Tri-City Raceway’s storied history and cross country among best stories of past 21 years

The storied history of the Tri-City Raceway and the Mid-Columbia’s outstanding cross county athletes are among the best sports stories of the past 21 years in our continuing series.

State high school cross country

For decades, Washington has always come together at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco for the state high school cross country championships.

Every November (except in 2020, thanks to the pandemic), well over 1,000 runners take to the course to be the best.

And local runners have done quite well in the past 21 years, which is why state cross country is the 11th story in our 21 for 21 series, marking the top Mid-Columbia sports stories in the past 21 years.

Here are the best performances from Mid-Columbia athletes and teams:

▪ The Jimenez brothers from Royal City. Back in 2006, Rigoberto Jimenez won the state boys 1A title with a time of 16 minutes and 17 seconds. Placing second was his brother, Humberto, coming in at 16:28. And they were only juniors.

In 2007, as seniors, they crossed the finish together in 16:18, although this time Humberto was credited with the win. The next competitor was 20 seconds behind, and Royal took the team title.

▪ Richland’s Lindsay Bradley. Bradley would eventually run cross country and track at the University of Washington and then Baylor University — dominated the 4A girls race in 2014.

Bradley appeared over the final hill, and everyone at the finish line waited for the next runner. And waited. And waited. Bradley finished in 17:23.80, well over 25 seconds ahead of the runnerup.

▪ Grandview’s Britnee Sanchez. Sanchez won the girls 2A title in 2004, finishing in 18:33 — a full 22 seconds before the next runner crossed the finish line.

▪ College Place’s Kenneth Rooks. He became that school’s first state champion when he won the 1B/2B boys title in 2015, finishing in 15:44.6. He was a sophomore then.

By his senior year in 2017, College Place had moved up to Class 1A. But Rooks was even better, winning the individual crown in 15:18.80. Maybe more impressive, was after he finished the race, he turned around in the finish chute and individually congratulated each runner that finished.

Rooks runs for BYU now.

▪ Kamiakin’s Isaac Teeples. Teeples was a sophomore in 2019 who was only getting better with each race.

In the 3A state finals, he had his coming out party, blasting the favorites in the final mile of the race and crossing the finish line in 15:18.10.

Teeples also helped lead the Braves to their third consecutive team title. In 2017, Kamiakin had snapped North Central’s 11-year streak of 3A boys titles.

Matt Rexus’ Braves have become one of the best teams in the Northwest in the past few years.

▪ Sunnyside’s Isley Gonzalez. Gonzalez won the 3A girls title in 2003 with a time of 18:41 – 9 seconds ahead of the next runner. Gonzalez would go on to run both cross country and track for WSU.

▪ Kennewick’s Johan Correa. A was a two-time 800 meters state champ. In between those two titles, he won the 3A boys title in 2018 with a time of 15:26.4, just 2.80 seconds ahead of the runnerup.

Correa spent a season dominating cross country and track at Spokane Community College, and has signed with WSU for the coming school year.

▪ Kamiakin’s Anthony Armstrong. He might have been the guy to really get things going for the Braves, taking the 3A boys individual title in 2011. His time of 14:58.4 was just .9 ahead of second-place runner Nathan Weitz of Shadle Park. Armstrong went on to run for Oklahoma State.

▪ For three years, the Tri-Cities Prep boys team was the cream of the crop among Class 1B/2B teams. The Jaguars — with guys like Nick Lumetta and Skyler Larson — were really good at the pack mentality, running as a group and picking off opponents. They won team titles in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

▪ In 2008, as a freshman from Kiona-Benton, Chelsea McClammer won the wheelchair title with a time of 7 minutes and 29 seconds – just 1 second ahead of Central Valley’s Amberlynn Weber. McClammer would go on to become a wheelchair racer for the United States Paralympic team.

Tri-City Raceway

For years, fans drove to the outskirts of West Richland to watch NASCAR-style races.

Not the big-time drivers you might see every weekend on TV, but the lower levels such as the Northwest Tour and the K&N Pro Series West. And of course, the local drivers who would put on a show almost on a weekly basis.

Tri-City Raceway was out there since it opened in 1968.

It was a major attraction for the next 35 years, almost every Saturday night. Until it wasn’t in 2004.

In 2004, the Northwest Tour had two races that summer at the West Richland track.

But then-track owner Paul Alderman ended up selling the facility to the Port of Kennewick, which had plans to turn it into a wine facility. It sat there for years, unused.

Every once in a while, the local Sand and Sage Sports Car Club would race on the asphalt around pylons.

But as far as NASCAR-style events, nothing happened.

We only had the memories of a young Greg Biffle, from Vancouver, Wash., who in the 1990s would win the local race at Portland Speedway on a Friday night, then pack his car up and drive all night to West Richland to win the Late Model main even at Tri-City Raceway.

Biffle went on to become a top-notch NASCAR driver at the top level.

It was a quick little track, billed as the fastest half-mile tri-oval west of the Mississippi.

I can concur.

My job at the time allowed me the chance to do things such as attend media days. And one year, I got the chance to first ride in a car, then drive it myself.

What I remember: how heavy the helmet was on my pinhead and neck; that incredible sensation of my body always wanting to exit the car from the passenger side on every turn, while I was driving; and the sense I had that I had to be going well over 100 mph each time I passed the grandstands (which were a blur), only to be told, at best, I was hitting 60 mph.

After the track shut down, if a Tri-Citian needed a racing fix, they’d have to go out to Horn Rapids Motorsports Complex to race or watch karts, drive to Yakima to its speedway, or in recent years, head to to Hermiston Raceway, where Greg Walden and his family have turned that facility into a gem.

But there is also a chance that racing may not be done at Tri-City Raceway.

In 2019, the City of West Richland struck a deal with the Port of Kennewick for the land that the old Tri-City Raceway. Part of that land will have the new West Richland police station built on it.

But a group called Red Mountain Event Center — which includes Walden, Eric Van Winkle and Jesse Brown — is hoping to bring all sorts of events to the track, and that could include some racing.

The light standards are not there anymore, and the actual grandstand seating is missing. But the group sees those as minor problems.

In 2020, the group has had Late Model drivers do test runs, and held drive-in movies there.

It’s very possible this year, that NASCAR-style racing could come back to Tri-City Raceway.