PAGE 2 | August 16, 2019 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la-
bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the
first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor
Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo-
ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in
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The Spirit of 76
Union racer represents Local 701 on the speedway
By Don McIntosh
When Cory Garrison was a kid
growing up in McMinnville, he
dreamed of becoming a Marine,
running freight trains, and oper-
ating cranes. At 31, he’s done all
three, and added another to the
list: race car driver.
After 50-hour work weeks
operating a tower crane for
NessCampbell Crane and Rig-
ging, Garrison spends his Satur-
days at Sunset Speedway Park
in Banks, Oregon, racing a 1970
Monte Carlo that he bought
race-ready this April.
Spectators notice the car: It’s
the one with the three-foot-wide
decal of Operating Engineers
Training Center on the hood.
Garrison is proud to promote his
union, Operating Engineers Lo-
cal 701, and its training center:
They gave him the job he loves,
and on the racetrack their sup-
port is keeping him safe.
The idea of sponsorship came
up when Garrison told Local
701 President Darren Glebe
about his new passion. Soon af-
ter, Garrison heard from Local
701 Business Manager Jimbo
Anderson, who also serves as a
trustee of the training center.
Every Saturday, April to September, Operating Engineers Local 701 member
Cory Garrison races his red 1970 Monte Carlo at Sunset Speedway.
“I got a phone call from
Jimbo [Anderson] asking what I
needed,” Garrison recalls. “I
was pretty set, except I needed
safety gear.”
A contribution from the
Training Center helped Garrison
purchase a five-point harness, a
HANS (Head and Neck Sup-
port) device, and head-to-toe
fire resistant clothing. Now,
every Saturday, Garrison’s red
Car #76 puts the operators’ logo
in front of 500 to 1,500 fans.
Garrison sits behind the
wheel in a blue fire-rated jump-
suit and a helmet decked out in
the stars and stripes. “Cory Gar-
rison,” in blue cursive, runs
along above the door. Seventy-
six, the car number, runs in big
white letters on the roof and the
side.
“Being a former Marine, I
went with a red white and blue
theme,” Garrison said.
Garrison spent four years in
the U.S. Marine Corps as a
maintenance manager and turret
gunner running convoys in Iraq,
and later operated a yard loco-
motive at an Iowa sand mine.
But he found a career high up in
the cab of a crane after he joined
Local 701 in 2016.
“I love what I do,” Garrison
told the Labor Press. “My num-
ber one job is to make sure it’s
done safely and there are no in-
juries. Every time we pick
something up, there’s always a
risk in our job that somebody
could get hurt or not go home.”
After the stress of moving
tons of material safely and effi-
ciently, auto racing is a kind of
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