Bob Benefield

After watching his older brother, Don, race for two years, and helping him in the pits,
Bob bought his first super-modified from Paul Manning in the summer of 1956. He was
just 16, and was about to start his senior year of high school. At that time the rules
stated that drivers were to be a minimum of 18. Though everyone knew he was
underage, no one objected. Just to be on the “safe” side, he signed in as 18 for 3
years.    

Bob’s first super-modified championship came in 1958 at the old 1/4 mile dirt track in
Willows. He raced there every Saturday night from April to the beginning of October.
After the racing season ended in 1959, Willows Raceway closed for good. Bob not only repeated as point champion there, that year, but married his wife, Barbara. Each of their three children were practically born at the races. The two oldest, Linda and Kenny, went to their first race before they were a month old. Bonny, the youngest, born in October, 1963, didn’t get initiated into racing till she was about 5 months.

From 1957-1961, Bob also raced at the old 8th St. Track on Friday nights in Chico,
where he consistently finished in the top five in points. In 1962, the 8th St. Track was replaced with the brand new Silver Dollar Speedway, at the fairgrounds. The new dirt track was very fast, and the large grandstands were always packed. The 3/8 mile dirt track at the Anderson Fairgrounds reopened in 1961 after being closed for several years, so Bob began racing there every Saturday night.

In 1963, Bob acquired two partners, Bob McCain, and Walt Calef. They not only helped work on the car, but were his pitmen. They had a great sponsor, Tom Riessen, who owned the Chevron Station on Antelope Blvd., in Red Bluff. Tom was a great friend, as well as a sponsor. He loved racing, and eventually bought a midget for Bob to drive in 1964. Bob raced the midget a few times on the indoor track at the Oakland Coliseum, till he crashed when his throttle stuck. Since he was a log truck driver, and he worked long hours during the week, the traveling was too much to handle, so they fixed the car and sold it.

After a few years, Tom Riessen retired, and Jerry Clawson (Jerry’s Arco) became Bob’s sponsor. He was a former employee of Tom’s, who bought his own station. In 1971, Bob won the perpetual 8 ft. trophy on Pepsi Night at Anderson Speedway. Jerry’s Arco became home for the Pepsi trophy for the next year, because it was too large to put in the house. Needless to say, it really attracted the customers. In addition, Walt Calef had retired, and Don Woods became a partner and pitman on the car.

Bob received many championship trophies during the 18 years he raced. He was track champion at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway in 1969 & 1970. In 1971, he won the points division at both Anderson and Chico, which gave him the distinction of being the Overall Champ.

Finally, at the close of the 1974 season, Bob decided to retire from racing. He now had his own logging truck, and realized that racing and logging were two full-time jobs. In addition, he missed much of 1974 to follow his son, Ken’s, All-Star Team that went to Pennsylvania to play in the Little League World Series.

About ten years later, Bob followed his son and nephews into the Mini-World of   Outlaws (go-karts) for about 4 years. He also played and managed a Slow-Pitch   Softball team (Tom’s Glass and Muffler) that played in the Red Bluff Parks and
Recreation League. Finally, he played in the Senior league for about 10 years till
shoulder surgeries forced him to quit.

Bob is now a board member with the Northern California Auto Racing Alumni group.