|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
|
SUMMER EVENING AT CHOWCHILLA by Norm Bogan |
|
|
|
Late August in the San Joaquin Valley
can be a “hot” proposition.
Not only were the temps in the nineties, but it was muggy and
brought on thoughts of summers past in Indiana, with the heat and
humidity. Of course the
platter served to the fans was also a hot proposition.
The Wright One 360 Winged Sprints were here to demonstrate
that discipline, while the Bandit non-winged sprints were joined by
the Spec sprints to offer an open wheel diversified presentation. Also joining the menu were the Valley
Sportsman racers and my first opportunity to witness these
competitors. These cars
are V-8 powered and a throwback to the old super-modified racers.
A chopped and channeled body mounted on a narrowed frame and
sporting a wing on top, all connected to a modified drive train and
you have a racecar. The
engines appeared to be nearly factory stock with a minimum of speed
equipment, not as fast as the sprinters, but fun to watch. Filling out the program were the
4-Bangers, one of the most popular and economical classes of
racecar. Variations of
these cars run at nearly every short track around the country.
Many of today’s racing heroes, cut their teeth in this
class of racecar. Car counts were fewer than hoped for
since many of the racers compete with more than one organization and
were committed to run at other venues.
While the quantity was lacking, quality was showing through.
With the winged 360s, two rookie racers starred with Ricky
Wright Jr. was the fast qualifier, copped his heat race and claimed
victory in the feature. Justin
Sanders also prevailed in his heat race and pursued Wright
throughout the feature to finish second.
These two are seventeen year olds, who have both collected
series feature victories over fields of cars loaded with seasoned
veterans and Hall of Fame pilots.
They represent the new generation of sprint car drivers and
will be joined by more budding talent to become the dominate drivers
of the future. The Bandit 360 non-winged cars are
cousins of the above cars, but not quite as fast without the airfoil
atop the cage. Here
also there is a mix of young and old, veterans and rookies.
Rapidly improving Albert Pombo established the quick time of
fifteen qualifiers. Austin
Mero in a Cory Kruseman Driving School rent a car won the first heat
over A. Pombo. The second heat was claimed by one of the reigning hot dogs,
Davey Pombo over his nemesis, Peter Murphy.
Both of these racers are former champions and multi-time
feature winners this season. Davey
Pombo started the feature on the pole and Murphy was right on his
tail tank. These two
class racers ran thirty laps, nose to tail and side by side without
contacting each other. Mero
ran in third until about lap 27, when fatigue from being out of the
driver’s seat allowed several cars to get by spoiling an
outstanding performance for the youngster.
Tyler Edwards is another Kruseman
Driving School student and has moved up from Ford Focus to Midgets
to 360 Sprints and USAC/CRA 410 Sprints.
This sixteen year old continues to impress with his smooth
driving and steady progress. The SPEC Sprints are a growing class of
racecars that have bridged the gap between Go-Karts and Micro
Sprints to both the wing and non-wing open wheel racecars.
They are an economy class of sprinter, heavier in weight and
lower in horsepower. They
are currently competing at about seven different tracks throughout
northern and central California.
The driver fields are a mix of young teenagers and seasoned
veterans that choose not to race with the more powerful classes.
This is an excellent transition for drivers to learn basic
driving techniques before moving into the top classes of sprints and
midgets, doing so on a limited budget.
Only three cars were on hand with Adam Christian winning the
heat race, Christian Hickman claiming the Dash and Chris Koontz
bagging the feature. There were six cars competing with the
Valley Sportsman group. A
couple of Camaros, a Corvair, 57 Chevy Bel Air, a Mustang and a
Mercury. Justin Shearer raced a Corvair to his first victory of this
season. In the 4 Banger class, Kathy Evans, the
point leader looked to be on her way to victory, when overtaken by
Paul Thornburn in the late stages of the race. The facility is presenting some good
racing variety for the fans and making upgrades to improve the race
plant. The staff is
friendly and attentive and the program moved along well.
If you are nearby to Chowchilla and see a program that piques
your curiosity, come by and enjoy a summer evening of auto racing.
|
