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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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SUCCESS
WITH A SPRINT EXPERIMENT by Norm Bogan |
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Victorville Auto Raceway (formerly Route 66
Speedway) is located at the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds. Several attempts have been made to entice a field of sprint
cars to compete on a regular basis at this High Desert track.
In the past, the track surface was basically decomposed
granite, which was very abrasive on the tires and didn’t allow the
high-powered sprinters to grab hold of the racing surface.
Over the past few years, Modifieds, Dwarf Cars and various
classes of stock cars have presented shows for the fans.
With a new promoter, Mike Gibson taking over, his burning
desire was to include non-winged sprint cars as viewed at other
racing venues throughout southern California. After taking the reins at Victorville, Gibson
met with a number of sprint car owners and drivers from the local
area seeking the best direction to go and realize his dream.
Major concerns were for a good track surface allowing
multi-groove racing, with lots of passing.
Naturally, the fans also enjoy the highly competitive jousts
on the track. Gibson
located a source of good clay and made arrangements to truck it in
and build a new track compound after cutting away much of the old
racing surface, while reshaping the track to an even racier
configuration. Banking was increased at both ends with the
corners taking on a wider sweep, allowing all of the racecars to
carry more momentum into the corners and be able to drive off either
low or up on top, facilitating much more passing. At an earlier practice day, racers from all the
classes seemed appreciate the new surface and the wider racing
grooves. On April 21,
2007, Opening night found a good display of racecars in the pits and
many interested fans in the grandstands. Throughout the afternoon and evening, there
were minor altercations with spinouts and some damaged vehicles from
on-track altercations. Fourteen
sprint cars signed in with two of them doing double duty in the heat
races, allowing a total of sixteen competitors.
Pill draws established the lineups for the two heats and the
feature would line up by the heat finishes with the front three rows
inverted. For many of the fans, this was a new experience to see these open wheel beasts attack the new track surface. After watching Mini Stocks cruise around on the gas, these sprinters were traveling at blinding speed, pitching them into the corners and launching on to the straight-aways like a rocket sled. As the sprinters left the track after each heat, the fans acknowledged the performance with applause. When the feature presented itself, fans got to
see the strategy come into play as the sprinters diced with each
other lap after lap, with several lead changes and a lot of
side-by-side racing. By
the time the checkers fell in twenty laps, five cars were vying for
the spoils. The drivers
seemed to enjoy racing on this track and the fans had just witnessed
sprint car racing conducted as it was intended to be. Kevin Kierce was the victor on this evening,
with close pursuit by Brandon Thomson, Eric Severson, John Nock and
Dennis Rodriguez. The
second five consisted of Kenny Perkins, Heidi Tresler, John Aden,
Jim Thomson and Cal Smith. The balance of the field was Jake Hodges, Dan Tedrick, Chuck
Tyler and Shawn Torbert. Running
in the heat was Justin Kierce in his Dad’s car and Greg Alexander
aboard the Severson machine. There are still hurdles to be overcome by the track staff, but the inaugural event proved that sprintcars are a viable ingredient in the regular racing diet at Victorville. |
