MichiganCircleTrack.com is the online home of the MARC Times Racing News & Michigan Racing Scene and MARCTimesTV.

For Jeff Califf, his first time in a race car brought him a checkered flag in a heat race.  Eleven years later, he is still chasing that elusive Feature Win.

Califf is the epitome of the privateer.  He comes to the race track by himself.  No crew, no family at the track, no one, nada ...  it's him versus the world.

His wife supports his racing addiction, but she suffers from asthma and the dust of the track just doesn't allow her to attend often, rarely going to the track.  With two good sponsors, Van Patten General Store and Sprague's Auto Salvage of Muskegon, Jeff rolls up his shirt sleeves, focuses in on the competition and goes at it, man versus world.

He started attending the races at Thunderbird Speedway back in the mid-90's and he enjoyed it.  He particularly enjoyed the rough and tumble style of the Bomber Division. With no racing knowledge and a limited pocketbook Jeff set to the task of building his first race car.  The first night out he started on the outside of the first row, took the lead on the first lap and just held on for dear life.  "I kept waiting for someone to pass me, hit me, go around me, something ...  it just never happened."

Since then, he has taken the white flag several time in feature races, only to see someone else come around and take the feature win.  Three of them stick in Jeff's mind brighter then others.  In 1999, he went into turn one with a big lead and the victory firmly in hand and he lost a right rear tire.   Another time, he was racing another driver hard and had held him off for nearly 10 laps.  "I knew I had a better car then he did, I wasn't going to let him under me and I knew he wasn't fast enough to get around me.  He did too, so on the last lap, coming through three and four he just drove right into my door.  Spun us both out.  That's the nature of Bomber racing, its just part of the show.  That's why the driver's love it, that's why the fan's love it. "

After many years in the Bomber Division, the Rothbury native moved up to the UMP Modified Division.  "These guys are fast.  Great cars here." said Califf.  "Its an adrenaline rush".

A veteran racer of Thunderbird Raceway for nearly a decade, Jeff made a special point of mentioning how good a job he thought the Ferguson's were doing with Thunderbird Raceway "Ross is a good guy.  He is doing things right here.  He has more cars coming out each week ...  the track is always in great shape.  He has done a real good job."

You can watch Jeff as he chases that elusive feature win each and every Saturday Night at Thunderbird Raceway in beautiful Muskegon, Michigan.  Just minutes off US-31, the 3/8th mile track features UMP racing in the UMP Modified, UMP Sportsman, UMP Factory Stock, UMP Bomber, UMP 4-Cylinder and UMP Warrior Divisions.   Six classes of racing every Saturday Night, if you haven't taken in a Saturday Night at Thunderbird Raceway, you don't know what you are missing.