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Oct. 8 - Los Angeles, CA. - The
open-wheel portion of the seven division racing program at Irwindale
Speedway October 8 provided outstanding racing action with the USAC
Ford Focus Midgets and USAC Western Series 360 cu. in. sprint cars.
Karting and Legend Car graduate Jace Meier,
from Las Vegas, had to wait to race in USAC until after he reached
his 16th birthday on March 10. FF Midget rookie Jace won two FF
paved features this year, including the IS October 8 race. He has
been invited to return to Ron Sutton's four-car team in 2006. He
also has earned a test back east that could lead to a future Hooters
Pro Cup stock car ride. Chris Veach, 19, yielded the lead to Meier's
inside turn three pass on lap 27 of 35. Veach held on for second
place, 20-yards behind Meier. Veach also finished second in the
recent two-day FF Midget Nationals at a dirt track in Lima, Ohio and
a paved track in Anderson, Indiana. Veach has progressed rapidly as
a FF Midget driver this year, his second in the series.
Lindsay Kernohan, 17, had her best showing as a USAC FF Midget
rookie in one of Ron Sutton's Stealths. She ran third to lap 31 and
finished fourth, behind CA FF paved track title-contender Audra
Sasselli, who passed Lindsay on lap 31. Audra trails paved series
point leader Alex Harris by only six points with a maximum 74 points
available at IS Thanksgiving night, November 24. Chase Barber, the
2005 CA FF dirt track champion in his Beast/FF, is third in the
paved track series; Chase is only 24 points from TQ champion/Midget
veteran Harris, who is in his first FF season. Meier is sixth in
points, 84 points in back of Harris. Diversity program driver Nate
Hardiman, 20, qualified the No. 05
Legends "house car" that Kernohan drove twice this summer.
He set 15th fastest qualifying time in a 27-car field October 8.
Nate started 15th and finished a strong seventh, 1.692 seconds
behind the winner, with 20 cars racing at the conclusion.
Michael Lewis, 26, was dominant in his 360 cu.
in. sprint car. The Noblesville, IN driver set fastest qualifying
time, won his eight-lap, nine-car heat race from ninth position. He
took the lead on lap four and all nine cars finished. Then he
started sixth and led all 40 laps of the main. It was his fourth
consecutive USAC 360 sprint car feature victory at Irwindale, a
track he loves. He also won the prestigious USAC National Midget
Turkey Night Grand Prix on Thanksgiving 2002. Lewis drove the orange
and white No. 40 Western Speed Eagle/Wesmar of Rick Gerhardt. The
orange and white No. 60 and 80 team cars of 2004 are now owned by
driver Mike Murgoitio, of Meridian, ID. Former Western Speed crew
chief/part owner Larry Trigueiro, from the Fresno area, is now crew
chief for Murgoitio's team. Mike raced his No. 80 and Bud Kaeding
raced the No. 60 and finished fourth in the October 8 IS main event.
Lewis flew to Charlotte October 10 to try to find a stock car ride.
He had one Busch Series ride in 2003.
Kaeding also flew to Charlotte, N.C. and raced Jason Leffler's No.
29 USAC National Series 410 cu. in. sprint car Wednesday, October 12
at Loew's Motor Speedway dirt track. Kaeding won the 30-lap main
event over Tony Stewart's No. 20 driver, Josh Wise. These two
California drivers have a position-trading battle for fourth place
in USAC Nation Sprint points with Bud at 1,112 points and Josh at
1,107 points after Charlotte. I hear NASCAR teams in North Carolina
are eyeing Josh, 22, as a stock car team development driver. It is
no secret that USAC drivers are sought after by NASCAR teams because
they learn wheel-to-wheel racing, car control and how to handle
loose cars on all types of tracks. Wise is another Kasey Kahne-type,
can't miss success in NASCAR from USAC ranks. The early-bird team to
commit gets the future stock car star.
Necrology: Pete Ciulla, a long-time yellow flagman at the first turn
for the CRA sprint car organization during the 1960s-70s, died
Wednesday, September 28 from diabetes. Earlier, he had lost both
legs to the disease. He was 79. Pete's son Victor, owner of Twin
Palms Restaurant, is one of the original partners in Irwindale
Speedway and IS food provider. Another son, Pete, Jr, raced USAC
midgets at times locally and is a railroad locomotive engineer. CRA
fans will remember Pete primarily for his corner flagging at the
long-gone Ascot Park in Gardena. Condolences from everyone in racing
go to his extended family.
Jeff "Hibachi" Grill raced his No 70 Camaro seven times
during 2004 so he was not a super stock rookie at Irwindale this
year. He was ninth in IS 2005 points on September 24 when he became
the middle car in a three-car crash. Lee Ladd had spun in fluid
(from the radiator) and Jeff did likewise. Their cars stopped facing
on coming cars at the top of turn three. The caution flag flew and
several cars swerved to the inside and passed the Ladd and Grill
cars. With the yellow light on, several seconds later Keith Wood's
Camaro smashed head-on into the front of Grill's Camaro, which
backed hard into the right-side
door of Ladd's car. Grill said the front and back of his car were
write-offs and even engine parts were bent. He termed it a $4,000
crash. Jeff and his father Danny, a NASCAR western official, will
have to build a new Camaro for next season.
Grill was trying to finish in the top ten in
points, so with a double-points final 2005 race on tap October 8
Jeff borrowed the ex-No. 38 Rick Crow Camaro that rookie Rich DeLong
III had bought for 2006 to replace the No. 84 Camaro he used this
year. Grill did not have a written contract to use the unnumbered
DeLong Camaro. Jeff practiced in it October 7 and numbered it 70 for
October 8. Grill qualified 12th fastest and DeLong 13th best in his
old No. 84 Camaro. They raced each other for 11th place all 40 laps,
with Grill high and DeLong low. You wondered how close they would
race each other. They did so cleanly as expected. DeLong passed
Grill on lap 22. Both drivers were lapped by lap
31. DeLong finished 11th and Grill 12th in the 19 car field. The
double points (56) for 12th place moved Jeff from ninth to eighth in
final points (482 to 476 for ninth place Bryan Harrell-the race
winner). DeLong's 60 points October 8 moved him up to 13th place and
he became the leading S/S rookie driver in 2005 points, with other
rookies 14th and 15th.
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