Sandpoint native Cal Method inducted into NHRA Hall of Fame
(Courtesy photo) Sandpoint native Cal Method and wife Mary Ann were recently inducted into the NHRA Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Seattle that was attended by friends and family.
(Courtesy photo) Cal and Mary Ann Method have been married almost 50 years, much of it spent racing cars together.
(Courtesy photo) Method began drag racing cars shortly after he graduated from Sandpoint, and he built nearly every engine he ever raced.
(Courtesy photo) The Hall of Fame trophies recently give to Cal and Mary Ann Method, adding to their collection.
SANDPOINT — Everyone should be so lucky as to enjoy doing what they love to the extend Sandpoint native Cal Method has during the first 74 years of his life.
A passion for cars instilled as a young boy growing up on a farm led Method into racing, where he eventually met wife Mary Ann Method, herself a car racer. The couple has been together for nearly a half century, much of it spent together ripping down drag racing tracks at more than 150 miles per hour.
So it was only fitting recently that the two Kennewick, Washington residents were inducted together into the National Hot Rod Association Division 6 Hall of Fame at a ceremony last month in Seattle, a nice recognition from the Northwest racing community.
“It was quite an honor. It’s nice to be recognized for all the years I’ve been racing,” describes Cal. “I’m glad they did it to us together. We’ve always been a team. That was the only way it would even be right.”
Cal grew up outside Sandpoint on a 240 acre farm with older sister Helen Newton, graduating from Sandpoint High School in 1961. He met Mary Ann in 1970, and the two have lived in her hometown of Kennewick ever since, where they raised their two children Tod and Kathy.
Cal’s NHRA racing career began in 1964 at the Deer Park Raceway, and he’s been racing in the stock eliminator class on a quarter mile track ever since. He notched his first win in 1965 in a 1961 Impala, attended Winternationals in Pomona the next year and becoming hooked on the adrenaline. In 1967, he set his first world record with a speed of 104.65 miles per hour. In 1983, he won the Worlds at Orange Country, California, one of the biggest of many wins and records over the years.
The couple still come to Sandpoint every May for Lost in the 50s, seeing old friends and classmates and checking out the myriad cars on display. Anyone who knows the Methods, knows they’re all about car racing, a love that has grown over more than half a century on the track, and remains alive and well today.
“Nowadays, it’s the people, all the friends we’ve met all across the country. It’s like a big family,” says Cal of what he loves most. “I’ve always been addicted to cars. I was raised on a farm. Dad (Harold) started me driving tractors when I was five, then it was all about cars.”
Mary Ann won the All-Star Race in 1995 in Columbus, Ohio with an engine built by her husband. Cal says her biggest strength is focusing, as the starting line is 80 percent of drag racing, where races end in mere seconds and are decided by hundredths of seconds.
Up until the last few years, Cal always built the engines he and Mary Ann raced, as well as countless others for friends and fellow racers.
“The biggest thing that helped me was you could out-work and out-think people. That’s where I did a lot of my winning,” admits Cal, noting things have changed through the years. “Now it’s more a numbers game, everyone has a chance. The information age has made a lot of drivers good who weren’t before. Technology has driven the cost up, and made it more competitive.”
Older sister Helen Newton was one of a handful of family and friends who came to Seattle to be at the Method’s induction ceremony. She is rightfully proud of her brother and his accomplishments, and was happy to see Mary Ann, whom Cal once raced head to head in the finals in Boise, share the honor.
“They make a great team and I know they look upon their friends throughout the racing community across the country as their extended family,” says Helen. “It was a real thrill to be present with our two daughters to witness how much he is respected and admired by his peers.”
When Method won a national even in Minnesota in the 90s, he claimed a $20,000 winner’s check. Now, despite it being more expensive than ever to race, winners might get only $8,000. Not surprisingly, the Methods house is littered with trophies.
That Cal’s still alive is a bit of a miracle, having survived a wreck in the mid-80s that could have easily taken his life.
“I was helping a friend with motors, trading off driving duties in Spokane. I hit the brakes and one of the brake drums broke open on the dragster, I went end over end and rolled many times,” recalls Method, noting he was going about 150 miles per hour when the wreck happened. “I was extremely fortunate that nothing came through and stabbed me. I have that brake drum hanging in the garage to remind me.”
While Mary Ann no longer competes, Cal plans to keep racing as long as his health allows, but admits it gets harder each year, both physically and financially.
Method claims growing up in Sandpoint paved the way to a blessed life.
“Just being raised on a farm, I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” he says. “A lot of my success is being raised in Sandpoint.”