If you had to pick one driver whose name has become synonymous with Cajon Speedway over the years, it would have to be “Smilin” Ed Hale. Ed was here when the first stock car race was held way back on June 30, 1962. He’s still here today. Ya, there has been a few years when he didn’t race locally, but not too many. He has driven claimer stocks, super stocks, figure 8 stocks, mini-stocks, modified sportsman, midgets, sprint cars, late model sportsman, and now pony stocks. About the only racecar he has not competed in is the Grand American modified. Heck, Ed even helped build the place. In one of his former lives, he was a bricklayer and he constructed some of the ticket booths here.

  And Ed is a winner too. He has quite a record. He is the track’s all-time leading main event winner with157 career triumphs. The first came in 1965. The most he ever gained in a single year came in 1970 when he made 17 treks to the winner’s circle divided among super stocks, modified sportsman, figure eights, and mini-stocks. He has found his way to victory lane at least once every year since with the exception of ten years and remember during some of those years he didn’t race locally. He has five track championships. The first came in 1970 in the super tocks. He earned sportsman honors in 1993. He has gained four pony stock titles; those came in 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2002. .

Not only is he a winner on the track, the fans love him and with good reason. He isn’t called “Smilin Ed” because of any scowl on his face. He’s called “Smilin Ed” because of his ever-present ear-to-ear grin.

  He’s been an innovator. One of his early super stocks was a station wagon and Hale relocated the steering wheel to the middle seat. For years he was sponsored by a local formal attire store so he wore a tuxedo over his driving uniform. It was his trademark for many years. His machine shop has built and maintained a whole lot of motors that are and have been used here over the years. Perhaps the greatest compliment that can be paid to Ed Hale the racer is that in all the years he has been building and maintaining motors for his on-track rivals, this writer has never heard one complaint from those racers about the quality of work coming out of or how they get treated at Ed’s shop.

  Ya, there have some on-track feuds with other drivers over the years – the most infamous of which saw John Borneman and Ed Hale bang fenders on many a Saturday night back in the early 1990’s. There is no love lost between those two, but then they both came to the track every week to win.

  There is no doubt that in 2004 Ed Hale is now in the twilight of his long racing career. In fact there are rumors that he is going to sell his machine shop business in Lakeside and that he and wife Pat will be listing their El Cajon home before long. He is looking to relax more. After all he just turned 66 years young and there are not too many Social Security recipients driving racecars.

  But the rumors about him stopping racing are just that – rumors. When asked about how his plans of retiring and moving to Arizona or Nevada, Ed has a quick retort.  “I might have a long trip back every Saturday night,” he says. “You can be here in an hour on a plane from Phoenix or Vegas.”

  It wouldn’t be the first time that Hale has had to race through the skies to get to a racetrack. Several years back he drove a sportsman-type car based in Portland, Oregon. His son-in-law worked with that team. “We could never get the car to work,” Hale recalled recently. “But we had a lot of fun. I got about 35,000 frequent flyer miles.”

  As Ed looks back on his long career, he really doesn’t have any major regrets. “I (sometimes) wonder if I should have tried harder to make it into the big time,” he volunteers. “It takes somebody up there that has to bring you in and somebody with a big pocket book. Then you have to dedicate your whole life to that. And if you don’t make it, then you’re out. You know, then you’ve dedicated yourself to it and you don’t have anything. I’ve always (approached it) that we’re just going to have fun – if you make the big time, you do; if we don’t, we don’t. I didn’t want to be a poor man living with nothing but a few trophies. I’ve always tried to protect what I have if I can possibly.”

  Hale is coming off one of his toughest seasons to date as 2004 unfolds. The 2003 season was one of those where he went winless. After winning three straight pony stock titles, he fared no better than fourth behind champ Hector Leon, Marty Schmidt, and Douglas Wright Jr. Schmidt is Hale’s teammate in the Dave Fox stable (Fox and Schmidt work together at El Cajon Ford). For 2003, Hale had a new Mustang to drive; that was supposedly the hot setup. Schmidt got Hale’s old Pinto. That old Pinto was still one hot car and Schmidt drove it to four victories. Meanwhile Hale struggled all season with the new car.

  “If we could only get this car to work,” Hale noted at the open practice session here two weeks ago. “The old car definitely worked good and was a lot more fun. When you start in the back and go forward, that is the main thing. When you start in front and go backward, that is not good.”

  “(It wasn’t) really that frustrating last year,” Hale continued. “I’ve been in that position before. Usually we keep working on it and all of a sudden it will click and the car will work good. This is better but the 11 car (Wright) just passed me out there and I don’t think he had to work very hard to get by me. He just went right on by.”

  So the good news for Cajon Speedway is that the end of Ed Hale’s racing career isn’t in sight yet. He will be a tough competitor here for many Saturday nights to come. Another championship is a very realistic goal this year.

  “I haven’t slowed down,” Ed is quick to remind.

(profile written 04/10/04)