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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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View From The PAS! by Scott Daloisio |
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| May 12, 2002 |
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The 2001 SCRA yearbook is once again a
fabulous and beautiful work of art.
Sixty-eight pages jammed with over 180 exciting photos
(including a center spread with 16 different color photos), stories,
statistics and history. Supplies
are limited so it is a good idea to get yours now.
You can get one at the track by seeing Paula Shuman in the
pits after the races or you can order over the phone or by mail.
Call (480) 940-2354 or send $10.00 + $3.00 shipping to: SCRA,
PO Box 50937, Phoenix, AZ 85076…
Vista Paint will next present the NAPA Auto Parts/Auto Trader Magazines SCRA Sprint Cars at The PAS this Saturday night, May 18th… Don’t forget SCRA’s annual Salute to the Indianapolis 500 on May 25th. That night of exciting action will be capped by a 50 lap main event. May is “Senior Citizens Month” at The PAS. All fans age 65-years of age and over will be admitted for junior ticket prices. Those prices are $9.00 for Sprint Car races… As a token of appreciation to all competitors, Perris Auto Speedway held a free practice session on Tuesday night May 7th and over 100 cars jammed the pits… You hear people say that a tacky track is the best Sprint Car track. I beg to differ! A track that is to tacky is indeed very fast, but is normally the same from top to bottom. That makes it hard, if not almost impossible, to pass. The last couple times SCRA was at The PAS, the track was drier than normal, but like usual it produced sensational racing. At the April 13th race, three of the four heats were won from the fourth row (the other from the third) and the dash, which was won with a crowd pleasing effort by Damion Gardner, was arguably the best ever staged at this facility. By the way, the main was a war up front with Cory Kruseman, Richard Griffin and Mike Kirby. Early in the main, Gardner and 25-year veteran Rip Williams were also in the thick of the battle. And, if Tony Jones hadn’t been turned around, he would have been hunting for the lead as well. From fourth through tenth, positions changed nearly every lap. Notable passing jobs in the main were: John Scott 11th to 4th, Steve Ostling 15th to 5th, Jones after restarting at the back all the way to 7th, Jeremy Sherman 14th to 7th, “Showtime” Danny Sheridan from 19th to 10th and Levin Jones from 21st to 11th. Give me a drier track with multiple grooves over a lightening fast tacky track any day… Salute to Jarrett Chaney who drove Rick Becker’s #67 for the first time and took fifth in the B and thirteenth in the A main… Hey, want to buy a Sprint Car? If you do, call John Aden. He has a car that is ready to be unloaded and put on the track. Aden made two SCRA races this year, but due to a lack of time, he will be unable to continue a 410 Sprint Car career. Aden promotes the smaller track on the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds in Victorville and his time is at a premium. Something had to give and it is his Sprint Car racing endeavors. If you would like to get in touch with him, drop me an E-mail at stssprts@aol.com. I will be glad to forward his phone number… “Hotfoot” Troy Cline has raced in the last two NASCAR Busch Series races… Missing the April 27th race, but for the very best of reasons, was Mopar driving “Flyin’” Brian Venard. At 1:30 PM in Lakewood, Venard and fiancé Nicol Lynn Tucker were married. A congratulations from everyone at The PAS to the newlywed couple… I have said it before and I will say it again, “patience young driver’s, patience.” When SCRA was at The PAS on April 13th, a talented future star threw away a sure transfer and was done for the night before 7:30 PM because he got impatient, hit another car and spun out… Two performances that have to be recognized from SCRA’s April 13th at The PAS came from Marc Hart and Adam Mitchell. Both transferred from the C main to the heats. They started in the last row (row nine) of the B main. Hart got the final transfer spot into the A main and Mitchell only missed it by two spots. Both of them were charging all night long and were worth the price of admission alone… When Vista Paint next presents the NAPA Auto Parts/Auto Trader Magazines SCRA Sprint Cars at The PAS it will be the full moon Saturday night of April 27th. Oh boy, it could be a wild one!!! Troy Cline will be returning from North Carolina that night to drive #21J car… After flying out from Indiana, two-time USAC Sprint Car Champion Tony Elliott showed what a class guy he is the last time SCRA was at The PAS. Elliott had qualified for the main event, but when Troy Rutherford did not make the main, Elliott graciously gave up his seat so Rutherford could continue his quest for the SCRA title… Speaking of Rutherford, who last week celebrated his 29th birthday, he used SCRA’s Easter weekend off to win the VRA 360 main event at the Ventura Raceway. Finishing second was 19-year old Larry Lloyd Jr. Lloyd is the son of ex-USRC Midget driver Larry Lloyd, nephew of SCRA car owner Bill Lloyd Jr. and grandson of ex-Midget owner and driver the late Bill Lloyd Sr.. Gary W. Howard came from 18th to finish 5th just ahead of VRA champ Gary Howard. By the way, Gary W. Howard won the first heat race and Gary Howard won the second heat race. You got all of that??? Last week at Ventura, sometimes SCRA racer Greg Taylor won the VRA main event over a field that included Rutherford, Cory Kruseman and Mike Kirby… California’s Brad Furr won the World of Outlaws main event at Texas Motor Speedway a week ago Friday. It was Furr’s second victory of the season, but the driver who finished second overshadowed it. Kraig Kinser, son of legendary Steve Kinser, ended up second for his best ever WoO finish… Defending World of Outlaws Champion Danny “The Dude” Lasoski led the WoO point standings after last weekends action… Temecula Valley Mitsubishi has come on board and is the new sponsor of the PASSCAR Super Stock Series... Surprise entry in the Pick-A-Part Cruiser Class at Perris Auto Speedway last Saturday night was Off-Road racing legend Walker Evans… Speaking of the Pick-A-Part Cruisers, in a crazy scenario last Saturday, a pair of brothers showed up with a brand new (to the class) Station Wagon. They clearly showed in practice that they were very, very brave, but what they did in their heat race was incredible. They slammed the turn three wall and flipped three times. When they came to a halt, they accomplished something I had never seen before. The engine and transmission were sitting about 15 feet away from the car! AMAZING! Now, if that was not enough, another Cruiser flipped in the same spot in the main event. Who was the driver you ask? The Father of the two brothers who flipped earlier!!! Titanium has driven up the price in auto racing and now it is doing the same in Baseball. Baseball bats made with a titanium composite sell in the $300.00 neighborhood… GPI USA has a neat, new safety product for Open Wheel cars. It is a Drag Link Strap. The loop of the strap fits over the Drag Link while the other end buckles to the frame rail just in front of the headers. Broken Drag Links are very dangerous not only to a driver who is flipping, but also to the other competitors. The cost is $10.95 which is just pennies to make racing safer. For more information call GPI at (800) 538-7786… On July 4th, Vista Paint will present the NAPA Auto Parts/Auto Trader Magazines SCRA Sprint Cars at The PAS. As is the tradition, the races will be followed by the best fireworks show in Riverside County. Tickets are on sale tonight at the souvenir stand. You can also purchase advance tickets by calling The PAS office at (909) 940-0134 or by visiting the PAS website at www.perrisautospeedway.com… Very sad to report that a lady who had a lot to do with the history of racing in the Inland Empire recently passed away. Donna LaDouceur, the Mother of Inland Motorcycle Speedway Promoter John LaDouceur and American Raceways Vice-President the late Kay Moran, passed away on March 29th. IMS was in operation at the Orange Show Fairgrounds in San Bernardino from 1975 through 1987 and it was definitely “The Only Reason For Wednesday Night.” Like all of the family, Donna worked hard at making it that way… Tonight marks the first appearance of the USAC Ford Focus Midgets at The PAS. Josh Lakatos leads the points over Phil Goodwine. Todd Hunsacker won their last main event at Cajon Speedway… Perris Auto Speedway t-shirts and caps are now available on the PAS website at www.perrisautospeedway.com… Quadruple header at The PAS next Saturday night featuring the first Figure 8’s, Temecula Valley Mitsubishi Super Stocks, Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply Street Stocks and a Demolition Derby… |
