Placerville Speedway hosts the 18th annual Tribute to Al Hinds this Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA – April 6, 2021…The El Dorado County Fairgrounds based Placerville Speedway is locked and loaded to host one of its longest running events at the quarter-mile bullring, with the 18th annual “Tribute to Al Hinds” set to take place this Saturday night.
Tickets for the show went on sale Monday and will be available at www.placervillespeedway.com until the maximum number sold is reached due to continued capacity limitations. Pit passes are also available to watch from the hill and can be purchased ahead of time via the Pit Pay Mobile Pit Pass App.
Al Hinds was the second promoter of Placerville Speedway. Hinds took operation of the track with business partner Richard Hirst from its founder, Bruno Romani, in 1968, three years after it first opened when the facility was built around an existing community football field.
The operator of a local machine shop by trade, Hinds loved the community where he lived. In his final years of life he enjoyed sitting with some of his best friends every night in the grandstands at Placerville Speedway and loved watching young talent make a name for themselves in the sport.
Former track announcer, publicist and historian Bill Sullivan said of Al Hinds, “From the day he set foot on the red clay at Placerville Speedway to the very last race he attended, Hinds continued to display his true love for auto racing and the community in which he brought it to. Even in his final years he continued to help young drivers, entertain fans and most importantly he spent a great deal of time talking to and mentoring those that helped in speedway operations. When Hinds spoke, anyone who cared remotely about the future of the sport would sit down and listen.”
In action to help honor Hinds on Saturday will be the Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Ltd. Late Models, Pure Stocks and the Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association. Aromas, CA’s Justin Sanders and Diamond Springs driver Kevin Jinkerson captured wins with the Sprint Cars and Pure Stocks last weekend respectively. For the Ltd. Late Models and Dwarf Cars it marks their first appearance of the 2021 campaign at the speedway.
The pit gate will open at noon this Saturday, with the front grandstand gate opening at 3pm. Happy Hour is offered from 4-6pm in the grandstands featuring discounted Coors Light and Coors Original at the beer stand. Drivers meeting will be held at 4:30pm, with cars on track for wheel packing at 5. Hot laps, ADCO Driveline qualifying and racing will follow.
If you haven’t done so yet, be s