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Los Angeles, CA - May 6, 2005 - The Red
Bull Formula One Driver Search month-long competition during April
at Dromo 1 Karting Center in Orange, CA reached its conclusion on
Sunday, May 1. Aspiring 13-17 year old racers competed on equal
karts
at the indoor, seven-turn karting center. The 20 teens with the best
lap times during April open test runs had a Grand Prix race-of with
a maximum of eight cars on the track at a time. The final race
produced the top three from the Dromo 1 site. They are 1. Madison
Higgins, 14, (He had the best lap time of 25.9), 2. Brandon Janca,
14, and 3. Cody Williams, 16. Cody is the eldest son of 2004
USAC/CRA sprint car champion/current point leader Rip Williams, 49
year old winner of 100 sprint car feature victories during his
27-year racing career. The top three drivers will represent Dromo 1
at the next round of
competition-the West Coast Run-off at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA
August 9-11.
Round two of the 24-week (through September) AMA
Speedway Motorcycles
Wednesday night racing series took place May 4 at the Industry Hills
Expo Center. "The Grand" covered arena has open sides, so
spectators in the metal grandstands looked out at the sparkling
lights of the East San Gabriel Valley. The arena is situated on the
north side of a hill in the City of Industry adjacent to two 18-hole
golf courses and the 11-story Pacific Palms Convention Center Hotel.
The cycles, which are 170 pounds, have 65 horsepower and no brakes,
debuted at the site last year and attracted about 500 to 700
spectators a night.
A four-sided jumbo video screen above the arena
infield gave spectators replay and live action shots of AMA cycle
races in progress. Bruce Flanders, track announcer at the Long Beach
Grand Prix for decades and at Irwindale Speedway since 1999, is the
Industry Hills speedway cycles race announcer. This year Bruce and
two scorers are located in an open wooden booth just outside the
starting line. Co-promoters Freddie Orozco and Duke Ermolenko
brought in new loose dirt to cover the compacted dirt used for the
April 20 season opener. On May 4, AMA officials ran 31 races of
four-laps each from 7:30 to 9:18 p.m. Riders included two spectators
on their street 750 cc Harleys, three pee-wees on 50
cc bikes, five youth (ages 9-16), four division 3, eight division 2
and nine division 1 (expert) racers. The second of two division 1
semis was the race of the night. Three of the four riders (#36 Ryan
Fisher, #389 Nate Perkins and #6 Shawn McConnell) raced side-by-side
and exchanged the lead several times per lap as each rider led the
race. Only the top two finishers in both semis advanced to the four
rider main event, and #36 won narrowly over #389 and #6.
McConnell, a gray-beard speedway cycle veteran,
had won two of the three division 1 heat races and finished second
in his other heat. He scored the most points (eight) in the May 4
heats on the basis of 3, 2 and 1 for the top three finishers.
However, by finishing third in the second of two four-rider semis,
he missed the scratch main event. He led laps two through four and
won the scratch consolation race for the riders who finished third
and fourth in the two semis. The four-lap scratch main concluded
racing. Fisher (#36) won it
over Perkins (#389), Charlie Venegas (#43) and #45 Dario Galvin.
Fisher, from
Bloomington, CA, was making his first-ever appearance at the
Industry Hills track. He has been in Europe racing speedway cycles
for the past three years in the tough British league.
Necrology: Merlin "Rosie" Rosenlof, an
infield announcer at Ascot Park in Gardena during the 1960s-70s,
died Wednesday, April 20 (one day short of his 74th birthday) from
cancer of the lymph nodes. The Neptune Society handled arrangements
following cremation. The long-time resident of Carson, CA was a
graduate of Excelsior High School in Norwalk. I last spoke to Rosie
during 2003 when he telephoned me for information about the racing
accomplishments of Dean Thompson, who had died suddenly. RIP Rosey.
Female drivers are making positive news in racing
circles this year. World of Outlaws sprint car veteran Erin Crocker
made her ARCA stock car debut for Ray Evernham, started on the pole,
led many laps and spun low challenging for an up-front position. She
came back to finish 12th on the lead lap in her first stock car
race. Danica Patrick, 23, qualified second fastest of 22 drivers,
led the first 18laps and later 14 more laps at Motegi, Japan on
April 30 in just her fourth IRL Indy Car race. She ran up front and
finished on the lead lap in fourth position. Audra Sasselli, 28, won
a USAC Ford Focus Midget race on
dirt at Ventura Raceway in April. Last year Audra won two USAC Ford
Focus Midget features on two different paved tracks. Sasselli, an
articulate college graduate who is pursuing her masters degree,
leads BOTH the USAC California paved track and dirt track 2005
driver point standings as of May 1. What is her racing goal? Audra
wants a steady ride in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Demo Derby: The 14-car demolition derby at
Irwindale Speedway April 30 had some interesting choices for DD
cars. The winner drove a 1974 Chevy station wagon. Other cars were a
'65 Chrysler Imperial, '73 Lincoln Mark IV, '69 Chevy Impala, '71
Mercury Colony Park station wagon, '72 Chrysler, '71 Olds 98, '76
Chevy, '77 Ford LTD wagon, '63 Chrysler Imperial, '75 Chevy Caprice
and '71 Olds station wagon. The No. 33 Olds 98 had a first-time DD
driver at IS. The driver--Keara Pope, from Orange-- is the daughter
of Mike Pope, a driver in the street stock division, a one-year only
class during Irwindale's 1999 inaugural season. Keara's car
was one of the first cars sidelined during the DD.
The No. 13x yellow & brown Mercury Colony
Park wagon had history according to driver Vitold "the Polish
Prince" Hajkowski, Jr., who was competing in his first DD at
Irwindale. He drove the same car in the October 2004 demo derby at
Perris during the annual county fair. He planned to pull the engine
after the April 30 derby and install it in another car before the
next demo derby. Hajkowski called his '71 Mercury Colony Park wagon
"the Wally World car" from the 1970s movie
"Vacation" starring Chevy Chase. He bought the car from
the Southern California Rescue Mission. The car had sat idle in the
owner's yard for about 13 years. The owner donated the car to the
charity for an income tax credit before the IRS ended that tax code
provision. The No. 13x DD car even
carried the original license plate frame from Bricker
Lincoln-Mercury in Hollywood and the California license plate 182
EYK. The last renewal sticker from the DMV on the plate was Aug.
'91. It would be nice to conclude this car history by saying the car
went out in the money. Only the last five cars running and hitting
other cars brought their drivers money from the $2,000 purse. In
fact, the No. 13x was one of the first cars eliminated by a
well-placed hit by another DD car.
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