I was born into a racing family. My uncle Harold Murphy and my Dad Wayne won four Hardtop championships in a row in the late 60’s and early 70’s at Vallejo Speedway with BCRA hall of fame member Gene Dudley driving, they had several other very talented drivers before Gene such as Paul Stornetta, Ray Kelsey and BCRA Hall of fame member “Pee Wee” Waybright. Dad even drove a few times. Some of my very first memories are of sitting in that old coupe while my Dad and uncle worked on it.
Sadly my Dad passed away in 1973. I stayed away form the races for a couple years until one day my Mom came home from work and announced “We were going to the races the next Saturday night” to watch her boss race a hardtop in a charity race at Vallejo. It was a race where Napa and Vallejo area doctors raced to raise money for a local youth charity. My Mom happened to run into Leroy Geving and well…..One thing lead to another and pretty soon they were married. (I am pretty sure Mom holds the record for being married to Leroy the longest) it seems between my Moms boss Dr Richard Frank going by the name Doc Holiday buying a four car team and her being married to Leroy my future was cemented. By the way during this period my mom moved us from Napa to Vallejo where she bought a house on Brook Drive where we lived about 4 houses from John Bickford and a four year old Jeff Gordon.
I grew up at Vallejo Speedway rooting for my best friend’s Dad Darrell Dudley. By the time I was in high school, Vallejo was shutting down and some of the local racers branched out to West Capitol and San Jose and then into the NorCal Sprint car scene. Darrell Jr. and I added a new friend Greg Gillespie to the group and traveled around to as many races as we could make on minimum wage high school jobs. It wasn’t too long before we realized we might at least get rides to the races if we started helping out, so Greg and I hooked up with Ed Organ and traveled around as much of the NARC Sprint car tour as we could. We had a lot of fun and some success too Ed won the last race ever at West Capitol in 1980.
Over the years I have helped some really good drivers and owners most notably Bill Silviera with Billy Garcia driving to Johnny Pearson driving Jack Gordon’s famous 1c. I guess it was only natural for me to find a way into the driver’s seat so in 1987 I scraped up enough money and parts to buy my way into the seat of Rich Duppman’s #96. It was a low buck operation and I got a good education, after years of wondering why? Some times being critical of drivers I found out why? My first race was a NARC Sprint car race at Petaluma “Oh Man did I have my eyes opened” then after scaring the hell out of myself just hot lapping I moved on to my second race at Calistoga!
By the end of the year I had wrecked a few times but made a few main events and learned a ton! I also realized sprint car racing was way more than I could afford with a wife and two kids.
In 1989 Bill Silviera let me run his “new” Mini sprint over at Delta Speedway. I ran off and on for Bill for several years and bought an old Stewart Mini sprint that Bill had brought out from Indiana it took several years to complete, between finding a new wife and buying a house to raising our kids.
In 2003 I took the job as the Midget Lite referee for BCRA, during that summer I decided in 2004 I would get back to racing. In the fall of 2003 I was elected to the BCRA board of directors where I have remained, advancing from Secretary to Vice President to President for the last two years. Over the past five years I have won a main event several heat races and a few trophy dashes and a couple semi’s. I finished the 2004 season 12th in points. 2005 11th, 2006 10th, 2007 8th and 2008 6th. In 2006 I ran 9th in points for the Best of the West mini sprint Series and was 11th in 2007.
I have also been lucky enough to run a vintage Benson midget for Stu Donaldson. Which has got be one of the highlights of my driving career.
I have to thank my wife Peggy for all of her support, my friend Bill Silviera for giving me another chance and for his help and advice over the years and my car owners last year Bill Graham Sr. Orv Johnson and Tony Fonseca for believing in me. I’m looking forward to 2009 and another fun year. Dedicated to all those that turned laps or wrenches at Vallejo speedway.
Over the years I have helped some really good drivers and owners most notably Bill Silviera with Billy Garcia driving to Johnny Pearson driving Jack Gordon’s famous 1c. I guess it was only natural for me to find a way into the driver’s seat so in 1987 I scraped up enough money and parts to buy my way into the seat of Rich Duppman’s #96. It was a low buck operation and I got a good education, after years of wondering why? Some times being critical of drivers I found out why? My first race was a NARC Sprint car race at Petaluma “Oh Man did I have my eyes opened” then after scaring the hell out of myself just hot lapping I moved on to my second race at Calistoga! 
In 1989 Bill Silviera let me run his “new” Mini sprint over at Delta Speedway. I ran off and on for Bill for several years and bought an old Stewart Mini sprint that Bill had brought out from Indiana it took several years to complete, between finding a new wife and buying a house to raising our kids. 
I have also been lucky enough to run a vintage Benson midget for Stu Donaldson. Which has got be one of the highlights of my driving career.
I have to thank my wife Peggy for all of her support, my friend Bill Silviera for giving me another chance and for his help and advice over the years and my car owners last year Bill Graham Sr. Orv Johnson and Tony Fonseca for believing in me. I’m looking forward to 2009 and another fun year. Dedicated to all those that turned laps or wrenches at Vallejo speedway.
