The old vacuum tube radio on the workbench crackled as our father tuned into the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing". The voice was that of Tony Hulman as he uttered those magic words, "Gentlemen, start your engines." The year was circa 1950. With those simple words and the loving tutoring of both our father and uncle, the seeds of racing were planted forever in both my brother and myself.

Howard Barnes (pictured on the left)and Willie Lessera (below right)were deeply involved in tether and rail car racing. Their interest started in the free flight days of model airplanes. Their involvement in tether car racing began in both Woodland and Sacramento, CA before World War II. But with the war close at hand, those interests had to be put aside. Howard was assigned to the South Pacific with the Merchant Marines. Willie was a gunner on a B-17 stationed in Foggia, Italy. Howard returned home unharmed. Willie on the other hand was shot down while on a bombing raid of the Ploesti Oil Fields. Although he survived the bailout, he was MIA for several months. The resistance movement eventually found him and smuggled him by night to an airstrip. From the airstrip he was flown to Bari, Italy and back to Foggia. He returned the states in September. The time from bailout to the airstrip took a walk that lasted 47 days. To read more on his escape from the Germans visit complete story.

After the war the club members began returning home, and the Sacramento Model Race Car Association started up their races with a goal of breaking the world record for tether car speed. Howard petitioned the City of Sacramento to ask them to donate a small piece of land within the boundaries of Del Paso park. The city agreed and in 1947 the "Del Paso Speedway" was christened. Howard and Willie were two of the driving forces responsible for keeping the S.M.R.C.A. alive for many years.

As time went by, dad bought us a two-engine go-cart. We raced it until dad flipped in practice; he parked it after that. As the saying goes, "If it don't go, chrome it!", so he did. We entered the cart into the 1959 and 1960 Sacramento Autorama and won first place both years. He was then instrumental in helping me build a '28 Ford Coupe powered by a flathead. A few years later Willie gave my brother Gary his 1950 Chevy convertible for his 16th birthday. We both wish we still had those cars today.

By 1968 I was married and had two children and Gary was a helicopter electrician in Vietnam. My wife and I still enjoyed eating dirt in turn four of Hughes Stadium watching sprint cars on Friday nights. My brother would write home asking for dad to ship wheels, engine parts, etc. in the coffee cans of chocolate chip cookies that mom baked. You see, Gary was building a tether car and track in Duc Pho, Vietnam-in the middle of a combat zone. The seeds planted in the early years of the 1950's had sprouted clear across the Pacific Ocean.

Today while Gary is building Tether Car Replicas, I keep up his website and keep abreast of all my other racing interests. We can't help believing that we are carrying on the love and passion for tether cars and racing that was deeply instilled in both of us by our father and uncle.

Howard Barnes died in a house fire in 1971 and Willie died of a heart attack in 1963.