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| TWIN
25s AT IRWINDALE by Norm Bogan |
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It was the Winston Cup weekend at California Speedway, so there were many members of the national media on hand at Irwindale. What a perfect time to schedule a national event of consequence at one of the local tracks. Late last year, Irwindale announced they would host the second edition of the Twin 25s Midget competition. Many of the racers arrived in California last week for the Gerhardt Classic at Madera and then journeyed south for the Twin 25s show. This concept was initiated by Steve Lewis’ PRE productions last fall at Indianapolis Raceway Park, where Dave Steele accomplished the double win and grabbed the bonus money. Now that the other racers realized the goal was achievable, they all began scrambling to follow in Steele’s footsteps. National USAC Midget point leaders came to vie for the $50,000 bonus to win both ends of this unique show. Representing the Midwest were regulars on the national circuit, Dave Darland, J.J. Yeley, Tracy Hines, Aaron & A.J. Fike, Teddy Beach, Dave Steele, Bobby East, Bud Kaeding, Jay Drake, Michael Lewis and rookie candidate Ryan Durst. From the West Coast, Wally Pankratz, Steve Paden, Josh Wise, Jerome Rodela, Bobby Boone and Van Knill came to compete along with two distaff drivers, Courtney Kirts from Crawfordsville, Indiana and Amy Maris from Gilbert, Arizona. Also joining the field were former Midget campaigners, now racing with NASCAR, Jason Leffler and Kasey Kahne. All total there were thirty-one entries. Kasey Kahne, arriving late after a fourth place finish in the Busch Grand National race at California Speedway, settled into his Steve Lewis #91 and set quick time at 16.765 seconds. The top ten qualifiers transferred automatically into the feature race, while the others ran in one of two qualifying races, with the top seven from each race being added to the field. Also on the program this evening were the Ford Focus Midgets with their largest field of the season, twenty-three cars, including two lady drivers, Heather Davis and Ashley Walker. In addition to both California-South and North regulars, J.J. Yeley and NASCAR’s Kurt Busch also strapped into this new class of car and competed. Defending Champion, Todd Hunsaker set the fast time of 14.703 seconds. The two qualifying races got underway, with some stellar performers vying for a spot in the big show. The first qualifier had such drivers as Jay Drake, Josh Wise, Teddy Beach, Dave Darland, Bud Kaeding and Bobby Boone. Josh Wise led the way followed by Beach and Drake. The second qualifier found youngster Ryan Durst, Johnny Rodriguez, Jerome Rodela, Van Knill and Wally Pankratz, with Durst capturing the victory for the second week in a row. As the Ford Focus feature got underway, many eyes were on either Yeley or Busch as these journeyman drivers raced against some of the youngsters in this new class. Busch started ninth and moved up to fifth, only to spin into the infield. After Kurt restarted at the rear of the pack, he once again looked comfortable moving through the field and finishing ninth. Yeley seem to struggle with his car and finished fifteenth, while Darren Hagen gathered in the victory closely pursued by Todd Hunsaker and Sixteen-year old Ryan Kaplan displaying a lot of talent finishing third for the second week in a row. Kurt Busch met with the media in the Press Box following the Focus feature and said that he had a great time for his first experience in an open cockpit car. Racing a Legends car on the same track, Busch described it as confining and less powerful than the Focus Midget. Kurt credited Bob East with giving him a car that handled well and felt that if he had not got his arm restraints tangled and spun, he may have been a threat at the checkers. Twenty-five cars queued up for the first of the Twin 25s led by Jason Leffler and Bobby East, followed by Hines and Yeley, then Steele and Kahne. Leffler led the opening lap and then yielded to Hines who headed the pack to the checkers. This made Hines the only one who could collect the $50,000 bonus. During the break between the features, Midget stars Kevin Olson and Jeff Heywood came to the press box. Olson, the well-known entrepreneur, with such business interests as light bulb repairs and shoelace re-tipping, announced that Tony Stewart was going to financially assist Kevin’s pursuit of the Badger Midget season. After a few minutes of bantering by the press, Olson and Heywood were off on other quests. The lineup for the second feature was originally understood to be a complete inversion of the finish of feature #1. Actually, they inverted second through ninth finishers at the front of the pack and then inserted the balance of the field in its finishing order, with Hines lined up in the twenty-fifth spot. Feature #2 had a front row of Wise and Paden, with the Fike brothers on the second row. Wise led the first four laps, giving way to A.J. Fike, who held the point for the next eighteen laps, before being caught and passed by Michael Lewis for the final three circuits. Tracy Hines was the focus of the fans as he passed about half the field in the first few laps, only to spin on the apron in turn 2. Restarting at the rear, Hines continued his charge, running high and low, splitting down the middle to reach sixth place before the checkers. Tracy and Michael met with the press after the race and related their experience. Hines was in the Wilke Mopar and said that the faster cars got too much of a head start with the second place finisher starting ninth and he as the winner in twenty-fifth. During the race, he didn’t consider the money he just wanted to win. Lewis was aboard the Hansen #76 midget that Robbie Flock took to the championship last year. It was the only car with a Fontana engine in the show, so it was a giant killer of sorts as it edged all the Mopar and Pink Ford cars in the field. A crowd of 5500 witnessed the show with much enthusiasm.
It appears this will become an annual event and should continue to grow
as additional racers join the field and fans become aware of the magnitude of
the event. The show ran smoothly and was televised by Speed Channel for
later viewing. These early year
programs have brought many of the national points chasers to the West Coast and
give the fans an opportunity to watch some of the names they only read about in
the racing publications. It was
great to see some of the former competitors come back from NASCAR for a night of
open wheel racing. |
