Starks Racing History

Honda Light 160 States Race Winner, Oakwood Dirt Open and Stock Quarter Midget Champion Multiple track records and fast times set at all six Region 9 quarter midget tracks

Brothers Arnie and Mike Starks began their racing careers drag racing in 1964, winning weekly races at Bremerton and Puyallup Raceway.  They purchased a Midget race car in 1969 and started racing it in 1970 at tracks all other the west coast and Canada.  Arnie won his first Washington Midget Racing Association (WMRA) championship in 1977 winning many races and setting track records along the way.

Arnie’s oldest son Dean went to work for Bayside Motorsports in 1987working on state-of-the-art road racing IMSA cars, Porsche 962, and Indy cars.  He was part of the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and many other wins. He has since formed his own fabricating business, Blue Dot Fabrication, and is a very talented fabricator and race preparer and is involved with many racing ventures.  He has been responsible for building cars that won midget championships in 2000 and 2001.  The car still holds track records in Canada, Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada.  Today, he is still a vital part of Starks Racing as well as working on and preparing vintage race cars from Ferrari F1’s to Greenwood Corvettes.

Arnie’s youngest son John started racing midgets in 1983, running a limited schedule and winning his first race in the final event of the year.  1986 saw him win his first championship in the SMORS series which consisted of tracks on the west coast.  1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 brought championships in WMRA.  In addition to the four championships, John won many big races including United States Auto Club’s (USAC) Harvest Classic at Madera, CA Speedway; USAC Silverstate National 100 Lap race in Carson City, NV.  John had feature wins and track records in most west coast state.  In 2003, John began racing USAC Silver Crown cars and raced on both dirt and pavement tracks all across the country. 

In 2002, brothers John and Dean built John’s son Trey his first quarter midget race car and over the course of three more years built four more after Trey’s brother Collin began racing quarter midgets.  Collin had many Junior Honda and Junior Stock fast times, track records, and feature wins culminating in a Region 9 Junior Honda Championship at the age of six in 2005.  He stopped racing quarter midgets shortly after the Micro-Sprint program began, but could start up in micros at any time.  In the meantime, he has become a very accomplished mechanic at his young age.

The 2011 turned out to be a a decent sophmore season in full size sprints. Running 59 races across the west coast in both 360s and 410s getting a win and making over 90% of the features. We learned alot, still working thru the transition from asphalt to dirt, but made fair progress and met most the goals we had set before our team.

2012 we are making a few more tweaks to the team and schedule. We have our cars and motors in place, Our schedule is being set up around school with plans to make the majority of our seasons races in a three month period back in the midwest. We plan to run approx. 60 races, 40 being in a 410 the rest in the 360. Our season will begin with weekend racing with the World of Outlaws in the SW while still going to school on weekdays. In June we will travel east and run a few weekly shows at Knoxville to prepare for the 360 and 410 Nationals. We will also be cramming in races June, July and August with the Allstars and other available races in the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota areas. Keep an eye on the schedule as we continue to add to it!