VINTAGE CAR RACE FANS TO HONOR ACTON MAN.

Byline: Posted by Sharon Cotal

Walt James, an 83-year-old Acton resident, will be honored Nov. 25 and 26 at Willow Springs International Motor Sports Park in Rosamond.

Since 1992, vintage race car enthusiasts have gathered in Southern California's High Desert each Thanksgiving weekend to celebrate the sport and share their enthusiasm for these remarkable machines.

James is being recognized for spending the greater part of his life, over 60 years, working for the safety and betterment of open wheel automobile racing.

James came to California when he was 16 (from Mississippi) and spent a lot of time with other teens running trials on the dry lakes before before World War II. (The land is now part of Edwards Air Force Base.) After Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was immediately selected for officer training.

Shortly after, James found himself as a very young officer on a B-17 stationed in England, where he led bombing raids on Germany as lead bombardier/navigator, earning many medals (Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal of Honor, to name two) on his 26 missions.

He retired from the Air Force Reserves as a lieutenant colonel. When the war was over, James was involved in all types of racing, running mostly with the newly formed California Roadster Association with future Indianapolis drivers Troy Ruttman, Manny Ayulo, Jack McGrath, Pat Flaherty and the Rathman brothers. James became known as the ``most fun-loving southern gentleman west of the Mississippi.''

Most of James' driving career had been devoted to sprints and roadsters, but he also fit in some early and late model stocks, jalopies and a few midgets. In 1950, James was a passenger in an auto accident near Clovis, Calif., that took the life of famous Novi builder Bud Winfield. James had near-fatal injuries including both legs crushed just below the hips, crushed chest, punctured chest, punctured lungs and a serious head injury. As was common in those days, pneumonia set in, and his family was told he would not survive even if they amputated both legs.

Once it was discovered that James was a veteran, he was immediately moved to Fresno Veterans Hospital. Between the care he received there and his attitude, he can walk today -- although it is sometimes more of a hobble. This ended his dreams of Indianapolis, but while he was in the hospital everyone loved his accent and the once-shy Southern boy became the hospital ``DJ.'' Unbeknownst to him, James was elected president of the ``morti-bound'' (due to oversaturation of racing) California Roadster Association at the general meeting held 200 miles south of the hospital. With six months of pent-up energy, he was able to breathe new life into and resurrect the club to become a very respectable group.

After getting out of the hospital, James had to be helped into a roadster at Carrell Speedway in Gardena to resume his driving career. In 1957, James and the Board of Directors changed the name to California Racing Association, when it became an all-sprint car club. CRA soared and expanded to Arizona and Nevada and became one of the country's most well-known and respected sanctioning bodies. During the 1950s, more than half the field at Indianapolis was made up of CRA graduates, either having raced with James or under his watchful eye.

In 1970, James left CRA to build and manage Indian Dunes motorcycle park on Highway 126, then known as Saugus. With eight motorcycle tracks, a dirt and paved oval, Indian Dunes became known and respected worldwide. Most of ``Baa Baa Black Sheep,'' a story of ``Pappy'' Boyington's ace flying group of World War II, was filmed there. Indian Dunes was shut down in the mid-1980s. James lived in Castaic for about 25 years before retiring to Acton. He was president of the Castaic Lions Club at one time and is still an active, devoted member of close to 50 years.

In the 1980s, James and a handful of old-timers ``reincorporated'' the once active Western Racing Association and made it into a vintage club, where James again served as president for its first four years. Vintage racing has become so popular across the United States, that a person can race almost anywhere seven days a week. James himself still runs 20 to 30 times a year up and down the California coast, Nevada and Arizona. Having been inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1993, James has found himself also honored recently at Perris Speedway as a ``Living Legend of Ascot Park.'' < Now one of the largest Open Vintage Race Car shows meets every Thanksgiving weekend in Rosamond in James' honor. The track will be open for early arrivals on Nov. 24, and there is no charge for overnight camping (no hook-ups). Saturday and Sunday pit passes are $15 each day or $25 for both days. Track activities will be from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Children 8 and under are free. There will also be a vintage car part swap meet. Any pre-1970 non-caged, open-wheel race car can have unlimited track time. If time permits, more modern cars (and stock cars) can have some time on the track.

The Willow Springs racing complex is celebrating its 53rd anniversary. The 3/8-mile high banked dirt oval is located on 70th Street just north of Rosamond Boulevard and approximately five miles west of Highway 14. For information, call [phone] or [phone].

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