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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| 2004
MOPAR TWIN 25s AT IRWINDALE by Norm Bogan |
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The 2004 MOPAR Twin 25s has caught the attention of
racers and fans from around the country.
Scheduling is paramount for a good turnout and this was well
thought out as many of the teams running the USAC National Midget
circuit, were able to journey a little further west in the week
after the Copper World event at Phoenix for a shot at another big
payday.
Thirty-nine Midgets were in the pits, with
thirty-five actually racing. Last
week’s winner at Phoenix, reigning National Champion, J.J. Yeley
was supposed to be there, but a last minute change in his Busch
schedule, committed him to a testing session for Joe Gibbs Racing. Dave Steele continues to be the one to top in the
pavement races. Qualifying
in the warm midday heat at near the track record for the banked
half-mile; that he had set in the cool evening for last November’s
Turkey Night. His time
of 16.665 seconds was nearly a half second faster than the number
two qualifier. Naturally,
this designated the Tampa Speed-merchant as the favorite, even
though Steele had changed teams during the off-season. Today’s companion event featured the Ford Focus
Midget series. This is
a growing series adding a number of regional groups around the
country. The series
allows racers to use a regular full Midget chassis and install a
spec. Ford Focus engine. It
is a natural stepping-stone for youngsters moving up from
quarter-midgets, micro-midgets and mini-sprints to hone their skills
before taking on the cagey veterans in the full Midgets.
There were twenty-four Ford Focus cars on hand and like last
year a couple of celebrity drivers were present to try their hand at
maneuvering these little cars around the tight third-mile oval.
This year’s two celebrity drivers were from the Champ Car
Series (formerly known as CART), Patrick Carpentier from Canada and
Michel Jourdain Jr. from Mexico. Steve Lewis and his PRE organization worked hard
to make this event as advertised, a “Festival of Speed”.
Since early morning, staging was being done in other areas of
the Irwindale Speedway facility.
On the 1/8-mile drag strip, Nostalgia dragsters made some
earth rumbling passes to the excitement of the fans.
Adjacent to the drag strip was a small oval track laid out to
accommodate a number of classes of the local quarter-midget kids,
who were able to display their talents to fans and the kids of fans,
promoting this form of racing as a beginning for a long racing
career. Participating
in the awards ceremonies for these young racers were three
nationally prominent Midget shoes that advanced from the
quarter-midget ranks, Michael Lewis, Bobby East and Josh Wise.
Also on display were many custom cars, vintage
drag, dry lakes and salt flats racers.
There were Indy Car simulators for fans to measure their
skills and along the entrance to the ticket turnstiles, were about
twenty-five vintage midget racers, dating back to the heyday of the
“Might Midgets” in the thirties and forties, when they raced
four nights a week.
Once the fans filed into the grandstands and
settled in for their night of racing, the first event in front of
the crowd was a drifting exhibition.
Drifting has become a competition started in Japan, where
drivers take their streetcar and compete in an exhibition of weaving
around a serpentine course, while in a controlled power slide.
The scoring is similar to figure skating with points for
style and how close they can get to each other or the wall without
touching. We have all
done the same thing in the past.
Remember taking Dad’s old Dodge around the school or
shopping center parking lot after hours in a “Broadie Contest”? Next was an Irwindale tradition and one that I
heartily recommend. They
bring out all the cars and drivers to the main straightaway and let
the fans spend nearly an hour collecting autographs. Teams passed out autographed collector’s cards, which
youngsters treasure, when received from one of their racing heroes.
Finally, with all the fans back in the stands and
the racecars returned to the pits, we have the flag ceremony and
National Anthem. Now it
is race time. One
glitch prevailed tonight. Since
Irwindale normally has stock car shows, where the racers are
equipped with self-starters, they do not have a cadre of push trucks
found at most open wheel tracks.
With a shortage of push vehicles, the California Highway
Patrol dispatched two of their precision driving team cruisers that
were fitted with a push bar on the front end to clear highway
blockages. These two
cruisers augmented the limited push truck population.
It was like watching a high speed chase on one of the
adjacent freeways as the cruisers positioned themselves behind one
of the midgets and then with multi-colored flashing lights, smoothly
moved the racecar forward until they fired and drove away from the
pursuing patrol car. The
speedway picked up the gas costs and the fans got a kick out of
seeing the patrol cars at work.
The evening started with a Trophy Dash for the
eight fastest midgets, which would set the front four rows of the
first twenty-five-lap race. Fast
timer Dave Steele started sixth and quickly moved to the front to
capture the Dash, placing him on the pole for the first race. The balance of cars that did not run in the Dash,
raced in one of two 15 lap Qualifying races, with six cars
transferring from each to the back of the “A” feature.
Dave Darland and Jerome Rodela were victorious in the two
qualifiers. A last chance race was next completing the
twenty-four-car field. Johnny
Rodriguez captured this race. As
the first Qualifying race was staged, it was announced that Wally
Pankratz and Aaron Fike would be added as promoters options, making
the field total of twenty-six. As expected on the green flag, Dave Steele moved
away from the rest of the field.
Passing under the flag for lap nine, two back-markers spun
between turns one and two. It
appeared that Dave may have hit his brakes entering turn one and
suddenly the left rear tire came off the car and he spun backwards
into the wall with a strong impact.
Steele climbed from his car and sat up against the wall until
medical help arrived to assist him off the track.
It was reported that he took a pretty good knock to one of
his knees and the car was not repairable and done for the night.
On the restart, Bobby East took the point and lead to the
checkers. As the midgets were readied in the pits for the
second feature, the Ford Focus cars made their appearance.
Twenty-four cars staged for the feature and Michel
Jourdain’s car was the last to appear, apparently having problems
getting the engine fired and pulled in on the first lap with what
was later reported to be a fuel pump failure.
Jourdain had flown the redeye from Sebring, Florida to run
this show and now would turnaround for an early morning flight back
to Florida. Carpentier
on the other hand had practiced on Friday night until they turned
off the track lights and was eager to race.
Clocking in third fast for a first experience running these
cars on a small track, Patrick finished a respectable fifth.
He admitted to eyeing the more powerful midgets and would
like to try one of those. Carpentier was impressed with the Ford Focus program and
would like to see a new regional series established in Canada soon.
Former Olympian, Josh Lakatos continues to impress with his
driving skills and captured the twenty-five-lap feature. With Bobby East starting dead last in the field,
the next thirteen finishers from the first feature were inverted
with the balance of the field starting straight up according to
their finish. Thomas
Meseraull led all twenty-five circuits in the second feature, but
the excitement was watching Bobby East come from the back, running
on the high side and passing several cars each lap.
With about five laps to go, he had advanced to third and then
second and on the last lap had closed to about six car lengths, but
could not overtake Thomas, leaving East just short of the $50,000
bonus for sweeping both features. This was the first National USAC Midget victory for Meseraull.
Attendance was figured to be around 5000 and MOPAR,
Steve Lewis and PRE along with Irwindale Speedway considered the
show a success. The
fans expressed their satisfaction with a day well spent at the
“Festival of Speed”. |
