In Memory

Updated 3/8/21

R.I.P. Bruce Bromme Jr

Celebration of life for Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr's first race car

Andy Gump on display

Paul Jones in a Bromme car

Dean Thompson and Clark Templeman

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr by the trailer

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr

Bruce just watching and waiting

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr many times Mechanic of the Year

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr with a Wagsdash hat on

Bruce Jr with # 50 in the trailer

Bruce Jr and Miller

Bruce Jrwith Ron Chaffin

Bruce Jr with Steve Ostling

Bruce Jr with Michael Tanaka

Bruce Jr with Bubby Jones

Bruce Jr with Gary Tanaka

Bruce Jr with Glenn Crossno

Bruce Jr with Damion Gardner

Bruce Jr with Gary Tanaka

Bruce Jr with Gary Tanaka

Bruce Jr with 5 time CRA champion driver Mike Spencer

Bruce Jr with Ron Chaffin

Bruce Jr with Damion Gardner

Bruce Jr and Ron Chaffin

Bruce Jr and Mike Spencer

Bruce Jr with Brent Kaeding

Bruce Jr with Tracy Hines

Bruce Jr contemplating something

Bruce and Wags

Bruce

Bruce Jr with Gary Tanaka

Bruce Jr and Ron Chaffin

Bruce Jr and Mike Spencer

Bruce jr and Ron Chaffin

Bruce Jr and Harlan Willis

Bruce Jr with Mark Priestley

Bruce Jr with Vinnie Latner

Bruce Jr with Jimmy Oskie

Bruce Jr with Wags at the Wagsdash

Bruce Jr with Karen B

Bruce Jr checking out the track

Bruce Jr and Michael

Bruce Jr with Mike Spencer

Bruce jr in his ride

Bruce Jr and Bubby Jones

Bruce Jr and Michael Tanaka

Bruce Jr and Damion Gardner

Bruce Jr and Doc Griffin

Bruce Jr and Ron Chaffin

Bruce Jr with Glen Crossno

Bruce Jr and Ron Chaffin

Bruce Jr and Damion Gardner

Bruce Jr and Damion Gardner

Bruce Jr and Chris Holt

Bruce Jr with a smile

Bruce Jr and damion

Bruce Jr and Michael Tanaka

Bruce Jr and Mike Spencer

Bruce Jr and Damion

Bruce Jr with Jimmy Oskie

Bruce Jr giving the little red sucker a shove

Bruce Jr with Jeff Gardner

Bruce Jr and Jimmy Oskie

Bruce Jr and Glen Crossno

Bruce Jr with Steve Ostling at the CRA Banquit

Bruce Jr and Jimmy Oskie

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr

Bruce Jr and Sr

Bruce Jr and S

Bruce Jr and Kieth Kunz

Bruce Jr with Wags and Holt

Bruce Jr with car owner Ron Chaffin

Bruce Jrwith Mrs Wags and Ron Chaffin

Bruce Jr with Randy Shiosaki and Wags

Bruce Jr with Bubby Jones and Dean Thompson

Bruce Jr with Chris Holt and Wags

Bruce Jr with Ron Chaffin and Mrs Wags

Bruce Jr with Charles Davis Jr and Mike Spencer Sr

Bruce Jr with Mike Spencer Jr and Sr

Bruce Jr with Damion and Wags

Bruce Jr with two of his champion drivers Mike Spencer and Damion Gardner

Bruce Jr with Deano

Bruce Jr with Deano and Gary Tanaka

Bruce Jr with Damion and Mike Spencer

Bruce Jr with Mike Spencer

Bruce Jr with Michael Tanaka

Bruce Jr with Glenn Crossno and Mike Spencer

Bruce Jr with Mike Jr and Sr

Bruce Jr with Mike and Eric

Bruce Jr out front at Perris with the # 50 car

Bruce Jr in the pits chatting

Bruce Jr with Julie, Lafond, Barbara Thompson and Wags

Bruce Jr's championship drivers Mike Spencer, Damion Gardner, Richard Griffin and Lealand McSpadden plus car owner Ron Chaffin

Bruce Jr with his crew

Bruce Jr and Ron Chaffin with Sonie Duffy and Mrs Wags

Bruce Jr with Michael Tanaka on a tire

Bruce Jr in the Santa Maria pit line

The Chaffin team lined up

Bruce Jr with Spencer and crew

Deano on the podium with Lealand McSpadden and Steve Kinser

Deano and Bubby on the podium

The Bromme crew

Blue and white car

Dean Thompson

Deano

Deano with Bruce Sr

Deano

Billy Boat drove this one

Paul Jones with the Bromme team

Paul Jones and the Bromme team

Bruce at work

Still at work

Working on a black # 50

The crew works too

Bruce back to work

Cars ready, let's chat

Hanging

Weighing the car

Bruce thinking about the set-up

The crew iust like here

Changing the tire

Bruce Jr with the little red sucker

Bruce Jr with # 50

Bruce with the # 50 car

# 1 little red sucker

Deano

The little red sucker now owned by someone else and goes shows up to show off occasionally

Like here driven by Jimmy Oskie

Here he goes

# 1 with Oskie

# 1 with Oskie

# 1 with Oskie

# 1 and # 27

# 1 and # 27

# 1

# 1

# 1

# 1 and # 48

# 1

# 1

# 1 on display

# 1

# 1

Deano94

Deano in the seat

Deano in Little red sucker # 2

Deano

Deano

Deano

Deano

Deano mudded

Deano

Deano

Deano

Deano

# 3 with Deano at Ascot 1977

Deano

Deano

Deano with Spencer, Atherton and Noffsinger

Deano racing

Deano

Look at the injectors on the little red sucker

Deano in the third row at El Centro

Deano on the corner

Deano racing Lealand McSpadden
Bruce Sr

Andy Gump on display

Billy Boats record setting lap at Ascot that was the last one.

Bruce SR with Wags and Rodney Argo

Bruce Bromme Sr

Bruce Bromme Sr

Bruce Sr with Lealand McSpadden and Wags

one more

Wags in a special bromme car

Bruce Sr

Bromme shop

Bruce Sr and Marge in the shop

Bruce Sr

Bruce Sr

Bruce Sr with Lealand McSpadden and a few others

Bruce Senior in Andy Gump

A masterpiece built by Bruce Sr

# 1 blue and white car

Not sure which car was under construction

Little filler made like a fuel cell

This car started out without a roll cage and later had one mounted on it. The car had a special name (Andy Gump) but I remember Bruce Sr telling me how he built it and what was special about it some 30 years ago in his garage

Andy Gump

Andy Gump

Andy Gump

Andy Gump

Andy Gump

Andy Gump

Andy Gump

This was a baby carriage made by Sr for Jr

Bruce Sr put a motor in it and Jr drove it but soon turned it over to Dean because he would rather work on it than drive it

Bruce Sr in old garage

Wagsdash banner for Grand Marshal Bruce Sr

Wagsdash poster created by Jim Naylor

Mike Spencer and Deano cars

Bruce jr created this dry-sump oil tank

A Bromme shirt
The Bromme Cars

the winning stickers!!

Billy and Bruce Jr

Billy Boat

Billy at Ascot

Bubby Jones

Bubby

Bubby

Bubby's helmet

Stan Atherton

The Gasman

Gasman's car with glasses

Gasman

# 50

# 50

# 50

Bruce Jr with Damion Gardner

The Demon

The Demon

The Demon

The Demon

Mike Spencer up

Mike Spencer

Mike Spencer

Mike Spencer

Mike Spencer

Mike Spencer

On display at Weavers Legends event

On display same place

Allen Heath in the Bromme Special

Donnie Melton in the Bromme car

Paul Jones in # 1Bromme car

Paul Jones

Allen Heath

Donnie Melton

Johnny White

Another Bromme Car

And another Bromme car

Paul Jones running with Billy Wilkerson

The one on the right was Bromme built, the left was ordered and then assembled the Bromme way

This car went on the first CRA tour to the midwest with Dean as the driver. I think he was hurt in a highway accident and Bubby drove it some

# 50 on a wrecker, ooopss...

Crew Chief of the years... Bruce Bromme Jr

A nice little kiddie car
Bruce Bromme Jr was, in a word, a "racer"! You could call him "SUPER CHIEF", he was that good! No he didn't drive the big 410 powered sprint cars, he just made them fast! Bruce learned very early, when his "playmate" Dean Thompson and he drove a little race car in the streets near their home, that he wasn't destined to be a driver. Bruce wanted to work on the cars, so CRA history was made way back then. Dean of course went on to win the most CRA 410 races than anyone in history and made the little red sucker famous. Bruce owns so many "crew Chief of the year awards", no one will ever catch him. He hoisted many championship trophies and they were all important to him! Bruce was all about winning, not just doing well, and a good day for him was when his car won. That's him in a nutshell, but there was so much more to him.
I first met him and his dad Bruce Sr in the pits after a race at Ascot as I was just really getting into this racing stuff. My early days in Wagtimes led me to do some visits and write about them. I loved these side trips, and one of these visits was to the Bromme home of the little red sucker in So Cal where I got to sit down with the legendary pair in their garage. I learned a lot that day with memories that still bang around in my head, but the thing I remember most is that they were detirmined to have the best sprint car on the planet! And they did beyond belief! As the years aged most of us, and with his dad gone now, Bruce Jr was, up until his death, still doing the same things that made him a winner above all his peers.
I have a lot of people in the pits who I have developed great friendships with, but there isn't anyone who demanded my respect more than Bruce Jr. He was a quiet leader, a free thinker and will always be a real winner. What he has accomplished will never be equaled, yet he was still just my friend Bruce when I saw him. He was always sharing his life and asking about mine. I don't know how long we will have Ron Chaffin's little red sucker racing with us, especially now that Bruce is gone, but I can't imagine going CRA racing without seeing the # 50 sprinter and having Bruce Bromme Jr turning the wrenches! Thanks for all the championships and great times your fans and I have enjoyed, unfortunately very sadly there will be no more.
It's not always a sure thing when someone who is at the top of their game gets recognition in the racing world and thanks to the PAS for making him their Grand Marshal this season, he is the most deserving of all of them! Way to go Bruce, we will all be honoring you on that important day in your memory! RIP and thanks for the memories! Note: when Ron Chaffin passed the little red sucker was retired and will be no more, Sad, but that part of history is gone forever.
All photos © 2014 Mr. Wags Photos