(September 14, 2002) Friday September 13 was the final point race at Chowchilla for the NCMA and 360 sprints, and a 9/11 memorial. There were sixteen wingless  sprints, including our #20,# 27 Steven Williams,# 24 Ford team, #4 Darryl Moore, #2 Rick Williams, #2x Mike Johnson, and #22 Roy Fisher. NCMA driver Ed Amador had his #76 back together, and #11 Russ Wallenwaber was returning also after being plagued with motor problems all month. The pits were filled with flags flying on cars and a lot of red, white and blue attire. At the driver’s meeting we learned that we would all take part in the memorial program, and the #9, #11, and #01 Chowchilla cars would each carry flags and lead the parade.

     The sprints ran two heat races with #29 Sam Fries and #2x Mike Johnson starting on the front row of heat 1, and our #20 and #14 Darren Thomas in the back. Fries took the lead at the green with Johnson and #11 Bert Siverling behind him in 3^rd, and that’s where they finished. Ed Amador was 4^th, #6 Jim Janssen was 5^th, #20 was 6^th, Thomas 7^th. #27 Steven Williams broke a front spindle and driveline and wasn’t able to finish. The second heat had #2 George Terry and #41 Scott Holloway on the front row, #24  Ford and #22 Roy Fisher in the second one. Holloway jumped into the lead with Ford challenging him in 2^nd.One yellow came out for the stalled #11 Wallenwaber when he lost an ignition wire. That heat finished with Holloway 1^st, Ford 2^nd, Williams 3^rd, followed by #22, #4, 40 Leon Holloway, and #2 George Terry.

   The trophy dash had #2x Mike Johnson in his first dash this season, along with #41 Holloway, #29 Fries, and #24 Ford. Holloway took the lead, and #29 Fries broke in turn 2 with a cracked crankshaft. #41 led the restart, and finished with #24 and #2x behind him. After the dash all of the sprints drove onto the track for the memorial, and crews walked out to join them. Cars were arranged in the infield to spell out USA, and a parade was led by cars #9, 11, and 01 followed by a fire truck, a highway patrol car, police car, and ambulance. It was a fitting tribute done in a respectful manner and a moment for all to take pride in being Americans. Special thanks to Tom, Cindy, and Nick Sagmillar and all of the track officials for letting us all be a part of the well organized program.

   Before the main I talked to Steven Williams and Kass Wallenwaber and learned that both the #27 and #11 cars could not make repairs at the track and wouldn’t run the feature event. Dash winner Scott Holloway pulled a 6^th invert, so #2 Rick Williams and #11 Bert Siverling started on row 1, #24 Ford and #22 Fisher in row 2, Holloway and #4 Moore in row 3. (Fisher and Moore both moved up 2 spots in their row when #29 scratched and #2x needed a push to start) Our #20 started back in 11^th. At the green Williams and Ford ran for the lead side by side and Ford charged to the front on the 1^st lap, while our #20 was patiently threading his way up the field. On lap 3 Brandi Ford spun coming off turn 4, collecting #11 Bert Siverling and brought out the only yellow flag. Siverling had to pit with front end damage but Ford was able to continue racing. At the restart, it was #2 Williams, #22 Fisher, #41 Holloway, #4 Moore, #76 Amador, and #20 .The next 17 laps ran quickly flag to flag, and it was a thrill to watch #20 passing #4 on the inside and then #22 on the outside on the next lap. #2 Williams finished 1^st, Amador 2^nd, Holloway 3^rd, Shipherd 4^th. Fisher finished 5^th but was unfortunately DQ’d for being underweight, so #14 Thomas was officially 5^th. It was a fun, fast, clean race, and a good show.

  After the main we were all invited to sign Chowchilla memorial t-shirts that were being sent to the mayor of NY and President Bush. Chowchilla’s #11 hobby stock “Ice Cream Man” Marshall Weaver drove his ice cream truck into the infield after the races to give out free ice cream to the kids. Nice job, Marshall, the kids loved it!

The NCMA drivers will be running Saturday the 14^th at Merced, WSS at Antioch, and I believe point races for all sprints end at the end of September. Tonight was a record turnout for the awesome #20 crew, and we could not have raced or had so much fun without the help of crew chief Charlie, Dan, Ken, Amber, little Mike, Pete, big Mike, Anthony, and Phlash. Thanks to all of you, the #20 won the sprint championship for 2002 at Chowchilla. Great job, team! We’d all like to thank all of our fellow sprint drivers and crews, families, fans, friends, and sponsors for another fun season of racing! We hope to see many of you racing next month at Chowchilla’s open wheel roundup on Oct.4^th and 5^th, and Antioch’s open show on the 12^th.

A special thank you to Don O’Keefe for promoting open wheel racing in such a positive way, and for all of his support and encouragement this season!         

Take care, 

Deb