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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| VENTURA 360 SPRINTS &
USAC FORD FOCUS MIDGETS by Tim Kennedy |
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Los Angeles, CA. - Marrch 17, 2007 --- I traveled north on highway
101 Sat. Mar. 17 to Ventura Raceway for some open-wheel 360 Sprint
Car and USAC Ford Focus Midget action next to the Ventura beach and
Pacific Ocean. The track's $2.00 weekly 32-page program proclaims
Ventura Raceway as "The Best Little Dirt Track in
America". The moist, low cloud cover Saturday ensured a tacky, racy fifth-mile track surface all night. Ventura's high temperature Saturday was 62 and the ambient temperature was 57 at 6:00 p.m. It was still 56-degrees after the fourth and final main event, but it wasn't cold because there wasn't any appreciable wind. The field included 32 VRA 360 cu. in. sprints, 17 VRA 360 senior sprints, 10 USAC FF Midgets, 11 Junior Focus Midgets and 8 sport compacts for a total of 78-cars in the pits. About ten Cory Kruseman Sprint and Midget Driving School cars (sprints & midgets) occupied one section of the pits. They required a handful of tow vehicles and trailers to get them back to the school's nearby shop. Cory's school had an informative half-page ad in the Ventura program that offered three levels of training in real midgets or sprint cars. Basic ($400 for two track sessions, about 25-laps), intermediate ($575 for three track sessions, about 40-laps) and advanced ($1,300 for approximately 150-laps) are offered. Gift certificates are available by phoning (805) 649-1243. Cory's school uses Ventura Raceway as its "classroom". His students rent school cars to compete. The Ventura program lists 71 VRA Sprint Cars on the 2007 roster, 34 Senior Sprints, 26 USAC Ford Focus Midgets, 6 Junior FF Midgets (11 actually raced) and 27 sport compacts (ex-pony car class renamed because of the declining availability of Ford Pintos and the use of more foreign sporty cars). With a 10:00 p.m track curfew, promoter/track announcer Jim Naylor started heat races at 5:30. The rapid-paced night began the first of four main events (90 total laps) at 7:50 and the final checkered flag flew at 8:57 p.m after the VRA sprint 30-lap feature. That's an early night. About 9:40 a power-outage hit the Ventura area a mile south of the track. Carrows Restaurant and surrounding businesses such as Vons Supermarket, a Chevron gas station, Denny's Restaurant and hotels on Harbor Blvd went dark. People in the midst of meals, in restroom stalls and on hotel elevators had to cope with darkness for one-hour. The growing VRA Junior FF Midget field had nine rookies in a field of 11. Rookie Alex Bowman (# 55) won the 20-lap main. The USAC FF Midget California Dirt Series season opener had only ten cars entered and nine cars started the 30-lap feature. Nick Carlson, beginning his third FF season, started second and led all the way. He turned 19 only days before his first FF career main event victory. Most of his family were absent on Nick's big night because they were attending a wedding. Nick left the track as the USAC FF Midget point leader for the first time. He has 67 points and Ventura fourth starter Dennis Howell has 64.Bobby Michnowicz, the 2006 USAC FF Dirt Champion, started sixth and finished third for his 62-point total. Carlson, from Norwalk in SE Los Angeles County, drove his dad Bill's No. 44 Dave Ellis-built chassis that they use as a "combo car" on dirt and paved tracks. Nick went home with a Ventura Raceway first place main event plaque and his tenth place plaque for his 2006 USAC FF Dirt Track Series campaign. He was unable to attend the USAC Western banquet January 27 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Arcadia, so USAC officials presented the 2006 plaque to him at the first 2007 race. Next the VRA Senior Sprint drivers (age 45+) ran a 20-lap feature. There were two leaders-Mike Cook for ten laps and then Steve Stasa for the final ten laps after he made an inside pass in turn four. Wiley Miller was second and his brother Danny (the father of 2006 USAC-CRA 410 sprint rookie of the year Blake Miller) finished eighth. John Richards, 75, finished down a lap in 11th with his blue # 52x. He looked smooth even if he wasn't among the fastest drivers on the track. In a 20-lap sports compact main Greg Raap edged the Joel Chavez orange & white # 20 car--(Tony Stewart fan??) by about three yards. The 20-car, 30-lap VRA Sprint main event had Hobie Conway on the pole in her own # 29. She is a hard-working, quad-mounted female EMT at the track and a Coca-Cola truck driver during the week. Gary Taylor started alongside and led the first two laps. Then fourth starter Kevin Kierce, the son of 1963 CRA sprint rookie of the year Jim Kierce, made an inside pass in turn four and led lap 3-25. His son Justin will turn 16 on May 5 and intends to become a third generation sprint car driver. Kevin held a straight-away lead by lap 10. Cory Kruseman, started third in a 2000 TCR # 6 Jesse Denome sprint car and pressured Taylor to the tenth lap when Cory took second from Greg. Cory cut Kevin's lead to half a straight. Third generation driver Clark Templeman III stalled on lap 16, causing a yellow flag. It was classic sprint car racing from lap 16-26 with Kevin low and Cory high. Only one length separated them from lap 21-25. Then Cory made an outside pass through the third and fourth turns as the two leaders approached a slower car. Taylor dropped out of P.3 on lap 24 to earn 17th position. Kevin pressured Cory but on lap 28 he ran into the spinning # 14 car in the first turn low groove. Kevin restarted at the back and finished ninth. Cory won by 20-yards over 2006 VRA champion Luis Espinoza, the fifth starter. They rank 1-2 in VRA points after two races. Former CRA driver Dennis Rodriguez came from sixth starting to finish third in his # 45, the ex-Harlan Willis car that Kruseman raced for years as a 410 in CRA. Sixteen of 20 starters finished and 12 drivers completed all 30 laps. Kruseman did not send his 410 sprint cars to Phoenix for the March 17 USAC-CRA event at Manzanita. He is not chasing points this year and is racing closer to his Ventura home, running his driver development program by helping his driving school students race his school midgets and sprint cars. "Professor" Cory now has two 2007 main event victories in JD Motorsports # 6 Jesse Denome, of San Diego, cars. Cory won the 30-lap USAC Midget "Copper on Dirt" feature Feb. 10 at Manzanita in Denome's # 6 Spike/Esslinger midget. His VRA 360 triumph at Ventura came aboard Denome's 2000 TCR chassis that has been idle for years. Cory raced a # 6 Denome Beast Silver Crown car at PIR in 2001 (in the consy) and at Irwindale Speedway 3/24/01. He finished seventh in the Last Chance race at IS to earn first alternate status for the 30-car, 100-lap feature. Cory started 13th and finished 21st in the 8/2/01 S/C race at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Denome's # 6 Worldgate Networks car. The car did not compete in 2002. A crewman said Denome sold the Beast S/C # 6 to current USAC-CRA sprint car owner Glenn Crossno for Levi Jones to drive in 2003. Crossno (ITI Performance Motorsports) renumbered the ex-Denome Beast S/C car # 18 and it was totaled in the first race under Crossno's ownership at the March 21-23, 2003 PIR Copper World Classic near Phoenix. During a 15-lap consolation race to add six cars to the 24-fastest qualifiers, Teddy Beach ran into Levi in turn one according to Glenn. He only salvaged parts of the car. Crossno bought one of the Dave Steele-driven # 19 Northside Propane Beasts from Bob Gratton, of Florida. Crossno also had a dirt S/C car for Levi and the team made seven S/C races, with an eighth place at Terre Haute, IN on June 14 their best result. The ITI # 18 car earned 110-points and finished 31st out of 73 car entrants with 2003 S/C points. After a year in S/C racing Crossno sold both his paved and dirt S/C cars to jump into sprint car racing in earnest. Wayne Reutimann, Jr, of Zephyrhills, FL, bought both of Crossno's S/C cars and he raced as # 00. Wayne made ten races with a seventh place his best result on July 24 at the Milwaukee mile. He scored 154 points, good enough for 24th in driver points and 27th in car entrant points. The VRA 2007 rookie driver class of five includes Kruseman development drivers Craig Bailey and Alex Schutte, plus Brent Camarillo, 18-year old brother of USAC-CRA 410 rookie candidate Brian Camarillo and son of long-time Kruseman sponsor Bill Camarillo. Cody Kershaw and Jake Hodges are the other newcomers. Jake, a 23-year old, clean-cut nice guy, is a Simi Valley resident and Los Angeles City fireman with a year and a half as a firefighter. He worked at station 72 in the San Fernando Valley until his March 19 transfer to station 48 in San Pedro. He ran his second night of sprint car racing March 17 a week after his debut at Ventura. Jake came from eighth to fifth in his heat race. In the ten-car, 12-lap B main he started and finished third aboard the # 32 Stinger chassis (a common chassis in VRA). Long-time CDCRA dwarf car owner Jim Cherry of Carpet Coop owns Jake's VRA sprint car. He made his first main event with one position to spare. Jake started 19th in the 20-car field, ran smoothly and finished 16th. He got lapped on lap 12 and a second time on lap 26, but he held his line and did not present a hazard for leaders as he gained valuable experience. Look for Jake and the other rookies to find success this season during the 23-race VRA schedule from March 10 to November 17.Last year 89 drivers competed in at least one VRA race. The VRA Senior Sprint series ran 15 races with seven different winners and 40 drivers scoring points. The VRA Junior Ford Focus Midgets ran 11-races and had six winners. Eleven teenagers competed during the inaugural Junior FF Series, a concept originated by promoter Naylor and since duplicated elsewhere. |
