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Los Angeles, CA. - PIR-CWC Part 3: The
29th Phoenix International Raceway-Copper World Classic (Jan. 21-22)
had three first-time Silver Crown drivers in the new USAC Silver
Crown Series, presented by K & N Engineering of Riverside, CA.
They are: Formula Renault and Star Mazda series veteran Pablo Donoso,
21, of Santiago, Chile; one-year USCS sprint car vet Bryn Gohn, 20,
of Malabar, FL, and super-modified vet Greg Furlong, 33, of Oswego,
NY. One Silver Crown mishap that escaped media attention happened
during Saturday afternoon hot laps. Donoso's right front wheel came
off without warning at speed as he entered turn one. His Johnny
Vance No. 2 Cristal Riley/Gaerte Chevy slammed into the SAFER
barrier with a loud impact. It damaged the wall and sidelined the
car. However, Donoso was unhurt and returned tot he pits and awaited
the return of his S/C car to the pits to see if it could be
repaired. It couldn't. The car construction enabled the driver to
emerge uninjured.
Donoso had turned the seventh fastest qualifying
time--28.247 (127.447 mph)--in Saturday 3:28 to 4:06 p.m time
trials. I spoke to Donoso in the pits Saturday and he is a
personable chap, who looks and sounds like IRL driver Helio
Castroneves, from Brazil. Both drivers speak excellent English and
Spanish. I spoke to Donoso after his big crash Saturday and he was
still amiable and unfazed by his meeting with the first turn
barrier. The fastest qualifying and S/C winning car built by C &
R had the other three S/C car constructors disputing the legality of
C & R's car, per the USAC rule book.
Some teams rented PIR in January 2006 to get
practice on the mile track for their CWC debuts. One such driver was
USAC Ford Focus midget graduate and 2005 USAC Western Series midget
driver Bradley Galedrige, of Los Altos, CA. It paid off. On
his fourth lap Bradley tied veteran Bobby East for fast time honors
(136.452 mph) in the first practice session for 30 drivers. Bradley
was third fastest (135.818 mph) in the second midget practice
session. He trailed only Michael Lewis and East in a 31-car field.
In Saturday morning practice Bradley was fastest of 31 drivers at
134.058 mph. During Saturday time trials from 4:17 to 5:04 p.m,
Galedrige was the 20th of 32 qualifiers and his 27.139 in his dad
Al's No. 29 Beast/Mopar was sixth fastest qualifying time. He
started
sixth in his first race on the PIR mile and ran fifth for the first
seven laps. Bradley was sixth when he dropped out on lap 17 and
finished 22nd of 32 drivers.
USAC midget driver Todd Beach , the younger of
the two Beach boys from Ohio, was entered to drive the second Beach
Motorsports No. 15 midget. However, he came to their Ohio departure
point ill with the flu. His dad/car owner sent him back home to
recuperate. Todd's older brother Teddy set 15th quickest qualifying
time in the Beach Boys No. 125 midget and finished 20th. Robin
Miller on Speed TV estimated the CWC grandstand crowd Sunday as
3,000 and he might not be too far off. This race use to attract
20,000+ fans in the grandstand. There were the usual many thousands
of fans in the pits and racing promoters count on pit money at most
tracks. With no NASCAR Elite Division (SW Series) after 2006, what
will PIR do for a fourth CWC series? Or will there even be a CWC in
2007?
USAC midget driver Joe Liguori, 19, made his
debut at PIR. Joe is the grandson of retired USAC 1960s-70s midget,
sprint, S/C and Indy Car driver Ralph Liguori, of Florida. Grandpa
Ralph and Joe's dad attended the CWC and helped in the pits. Joe was
the 28th fastest qualifier and finished the 25-lap midget feature
28th in Margaret Owens' No. 28. I spoke to Ralph in the pits and he
is aging gracefully and looks great at age 79. Ralph said he raced
at PIR in the Walt Flynn champ dirt car and the No. 99 Norm Demler
lay-down roadster in which he was entered for the 1965 Indianapolis
500. Ralph, the father of four sons, passed his Indy 500 drivers'
test in 1959 but he never made the 500 race. He won four USAC sprint
car main events and his best champ car finish was second in the 1970
Hoosier 100 on the Indy Fairgrounds mile dirt track. That race was
televised by ABC Wide World of Sports.
Bad Start: One aspect of the Silver Crown race
drew jeers from onlookers. The first lap green flag came at 3:18 and
the front row cars crossed the starting line evenly. However, S.C
chief steward Bill Carey apparently believed the front row cars
accelerated too early and ordered a restart. The green flag for the
restart at 3:19 officially restarted the race. However, pole starter
Brian Tyler was third crossing the starting line. Both Dave Steele
and Bud Kaeding beat the pole starter across the line and they
finished 50-laps in that
order. What ever happened to starting the race at the starting line
and no one passing the pole car before the starting line? Steele won
his fifth consecutive PIR-CWC S/C feature. During the past three
races he has led 267 S/C race laps in a row at PIR. His 50 leading
laps this year made Steele's S/C feature race leading total over
four years an amazing 317 laps and counting.
The new S/C cars had two practice sessions.
Steele and Aaron Pierce were the fastest of the 12 cars and Pierce's
132.611 mph was the best speed in the combined sessions. The NASCAR
Southwest Series two practice sessions had M. K. Kanke and Ken
Schrader atop the practice speed charts. Tim Schendel, from
Wisconsin, ran the fastest lap of all (132.563 mph) in time trials.
The NASCAR Grand National West two practice sessions had rookie
Peyton Sellers (No. 16 NAPA Chevy) 125.8 mph and Schrader's 126.1
mph atop the speed charts. Second year GNW driver Spencer Clark, of
Las Vegas, set fast qualifying time of 127.932 mph.
The 38 AutoZone NASCAR GNW cars at the PIR-CWC
had an amazing 17 first-time drivers at the PIR mile according to
NASCAR Regional Director Mike Verlatti. An impressive seven of the
new 2006 GNW drivers have graduated from divisions that raced last
year at the Irwindale Speedway half-mile. They are: (from
trucks)--Eric Hardin and Brian Pannone; (from cars)--James Bruncati,
Daniel DiGiacomo, Justin Lofton, Mike Mulhall and Brian Ickler, 19,
in a No. 20 Bill McAnally-owned Chevy that was a No. 16 NAPA Chevy
that Steve Portenga raced in 2005. One year removed from
Irwindale late models were Andrew Myers and Andrew Lewis, the 2005
GNW rookie of the year barely over Myers. Myers' No. 44 this year is
the Chevy that Burney Lamar drove to victory in the 2005 PIR-CWC.
Best 2006 GNW Rookie Results: Nick Lynch was
second fastest qualifier and Peyton Sellers, 22, was eighth fastest.
Others: Ickler (14th FQ), Bruncati (17th), DiGiacomo (26th), Pannone
(27th), Hardin (29th) and Lofton (34th). The AutoZone Elite Division
SW Series had nine rookies, including Irwindale Super Late Model
veterans Brandon Loverock and Mesa Marin champion Eric Richardson.
It seems that racing on the fast Irwindale half-mile is a good
starting point to advance one's NASCAR career and gives racing
experience that the NASCAR officials respect.
Miscellaneous: Weirdest qualifying session yet
was the Sunday morning January 22 NASCAR SW Series qualifying from
8:05 to 9:21 a.m in sunny, windy, 27-degree temperature before
chilled and bundled-up racers and sparse grandstands with a few
die-hard fans. The temperature warmed a bit by the time the GNW cars
qualified Sunday from 10:41 am to 12:08 pm. Three GNW cars spun
exiting turn four and backed hard into the outer wall on the front
straight. Versatile driver David Cardey, of Riverside, raced a
NASCAR GNW stock car on the PIR mile. Saturday night January 21 he
raced a USAC/CRA sprint car at the half-mile dirt Manzanita
Speedway. He made both main events.
CWC race starters were Tom Hansing for both USAC
divisions and energetic Matt Pattison for the NASCAR. The winning SW
Series No. 46 car driven by Matt Crafton, a NCTS truck racing
veteran, had no sponsor names on the car. Ken Schrader had two
18-wheelers for all his cars-SW Series, dirt stock car for Casa
Grande racing, and GNW cars. One hauler took off for the North
Carolina base before the GNW car had finished going through tech
inspection. The second hauler took the GNW cars home. Schrader had
sponsor Four Winds Motorhomes on his GNW car and SEM on his SW
Series car.
Final add: The new under construction Bobby
Allison Grandstand at PIR's first turn will seat 14,000 spectators,
including occupants of a suites section. It will be ready for fan
occupancy before the NASCAR Busch and Nextel Cup weekend in April
2006. An added benefit for racing drivers is the fact it will block
the setting sun from nearly blinding drivers on the front straight
as they race west into the first turn. Racing fans at the CWC were
able to don hard hats and select their seats in the new grandstand
for upcoming races.
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