CN
III ARCHIVES
BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU
T
hroughout the heyday period
of Southern California speed-
way that unfolded during the late
1960s and all of the 1970s, the
name Bast has always figured
prominently in the sport. Thanks
in large part to the seven U.S.
National Speedway Champion-
ship titles that Mike Bast won
during his illustrious career, and
much later when cousin Bart
Bast returned the name to the
U.S. National honor roll, the
Bast family is amply qualified to
be tabbed as the first family of
American speedway.
But neither Mike Bast nor Bart
Bast was really the first fast Bast
in speedway. Long overdue for
such recognition, Steve Bast is
the man who deserves it. And it
isn't just an arbitrary accolade,
either. After all, Bast was the first
U.S. National Speedway Cham-
pion in the sport.
Before speedway, Steve Bast
was just one of the hundreds of
Novice Class C flat trackers who
invaded Ascot Park on a weekly
basis, but then promoter Dude
Criswell hatched the scheme to
promote Class A speedway at
Whiteman Stadium in Pacoima.
Steve and brother Mike Bast
were among the first to step up.
P110
SPEEDWAY'S
FIRST FAST BAST
ultimately provide Bast with a
newfound love that would serve
as his profession for nearly a
decade, but also because it sort
of kept him from getting into the
kind of trouble that could possi-
bly have sidetracked any poten-
tial flat track career.
"We only lived about 14 or 15
miles from there," Steve Bast re-
calls. "Everybody heard that there
were going to be some races
going on there. So, my dad said,
'Let's go try it.'"
The timing was definitely good,
not just because speedway would
Steve Bast won
the first U.S.
National Speedway
Championship
1969. He won it
again in 1974.
