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Los Angeles, CA.- July 16, 2005 - The
three-car Bill McAnally Racing Chevy Monte Carlo team came to
Irwindale Speedway Wednesday, July 13 for a day of testing on the
half-mile. They will return for the NASCAR Grand National West
150-lap race
Saturday, July 23. IS communications director Doug Stokes wisely
pre-arranged with BMR PR staff to have local media observe the July
13 IS testing and have interview time with all three BMR drivers
between test runs. Daily press scribes in attendance at IS were Shav
Glick (LA Times), Keith Lair (San Gabriel Valley Tribune), Damian
Dottore (Orange County Register) and Jim Short (Riverside
Press-Enterprise).
Veteran Steve Portenga, 35, drove the blue and
yellow No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts car. A pair of GNW rookies also
participated July 23. Sarah Fisher, a 24-year old, five-time
Indianapolis 500 starter, drove the black and white No. 20 car in
which Clint Bowyer tested for Childress Racing and Kerry Earnhardt
raced in 2004 GNW races. She is now Childress Racing's NASCAR Drive
for Diversity driver. Andrew Lewis, an 18-year old from
Corona, CA, drove the third and newest BMR car-the black and yellow
No. 18 sponsored by Teen Arrive Alive.
The three race haulers left BMR's Sacramento base
Tuesday about 2:30 p.m and arrived at Irwindale about 10 p.m. They
towed north on I-5 Wednesday after testing from 11 a.m to about 5
p.m. All three BMR teams hope to make the top 15 positions during
the 12-race GNW season. Each car has a crew chief working only with
one driver, but the three teams share information. After four races
to date, Portenga ranks second in GNW points, Lewis is eighth and
Fisher is 15th. Sarah flew from Indianapolis for the IS test.
She said she met Richard Childress last year at a Chevrolet function
and he told her if she would ever consider racing stock cars to give
him a call. With Indy Racing League rides and funding lacking for
Sarah (despite fans annually voting her IRL's most popular driver),
she promptly accepted his offer and switched careers from Indy Cars
to stock cars. Sarah's first test in a stock car came in January
2005 at Irwindale, a week before the January 30 NASCAR GNW race at
Phoenix International Raceway. Her first race at IS will be July 23.
Speaking to the press from the shaded back of her
car's hauler, Sarah said the switch from USAC midgets and sprint
cars to Indy cars was more difficult than her switch from IRL cars
to stock cars. She said she wants to learn stock car racing from the
ground up and earn her way to NASCAR's Busch and Nextel Cup
circuits. Her goal is now to race in the Brickyard 400 at Indy. She
used a silver helmet and black uniform from Impact despite the near
90-degree, humid and smoggy weather during the IS test. Sarah said
she will be getting a two-day Childress racing test in a Busch car
Tuesday and Wednesday July 19-20 at the 1.5-mile Gateway
International Raceway near St. Louis, MO. She and team
owner/former GNW driver McAnally, 39, said there is a chance Sarah
might race a
couple of times for Childress in NASCAR's Busch Series later this
season.
Sarah said she does not know fellow open wheel
driver Erin Crocker, 23, who is pursuing a racing career switch from
WoO winged sprint cars/USAC Silver Crown cars to stock cars.
Sarah did not attend the IRL Indy 500 this year and did not seek a
ride, but she greatly respects the Dreyer-Reinbold team she raced
for at Indy last year. She spent race day in Charlotte N.C at Loew's
Speedway watching NASCAR's Nextel Cup 600 atop the pit box with car
owner Richard Childress. She said she enjoyed that experience to see
up close a top team at work and learned a lot.
I asked Sarah which tracks on the GN West circuit
she likes best. She quickly said Stockton 99 Speedway, the paved
quarter-mile where she qualified 12th fastest and finished 12th on
the lead lap in a 150-lap race April 30. She said PIR in Avondale,
AZ has not been good for her in two races this year. The other GNW
race she ran was at Mesa Marin in Bakersfield. McAnally said Sarah's
main job has been to learn what the 3,400-pound stock car needs to
handle better and run faster. She must give feedback to her crew
chief on shocks, springs and bar settings. "Sarah has been
improving greatly on her feedback with each test and race, but
testing is expensive and we haven't been able to get her enough
tests this year," McAnally said.
I asked McAnally about past GNW champion driver
Austin Cameron, the Toyota All-Star Challenge inaugural feature
winner at IS for BMR in November 2003. He said Austin is at home in
El Cajon, CA following his surgery in January and he is now working
in business with his father. Austin also got married in March and he
expects to return to racing. McAnally also said rookie Lewis
(5'11"-150 pounds) is improving rapidly and success in NASCAR
Busch, truck and Cup racing is just a matter of time and seasoning.
Lewis raced his No. 04 truck in the ASA Mechanix Wear Speed Truck
touring series to 12th place as a rookie in 2003. He had three wins,
five top fives, six top tens and four poles. Lewis raced his No. 04
Chevy Monte Carlo last season in Irwindale's Late Model Series and
finished tenth in final points and second in rookie points.
Billy Boat, 39, is now a retired race driver and
prosperous Phoenix, AZ business-owner. He is a non-wing SCRA sprint
car winner/record holder, USAC Western States Midget Series 1995
champion and three-time 100-lap Thanksgiving Night Midget Grand Prix
winner in the mid-1990s. He moved on to race in IRL Indy Cars and
was a one-time Indy 500 pole starter and front runner during the
early IRL seasons. He drove for legendary A. J. Foyt and others and
has one IRL victory. Billy has been helping his son, Chad, get his
feet wet in racing with the Arizona mini sprints during his early
teenage years. The Boats attended Irwindale Speedway
races July 16. It was Billy's first IS visit since he raced John
Lawson's No. 15 midget in the 2001 Turkey Night GP. Billy was
able to see his name inscribed three times on the J. C. Agajanian
perpetual trophy that is kept at IS, site of the annual midget
racing classic since 1999. It was Billy's first chance to see the
trophy. Billy and Chad are checking out the competitive ASA Speed
Truck touring series for Chad to race next season when he hits 16.
Rookies in that series are winning features and currently occupy the
top positions in series point standings.
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