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WWRA goes back to 1957 when a group of young men led by Terry McCaffrey used to get together on the banks of the Snohomish River near Monroe, WA. to race their cars. They decided to form a club (Sky Valley Racing Association) that was dedicated to furthering the sport of auto racing in the Monroe area. The river bank soon became to small for their needs so they approached the Monroe city fathers an were able to lease a peace of land above the old Joplon Gravel Pit. The racers with the communities help were able to build a race track and maintain it for 20 years until the city fathers found that the gravel under the track became more valuable to Monroe than the track was. In 1978 a deal was struck with the Beadle family (IPI) and the members started racing at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, due in great part to the efforts of Joe Bauer the president of the club at the time. Over the years the club made many changes in the classes of cars that they ran. Starting in ‘57 with Stock Cars they moved to Modifieds and in 1973 they began a Jalopy division in order to give the Modifieds an entry level class. After moving to the asphalt of Evergreen Speedway in 1977 the car count began to grow smaller. So in 1983 a Stock division was started to compliment the Modified divisions. The show still needed an additional attraction to give the fans a more varied racing package. The bump to pass Thunder cars were initiated in 1989 after Wally Walling (President at the time) and Mickey Beadle had a long talk about adding a contact class to round out the program. 1992 saw the name of the club change from Sky Valley Racing Assoc. to Western Washington Racing Assoc. In 1996 the club added another class to their uniquely entertaining show. The Lightning Trucks took to the 3/8 asphalt oval. In 1997 a group of the Thunder Car drivers expressed an interest in racing on the 3/8 track so the Sky Valley Stock class was born. It is a pure stock division intended to give the aspiring racer a place to start without the sticker shock of the more advanced divisions. In 2002 the club felt it had to do something to offset the dwindling car count in the Limited Sportsman and Modified divisions so they started two new divisions. The Tornado trucks were a smaller version of our Lightning trucks and the Mini Thunders should give those that were participating in the Saturday Hornet program a chance to run on a regular basics and compete for a championship. The club has always had a strong interest in the community. Members have been willing to help their neighbors in need through food and clothing drives. They have endorsed such programs as Buckle up for Safety, DARE and The North West Burn Victims. Members have assisted the Cub Scouts with their Pinewood Derbies as Officials. In an effort to further involve the community we have offered several special races during the season: the Community Clash pitted a High School Student and Police Officer as a community team to challenge other communities. Similar races are held with Firefighters from surrounding communities and Law Enforcement agencies from neighboring cities racing Thunder Cars for bragging rights until next year. The special race-oriented relationship that our members have
with each other has been the glue that has kept the club in existence since
1957. The members needs are simple; all they ask for is a place to race each
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