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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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HOT LAPS WITH NORM BOGAN (10/13/02) |
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Session 1:
Normally Saturday is spent at some racing venue from about February 1st
to December 1st. Even if
my regular gig with SCRA sprinters has a dark night, I usually find my way to
Ventura or Irwindale for a racing fix. Yesterday,
I didn’t make it to any show, because I attended a memorial service for one of
my longtime racing buddies, Willie Bandy. After
completing the mid-day service and then spending several hours at the Bandy
household, relating “Willie” stories, I opted for a nice leisurely drive
home, instead of racing about 130 miles to Ventura for their program.
My wife still doesn’t believe I passed up a race to treat her to a nice
Italian dinner and arriving home in time to watch “Cops” on Saturday night
television. Family members,
many traveling from Oklahoma and in-laws coming from South Dakota, attended
Willie’s service, along with friends, neighbors, former workmates and racing
buddies. It was a nice service for
this many-faceted man, who has followed racing for the past nearly forty years.
Our prayers and best wishes go out to his wife, Sonia and her family as
they pick the pieces and move on with their lives. Session 2:
Damion Gardner continues to gain notoriety as the season winds down.
This past week, the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame named Damion the
2002 Non-Winged Wild Card Driver. In
a very short time, this driver has garnered attention and respect from many
corners. Look forward to more
spectacular performances from this racer, in the coming season. Session 3:
Seasons are closing out and the point’s championships are being
determined. For the seventh time in
the past eight years, Ron Chaffin has captured the SCRA Owner’s title.
His Driver, Richard Griffin, just claimed his fourth driving
championship. Session 4:
At Ventura, the VRA Pros Class named Jimmy “Neutron” Crawford as
the 2002 Points Champion, with one show to go and an insurmountable lead over
runner-up, Greg Taylor. In the VRA
Seniors Class, longtime TQ racer, Wiley Miller parlayed a season with a number
of victories to a title over last year’s Champ, Jim Porter.
Session 5:
With the SCRA being dark once again this weekend, I plan to strike out to
the Macadam at Irwindale for a tune up show with USAC Western States Sprints and
Midgets in preparation for the Annual Turkey Night event a few weeks later.
Session 6:
The rumor mill is going strong with the contract between SCRA and home
track, Perris Auto Speedway up for renewal.
Will Perris want to stage as many shows under the new contract.
Will the purse structure change and will pit pass fees increase?
Will SCRA be doing more traveling next year, supposedly to some northern
California tracks? Names like
Calistoga have been bandied about. Session 7:
A lot of effort is underway behind the scenes for Ventura Raceway, to
influence the Governor and some of his appointees of the value of this racing
facility. Anyone interested in
joining this effort can get the up to date information from www.saveventuraraceway.com.
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