For Paul McMahan, the Dave Tartar Memorial at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway Saturday night was both a homecoming and a fond farewell.
On a day when family and close friends memorialized the life of the late car owner Clyde Lamar, the World of Outlaws and All Star Circuit of Champions veteran returned to his native Northern California home to pay homage to the man he credits with launching his professional career by driving his iconic Tri-C Machine-sponsored sprint car one last time.
In some ways, Saturday’s 35-lap main event was a time machine three decades in reverse, when gas was a buck and a half a gallon, the Macarena was sweeping the nation’s dance floors, and the young upstart McMahan ruled racing in Northern California, losing a pair of Northern Auto Racing Club championships over three years by the narrowest of margins in the iconic blue and white sprint car with the distinctive rose insignia.
“Without Clyde, I’d just be another guy racing at Chico and going to a regular job on Monday,” said McMahan, referring to the well-known car owner who died late last year at the age of 86 after 50 years in racing. “I was a young guy tearing up equipment and Clyde took a chance on me and that’s what got me to where I am today.”
McMahan lost out on those two NARC championships only because Lamar’s mentorship included finding tough competition in other parts of the country. “He let me travel and that got my name out in front of people in places like Devil’s Bowl and Houston, Knoxville and tracks in Pennsylvania and Florida,” said McMahan. “We would just go back and forth racing in those places when we weren’t in California.”
By 1996, McMahan moved on to the WoO tour while a host of hall of fame drivers took over the seat of the Tri-C machine, most notably Jonathan Allard, who won most of his 40 career NARC/King of the West victories and the Skagit Dirt Cup in Lamar’s car.
But even as McMahan travelled the country, he and Lamar maintained a close personal relationship. “He was like a father or grandfather to me,” said McMahan. “We always were like family.”
McMahan’s Saturday night, however, would have generated some tough love from Lamar, known as a perfectionist. McMahon lost a motor in hot laps, requiring a mad scramble to switch it out for a borrowed replacement. Even though more than a half-dozen people pitched in to help, McMahon narrowly missed getting a qualifying lap.
But after starting in the last row of the semi, McMahan and the Tri-C car briefly brought back the magic of old, passing 8 cars in 12 laps to earn a spot in the main event, where he eventually finished 15th.
“Clyde would have been pissed that we didn’t win,” said McMahan. “But I’m just glad to be here,” he added after climbing from the car and giving crew chief Randy Van Keuren an emotional hug.
The “semi-retired” McMahan still sporadically feels the effects of a hard crash during the Knoxville Nationals. “I’ll have a headache after this for a few days,” he said.
Sometime later this year, his retirement will be official. “I’d love to keep this going, but nothing last forever,” he said.