Marysville CA. Racing has long been a family affair.

Whether it is four generations of Pettys powering up under the NASCAR banner, or three generations of Doziers sliding around the local quarter-mile - racing seems to get into the blood.

“I think most of the time the family gets involved early and they just continue on,” said Richard Dozier, owner of Performance Auto Supply in Marysville and the patriarch of a racing clan that will sponsor as many as four family cars this summer at the newly named Marysville Raceway Park in Linda.

“They get used to going to the race track on Saturday night and it becomes a habit. It’s like any other hobby. Plus, we made a business out of it. That’s a lot of our connection,” Dozier said.

Dozier started his racing career at the old drag strip in Oroville in the mid-1950s, but by the early-1960s he was on the dirt ovals.

And there are more Doziers on the way.

“We have one grandson who is only 4 and he will be starting in (go-carts) this year,” Dozier said.

But the tradition doesn’t always pass down the generations.

“Actually the first person who started with us was our son, Phillip,” said Tammy Shelby, who has watched the passion grow inside the family from there.

Last year, Philip Shelby won his first track title in the mini-stocks division. His sister, Lisa, finished third in points. Their father, Phillip, raced in the street stock class.

Both Shelby children have won a main event on the same night their father won his class race, too.

Tammy Shelby said she still gets very nervous watching her husband and children race out on the track, but she loves the fact her family is together every weekend.

That includes grandparents who come to watch as well as family members who fly in from a number of different states to take in the action.

“It’s something we can all do,” she said.

This year, a different kind of family dynamic will take place.

Four-time Marysville street stock champion Jerry Bartlett returns eager to take on all challengers including his daughter, Heather Bartlett.

The tandem are coming off dual championships at Orland last fall - his in street stocks and hers in the mini-stocks. It is believed to be the only father-daughter championships at a California track.

But Heather Bartlett was looking for a different kind of challenge, and after getting the feel of the bigger power of

the full-sized stock machines during the early winter, it seemed like a natural to join her father there.

“I’m looking forward to her beating me,” said Jerry Bartlett, who counts the dual championships as one of “the most special” accomplishments in his racing career. That includes winning 20 main events in 30 starts in 2006.
It seems a lot of others are looking forward to the day Heather wins, too. She has finished second behind her dad once already.

“Everyone says I’m going to get razzed pretty hard when she beats me. But that’s OK. That means I taught her well,” Jerry Bartlett said.

If she does beat her father, Heather Bartlett said it better be a legitimate win. She does not want her father letting her having the checkered flag.
“When it comes to winning, I want to earn it. I don’t want anyone handing me anything,” said Heather, who has two track championships at Orland and has finished high in the points standings at Marysville, too.

Heather also plans to race in Chico on Friday nights, while juggling a life that includes being a full-time student at Chico State and a volunteer with a trauma counseling group.

The Bartletts are not, however, the first father-daughter tandem to race at Marysville.

Pat and Claudia Harvey also battled on the same clay in the winged Pacific sprint car division during the late-1990s.

Appeal-Democrat sports editor Todd R. Hansen can be reached at 749-4715. You may e-mail him at thansen@appeal-democrat.com