|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| SANTOS USES FIRST TOYOTA-POWERED SPRINT CAR TO WIN TURKEY NIGHT GP USAC WESTERN SPRINT MAIN AT IRWINDALE - By Tim Kennedy |
|
|
|
Irwindale, Calif., Nov. 22 - In a prelude to the 67th Thanksgiving Night Grand Prix for midgets, Bobby Santos III made history Thursday by winning the first sprint car feature with Toyota power. The 22-year old from Franklin, Massachusetts is a current NASCAR Bill Davis Racing development driver. He won his first USAC 360 cubic inch Western Sprint Series 40-lap main event at Irwindale Speedway on the half-mile track with progressive banking from six to nine to 12 degrees in the turns and four degrees on the straight-aways. The track posted a $16,305 sprint car purse and winner Santos collected $2,500. Toyota entered its first cast iron 360 cubic inch V-8 block engine in the most prestigious USAC Western Series race of the season. The Ed Pink Racing Engines, of Van Nuys, Calif., developed engine is a derivative of the current eight-cylinder Toyota engine used this year in NASCAR Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series competition. Minor modifications were made to accommodate alcohol fuel run in USAC races as well as the switch from a carburetor to a mechanical fuel injection system. The aluminum cylinder heads used are similar to those used in the Toyota USAC National Midget Series. The new Toyota sprint car engine is also approved for the USAC Silver Crown Series. Toyota debuted its Ed Pink-built Toyota midget engine last year in the Copper World Classic USAC race at the Phoenix International Raceway mile track. Toyota also won its midget racing debut in that January 22, 2006 feature with fastest qualifier Dave Steele leading all 25-laps in the No. 91 Steve Lewis Nine Racing, Inc. midget. Santos, the third fastest qualifier in a Western Speed Racing/TRD K & N Filters Eagle chassis, started fourth in the six fastest qualifiers in inverted order with the quickest qualifier sixth. He jumped to second on the first lap and trailed pole starter Cole Whitt for 31 laps. On lap 32 the two leaders lapped slower cars and Whitt went to the outside. Santos cut to the inside and emerged with the lead that he maintained to the lap 40 checkered flag. Whitt, a 16-year old from Alpine, Calif. (eastern San Diego County) making his open-wheel debut at Irwindale, qualified sixth fastest in a 36-car field. He finished second in the No. 29w Red Bull/MWI Wholesale Beast/Chevy. He trailed by five yards (0.238) and earned $1,500. The diminutive, red-haired Whitt made his first appearance at Irwindale Speedway last month driving a NASCAR super late model stock car in the fifth annual Toyota All-Star Showdown. He raced in the 150-lap feature televised live by SPEED on October 19, but he dropped out with a mechanical problem after completing 95 laps. Whitt recorded the fastest laps of the USAC race Thursday at 16.807 (107.098 mph) on lap 5. Santos logged the second fastest lap of the race on lap 8 at 16.873. Only one other driver (Tony Hunt) ran a sub-17 second lap during the 40-lap feature. Hunt, the 2006 USAC Western Sprint champion and TNGP sprint car feature winner, blew the engine of his primary car Wednesday during 3:00 to 9:00 P.M open practice sessions for USAC cars under the auspices of Irwindale officials. He qualified the Alan Kaiser Rock Star/Red Line Oil Beast/Chevy second car 11th fastest. Hunt charged from 11th to third place, 0.534 behind the winner for a $1,200 payday. Fastest qualifier Nick Green, son of long-time sprint car driver Tim Green, of San Jose, started sixth and finished fourth in the All-Weld' Machine Beast/Shaver. He was 1.773 seconds behind Santos. Green earned $1,000 on his 21st birthday. Ryan Kaplan, a 21-year old Ford Focus Midget and USAC Western Midget Series veteran completing his first full season in 360 sprint cars, started and finished fifth. He drove the No. 21 Eagle/Losorwith for his father Ken Kaplan and wrapped up his first USAC sprint car driving championship in his rookie season in larger cars on longer tracks. Rounding out the top ten finishers in a 34-car starting field were Idaho's Mike Murgoitio (from 9th), Tracy Hines (from 16th), Greg Anderson (from 29th), Bradley Galedrige (from 13th) and Kody Swanson (from 3rd). There were 26 finishers and 19 drivers completed all 40 laps. The sprint car feature began at 9:28 and concluded at 10:13 p.m. The red light appeared from 9:34 to 10:01 p.m after a lap 15 violent crash involving two cars as they entered the first turn. Eighth place Eric Humphries, from Chowchilla, Calif., slammed of the protective attenuator at the edge of the first turn track exit to the pits. His Eagle/Chevy ricocheted back into passing cars and caught the tenth place car of Tanner Swanson, 16-year old brother of 19-year old fellow competitor Kody, the 2005 USAC Western Sprint champion/rookie of the year. Tanner's car, with heavy front-end damage and loss of steering, veered into the infield grass and stopped near the first turn inside wall. Both drivers climbed from their cars without serious injuries. Humphries limped to the ambulance and rode in it to the pits for precautionary evaluation and treatment. The restarted race went to lap 34 before a caution flag appeared. School teacher Audra Sasselli, a Ford Focus Midget graduate/feature winner from Visalia and veteran of 360 sprint car competition in Utah, brushed the fourth turn wall. Her Jim Waters Beast/Chevy spun out to the infield grass in her first start on the IS half-mile. She started 26th and passed NASCAR Nextel Cup star Kasey Kahne for position on lap 31and moved by another car a lap later for 13th position before her spin. Kahne, making his first TNGP appearance since 2002, finished 13th in a new Zarounian Motorsports/Kahne Racing Beast/Mopar. Davey Hamilton, a 2007 Indianapolis 500 top ten finisher, started tenth in one of Ted Finkenbinders three Beast/Chevys and dropped out on lap 15. Versatile Brad Noffsinger, a past NASCAR Cup driver for Mike Curb and a USAC Silver Crown, sprint and midget veteran, competed in a Finkenbinder Beast/Chevy. The Richard Petty Driving Experience head instructor came from his home in North Carolina, started 31st and finished 19th. Past BCRA Midget champion John Sarale drove the third Finkenbinder car to 12th position. Other noteworthy drivers in the race were Canadian Chris Schmelzle, who finished third in a recent TNGP sprint car feature at IS, and World of Outlaws winged sprint car feature winner Randy Hannagan. Former Californian Hannagan, in a second Nick Rescino Beast/Chevy out of San Francisco, finished 38 laps for 26th place in his first paved track experience at IS. Schmelzle was the first retiree on lap 13 and finished 34th. The race had three female drivers-Sasselli, series veteran Shauna Hogg (who finished 23rd) and Jessica Helberg, 20, a Santa Rosa, Calif. driver who finished fifth in the 2006 TNGP sprint feature and 22nd this year. The transplanted Californian spent this year racing late model stock cars in the South. Time trials for sprint cars were conducted from 4:54 to 5:43 p.m after the electronic timing system problem during Ford Focus qualifying was repaired. Green's 16.690 was quickest as 35 of 36 car present posted a time. To pick up time lost during the earlier FF timing delay, USAC officials canceled a 12-lap last chance race for qualifiers 15th and slower. The first eight finishers of the qualifying race were slated to advance to the 40-lap feature. Instead, USAC started all 34 available sprint cars in the feature and used a six-car inversion instead of a straight-up start with the quickest qualifier on the pole. (Use race results summary agate & point standings from USAC HQ.) |
