Two years ago, Josh Whitfield set a goal of winning a Street Stock championship at All American Speedway in Roseville, California.
Whitfield had raced in the division for more than a decade, but had never competed in a full season at his home track during that timeframe.
Not only did Whitfield win the 2021 championship, he went the entire season only losing one race.
The success of that season made Whitfield dream bigger for 2022. His next goal was to defend his title from the previous year while also going undefeated along the way.
Whitfield went a perfect 8-0 to claim his second All American Street Stock championship by 46 points.
“Last year we set the expectations pretty high,” Whitfield said. “It’s all a team effort. We didn’t always have the fastest car at the track, but we tried hard as a team and we always made the right adjustments and we kept our head straight.”
As All American opens the 2023 season, Whitfield’s goals for this summer aren’t quite as lofty, but he is challenging himself once again. He will be going for his third consecutive title in Street Stocks, while also joining All American’s Late Model division.
Saturday’s season-opener will be the first time Whitfield has raced a Late Model during his career.
“This year is going to be a learning curve for our whole team, myself and my sponsors [as we step] up into this Late Model class,” Whitfield said. “We do have some people helping us, but I think this year is all about getting notes, seeing what the car does, and seeing how it handles adjustments. Next year we’ll set our goals to either a championship or winning a bunch of races.
“I feel pretty good. I think we have a good little setup to start off with, and we’ll just adjust from there. I think my team and myself has enough experience to start off with. We’ll take notes and go from there.”
Although Whitfield has been racing at All American since 2005, he’s been in and around the sport much longer. His grandfather and dad both raced, and racing has always been a part of their family.
“My sister was actually born at the Stockton 99 Speedway in 1992,” Whitfield said. “My dad was on the track qualifying and my mom went into labor.
“My grandpas started racing, my dad started racing, and when I was 8 years old I started racing mini Cup cars at Altamont Raceway, and ever since then we never stopped.”
Whitfield’s grandfathers, who both recently passed away, were always a big part of his racing career, and he keeps their memory alive on the track.
“I basically do this for my family,” he said. “[Racing] brings my family together. It’s a good Saturday night gathering, and we go from there.”
In addition to his dad, Whitfield’s team consist of his crew chief, Ed, his tire guy, Dave, and friends Casey and Tim, who help out in the pits and garage.
After racing so many years at All American, Whitfield has gained quite a few fans in the stands. One family in particular became such big fans they would come down to the pits and cheer him on.
Now, those fans have become one of Whitfield’s most loyal sponsors.
“They became fans of me watching how I race, and afterwards in the pits always coming down, and they brought their kids, and I was always interacting with them, and he became my primary sponsor,” Whitfield said. “We kind of started it small and kept with the street stocks to keep it fun, and this year he wanted to step it up and get a late model, so we decided to go and try late model racing.”
Whitfield will stay in street stocks for fun, but he’s also hopeful his success in that class will give him confidence in Late Models.
Confidence is high with Whitfield’s team in both cars this season, and he’s proven in the past he can reach whatever goals he puts his mind to.
“We feel pretty good,” he said. “Our team is excited to start with the late model program. Obviously, we do all of this for fun, but it’s a local track, it’s close to home, so we’ll just haul two cars out there and race two divisions to support a local track.”
All American Speedway will open its 69th season on Saturday with a schedule that features the Wild West Super Series Late Models, Modified twin features, Super Stocks, and F4s.