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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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| July 20, 2002 |
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Vista Paint will next present the NAPA Auto Parts/Auto Trader Magazines SCRA Sprint Cars at The PAS on July 27th. It will be their last race at The PAS until the 50 lapper on Labor Day weekend. Fans can now purchase advance tickets to all events at Perris Auto Speedway 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling 1-800-595-4849. This includes money saving three day passes to the Temecula Valley Pipe and Supply present Budweiser $100,000.00, 100 lap Oval Nationals… While SCRA is in the East and Midwest in August, The PAS will have three great nights of open wheel racing. On August 3rd and 17th the VRA Sprint Cars and Senior Sprint Cars will be in town while the USAC Western States Midgets and Southern California Ford Dealers Ford Focus Midgets will be here on the 10th. The Lightning Sprint Cars will join VRA on the 17th… Did you see the recent Stoops Freightliner Series USAC Sprint Car race at Eldora on ESPN2? The track was a dusty, hole filled mess, but it was one of the best Sprint Car main events I have watched on television. ESPN2 take note, it was on dirt!!! Highlight of the kids pre-race contests before the July 4th race at The PAS was seeing Verne & Brandy Sweeney’s 2-year old daughter Kennedy win the water balloon toss… Bobby Graham recently posted his first SCRA podium finish with a third at the Thunderbowl in Tulare. One week later he seemed to have his first ever SCRA main event win within his grasp when his power steering went away. Keep a close eye on him, he could be SCRA’s next first time winner... The PAS recently had a Camera Day with the first 1,000 getting free cameras from a couple of local radio stations. All the drivers were requested to bring their racecars out front for an hour and a half to meet with the fans, pose for photos and sign autographs. A majority of the drivers did just that including all of the top stars. However, it was quite amazing to see some stay in the pits and ignore the people paying their purse. A couple had legitimate reasons as they were working on their cars, but the others have no excuse at all. I think it is of no strange circumstance that these are the least PR oriented and have the least amount of sponsors on the side of their cars… Damian Gardner, a former Dwarf Car racer, is a star! When he did so well at the daytime season opener at The PAS in February, I, like many others, thought it was due to a slick track like he was used to from the winged races he had participated on in the past. The next time out he did not transfer from the C Main, but from that point on, he has been on fire. When he switched to a totally strange car and posted third and fourth place finishes the first two times in it, he convinced me. The Concord driver is indeed a star… By the way, Damion has some neat Damion Gardner Racing hats and t-shirts for sale… Forgot to mention this earlier. When the VRA Sprint Cars head to The PAS in August it looks like Steve Ostling, who at this point is not going on the NWWC Tour, will be competing. I think we will see some other SCRA drivers who are not headed out on the tour here as well… The ugly rumor began circulating last winter and unfortunately it became true when it was reported in the Indianapolis Star on July 4th that Indiana Sprint Car driver Robbie Rice pleaded guilty to molesting a 10-year old girl. In a sworn affidavit, Rice admitted he touched the 10-year old inappropriately. There is no room for such behavior in society and neither is there room for Hendrick’s County Superior Court Judge Robert W. Freese. He sentenced Rice to two weeks in the Hendricks County Jail. Two weeks? With good behavior Rice could have been out in one week. The same judge had just sentenced a woman to 30 days for smoking marijuana. Thirty days for smoking marijuana and 2 weeks for child molestation that can scar the victim for the rest of her life. That is preposterous!!! Be sure to get a copy of the next Perris Auto Speedway program when SCRA returns on July 27th. It will feature the format for this year’s Oval Nationals... Drivers need to be careful what they say when they are speaking into a live microphone. If one fan is upset by a profanity, that is one fan to many. Emotions can be conveyed without the use of profanity. Think guys! We are all in this together… Remember the name Darren Hagen! The former IKF Champion turned 16 years old a week and a half ago and he spanked the field to win the California Lightning Sprint Car main event at The PAS in early July… If there is a more competent scorer than SCRA’s Fred Sachs, he must really be something. I have worked in racing for over 25 years and have never seen one as good as Fred. In fact, I have never even seen one who comes anywhere close to Fred. He is far and away the best I have ever been around!!! IRL driver Rick Treadway was once a teammate to Verne Sweeney at the Oval Nationals here at Perris Auto Speedway… If you missed the June 22 SCRA main event at The PAS, shame on you! I have been to races since the day I was born and never recollect seeing a finish like that! Cory Kruseman and Damion Gardner traded the lead back and forth over the last three laps and at the end, Cory edged Damion, who was actually going backwards, for the win… Kruseman’s win came on his fourth straight night of action. The previous three were all in the USAC Buckeye Nationals in Ohio where he drove for Keith Kunz. Kruseman’s best finish back there was a 7th at Limalind… Have you ever visited Wags website at www.wagtimes.com? Ken Wagner does a weekly column on all of the SCRA races. Wife Terry has a photo page every week that is kind of like the High Society page in the newspaper. If you are pictured there, you are in! In addition, there is a ton of sprint car racing information… Larry Brown, who has campaigned with SCRA off and on over the past few seasons, won the BCRA Midget main event a few weeks ago at Watsonville… In these and other spaces, I have come down hard on USAC at times. However, I must say that their newly redesigned website at www.usacracing.com is a total winner... Condolences to SCRA driver Jack DeArmond Jr. on the passing of his Father Jack Sr. on June 11. Jack Sr. drove Midgets and Sprint Cars during his racing career… Carla Laney, sister of SCRA star Mike Kirby, scored a convincing win in the Temecula Valley Mitsubishi Super Stock main at The PAS recently. She nearly won the main a couple weeks before that as well, but late in that race she was hit from behind while leading on a restart. In a recent Figure 8 race at The PAS, Carla’s husband Chris was leading the way and looked to be headed for the win when mechanical ills forced him to the sidelines… Ex-SCRA driver Chris Rahe won the Ford Focus Midget main event at Madera a few weeks back… Very sad to report that well-liked Bud Thompson, the Father of legendary CRA star Dean Thompson, passed away and then a few weeks later, Bud’s wife Marge passed away… Open
Wheel Magazine finally bit the dust.
Getting stuck with Stock Car Racing magazine to finish out
their paid subscriptions instead of a refund zonked subscribers.
When Open Wheel was absorbed by Stock Car, it was only a
matter of time before they pulled the plug and now they have done
just that. To just add subscribers remaining months onto Stock Car
Racing rather than offering a refund is deplorable.
That is rotten customer care.
Fortunately we have two fine publications, Flat Out
Illustrated and Sprint Car & Midget Magazine, to satisfy our
open wheel needs… |
