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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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HOPPING
DOWN THE BUNNY TRAIL by Norm Bogan |
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After nearly every track in California rained
out last week, the Saturday schedule left a number of options and a
lot of competition for racecars.
Realizing I had not visited Chowchilla for nearly two years
that became my choice for the weekend.
On my first journey to Chowchilla Speedway I witnessed the
Wingless Spec. Sprints in action, getting an up close look at this
alternative for open wheel racers.
This trip would present the SCRA 360 non-winged sprinters in
their first visit to Chowchilla, partnered with the CSRA, a newly
formed club for the carbureted Wingless Spec. Sprints.
Joining the field would be regular local competitors in the
Mini Stocks and Street Stocks. Journeying from my southern California base into the vast Central Valley, found me stopping in at my favorite “Tom Bodet’s” in Tulare and securing sleeping arrangements for the night. Since it was only about 10 A.M. and the pit gate didn’t open until 3 P.M., it didn’t seem critical to accelerate the last seventy miles. Suddenly, I was traveling through dairy land
and alfalfa fields toward the Hanford home of Stinger Chassis and a
visit with longtime friends, the Harvey Family. Planning my arrival to coincide with loading of
the final items into the trailer for Richard Jr.’s racecar was
nearly perfect, however they found that the trailer had shrunk, so
they had to throw someone out of the crew cab or find a pigeon
(Easter Bunny). Just
like a city slicker, I motor up flying solo and these country folks
had found a rube! Their
dilemma was solved, as my Explorer soon became the receptacle for
about a dozen Easter Baskets prepared by the Harveys, to be given
away to lucky fans at tonight’s show. Proceeding on toward the track along country
roads through grape vineyards and almond orchards, I called my
spouse to explain my mission and she responds “Hopping Down the
Bunny Trail”, thus the title of this epistle. Reaching the track, still a little early, I joined in on the banter among the arriving racers. Soon Cindy Sagmiller (Mrs. Promoter) drove up. We began to transfer the goodies into her vehicle to be transported to the grandstand area. Tom Sagmiller (Mr. Promoter) was preparing the track and pit area for tonight’s contestants. A midweek storm had dumped more rain, turning the pit area into a quagmire. Fortunately, a couple of sunny days and a mild breeze had aided in drying enough area to accommodate the racecar haulers. The track looked excellent for a non-wing show, except that water was standing in the infield and the track surface around the infield berm was pretty greasy. The racing line tonight would be in the center and around the top of the track. Soon, racecars entered the third-mile track for
wheel packing and eventually hot laps.
The track was coming in great, although still slick in the
early going, but it promised to stay wet and tacky all evening.
Fast laps for the SCRA cars was about 15.5 seconds, probably
a second off quick time on the track with a little less moisture.
Only the SCRA cars qualified and Chad Boespflug set the
standard for the evening at 15.493. The Street Stocks and Mini Stocks ran their
preliminary races, and then it was time for the open-wheel assault
on the racing surface. The
two CSRA heats found Steven Williams and Keith Shipherd coming home
victorious. Two young
warriors, Chad Boespflug and Danny Olmstead collected the SCRA heat
race wins. Olmstead
came back to claim the SCRA Dash and appeared to be the class of the
field, while wily veteran, seventy-one-year old Gary Koster, a long
time BCRA Midget campaigner garnered the CSRA Dash. Now the stage was set for the features.
The Street Stocks and Mini Stocks, in what I believe was
their first outing of the season had several competitors erupt their
engines, not a good way to start the year. In the CSRA Main Event, David Goodwill the racing dentist
from Napa was the class of the field, as he turned circuit after
circuit with the precision of a root canal procedure. Ending the evening was the SCRA finale,
expected to be a duel between Olmstead and Boespflug, pronounced
BAYS-fluge. These two
young guns are among many up and coming racers moving into the
sprint car ranks. Olmstead jumped into the lead from his pole position as
expected, but with an early yellow for Jeff Fiscus, whose rear brake
rotor locked up and caught fire, causing Jeff to beat a hasty
retreat from the car. Suddenly,
it was noted that our early leader was standing still on the track
after also experiencing a problem with his front brake.
Danny was able to restart, but with limited brakes, he made a
cautious drive to finish. In
the meantime, Chad had threaded the needle between two cars and
moved forward, extending his lead to over half a lap until a late
caution closed up the field. Boespflug,
who turned seventeen on March 1st, gave the fans another
exhibition of his skills and talent.
Look for this young man to become a strong competitor as he
moves to higher levels. Well, one youngster took home a Main Event victory and a dozen young fans carted off Easter Baskets. For the rest of us, we got to see some racing after a number of washouts this spring. Until the next race, wherever, I’ll just be hopping along! |
