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See You At The Races!!! |
| RACING SCENE by Tim Kennedy |
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Los Angeles, CA - USAC-CRA Sprints @ PAS March 3: The hardy
souls who came to Perris Auto Speedway Sat., March 3 braved
perhaps the coldest night of sprint car racing at the 12-year old
track. The high temperature at nearby Riverside was 77-degrees March
3; the temperature was still 64 when time trials started at 6:00. It
was 53 at 9:44 p.m at the track and dropped to 41 overnight in
Riverside. A persistent day/night-long wind of 25-35-mph made the
wind-chill factor frozen tundra-like for southern Californians. Yet
the main grandstand was about half-full with heavily bundled-up
open-wheel fans. Fortunately, management expedited the show and even
eliminated staging of the 22-main event cars on the front straight
for driver introductions. Four 10-lap heat races with inverted eight-car fields ran from 7:09 to 7:42. Winners came from starting positions 7-8-8-4. Tony Jones started seventh and led laps 2-10 amazingly. Eighth starter Damion Gardner led laps 5-10. Eighth starter Rickie Gaunt led laps 3-10 and fourth starter Rodney Argo led laps 5-10. That's a lot of passing on the half-mile clay oval. Only heat three was caution-free; it had a time of 2:57.77. The 15-car, 12-lap B main had two cautions and ran nine-minutes from 8:08-8:17. Impressive 410-sprint rookie Tyler Brown, 21, spun on the ninth lap. As he was being pushed off from the second turn the push vehicle ran up over the back left of Tyler's sprinter, ending his bid for a transfer position. He had to pass six cars during the final four laps but it seemed doable. The 22-car, 30-lap A main started at 8:51 and had a lap 11 red flag delay for 14 minutes following Cory Kruseman's flip. Drivers clicked off the final 20-laps in 11-minutes from 9:08 to 9:19. Chilled fans vacated the grandstands faster than usual. Yet many fans visited drivers and teams in the pits. Despite high wind conditions at the track the racing surface was racy all night. It had two grooves throughout the main event, which had three race leaders and three lead changes. Pole starter Mike Spencer led the first lap. Jones led laps 2-7, Gaunt led laps 8-19 and Spencer ran off with laps 20-30. Cal Poly Pomona engineering grad Spencer won by about 80-yards over Rip Williams, who could be called the Energizer bunny. Rip keeps racing competitively against youngsters half his age (50). The two CRA 410 features in February concluded at 9:29 (2/3) and 9:19 (2/17) The car count for the third USAC-CRA race of 2007 at PAS was 34, following 36 cars Feb. 3 and 34 cars Feb. 17. The Manzanita Speedway, Phoenix Feb. 9-10 event had 49 cars. Amazingly, ages for all four of the 2007 USAC-CRA feature winners is 25 and under. Darren Hagen is 20, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 19, Garrett Hansen 21, and Spencer 25. R. J. Johnson, 19 of Phoenix, and Dustin Morgan, from Owasso, OK, also made the March 3 feature and could win as well. Morgan, who turned 18 on January 10, will race the Keith Kunz No. 67K Bullet in USAC-CRA at the Thur.-Fri, March 8-9 races in Las Vegas and at Manzanita in Phoenix March 17 before he heads to the Midwest to race. A surprising entry March 3 at PAS was former Riverside resident Josh Wise, 24, the 2006 USAC National Sprint Car champion and the 2005 USAC National Midget champion. He drove the second Keith Kunz Bullet, the white & gray primer No. 67 that Matt Mitchell raced in prior 2007 races. On Sat. Feb. 10 Josh raced in the ARCA 200-mile stock car race at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in Florida. His first attempt at the largest track of his career came in a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota Camry. Josh qualified 18th fastest in a field of 41 and was the fastest Toyota qualifier. He started 18th and finished 36th after being involved in a six-car accident on lap 37 of the 80-lap race. Personable and talented Josh said his season will consist of more ARCA stock car races, some NASCAR truck races and open-wheel races as time permits. . Josh welcomed the chance to return to his former hometown dirt track for some "fun" racing. He even wore his Aaron's blue and white driving uniform from his new stock car job and gave it some dirt track seasoning. Josh also said he would race the USAC-CRA two-day event in Las Vegas March 8-9. At PAS March 3 Josh qualified 11th fastest of 32 drivers with times. He started sixth and ran fifth all ten laps of the third heat race. He started second in the B main and faded to fourth at the end with his car smoking a bit when he backed off to enter the turns. Josh started 11th in the feature and was seventh after the first lap, sixth on lap 23, fourth on lap 27 after he passed dueling Jones and Gardner on the same lap, and third on lap 29 after he passed Gaunt. Seventeen of 22 starters were racing at the finish and 15 ran all 30 laps. Josh made the podium in third place and showed his dirt track skills remain just as strong as ever. NASCAR driver J. J. Yeley (for Tony Smiley), Levi Jones (in a third Glenn Crossno Bullet) and versatile Brian Tyler (in the Wilkerson No. 11) will join Josh as USAC-CRA entrants also in the two-day Las Vegas event. PODIUM QUOTES: Wise replied to infield announcer Chris Holt's query about his return to PAS racing, saying, "Yeah, it was fun. Keith (Kunz) does a good job. It was smoking earlier. They tuned on it all night and got it right for the main. I plan to run Las Vegas next Thursday and Friday with USAC-CRA. I will race ARCA stocks in a Michael Waltrip Toyota Camry and a truck too and some open-wheel stuff." Runner-up Williams said, "Rickie (Gaunt) slowed us (laps 11-18). We ran the same groove. At halfway I lost the brakes. Mike (Spencer) made a nice pass for the win." Winner Spencer was delighted by his first victory with the No. 50 Ron Chaffin team. Lealand McSpadden, Richard Griffin and Damion Gardner won many races/championships in the Chaffin 50 with the help of crew chief Bruce Bromme, Jr. "I was on seven-cylinders qualifying and we changed engines before heat one. In the main event I started on the pole and faded to fourth (laps 7-16) and came back to win after it freed up. It was hopping getting into the turns and they fixed it on the red flag (lap 11)." Spencer also received the $100 bonus posted by a fan for any driver who won a main event from the pole position. It had gone unclaimed for many races. USAC-CRA race director Steve Ostling, the "new sheriff in town", did his job by the book again this week. He sent Ryan Devitt to the back of the B main for reporting to staging late. It dropped his No. 72t for eighth to 14th. Devitt charged forward and finished seventh, one position short of a transfer to the feature. Former driver Ostling also penalized three drivers in the feature for reporting late and sent Damion Gardner, Michael Trimble and Todd Hunsaker to the back as required by rules. It took extra parade laps on the cold night to get Gardner and Trimble to leave their eighth and 14th starting positions and move to the back. Hunsaker was slated to start last anyhow. Some fans were getting restless, angry and vocal by the delay in starting the race on such a cold night. Maybe a better alternative to get teams/drivers to staging on time would be to dock the tardy a lap and allow them to start in their scheduled starting position. Unlike NASCAR, open-wheel racing does not utilize the "lucky dog" free pass back to the lead lap under cautions. Loss of a lap for tardiness to staging would get prompt compliance by all teams, even those scheduled to start in the back row. Miscellaneous Notes: Owner/driver Royal Adderson put out a request for persons wishing to join his pit crew to talk to him in the pits after the races. 410 rookie Brian Camarillo had his black and blue number 22c car back in action at PAS March 3. He flipped in Manzanita's first turn on Feb. 10. Flames erupted from the hole punched in his fuel tank bladder but firemen extinguished the flames quickly. Tony Everhart's two qualifying laps were remarkably consistent (0.002 apart) at 18.877 and 18.879. In the 1980s at Ascot, late promoter J. C. Agajanian awarded $100 to any CRA driver who ran two identical laps during time trials. Drivers were aware of the bonus and collected the $100 several times over the years. Gary Hansen, owner of the No. 70, said the chassis builder, Dave Ellis of Phoenix, has been a major asset in getting his car up to speed so quickly for his 410 rookie son Garrett. Yes, the last CRA victory by a No. 70 before Hansen's victory on February 17 was by Charlie Zabinski in 1989 at Ascot. It was his only CRA feature victory. Josh Ford uses Mopar power and Rodney Argo uses a Ford engine in a Chevy-dominated field. It is ironic that Ford doesn't show loyalty to his surname by using a Ford engine. Jimmy Crawford, the fastest qualifier March 3, was the 11th qualifier to face the clock; 26 drivers ran the faster of two timed laps on lap two. Blake Miller, the 2006 USAC-CRA rookie of the year, got back in the saddle with his new ride-the Ray Stansberry No. 75--after driving last year for Nadine Keller's Black Widow Racing team. He set 18th fastest time, led two laps in heat two and finished fourth. He finished 16th in the feature. Cory Kruseman Racing again fielded three sprint cars at PAS and all three were No. 21. Cory's car was 21K, Trimble's car was 21 and rookie Alex Schutte's was 21X. All three cars had the same maroon color and silver numbers at the last race. Wouldn't you know it, on March 3 all three Kruseman team 21 cars were in the same eight-car fourth heat. Fortunately, this week the numbers had different colors-21K retained the silver color, Trimble's 21was white and Schutte's 21X was dark yellow. Dave Ward, a long-time sprint car, open-wheel fan, official and CRA board member, lost his battle with heart problems at age 66 early Wed. February 28 in Torrance Memorial Hospital. Three years ago Norm Bogan authored an outstanding article about Dave that may be read on www.scrafan.com. Dave, Jack Brunner and Walt Mahony were instrumental in getting Ascot Park built in 1957. He worked with Indy 500 veteran Dempsey Wilson in his camshaft business and then Frank McGurk Engineering. Ed Iskenderian bought out McGurk and employed Dave as manager of his McGurk Division. He worked during the 1980s for Garrett Air-Research in the turbo-charger machine shop. Dave was the middle of three brothers from Muskogee, OK. His dad died in his 40s from a heart attack and in 1988 Dave suffered a heart attack and by-pass surgery followed. In 1999 at a sprint car race in Perris Dave had another heart attack in the pits and flat-lined. Paramedics in the pits brought Dave back with no adverse physical effects. He recently had heart problems and was hospitalized when the end came. The last time I spoke to Dave and wife Lois was in the PAS pits during the November 2006 Oval Nationals. On March 3 PAS announcer Scott Daloisio remembered Dave before racing began and said there would be a memorial lap for him by a sprint car driver holding a checkered flag. It will take place on March 24 when the CRA teams return to PAS following races in Las Vegas and Phoenix. Dave loved Frank Sinatra music so Daloisio played a song by Sinatra over the track PA system before the A-main and dedicated it to Dave. The open-casket viewing for Dave was Mon. March 5. About 90 persons attended the 11 a.m Tuesday funeral service at a mortuary in Torrance. Dave's six-year younger "tag-along" brother Jack, a 1970s CRA sprint car owner/driver, gave a heart-felt tribute to Dave as his role model. He said Dave always liked to help the little guy and anyone requesting his expertise. Racers sought out Dave in the pits for his accurate stop-watch clocking. Some of the drivers he helped were Jim Hurtubise, Jim Edwards, brother Jack, Kenny Gidney, Johnny Anderson, Gary McKeon, Bill & John Beavert and Mike English. Burial followed at Roosevelt Memorial Park Cemetery in Gardena. The site is located across the street from the long-gone Ascot track on Vermont Avenue that was Dave's racing headquarters from 1957 through 1990. AMA flat track motorcycle racer/USAC midget/CRA sprint car driver Don Hawley, CRA car owner Chuck Howard and AAA/USAC Indy 500 veteran Andy Linden are buried at Roosevelt also. Dave was laid to rest in a plot next to his son Ronnie, the only child of Dave and his wife Lois. Ronnie lost his life at age 12 in 1976 en route to a race in Phoenix when a truck plowed into the back of their car that had pulled to the side of the road near Palm Springs. It seems that the grim reaper has been over active lately in the open-wheel racing fraternity. On February 17 at PAS a pair of sprint cars driven by Kruseman (21k) and Spencer (50) took several slow laps in tandem for three long-time sprint car backers. Larry Jolly, 70, owner of Del Mar Wire and a long-time sponsor of Kruseman and the Harlan Willis 45 sprint car, lost his brief battle with cancer. Bill Gray, in his 80s, helped at PAS and showed guests around the site. The third loss was Riley Drake, father of former sprint car driver/builder Clark Drake, and a long-time backer of driver Rickie Gaunt. RIP to Dave, Larry, Bill and Riley. They will be missed by all who met them and shared their love for racing. With the graying and aging of open-wheel racing fans, sprint car racing in particular needs to attract new and younger fans from the ever increasing array of motor racing choices available. |
