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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
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CLASSIC BATTLE AT THE TULARE THUNDERBOWL by Norm Bogan |
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One of the eagerly awaited way stations along the racing highway is always the Tulare Thunderbowl. The racers like the racy three/eighths mile oval, with its well-prepared surface that allows for some great dicing throughout the field. As the teams arrive, they are able to enter into the pit area and unload their equipment preparing for an evening of racing. Unlike most tracks where the haulers queue up and wait for the pit gate to open, here the pit office opens and the racers file out and line up to purchase their passes. The fans were also anticipating an outstanding program to compare with previous visits from the SCRA with thirty-one cars were in the pits ready for action. Tonight’s race would only enhance the track’s legend, as this was one of the most exciting races for the fans at any track in quite some time. The night started with qualifying, as the “Demon”, Damion Gardner took the Harlan Willis #45 to a new track record of 15.020 seconds and followed that up by coming from the fourth row in the first heat to claim victory. In the Passing Masters Dash, Damion struggled in a battle with Rip Williams and had to settle for second and an outside front row start for the feature. Richard Griffin clocked in with the second fastest time and was able to come from the fourth row of his heat to finish fourth and transfer to the Dash and Feature. A sixth place finish in the Dash would have the Gasman starting the feature from outside the third row. Steve Ostling tangled with another car in the first heat and flipped. The crew had to thrash to get back in time for the “B” Main where the former Mexican National Champion gave the car a thorough checkout by winning the Semi. During the Semi, rookie Tom Wilhelm got up close and personal with the turn one wall and completed a series of endos, scattering his car along the way. It will be interesting to see how soon this budget racer can make repairs and return to action. Bandit regular Aaron Altaffer running his 360 sprinter bested the field in the third heat and rookie candidate Bryan Stanfil claimed the fourth heat. Several local drivers, mostly regulars in the Golden State winged cars were in attendance like Mike Faria, Danny Faria Jr., Ricci Faria and Davey Key. Kevin Urton is back running a non-wing car. If fans are wondering where did this come from? Well, if you checked the air scoop cover you would notice that it is lime green, that’s Gardner Green! Yes folks, Kevin is in Damion’s car from last year. It still runs well as he posted third quick time. Now it was time for the Main Event and all the heavy hitters were lined up for thirty laps of excitement for the fans. Damion Gardner jumped into the lead at the start and led for a number of laps with Griffin working his way to the Demon’s push bar. A momentary pause in lapped traffic cost Damion the front as he and the Gasman traded positions. These warriors ran high and low, threaded the needle down the middle through lapped traffic, when a Griffin hesitation let Gardner back in front. They ran twenty-five laps of green flag racing, traveling at speed with one’s nose on the other’s push bar. After removal of debris from the track, it was a five-lap seminar in high speed driving without touching or tapping and when the show was over, the Demon prevailed over the Gasman and both were elated to have participated in one of the best races I recall seeing in many years. Rip Williams ended up third, but was never a threat to the front two cars. Troy Rutherford scored his third consecutive fourth place finish and Steve Ostling came from his first heat flip to a top-five feature finish. Bryan Stanfil parlayed his best ever sixth place finish into the lead of the Rookie competition. In Victory Circle, Damion felt that he gained retribution for his fate from last year, when he led for twenty-seven laps only to collect the turn four wall and cartwheel down the front straightaway as he was running away from the field. The fan base was down tonight as it was breezy and cold,
but for those that stayed warm and cozy, they missed perhaps the best SCRA
feature of all time. The track was
in excellent shape all night and credit must be given to the track preparation
crew. It will be warmer when SCRA
returns to this venue in June and I can only encourage fans to set aside the
date for a visit. This has become a
great facility for the SCRA racers and they need our support to continue to
schedule additional races. |
