PLACERVILLE, Calif. — June 13, 2025 | By Staff Reporter
It was a humbling start under the golden light of an early summer evening as drivers rolled into Placerville Speedway for one of the West Coast’s most challenging dirt track events—the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial, featuring the fire-breathing 410 Sprint Cars under the NARC King of the West series.
The driver of the Charlton Motorsports #21 car offered a firsthand account of the notorious Placer County track, known among locals as Old Hangtown.
“This place literally builds a curb every night,”
he said, gesturing to the edge of the oval.
“I’m not just saying a cushion—I’m talking a curb… rough, choppy, and absolutely unforgiving.”
Placerville’s unique layout, without an outside retaining wall, means that tilled-up clay builds up along the top groove, forming a lip that racers either ride or wreck on. “It’s the only track I know where you either hook the edge or you hug the infield, and both lines are completely different animals,” the driver added.
Despite meticulous preparation and optimism for a top finish, his qualifying run fell flat.
“I had a game plan and just completely missed,”
he admitted.
“Didn’t execute, missed my marks, didn’t carry enough momentum.”
The driver qualified late in the order, when the surface had already
“gotten more technical,”
as sun and tires dried the once-soggy clay.
“That’s just Placerville,” he sighed. “With a 410 under you, it’s easy to feel out of control.”
Still, the stakes are high at the Bradway Memorial. While the exact winner’s purse remains unofficial, drivers estimate upwards of $5,000 plus bonuses for performance metrics like Quick Time, Hard Charger, and more. The money matters, but for most drivers, it’s about more than the purse. It’s about proving you can run with the best on one of the gnarliest bullrings in California.
“The fans love this place, and so do we,”
he said while cleaning red clay off the car between sessions.
“But man… it doesn’t love you back.”
As the field heads into heat races and features later in the evening, drivers will attempt to claw their way back from early missteps—a story as old as dirt racing itself in the Sierra foothills.
