Calistoga Speedway Hall of Fame

Frank Albert, a former drag racer who migrated to open wheel supermodifieds at the now defunct West Capital Speedway in Sacramento in the 1960s. A mechanic by trade, Albert was honored as the outstanding pit crew member of that track’s championship team in 1972 before opening a business, Frank Albert Racing-Sales and Service, which provided weekly pit-side help to racers for over four decades, at Calistoga Speedway and other tracks on the Northern Auto Racing Club tour.     

Jim Allen began his career with the Northern Auto Racing Club as a publicist in the 1980s. After living and working in Los Angeles, Allen returned to Northern California and resumed his association with NARC, where he has filled a wide range of roles for over 20 years, including General Manager, part owner, and Marketing Director.

Ron Horton, who ranks 16th on the Calistoga Speedway win list with seven victories. Horton is known for being one of the most consistent drivers on the Northern Auto Racing Club tour in the 1970s. Horton won the 1973 NARC driving title and subsequently ran a string of top finishes in the championship ranks. He scored three wins in 1975 to earn runner-up honors in the NARC championship standings, which he would repeat in 1979 after finishing third in the standings in ‘77 and ‘78. 

Clyde LeMar, the second-winningest car owner at Calistoga Speedway, with 13 wins, whose iconic Tri-C Machine sprint car was driven by top-tier drivers like Bobby McMahan, Paul McMahan, Dave Bradway, Jr., Gary Patterson, Jimmy Sills and Tommy Estes, Jr.  A self-made businessman in the machining and tire recycling business, LeMar fielded one of the most competitive sprint cars on the West Coast and had his biggest success with driver Jonathan Allard, with whom he won 40 races. 

Now retired driver Paul McMahan credits LeMar with helping him develop his skills and move on to the World of Outlaws.

Bobby McMahan, who began his sprint car career as Rookie of the Year at Placerville Speedway in 1982 and is the 2009 sprint car champion at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway, a title he won after a racing hiatus of five years. In between, he won four races on the Calistoga Speedway half mile and was runner-up in the Northern Auto Racing Club’s Speedweek championship in ‘96 and also runner-up in the overall NARC standings in ‘97, driving the well-known Tri-C sprint car owned by Clyde LeMar.

Jim Hearn, a car owner on the NARC tour whose car was driven by Ron Horton for many years, including the year Horton won the driver’s championship in 1975.