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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 3, 2019)
Cottage Grove Sentinel Sports & Recreation SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION Wild West Modifi ed’s make stop at Speedway • • WEDNESDAY | JULY 3, 2019 B1 CONTACT SPORTS EDITOR ZACH SILVA AT 942-3325 OR ZSILVA@CGSENTINEL.COM Wings and wheels fl ock to CG CG Speedway hosts two days of early- week races last week By Ben Deatherage Cottage Grove Speedway Street Stocks played the role as the support class on Monday, June 24th, as the Wild West Modifi ed Shootout was in town. Six Street Stocks made the journey to Cottage Grove Speed- way for the rare weekday meeting. Creswell’s Garrett Barth paced the fi eld early. He held on to the lead for the fi rst seven laps before Kelly Mc- Donald made the pass to capture fi rst place on the eighth circuit. Th e two battled back and forth until McDonald, of Cot- tage Grove and racing for Tom and Joan Lan- gan, secured the posi- tion on lap 12. However, McDonald lost the lead on lap 14 aft er a restart due to a fl at tire. David Schmidt, now residing in Roseburg, was the one making the lap 14 pass and held on the rest of the way to earn his second Street Stock win at CGS in 2019. McDonald rallied to a second place fi nish over Barth, in third. Eu- gene’s Adam Applebee was fourth while cross- ing the wire in fi ft h was Wayne Clink from Eu- gene. Earlier in the program McDonald set fast time, won the heat race, and was victorious in the Dot’s Trophy Shop Tro- phy Dash. Aft er a thrilling night of racing on Monday the Wild West Modifi ed Shootout remained at Cottage Grove Speedway for the second straight evening on Tuesday, June 25th. It marked the fi ft h race of 2019 sched- ule for the tour and boasted a car count of 45 entries. Teams from the states of Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada and North Da- kota were represented as well as the Canadian province of British Co- lumbia. In the feature CGS veteran Gus Cooper mo- tored his way to the front of the fi eld in the open- ing laps. Cooper, of Cre- swell, held on to the top spot until getting passed on lap four by Jake Mayden. Mayden, from Springfi eld, showed the way for several circuits himself. Th e lone stoppage of the race was a caution on lap nine bunching the fi eld right up. Short- ly aft er the restart Cor- bett’s Collen Winebarg- er maneuvered around Mayden take over the role as the trailblazer for the fi eld. Winebarger set a torrid pace in open racetrack but once again faced some thick lapped traffi c. In almost a carbon copy of the night previ- ous while Winebarger dealt with the tail end of the fi eld eventually al- lowing Kellen Chadwick to bear down some pres- sure on the leader. But SPEEDWAY see B2 Cottage Grove’s John Barrong with his custom biplane, 1929 Ford Speedster and his 1990 Harley Davidson at last Saturday’s Wings & Wheels event. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL Planes, cars and motorcycles showcased in annual event By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Each step down the Oregon Avi- ation Historical Society’s (OAHS) runway was a step back in time last Saturday. Th ere was a journey to 1928 to a Chrysler model 65 road- ster, a trip to 1941 via an Interstate Cadet aircraft and a multitude of other stops throughout the 20th century along the way. Over 50 vintage planes, cars and motorcycles were showcased for nearly 200 visitors in Cottage Grove last weekend at the sixth an- nual Wings & Wheels. “I’m just thrilled. It worked ex- actly perfectly today,” said new OAHS executive director Janice Scanlon. “I call it an orchestra: you rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, you prepare, you read the notes and now I just feel like a deep breath, it’s a sigh. I look for smiling faces, happy people. I look for things run- ning smoothly. It all worked.” Th e annual event brings together planes, motorcycles, cars and the enthusiasts who make them run to swap stories as these vehicles are on display to the public. For Cottage Grove native John Barrong, the day represents celebrating Oregon’s aviation past, enjoying the present with those in attendance and hop- ing to inspire future generations. Barrong’s history with these vin- tage items began with his grandfa- ther who had the second pilot li- cense in the state of Oregon and the fi rst plane in Cottage Grove. Th is love for all things with an engine was passed down to Barrong who, at the age of 10, took up welding to keep up with his love of go-karts. “So my one uncle was a welder and so he said, ‘You need to learn to weld something, stuff doesn’t fall apart.’ So then I bought a welder and I started welding go-karts so it doesn’t fall apart. You can go faster and not worry about things coming off ,” said Barrong. “I would have damaged myself if I didn’t learn to weld. So that’s how that all started. And it never stopped.” Now Barrong has a hunger for the hobby and a hangar full of engines (including a diesel engine from the 1920s), motorcycles (he just traded for a 1932 Harley), cars (too many to count) and some planes for good measure. On Saturday, he displayed his 1929 Ford Speedster, 1997 one- of-a-kind Adams Arrow plane and 1990 FLSTC Harley Davidson. “So I’m 41 years old now so in 25 years I’ve collected this mass of an- tique cars, planes, motorcycles, hit and miss engines, steam engines, traction engines, everything under the sun. And just because it inter- ests me. Figuring out how to fi x things and how it works has always been what I’ve done,” said Barrong. “It’s kind of key to preserve that his- tory, I think. And show the youth that you can do this. You can build and fl y your own dang airplane if you want to.” Down the runway from Barrong sat Mathew Northway with his 1941 Interstate Cadet. Th e plane that served as a trainer during World War II wound up as North- way’s aft er it was initially owned by a dentist in Southern California during the war and sat stagnant on a runway in Wyoming for decades. With no wings, engine or interi- or, the plane ended up resting in a hangar before Northway purchased it in 2014. “I put a lot of money into this but what people don’t realize is pre-war and post-war, from about 1940 to about 1955 they made a lot of little planes. Just like this that if you’re interested in fl ying, you can buy one of those for about the price of a good used Toyota,” said Northway. “People think they need to be mil- lionaires to fl y a plane but in fact, if you’re willing to fl y an older, fab- ric-covered plane, you can do it for between 15 and 20 thousand dol- lars. And you’re in.” Aft er the plane was put back to- gether by Tim Talen near Creswell, WINGS see B2 George Lamond’s 1951 Chevrolet Bel Air was on display on Saturday. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL Area celebrations planned for the Fourth Local celebrations set to celebrate the holiday By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com The Yoncalla Rodeo was on display during the town’s annual parade last year. Athletes of the Week With the sun back in the forecast, grills ready to be fi red up and fi rework tents on every block, it’s time for Fourth of July celebrations. Across the area local groups have prepped and planned for Th ursday’s hol- iday. Here is a look at what’s happening in the area: In Yoncalla the day kicks off with the a parade at 10:30 a.m. Th e Yoncalla ro- Th is week’s athletes of the week are the members of the South Valley Little All-Star soft ball team. Th e team of nine, 10 and 11-year-olds will be playing next week at the state tournament in Portland. Look at next week’s paper for an article on the team. deo also begins on Th urs- day and has events for kids that start at noon before the rodeo is offi cially underway at 1 p.m. At 5:30 p.m. there will be a free ice cream social at the community center in addi- tion to “pioneer games” and food vendors at the high school. Th e high school will play host to the band Hay- wire at 7 p.m. and fi reworks around 10 p.m. In Cottage Grove the Cottage Grove Speedway will be celebrating the hol- iday with the Freedom Cup which will include races in limited sprints, IMCA Modifi eds and IMCA SportMods with fi reworks to follow. Down the road in Cre- swell, the day begins with a pancake breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and is followed by the annual parade at 11 a.m. Th e Firecracker Car Show runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Emerald Valley Golf Re- sort. In the evening there will be food vendors in down- town Creswell with a fi re- work display at the high school in the evening. The 9-10- 11 All-Stars were at work preparing for state last week. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/ CG SENTINEL
