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LAPS WITH NORM BOGAN #17 (8/12/03) by Norm Bogan |
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The SCRA had journeyed to Albuquerque and the VRA was dark this Saturday night, so it was time for a road trip. www.scrafan.com Webmaster, Lance Jennings and I were drowning our sorrows of not being on the NWWC Tour, by taking a little ride up the central California coast to Santa Maria Speedway. The program for the evening was the J.B Dewar Bandit 360 Non-Wing Sprints, NMRA Three Quarter Midgets, Crossroads Community Church Factory Stocks and the Jim Vreeland Ford Campus Motorsports Division. You may have observed the unusual sponsorship for the Factory Stocks. The Motorsports Challenge matches cars entered by different area high schools. This creates a friendly rivalry between competing high schools and also spurs loyal student body to attend the races and cheer on their team. Bandit point leader, Aaron Altaffer set the quick time at 14.170 on the third-mile clay oval. Scott Hansen had the TQ quick time of 15.150. Now it was race time and kicked off with the high schoolers, followed by two Factory Stock heats, two TQ heats splitting the fifteen-car field and finally three Bandit heats for the twenty-one entries. The high schoolers returned for their ten-lap Main Event with Josh DiMaggio of Cabrillo High School claiming the victory. The twenty lap Factory Stock feature went to Dave Addamo. Jimmy May claimed early in the day that a $500 bounty had been placed on his head after four straight T.Q. feature victories. Many of the participants in the T.Q. class ran with NMRA years ago, before USAC took them over. It was a veteran field with the likes of Dennis Hart, Scott & Rob Hansen, Walt Johnson, Ron Wade and Steve Lambert. Jimmy May fought through the first couple of rows to take the point and then cruised to victory number five with his buddy, Dennis Hart nipping at his push bar to the end of the 25 lap race. Now it was time for the Main Event of the night with a thirty-lap exercise for the Bandit Sprints. Bobby Elliott jumped into the lead from his front row starting position held the lead until “Junkyard” Jimmy Thompson used lapped traffic to gain the advantage and took the win. Elliott was second, followed by Aaron Chaney, Davey Pombo and Greg Porte completing the top five. This was my first time to witness a Bandit Sprint show and it was another impressive evening. Most of the cars are well prepared and maintain a neat and clean appearance. The drivers and teams are all friendly and accommodating, offering snacks and cold drinks to us two wayfaring media types. Dirt track sprint car racing is alive and well in California. Whether it is 360 or 410 power, wings or no wings, we have it here on the West Coast. Nearly every series I have seen in the past couple of years, have put on entertaining shows. The car counts are down a little due to the current downturn in the economy. Many fans have missed shows for the same reasons. The racers and fans have been part of some outstanding shows. For those who have not visited Santa Maria, it is located in a small bowl just west of U.S. 101 on the north end of town. The checkerboard grandstands on the hill overlooking the track are visible from the passing highway. Located at the edge of a riverbed and fertile valley that lead to the ocean a few miles away, the track has been famous for gaining moisture later in the evening from the damp coastal air and providing a tacky track late into the feature. |
