Speedway Races Against Odds to Stay Open

EL CAJON, Calif. -- It’s Saturday night at Cajon Speedway, an aging field of dreams where the air is thick with exhaust and the smell of burnt rubber.

Ron Kelly is sitting in his seat at the top of the bleachers, cheering his favorite drivers as they roar around the track. Amber Harmon is in the pits preparing to climb into her Ford Pinto, which she started racing this year after her husband was sent to Iraq. Teenager Danielle Esler is in the bleachers, gossiping with her girlfriend over the sound of screaming engines and squealing tires.

All three have spent the week looking forward to this day. It’s hard for them to imagine spending a Saturday anywhere other than in this world of high speeds, explosive horsepower and close bonds.

For 42 years, the Cajon Speedway, which sits on a patch of land east of San Diego next to Gillespie Field airport, has been a place for aspiring stock-car racers to test their talent, crews to hone their skills and fans to eat hot dogs and root for racers driving at speeds of around 100 mph.

But now the future of the family-owned speedway is uncertain. The lease on the coveted 70 acres could end in less than two years and there has been talk that the county is eyeing the property as a site for airport expansion or an industrial park.

Racers and fans had been counting on the gregarious speedway boss, Steve Brucker, to lead the fight to keep their weekend refuge alive and hold off the onslaught of urbanization that brought an end to drive-ins, orange groves and other signs of an earlier era.

But Brucker, whose family has been operating the track for four decades, was murdered in April. His brother, Kevin, said he plans to do what he can to prevent the speedway from closing. But he has mixed feelings. The track just isn’t the same without Steve.

“You couldn’t have a much better life than we had,” he said, on the verge of tears. “We own the playground. But it kind of all got shot down at once.”

Steve Brucker, 51, was at home in El Cajon on April 14 when three men came to the door. They had heard, incorrectly, that there was $2 million stashed inside the house, according to prosecutors. Brucker refused to let them in and the men shot him and fled.

Brucker was able to call 911, but he died at the hospital two hours later.

Three alleged assailants, along with an alleged accomplice, face charges in connection with the slaying.

Brucker’s death shocked the community and prompted friends and relatives to collect money for a reward. Races were canceled the following Saturday, when a caravan of drivers weaved through El Cajon, passing out fliers about the killing.

Drivers stuck decals on their cars in memory of Brucker and posted tributes on the speedway Web site. One wrote, “I still can’t believe those ruthless people involved in this tragedy. Steve Brucker made it possible for all [of] us, racers, to live up to our dreams.”

The outpouring didn’t surprise Brucker’s father, Earle Brucker Jr., who said the racing community is “like a huge, big family.”

When a car is stolen, racers and fans collect money. When a racer is diagnosed as having cancer, they hold a blood drive.

“You give these guys a cause and they step up to the plate 10 times over,” said Becky McBride, who organizes several events for the track. “They can’t do enough.”

Ron Overman, 60, started racing at the speedway more than three decades ago. In 1999, he broke his back after crashing into the fence at 100 mph. He broke his neck in another racing accident last year. Both times, the hospital was flooded with visitors and bouquets.

“It was a bit overwhelming and encouraging and made me really know why I was in this,” said Overman, who now races a new yellow Chevy Monte Carlo.

Track Buddies

Don Wadsworth, a crew member, said he relied on friends at the track after the death of his wife five years ago. “It’s better than any support group that I can think of,” he said, drinking a soda next to the tool shack. “Even the guys who don’t admit it, that’s the real reason they are out here.”

It’s an expensive hobby. The highest weekly prize is $800, though it can cost thousands of dollars to buy and maintain a car. There is a joke at the track that the best way to make a small fortune is to have a big fortune and then start racing.

It was back in the 1950s that Earle Brucker Sr. got a lease on a plot of land to construct a baseball park, but he ended up opening a football stadium and motorcycle track. He later built a quarter-mile dirt oval at the stadium and opened the Cajon Speedway on July 15, 1961.

Known as the fastest three-eighths-of-a-mile paved oval in the West, the speedway attracts 3,000 to 4,000 fans every Saturday during racing season, from April to October. They are teachers, radio hosts, mechanics and business owners. Many are from El Cajon, a blue-collar city of 98,000 and home to several aerospace businesses.

The Bruckers, who sublease part of the land to other companies, believe their lease runs through 2010. But San Diego County, which owns the land, says the lease ends in 2005, and state courts have agreed with the county.

The county is eager to update the lease. The Bruckers currently pay 5% of their gross profit, which was about $1.2 million last year.

The gates open at 4 p.m. Fans pay $10 and enter the track beneath a Budweiser banner that reads, “Welcome Race Fans.” They stock up on barbecued hamburgers, peanuts and hot dogs and head into the stands.

“It’s like going to the fair,” said Wally Eiter of El Cajon, who works the concession stands with his family.

Michael Erler, 12, has been a speedway regular as long as he can remember. He recites the biggest crashes, the coolest cars, his favorite drivers. He has collected more than 50 of their autographs on an old T-shirt. Wearing a “No Fear” hat backward, Michael said he already races bikes and can’t wait until he’s old enough to try stock cars. “It looks fun -- especially the turns and going fast,” he said.

Drivers and their crews prepare for the races in the pits, a bustling place with a gas station and a tire store.

There, racer Randy Hart, 42, smoked a cigarette while his wife, Barbara, 54, arranged a buffet dinner. The Harts had their first date at the track and just celebrated their 19th anniversary. Hart, who drives a trash truck for the city of San Diego, came to the track as a child, but never imagined he would be a race car driver. He said he can’t imagine the track closing. “You close the corner bar where people have been hanging out for 20 years ... it wouldn’t be right,” he said.

At 6:45 p.m., the pits became silent as everyone put a hand over their heart and sang the National Anthem. Then the races began.

Growing Up at the Track

Steve and Kevin Brucker grew up at this track, playing hide-and-seek and listening to racing stories. As they got older, they parked cars and took tickets. Steve eventually became the promoter and his brother the track manager.

“They worked their way from the bottom to the top,” their father said. “When the time came [for me to retire], we had plenty of know-how.”

Steve, a hulking 6 feet tall and 300 pounds, was the enforcer and kept the peace. But he was also unassuming, dressed in baggy shorts and a T-shirt.

The racers say he was always fair. He had a tough exterior, but he was generous and kind, said driver and friend Ivan Harrison. “You had to earn his respect,” he said. “If you respected the family and the speedway, the respect would come back to you.”

Steve and his wife, Bonnie, had two sons, Adam, 18, and Eric, 21. Eric is the one following in his father’s footsteps. Every Saturday night, Steve Brucker stood at the edge of the pits, watching over the cars as they drove onto the track. Now Eric, the fourth generation at the track, stands in the same spot.

The cars in one of Saturday’s races started in a pack but spread out quickly as they jockeyed for position and some fell behind. Moments into the race, there was a crash. A yellow flag alerted the other drivers. After the race, there were threats and talk of a fight. Ed Fitzgibbons, an official of the National Assn. for Stock Car Auto Racing, ran over to calm the situation. “It’s part of the thrill of it,” he said. “It’s just another Saturday night.”

Rick Johnson, a well-known racer, grew up in El Cajon and has childhood memories of hearing the howl of cars at the grass-roots track -- part of the backbone of the NASCAR circuit.

“Some of the best racing I’ve ever done and seen is at Cajon Speedway,” said Johnson, who is better known for his championships in motorcycle racing. “It would be a shame to see it go.”

Airport Expansion

Acting airport director Sherry Miller said the county is considering using the land for the construction of additional airport hangars and has not decided what to do with the speedway.

Kevin Brucker said the family plans to wait until it receives notice to leave before deciding whether to contact lawyers. He hopes that, even if the family has to give up the land, the county will keep the speedway going.

Brucker sighed as he sat in his office at the track. “We’ll do it until the county kicks us out of here,” he said.