watsonvillespeedway Archives

Rob Gallaher: From Racer to Promoter and Building Watsonville Speedway’s Future

By Ben Deatherage WATSONVILLE, Calif. (Mar. 19, 2026) — A new era is underway at Watsonville Speedway, and Rob Gallaher is leading the charge. The longtime racer and successful businessman has taken over as promoter of the ¼-mile clay oval at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, a facility long known to fans as Ocean Speedway. With a blend of fresh ideas, deep racing roots, and strong community backing, Gallaher is determined to build on the track’s legacy while pushing it forward. “I’m enjoying this,” Gallaher said. “There’s a lot to do in a short amount of time, but the support from the sponsors and the community has really fired me up and created a lot of energy for me to do the best job I can.” A Storied Facility With a Strong Foundation Watsonville Speedway has been a cornerstone of California dirt track racing since opening in 1960. The track crowned its first Karl Kustoms IMCA Modified champion in 2004, when Kenny Nott put his name into the record books. Nott went on to become one [Read More]

Feature

Rob Gallaher: From Racer to Promoter and Building Watsonville Speedway’s Future

Feature

Jerry Schram: Not Done Yet

By Ben Deatherage VANCOUVER, Wash. (Mar. 18, 2026) — For years, Jerry Schram lived on borrowed time. Three days a week, four hours at a time — sometimes far more — he sat connected to a dialysis machine, waiting for it to do what his body no longer could. When the treatments ended, the exhaustion didn’t leave with him. It followed him home. “Dialysis is tough on you,” Schram said. “You start to think it’s killing you slowly — but it’s better than the alternative.” For nearly six years, that was life. Until March 3. That’s when everything changed. A Fight That Took Years Schram’s battle with kidney disease didn’t begin with a dramatic moment. It started quietly in November of 2017 during a routine physical, when doctors discovered blood in his urine. Follow-up testing revealed he was already in end-stage renal disease, operating at just 35 percent kidney function — something he hadn’t even realized. The seriousness of it didn’t fully hit until March of 2018, when he underwent hip replacement surgery and doctors warned [Read More]

Feature

Brian McCaughan: Chasing Gold in the Yukon and Racing for the Moments

By Ben Deatherage SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Mar. 18, 2026) — In the Yukon, the air is so clean you can drink from the streams. The country stretches wide and wild, with mountains on the horizon, deep cuts in the earth, and wildlife moving through a landscape that still feels untamed. In that far-north world, where long days of summer labor are measured against cold, distance, and the uncertainty of what lies beneath the ground, Brian McCaughan has built a life chasing one of the planet’s oldest prizes. Gold. It is a life shaped by risk, patience, hard work, and wonder. Some days the earth gives something back. Other days, after moving millions of tons of dirt, there is almost nothing to show for it. But for McCaughan, the beauty of the Yukon and the challenge of making a living there have become part of who he is. Maybe that is why getting back into racing made sense. The driver of the no. 2D Karl Kustoms IMCA Modified once raced Modifieds and Late Models regularly and made a [Read More]