|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| HOT LAPS WITH NORM BOGAN
#04I by Norm Bogan |
|
|
|
My itinerary for the past few weeks has been ambitious, both in
miles traveled and tracks visited.
This is the plum time of year for sprint car racing, as
nearly every track has weekly events, so there are many options. It was my desire this year to not lock into one series only,
especially with the divorce proceedings between USAC/CRA and SCRA.
Since the first of March, my odyssey has taken me to Perris
for CRA sprints, then Bakersfield for NCMA sprints, back to Perris
for the VRA sprints, then to the macadam at Irwindale for the Twin
25s Midget show.
As the first week in April dawned, it was a CRA show at Hanford
on Saturday and Tulare for SCRA on Sunday.
The following week, it was back to Perris for CRA sprints.
My plan was to attend Barona the following Friday for Media
day and then opening night for SCRA on Saturday.
Well, Saturday was a day of rainouts that found me traveling
from northern San Diego County, after Barona was cancelled past
Perris because they too were rained out, onto Irwindale for a stock
car show, which was also wet and then giving up and going home to
watch COPS. Continuing
the journey another sixty miles would have allowed me to see a
complete show of VRA sprints at Ventura.
On Sunday evening, offered redemption, joining about fifty
others at John Richard’s hanger at Santa Paula Airport to watch
old 16 mm movies of past Indy 500s and selected other races.
Finishing out the month was a return to Tulare for the second
SCRA show of the year. May kicked off with the Vukovich Classic on the third-mile paved
track at Madera. This past weekend found me leaving the San Fernando Valley, where
temperatures had been hovering around 100 degrees or above and
making the four hundred mile journey across the desert to Manzanita
in Phoenix for the CRA sprints.
Temperatures at hot laps time settled at about 102 degrees.
Next week, it will be another trip to the Central Valley for
the third SCRA show at Tulare, then on to the first visit of the
year for CRA sprints to “The Best Little Dirt Track in America”,
Ventura Raceway, my favorite track in the country. So far this year, I have attended over thirty features at nine
racetracks (seven dirt and two pavement), in three different states.
From there on I plan to wander about, checking tracks and
associations in different parts of California and out of state.
SCRA is scheduled to run a new track at Prescott Valley,
Arizona in June. Maybe,
I will finally get to witness a race at the Reno-Fernley facility
sometime this year. Quite likely, several tracks in northern California will be
visited, such as Marysville, Chico, Orland, Antioch and Watsonville.
How about the SCRA Alumni Association?
In the past couple of years, a number of the West Coast
drivers have left to ply their trade in the Midwest.
Jay Drake, then J.J. Yeley moved back to gain more experience
and exposure and hone their pavement skills.
Last year, Cory Kruseman, John Scott and Bryan Stanfill made
the exodus and this year, Josh Wise, Josh Ford, Casey Shuman and
Darren Hagen have all moved to Indiana and soon will be joined by
Alan Ballard, Alex Pruett and probably Mike Spencer.
While a number of these youngsters will return after summer
vacation, they will have gained some valuable experience, being able
to run three nights a week and learn the nuances of the dry slick
track surfaces. One of the positives of the split in West Coast sprints (CRA
& SCRA) is that a lot of the racers from the 360 ranks have
joined in. They are
making the features, most racing for more money than they were
getting in their various 360 clubs.
Also, several of the winged racers from the northern part of
the state are taking a ride on the “wild side”, sans wings.
Expect to see additional racers looking for more racing
action, after the Golden State Series season ends about mid-summer. At Manzy this Saturday, there were twenty-eight sprinters and
thirty Mini Sprints. Cory
Kruseman caught the “redeye” into Phoenix after a runner up
finish at Memphis on Friday night.
The Alexander team had the car dialed in and Cory set fast
time at 19.436. Ricky
Ziehl, Eric Wilkins, Mike Kirby and Charles Davis Jr. collected the
heat race victories. During
the fourth heat Tony Jones went hard into three, making contact with
Ream and Cody, flipping and destroying the second car here in as
many races. Cody was able to accomplish quick repairs and return to
action. Brian Venard
came back from missing the transfer from his heat to capture the
Semi.
The feature found Rip pulling out to the early lead with Kirby in
quick pursuit. As
Kirby assumed the lead, Williams pitted with a flat right rear.
Kruseman advanced to second, but Kirby had a pretty good
lead. On lap 19, several cars got together between one and two,
with Gaunt flipping and Ziehl crashing into the overturned car.
During the red flag condition period, everyone noted that
Damion Gardner’s crew was really thrashing on his car, while
Kruseman sat on the track working on the bleeder for the right rear
tire. When action resumed, Cory soon overtook Kirby and sped on to
victory. After the
race, it was gleaned what was going on during the red.
First of all, Damion had been hit in the armguard by a wheel
from the flipping Rickie. The
right side nerf bar and arm guard were crushed in on Damion.
A spare steering wheel was dispatched to the car replacing
the existing one, which had been hit hard enough to bend it and
cause Gardner a nicked elbow. The
Alexander team found they had a hole in the right rear and if they
changed it, Kruseman would be relegated to the back of the field. Cory got out of the car, closed off the bleeder and had the
team inflate the tire to eleven pounds.
At race’s end, the tire gauged out at six and a half
pounds. Kirby settled for second in what appeared to be the fastest
car, but declared that the cautions had killed them.
Steve Ostling brought the Harlan Willis #45 home in third,
followed by Charles Davis Jr., Troy Rutherford and Jeremy Sherman.
Rip Williams came back to claim eighth. While the heat was intense during the day, it was a pleasant
evening for racing. CRA wont be back until late September and then the Western
World in early November. Hope
to see you “Along the Way”.
|
