Joe Naiman
for the Valley News
The final week of the San Diego County Fair includes junior class racing, and this year Wildomar ten-year-old Marshall Gilmore and Hemet six-year-old Zeppelin McGill made their county fair racing debuts.
The junior races took place three times each day from July 1 to July 5. Gilmore raced twice each day. McGill raced twice July 1, once July 4, and twice July 5.
“It’s really fun,” Gilmore said.
Barona Speedway’s junior racing includes a Masters Mini-Dwarf division for drivers 9 through 14 (driver ages utilize the birthday prior to or during the current race season) and a Sportsman Mini-Dwarf class for ages 6 through 8. Gilmore began his racing career this year in the Masters Mini-Dwarf class. As a five-year-old last year McGill could race So Cal Quarter Midget Association competition at the Perris Raceway flat track and drove a Quarter Midget, and now that he is old enough to race at Barona Speedway he races a Sportsman Mini-Dwarf there while continuing to compete in Quarter Midgets races in Perris.
Gilmore moved from Lakeside to Wildomar a year ago and was in fourth grade at Springs Charter during the 2025-26 school year. His cousin Mavrick Matthews, who lives in El Cajon, began racing at Barona Speedway in 2022 and is currently the 2026 season points leader in the Junior Sprints division for drivers 11 to 14. Gilmore now drives what had been Matthews’ first racecar. Gilmore’s great-grandfather Eddie Bryan raced at Cajon Speedway and drove car number 76, so Gilmore uses that car number.
McGill attends River Springs Charter School in Hemet and was in kindergarten during 2025-26. His father, Wesley, is the crew chief for IMCA Modified racer Tom Wesolowski, a Canyon Lake resident who drives car number 30, and McGill also has that car number. Wesley McGill built the Mini-Dwarf for his son’s fifth birthday last year.
(The initial plan was to drive the Mini-Dwarf at Barona Speedway during 2025, but the track’s insurance carrier raised the minimum junior class driver age from five to six.)
An entity called Downtown El Cajon Business Partners has weekly car shows from May through the end of August. The Cajon Classic Cruise has a different theme each week, and the June 17 theme was Race Car Jamboree. Gilmore brought his Masters Mini-Dwarf to that night’s car show and received the Top Choice award for junior drivers.
“It was really unexpected,” Gilmore said.
Gilmore’s first Barona Speedway racing season included six races between April and June. He had top ten finishes in four of those and entered Motorsports Week at the county fair sixth in the Barona Speedway season standings.
“So far it’s been really good,” Gilmore said.
McGill competed in three Barona Speedway races prior to the end of June and placed in the top ten in two. The So Cal Quarter Midget Association also had three races during the first half of Calendar Year 2026, and McGill had two wins and a second-place finish.
Gilmore and his mother arrived at the Del Mar Arena pits June 30, so they were at Del Mar for six days. That included spending the 4th of July at the county fair.
“It was really fun to hang out with my family and friends,” Gilmore said.
McGill won one of the July 1 races. “Good,” he said.
Gilmore won the first race July 5. “It’s really exciting,” he said.
“It’s fun,” McGill said of his first county fair racing.
