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September 2, 2005...Los Angeles, CA. -
On August 27 Irwindale Speedway hosted an all-Drifting competition,
so I drove 190 miles north to Santa Maria Speedway. I attended
the first race (CRA sprint cars) ever run at the central California
coast track on 5/30/64. The SMS attraction August 27 was USAC
open-wheel racing for 410 cu. in. sprint cars and Ford Focus
midgets. The only drawback to the scenic trip was the extra
50-minutes it took to get through congested Santa Barbara on
two-lane Highway 101. I'd recommend going north on I-5 and west on
Highway 166 to the track during daytime hours. (P.S-For those who
care, Chris Forsberg won the Drifting event at IS with a reported
8,500 in attendance and Rhys Millen captured the Formula Drift-1
championship.)
Car counts at SMS were 24 sprinters, including
five 360 cu. in. cars, 14 FF midgets and 19 local mini stocks. An
enthusiastic crowd almost filled the grandstand and hillside
spectator areas of the banked third-mile clay track that overlooks
north/south Highway 101. Evan Suggs and Peter Murphy, using 360 cu.
in. engines, won two of the three ten-lap heat races that sent the
first five finishers to the main with the top five from the semi.
The 14-car FF midget 25-lap main was a thrilling
duel between one/two finishers Robbie Whitchurch and Chase Barber,
17. Robbie's No. 82 Beast led the first 14 laps and 19-25. Chase's
No. 91 Beast led laps 15-18. The duo was seldom more than five yards
apart. Robbie won his fourth FF main of the year by a length over
Chase and earned $500. Whitchurch's family-owned team now has four
career feature victories at four tracks-Bakersfield (7/9), Ventura
(8/3), Watsonville (8/5) and Santa Maria (8/27). He is fifth in
California FF dirt track points and Barber is first with four races
remaining as of September 1. Barber has three dirt track wins at
Hanford (6/4), Ventura (7/16) and Santa Maria (8/6). Barber also has
three California FF paved track main event triumphs this
season.
Chris Veach finished third in the SMS FF race.
Blonde Jenna Frazier, 18, was fourth and Audra Sasselli, 30, fifth
in her No. 17 dirt track midget. Nine of 14 starters finished and
six ran all 25 laps. During a lap 24 caution, Sasselli had to stop
her car to clean mud off her viser so she could see. Audra recently
received her masters-degree in education and this summer has been
teaching English at Selma High School, near Fresno. She told me she
really enjoyed racing Ted Finkenbinder's No. 3 USAC 360 cu. in.
Chevy sprinter this year at Stockton and would like to do more
sprint-car racing.
The 20-car USAC-CRA sprint main was a
heart-breaker for Mike Spencer, the Cal Poly Pomona engineering
graduate. He started the No. 44 outside row one and jumped to an
amazing 20-yard lead over pole starter Cory Kruseman after one lap.
Kruseman slowed at lap three with a broken oil line. His Crossno No.
38 crew repaired it. With a lap six yellow flag following a tangle
on the backstretch, a push truck began pushing off Kruseman's car
low entering turn one as the track's sole starter amazingly waved
the green flag to the remaining 17 cars. No harm was done
thankfully. Drivers alertly saw the "hazard" and the
starter unfurled the yellow quickly.
Spencer and fourth-starter Danny Sheridan, both
trying to win their first feature in the series, waged an exciting
one-two battle to lap 20. As they came up to lap their first cars
(No. 97 Alan Ballard and No. 15 R. J. Johnson) one of the slower
cars got out of shape and Ballard's car quickly collected Spencer's
44 and Sheridan's 18. All three cars stopped near the starting line.
Only Sheridan's car restarted and he finished 11th. The red flag was
a godsend for series point leader Rip Williams. The engine of his
sixth place car had been smoking heavily out the side and losing oil
from lap 15. It was unlikely his engine would've made it to lap 30.
Under the lap 20 red flag his crew tightened a loose oil fitting and
added oil.
Rip restarted fourth and took third from Rickey
Gaunt on lap 23. Rip's third place to title-contender Damion
Gardner's second place left Rip with a ten-point lead over Damion
after 24 of 39 scheduled races. Rip started the night 15 points
ahead of Damion. Mike Kirby led laps 20-30 for his second 2005
feature triumph in the Alexander No. 4.
Even the SMS four-cylinder mini stock class
staged an entertaining 20-lap main with three race leaders. Winner
Paul Terrones won his first main event trophy by passing lap
eight-19 leader Mike Weigel. As they were lapping slower cars the
lead duo made contact, spinning Weigel's car to the inside of the
backstretch with the checkered flag waiting for them. All in all,
SMS staged an entertaining night of racing from the 6:30 time trials
to the final checkered flag at 10:17 p.m.
Lawyer/driver's agent Cary Agajanian was the
subject of a page one and two 40 paragraph story with photos in USA
TODAY on Thursday, August 18. The story ran under the headline,
"Agent steers NASCAR toward others sports' ways…Deals give
top drivers more guaranteed pay." Cary, the 63-year old eldest
son of the late open-wheel car owner/race organizer J. C. Agajanian,
maintains offices in Los Angeles, Indianapolis and Charlotte. He
represents Nextel Cup drivers Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Kasey
Kahne, Jamie McMurray and others through his Motorsports Management
International (MMI). He employs 30 people, including his youngest
son Jacob, who serves as business manager for NASCAR Busch and USAC
driver Tyler Walker. Cary has three employees who travel to short
tracks to scout upcoming talented drivers for MMI to represent.
The USA TODAY story contained some interesting
information. Top NASCAR drivers make $10 million or more. Drivers'
income comes from four primary sources: 1) base salary as stated per
team contract, 2) a percentage of prize money, 3) a percentage of
merchandise sales, and 4) personal endorsements. Stewart's 2003
contract with Joe Gibbs guarantees Tony at least $5 million in base
salary. Cary gave Jeff Gordon advice on his first contracts with
Bill Davis (1993 Busch Series) and then Rick Hendrick free of
charge, but Cary realized the need for driver representation. Driver
agents became a growing field with the past decade. Cary is against
young drivers signing long-term driver development
contracts with a team that obligates a driver for a long period. He
also does not recommend that drivers break their existing contracts
with teams.
According to the story, the other top driver
agent is attorney Alan Miller, who represents Jimmie Johnson, Kyle
Busch and Casey Mears, plus Erin Crocker. Agajanian and Miller
operate differently. Cary charges drivers a percentage of their
contract to represent them. Alan charges drivers he represents an
hourly fee. Some young drivers talk to Jeff Gordon's step-father
John Bickford for career advice and he steers them to Cary or Alan.
He believes Miller is a better choice for veteran drivers, while a
unique full-service firm such as Agajanian's might be better for a
young driver. The two premier driver reps do
not consider themselves rivals because they operate differently.
Cary is co-owner of the NASCAR Busch Series No. 43 Channellock Dodge
that he uses as a showcase for upcoming drivers such as USAC vets
Aaron and A.J. Fike, Tracy Hines, plus Kevin Conway.
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