Local motor sports notes: Moores continue racing tradition | The Sacramento Bee

When John Moore won his first Pacific Challenge Series championship early this month and followed it with a victory in the season-ending October Classic 100 on Oct. 17 at Roseville’s All American Speedway, his thoughts were with his son, John Dexter Moore, who died in a 2004 accident while testing at Stockton 99 Speedway.

J.D. Moore was 15 when he crashed into the wall between the first and second turns, and his brother, Cole, was 7. Despite the tragedy, the Moores continued to race.

Cole, a rookie who’s now 18, finished third in the PCS points chase. Cole and his father also raced in the Toyota/Napa Auto Parts 150 K&N Pro Series West race Oct. 17. John Moore was 17th and Cole, driving for Roseville’s Bill McAnally Racing, was 19th.

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“The (PCS) championship honors J.D.” John Moore said. “It’s another chapter in our family’s racing history – a good one.”

Moore said his wife, Tonja, was initially hesitant and nervous about allowing their youngest son to race after their oldest was killed. J.D. Moore was a sophomore honor-roll student at Granite Bay High School when he crashed. Cole is a freshman at Sacramento State.

“My wife would take Cole to go-kart tracks when he was like 10 years old and he’d set the best times of the day and she knew he had the talent,” Moore said. “So when it became a reality for Cole to race the Late Models, she wasn’t happy about it. But we moved ahead. We are chasing our passion.”

Moore said competing in two races at All American Speedway and watching his son battle with professional drivers was a thrill and a great way to cap the 2015 PCS season, although both will travel to race at The Bullring at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for a NASCAR Whelen All American Series race on Nov. 21.

“We qualified and started side-by-side during that race in Roseville and sat side-by-side during the autograph sessions,” Moore said. “What a great way to wrap up the championship season.”

Forsberg leads entering finale

Auburn’s Andy Forsberg can win his eighth Civil War Series championship with a strong finish Nov. 7 at Stockton Speedway.

The Civil War Series website shows Forsberg trailing Watsonville’s Justin Sanders by 149 points, but a new series rule tosses out each driver’s lowest score. Forsberg received a zero when he skipped the March 28 race in Petaluma to compete in the Mini Gold Cup at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway, and series officials confirmed Forsberg leads Sanders and Fremont’s Shane Golobic by 10 points, with Roseville’s Sean Becker in fourth place, after the adjustments are applied.

“Step 1 is to finish the race,” Forsberg said. “Step 2 is to finish the race ahead of Sanders.”

Is winning so many titles getting boring for Forsberg, whose nickname is Mr. Excitement?

“Winning is something I’ve never gotten tired of,” he said.

Sacramento Raceway still open

While most tracks in the region close for the winter, Sacramento Raceway drag strip stays open all year.

While the big shows at the venerable strip are done for 2015, either street machine drags on Wednesdays and/or test and tune sessions on Saturdays are on the schedule well into 2016 when Funny Car Fever kicks off the next feature race series in April.

For more information, go to sacramentoraceway.com.