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TURKEY
NIGHT 2002 by Norm Bogan |
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As the year winds down, racers have a tendency to drift toward the southwestern USA. Many of the travelers journey far and near, some making numerous trips across the nation in pursuit of a national title, fame and fortune. In the quest for one more perfect race, many Midwesterners pass on shoveling snow to come to the sunny southwest and continue a tradition that began in 1934 at the famed Gilmore Stadium. Turkey Night is a coveted title that has been passed around to a Who’s Who in Auto Racing. Nearly every open wheel racer for almost seventy years has entered this race. Bob Swanson captured the inaugural event followed by a number of drivers who went on to fame at the Indianapolis Speedway. Just perusing the list of winners, you stumble across names like Ronney Householder, Bill Vukovich, Perry Grimm, Johnnie Parsons, Tony Bettenhausen, A.J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones, Mel Kenyon, Gary Bettenhausen, Bill Englehart, eight-times champion, Ron Shuman, three-time winner Billy Boat and the current Winston Cup Champion, Tony Stewart. Probably more surprising is the list of those who challenged, but came up short. Sam Hanks had three runner-up finishes, Rodger Ward had many top finishes, but never the title, Duke Nalon, Walt Faulkner, Johnny Moorhouse, Duane & Pancho Carter, Rich Vogler and Sleepy Tripp were all participants to never reach the top of the podium. There were many more skillful drivers not mentioned, but certainly not to be demeaned. These warriors are what built the tradition that is now the 62nd Running of Turkey Night. Ten former winners were on hand to send off this year’s field, with the oldest being Danny Oakes, the 1945 champion. Other former winners included Parnelli Jones, Tony Simon, Bubby Jones, Brent Kaeding, Jordan Hermansader and Jay Drake, while three former winners were competing in this year’s event, Jason Leffler, Tony Stewart and Dave Steele. Surveying the field for 2002, we observe a mix of the older more established drivers and a large class of new young drivers making their mark in auto racing and specifically in this event. Dave Darland about to wrap up the USAC National Midget title is now in his late thirties and former Western States champs, Wally Pankratz admits to mid fifties and Robbie Flock at over thirty has become a member of the establishment. Tony Stewart is still racing strong at age 31. Then we have youngsters like the Fike brothers, who are on the cusp of twenty and nineteen year-olds, Josh Wise and Bobby East, along with Van Knill about to secure Western States rookie honors at seventeen. Probably most of the entries are racers in their early twenties, looking to advance to higher-level series, just as their predecessors, labored on the bullrings, enroute to the super speedways and fame. Fifty-one cars established a qualifying time, with Dave Steele taking the point. Joining the Midgets tonight were the Western States USAC Sprint Cars, with forty entries and the new USAC Ford Focus Midgets with seventeen. Rick Hendrix captured the fast time for the sprinters and Todd Hunsaker led the Focus Midget time trials. The fastest fourteen qualifiers for both the sprints and midgets had automatic berths in tonight’s features, while the balance of the fields competed in two qualifying heats for each class to fill the Main events. The Ford Focus Midgets ran a twenty-lap race with Todd Hunsaker claiming the victory and the inaugural point championship. This series is beginning to grow and could provide some exciting racing along with an opportunity for many youngsters to ascend into the USAC ranks. The Sprint Main found twenty-six cars in the lineup. Bobby McMahan led Lap 1, followed by Jason Leffler for lap 2, before fifth starting Tony Stewart took the point and was never headed, claiming the forty-lap feature over Eric Butze and Scott Hansen. Stewart raced to victory in a new Eagle Chassis car, the first pavement car by this builder of winged dirt track racers. Now for the 62nd running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix, with thirty-one cars staged for action. Bobby East jumped into the lead at the green for the first fifteen laps before succumbing to teammate, Kasey Kahne, who took the point for two laps, until Michael Lewis slipped by and maintained the lead for the balance for the event. Dave Steele and Tony Stewart joined the pack vying for the lead, when on lap 46, a charging Aaron Fike’s throttle stuck going into turn three. He shot below Stewart and the car slid up the banking collecting Tony and taking both cars hard into the wall between turns three and four. Both drivers appeared to be dazed, but climbed from their racecars and walked to the ambulance. During the final laps Kasey Kahne dogged Lewis, but unable to get around the very wide car of Michael. Dave Steele ran in third, but slightly back of the two front-runners. This was the finishing order for this year’s extravaganza. Michael Lewis is a 23 year old from Noblesville, Indiana. His car owners, Phil and Mike Reed are from Whittier, California. Mike Reed worked for A.J. Foyt on his Indy car for fifteen years, thus the Coyote Orange color and sponsorship from Foyt Enterprises. This was Michael’s second big win after capturing the 2001 Copper World Midget feature. There were six rookies in the race and Jerome Rodela from El Monte, California placed ninth to gain the Don Basile Rookie of the Race honors, which includes a clock trophy along with $500 in cash. Rodela, who at twenty-one is 5’6” and weighs in at 113 pounds, said that he often tires during a thirty lap feature, but seem to get his second wind tonight and was just trying to stay out of trouble and finish as well as possible. This former Go-Kart racer ended up finishing third in the USAC Western States Midget point race. A victory drought of sorts prevailed for the second year as the much publicized #9 team of Steve Lewis missed the brass ring, but they did score finishes in second, fourth, fifth and eleventh, plus the Stewart car. It was a strange night as rain had threatened, but had not developed. During the Sprint feature, the wind kicked up to gale force winds and carried a cloud over the track, which brought precipitation visible in the lighting. Suddenly, it was once again calm and dry, as racing went on without a hitch. The sellout crowd stayed to the end to view the exciting race program. The Agajanians, Irwindale management and USAC should be commended for putting together an outstanding program and promoting the event, which brought in a good field of cars and the sellout crowd. |
