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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
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THE LIGHTS WERE BRIGHT ON TURKEY NIGHT 2004
by Norm Bogan |
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Auto racing has ended throughout the country, so racers and fans have edged toward the southwestern U.S. over the past few weeks. Thanksgiving is about the ultimate deadline for open wheel racing before Santa Claus and the year 2004 succumb to the Grim Reaper. This explains why, “the lights were bright on Turkey Night”, at Irwindale Speedway. Irwindale is a state of the art facility, with
the only downfall being, in the eyes of racing purists, that the
clay surface appears to be very dark and hard, while only building a
cushion with rubber marbles against the wall. Known as one of the finest facilities in the
country, Irwindale has hosted this sacred event for six years. This sixty-fourth running of Turkey Night event began at
Gilmore Stadium in 1934 and has become a year-end wrap up tradition
in Southern California for three and one-half generations. Many of the drivers from the past have gone on
to fame at the Brickyard in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, while
today’s racers tend to claim fame at Indy at the Brickyard 400.
Ron Shuman won eight victories over a three-decade period and
Billy Boat posted three in a row at three different racing venues.
Twelve drivers grabbed the “Brass Ring” twice, but many
Hall of Famers missed the top of the podium in the race for
Thanksgiving bragging rights. Now to set the scene for this year’s class. There were three divisions of cars entered with thirty-two Ford Focus Midgets on hand, thirty-eight Western States Sprints and the headliners, USAC National Midgets coming in with a strong cast of fifty-three entries. Chris Rahe, California Focus (south) and Bradley Galedrige, California Focus (north) champions were entered as well as their closest competitors for the season. In the Western State Sprints, Western Speed and Fuel teammates, Michael Lewis and Tony Hunt have been dominant cars throughout the year and were joined by most of the other feature winners at this event. In the USAC National Midget series, Bobby East has been a strong runner all year on both pavement and dirt, winning fifteen events on his way to the title and returns to Irwindale after a notable performance in last spring’s Twin 25s. Johnny Rodriguez, Western States point leader was on hand, as well as other pursuers of the championships. National point runner-up, Josh Wise’s car went straight into the turn three wall on his first qualifying lap, ending Josh’s midget outing for the night with a bent car. After qualifying, the top fourteen in each
class were locked into the feature, while the balance would vie for
transfers in Last Chance Races.
Eighteen Ford Focus Midgets ran a 12-lap qualifying race with
the top ten transferring to the feature.
The Western States Sprints had twenty-four cars compete in a
12-lap Semi with the top eight moving into the feature.
The Midgets then held two qualifying races with nineteen and
seventeen cars respectively, each advancing the top eight into the
night’s 100-lap Turkey Night Grand Prix. The features began with a thirty-lap Ford Focus
race with Chris Rahe assuming the early lead pursued by Ryan Pace,
Chase Barber and Bobby McGowan.
As Rahe began to fade about mid race, Pace jumped into the
lead until lap 23, when McGowan overtook him in traffic and held off
the others for the victory. Several Ford Focus competitors plan to step up to the Western
States Midget series next season.
Current Champion, Chris Rahe, along with former champ, Josh
Lakatos, who relocated to Arroyo Grande and joined the Pace Racing
Team with the Pace brothers Eric and Ryan, will all be campaigning
in midgets next year. For the forty-lap “Casey Diemert Classic”,
named for a sprint racer, who was fatally injured during the
inaugural event at Irwindale in 1999, Bobby East jumped from his
second row starting position to take the lead and kept in front
until Michael Lewis claimed the point on lap 14.
Lewis displayed the prowess that has carried him to many
victories over the past several years. East held on for second and a surprising Chris Schmelzle
found good traction around the bottom coming from eleventh starting
position to claim third, while passing a number of favorites.
Tracy Hines was the Hard Charger advancing from twenty-first
to tenth. At the trophy
presentation, Tony Hunt was crowned the 2004 Western States Sprint
Champion. Josh Wise
continued his tough night as he tangled with his boss, Tony Stewart
after several laps of side-by-side racing.
Both cars retired to the pits. Now, the midgets staged for a 100-lap shootout, Turkey Night 2004. Tony Hunt used his front row starting position to set the pace for the first twenty-five laps before giving way to Bobby East, who led until caught and passed by eighth starting Aaron Fike. Fike maintained the point until lap 91, when East regained the lead and kept his position through the checkers. Fike held on for second, followed by Tracy Hines. This event went seventy-five laps before the first caution flew. In the post race interview, Bobby East stated
that his testing at Irwindale helped the team to have a good setup
under full fuel-load conditions.
East plans to defend his title in the National Midgets
driving once again for Steve Lewis and also run the Klatt sprinter
and Silver Crown car during the year.
Plans call for participation in five or six Busch races in
preparation for a full time move to NASCAR the following year.
Sixteen year old, Brad Loyet and his team recently purchased
the car that Dave Darland campaigned for Steve Lewis last season.
In two outings, he scored an eighth place finish at Tucson
and ninth here at Turkey Night.
He was awarded the Don Basile Rookie of the Race trophy.
Johnny Rodriguez was officially named the 2004 Western States
Midget Champion. Well it wasn’t a clay surface, but the crews were pretty happy about not having to scrape mud after each round on the track. All three features gave the fans some great racing without any major problems. The oldest living Turkey Night winner, Danny Oakes (1945) was in attendance at age 94. It was announced that one fan was in the crowd, who has yet to miss a Turkey Night show, that’s 64 races, friends. The Agajanian family along with the USAC Officials and the Irwindale Speedway staff provided fans with another great Turkey Night! |
