Few families who grew up in this region have had greater involvement in their lineage than Bruce and Carol Garber and their family. For almost 60 years, the Garber family has been actively involved in the Northwest racing community.

Bruce Garber was born in Priest River, Idaho, and grew up in Spokane. His wife Carol grew up in the Seattle area. They married in 1960 and had five children (Bruce also had a son from a previous relationship). They owned B & G Automotive on north Nevada from 1966 to 1979. Bruce started out his racing career as a street racer, which quickly blossomed into drag racing in the mid-1960s. He raced a B/Gas fuel injected 1960 Falcon Wagon in Puyallup, Arlington and Deer Park. In 1968, he jumped ship to the circle track at Spokane Fairgrounds Speedway in the entry level Jalopy Claimers, and the following year moved up to Super Stocks where it was rumored he took the engine out of the family station wagon for his stock car. This class and track were where Bruce would make his name with Carol and his children right by his side. Carol wrote articles for Racing Wheels magazine and was a time scorer at the track for decades. Along with racing, Bruce served on the board of directors for multiple racing sanctioning bodies. The family even ran Northwest Speedway from 1985 to 1989 (later known as Stateline Speedway).

As their children grew up, Bruce raced all over the region, and eventually their children got involved. Shari, their eldest daughter, would score alongside her mom, and like her mother, became involved in the media side of racing and still is to this day. She wanted to follow in her father’s driving footsteps, but women were rarely let in the pits when Shari was a teenager. Shari’s children and grandchildren are also involved in motorsports.

The Garbers’ two sons both caught the racing bug and have been involved with their families in the racing community. Dan, the eldest, has raced to several championships and has passed down his racing passion to his children. David, Bruce and Carol’s youngest son, have several late model stock car championships to his credit. From stock cars, motorcycles, go-karts and snowmobiles, they love it all.

Bruce last raced to a championship in 2015 in a Legend car owned by his son, Dan. He still loves to race, but he and Carol can now be found Saturday nights in the summer, sitting on their bar stools along the fence in the pits at Stateline Speedway, watching their friends and family out on the track. The Garbers’ children, grandchildren and even a few great grandchildren appear to be carrying the racing torch for the family—likely, for decades to come.

Michele Martin is a motorsports photographer and racing enthusiast. She can be reached at

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