Traditional Sprint Car FanSite

See You At The Races!!!

June's Southwest Report
by June Lowitz

Canyon Raceway-ASCA Sprints

April 30, 2005... I thought I'd start off with how surprised I was to find myself going to Canyon Raceway.  I wasn't sure if I was going to go because of the last time I was there.  It was extremely dusty and dry and the bugs were out in full force.  I figured what the heck, I've heard they've been making improvements so why not give the place a second chance.  One of my new racing buddies, Mike came by and off we went up north to Canyon. 
 
Now the drive to the track is about an hour and thankfully is mostly all freeway.  Major thanks to the Bullet, Bob Ream, Jr., his EXCELLENT directions on how to get there.  I found the turnoff to the track and we bounced our way down the road dodging the potholes.  I was a bit surprised to find that it was $15 to get in, but I thought to myself, OK ASCA is worth it.  I went in with Mike and instead of sitting where I normally do down towards turn one, I thought I'd give turn four a try. 

We got there just as hot laps had ended and racing was going to start.  I was very excited as I noticed the track seemed really wet and they were running on time.  The heat races were awesome.  I was so happy for Jeff Henry in the #12 ABC Motorsports car getting a win in heat #1.  Jeff celebrated his birthday on 4/29 so I'm sure that was a great present for him.  He sure had a big smile on his face when I saw him walk by when they interviewed the heat race winners.  Matt Rossi, Jeremy Sherman and Mike Leslie were other heat race winners.  Each winner really seemed to have to earn their win as the track was very racy for the heat races. 

 
I have to make mention of my buddy Bruce St. James.  Everyone knows I'm a big fan of Bruce's but all that aside, he really has improved as a driver.  Bruce was very aggressive in his heat race and only allowed one car to pass him.  That car was the #77 of Jeremy Sherman.  Bruce held of Jeremy for a couple of laps, but Jeremy being Jeremy was able to get around him.  I haven't seen Bruce look this good and I have to give him a big high 5 for the great driving job.
 
Mike Martin had some tough luck Saturday night.  Mike came out in heat one and I'm not sure what happened, but he flipped and ended up in the fence coming out of turn 4.  Thankfully, Mike was not hurt, and the car wasn't hurt either.  Mike attempted to fire off to finish the heat but was unable to get it started.  He found that there was a loose wire in the ignition system and got it fixed to come out in the semi.  Mike didn't hold back as he ended up winning the semi and made the transfer into the Main event.
 
I was really looking forward to the main event.  Knowing that the ASCA sets up their mains by points, I knew Bruce was going to be on the pole or in the front row.  Thomas Ogle had the pole with Bruce outside.  Thomas got the lead from Bruce but there was a quick red for Mike Leslie.  I don't really know what happened but Mike Leslie went for what looked like a wild ride.  Again, thankfully he wasn't hurt, just the car was.  On the restart, Bruce was able to overtake Thomas, but unfortunately for Bruce a yellow came out.  On the next restart Bruce again overtook Ogle, but the yellow was thrown again.  The next restart Ogle kept the lead but Bruce was right behind him.  Bruce was doing the huggy pole thing and Ogle was doing the rim riding.  Something happened to Bruce and he ended up stopped in the middle of turns one and two.  Come to find out he hit the tire that Canyon uses to mark the infield with and that messed up his front end.  Bruce's night was over, but the race wasn't.  Chuck Buckman driving the #91az car had a great night.  He was leading the race and holding off Jeremy and Jeff Henry until coming out of turn 4 Jeremy got around Chuck.  Chuck didn't let Jeremy out of his sight and he kept trying to get around him but it just wasn't his night to win.  Jeremy won with Buckman second and the birthday boy Jeff Henry third.  It was an exciting race to watch as there was a lot of passing.
 
I have to say that the powers that be at Canyon really tried to keep the dust to a minimum.  It didn't start to get dusty until the sprint car main which was a great change from the last time I was there.  In my opinion, Canyon is really trying to make things better for the fans.  I just hope they can try and do something about all the bugs.  However, it didn't get as bad as it did the last time I was there.  I'm glad I gave the track another chance and since they are attempting to make their track more fan friendly, I'm going to continue to go back.  I know a lot of people don't like the track, and believe me, I was amongst those who didn't.  Give the track another chance.  You might be pleasantly surprised the way I was.  The staff is very friendly there and you can get some great souvenirs at the souvenir stand.  They also offer a chance to ride along in one of their stock cars during intermission.  The guy who won that ride sure seemed to enjoy it as he was trying to get the driver to go faster and faster. 
 
ASCA has really been putting on some great shows.  They've been averaging 28-35 cars per race making for some great racing.  Thanks to all of the car owners and sponsors for making this possible.  I really appreciate it.
 
I heard about the USAC/CRA race at Perris this past weekend with Damion Gardner coming from 23rd to first.  Sounds like a great race.  Congrats to Damion and the entire Ron Chaffin team.
 
Remember to introduce someone new to the world of sprint car racing.  So far this year, I have brought 3 new people to the track.  I think that we as fans need to show our support for our favorite division by introducing new people to our world of racing.  Some will love it and some won't.  However, unless they go and watch it, they won't know.  Just think, if we all brought just one new person to the track how much the attendance would go up.  I can honestly say that in the new people I've brought only one person didn't like it.  One of my friends is now a weekly spectator and the other person comes once or twice a month.  If I can do this so can you. 
 
Take care, have a good one and I hope to see you in turn 1 at Manzy on Saturday night.  Email me with your thoughts, suggestions or gripes at ASCAJune@aol.com.

SITE SEARCH

WEBSITE
 HOME PAGE
 LATEST UPDATES
 MESSAGE BOARD
 CHAT ROOMS
 CLASSIFIEDS
 BUSINESS CARDS
 ADVERTISING
 SPONSORS
 MULTIMEDIA
 ACTION GALLERY
 GIFT IDEAS
 ONLINE STORE
 LINKS

SANCTIONS
 SPRINT CARS
 OTHERS

RACING
 RACE RESULTS
 RACE SCHEDULES
 PRESS RELEASES
 RACE COLUMNS
 NEWS & NOTES
 TEAM NOTES
 DRIVER ROSTERS
 DRIVER PROFILES
 RACE TRACKS
 RACING INFO

MISC
 VOTING BOOTH
 BULLETIN BOARD
 DTRSC SKINS
 FUN PAGE
 RACE FANS
 TRIBUTES
 SPECIAL THANKS

Get your own FREE Guestbook from htmlGEAR
 SIGN GUESTBOOK
 VIEW GUESTBOOK

EMAIL US

T-SHIRTS
& MORE