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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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A DAY RACE THAT WORKED by Norm Bogan |
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Sprint car races on dirt during the daytime are notoriously known as dust bowls, which consume tires like a PAC MAN! Imagine the sprint car purists when the PAS announced the season kick off as a day event. It would probably be more exciting to go to the movies and view “Finding Nemo 37”. For once, the Kazarians and Track Prep Guru,
Ray Sheetz must have pleased the weather gods and were rewarded with
an overcast day and No WIND!! The
track stayed tacky all day and there was nary any dust.
As the fans, traipsed into the pits after the show, their
shoes would stick to the track and racers didn’t utter any
complaints about extreme tire wear. Forty-seven sprinters were in attendance for
the opener of year number ten at Perris Auto Speedway.
Many of the cars sported new paint jobs and different pilots,
while others kept their former color scheme and had the same driver
back in the saddle. Optimism
runs high at the opening event and of course, it did today.
Early races went off without any serious incidences, but as
soon as the feature rolled off, things suddenly changed and two
nasty looking crashes took out several competitors and caused fan
concern over their favorite drivers.
Fans held their breath, as both Rickie Gaunt and Mike Spencer
emerged from incidences. They
were somewhat shaken as their cars contacted others and flipped,
then again made contact, while in vulnerable postures.
Spencer was pretty groggy when he exited his car and camped
in the infield ambulance for a while to regain his composure.
He and Gaunt were seen in the pits after the event, greeting
fans. The Trophy Dash is back.
Reverting back to the days of Ascot, the four fastest
qualifiers raced three laps in a Trophy Dash, which paid $200 to
win. Damion Gardner made a last lap pass on Danny Sheridan to
collect the spoils. The “C” Main pitted 15 cars vying for four transfer spot into each heat race. The lucky entrants were Ronnie Case, Danny Ebberts, Jordan Hermansader and Rusty Carlisle. Heat race winners were David Cardey, Seth Wilson, Cory Kruseman and Steve Ostling. The Semi added the six cars of Rickie Gaunt, Charles Davis Jr., Mike Spencer, Troy Rutherford, Alan Ballard and Dave Darland With twenty-two cars on the grid for the
thirty-lap feature, the racing was intense as several racecars were
lost in the two multi-car crashes mentioned earlier.
Bill Rose led the first ten laps, before bowing to Damion
Gardner, who started eighth and lead the balance of the race, but
not without a challenge from his nemesis from last season, fifteenth
starting, Rip Williams, followed by Mike Kirby from fourth, Rose
from the pole, Wilson from 22nd, 16th starting Kruseman,
Davis came from tenth, Ostling advanced from 18th, Ballard raced
from 12th, while J. Hicks moved forward from 17th.
Eleventh place finisher, Rick Ziehl took a provisional and
started 23rd on the field. As you can see there was a lot of movement
throughout the field, making this race exciting for the fans and a
testament to good track preparation.
This event, although a dreaded daytime encounter, proved to
be a competitive race with much movement in the field.
Tony Jones started outside front row and was in the hunt
throughout the race, but a last lap encounter with the back stretch
wall, nearly destroyed his car. The USAC/CRA Sprinters will return to Perris for a more traditional nighttime race on February 19th. Good car counts are anticipated as a number of teams have yet to make it out due to delays in completing racecar construction. |
