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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| HOT LAPS WITH NORM
BOGAN #12 (7/5/03) by Norm Bogan |
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Friday night at Perris for the SCRA Firecracker 50 feature plus an outstanding fireworks extravaganza was about as good as it gets, except for the extremely warm temperatures. About wheel packing time, my car thermometer read 108, freely translated; “It was HOT!!” A strong field of cars was on hand for the Independence Day celebration, with all the drivers going to the entry gate area to meet the arriving fans. Perris Auto Speedway had choreographed the entertainment for the day with games involving the racing heroes and their arriving younger supporters. There was a water balloon toss, a watermelon eating contest and other activities to allow the spectators to bond with the racing teams in a relaxing and fun atmosphere. Thirty-five cars clocked in, with Mark Heidenreich showing rapid improvement and pinning down ninth fast time. Since clearing up some lingering engine problems, Mark has really stepped up and is running much more competitively, now that he has confidence in his power plant. An eleventh place feature finish has to be a high water mark for this second year driver. Rookie Alan Ballard, who at sixteen is racing against many who are old enough to be his Dad and has exhibited a lot of moxie in not letting the veteran drivers intimidate him. Ballard claimed a ninth place feature finish for the evening. A third-year driver who is on the cusp of his first victory is Mike Spencer. Since the latter part of last year, Mike has shown very consistent driving habits and is one of the smoothest pilots in the field. Being a little down on horsepower, finds him often starting at the back in the feature field, but Spencer is one of the Masters at picking his way up to the front. Mike captured a third place feature finish for the second straight race. Two others that are leading the rookie competition were Josh Ford and Bryan Stanfill. Both made the feature on Friday night, but suffered altercations that put them out early. Another one of the rookie candidates that helps to make this year’s rookie competition so keen is Seth Wilson, making the direct transfer from his heat race to the feature and scoring a seventeenth place finish after suffering some mechanical problems. Jimmy Crawford brought out his own new car with a fresh engine and was collected in an early altercation, leading to a twenty-second place finish in the feature. While many of the nationwide fans are aware of the more famous SCRA contingent, with the likes of “The Gasman”, “Ripper”, “Super Rickie”, “The Demon” and many others, don’t overlook the rookie talent. Some will not make the NWWC Tour, but for those who do, expect them to exhibit the high caliber of talent found with the SCRA newcomers. Rip Williams claimed his 60th SCRA win in this fifty lapper, which may be an example of the older and wiser drivers knowing how to pace themselves. So forty-seven year old Williams won over a forty year old Steve Ostling with third going to twenty-one year old Mike Spencer, followed by thirty-nine year old Richard Griffin and thirty year old Troy Rutherford. The evening of fireworks on the track was followed by one of the patented aerial pyrotechnic displays to celebrate our country’s birthday. I believe this year’s edition was the best ever! Saturday was a change of venue, change of surface and change of racing vehicles. I ventured down the highway to Irwindale for racing on the half-mile paved oval and the figure-eight course. On tonight’s menu were the featured Auto Club Late Models participating in the Firecracker 100 and joined by the Vista Paint Super Stocks for a forty lapper and the Ultra Wheel Super Trucks making fifty circuits. The figure eight cars would close out the night’s racing on the infield course with a twenty-lap show. Following the nights racing program would be a fireworks spectacular. The evening’s entertainment got underway with twenty-seven Super Stocks going for forty laps and Danny Renko claiming the victory in just twenty-eight minutes. As the tracked cleared, twenty-eight Super Trucks queued up for their fifty-lap event. During the race, there was a long red, when the trucks of Paul Brennen and Tony Edwards made contact and slid into the attenuator barrier at the pit exit going into turn one. Both trucks appeared to be heavily damaged, but the drivers both climbed out uninjured, so the barrier achieved its purpose. It took about twenty minutes to reassemble the barrier, before Ryan Arciero went onto victory. Now, it was the headline Firecracker 100 with twenty-nine Late Models vying for the spoils. Tonight’s show would have a few additional incentives as extra sponsorships were arranged, that supplemented the overall purse. There were some good dices throughout the field and a couple of incidences that retired several of the competitors. While Todd Burns checked out enroute to his seventh victory of the season, the best racing was for second place with Doug McComb and Scott Youngren battling side by side for the last dozen laps and swapping the advantage on several occasions. Following Burns across the line was McComb, a mere .01 seconds ahead of Youngren, which was about a foot. Burns collected nearly $5000 with the added incentives. Next, was the long awaited figure-eight show with an added entrant, Jesse James of Monster Garage fame. Veteran driver, Earl Cox who has been competing in this class since the sixties at Ascot, led much of the event before hooking up with another car and finishing his night watching from the infield. Jesse James was at the wheel of an El Camino and held his own until he and popular figure-eight icon, “Barefoot” Billy Zieman had a close encounter at the “X” with both vehicles leaving on the hook. During the above antics, Chris Williamson assumed the lead and took the victory over a field of sixteen cars. As the fireworks moved to the sky, it was a fitting conclusion to a great night at the track. The crowd of 6500 fans got to see a variety of great racing topped off with an outstanding aerial display. Irwindale shuffles their show each week with a combination of different classes to give the spectators a variety. Each weekly show is a little different than the previous one, which helps to showcase the series and lets the fans choose their favorites from a number of classes. It was an Independence Day weekend featuring a broad band of racing with the typical warm California weather and fireworks. I enjoyed myself and witnessed a variety different types of competition. |
