John & Blake Bowser & The Legendary Auto Club Famoso Raceway Bakersfield, CA
By
John & Blake Bowser
& The Legendary Auto Club Famoso Raceway
Bakersfield, CA
Aug 29, ‘07
Story by Richard Parks and Photographs by Roger Rohrdanz
John Bowser (l) and Blake Bowser |
John Bowser was born in Camden, New Jersey in 1942 and came to California when he was ten years old. His father died in a tragic construction accident and his mother decided to bring John and his two older brothers to live with family on the West Coast. John’s older brothers were Bobby and Walter. They settled in Bakersfield, California and Bowser attended Bakersfield High School and did what most kids did back in the 1950’s. His friends were not part of a car club at the time, but cars were very much a part of their lives. He drag raced all around Southern California, especially at Famoso, Irwindale and San Fernando Valley. He married Linda Jonas and went into the Navy in 1960. John and Linda had three children; Deborah who was born in 1964, Blake in 1967 and Stephanie in 1970. All three of their children would help them in their racing life. After his service in the Navy, Bowser got into roofing with his brother, delivered potato chips for Laura Scudder’s and then went to work for Westinghouse Electric in Bakersfield. For a short time he was transferred to Anaheim, California and this allowed him to work part time at Lion’s Dragstrip, which was managed by Steve Evans. He sold t-shirts for Jack Williams, who owned the lease to the souvenir stand. Bobby Bowser married Arlene Williams, Jack’s sister and this started John on a course that would affect his family and drag racing in the Bakersfield area.
Westinghouse transferred John back to Bakersfield in 1970 and the Bowser’s began to help out at the Famoso dragstrip, which is now called the Auto Club of Southern California Famoso Raceway. As Deborah and Blake got older, they were assigned jobs at the track. It was in their blood and they loved being there. They worked the gates, ticket booths, cleaned the track, worked in the concession stands, the timing booth and any other area where help was needed. Famoso had been an Air Force training and landing site during World War II and after the war lay dormant. It didn’t take long for the local high school hot rodders and drag racers to take their cars out to the paved abandoned air strip and begin their own racing around the early 1950’s. The Smokers car club created the first organized drag race in 1959, as a fund raising effort to pay for transportation back to the Indy 500 race in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Smokers Meet was also known as the March Meet and later the US Fuel and Gas Championship. The members ran the race, “it was all Chiefs and no Indians back then,” said John. Kenny Loewen was the first starter and waved the cars off with a flag start. The Smokers paid appearance or traveling money to attract the top East Coast drag racers. Don Garlits and Art Malone came west to race. Bernie Mather was the first announcer. Early Smokers included Ernie Hashim and Hut Watkins. After a decade of running the Smokers Meet, the club dropped out and other men took over running the famous drag strip.
The Weller family managed the track after the Smokers left and then turned management duties over to Ernie Hashim, a well-known landspeed and drag racer. Gil Cohen was next to manage the track and then Jack Williams and Marvin Miller took turns, off and on for more than two decades. John Durbin ran the track for a time and then the lease was picked up by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and run by their staff. NHRA eventually brought the well-liked Williams back to run the track. The Bowsers had helped out under past management, but now they took on added responsibilities under Williams. When Williams passed away in 2006, he stipulated in his will that the Bowser’s should have the sublease and run the track. John is the track manager at the Auto Club of Southern California Famoso Raceway and Blake Bowser runs the Marketing and Sales for the track. Deborah works in the office, distributing prize money and has worked in all of the functions “except the fuel booth,” she said, and has 21 years of service at Famoso. John has seven grandchildren and as they get older, they too will learn the family business. Deborah has a son Cody and two daughters, Courtney and Cori. Cori is ten years old and wants to drive a Junior dragster, and she has her own race track to practice on! Blake has two daughters, Ande and Bryn. Stephanie has a son, Zachary and a daughter, Abigail.
Blake told me that the track begins its racing season in mid-February and closes around mid-November, though it is possible to lease the track for test and tunes or commercials on a year round basis. Every Friday night the track has a test and tune where drag racers can bring their street legal cars all the way up to a Top Fuel dragster. They also have 8 Summit Series bracket races, and 8 more Jr Drags meets during the year. Their big nostalgia races are the California Hot Rod Reunion (CHRR) in October, the March Meet and Chuy’s sponsored Fuel Altered Meet. Butch Hedrick and his American Nostalgia Racing Association (ANRA) has 3 dates during the year. The West Coast Hot Rod Association (WCHRA) schedules 3 more race dates for the track. They specialize in just door slammers. A special once a month test and tune is open to all comers. “A lot of racers will rent the track for testing and tuning their cars,” said Blake. The drag strip is available for just about any occasion, but reservations should be made well in advance. The website for the track is www.autoclubfamosoraceway.com and the phone number is 661-399-2210.