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LOS ANGELES, Calif–Walt James, known as Mr. CRA for leading the California Roadster Assn./California Racing Assn. sprint car sanctioning body, passed away peacefully September 9 at home in Acton, California. He was 86. He was hospitalized at the Veteran Administration Hospital in West Los Angeles for two months with debilitating back pain and had two surgeries to connect four vertebrae to relieve back pain shortly before he succumbed. Walt will be remembered for his quick smile, fascinating racing stories, helping hand for all, and respected leadership in racing over the decades. He worked for the best interests of racers and was a gentleman, family-man, competitor, and racing pioneer with a wealth of knowledge that he shared freely.
Walt was president of CRA for 21 years from 1950-1970. He then worked as founder, architect, builder and general manager of the new Indian Dunes Motorcycle Park in Castaic, north of Los Angeles for Newhall Land and Farming. He ran the 600+ acres facility—a motorcycle recreational/motocross park--from June 1970 until 1985. The jovial, popular leader also served as president of the Western Racing Assn. vintage racing car club for four years. Walt and fellow racers in 1982 revived the WRA sanctioning body name which had been been inactive since the mid-1950s. He was still active in WRA and drove his vintage No. 15 CAE-built, non-wing sprint car in recent years at WRA speedway events. Walt was an inductee into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1993 and later the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame. He was a nominating and selection panel member for both groups. Walt and his family organized the annual CRA Reunion luncheons held each January at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park. Walt served as the emcee each year, introduced guests and the honoree, and told interesting stories about many of them from his active memory.
Walt and his younger brother Joe, a 1951-52 Indianapolis 500 driver who started 16th and finished 13th in 1952, were born in Mississippi. They raced roadsters in Southern California after their World War II military service. Walt raced CRA roadsters, which served as a springboard for many drivers to the Indy 500, until the mid-1950s. A serious car crash on a country road near Fresno in 1950 claimed the life of famed Novi engine designer/builder Bud Winfield and hospitalized Walt for months with leg fractures and rib injuries. The crash possibly cost him a 1951 Indy 500 ride. Walt was elected to the CRA presidency in absentia while he was hospitalized after others declined the job. Joe lost his life in November,1952 after a racing crash on the San Jose mile dirt track.
Walt entered the war as an enlisted man and served three years as lead bombardier/navigator on B-17 bombers, flying 26 missions out of England. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal of Honor. Walt left military service as a Captain and remained active in the Air Force Reserve. He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War and achieved the rank of Lt. Colonel before retiring in May, 1983. Walt designed, consulted on or built various racing tracks such as Gardena Bowl (Western Speedway), Whiteman Stadium in Pacoima, Santa Maria Speedway, Indian Dunes tenth-mile oval, Willow Springs Raceway dirt oval in Rosemond, a track named Walt James Stadium by track ownership. The track named in his honor hosted an annual open on-track event over the Thanksgiving Day weekend where anyone may run. Willow Springs owner Bill Huth said that 17th annual tradition will continue.
Graveside services with full military honors will be held Friday, September 25 at 10:00 am at Riverside National Cemetery, 22495 Van Buren Blvd. in Riverside. The cemetery is located just west of the 215 Freeway and March Air Force Base where Walt served on active duty. His final resting place is northwest of Perris Auto Speedway, where Walt was honored at the September 19 USAC-CRA sprint car race with a parade lap in his honor and monetary awards to leaders of laps 15 and 24, car numbers Walt used. A celebration of Walt's active and distinguished life will be held in the future when plans are formalized by WRA associates and his family. He is survived by wife Dottie, son Lee, a winning CRA sprint car and World of Outlaws sprint car driver in the 1970s, daughters Vicki and Wendy daughter-in-law Lori, son-in-law Bobby Lovgren, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. His younger sister Annabelle Allen, of Florida, also survives.
In lieu of flowers or cards, the James family requested that donations be made in Walt's honor to one of the following organizations: the Castaic Lions Club, where Walt was a member for 40 years, “c/o Lion Walt James Memorial Scholarship Fund”, P. O. Box 312, Castaic, Calif. 91384; to the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation, P. O. Box 3661, Princeton , N. J. 08543-3661, or to Road 2 Recovery (for downed motocross riders), 23623 N. Scottsdale Rd, Suite D-3420, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85255.
By Tim Kennedy
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