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Irwindale, CA., Aug. 26 - Five year veteran
Mike Johnson had won only one Auto Club Late Model feature in his
career, but he backed his week-long confidence by winning both
40-lap ACLM mains Saturday on Villa Roma Sausage Night at Irwindale
Speedway. The track brought in a 20 X 27" color screen and
positioned it near the track entrance, facing the grandstand. The
estimated 2,500 spectators at IS viewed the TNT Network NASCAR
Nextel Cup Bristol 500 from 4:30 p.m to its conclusion and a repeat
broadcast for late arrivals. The track also rented the same system
during May to show the Cup All-Star race from Concord, N.C. Point
leader Tom Smith won a 15-car, 20-lap Pick Your Part Figure 8 main.
It was his sixth triumph this season in eight races.
USAC-sanctioned open wheel action took place with
360 cu. in. Western
Sprint Cars on the half-mile and Ford Focus Midgets on the
third-mile track.
Point leader/newlywed Tony Hunt dominated the 40-lap sprint main for
his fifth
victory after ten races in the scheduled 16-race season. Hunt, the
34-year old
2001-02-04 USAC Western Sprint champion and second fastest qualifier
in his
Eagle chassis, started fifth in a six-car inversion. He took the
lead during lap
six and won by almost half a lap (8.167 seconds) over fastest
qualifier Kody
Swanson, 18, the 2005 series champion. The 40-lap all-green flag
race took only
11:24.513 to complete. Nineteen of 20 starters finished. Hunt was so
fast that
he lapped up to the dueling fourth and fifth place drivers, Tim
Barber and
Nick Green. Hunt increased his point lead to 87-points. Rookie
Bradley
Galedrige, 19, charged from 11th starting spot to finish third.
Shauna Hogg, the third
fastest qualifier, started fourth and finished sixth. Jeff Gardner,
Greg
Anderson, Rick Hendrix and Nick Rescino completed the top ten. Sixth
through 16th
place drivers completed 39 of 40 laps. Mike Murgoitio and Brian
Geiszler won
eight-lap, ten-car heat races.
FF Midget rookie Tim Skoglund, an 18-year old
from Fresno, set fastest
qualifying time, started sixth and passed early leader Audra
Sasselli entering
turn one on lap 13. He paced laps 13-30 in a 9:37.396-timed race
slowed by a
solo spin on lap 10. Skoglund, winner of three of the six features
run of the
scheduled 12-race California paved track series, won his third
consecutive main
event at three tracks. He also won features last month at Altamont
Raceway and
Madera Speedway. He increased his point lead to 26-points. Sasselli,
who
finished second in 2005 FF California paved track points and third
in FF dirt
points, returned to racing following a lengthy absence while
recuperating from a
highway accident near her Fresno home. She trailed Skoglund by
40-yards (3.134
seconds). Jace Meier, Laura Hayes and Levi Jones completed the top
five.
Nineteen of 20 starters finished and 15 drivers ran all 30 laps. The
20-driver
field contained six female drivers. Jenna Frazier and Sasselli won
eight-lap,
ten-car heat races before 5 p.m.
The Late Model field of 32-cars took the green
flag for the first 40 and
a three-car crash at the back of the field on the opening lap
eliminated three
cars. A four-car crash on the ninth lap sidelined four more cars and
interrupted a sizzling battle for the lead between second
starter/series rookie Aaron
Staudinger and third starter Mike Johnson. Staudinger led the first
five laps
and lap seven, and Johnson paced lap six and lap eight-40. Ninth
starter/2005
series champion Tim Huddleston took second position on lap 20 and
pressured
Johnson to the conclusion, but he trailed by ten yards (0.594) at
the finish of
a 29-minute race slowed by two cautions. Staudinger finished third,
with
rookies Kevin Callahan fourth and Ryan Partridge (the quickest
qualifier) fifth.
Twenty-two drivers finished and 20 completed all 40 laps.
Officials disallowed point leader Travis Thirkettle's fast
qualification run
during time trials because he used one un-approved tire. He started
32nd
(last) and finished eighth.
The second ACLM 40-lap main followed a ten-minute
intermission and
started cars straight-up in the order of finish in the first 40.
Eight teams were
unable to answer the call and 24 drivers started, with
Covina-resident Johnson
on the pole and Huddleston alongside. Johnson led all the way over
Huddleston
as two red flags caused the race to last 41-minutes, with 21-minutes
of racing.
On lap 16 the cars of Clay Wattenbarger (12th) and Brian Jones
(13th) came
together on the backstretch. Wattenbarger's car veered up to the
wall near turn
three and made contact at the right front. His car ground to a stop
30-yards
later at the wall and Jones' car stopped at turn four. Neither
driver was
injured. On lap 30 the fourth and fifth place cars Washington-driver
Travis
Bennett, a NASCAR Elite Division Northwest Series driver, and Jason
Bowles made
contact at the starting line. Bennett's No. 40 Monte Carlo from
Bakersfield, that
is usually driven by Eric Richardson, spun sideways into the first
turn track
exit attenuator and bounced back to the track facing the wall. All
other
drivers avoided contact. Bennett walked to the ambulance for medical
evaluation.
Johnson's winning No. 17 Cal Western Building
Materials Monte Carlo had a
35-yard advantage by lap 23 and still held a 20-yard lead when
Bennett's
crash caused the red flag. Outside-running Johnson had all the
competition he
could handle from inside-running Huddleston during the final
11-laps. Their cars
touched and got out of shape briefly exiting turn two with a lap
remaining.
Both drivers recovered and Johnson repulsed Huddleston's final lap,
final turn
inside pass attempt and won by a length (0.212). Thirkettle started
eighth and
finished third, 1.205 seconds back with the right side of his car
partly torn
off during close top ten side-by-side racing action. Thirkettle lost
14-points
from his 39-points advantage and he now leads Huddleston 600-575.
Rookies Bowles and Staudinger finished fourth and
fifth respectively.
Josh Barker started 24th (last) and finished on the lead lap in 12th
position
with 17 of 24 starters racing at the finish. "It was my first
ever ride in a late
model and I thank Craig Yeaton for letting me drive his second
car," Barker
said as he accepted the hard charger award at the finish line. He
also won hard
charger honors a week earlier in his regular No. 5 Chevy S-10 Super
Truck
that he drove from 24th to seventh place in a 40-lap main. Candace
Muzny, 26,
started 17th and was running 12th in her fiancee Del Dalrymple's No.
07 Monte
Carlo on the final lap when she ran out of gas in the second turn.
She coasted to
the inside of the fourth turn and did not finish, leaving her with
39 laps
and 15th position.
Winner Johnson earned $650 for each of his
twin-40 triumphs. He credited
crew chief Tony Stone "for working on my car a lot and
correcting a problem
in the rear suspension (a spring). The car was really good in
practice Friday
night. We were a little off today during afternoon practice, but we
decided to
leave it alone. It was flying tonight. I could put it anywhere I
wanted. We're
the first car that wasn't a Race Car Factory-built car to win a late
model
main here in two years," Johnson continued. He praised his Todd
Burns-built car.
The 2002-03 Late Model champion at IS and former RCF foreman is now
building
cars at his shop in Riverside. Johnson reminded journalists that
drivers named
Johnson won five features at IS during the last three weeks.
That included
twin main event victories by unrelated Chris Johnson last week in
the Super
Late Model series, and a mini stock car feature triumph by Brian
Johnson, his
24-year old son, two weeks ago. Jubilant Johnson praised runner-up
Huddleston,
saying, "He is the best driver. We raced so close, and he raced
me clean."
Huddleston told Johnson it was his night and to enjoy his victories,
and added, "I
feel fortunate to just come out with my nose clean and to survive
the 80-laps."
The Figure 8 race had two red flags for stalled
cars and a lap 17
collision between spinning second place Jesse James and eighth place
Robbie Stutzel
who hit James' car in the smoke at turn one. James, with
actress/wife Sandra
Bullock watching from his West Coast Choppers suite, retired his car
with a flat
RF tire and bent suspension. Rusty Stewart led the first five laps
until
"Barefoot Billy" Ziemann shot by at the X intersection and
paced laps six-11. On
lap 12 Ziemann's leading car hit Brett Mulford's slower car entering
turn
three. Ziemann retired with a bent RF tie rod. Stewart led laps
12-13, but winner
Smith's No. 31 stormed past on lap 14 and won the 20-lap race by
35-yards
(2.592 seconds) over Stewart's No. 357 Cisco Burgers car. The winner
received
$1,000. Another $1,000 donated by Wicked Sand Toys, Inc. went to the
second, fourth
and sixth place drivers at $300 each, with a C-note added for winner
Smith.
The 15-Figure 8 cars qualified in five groups of
three cars at 7:05 p.m.
The second-time use of electronic transponders on IS Figure 8
cars for
scoring produced a new track record of 18.553 (73.153 mph) by
Smith. Steve Stewart
set the former mark of 18.771 on August 5. James also beat the old
record with
his 18.754 lap. Fred Bear, from Indiana, set the fastest Figure 8
lap last
October 5 during the IS Figure 8 Open Competition event when he ran
a 17.690.
However, IS timer Dick Hindman used a hand-timer that evening to
record all
Figure 8 qualifying runs.
Medical Update: On August 19, following the SLM
twin features,
driver/point leader Van Knill received medical attention in the pits
from the track
ambulance crew. He complained of the heat and exhaust inside his No.
43 Ford
Taurus prior to the finish of the first 50-lap race. He was happy
the second race
was reduced to 40 laps. His crew helped him out of the car in the
pits and the
ambulance paramedics administered oxygen and suggested that he be
transported
to nearby Arcadia Methodist Hospital, where hospital staff ran tests
and gave
him IVs. Van was discharged Sunday morning about 2:00 a.m in
satisfactory
condition. The Jackson Race Cars/Knill team plan to correct the
exhaust problem
and do better at the next race. Knill finished fifth and sixth in
the twin
features and had his 30-point lead reduced to 16 points over David
Beat, who
finished second in both features August 19.
For results box score and points see www.irwindalespeedway.com.
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