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Racing community will unite Saturday, May 3 to honor track patriarch with the annual “Family Chevrolet Tribute to Al Hinds” Civil War race
by Bill Sullivan

Al Hinds, pictured enjoying a race at Placerville Speedway in late 2003. Hinds rarely missed a race at Placerville Speedway from the days he promoted the speedway to his passing in 2004.

PLACERVILLE, CA (4-16-08) - In just three weeks Placerville Speedway will host a very special night of racing with the “Family Chevrolet Tribute to Al Hinds” featuring the Hoosier Racing Tires Civil War Sprint Cars. This event will pay tribute to the late Al Hinds, the early track promoter of Placerville Speedway that taught many in the sport today that racing is about more than going fast and checkered flags.

Although Hinds was not the creator of Placerville Speedway, he was the second and one of the most influential of the early promoters to take the reins of Placerville Speedway back in 1968. In those days, Hinds was promoting far more than auto racing. The proprietor of Hinds Machine Shop, which still operates today, Al Hinds promoted a community to embrace the great sport of auto racing, a sport he dearly loved all his life, a sport where many loved him and will never forget what he did for auto racing here.

Back in his day, Al Hinds didn't spend all of his time in his machine shop or on the grader at the track every day. He sacrificed much of his personal time going out into the community, educating residents about the sport and its great source of family values and affordable entertainment He spent much of his daylight hours convincing local business owners to contribute to what is known today as Placerville's only professional spectator sport.

During the last few years of his life, Al Hinds rarely missed a race at the track in which he so proudly contributed. During the later years of his life, Hinds touched the hearts of many in the racing community, from drivers to speedway staff and current promoter Alan Padjen who always listened to Hinds’ words of wisdom when it came to track preparation and family values in the sport he loved. In 2002 Padjen presented Hinds with a special gold plated lifetime pass to Placerville Speedway in honor of his commitment to area motorsports.

Shortly after the racing season began in 2004 there was an empty seat in Placerville Speedway’s grandstands that was apparent to all of us. Three weeks into the season we learned that Hinds had passed away due to complications following a lengthy illness.

Just days after the news of Al Hinds passing reached the racing community “Family Chevrolet” of Shingle Springs teamed with John Padjen Motorsports to present the annual “Tribute to Al Hinds” race featuring the Civil War Sprint Cars. Hinds had a passion for open wheel racing that spanned from the local level all the way to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and honoring the patriarch of local racing with one of the most prestigious racing campaigns in California only seemed appropriate.

In 2008 a Civil War feature event regularly pays $2000 to win in each event. With an added $1000 bonus to the winner courtesy of Family Chevrolet, the winner on this special night will walk away with $3000. Former stock car driver Dan Ramey of DSR Graphics and Signs in Cameron Park will once again award $100 to the fast qualifier of the night and additional bonus monies are sure to be announced by race day.

Since its birth in 2004, the Tribute to Al Hinds has brought high car counts and capacity crowds to Placerville Speedway as racing enthusiasts gather honor this local patriarch.

During each of the previous “Tribute to Al Hinds” events there has been a special feeling in the air at Placerville Speedway, a feeling that is hard to describe but a sense that several have admitted to have felt. It’s a feeling of pure competition, family values and a great feeling of pride for everyone who participates and presents this great tradition o Placerville Speedway to honor the man that built his very own “field of dreams” that we all continue to enjoy decades later.

In 2008 Family Chevrolet and Placerville Speedway will take the Tribute to Al Hinds one step farther as they join forces to present the first ever “Al Hinds Show and Shine” at the Shingle Springs auto dealership.” This event will have more than a dozen sprint cars on display with drivers on hand throughout the afternoon and will feature a free barbecue sponsored by Placerville Speedway and Strauss Foods of Diamond Springs. This added attraction will give race fans and families an opportunity to see their favorite cars up close, sit in the driver’s seat and meet the drivers that will be behind the wheel that same night. Additional details on this special pre-race event will be released in the coming days.

This article is the first in a series of stories by Bill Sullivan of John Padjen Motorsports leading up to the fifth annual “Tribute to Al Hinds.” In the coming weeks be sure to visit www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com for additional articles that will detail this special race from looking at the three different drivers that have won the special event to a very personal inside look at Al Hinds and how he mentored many of us in the sport today.