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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| GETTING
THE WORD OUT ABOUT TULARE by Norm Bogan |
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With auto racing, promotion is the name of the game.
Track Promoters try to schedule their big events, where there
is little conflict with nearby venues.
Sometimes, a group of fans will take matters into their own
hands and plan an activity, which is designed to entice new fans to
at least give racing a looksy.
For this past weekend’s SCRA event at Tulare, things got underway early as five teams congregated at the FoodsCo store to display their cars and hand out collector cards with autographs. The racers let many of the young children climb into the car and sit behind the wheel, while answering questions for their parents and of course, urging them to bring the kids to the races tonight. After all, kids under twelve were admitted free with an adult. The kids related to a couple of the younger drivers, who were not much older than them. Racers on hand this morning were Tulare resident, Aaron Altaffer with his #84 sprinter, Dwayne Marcum and the Ruth #25 car, Seth Wilson with his #17 “War Bird”, seventeen year old Alan Ballard with the #97 machine and eighteen year old Brad Sweet from Grass Valley in the #1 Sweet family racer. The mover and shaker behind all this preliminary activity was local resident, Dan Frank, who is a long time fan of sprint car racing and works in manufacturing of performance parts. Dan talked to local merchants about supporting racing at the Thunderbowl. He was able to work with Todd Dillon, the manager at FoodsCo to display cars on both sides of the entrance. In return, fans and racers were encouraged to patronize the market for their food and drinks for the day. Numerous shoppers stopped by, looking at the racecars, asking questions and letting their kids take a turn behind the wheel. Plans are underway to expand the coverage at the next event. Others working behind the scenes were Superfan, Mike James, SCRA Officials Lee Jascowiak and Tony Poole. In the afternoon, the scene shifted from the FoodsCo Market to the Tulare County Fairgrounds. Here the racers staged and set up for a night of racing. The field of cars was somewhat limited as a number of competitors, who have raced in the past couple of shows, had other racing commitments. There were some stellar cars on hand though, as Cory Kruseman flew in from Indiana to wheel the Alexander #4, Damion Gardner was aboard the defending champion #50 Chaffin sprinter, the Smiley teammates atop the current SCRA points, Rickie Gaunt in the #2A and Charles Davis Jr. in the #8A. Mike Spencer was at the controls of the Engstrom #44 and Bud Kaeding returned from Indiana to run the #45 Willis racer. Twenty-two sprints were in the house, a decision was made to run
three heats, the Passing Masters Dash and drop the “B” Main,
while increasing the “A” Main from thirty to forty laps.
Gardner set fast time at 15.373 on a track he describes as
one of his favorites. The Demon, Kruseman and Jimmy Thompson captured heats.
Mike Spencer snagged the pole by winning the PMD. Spencer jumped into the early lead with Gaunt, Kruseman, Davis
and Gardner all dicing for position and advantage.
After ten laps, Damion assumed the lead with Rickie all over
him. Gaunt slipped by
for a lap, then the Demon moved ahead for another thirteen laps,
until Super Rickie took the point and ran to the checkers.
Kruseman had been in the mix, until Gaunt got crossed up and
evasive action by Cory jumping over the turn four berm, coming back
on track and then biking the car in turn one.
After coming down hard, a suspension piece was spotted on the
track and the Alexander car slowed and was assisted off the track.
The only other yellow of the night was for Verne Sweeney,
whose car jumped out of gear and parked in turn two.
He was restarted and joined the rear of the field. On about
the thirty-eighth lap, Davis practiced a move his teammate Gaunt had
used to assume the lead and dove low under Gardner to capture
second. After dicing
for a number of laps Bud Kaeding nipped Mike Spencer at the flag for
fourth, making Bud the hard charger with a move from seventeenth to
fourth. The amazing youngster, Brad Sweet came home in sixth place after
running earlier in the Dash. This
was only his third outing in a non-wing car and he has been quite
impressive. Brad claims
to really enjoy non-wing style racing and appreciates the way SCRA
racers have welcomed the racing team and offered help in getting his
car setup for this track. Rick Ziehl traveled from New Mexico to drive Ben Lancaster’s
#14 and brought it home in seventh on his first visit to the
Thunderbowl. Seth
Wilson had the “War Bird” running strong when a tire bleeder
failed. Quick pit
action got the bleeder changed and put Seth in the back on the
restart, where he again made his charge to finish in the eighth
position. This event allowed all the racers present to run in the “A”
Main. While the field
was short a few cars, it did give newer drivers an opportunity to
run in a Main Event with quality racers and equipment.
Keep an eye on these newcomers, as they could surely be the
heroes in the next few years. Fans were able to witness outstanding racing during the
evening and damage to cars was minimal for the whole night. The Thunderbowl continues to offer the fans a great racing
experience. |
