|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| SILVER DOLLAR SPRINTS by Norm Bogan |
|
|
|
Fleeing southern California in the early hours Friday, the quest was
500 miles to the north along what was once the “Main Street of the
West Coast”. US 99
traversed from the Mexico to Canada through the fertile valleys
between the Coastal Range and the taller Sierras/Cascades Ranges.
This was the main conduit for interstate commerce and a
journey along old 99 would encounter trucks carrying all types of
fruits and vegetables for dinner tables throughout the nation along
with grains and alfalfa to feed the livestock and dairy cows.
There was cotton on its way to textile mills to be made into
numerous products and moving north, the water of rice paddies lapped
at the shoulder of the macadam, as this grain was one of the largest
exports from the Golden State.
Continuing further north, larger trucks loaded with logs
moved to sawmills to be cut into lumber for the burgeoning housing
industry exploding throughout California.
Soon we were nearing our destination at Silver Dollar
Speedway in Chico, California.
Tonight’s show was sanctioned by Central State Racing
Association (CSRA), one of about five different sanctioning bodies
in northern and central California, showcasing the growing movement
of Wingless Spec Sprints. Basically,
the cars are non-winged sprint cars with a 360 or less cubic inch
steel block and steel heads, sporting a two barrel (500 cfm)
carburetor, utilizing a starter and clutch and weighing 1700 pounds
with the driver. These
cars offer an alternative to drivers who want to race open wheel
cars, but cannot afford all the lightweight chassis and bolt-on
parts or spend anywhere from twenty to forty thousand dollars for a
state of the art engines.
Twenty-nine racecars assembled in the pits for the evening
action. It was an
interesting mix of older racers, who may have dropped out of
competition years ago to build a family and career and now can relax
and enjoy the fruits of their labors and satisfy the yen for speed.
At the other end of the spectrum are the youngsters, who have
spent time in Go-Karts, Micro-Midgets or Mini-Sprints and now seek
to attain the next level, often hoping to catch the eye of a car
owner, gaining an opportunity to race their equipment with one of
the major open-wheel circuits. Joining the sprints tonight were the Pure Stocks and Dirt
Modifieds. The track
held up well considering the number of events run during the
evening. I talked with
Promoter John Padjen, who has been operating this track since 1978
as he surveyed the track surface in the early afternoon.
His staff of people worked hard to provide the racers with
good track conditions. Sprint heat winners were Scott Pagh, former NARC star, Billy
Garcia, Tom Enos and Ty Hawkins, while Ed Butterfield claimed the
Semi. Tonight, we previewed of one of the young guns in sprint cars,
Chris Webber, who just turned sixteen a week ago and is currently
leading the Orland points race. Chris was impressive as he worked his way around the outside,
moving forward toward the lead.
Webber moved to second and was about to pass for the point,
when the leader bobbled and Chris climbed over his right rear and
launched head on into the front straight wall.
He was removed from the car and transported to the hospital
for observation. The racecar was junk as the front end was literally ripped
off.
Young Webber has been racing for nearly ten years, first in
Go-Karts on dirt, then adding road racing and eventually moving into
the Micro Midgets, before stepping into the sprint cars.
Plans are for Chris to run a 410 Winged sprinter at Chico
next season, with the goal to step up to the World of Outlaws.
He is a very outgoing driver and has a lot of family support,
including his eighteen-year-old sister, Sarah Olson, who is
currently racing a Mini Truck at Orland and plans to move into her
brother’s Spec Sprint next season. Another impressive young driver was Jacob Serven, who served with
John Force’s drag racing team and is now racing near the top in
points with CSRA and Marysville sprints.
Jacob moved from 20th starting position in the
feature to finish seventh. Severn
would like to move up to a 360 or 410 non-wing ride in the near
future. It is refreshing to meet so much new talent, while traveling to
grass roots events. These
youngsters could be the next J.J. Yeley, Kasey Kahne, Cory Kruseman
or Josh Wise. With the Friday night program in the books, a number of the same
teams planned to be at Orland for the Saturday show, while others
would return to their regular venues, such as, Antioch and
Marysville. Thanks to
the hospitality put forth by the Silver Dollar Speedway staff.
It was a treat to see good racing at another track “Along
the Way”. |
