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Kruseman occupied the role of driver/owner/mentor/instructor. He brought four of his Viper/Mopar sprinters and all had the letter K after the car numbers. Cory drove his # 21K as he did last season. Second year sprint driver Alex Schutte, a former IKF karting champion and multi-time Formula Ford race winner from Redding, drove # 5K. Two sprint car rookies made their debuts in Kruseman Motorsports cars. Austin Mero, a 16-year old high school sophomore from the central California town of Kingsburg, drove the # 71K. He was the 2007 Ventura Raceway Junior Ford Focus Midget Champion in a developmental series for drivers ages 14-17. Former moto-cross racer Henry Clarke, an 18-year old from Orange, CA, drove the # 41K. Henry raced a handful of 360 sprint wingless races late last year. Cory's # 5K and 71K sprinters rode to the track in tandem on an open trailer towed by the Kruseman driving school tow vehicle. His other two cars were in the enclosed 18-wheeler trailer as all of the cars made the freeway trip home to Ventura together.

Other 410 rookies at PAS February 8-9 were:
. # 17F - Nic Faas, 18-year old Huntington Beach resident, is a fourth generation driver and 2007 USAC Ford Focus Midget champion. Nic impressed all by setting second fastest qualifying time Saturday.
. # 27 - Shawn Kautz, (SKE Team) of Agua Dulce. He won a 6/19/04 NMRA-TQ Midget feature at Santa Maria Speedway in the # 4 Jody Bandfield TQ. At PAS Shawn raced a 2003 TCR sprinter that was one of Cory Witherill's # 61 cars several years ago.
. # 30 - Chad Boat, 16-year old son of CRA, USAC and IRL winner Billy Boat, of Phoenix, made his PAS debut and was eighth fastest qualifier in his first competition at PAS. The high school sophomore in April will be heading to the Midwest as he did briefly last summer to compete in selected USAC sprint and
midget races.
. # 85 - Brien Kinney, is a 48-year old ex-moto-cross cycle racer from Ojai. He drove the # 85 ex-Matt Stewart Maxim that had been the # 85 Lance Gremmit one-time PAS feature winning car in the final November race some years ago. Bill Persol bought the car from Dennis Stewart, Matt's dad.
. # 26 - Billy Blinn, of Costa Mesa, drove his Okie chassis built by Toby Sampson of Torrance. It had the same blue and white paint job that was on it as the Fischer # 29 when Jay Drake drove it.
. # 34 - Kenny Perkins is a 16-year old from Victorville and past sprint car rookie of the year at Victorville Speedway. The second-generation driver is the son of Will Perkins, 50, who "raced VRA 360 sprints from 1998 to 2005 and won eight main events." Will said his best VRA point finish was tenth in the only season he ran the full season. Kenny's # 34 white and black car, which was powered by a 360 engine Feb. 8-9, is a Maxim. Ohio's Jac Haudenschild drove the car to a feature victory at Oskaloosa IA in the high-dollar,
open-competition non-wing race on the Monday night of the 2006 Knoxville (IA) Nationals winged sprint car classic. Why did the Perkins team use # 34 in CRA? Kenny was born at 9:34 a.m and he sees 34 on his clock a lot. He is a baseball pitcher and wears uniform # 34 at Serrano High School in Phelan. He has pitched 34 shutouts from Little League play through high school according to his proud dad Will.
. # 48 - Jonas Reynolds, is a 26-year old from San Diego who raced his # 48 Bullet/Gaerte a few times with USAC-CRA late last year.

The 2008 USAC-CRA rookie of the year battle is enjoined. They all raced competitively at the two-day PAS season opener and figure to improve as the season progresses. They had to start at the back of their races February 8-9 no matter what positions their qualifying times earned them in each race until USAC-CRA officials got to see them in racing conditions. Faas started sixth as the fastest of four rookies in heat two; he finished fifth, to just miss making the A-main. His second quickest time should've placed him in row one of the B-main, but as the fastest rookie in the race Nic had to start the 12-lap B in 12th position in a 20-car field. Nic raced up to eighth, two positions shy of making his first CRA A-main. He also finished eighth in the B-main a night earlier. Nic and his dad Jerry were seen talking to USAC-CRA officials after racing concluded to learn how long it would be before Nic could start races from his earned position. Some of the rookies raced more impressively than veteran drivers who started in front of them.

New 360 sprint car drivers were:
. # 2 - Matt Shedarowich, a 16-year old Lake Forest resident, drove Kevin Kierce's Chevy. He competed in winged CA Lightning Sprints at Barona Speedway and other tracks He made his sprint car debut in the two-day event at USA Speedway in Tucson over the New Year's Day.
. # 24 - Don Gansen, a 24-year old from San Bernardino and 2006 CA Lightning Sprint champion, raced his colorful new in 2007 ITI sprinter from Glenn Crossno. He raced it in a handful of races last year and will race at Victorville, Ventura and Perris at times this year.
. # 1 - Brian Williams, is a 50-year old from Newport Beach, who paid the $1,500 sprint car rental to Will Perkins. It was the Stinger chassis that Will raced as # 50 in VRA and is now one of his racing school cars at the banked, 3/8-mile dirt Victorville Speedway. Will ran his sprint car driving school on Sundays at Victorville last year and put numerous students through the course. Glenn Crossno's ITI firm builds the 360 engines for both his # 1 and # 34 cars.
. # 8x - David Bezio raced the car driven by Nate Ziegler in recent years until Nate moved north to Colorado according to one report. Ziegler's father still owns the black and red @ # 8z.

CAR INFO: The # 2 Glenn Crossno car driven in the PAS Feb. 8-9 races by fast rising 17-year old Cole Whitt, of Alpine (eastern San Diego County) was Glenn's # 97x ITI car that Jon Stanbrough drove in the November 2007 races at PAS and Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix. Cole is the first cousin of NASCAR truck and stock car driver Brandon Whitt, of San Diego. Brandon won his only NCTS race at Loudon, N.H. two years ago in the # 1 truck. He had a sub-drive last year but is looking for a NASCAR ride currently. The # 42 TCR owned by Dwight Cheney, of Glendora, had 18-year old Brady Bacon, from Broken Arrow, OK, in the seat for the PAS opener. He experienced ignition problems both nights and dropped out of the B-main "because the timing was off." The # 92 Sertich car driven by Luis Espinoza February 8-9 was a back-up car assembled by the team in the week following Luis' first turn flip during the Saturday, Feb. 2 open practice session at PAS. That crash bent the frame and wiped out the front end of the team's other # 92 sprinter.

DRIVER INFO: Australia native Peter Murphy, the 2007 SCRA 360 champion, drove Warren Dorothy.s # 21A Stinger chassis only Friday, Feb. 8 when he was ill with flu symptoms. Peter dropped out on lap 25 of 30 from 11th position. He went home to recuperate and did not return to race the next night. Alan Ballard, of Bakersfield, was in the pits both nights and raced Dorothy's 21A Saturday and made the A-main. He dropped out early and finished 22nd. Rip Williams, a 51-year old 30-year sprint car veteran driver (1978 co-CRA rookie of the year and 2004 USAC-CRA champion), had a painful flip Friday in the feature on lap 2 leaving turn four. R. J. Johnson, a two-time Arizona midget racing champion, hiked the front wheels of his car exiting turn four and Rip got into the back of R.J's car. Rip veered right into the wall and collected the car of Danny Sheridan. The crash ripped away the metal belly under Rip's feet, exposing his left foot, which incurred three broken bones. Rip was in pain when he left the car and was driven to a hospital. Reportedly, doctors were to pin the bones or put Rip's foot in a cast a few days after the crash. Speculation is that Rip will be out of racing at least six to eight weeks. His Jory Chevy sprint car and race-car hauler were not in the pits Saturday.

At PAS the temperature Friday was 71 degrees at 4:30 p.m and 51 at 11:03 p.m. Blowing wind had the flags straight out until the B-mains, making it very chilly. Saturday at PAS it was 70 at 5:26 p.m and 53 at 11:25 p.m, but the absence of significant wind made it seem much warmer Saturday. Friday's attendance was about a quarter full and nearly all were in the top rows of the main grandstand. On Saturday the crowd increased to about half-capacity or 3,000 to 3,500 with nearly all fans in the main grandstand from the fourth to first turns. NMRA-TQ owners/drivers Ron Ahrendt and Steve Parke were in section C. Joe Vargo of the Riverside Press-Enterprise was present to report on the season opener.

USAC Western VP Tommy Hunt was present in the pits. Starter Eddie Ramirez dropped his yellow flag on the track at one point. The $4.00 PAS two-day program had USAC-CRA 2007 champion Tony Jones and the # 4 Alexander Trucking car, in full-four wheel drift, on the cover. Cory Kruseman's first sprint car training session of 2008 at PAS will take place in April.

Black Widow racing impressive 2007 CRA rookies Blake Miller (in dark blue # 93) and Tyler Brown (in red # 96) qualified back-to-back Saturday. Miller qualified faster than his teammate both nights. Friday Miller started first and led the first three laps and finished third in a spare Sled chassis his short-handed crew put together two weeks before the February 8-9 races. Brown finished 15th. Saturday night in the feature Miller finished 8th and Brown was 12th. These "super-sophs" look like top ten contenders this year. Jesse Hockett, from Warsaw, MO, drove VKCC 410 and 360 sprinters. The Belgian owner is Tom Van Keirsbilck, of Shawnee Mission, KS. VKCC on the hood stands for Van Keirsbilck Construction Company. Arizona car owner Jim Massey (No. 2az, 5az & 12az) provides financial support to bring the team west to race at PAS and Manzanita.

CARS: # 32 is a new car to the USAC-CRA series and is owned by first-time car owner Roger Serna, of Corona. He owns Data Bookkeeping System (DBS on the hood) in Placentia. It is a bookkeeping, payroll and tax service and part of RAS Enterprises. Roger, attired all in black shirt and pants ala Johnny Cash, is seeking a season-long sponsor so he can run the entire season, not just the PAS races. Serna was a sprint car fan at Ascot Park since the 1960s. His wife is from Indiana and while they were in Indiana for a visit he bought the sprint car that Greg Corey drove to the Paragon (IN) Speedway 2006 track championship. It is a Competition Welding chassis built at Gasoline Alley in Indianapolis. Why did Roger put # 32 on it? "I contacted the USAC West office in Sacramento and they gave me a choice of open car numbers. I picked 32 because that was my football uniform number as a running back at Valencia High." Serna and his new team had the car in action without a number on it Saturday, Feb. 2 for the PAS open practice. Veteran driver Dan Hillberg, 47, drove it that day but said he is getting too old to do this anymore. Dan recommended midget and sprint car veteran Jordan Hermansader, who raced it at PAS Feb. 8-9 with a two-tone green number 32 on it. Friday he qualified 23rd and missed the A-main buy one position in the B. On Saturday Jordan qualified 21st best of 39 drivers; and finished 12th in the B during his first weekend in the unfamiliar car.

# 16 - 360 sprint of Mike Martin, from Yuma, AZ, told me the Yuma Speedway half-mile dirt track is still there but it has not operated for years. It is just east of Yuma and overlooks the lights of Tijuana, Mexico and the nearby US military air base in Yuma. CRA sprints raced there in the late 1980s or early 1990s. It just needs a promoter to get the track operational.

Chris D'Arcy, a 35-year old Folsom, CA resident, drove the red and black # 77 360 cu. in. car, but he blew the engine Friday during hot laps and never got to race either day. He said he raced his 360 one-time with USAC-CRA at PAS at the July 4 holiday race. He usually races at Hanford and Tulare. It was a long trip south from his Sacramento area home for no payoff. Hopefully Chris will get to compete at PAS in the future.

FLIPS: There were nine flips (four in 360s and five in 410s) during the PAS February 8-9 doubleheader. Friday 360 flippers were--Newt Price (Heat 3), Shon Deskins and Matt Shedarowich (A-main) and (Sat.)--John Aden). The 410 flip victims Friday were John Butler (Heat 3), Bret Mellenberndt (H-4) and Rip Williams (A-main). Sat. flippers were Billy Blinn (B-main) and Danny Sheridan (A-main).

MAIN EVENT RACE LEADERS: In 360 mains (Fri.)--Jesse Hockett led L 1-4, R. J. Johnson was on top L 5, and Sheridan paced L 6-20. The Sat. 360 main had two leaders-Rusty Carlisle L 1-3 and Sheridan L 4-30. The 410 A-mains each had three leaders. Friday had Blake Miller L 1-2, Sheridan L 3-25, and Kruseman L 26-30. The Saturday leaders were David Cardey L 1-12, Mike Spencer L 13-28 and Kruseman L 29-30.

Former motorcycle racer John Aden , a 35-year old Apple Valley resident, drove his own # 7 Maxim 360 sprinter. He raced eight times at Victorville Speedway and won six main events and the 2007 track championship. He wants to land a CRA 410 ride ASAP. John opened some eyes with his fast and furious driving and caught the eye of track announcer Scott Daloisio. Friday at PAS Aden led all laps of his heat and won by 30-yards. In the 20-lap A-main John started 14th and was up to ninth when he spun out in turn three on L 9. He restarted last (18th) and raced back to sixth place by the L 20 checker with 13 cars still racing. John's engine blew after the checker. In Saturday's 30 lap A-main John started from pole position and was in P. 2 on lap two. He bicycled entering turn one and the car flipped high in a twisting motion and landed overturned at the cushion. John was uninjured, but his car was "junk" literally. He finished 20th (last). Back in the pits, his crew cut apart the twisted frame and front end, leaving it all as junk for spectators or the PAS garbage collector. The team loaded only the unbent tail and back wheels/axle in their trailer. Reportedly, Aden was building a new 360-sprinter during the following week after his expensive PAS weekend in pursuit of the $2,000 first place payoff.

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