Racer Reunion

RACER REUNION

"SOME OF THESE GUYS remembered every lap of every race. I can't even remember all the races I've been in," joked Wendell Phillips at "The 15 Year California Roadrace Reunion," held this past April during the Yamaha Superbike Challenge at California Speedway.

Phillips, Lockhart Phillips USA president and a former AMA National Endurance Champion, came up with the idea of holding the reunion at a race while on last year’s Cycle World GP Euro-Tour in Spain. “The tour ended at a race, the Catalunya

Grand Prix. So when a round of the AMA Superbike series came to California Speedway, it all came together. It was the perfect venue.”

Open to anyone who roadraced in California prior to 1987, as well as cornerworkers, pit-crew mem bers and sponsors, the event drew hundreds of ex-racers. Phillips was shocked by the

’ turnout. “I thought 30 or 40 people would show up,” he admitted. Larry “Supermouth” Huffman, who called many races of the era, served as master of ceremonies.

Among the attendees was former Yamaha and Kawasaki factory rider Art Baumann. “We didn’t have much money-we had to sponsor ourselves!” he remembered. “This brings back a lot of

memories,” added 1972 Daytona 200 winner Don Emde. “I could come out to Orange County International Raceway or Riverside or Willow Springs and be racing against Art Baumann, Ron Pierce and Steve McLaughlin.

There were only a couple of guys we didn’t race with on a week-to-week basis who we had to race at the AMA Nationals. It helped me become competitive real quick.”

Will there be more reunions in the future? “I’ve been asked to do one on the East Coast, possibly at Road Atlanta or Virginia International Raceway,” said Phillips. “I’d do another one in California in a heartbeat. We had so much fun at this one, I think the next one would double or triple in size.” Matthew Miles