Hunsaker announces retirement

Brooktown Racing driver Bob Hunsaker announced his retirement from racing following the final Cruiser race of the Perris Auto Speedway season November 11.

Hunsaker, who began racing in the Cruisers in 2004, cited a current schedule which makes his availability questionable for races.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Hunsaker said.

Hunsaker cited his participation in a musical band and his new real estate career, both of which could create other Saturday commitments. “It’s not fair to my teammates,” he said of a lifestyle which wouldn’t allow him to know in advance whether he would be able to race.

Hunsaker said that his retirement did not preclude the possibility of him filling in for another Brooktown Racing driver on occasion, although he does not anticipate being a regular driver in the future.

Hunsaker is in a band called One-Eyed John, for which he plays the drums, sings, and writes songs. He obtained his real estate license earlier this year and is a realtor and loan officer for Jim Kelly Realty in Santee.

The Cruiser class involves two drivers, one who handles the steering wheel and brake pedal and one who controls the gas pedal. Brooktown Racing began in 2003 with Jim Ramsey and Dennis Allen in a 1977 Thunderbird. Allen and Kevin Martin both work at Fallbrook Hospital, and during lunch at the hospital one afternoon Allen mentioned to Martin that he would be unavailable for the first 2004 race and that Ramsey would need another driver. Martin volunteered and made his driving debut with Ramsey.

Ramsey later told Martin about a Buick station wagon which was for sale. Martin purchased the station wagon and turned it into Brooktown Racing’s second Cruiser. That station wagon was totaled when the front end went through the track wall during a 2004 race, but Roy Costello told Martin where another station wagon could be found and Martin spoke to the owner, who invited him to remove the 1982 Chevrolet station wagon from his yard without charge for the vehicle.

At one time Hunsaker and Martin’s wife, Debbie, both worked at the Oceanside U-Haul. Kevin and Debbie Martin often spend social occasions with Bob and Cindi Hunsaker, and one evening Kevin Martin invited Bob Hunsaker to join him in the pits when Martin was racing. Hunsaker accepted the invitation and joined Brooktown Racing as Martin’s co-driver.

Martin and Hunsaker earned their first top-five finish in May 2005, and on August 13 of that year the two earned their only main event win. Martin and Hunsaker finished third in the 2005 season standings.

Martin and Hunsaker finished third in the first Cruiser main event of the 2006 season February 11 but had no other top-five finishes this year. The newest Brooktown Racing car made its debut this year; the intent was for Debbie Martin to drive with her daughter Candice, but Candice Martin’s company moved from San Marcos to Texas before the car was finished. Kevin and Debbie Martin drove together in the new car’s debut July 15; the station wagon had blown a transmission in the previous race and Hunsaker was out of town that weekend. Kevin Martin continued in the Lincoln Town Car with his wife while Dave Hill joined Hunsaker for future races in the station wagon when Hunsaker and the car could both race.

Hunsaker and Dave Hill finished ninth in their final race of 2006. “I had a great time tonight, that was for sure,” Hunsaker said.

The station wagon completed 11 laps of the 15-lap main event before a blown motor sent a piston rod through the engine and oil pan and sent Hill and Hunsaker to the pits.

Cruiser points are given to cars and not to drivers, which allows for relief drivers over the course of the season. The station wagon finished tenth in points for the 2006 season.