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| SCRA
OPENS A NEW ERA AT BARONA SPEEDWAY by Norm Bogan |
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It was to be the inaugural event for SCRA at Barona this weekend with a Media Day and open practice session on Friday for both the SCRA sprinters and the California Lightning Sprints. Nineteen sprint cars were on hand, with about a like number of Lightning Sprints. On a lazy afternoon, teams prepared their cars, but were not under the gun as is the case with a normal event and some even walked the track to get a feel of the new configuration. In addition to the racers there were a number of curious fans, coming to see what Barona was like for them. Let me try to capture the setting of this venue. The speedway is located on an Indian Reservation surrounded by rugged hills covered with large boulders, some as large a dump truck and thousands of native oak trees. It is a scenic location that was devastated by the wild fires last fall, but appears to be recovering with much new greenery and vegetation coming at the dawn of spring. Arriving at the facility, you enter from a winding mountain road and immediately come upon a drag strip and pit area for the dragsters. Continuing on, you wind down among the oaks and boulders to the pit gate. There are no lined articulations, just locate a clearing under an oak and next to a boulder, where you can park the car. As I arrived, I noted several motor homes and campers, as well as a couple of tents pitched, where spectators had already staked out their weekend retreat. The grandstands are limited to turns one and two, from the days when this racetrack was a 1/6 mile surface. Along the main straightaway, there is a bluff overlooking the track allowing fans to scout out spots, setting up lawn chairs for race viewing and a couple of small bleachers for the pit crews. In 2000, about twelve SCRA sprinters ran an exhibition on an off Saturday night. The show was encouraging then and the Salazar family wanted to bring their homey little track into the big time with a headliner like the SCRA sprint cars. In preparation to accommodate the 410 sprints, which often are transported by tractor-trailer style haulers, it was necessary to widen and straighten the network of roads in the pit area and also, clear some of the boulders to allow adequate space for haulers to park. Additionally, the catch fences surrounding the racing surface were beefed up to prevent an errant sprint car from vaulting the wall and entering into the pit or spectator areas. New clay was brought in and the racetrack has been reworked with wider corners. Seth Wilson brought out his long awaited “War Bird” sprinter. The new Twister Chassis painted olive drab (not green), with graphics, making it appear as a World War II fighter aircraft. There is a toothy open mouth front end, reminiscent of the “Flying Tigers”. Machine guns line each side of the cockpit and the rear quarter displays a leggy pin up with the bomb decals registering the number of kills. It is a unique looking piece and should stir fan interest. A number of the cars and drivers that participated in the original test four years ago returned, including Mel Murphy, Casey Shuman, Rickie Gaunt, Tony Everhart and the Moose Racing machine of Tom and Laurie Sertich. After the track prep was completed, cars took to the track in the early evening. Somewhat cautious at first, kind of tiptoeing around the track to get the feel of how the cars would handle. With each session of five or six laps, the crew’s fine-tuned their setups and the stop watch went on the competitors with Rickie Gaunt and his teammate Charles Davis Jr. running laps at 14.4 seconds on this racy quarter-mile. Mike Spencer and Mark Nation clocked laps at 14.7, while others went in the low fifteens. Several cars suffered problems probably sidelining them for the weekend. Chris Smith was just getting up to speed, when the engine erupted. Jeremy Ellertson had improved to laps of about fifteen flat, when the rear end let go in his racer and Mark Deskovic had a magneto problem that caused injury to his engine. A.J. Reyer purchased last year’s Kunz Chassis from Mark Priestley which still sported the red over yellow color scheme, powered by a Priestley built 360 engine. Alex Pruett seems to be much more stable now with Jimmy May wrenching the car. May and Pruett will be leaving soon to campaign in Indiana, with the first stop at Paragon Speedway. Other cars on site were Randy Waitman in the #Y69, the blue #56 of Dennis Reeves, #64 of Darren Slater, which arrived in the same hauler as the #19 car of a mystery driver. To cap off the evening, about eight of the SCRA cars put on a ten-lap exhibition race with Charles Davis Jr. leading all the way. After all the test and tune sessions the track held up well and the exhibition race was a pleasant indication of what to expect on Saturday night. Unfortunately, Saturday night didn’t happen, due to an untimely morning rain, so now the anticipation will build until the next visit to Barona on May 1st. Fans will find this a pleasant venue to visit as they are allowed to bring in food and drink, unlike so many other tracks. Kudos to all those working with the speedway in preparing the facility and also working with local media to increase awareness of this improved speed plant in the greater San Diego area. |
