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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 14, 2001
There
is an addition to the SCRA schedule at Perris Auto Speedway.
Sunday night May 27th has been added to make up for the
rainout in early April. The night before, yes, May 26th, the SCRA Sprint
Cars will be at The PAS for their annual 50-Lap Salute to Indy…
The PAS is expecting! Later
this season a new, permanent grandstand will be erected between the north end of
the main grandstand and the turn four grandstands…
SCRA car owner Cory Witherall has a ride for this year’s Indianapolis
500 if he can get it qualified… Check
out longtime photographer Stan Hansen’s new web site at.
http://people.we.mediaone.net/stanhansen/index.html
It features lots of vintage and contemporary Sprint Car photos…
Former Major League Baseball player Rob Deer (Brewers, Tigers and Giants)
is running for Rookie of the Year with the Sprint Cars of Arizona (SCOA).
Kind of reminds me of Rick Sutcliffe, who won National League Rookie of
the Year honors with the Los Angeles Dodgers about 20 years ago.
Sutcliffe is the son of old time Midwest Sprint Car star and 2001 Sprint
Car Hall of Fame inductee Dick Sutcliffe…
If I had to vote for SCRA’s Most Improved driver of 2001 at the present
time, it would be a no-brainer. Alex
“The Flyin’ Greek” Grigoreas… Have
you been to see the Sylvester Stallone movie “Driven” yet?
If not, here are four words of advice.
“Don’t waste your money.”
Terrible
acting (could we expect anything else with a movie starring Stallone and Burt
Reynolds?) and a brainless script…
Rumor has it that Dwight Chaney has bought new equipment and will be
returning to combat with SCRA. Chaney,
who is not related to 2000 SCRA Rookie of the Year Jarrett Chaney, has been on
the sidelines since a devastating crash at Knoxville, Iowa two years ago… Congratulations to Cory & Carri Kruseman on the upcoming
birth of their first child… Even
though crew chief Davey Jones parted company with Argo Racing in March, the
affable Jones told me that Don Argo is the nicest car owner he has ever worked
for... he Did you know SCRA rookie
Jim Scribilleto once (1985) set a World Speed record of 157.9 MPH at Bonneville?
He did it on a 3-wheeler! He
is one bad dude or just plain insane!!! Nice
guy and legendary videographer Dick Wallen, his wife and son were in a violent
car crash recently. Another
passenger (a friend of Wallen’s wife) was fatally injured.
You can send get well or sympathy cards to: Dick Wallen, 21655 N. 56th
Avenue, Glendale, AZ 85308…
Man, we are lucky. We rarely have less than 50 SCRA Sprint Cars at The PAS (54
were on hand last Saturday night). A
recent World of Outlaws event in Alabama saw a total of 24 cars…
“Dangerous” Dalton Jones – son of Davey, nephew of Tony and
grandson of Hall of Famer Bubby, has won mains in his last two outings in a
quarter-midget. The next
quarter-midget race is at Pomona Valley Raceway on May 26th and 27th…
Major news when Steve Ostling changed rides in April after years with
legendary owner Bill Pratt. Is
this the only change for a top SCRA driver this year?
If rumors prove true, no… Peculiar
story involving controversial Australian driver Gary Brazier who spent time with
the World of Outlaws a few seasons back. The
biggest Sprint Car race in Australia in 2000 was rained out, but the $570.00
(Australian) trophy vanished. Promoters
hauled Brazier into court and he is on trial for stealing the award…
At the start of the season, PAS officials decided to open trailers of
haulers (every division that races here) as teams come into the pits.
Several haulers contained people trying to sneak in.
Sad to say that anybody who would stoop so low as to sneak in would be
the first one to call a lawyer if they were injured. Any driver or car owner who had a crew member sneaking in
should be ashamed of themselves as the potential for lawsuits is a direct threat
to racing. People, think a little
bit… Was great to see Danny Ent
back in a Sprint Car the last two times SCRA was at The PAS. Lets hope he is around for the rest of the year…
My opinion on most exciting performance of the year thus far goes to Mike
English. On April 28th,
English went from 12th to 1st to win the “B” main.
In the “A” main, he started 18th and actually worked his
way up to fourth before finishing sixth…
Remember the Pennzoil World of Outlaws race scheduled for The PAS on
February 24th? It was
rained out early in the day and was rescheduled for the next night.
Well as luck would have it, it was rained out that night, too.
The race was moved to the following Sunday night (March 4th),
but due to a rainstorm 240 miles away and five days in advance (I know, but
don’t get me started on that one), “Ted’s
Winged Warriors” was again postponed until August 27th.
Well guess what? It was has
been rescheduled once again. The
new date is September 10th. With
the way it is going, if you are planning on attending, I would keep Christmas
free… Now lets talk about another
bizarre postponement. About a month
ago at The PAS, one of the largest crowds in track history was in attendance.
The grandstands were packed for the quadruple header featuring the Ramona
Tire PASSCAR Stock Cars, California Champ Trucks, Lightning Sprints and
Pick-A-Part Cruisers. About the time the Champ Truck main ended, the fog – yes,
fog in Riverside County – began to roll in.
The Lightning main was started and completed in just a nick of time as
the fog became so dense, one could not see the scoreboard, turns or infield
concession stand from the main grandstand.
Thus, the Stock Car and Cruiser mains were postponed…
Speaking of the Lightning Sprints, the winner of their 20-lap main was
Denise Szymczak (pronounced “Shim-Shack”).
Denise is the fiancé of Troy Cline.
She will be in a Sprint Car in the near future…
Larry Curry, former team manager for Team Menard of the Indy Racing
League, and Billy Felts, former CRA driver and SCRA car owner, have both pleaded
guilty in the defrauding of Menard’s Indy car team of more than $1 million. Felts was sentenced on April 23rd.
Curry pleaded guilty a little over two weeks ago and will be sentenced on
June 4th . He is currently at Indy twirling wrenches in what will
apparently be his last 500 for a few years…
Rookie Arie Prins took a rough flip down The PAS back straight about a
month ago. Arie climbed out of the
car unscathed, but the car was D.O.A. Writer Norm Bogan quickly dubbed Prins as
“The Flying Dutchman.” That
same monicker once belonged to the great Tommy Hinnershitz…
There aren’t many now, but like closed faced helmets, within a few
years I would suspect that head restraint systems (such as the HANS Device) will
be standard equipment in Sprint Car racing.
What is that, you don’t believe me?
Hey, many people said closed face helmets would never be accepted…
Sure do like Mrs. Wags new digital camera… Was reading Chris
Economaki’s column in National Speed Sport News and noticed that pre-war
Midget star Bill Zaring is alone and lonely and could use some mail.
Please take the time to cheer him by sending a card or letter to him at:
Camarillo Convalescent Hospital, Room #10B, 205 Granada Street, Camarillo, CA
93010… You can
see Quarter Midget racing at the Pomona Valley Raceway on Saturday and Sunday
afternoon May 26th and May 27th.
Make it a full race day by stopping there on your way to The PAS for the
SCRA Sprint Cars. From the 10
Freeway exit at Indian Hill and go south. Make
a right on a Holt, a left on East End and another left on First Street.
It will be about 500 feet down on your right side.
From the 60 Freeway exit Reservoir and go north.
Make a right on First Street and it will be on your right hand side about
500 feet down after you cross East End. Admission
is free. On the track you will see
some names you can identify with including Argo and Jones… As mentioned last time, here is a list of web sites for SCRA
drivers (regular and a few non regulars) and teams http://www.ripwilliams.com ,
http://www.troyrutherford.com,
http://www.fischermotorsports.com ,
http://www.tcrperformance.com ,
http://hometown.aol.com/calsunrace/index.html ,
http://ww.kruseman.com ,
http://www.sicemracing.com ,
http://www.jjyeley.com ,
http://www.sprintcars.com,
http://www.electrotechcoatings.com/racing.htm ,
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