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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| 2004 FIRECRACKER 50 by Norm Bogan |
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Perris Auto Speedway has established itself as a first class program
for the Independence Day Celebration.
A fireworks extravaganza after a great night of racing is top
drawer. The audio
portion ties in a number of patriotic songs recorded by top
entertainers and showcasing the outstanding sound system.
As the songs unfold, the aerial display is choreographed to
the music and for about fifteen minutes, skies over the PAS are a
myriad of color bursts and exploding streamers, which dance their
way to the ground. At the close of the program, there are a number of large
aerial bombardments, which appear like popcorn explosions from
brightly launched kernels. The
music makes you proud to be an American and the whole evening takes
many of the old-timers back to a time, when families gathered at the
park for a picnic, parade, games and swimming, before the
approaching darkness brought out the pyrotechnics.
At the PAS, fans arrived early in the afternoon to stage
themselves for tonight’s fireworks displays.
Well before dark, the fireworks began with the fire-breathing
USAC/CRA sprinters taking to the racetrack.
With nearly a full house on hand, many who came to view the
aerial displays, witnessed action on the track for the first time.
Thirty-five sprinters were in the pits, having enlisted for
this evening’s battle. As
the cars first entered the track, each was adorned with an American
flag, so we got the parade after all. Rip Williams came out about midway to qualify and had the #3 car
flying setting fast time with a 16.830.
This grizzled veteran is a master on the long races and
afternoon consensus favored the “flying tortoise farmer”. Former CRA rookie, Dennis Rodriguez, who regularly competes with
the VRA and Bandit series, brought his 360-powered steed in for the
celebration, but a close encounter with the wall during hot laps,
caused rear end damages that put him on the trailer before
qualifying. Dennis
operates on a limited budget, but has done a respective job with the
360-set and occasionally will come to play with the 410 racers. Casey Shuman was a last-minute fill in for Jeremy Sherman in the
Wilkerson #11 car. Casey
did a credible job by capturing his heat race, but suffered an
exhaust system problem in the feature, which put Shuman out for the
night. Ronnie Case has wanted to move into 410 racing for several years
after enjoying some success in his VRA 360 car.
This year, Case was able to get together with Jim Blakeslee
and the Don Blair #33 car. Ronnie
has shown talent and is improving at each race.
Case was the hard charger in the feature advancing from 21st
starting position to finish tenth.
Watch for the green machine to continue moving forward. Bobby Cody started the season early with Harlan Willis and Mike
Nigh imparting some of their knowledge used to move Cory Kruseman
and Damion Gardner to the front in years past.
Cody has appeared much more stable on the track this year and
challenged early in the feature for the lead, before bringing the
#41 home in sixth place. Look
for Bobby to improve even more as his confidence grows, knowing that
he can race with the leaders. Early in the feature, Adam Mitchell assumed the lead and seemed
on his way to his second win, with a strong display on the track,
but as the racing surface changed, Mitchell lost the handle and
dropped back to an eighth place finish. Heat race winners were Shuman, Charles Davis Jr., Mitchell and
Case. The Semi saw some
of the wily veterans come back strong for their ticket to the
fifty-lap dance. Mike
Kirby claimed the “B” followed by Hermansader, Jones, Gaunt,
Becker, Crawford and Ziehl. During the Firecracker 50, Damion Gardner jumped to second in
pursuit of Mitchell and eventually passed for the lead.
Coming from tenth was Kirby, who queued in behind the Demon
and dogged him for some time, until a lucky break in traffic opened
a lane and Mike slipped ahead of Damion.
Gardner soon returned the favor and as these two weaved their
way through lapped traffic, Kirby was able to show the Demon a
wheel, but could not get around, settling for second at the
checkers. Mike Spencer, Troy Rutherford and Tony Jones all charged to the
front, but were unable to gain an advantage over the front two and
finished out the top five. Pre-race
favorite, Rip Williams was in the mix with the front-runners, until
a mid race caution, when the right rear tire appeared to be going
flat. Williams
struggled and lost several positions as he wrestled the ill-handling
car in the low groove and brought it home in fifteenth position. Another impressive run tonight was Greg Taylor in Mike Sala’s
#19S. With Greg
qualifying 19th, he tallied a third in the heat and moved
forward from his seventeenth starting position in the feature to
gain a ninth place finish. This was indeed a fine holiday celebration.
The crowd was treated to on-track fireworks during the
evening, followed by the outstanding aerial display as the lighted
racing surface was darkened.
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