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| USAC MIDGETS - TNGP
(Irwindale Spdwy) by Tim Kennedy |
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Irwindale, Calif., Nov. 23 - Billy Wease added his name to
the impressive list of past winners of Midget auto racing's Turkey
Night Grand Prix (TNGP) Thursday night in the USAC-sanctioned 66th
running of the Thanksgiving 100-lap feature in front of 6,000
spectators at Irwindale Speedway. The half-mile track hosted the
event for the eighth consecutive year. The "Granddaddy of all
Midget Racing Classics" dates back to 1934 at Gilmore Stadium
in Hollywood. His name will be engraved on the perpetual Aggie
Trophy named for late race organizer J. C. Agajanian, who revived
the TNGP in 1955 after a four-year absence. The 20-year old Noblesville, Indiana winner, a developmental driver for Roger Penske Racing, won $6,000 from the $33,000 purse posted by Agajanian Enterprises for National and Western Series Midget racing portion of the USAC three series event that attracted 136 race cars (67 Midgets). Wease, a four-time veteran in the TNGP feature, started fifth and in Rick Gerhardt's No. 80 Western Speed Racing Gerhardt Racer/Esslinger Ford. He engaged his teammate Kody Swanson, 18, in a classic two-car duel from lap 24 to the finish. Wease took advantage of two-wide lapped traffic on lap 81, going to the outside and passing race-long leader Swanson, the fastest qualifier and pole starter, in the No. 60 identical car to winner Wease. Swanson, the 2005 USAC Western 360 Sprint Series rookie of the year/champion, logged several impressive feature finishes in his handful of USAC Western Midget races as a 2006 Midget rookie. He had three fast qualifying times, a first on September 2 at Altamont Raceway in Tracy, plus second, third and fourth place finishes in features. He fought back to regain the lead as the duo continued to lap slower cars. Swanson, from Kingsburg, Calif., fell two lengths short (0.189) at starter Noel Dawson's checkered flag. The runner-up earned $3,200. One of 11 TNGP rookies in the feature, Swanson won the Don Basile Memorial Rookie of the race plaque. Earlier in the 360-sprint car main event, third place Swanson flipped his sprint car trying to pass a lapped car and slid to a halt in turn three without injury. "I couldn't ask for a better car. I'm going to take this trophy back to North Carolina to the Penske shop. Hopefully the guys will be proud of me," Wease said. He also drove for Western Speed last year and finished tenth. He drove a No. 12 Beast/Ed Pink Chevy owned by his father Bill in his first two TNGP efforts, dropping out on the first lap in 2003 with a flat tire and finishing tenth a year later. Swanson spoke to fans and said, "We hit bottled-up traffic and Billy got the best of me. At least I made him earn every bit of it." Later in the pits, Wease said he hopes to follow other open-wheel drivers to NASCAR. Earlier this year he made his first stock-car start with ARCA at Michigan International Speedway and finished second in the No. 27 Kodak Penske Racing Dodge. WISE THIRD Josh Wise, USAC's 2005 National Midget champion and the 2006 National Sprint Car champion for Tony Stewart Racing, started 12th and finished third, 0.854 behind Wease. He collected $2,100 before joining Michael Waltrip Racing in 2007 for NASCAR Craftsman Truck and ARCA stock car racing in Toyotas. Dave Steele, a two-time TNGP winner at Irwindale and the track's one-lap record holder at 16.556, finished fourth, 3.484 seconds back in a Steve Lewis Beast/Ed Pink Toyota. He earned $1,500. Kyle Nicholas, who lost an engine of his Nicholas Beast/Mopar during one of two afternoon practice sessions, started 24th in the 34-car field. He finished fifth in a Keith Kunz-entered back-up car that he had not driven prior to his emergency requisition. The teenager from Naples, Florida drove the Beast/Fontana to a $1,200 payday. Tracy Hines (from 11th in the Wilke Spike/Stanton Mopar), 2005-06 USAC Western Midget champion Jerome Rodela (from 8th in NHRA star Cruz Pedregon's Gerhardt/Toyota), 2006 USAC National Midget champion Jerry Coons, Jr (in a Wilke Beast/Stanton Mopar), Badger Midget champion Brad Kuhn (in Fred James' Stealth/Stanton Mopar) and TNGP rookie Chase Scott, 20, from Concord, N.C. (in a third Western Speed Racing Gerhardt Racer/Ford Esslinger), completed the top ten. Twenty-one of 34 starters finished and only the top ten drivers finished 100 laps. The 39:49.236-timed race had three yellow flags for spins. Kunz won the National Midget car owner championship by 12-points over Wilke Racing. FOUR NASCAR DRIVERS Four NASCAR 2006 drivers competed in the Midget feature. Busch Series driver Jason Leffler, a two-time TNGP winner at IS including last year in his own car, qualified second fastest. The other three NASCAR drivers did not qualify among the 14 fastest in the 4:55 to 6:10 p.m qualifying session in which 59 drivers attempted to qualify. The three drivers raced their way into the feature by finishing in the top eight positions in a pair of 21-car qualifying races. All three drivers raced in the second 12-lap qualifier. Bobby East, a past USAC champion and Craftsman Truck rookie, started fourth and won the qualifier. Two-time Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart started third and finished second in one of his own Beast/Mopar cars, the back-up Josh Wise ride. An unannounced driver entrant, 2000 TNGP winner Stewart hot-lapped the car Wednesday night during the 3:00 to 9:00 p.m practice session for more than 130 cars in all three divisions racing at the TNGP. Nextel Cup veteran Casey Mears, from Bakersfield, pre-entered in both the Midget and 360 Sprint Car divisions in cars sponsored by the National Guard, the 2007 sponsor for his No. 25 Rick Hendrick Chevy. Mears started second and finished fourth, 1.592 seconds behind East. In the 100-lap TNGP 16th starter East was the first retiree on lap 12 and finished 34th. Second starter Leffler was running eighth on lap 39 when a mechanical problem caused him to join the car park in the infield. Mears, competing at Irwindale for the first time in three years, started a Bob Rosen-owned National Guard Beast/Fontana 22nd and finished 16th, down one lap (on lap 83). Stewart participated in the all-driver half-hour autograph session for fans on the front straight prior to the 7:00 start of racing. He also remained with his teams at his two haulers in the pits talking to fans well past midnight. The 100-lap GP concluded at 10:58 p.m. The Indiana native was involved in two of the three yellow flag incidents during the main event. A lap 41 tangle in turn four involved 18th starter Stewart, Chase Barber and seventh fastest qualifier Kevin Swindell, the 2005 TNGP rookie of the race and son of sprint car champion Sammy Swindell. Chase's Beast/Ed Pink Ford and Swindell's Spike/Stanton Mopar later retired. Stewart rejoined the field at the back and raced forward to mid-pack. He passed Mears on lap 58 on the inside entering turn one. He also passed Levi Jones, one of his Stewart team drivers, on lap 67. However, Stewart's run ended on lap 91 when he became involved in a two-car incident next to the wall between the third and fourth turns. Oklahoma-based, 16-year old sprint car driver Brady Bacon, a Chip Ganassi developmental driver, was the other driver sidelined. Stewart's Beast/Mopar left the scene on the business end of a tow truck. Yellow flags (laps 15-23, 41-50 and 91-95 counted, but USAC rules mandated that the final two laps had to be green flag laps. With 22 cars taking the lap 96 green flag, 13th place rookie Stephanie Mockler, the 18-year old daughter of 1986 TNGP winner Warren Mockler, experienced an engine problem with her Janice East-Clorox Beast/Esslinger and dropped out to the infield car park. The 14th fastest qualifier and final driver to make the feature directly from qualifying ran 94 laps in her TNGP debut. She finished 21st, one position ahead of a driver who pitted and returned from the pits to finish 93 laps. LAST CHANCE RACES Bradley Galedrige, 19, won the first Last Chance qualifier, which concluded after 11 laps because Spence Gattrell's car hit the turn one pit entrance protective attenuator and it required repairs. Galedrige started fifth in Davey Hamilton's Gerhardt/Mopar and led the final three laps. He took the lead with an inside second turn pass of Brad Loyet, the third starter and leader of the first eight laps. Loyet finished second, 0.668 behind Galedrige. Aron Oakley, an Indiana Ford Focus Midget graduate, was third. East came from fourth in the Klatt-Clorox Beast/Esslinger to lead the final seven laps of the second 12-lap qualifier. Mears started second and led the first four laps. Stewart took second from Mears on lap nine and Chuck Gurney, Jr, 23-year old son of the 1988-89 TNGP winner at Ascot Park, passed Mears for third on the final lap. Mears took fourth. With 67 pills drawn for Midget qualifying, teams had two sessions for hot-lapping from 12:50 to 1:20 and 2:30 to 2:50 on a partly sunny/cloudy day with the temperature in the low 70s. During one session a broken oil line fitting on Mike Murgoitio's Beast/Esslinger oiled the track from the starting line to the first turn in the high groove. Three other cars quickly hit the oil and spun into the outside wall. The most serious result was for Mike Marfia, from Rio Rancho, N.M. His No. 38 McGerigle Beast/Chevy backed hard into the wall on the left-rear end. Rescuers found him unconscious in the car reportedly, but he regained consciousness before he left the car. An ambulance transported Marfia to a nearby hospital for precautionary medical evaluation/tests. Ryan Kaplan's Stealth/Fontana spun in the first turn oil as well. Damage sidelined the car bur Kaplan escaped injury. Rip Williams, the 50-year old 2004 USAC/CRA sprint car champion making his first start at IS, also spun tail first into the outer wall after contact with the oil. He was unhurt and the back of his Mitchell Racing Edmunds/Esslinger was repaired, but Williams relinquished the ride to Josh Lakatos who qualified and raced it. The accident and oil clean-up and other oiling by the car of Thomas Messeraull during qualifying delayed scheduled events by almost an hour. Swanson, the 32nd driver to qualify, set fast time of 16.988 (105.957 mph) and ran the only sub-17 second lap. Leffler, the 56th qualifier, ran a 17.12l8 (105.091 mph) for the second fastest time. Mockler's 17.415 was 14th best and the final direct ticket to the feature. |
