Locals from Hollister, Gilroy and Morgan Hill go to
Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway to partake in the races
Watsonville
“Four-banger 16, you are in the race,” boomed the raceway speaker at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway last Friday night.
The No. 16 car had previously succumbed to a dead battery in the middle of its qualifying heat, but as father of the driver Tim Donovan said, amidst the hustle and bustle of securing their backup battery, the team had been granted “a miracle.”
Just like that, as if the race had already started, Tim and 15-year-old driver Braden Donovan, along with Ray Martin – who just so happens to be Braden’s uncle-in-law and whose ocean late model just so happened to be next to Braden’s 4-banger – stirred into action like a Daytona pit crew in an effort to get the No. 16 car ready for its main event race.
“Four-banger 16, you are in the race,” blared the speaker again, wiping away any and all doubt that Donovan’s car, a converted 4-cylinder Toyota Celica, had a spot reserved on the track.
As Donovan pulled out to get in line for the upcoming main event, Martin, of Gilroy, hopped onto the trunk hood, riding along the back end with his legs outstretched like Superman, eventually leaning in to Donovan’s ear to pass along a little added advice before the 15-year-old took off for just the third race of his lifetime.
“I told him that (his car) might not work properly,” said Martin, 27. “‘Just stay out there until you get towed off the track … until the car goes no more.'”
The race started with many-a-hitch and many yellow flags, as a 4-bangers’ mentality, albeit well-intentioned, is right there in the name of the car: banger.
“It’s not like, cutthroat,” said Jim Simoneli, who is part of Martin’s crew as well as his step-father. “There’s a lot of camaraderie in the sport.”
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The familial bond between crew members at Ocean Speedway isn’t unique to just the No. 16 car, though.
Just a few cars down from Martin is Morgan Hill’s Jeff Decker, who has claimed the track championship two years in a row at Watsonville, and was even the track champion at Antioch last year.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s like a big nucleus,” Decker said regarding the atmosphere at Ocean Speedway. “If [other drivers] need something or I need something, we can call each other. It’s a lot of fun.”
Decker keeps his crew close as well, employing family and friends to help out where they can. Said Decker, “We have friends come out, scrape mud, do whatever to help out.”
It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
Track crews wet the speedway in the early afternoon for that night’s festivities, and after each racing division has their turn on the track for hot laps – which are essentially practice runs to pack the mud surface – crews work on de-mudding their rides.
Simoneli said on a rather wet track, with cars hitting speeds of 70 to 80 mph, crews can take 60 to 150 pounds of mud off their vehicle afterwards.
Decker currently holds a 17-point lead in the latest OLM standings after taking first place in the main event last Friday. Said Simoneli, “We try to follow him as much as we can.”
Competitors in the wingless sprint car division could soon be following Hollister’s Ryan Bernal, 14, who also took first place last Friday in what was just his second time racing in a sprinter.
Bernal currently trails Davis Press of Foster City by a mere five points, although it could be the other way around had Bernal’s torsion bar not broken in his first outing three weeks ago.
With a little help from his crew, also made up of family, friends and even next-door neighbors, Bernal’s reconstructed sprinter beat out Wes Gutierrez of San Martin last Friday.
“I can’t believe how well he’s taking to it,” said Rick Bernal of his son Ryan, who was previously driving modified midget race cars.
“My grandparents and my mom are up in the stands,” Ryan said. “It’s a family gathering at the race track.”
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Some families go to the movies. Others go to the races.
Martin’s crew of Simoneli, his brother-in-law Jack Jennings and Judy Simoneli take to Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway every other Friday night to compete.
Leaving their respective jobs at around noon, the crew and driver of the No. 70 ocean late model head to the 1/4-mile dirt track not necessarily to rake in winnings, but to come together, much like their movie-going counterparts.
“Ever since I was little, I used to go to the San Jose Speedway,” said Martin, who wound up finishing eighth in the main event last Friday. “And I’m living a dream. I still can’t believe I’m out here doing it.”
The crew shells out $50 for gasoline (91 octane), a $35 entry fee and another $20 to rent an electronic race transponder that monitors and records the status of each driver’s car.
But while those figures may seem steep, the No. 70 crew says it’s a small price to pay.
“My personal reason for being a part of this: 90 percent sharing time with my son directly. How does anyone get so much one-on-one time with their kids?” Jim Simoneli asked. “The other 10 percent is my selfishness for liking to tinker on cars. If my son ever changed his priorities and moved out of racing, I would also. I’d like to say I am it in it for him 100 percent, but I’d be lying.”
Like many of the other racers in Watsonville, the No. 70 team stripped down their ocean late model during the offseason. After an accident in the second to last race of last season, Martin and his crew have poured $16,000 into rebuilding the car since January – from new tires to a new body, new carburetor to a new fuel cell.
“It looked like it was half torn up,” said Martin, who started racing go-carts when he was 19-years-old. “After every race, we have a crew of four that will check every nut and bolt. That is something we have to do.”
The new, 2,275-pound aluminum car, which somewhat resembles a red and white version of the Batmobile, took eight to 10 days worth of building, and is even adorned with the name of Martin’s 20-year-old sister, Chelsey.
“She always wanted me to put a seat in the car (for her),” Martin said, “but that’s the best we can do.”
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It’s a good thing Martin’s crew checks and rechecks the No. 70 car after each race.
After Martin’s hot lap last Friday, a pair of lug nuts came loose on the back end of his late model, while the crew even replaced a back tire to displace the drift the car was experiencing on the slippery oval track.
After No. 70 was taken care of, though, the focus switched to 4-banger No. 16 – Braden Donovan’s car.
Displaying that camaraderie with other drivers, which is as apparent as the mud on the race wall at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway, Martin and his crew quickly repaired Donovan’s ride.
And just in time, too.
“Four-banger 16, you are in the race.”
“Every time I see him, I look back at when I first started,” Martin said. “I see a lot of me in him when we’re at the track.”
