by World War II, when he flew in B-17s as a bombardier navigator. ``I got a couple of good hits,'' said James, who received the Distinguished Flying Cross. He spent a total of 30 years in the military - four on active duty and 26 in the reserves. With his motor home parked by the track, James will spend the weekend reliving his youth with his wife, Dottie, whom he met when he drove a race car for her parents when she was 15. Peggy Hager, (661) 267-5741 peggy.grimm-hager(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color in AV edition only) Walt James, 81, will welcome thousands of spectators to this weekend's race car gathering. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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