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LOS ANGELES, CA. The San Joaquin Valley
city of Madera hosted USAC Western States racing action on April 10
(the Fred Gerhardt Classic) and May 1 (the Bill Vukovich Classic).
The April 10 show had 39 Midgets present and featured a 100-lap
Midget main event, with a 33+ one car field that started in 11 rows
of three--Indianapolis 500 style--on the third-mile paved track.
While the race had many yellow flags and caution laps, the opening
lap passed safely for the second consecutive year. Pole-sitter
Michael Lewis led
all 100 laps in the No. 40 Western Speed Racing Team car. With 20
USAC Ford
Focus Midgets present, Bobby McGowan took the 20-car, 25-lap FF
Midget race.
The May 1 USAC open-wheel triple-header had three scheduled 50-lap
mains with W/S 360 c.i. Sprint Cars, W/S Midgets and Ford Focus
Midgets. That show and the rustic, tree-shaded pits at Madera led to
a turnout of 27 Sprint Cars, 33 W/S Midgets and 15 FF Midgets.
Michael Lewis (Sprints), Tony Hunt (W/S Midgets) and Josh Lakatos
(FF) won the features. By the way, FF Midgets are a self-starting
class and if a car requires a push start two penalties result. The
car receives only one qualification lap instead of two, and the car
has to start last in every race in which it competes that evening.
Four of the talented 2003 USAC Ford Focus Midget drivers have moved
up to the competitive USAC W/S Midget ranks. Ryan Kaplan, Garratt
Boyden, Josh Lakatos and Stephen Graves are all performing well so
far on the tougher circuit. The USAC ladder system fostered by the
three-year old FF circuit is working. Kaplan won the first heat and
Boyden finished second in heat two. In the feature, Boyden finished
fifth, Kaplan sixth and Lakatos eighth. Graves, in the ex-No. 94
Josh Wise Beast/Esslinger, set fourth fastest qualifying time in a
33-car field and got 18th in the main event. Matt Mitchell is
another rookie who jumped right into W/S Midget racing in the
Mitchell family Midget late last year
when he turned 16.
Speaking of USAC drivers at Madera, the 360 Sprint Car Series had
three female drivers in competition. Sprint car veterans Shauna Hogg
and Amy Barnes and USAC rookie/winged sprint car veteran Destiney
Hays raced. With 27 cars present, Hogg and Barnes made the main
event. They finished 15th and 20th respectively. Two other female
drivers raced in the May 1 USAC Midget event at Madera. Arizonan Amy
Maris raced her family No. 27 and Carly Lawrence raced the Lawrence
No. 11 L Midget. Lawrence finished ninth and Maris tenth in the
semi-main.
The Speed Channel "Wind Tunnel" show hosted by Dave
DeSpain prior to Mothers Day had a "salute to women week"
May 3-6. Two female drivers-IRL Indy 500 vet Sarah Fisher (on May 4)
and WoO winged sprint car driver Erin Crocker (on May 5)-were guests
on the show. Each of them had 20-minute on-air interviews with
DeSpain and telephone callers. Both Sarah and Erin were excellent
interview subjects and handled questions from Dave and viewers
expertly. They even worked their sponsor names into the
conversations like veterans.
The second annual USAC Midgets Mopar Twin-25-lap main events at
Irwindale
Speedway on Saturday, March 27 was taped as a two-hour telecast by a
production crew for Speed Channel. On air announcers were Ralph
Sheheen and Larry Rice in the booth and Dave Argabright in the pits.
It has not been aired yet. It was announced during early May that
Speed Channel; will televise the March 27 USAC Irwindale Twin 25s on
Wednesday, June 2 from 4:00 to 6:00 a.m PDT. Better that time than
not at all. Get up early or set your recorder to tape it and see how
close Bobby East came to winning the $50,000 bonus for a driver who
could win both 25 lap mains after starting last in the second 25.
East won the first 25 and was a closing second to Californian Thomas
Meseraull in the second 25.
The USAC Midgets Twin-25s scheduled for September at Indianapolis
Raceway Park has been canceled by promoter Steve Lewis and USAC. The
event, with a possible $50,000 bonus to a driver who could win both
features, could not be televised without a TV sponsor to cover TV
costs. Numerous USAC races were televised last year, but that volume
of USAC races on TV will not be possible this year without sponsor
dollars. That's too bad.
More USAC: Congratulations to Garrett Hansen, a
USAC Ford Focus graduate, for setting fastest qualifying time by
.037 and then winning the 30-lap USAC W/S Midget main event April 17
at Ventura Raceway in a 23-car field. His first USAC W/S Midget
feature triumph came in the No. 70 car fielded by his father Gary
Hansen. Robby Flock and Michael Lewis raced Hansen's then No. 76
Midget during recent years. Congrats as well to sprint car veteran
Troy Rutherford, of Ojai, for his first USAC Midget feature victory
on April 26 at Perris Auto Speedway. The PAS Midget fantastic
feature had six lead-changes among four drivers in the 20-car field.
It was the most exciting race of the evening according to open-wheel
racing fans present.
Rutherford drove the Roy Miller Freight Lines/Sander Engineering
Kunz/Stanton Mopar for his sprint car owner Mark Priestley. Both
cars are painted alike in yellow, red trim and silver numeral No. 7.
The Midget could be called "mini-me" when parked next to
the team's No. 7 sprint car. It also marked Priestley's first USAC
Midget feature victory as a car owner. The pair finished second to
Rip Williams in the USAC-CRA sprint car main event at Perris later
that evening to complete their big night at the PAS. The Rutherford-Priestley
No. 7 Midget team has competed in the last two open competition
Chili Bowl Nationals at Tulsa, OK and made the A Main, showing their
Midget prowess.
Congratulations also to Tony Hunt for his May 1 USAC W/S Midget main
triumph at Madera in his new ride--the No. 60 Western Speed Racing
Team second Midget that is a team car to Michael Lewis' No. 40. Tony
was the third race leader and led laps 26-40. Teammate and 2003 USAC
Sprint Car champion M. Lewis won the Madera companion sprint car
feature later than evening. In the interest of time, promoter, Don
Gerhardt, and USAC shortened the scheduled triple 50-lap features to
40 laps for the sprints and Midgets and 20 for the Ford Focus
series.
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