By Ben Deatherage
BANKS, Ore. (July 1, 2026) — The first one always seems to take the longest.
Jake Walters had come close before.
Second-place finishes.
Nights when he found himself racing door-to-door with his father, Greg.
Opportunities that slipped away by only a few car lengths.
Each one brought another lesson, but none brought the one thing every racer spends countless hours chasing.
That first trip to Victory Lane.
“It seemed like we were always right there,” Walters said. “I’d had a couple second-place finishes and raced my dad for a win a few times, but I just couldn’t seem to get the monkey off my back.”
As the laps wound down on June 27 at Sunset Speedway Park, everything that had seemed just out of reach finally came together.
When the checkered flag waved, Walters had earned his first career Karl Kustoms IMCA Modified feature victory.
“It’s super special to get the first one out of the way, and to do it at Sunset, it means a lot,” he said.
For most drivers, a first win is something they’ll remember forever.
For Walters, the moment carried even greater meaning.
Sunset Speedway Park wasn’t just another racetrack.
It had become part of his family’s history long before he ever climbed into a race car.
His father, Greg, built one of the most decorated Late Model careers west of the Rocky Mountains. Years earlier, Jake’s grandfather, Doug, had helped shape the future of Sunset Speedway Park, making the facility much more than simply another stop on the racing schedule for racers.
And now another generation of the Walters family had added its own chapter.
It was a journey that almost never happened.
A Family Tradition Interrupted
Racing surrounded Jake Walters almost from the day he was born.
His grandfather, Doug, spent years around race cars, hot rods, and drag racing before introducing Greg to the sport. Greg began racing on pavement at Portland Speedway in 1995 and made his first starts on dirt in 1999. When the family learned the historic Portland facility would convert to dirt for the 2001 season, they sold all of their pavement equipment in 2000 and committed fully to dirt track racing.
Doug’s influence extended well beyond his own family. In 2002, after a falling out with an Oregon racetrack, Doug recognized that many Late Model competitors wanted opportunities to race at more than one facility. The following season, he helped launch a traveling Late Model series that gave racers exactly that.
Not long afterward, longtime Sunset Speedway Park promoter Mike McCann began encouraging Doug around the campfire after race nights to consider taking over the facility when he decided to step away. Rather than pursuing another business opportunity, Doug partnered with Jerry Schram to lease and operate Sunset Speedway Park.
Doug passed away in 2008, but his impact on both Sunset Speedway Park and Northwest racing continues to be felt today.
The Walters family’s numbers have carried a story of their own through the generations.
When Doug began his racing career, he purchased a race car from veteran racer Ab Spain that carried the No. 97. Doug adopted the number, but when Spain later returned to racing and wanted the number back, Doug needed a new identity. Working with the simple vinyl numbers they could afford at the time, they turned the existing “9” upside down, creating the No. 67.
Years later, when Greg began his own racing career, he revived the No. 97 and made it one of the most recognizable numbers in the Northwest, while Jake would later carry on the family’s No. 67 tradition.
“It just feels right,” he said.
That legacy began taking shape during the winter of 2008-09, when Walters climbed into a Kage Kart for the first time. Racing Box Stocks indoors, he quickly found success, winning two championships before life began pulling him in different directions.
Baseball became a major part of his childhood.
Growing up in Banks, his teams qualified for the state tournament every season from kindergarten through eighth grade. Summer schedules often included 60 or more games, leaving little room for racing.
Then came one afternoon that changed everything.
During qualifying for a Late Model race at Cottage Grove Speedway in 2013, Jake watched his uncle, Jason Johnson, suffer a violent rollover. Standing nearby as a young boy, he saw the car tumble several times before Johnson was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital.
Johnson ultimately recovered, but the frightening scene stayed with Jake.
“I told Dad, ‘I don’t know if racing is for me,'” Walters recalled.
He stepped away from racing.
For nearly a decade, baseball and later golf became his focus. After COVID-19 interrupted high school athletics, Walters took up competitive golf full-time during his junior and senior years and eventually captured an Oregon state championship.
It seemed as though racing had become part of his past.
But racing wasn’t finished with him.
Greg Walters (97) races alongside son Jake Walters (67) during Karl Kustoms IMCA Modified competition at Sunset Speedway Park in 2025. The father-son pairing continues a three-generation racing tradition for the Walters family. (Photo by Tom Egan Photography)
Finding His Way Back
For nearly a decade, Walters was content watching racing from the grandstands.
The desire to climb back behind the wheel never completely disappeared, but baseball, golf, and eventually work occupied most of his time. By the time he graduated from high school, however, the itch to race had quietly returned.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly helped bring that dream back into focus.
While much of Oregon’s racing schedule came to a halt, Greg traveled to Wyoming to compete. Jake tagged along, helping around the race car and spending weekends immersed in the sport once again.
Watching his father race rekindled something that had been missing.
“It lined up more perfectly than I could have dreamed,” Walters said. “My goal was always to race with my dad.”
Several people helped turn that goal into reality.
Jimmy Schram first put Jake back behind the wheel by letting him drive a Micro Sprint that had belonged to his son. Not long afterward, Jerry Schram helped the family secure a Modified at a price they could afford, while longtime family friend John Gaynor eventually sold Walters one of his own race cars.
Without them, Walters isn’t sure he would be racing today.
“It wouldn’t have been possible without my family, the Schram family, and John Gaynor,” he said.
Walters made his Modified debut late in the 2023 season at Sunset Speedway Park.
Rather than chasing results, the objective was simply to gain experience.
“My first race was toward the end of 2023 at Sunset,” he said. “I started in the back and just got some laps under my belt to build confidence going into the next year.”
It came more naturally than he expected.
Years spent watching his father race around Sunset Speedway Park had given him an understanding of the track before he ever climbed into the driver’s seat.
“It came a lot easier than I thought with all the years watching my dad and spending so much time at Sunset,” Walters said.
Even so, learning to race a Modified required patience.
The speed was greater.
The competition tougher.
The expectations higher.
There were moments when the first win seemed close enough to touch.
There were also moments when it felt just out of reach.
His father offered simple advice.
“The first one’s always the hardest,” Greg would tell him.
Eventually, Jake proved him right.
Life in Banks
Home has always been Banks.
Located in the heart of Oregon’s Tualatin Valley, about 20 miles northwest of the city of Hillsboro, the community traces its roots to the late 1800s and was named after early settler John L. Banks, whose dairy farm helped establish the town. Incorporated in 1921, Banks has retained its small-town atmosphere despite steady growth and today is home to nearly 1,900 residents.
“It’s still pretty small,” Walters said. “Everybody knows everybody.”
The community continues to evolve.
A major housing development is replacing the golf course where Walters spent countless hours growing up, changing part of the landscape he remembers from his childhood.
Even so, Banks has remained the place he proudly calls home.
Main Street Pizza has long been a favorite stop before heading to the racetrack, while nearby attractions such as Topgolf and K1 Speed in Hillsboro provide opportunities to have fun away from racing.
Golf remains one of Walters’ favorite hobbies whenever time allows.
“I try to golf when I can,” he said. “But work, racing, and life keep me pretty busy. Racing is another full-time job.”
Away from the racetrack, Walters works for Ironmark Surveying & Engineering in Hillsboro as a surveyor.
Originally, he expected to become an electrician after high school.
Instead, an unexpected opportunity changed his career path.
His younger brother played baseball with the son of Ironmark co-owner Joe Jewett, while Walters had attended school with Joe’s oldest son. Knowing Walters’ reputation as a hardworking young man, Joe offered him an opportunity.
“He told me to give it a year,” Walters said. “If I didn’t like it, I’d have some experience, I’d have saved some money, and I could go do something else.”
He never left.
Today, Walters helps survey construction projects throughout the Portland metropolitan area, laying out building locations, elevations, and structural components before construction begins.
Among the projects he’s worked on are numerous downtown Portland high-rise developments and the recently completed expansion at Oregon Health & Science University.
“I want to make a career out of it,” Walters said. “I couldn’t be more thankful.”
More Than a First Win
As meaningful as the first victory was, Walters knows he didn’t reach Victory Lane alone.
His father provided the opportunity and the example.
The Schram family helped bring him back into racing when he wasn’t sure if he would ever compete again. Jerry and Jimmy Schram opened doors that eventually led him back behind the wheel, while John Gaynor provided the race car that helped launch his Modified career.
His employer at Iron Mark Engineering believed in him long before surveying became a career, giving him an opportunity that continues today.
A dedicated group of sponsors has also stood behind the team throughout the journey, including Rogers Repair Service, Quality Chain, Lyda Excavating, Swan Island Sheet Metal, Whisler Construction, Schram Bros. Excavating, Ironmark Surveying & Engineering, Pure Addiction Diesel & Auto Performance, Courage Graphics, Transaction Transmission, 9941 Construction, and Malmedal Plumbing.
“I really can’t thank everybody enough,” Walters said. “It takes a lot of people to make something like this happen.”
As special as the first victory was, another thought remained close to his heart.
His grandfather.
Doug Walters passed away in 2008 before Jake ever climbed into a race car.
Jake has only a handful of memories of him.
He wishes there could have been more.
“I think life would have been a lot different,” Walters said. “He would’ve dropped everything to take me racing like he did for my dad.”
Jake likes to think his grandfather was watching that June evening at Sunset Speedway Park.
The Walters family name.
The familiar No. 67.
Another generation standing in Victory Lane.
“It feels good to represent the name,” Walters said. “He’s looking down on me, and it feels special.”
The first win had finally arrived.
Not just for Jake.
But for a family whose story has been intertwined with Northwest racing for generations.
