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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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RIP WILLIAMS BECOMES HERO WITH VICTORY #100 by Norm Bogan |
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In 1978, when Rip Williams began his sprint
car-racing career, he had designs on becoming a hero among his
peers. It was in his
sixth season that Williams first cracked into victory circle,
persevering through years with a shoestring budget, not enough spare
parts and even injury, not letting any of these detour him from that
ultimate goal. As Rip
basked in the glory of that initial win, his Dad, Bob stated that
you don’t become a hero until you have accumulated one hundred of
these victories. For
nearly a quarter century, Williams has quietly gone on his way to
becoming a hero. He’s
had some tough, lean years while struggling with some
lesser-financed teams, but throughout his career, Rip has gained the
respect of fellow competitors as a man on a mission to meet a
father’s criteria. When Rip joined the Jack & Sharon Jory team
a little over a decade ago, he finally had the financial backing to
allow him to run the best of equipment and have an inventory of
replacement parts. Many
seasons he was the top winner, while collecting twelve feature
victories in 1996 and backing that up with thirteen in 1997, making
those his banner years. Each
season though, the driving championship eluded Williams until 2004,
when he collected his first title.
As the year closed, he was sitting at 99 feature wins, just
one away from being a hero. As usual, Rip has been very much in the mix of
competition this year, currently leading the points, but without a
win. In the afterglow
of last night’s milestone, Williams commented that the track was
his for the evening. They
had provided Rip with a surface and texture that fitted his driving
style to a tee. Not to be denied and chased to the podium by two outstanding
pilots, Damion Gardner and Mike Kirby, neither would best “The
Ripper” tonight. While this mark was celebrated by the Williams
family and the Jory team, one who savored it was Rich Atkins, a
boyhood friend of Rip’s, who often labored with whatever pieces
and parts they could collect to put the #64 Standard Logic Special
back on the track in 1978. Rich has been with Rip all these years, working behind the
scenes and this night would be one that he could enjoy with his good
friend. Victory #1 came in a fifty-lap “Salute to Indy” race on Memorial Weekend in 1983, when a race long dice with Tony Simon ended in Rip’s favor. One of his most memorable victories came in Las Vegas, when he had flipped and destroyed his car in a heat race, but stepped into the Priestley car vacated by Mike English. All Williams did was come from the back, pass all the hotdogs and claim the win. Along the way, Rip has garnered victories in the Pacific Coast Open and Western World, winning the double in 1990 driving for Frank Lewis. He also collected the 1997 Oval Nationals title at the wheel of the Jory sprinter. During his career, he has secured the Owner’s
title for three different car owners, Frank Lewis in 1990, Jan
Gaffney in 1994 and of course Jack and Sharon Jory in 2004. What lies on the horizon for Williams and the
Jory team? Well, Dean
Thompson holds the standard for total victories in the combined
CRA/SCRA/USAC-CRA at 103, so it is not inconceivable that the number
104 or better might be written down somewhere.
As far as Rip looking over his shoulder, the nearest pursuer
is Cory Kruseman at 70. For the fans away from the left coast, we know
that many of your heroes have accumulated several hundred victories
in their careers, but most of them are professional race drivers,
who compete several nights each week.
On the West Coast, Saturday night is generally race night and
most of our drivers have real jobs during the week.
Occasionally, some special programs will have multiple nights
of racing. Just to review what the other 36 racecars were
doing this evening, found quick time going to Damion Gardner at
16.140, followed by Tracy Hines and Alan Ballard.
Eighteen-year-old Ballard captured his first Trophy Dash
victory. Jordan
Hermansader, David Cardey, Jimmy Crawford and Rick Becker collected
heat race wins. Mike Spencer, who has struggled with his new
chassis, got it sorted out to capture the “B” Main.
Steve Ostling, at the controls of the Keller #5 car appeared
to have something break in the Semi causing him to veer into the
wall and flip. Josh
Williams, Rip’s cousin and a sprint car rookie, started off in the
lead but went too deep into turn #1 and became acquainted with the
wall and ricocheting off it. At the start of the “A” Main, Dwayne Marcum
made contact with another car in turn #2 and did a twisting flip. He was alert, but complained of pain in his legs, so he was
removed from the racer and transported to the hospital for a
checkup. Following the
top three of Rip, Damion and Kirby was Rickie Gaunt, Josh Ford,
Tracy Hines, Rodney Argo, Charles Davis Jr., Tony Jones and Jordan
Hermansader. It was an historic moment for many of Rip’s
loyal following and quite likely somewhere in that “Great
Racetrack in the Sky”; Bob Williams was looking down and saying,
“Atta Boy, Son!” |
