At age 68, the Santa Maria Speedway’s oldest living champion is still sitting in the driver’s seat.
Ronnie Souza was a familiar face behind the wheel for fans at the Speedway’s first-ever go-kart racing event on Aug. 17. Taking to the venue’s new kart track against 40 other drivers—some half his age or younger—Souza finished second.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Souza said. “It keeps your reflexes going.”
The racing go-karts aren’t amusement park rides. Equipped with roll cages, big wings, 12-inch tires, and weighing upward of 470 pounds (including the driver), the cars can reach 80 to 100 mph on the track. They’ll make their next appearance in Santa Maria on Sept. 7.
“It’s exciting,” Souza said of the event. “It’s something new and different.”
Part of a four-generation farming family in Santa Maria, Souza started racing micro-midgets and beach buggies in the late 1950s on a makeshift dirt track at his family’s ranch. In the early ’60s, he jumped into go-karts and ran Studebakers and sprint cars at tracks all over the state into the next decade.
During his long career, he won three Speedway championships in Santa Maria—in 1965, 1967, and 1972—and one on the asphalt at Bakersfield in 1969.
“In those days, it was a lot of fun because you built your cars and everything yourself,” Souza said. “Nowadays, everything is factory-type stuff. It’s pretty high dollar. It was cheap when we did it because most of the stuff came out of the wrecking yard.”
After a couple of serious crashes, Souza took a lengthy hiatus from racing. He eventually returned to the sport and has participated in tractor pulls at the Speedway since 1999. He also runs in about 50 group go-kart races a year in towns like Taft, Tulare, and Hanford.
Calling himself “semi-retired,” Souza said he wants to keep racing as long as possible.
“I don’t know any better,” Souza said. “I’ve always enjoyed the dirt tracks, and it’s just fun being around the guys and the competition.”
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 3, 2009.
