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SCENE by Tim Kennedy |
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VRA 360 NATIONALS |
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Los Angeles, CA. - VRA 360 Non-Wing Sprint Car Nationals: I attended
the Friday, August 22 opening night of the first $30,000 Ventura
Racing Association (VRA) 360 cu. in. Sprint Car Nationals at Perris
Auto Speedway. An impressive turnout of 52 cars competed. My count
had 20 VRA drivers, 11 from SCRA, 10 from Arizona, and two each from
USAC Western States Midgets, Northern California and Central
California. Five other drivers had mixed backgrounds. Both nights
carried VRA points. Opening night had six competitive 10-lap heat races that sent only the first two finishers to Friday's 30-lap "A" feature. Everyone from third through ninth went to one of the two 12-lap "B" mains. With no time trials (VRA policy is to draw for positions in heats), the half-mile clay was racy for the heats and following races despite the 92-degree day. Two "B" mains sent the first five finishers in each into Friday's "A" feature for a 22-car field. The first six finishers in the "A" Friday were locked into the first six positions in Saturday's "A" with another pill draw to determine actual starting positions. VRA officials ran the show-starter-James Hiler, scorer- Scott Holden and racing director-Cliff Morgan. PAS announcer Scott Daloisio manned the PA microphone as usual. VRA headman Jim Naylor conducted informative interviews in the pits with numerous drivers. I like VRA's even competition and the inversion (2, 4, 6 or 8) for features. I also like the fact that VRA rules allow a first alternate starter to push-off for the main event, and then pull back to the pits if all starters take the lap one green flag. CRA Sprints in the 1960's allowed one alternate from the "B" main to start the "A" at the back and run three laps at the back. If any car dropped out the alternate then remained in the "A" and was allowed to pass cars. I questioned Naylor about the exorbitant amount of points awarded at each VRA race (e.g.-point leader Chris Wakim had 13,840 points and runner-up Tom Stansberry had 13,720 entering the two-day PAS Nationals). Jim told me he allowed VRA drivers to use their high number of points system at every race to make their series different. Heat race winners receive 50-points, with five point drop-offs per position. Main event winners get 1,000 points, with 50-point drop-offs to 20th position and all other starters receive 50-points. Passing points are used only to set the feature fields. Friday heat winners were Dwight Chaney (from 2nd), Josh Wise (from 3rd), Steve Ostling (from 1st), Mike Kirby (from 5th), Wakim (from 6th) and Stansberry (from 6th). Josh Wise, a 20-year old comer from Riverside (he resides about 10-miles from PAS), has arrived big time this season. On 8-9-03 Josh won the prestigious Belleville (KS) Midget Nationals 40-lap feature in Dino Tomassi's No. 29 Midget from Northern California. He defeated hot drivers J. J. Yeley and Jay Drake for his most important victory to date. All he did at the inaugural VRA 360 Sprint Nationals was win his heat and the 30-lap main from fifth starting position Friday for a $1,000 payday. Following his Friday feature victory in Mike Sala's No. 19s from Central California, Josh said, "We learned a lot tonight. Hopefully, it will pay off tomorrow. The motor was awesome." It paid off big time. Josh returned Saturday to start fourth and dominate the 40-lap feature for a $5,000 night, giving him $6,000 for two days at Perris. Josh also won a 410 cu. in. SCRA sprint car feature at Perris on 6-21-03 after setting fast time by a whopping margin. Josh reminds me of USAC open-wheel graduates Kasey Kahne, from WA, and Ryan Newman, from IN. All three are intelligent, well-spoken interviewees, and they all qualify and race impressively in any type of racing car and on any track. Kahne and Wise are fast on dirt and paved tracks and they win on either surface. Josh resembles Kasey in physical stature and calm demeanor. Josh also compares to Ryan, who has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Purdue. Josh, an engineering major, completed two years at Riverside JC and he soon will be a student at Cal Poly, Pomona State College. Josh began racing in quarter midgets. He is the USAC TQ-Midget 1999 champion and USAC W/S Midget most improved driver in 2001, when he won two main events in 15 starts and finished sixth in final points. Josh had six fast times and six USAC W/S Midget feature triumphs in 54 starts from 2000-02. His Belleville victory was a USAC National Series point race. Josh raced in 24 USAC W/S events and won once, had eight finishes from second through fifth and five finishes from sixth through tenth. He earned second place in final USAC W/S 2001 points. Only 13 of 22 starters finished the feature Friday, and 11 drivers completed all 30 laps. Wise won by a straight-away. The race started at 9:22, had three more restarts following incidents and concluded at 10:14. There were two red flags and three flips (Rick Becker, Chris Wakim and Gary W. Howard). Other flippers Friday were Ryan Devitt, nephew of retired driver Jack Devitt, Kyle Hancock and Jayson May, who is not related to drivers Jimmy or Jake May. Friday Feature Notes: Following his flip, Wakim went to the work area and then pushed off to rejoin the race, but he dropped out before the green-flag because his fuel tank was loose. G.W. Howard, after his backstretch tumble in the No. 62jr TCR (ex-No. 38 Glenn Crossno car), was mad at another driver for causing his flip. Contenders Mike Kirby (dropped valve), Rickie Gaunt (flat tire while in third place on lap 13) and Steve Ostling (loose magneto wire), were DNFs. The second "B" main Friday had a close battle for positions three-six, and fifth was the final transfer position to the "A". Rick Williams was running fifth when he got bumped on lap nine in the fourth turn and lost two spots. He finished sixth and was the first alternate. The No. 55 Williams team departed the PAS pits Friday and did not return Saturday. I saw them at Coco's Restaurant in Riverside at 11:30. They said they would stay in Riverside overnight and drive north Saturday to race in Hanford where they race with a wing. Hopefully, the VRA 360 Sprint Nationals will become an annual race on the PAS racing calendar. The event should grow in popularity if drivers from other circuits and states continue to compete in the PAS 360 National. |
