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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Southwest Sideways by Ken Adkins |
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Santa Fe, NM - August 4, 2005...That sound you may have heard
emanating from sprint car drivers, owners, and fans from across the
southwest was a gigantic, collective sigh of relief.
After an exploratory two-day non-wing sprint car show over
the Fourth of July weekend that served as the tentative 2005 season
opener, San Felipe Pueblo officials have given the go-ahead for
track promoters Lonnie and Tracie Oliver to open the gates for two
sprint car shows in August at Hollywood Hills Speedway (HHS).
The first show, on August 6th, will feature the
Sprint Car Owners of Arizona (SCOA) 410 winged sprint cars, while
the second show a week later on August 13th will feature
the Southwest Sprint Car Series and it’s unique mix of 410 and 360
powered non-wing sprint cars. While
no additional dates have been officially announced, speculation on
local Internet message boards has the track near Albuquerque running
weekly with more sprint car shows in September and October and a
probable full season in 2006. All
of this is news that has the sprint car community in the southwest
breathing a lot easier now than a few months ago.
Considering that the Fourth of July shows were announced with less than two weeks notice, a good size crowd filled the spacious HHS grandstands on July 2nd to go along with 27 non-wing sprint cars in the pits. The influx of out-of-state drivers and winged sprint car drivers taking the top off didn’t quite materialize as hoped for, but the field was still filled with an interesting mix of local drivers from the New Mexico Motor Racing Association (NMMRA) as well as some regular long-distance travelers such as Rick Ziehl from Las Cruces, Colorado’s Gary Taylor, and Leighton Crouch from Lubbock, Texas. While the track appeared to hold up during the sprint car heats, the pounding from the modifieds and hobby stocks took a toll and left the sprint cars with a little more than a one-groove dry-slick track come feature time. Lots of nose to tail racing marked the early and middle stages of the main and the resulting bent front suspension pieces took out several of the favorites including Albuquerque “Young Gun” Jason Tanner, 2003 NMMRA champion Bo Baker, and Gary Taylor. 2002 NMMRA champion Tom “T” Ball used his experience and knowledge of the local track conditions to perfection as he drove a masterful race from his 10th place starting spot to take the checkered flag ahead of a snarling pack of pursuers led by second place finisher Jon Taylor, Johnny Herrera, Rick Ziehl, and Kelly Dennison. I wasn’t able to make the next night of action at HHS on July 3rd as I headed up north to Colorado Springs to catch the final appearance of the USAC Silver Crown series at Pikes Peak International Raceway. While the series will continue under the same name in 2006, USAC might as well call it something else as they have killed the series as we currently know it by taking the current generation of pavement cars which are magnificent, awe-inspiring open-wheel machinery and replacing them with something that looks like a cross between a Malibu Grand Prix car and a golf cart on steroids. Believe me, the new Silver Crown pavement car looks even worse in person than it does in pictures! While I could go on and on about USAC’s shortsightedness and greed and the evil influence of the France empire (NASCAR) in the decision to change, I will leave this rant for another time and simply say that I reveled in the chance to see the Silver Crown cars in all their glory one last time on the 1-mile PPIR oval. Dave Steele put on yet another stellar performance to match the one I witnessed earlier this year at the Copper World Classic, and why this guy has not been snapped up yet by someone in NASCAR is beyond me. From all reports the second evening of the weekend double-header at HHS was definitely the Johnny Herrera show, as the long-time World of Outlaws competitor dominated the evening in his father’s #45x non-wing machine to capture the $1,500 to win main event. Bo Baker, Rick Ziehl, and Gary Taylor did their best to keep Herrera honest, while Jon Taylor made a charge to take another top five position. Since taking over the #45x from long-time pilot Rickey Hood at the start of the 2005 season, Herrera has been a threat at every track he’s raced at and has racked up a number of victories in both winged and non-wing competition. Hood had an incredible run in the Herrera machine in which he captured a string of SCOA championships before moving to the car owned by Arizona’s Steve Cushman in 2005. While Hood was masterful with a wing he could not match that success in his occasional forays into non-wing competition. Herrera has been a force in both this year, and I certainly expect him to be up front during the upcoming shows at HHS. More news and notes in my next column. As usual, information and feedback is appreciated at adkinsrule@aol.com |
