BF’s B.S. June 19, 2005 – Mountian View, CA.
Hello and Happy Father's Day to all of you
Father's, I hope everyone had a safe and fun day. I have been blessed with
having a great Father, one who always put his son's and family ahead of
himself. When I was growing up I had no idea there was anything else in life
besides Auto Racing and Baseball. I played baseball during the week and
Saturday mornings, and then went to the races on Saturday and Sunday. I was a
creature of habit, McKelvey Park to play Baseball, San
Jose Speedway, Clovis and then Baylands Raceway Park in my teenage years.
The first time I ever went into the Pits was at Baylands with my Dad. I don't remember being
quite 16 yet, but I did always look older than I was and it was the World Of
Outlaws and I wasn't going to miss that. That was many years ago and Steve
Kinser won that night and he is still winning to this date. Now a proud father,
Steve has the luxury of watching his son follow in his footsteps and winning
WoO races. I have yet to follow in my Dad's footsteps, in case
you don't know, my dad, Burt Foland was a many time Main Event winner in
Super Modifieds and Midget during his Hall Of Fame career. He was inducted into
the San Jose Speedway Hall of Fame as a Super Modified and Midget driver before
being inducted into the BCRA Midget Hall of Fame and the Legends of Kearney
Bowl Hall of Fame as well. To say that I am proud to be my Father's son is an
understatement.
When I was old enough to go to the races, my dad was winning races at San Jose
Speedway, Clovis and just about any
other track he ventured to. He was an accomplished mechanic as well and worked
on Indy cars for years on the O'Connell and Gearhardt teams with
drivers like Gary Bettenhausen and Billy Vukovich Jr. But he
yearned to be a driver and made the tough decision not to move to Indianapolis when it was time to
make a decision between uprooting his family, or staying in California when it was time for me
to start my schooling. Things may have be different in our lives had he chose
to move to Indy, but I have always respected my dad for the decision that he
made and I don't regret anything that I have done since then either. My Dad always backed me when I
was playing baseball growing up and never pushed me in any direction and let me
make my own decisions in my life. After my Baseball playing days were over, my
brother was racing Midgets with my dad and I made the decision to follow the
Sprint Cars all over California. That is when I started
hanging around with Bob Miller and Brent Kaeding and the rest in
history. I have been lucky enough to have made Auto Racing my livelihood and I
wouldn't change my course for anything.
After my brother stopped racing with my dad, I was lucky enough to step into
the family Sprint Car and after some hard lessons I was able to improve with
every race. My dad never told me how to drive a racecar, but if I asked him the
right questions, he was always there for some great advice. I haven't made it
easy on my dad or my mom for that matter when it has come to driving as I have
taken my share of hard knocks on the racetrack. I will always respect my dad
and every other dad that has had to watch his son or son's on the racetrack,
not an easy thing to do. So when I see Steve Kinser and his son or Brent
Kaeding and his son's racing at the same time on the same track, it has to
be that much more difficult. I don't know what it is like to be a Father, but I
don know what it is like to be a proud son and that is what I am for my Dad. I have always loved
and respected everything that you have done for me during my life and for that
I say thanks and Happy Father's Day…..Billy
BF's Notes: Steve Kinser keeps on spanking the WoO boys, sweeping the
Eagle Nationals and extending his point lead, looking to be on his way to a
20th title…Fred Rahmer is well on his way to another career year
with 14 wins through June…Brent Kaeding got hot on the Golden
State circuit winning 4 of the last 6 races…Congrats to Jonathan Allard and
the entire Williams Motorsports team with Ashley Smith on their huge
$25,000 win at the Super Dirt Cup at Skagit…Brian Leppo has stepped into the
Apple Motorsports seat vacated by Jeff Shepard and won in his first race
at Williams Grove…Can anyone stop Chad Kemenah on the All-Star circuit?…Joey
Magaruh has been fast at Placerville this year…Ricci Faria took home
his first ever Non-Wing win at Hanford in a USAC/CRA race a couple weeks ago
and backed that up with a win at Tulare in 360 SCRA action with Mark
Flachman…On a weekend when Father's rule, Mother Nature won at Calistoga,
beating the Civil War Series…Robert Ballou picked up his first
Civil War race a couple of weeks ago at Marysville…Sammy Swindell continues
to win on the WoO circuit as well as his son Kevin in the USCS series…Jason Meyers has been very consistent
in the WoO this year, winning 3 races and running a solid 3rd in points…Kody
Swanson made his dad proud last weekend winning in Eureka in the USAC
Western States pavement Sprint Car Series…Roger Crockett has a great
ASCS Speedweek running at or near the top in all but one of the races…Darren
Stewart took home the ASCS Speedweek title by 2 points over Gary Wright…Lance
Dewease has started putting it together winning a couple of races, one
after Don Kreitz Jr. came up light at the scales…Greg Hodnett has
switched to Maxim Chassis and has strung together a few wins and some
impressive top 5's…Jason Statler picked up his first ever win at the
Tulare Thunderbowl after many frustrating race there.
BF
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