San Francisco Region Hall of Fame 2009

Grace Katagiri and Professor Daniel McFadden

Grace Katagiri

[1948-2004] Grace initially became a member of SCCA through her husband, Brad Itokazu, when he was a race driver. She became bored just watching the cars drive around and wanted to do something different, so she began to volunteer in various roles, from flagman, turn marshal, and sound judge. She attended races about 15 times a year, and worked in communications for race control. Grace was a born teacher and soon became an Assistant Chief of Communications in charge of training. Grace loved vintage cars as well, and was the Chief of Communications at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races and she worked in race control for the Classic Sports Car Racing Group (CSRG).
 
Grace was one of the first women to become a turn marshal before she was asked to become the Sound Judge, following in the footsteps of Marye Jayne Perry and Patty Piantanita, at an extremely sensitive time when the SCCA began enforcing sound limits. Her calm, professional demeanor helped pave the way for today's sound regulations. Today, it’s called the Chief of Sound, but in the early days it was Sound Judge to avoid protests.

Grace graduated from UC Berkeley in 1970 with a degree in English. She then took a job as a secretary in UC Berkeley's Department of Economics. She had no formal training in economics or computer science, but was so organized and quick on her feet that she was soon tapped to become an administrator to econometrics Professor Daniel McFadden.

In the early 1970s, Professor McFadden asked Grace to manage a large research project studying travel demand and the BART system. It was largely on the basis of that research, that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Econometrics in 2000. Professor McFadden said she was so central to his winning that he invited her to attend the award ceremony in Sweden along with his wife. In trademark fashion, Grace meticulously planned her trip as well, even using a spreadsheet to map out her outfits for the weekend, McFadden said.
 
For her efforts to make sound control work for both the racers as well as the San Francisco Region, she was awarded the region's highest award, The Premier Award of Merit in 1996.

Grace's Memorial Service Photo Page

Richard (Dick) Templeton

Dick’s interest in racing was sparked when his mother took him with her to volunteer at the Children’s Home Society booth at the Pebble Beach Road Races. He then joined the Laguna Seca track crew in 1962 because it got him into the races and he could get paid for it too.  In 1965 he became a corner worker with United States Auto Race Marshalls (USARM).  Martin Illgen (2006 SFR HOF Inductee) awarded Dick USARM’s Flagger of the Year award in 1968.  Dick was elected as a USARM’s Board member and served from 1970 to 1972.

Dick joined SCCA in 1967 when he began driving a Lotus Cortina in “B” Sedan.  He later drove a Formula Ford.  He soon became a driving instructor and volunteered as a driver observer.  He also worked Field Crew for the Concours d’ Elegance.  In 1973 he joined the Safety Team and served as Chief Safety Marshall from 1974 to 1977.

In 1976 Dick was invited to begin training as a steward by Dr. Peter Talbot.  Since then he has enjoyed all the roles required of a Club Racing steward as well as positions in many professional series.  In 1982 he was an FIA Steward at the Las Vegas F1 race.  He was the Assistant Chief Steward to Roger Eandi at both Long Beach and Dallas Formula One races.  In 1985 he was the Assistant Chief Steward at the only F3000 Curacao Grand Prix, and from 1984 to 1995 Dick was the American Cities Racing League (ACRL) series Chief Steward.

From 1991 to 1998 Dick was the NORPAC Executive Steward.  He has been an acting Chief Steward for the Ferrari Challenge and an Assistant Chief Steward to Marty Kaufman at the inaugural Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta in 1998.  If that weren’t enough, he has served as the Chief Steward in Trans-Am in 2001 and 2002.

In 2001 he received SCCA’s David Morell Award, presented to encourage continued participation in the Steward’s program by recognition of an active National Chief Steward who has exhibited outstanding performance and dedication to the sport and the highest principles.

He became a member of SCCA’s National Court of Appeals in 2007 and is currently the Assistant Chief Steward for the SCCA Playboy Mazda RX-5 series.

   

Tracer Racing - Chuck Billington and Tom Foster

Tracer Racing was formed in 1979 by San Francisco Region drivers Chuck Billington [1940-2006] and Tom Foster [1949-1999]. Each had been successful independent drivers. Chuck had raced various sports cars in the early sixties on the amateur level and he’d even tried off-road racing with some good results. Tom had been driving since the early seventies with several first places and 40% of his finishes on the podium driving a Brabham Formula B.

Even though they lived near each other, they had never met. When Tom’s crew chief brought a part into Billington Welding to be repaired, it was the first Chuck had heard of Tom Foster. A subsequent meeting at the next race formed a lasting friendship.

Tom had purchased a Lola “C” sports racer in 1978 with limited success, but they decided on C Sports Racing because SCCA rules not only allow, but encourage innovation and experimentation in that class. Chuck loved to experiment with different chassis and engine ideas. Tom loved to design different car body styles. Each of them trying to get an extra ½ second better lap time. If an idea worked it was put on both cars to give them an equal advantage. Over the years several different chassis and engine combinations were tried. Tiga/Cosworth, Lola/Cosworth, March/Cosworth, Tracer TR2/VW Super V, and in 1994 Chuck decided on the Mazda rotary engine. This change proved to be a great help to the Mazda Racing development team in improving the performance and reliability of the Mazda engines. Almost every race was a test bed for Chuck’s ideas.

In 1979 the team was named Tracer Racing on a cold night at Road Atlanta where everyone was standing around a 55 gal. drum fire, trying to stay warm. Tom noticed that the embers going into the night sky looked like tracer bullets and the name stuck. Then Tom and Chuck thought the letters should stand for something. They decided on Total Racing Accessories Cars Equipment Rentals. One day both Chuck and Tom’s cars arrived with JFTFOI printed on the sides of the cars. When team members asked what that meant, Tom’s reply was that we are all doing this racing thing “Just For The Fun Of It”. That summed up the spirit of Tracer Racing.

At the 1981 Runoffs at Road Atlanta, Tom and Chuck decided it would be neat to have a hot tub. The team went to a local lumber yard and purchased plywood and went to a pool supply store and purchased a pump and filters and built a hot tub. The wooden tub leaked so badly Chuck built an aluminum tub that could be taken apart. The tub was only used at Road Atlanta and Mid-Ohio because of the long setup time required. Their hot tub in the paddock at Road Atlanta is still talked about today and has become a Runoff legend.

The Pacific Coast Road Racing Championship (PCRRC) ran from its inaugural in 1978 until 2002 – 25 years. All of those races, except one, were held at Sears Point Raceway, now called Infineon Raceway. Tom and Chuck both had high regard for the volunteers who make each race function. They wanted to show the corner workers they appreciated their tireless work. A BBQ seemed like a great way to do that. Even though the intent was to keep it small, and just for the workers, it grew in popularity to include driver and crews as well. Tracer Racing held these BBQ’s for most of those 25 years. When the Foster Farms truck arrived at the racetrack, the logos had been covered by plain white paper which read "Valley Drivers", and it was known as the Valley Drivers BBQ. 

In 1987, as the Ford Motor Company was about to launch the Mercury Tracer, a Tracer crew member read an article about it in “Automotive News”. The article was shown to Chuck and Tom and the team’s lawyers contacted Ford. After months of negations, with no results, Edsel Ford called Tom one day and over the phone they reached an agreement where Ford could produce their car and a monetary settlement was reached. That settlement funded Tracer Racing and allowed the team to create the “Tracer Cup”. Each driver who entered would get his entry fee returned plus a cash prize if he placed.

Chuck and Tom earned enough points to go to Road Atlanta for the 1978 SCCA National Runoffs. Chuck told his family, friends and crew members it would be a once in a lifetime experience. Twenty years later, with 13 National Championships, six for Chuck and seven for Tom, they decided to call it quits.

For all their racing achievements and their support of the Region’s workers, Chuck Billington and Tom Foster were awarded San Francisco Region’s highest award – the Premier Award of Merit in 1999.