|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| June's Southwest Report by June Lowitz |
|
|
|
September 5, 2005...WOW!! What a weekend of racing!! Arizona's ASCA
now has a new main event winner in Chris Bonneau.
Chris drove his tail off to win over Jeremy Sherman, Nathan
High, Seainn Hendricson
and Bobby Boone. I have to say that I enjoyed watching
this young man win his first main event. From what I could
hear, Chris had the entire grandstands cheering for him.
Before I go much further, I want to take the time to thank
everyone for helping Manzanita
Speedway and ASCA
collect over $5600 for the Hurricane Katrina
relief fund. As I'm sure you know this hit home for me and
this cause is one of those that I won't be forgetting about.
I still have a challenge out to everyone who can read this,
everyone I know and everyone I email. My challenge is that
everyone donate at least $1 (I'm donating more as my work is
matching what I donate) to the charity of their choice that has
something set up for the Hurricane Katrina
victims. Last weekend showed that racing people are some
of the most generous people, lets keep that up and prove to the
world that we care. Two of the biggest charities right now
are the Red Cross and Salvation Army. However, if you
choose to donate to someone else, just do it. DONATE.
Remember, these victims don't have the luxury of choosing what
to wear, what to eat, or where to go as they have LOST
EVERYTHING!!! This is one time that the news media isn't
exaggerating. Please help!!!!
Saturday night, Manzanita
held their Fan Appreciation night and it was awesome. It's
just too bad that Mother Nature decided to let it rain in other
parts of the Valley of the Sun and attendence seemed down a bit.
It was an awesome night of racing for most.
Qualifying started out great with fast time going to Chuck
Buckman in the 61AZ, Lowell Carsten entry. Long time racer
Ricky Hood was out and qualified second with Jeremy Sherman,
Bobby Boon and Marty Miller following. The trophy dash was
won by Jeremy Sherman, after a rough start. Chuck Buckman
and Ricky Hood started side by side in the back row and appeared
to make contact coming down for the green flag.
Unfortunately, for Buckman, he seemed to have run over Hood's
right rear and that sent him for one heckeva ride. He
flipped end over end and ended up right at the beginning of the
front straight near the fence. He was alert and awake and
was talking to the paramedics after the incident. At last
report, he did not appear to have any serious injuries, but I
can just bet he has a good case of racer's rheumatism right now.
Get Well Soon, Chuck.
Heat race winners were Jay Ervine, Mike Bonneau,
Seainn Hendricson
and Chris Bonneau. There was some great racing by all on
Manzy's big half mile track. With qualifying, the faster
cars start in the back with the slower cars in front so it makes
for some interesting racing. Trying to watch the faster cars
work their way up to transfer positions really was fun to watch.
What was interesting during qualifying was the fact that so many
cars elected to give up one of their qualifying laps and go out
last. The track was very wet and sloppy during the first
part of qualifying and as it dried out, the faster the times
got. Do I think this is a fair way to qualify? No.
Have I seen it done before? Yes, in the 80's with CRA when
I used to go to Ascot. A lot of drivers would go out, find
out the track was too wet and pull in and get one lap at the end
of qualifying. Some call it sandbagging, others call it
something else. Personally, I think you should have to
qualify where you draw no matter what. Unless you happen
to have an accident in hot laps or for some other emergency
reason, then I can see waiting until the end to qualify.
But this not qualifying because the tracks too wet is just not
right. In my opinion, I think that if you don't go out
when you are supposed to, you should have to tag the field for
the rest of the night. There were 7 cars that got one lap
only and only one of those cars made an attempt when they were
supposed to. Why penalize the guys who play by the rules
and go out when they are supposed to by letting others
"wait" it out until the track gets faster? I
know, no one said racing is fair, I would just like some rules
that will help out everyone, not just some of the teams.
This is the club's first year in doing qualifying and I'm sure
there are bugs to work out of the system, and I'm hoping this is
one of them.
One driver who seemed happy with his performance Saturday night
was my friend, #7K, "The Radio Flyer," Bruce St.
James. I'm sorry but the results that have been posted,
are incorrect in my opinion. I have Bruce scored as
finishing behind Marty Miller and unlapped. The officials
are scoring him in 11th behind Tim Beal. Sorry scorers,
but Bonneau never passed St.
James. He almost did but the yellow came out and Bruce got
to go to the end of the pack, still on the lead lap. I
think Bruce finally found a groove he likes and he seems fast on
the big track. Bruce said the car felt good to him and he
looked good in it.
Scott Pasmore should earn the sportsman of the night award.
He and Mike Martin got together in the third heat race when
Scott's right rear tire had bleeder problems and held over twice
as much air as it was supposed to. When Scott and Martin
got together, Martin had car problems and ended up not finishing
the race. Scott was able to recover and hold on to a
transfer spot to the main event. Scott, being the
gentleman and good sport that he is, gave Mike Martin his car
for the main event. Mike was holding onto fifth place in
points when the night started and according to the announcers,
Scott offered Mike his car so he could keep up in the points
chase. Unfortunately for Martin, Scott's car seemed to
have problems in the main and he ended up finishing 23rd.
Way to go Scott!!!!
The half mile track sure can show a team if they have a motor
weakness. This week Bob Ream, Jr. and Bernie Smith seemed
to find that out. Both drivers had to go through the semi
to make the main event. When they were announcing the line
up for the main event, it was announced that Bob Ream would fall
back to the back of the pack on the start. After the race
was over and I had a chance to talk to both drivers, they told
me that they each had some motor problems. Both drivers
assured me they would be back out next week, but what a bummer.
Bernie has been doing so well this year, and he's in the top 10
in points and he continues to improve as a driver each week.
Ream has had his ups and downs this year. He has won a
main this year and had some good finishes but they are coming
few and far between. I sure hope these drivers get some
lady luck on their side. They are great drivers and nice
men who deserve some great luck.
One driver who has seemed to do a 180 this year is Jeff Henry
and the Robbie Allen team. Last year it seemed like bad
luck was the only luck they had. This year Jeff has won a
race. He's finished 2nd and 3rd and received the hard
charger award a few times. This is one team that races not
only with their hearts, but they have the family there with
them. This year it's great to see Robbie's wife Gaye with
him and his family; Jeff Henry's wife Cindy is there at every
race with their sons Devon and Chase. It's great to see a
team involve the entire family. In my opinion, that's what
racing is all about. It's a sport that Dad, Mom and the
kids can get involved in and be involved with.
I can't wait for the USAC/CRA show to come back
here to Manzy on 9/24/05. I wonder how many of our ASCA
teams will race that night? I've never counted before but
I wonder how many of the teams have 410's? If I remember
right, I believe that Bruce St. James, Bob Ream and Jeremy
Sherman do. I'm not sure if Lowell Carstens has 410's for
the 61az and 91az cars. I would love to see a bunch of the
ASCA boys be able to race
with USAC/CRA and do well. I'm looking forward to seeing
my USAC/CRA faves Rickie Gaunt and his teammate Charles Davis,
Jr. come over and see if they can beat out Damion and Mike
Kirby. I do know that the 9/24/05 race will be Charles
Davis, Jr. birthday and boy do I have a surprise for him.
There will also be the vintage cars at the track with USAC/CRA
and that will be fun when those cars bring back memories for the
old timers and us younger oldtimers. Be sure to circle
that weekend on your calendar now so you won't miss the fun and
action.
Again, I'd like to remind everyone to please help out the
victims of Hurricane Katrina.
I think that we did an outstanding job last weekend at Manzy but
lets see if we can't get some more money together to donate.
Thanks to everyone who worked so hard on making the fund raising
such a success. Thank you Scott, for announcing it on the
news this Monday morning.
Take care, be safe and I'll see you next week in turn 1 at Manzanita
Speedway.
You can reach me at: ASCAJune@aol.com
|
