Issue date: 9/13/02 Section: Campus/Features

At the end of World War II, the sport of auto racing started to become increasingly popular and the idea of having a race track inside Stockton's city limits was in the mind of William G. Hunefeld.
After living in New York and then traveling across the United States living in various states, Hunefeld eventually settled in the Stockton area, promoting his boxing and wrestling business.
With the help of Stanley S. Moore and lawyer Len H. Honey, the construction of a fifth-mile dirt racing surface was started in March of 1947 and completed in May of the same year.
The new 99 Stadium, as it was called, featured grandstands on both sides of the track, which provided seating for 10,000 people. The back stretch grandstands were removed a few years later to make room for Moore's truck and recreational vehicle buildings.
The inaugural race was held Tuesday, May 27, 1947, featuring a 12-car field of Midgets under the sanction of the United States Racing Association. A crowd of more than 8,000 was on hand for that race.
Throughout the years the Stockton 99 Speedway has seen more than 15 different divisions competing on the quarter-mile asphalt track and in the 1950s, NASCAR took them on to be a sanction track.
In 1985, Johnny Brazil drove his Super Modified around the quarter-mile track in an amazing 11.899 seconds. To this day, he is still the fastest man ever to circle that track.
In 2000 the Super Modified division returned for a one-time show and tried to break Brazil's record but Lonnie Anderson, from Salt Lake City, Utah, only reached 11.926 seconds.
Brazil walked away from the fence smiling and said, "They didn't touch it."
Currently, after 55 years of racing, the track has three regular divisions, along with a hand full of other divisions that participate on any given Saturday night.
The season ends in late September leaving only three races for the season.
Tomorrow's program will feature the SLR tour-style cars, similar to ones shown on television, and the Legends, along with the tracks regular divisions, the Western Late Models, Grand American Modified and the Pure Stocks.
As the season draws to a close, the points season ends with some battles, while for others, it is another mark on the victory list.
In the Pure Stock division the Rookie of the Year honor will go to David Ball, who is also a student at Delta College.
Ball is working towards his certificate in diesel automotive.
"I never was really working towards being Rookie of the Year, I was just out having fun," he said.
Ball has nine top-10 finishes, a B-Main event win and two heat race wins.