Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION
Wild West
Modifi ed’s
make stop at
Speedway
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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