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| RACING SCENE Column – USAC 3-STATES WESTERN SWING – Part I of III: by Tim Kennedy |
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Los Angeles, CA.-- My 2009 racing season on the road got off to a rousing start from February 19-28 with a 1,380 mile trip through three states--Arizona, Nevada and California. The USAC open-wheel “Western Swing” was the competitive, fan-pleasing season opener for the Silver Crown, National and CRA Regional Sprint cars and National and Western Midget Series. Strong car counts, crowded pits and impressive crowds in the grandstands were in evidence at all three dirt tracks—Manzanita in Phoenix, the LVMS half-mile in Las Vegas and The PAS in Perris. The fourth race of the World of Outlaws 2009 season also took place in Las Vegas after three opening rounds at Volusia Speedway in Florida. An almost full 8,000 seat main grandstand greeted 27 WoO teams. Between the Phoenix and Las Vegas races I made side trips to new Arizona ballparks at Goodyear and Glendale for MLB Cactus League teams. Visits to the USA Raceway dirt track south of Tucson, to the Tombstone, AZ reenactment of the famous Earps vs Clantons gunfight at the OK Corral, and a drive across the Hoover Dam on Highway 93 rounded out the memorable racing trip. I recommend this trip to racing fans next year if it becomes an annual series of events on the racing calendar as it should. Arranging all my notes from the trip took time; I have arranged them into three columns. Part I will be about the Phoenix Copper on Dirt (CoD). Part II will cover Las Vegas (both USAC and WoO). Part III will conclude the reports with Perris action. PHOENIX: The 3rd annual USAC Sands Chevrolet “Copper on Dirt” presented by NAPA at the half-mile clay Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix was the best one yet. The race is run in memory of late Arizona open-wheel stars Roger McCluskey and Gene Brown, who retired from racing and died later from medical causes. This event kicked off the USAC K & N Silver Crown, National and Lucas Oil CRA Regional Sprint Car Series and the Mopar National and Western Midget Series. It is a must-see event and a reason for fans from cold climates to come to the Valley of the Sun. Preliminary races were Friday night February 20 and the feature races were Saturday, February 21. A practice session at Manzanita Speedway for all three divisions on Thursday, February 19 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm kicked off the weekend and grandstand admission was free for the practice night. Manzy owners Mel and Bobby Martin had to be pleased by the turnout of competitors and fans alike this yet after rainy weather wiped out Friday CoD racing last year. The CoD is a perfect bookend to Manzy's big November sprint car classic—the Western World Championship—that dates back to 1968. CoD HISTORY: The first CoD took place on Feb. 9-10, 2007. Winners were: Midgets-Cory Kruseman in Jesse Denome's red No. 6, plus Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in both the Sprints 40-lapper and the S/C 50-lap initial S/C race at Manzy. The second CoD (Feb. 16, 2008) became a one-day affair with afternoon prelims and evening features after persistent rain wiped out Friday competition. Winners were: Midgets 25 L main-Darren Hagen (No. 67), Sprints 40 L-Shane Cottle (No. 4), and S/C 50 L-Jerry Coons, Jr. (No. 27). This year the winners were: Midgets-25-L Brad Sweet (No. 49), Sprints 40-L Darren Hagen (No. 93H) and S/C-50-L Bud Kaeding (No. 29). Temperatures at Manzanita this year ranged from 77 degrees at 3:40 pm to 56 degrees after racing concluded. TOTAL PURSE: Manzanita paid the Midget competitors $20,250, plus $24,850 to sprint car teams and $38,300 to S/C competitors for a total payout of $83,400. DRIVERS BY STATES: (Midgets)--Twelve states were represented in the Midgets 40 driver field. CA led with 13 drivers. Host AZ and IN each had 8 drivers. IL and OK sent 2 drivers each. FL, KS, MO, NC, OH, TN and TX each sent one driver. (Sprint Cars)--The 55 cars came from eight states as follows: CA-28, AZ-14, IN-6, MO and OK-2 each, IL, NC and NM-1 driver each. The 16 S/C drivers hailed from eight states as follows: CA-5, IN-4, IL-2, and AR, AZ, MI, NC and MO—1 each. Four drivers--Jerry Coons, Jr, Tracy Hines, Levi Jones and Josh Wise-- raced in all three USAC divisions. CHASSIS/ENGINE DEPT.: MIDGETS--Ten chassis makes were represented in the 40-car Midget field. Spike led with 23 cars, followed by Stealth with four, Beast, Buckley, Bullet, Ellis and FSC with two cars each, and solo cars by builders Eagle, TCR and Triple X. There were 13 different Midget engines represented as follows: Esslinger-16, Fontana-6, Mopar-4, Chevy-3, Gaerte and Toyota-2 each, and solo engines by Brayton-Toyota, Pro Flyer, Scat V-4, Stanton-Toyota, Speedway Mopar, TRD Toyota and Wirth Mopar. ... SPRINT CARS--There were 55 sprint cars in action; 18 different chassis raced at Manzy. Maxim dominated with 24. Sled had 5, DRC-4, Stinger and Viper-3 each, Ellis, Stealth and Triple X-2 each. Buckley, Bullet, Competition Welding, Eagle, F-5, Gamester, JEI, J & J, Rocket, Stinger-Argo had 1 car each. Sprint car engines came from 25 builders. Chevy led with 10. Shaver had 6, Mopar and Ott-5 each, Downing-4, Wesmar-Chevy-3, Claxton, Gaerte, and Kistler Chevy-2 each, and single engines from Advanced Engines, Brannan Chevy, Borello, Gaerte Mopar, Esslinger, Fontana Ford, ITI Performance, HP, JD Performance, Ott Donovan, Pro Flyer, Performance Plus, Speedway Mopar, Stanton, Speedway Chevy and Toyota. ... SILVER CROWN-- The 16 S/C cars present came from seven constructors: Beast-7, DRC, J & J and Maxim-2 each, and single cars by Clark Drake, Eagle and Rick Stewart. There were nine S/C engine builders. Chevy was listed for 5 entries, Toyota had 4, and single engines came from Downing, Dynotech, Ed Pink Ford, Foxco, Mopar, Gaerte Chevy and Roush-Yates Ford. PRACTICE NIGHT: The Thursday (Feb. 19) open practice at Manzy attracted 28 Midgets, 22 sprints and 11 S/C cars onto the tacky clay half-mile. The car counts Friday were 40 Midgets, 55 Sprints and 16 S/C cars for a 111 total car count. Robby Josett, 17, from So CA at 8:50 pm raced into turn three during the final Midget hot-lap session and flipped hard into the crash-wall, denting the metal upper wall. His yellow and blue No. 2 family-owned midget landed overturned with one of his arms pinned under the roll cage. Rescuers quickly reached and freed Robby. He suffered a partially collapsed lung and lower back vertebrae injury. Robby was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Hospital at 3rd Ave. & Thomas in Phoenix. An MRI also discovered a cyst or growth at the base of his skull. Doctors told him to see his doctor in California to pursue that matter. They installed a back brace to stabilize his vertebrae injury. Robby spent Thursday and Friday nights in the hospital pediatrics wing because he is under age 18. He was discharged Saturday afternoon and returned to Manzanita to watch the three main events. ... Manzy's new GM is former driver Hollywood Leary. Manzy's track was well-prepared and racy Thursday. Friday a new guy decided how the track would be prepared (less water) and it became dry, slick, dusty and took rubber. Regular track preparer Lonnie Johnson, who left Manzy Friday when his expertise was ignored by the new guy, was back in charge of track preparation Saturday per Bobby Martin. Lonnie delivered another racy, well-prepared clay track Saturday. ... A sign at the Manzy pit board concerning the cost of racing fuel stated: “Methanol in Phoenix $3.40 per gallon and $150 for a drum. At Las Vegas methanol cost is $5.50 per gallon and $230 for a drum.” Three USAC-CRA rookie drivers raced in all three “Western Swing” stops. Austin Williams, 18, (Rip's second son), Ronnie Gardner, 20, (son of Jeff and nephew of Jack Gardner, Jr.) and Mathew Shadarowich, 16, intend to race for 2009 CRA Rookie of the Year. ... Former racing champion and ex-Tony Stewart Racing employee Jay Drake is now working to develop USAC Midget driver Ricky Ehrgott (No. 8). The Brandon, FL teen is racing the full USAC National Midget Series. Ricky also made his first sprint car start in No. 3F during the western swing. ... CRA sprint drivers Mike Spencer and Rickie Gaunt made their Silver Crown debuts Feb. 20-21 at Manzy. Spencer, the 2008 CRA champion, drove the Pritchett-Price No. 42 Stewart/Chevy. Gaunt drove the Gardner Racing No. 96 Drake/Downing S/C car last raced by Lee Brewer in Las Vegas during the 1997 S/C race won by Tony Stewart. The So CA-based Gardner team was unable to get a part for the self-starter and needed push starts. ... Manzy's Friday format of S/C, sprint car and midget C-mains, heat races and 10-lap “Copper Bowl Shootout” races that determined the first ten starting positions for the Saturday mains provided action-packed racing. I was able to pre-pick only 11 of the 20 sprint and midget drivers (55%) who advanced by finishing in the top two heat race positions. Normally, 75% accuracy is common but the deep in talent 11-car sprint and eight-car midget fields made prognosticating difficult. Windy McDonald, has been chief announcer for 53 of Manzy's 58 years dating back to the August 1951 debut of car racing at the former greyhound dog racing track. He received an appropriate award before Saturday's features. Windy received a plaque as the second ever inductee in the Arizona Sports Communicators Hall of Fame. The first inductee was Al McCoy of the Phoenix Roadrunners hockey team. “I'm speechless,” Windy said during the presentation at the starting line. Retired driver Rick Setser, the infield announcer, said that was the first time Windy has been speechless. During the CoD event Windy handled the PA mike for all sprint car races and USAC's Rob Klepper announced the Midget and S/C races. ...Don Fike's RFMS Midget and S/C team has sponsorship from Liberty Village Retirement Communities of Illinois. Don owns the firm which has many retirement communities in the USA—25 in IL, 3 in FL, 3 in NV and 1 in IA. Don told me that long-time USAC Midget multi-car (No. 93, 96, 97, 98 & 99) team owner Howard Linne, 87, died in August 2008 at his residence in a Liberty Village site. ... Sprint car No. 5K driven by Arizonan Robert King is a 360 cu. in. Chevy owned by Bill McDowell, from Goodyear, AZ. He is the older brother of NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Michael McDowell, an ex-Michael Waltrip No. 00 Toyota driver and current No. 47 NNS driver. ... Group time trials Friday, Feb. 20 had four green flag laps. Sprint car drivers qualified in six groups of nine cars at a time from 6:15-6:48 pm. Midgets qualified in five groups of eight cars each from 6:55-7:29 pm with one red flag for a flip. S/C cars qualified in three groups of 6, 6 and 4 cars from 7:36-7:49 pm. Former NASCAR truck and NNS driver Shane Hmiel, 28, of Pleasant Garden, N.C, raced in S/C and Midget events. Lindsey, his blond girl friend of one year, said Shane has fun and enjoys racing open wheel cars after being banned by NASCAR for drug use. A successful drug rehab program enabled him to restart his racing career. ... Jimmy Crawford renumbered his No. 51 Triple X sprinter No. 11 to honor the late Jim Gresham, who lost his life in a highway accident. ... Brady Bacon drove the No. 99 Triple X sprint car for the husband and wife Eubanks team from Oklahoma. It was the Tel-Star Communications No. 5-star car driven last year by Gary Taylor. ... Manzy ran out of the Manzy Mag 32-page program before 7:00 pm Friday because there was a question about whether fans would be buying programs during the current economic recession. They did. There was an ample supply of the $5.00 programs Saturday. The Friday Feb. 20 crowd filled about 90% of the front grandstand and the following night found the grandstand almost 100% full from the fourth turn to the first turn. Additionally, the pits were crowded with racers and spectators. ... Author Buzz Rose self-published 1,200 of his “Racers at Rest” hard-cover book about open-wheel racers who lost their lives racing. He sold about 100 copies at the Tulsa Chili Bowl during January and now has only about 250 books remaining. ... NBC Channel 12 in Phoenix had CoD interviews from Manzy on the Thursday, Feb. 19 10 pm newscast. It ran interviews with AZ favorites J. J. Yeley, Chad Boat and Jerry Coons, Jr. Friday and also had words on air from Manzy announcer/PR man Windy McDonald. Lucas Oil Motor-sports TV cameras taped CoD racing action for later telecast on the Versus Network. FRIDAY DNFs: Mechanical problems--(Midgets): Casey Shuman's No. 37 broke a timing belt. Kody Swanson (No. 19K) had the first heat pole but an engine fire on L 1 ended his night. In H-2 USAC 2008 Midget champ Cole Whitt suddenly pulled to the infield from turn four with a broken rear end. A. J. Fike DNS his RFMS midget because he was ill with an upper respiratory problem. He saved his strength to race in the S/C 10-lap race in his primary 2009 division. (Sprints): Yeley had the H-3 pole but a flat RR tire caused his DNS. (S/C): Josh Wise drove the Contos No. 4 S/C car and started fifth in the 10-car Copper Bowl Shootout that set the first ten starting positions in Saturday's feature. Josh was still 5th on L 5 when he began slowing. He was 7th by L6., 9th at L 7 and 10th at the checker. The cause for his loss of positions was a RR tire that was losing air. In Saturday's 25-lap Midget main, outside front row starter/NASCAR Nationwide Series veteran Bryan Clauson led L 1, lost the lead to fellow NNS vet Wise from L 2-6, and regained the point in the No. 39 Corey Tucker Spike/Esslinger Ford. Clauson opened a 50-yard lead that Brad Sweet had cut to five yards by L 22. Third place Wise stalled leaving turn two with a mechanical problem. Clauson then shot out to a 15-yard advantage by L 24 when he stopped exiting turn four with the white flag about to wave. Clauson's DNF cause was a broken U-joint that cost him a sure victory. In Manzy's first of two Saturday 12-lap B mains that sent the first eight finishers to the 25-lap A, Coons led the first ten laps from the pole, slowed on L 11 to fourth and dropped out with a blown engine. His Wilke Racing team immediately went to work at 7:20 pm and changed to a backup engine so he could use a National Series provisional berth in the A. They completed the engine swap in time to make the A main start at 8:56. Coons started last (27th) and dramatically raced his way to a podium finish (3rd) in the 25 lap A. Twenty of the 27 starters were RAF (running at the finish). Coons passed ten cars during the first two laps. He was 12th after ten laps, 7th on L 18, 5th on L 19, 4th on L 23 and 3rd on L 24. New dad Coons was ten yards behind local favorite Nathan High, who started 5th, and 40-yards behind winner Brad Sweet, the third race leader in Kasey Kahne's No. 49. Coons has a reputation for charging from the back to the front at Manzy and has done so at the November WWC race too. ... The second 12-lap Sprint B-main Saturday also advanced the first eight finishers to the A. Rip Williams started 9th and took 8th on L 8. Sixteenth starter Yeley (No. 1x) took 9th on L 11 and shot past Rip on the inside at turn four as they raced towards the waving checkered flag. Rip said his oil pump top bolt was loose and he might have lost the engine if he had raced in the A-main. ... Chris Windom led all 12 laps of the first Sprint B-main and blew his RR tire at the checkered flag, bumping the outer wall as he received the checkers. Second place Blake Miller also blew his RR tire just past the finish line. Both cars stopped by the first turn crash-wall after scattering tire debris in their wake. ... A large helicopter flew passengers into Manzy's infield twice Saturday and dropped them off near the second turn. Reportedly, one of the copter passengers was USAC Midget car owner Cruz Pedregon who was racing his NHRA funny car that weekend at nearby Firebird Raceway in Chandler. When interviewed over the pit microphone, Cruz said he loves dirt track racing and had to come over to watch Manzy's racing. Yeley drove Pedregon's No. 75 Stealth/Toyota Midget. Yeley wore his NASCAR Nationwide Series No. 1 Miccosukee driving uniform while racing in the 2009 CoD. ... The CoD Manzy 40 L Sprint main had a classic two car battle between front row starters, Darren Hagen in Dustin Morgan's 93H backup car and Kevin Swindell in Tom Rolfe's No. 10K. Hagen led L 1-3, 23-32 and 36-40. Swindell led L 4-22 and 33-35. Hagen and Swindell, who celebrated his 20th birthday with his parents Sammy and Amy in the pits, swapped the lead as they lapped cars and thrilled fans. After his victory, Hagen stood in his cockpit and raised his arms. Then he climbed the front straight fence to the starters' stand and waved Jeff Stetson's checkered flag. He removed both of his driving gloves and threw them from the stand into the applauding grandstand audience. INCIDENTS: The sprint car feature had a red flag after Chris Windom flipped in turn two. He restarted. The field stopped on the front straight and crews refueled them. Suddenly Jon Stanbrough's No. 37 Indiana Underground Maxim/Chevy (parked near the third-mile turn four exit) erupted into flames five to eight feet high from spilled fuel. With Jon still in the cockpit, pit-crewmen with CO2 extinguishers put the flames out in about seven seconds from ignition. Jon climbed out and walked away from the car uninjured. His helmet visor cover lenses melted together from the heat and had to be replaced. Tough guy Stanbrough climbed back in the car and drove it to a sixth place finish from19th starting position. That wasn't the only unusual incident during Manzy's CoD sprint feature. On L 36 leader Swindell jumped the second turn cushion and second place Coons (No. 69 Hoffman Racing F5/Gaerte Mopar) was so close he couldn't avoid Swindell's car. Swindell recovered and continued, but Coons flipped several times and landed on the car's side without injury as the red flag flew. Swindell stopped on the front straight near the third-mile first turn. An upset Hoffman team member and Sammy Swindell engaged in a brief skirmish. Fans witnessed a punch thrown before order was restored. With three laps to go 7th place Damion Gardner bicycled big time but continued; 24 of 30 starters finished. The two National provisionals went to Levi Jones and Brady Bacon and the two CRA provisionals went to Cory Kruseman and Tyler Brown. The race started at 9:39 and concluded at 10:23 pm following one yellow and three red flags. Hagen, Swindell and Dave Darland finished 1-2-3. Amazingly, Darland raced with one broken rib on his right side. He received the injury while wake-boarding in New Zealand during his late January-early February racing trip to NZ. Dave raced in four Midget races at the quarter-mile clay Western Springs track in downtown Auckland. He won a main, finished sixth and had two DNFs. Other USA drivers who raced in NZ were Coons, Kruseman, Brad Kuhn and Davey Ray. The 50-lap S/C feature was an interesting battle between front row starters Jesse Hockett (Carl Edwards' J & J/Roush-Yates Ford) and owner/driver Bud Kaeding (DRC/Mopar). Kaeding led L 1-13, 15-21 and 48-50. Hockett led L 14 and 22-47. S/C neophytes Spencer finished 13th, down two laps, and “Super Rickie” Gaunt was 14th on L 17; when he pitted with a mechanical failure. Shane Cottle flipped on lap 9 in turn two without injury. Fans packed the front straight grandstands and the pits. An estimated 5 to 6,000 persons made the 3rd annual CoD successful financially. Last year rain on Friday made the one-day CoD a loser in revenue, but a rousing success in the competition department. On his first visit to Manzy, quarter midget/micro midget vet Zach Daum, 17, raced his new No. 50 Beast S/C car from 15th grid position to 11th position, down one lap. He also raced the No. 5d 2002 Eagle/Esslinger, the ex-No. 20 Jerry Russell midget that Danny Lasoski raced in a Tulsa Chili Bowl years ago. The S/C No. 6 J & J/Dynotech was the No. 35 S/C car in recent years. S/C rookie Derek Hagar, 18, is from Marion, AR and he was competitive in it. He raced a S/C car last year at the Springfield, IL mile and at the Eldora half-mile. Manzy was his third S/C effort. He started second and won his 8 L heat race impressively Friday. He started 9th and finished 5th in the 50-L main on his first visit to Manzy. Surprisingly, local star Jeremy Sherman did not race in any of the 2009 CoD races. FLIPS: The 2009 CoD had nine flips. Midgets had two tumbles in the second turn (Shane Hmiel's No. 37 in time trials and Matt Mitchell (37x) in the second B-main). Sprints accounted for six flips -- Cody Williams No. 44 Jory during hot laps, Rodney Argo's No. 19 in H-4, Gaunt's Gardner No. 16 in H-5, T. Brown's Gardner 96 in first B-main, Windom (17) and Coons (69) in the feature. S/C cars had a single flipper (Cottle's No. 28 Ken Pierson DRC/Chevy) in the feature. ... The large metal infield “Officials Only” observation platform in Manzy's infield is new. It came from Tex Earnhardt Ford where it was the dealership's parts department mezzanine level. ASCA 360 sprints racing director Ron Shuman obtained it at no charge for Manzy, which paid to truck it to Manzy during the off-season and erect it in the middle of the infield near the restrooms. I climbed the steps to watch practice and speak to Ron about the platform. The race track view is excellent. ... The No. 13 JEI sprint car raced by Jesse Hockett carried that number instead of last year's No. 75 because the sponsor wanted to be different. ... Thomas Ogle, of Phoenix, is still racing his No. 5A red & white J & J-built 2004 chassis that he won in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame annual raffle. Ogle said he is still racing the same engine he won in the raffle with some rebuilds. ... Sprint rookie Colby Copeland, 16, of Roseville, CA was a first time Manzy sprint car driver in the No. 24c. He turned the 14th fastest qualifying time in the 55-car field, but he was involved in an early crash in his heat race. Colby raced mini sprints at Manzy and was the 2006 rookie of the year at the nationals. He also raced outlaw karts. His 2008 Rocket (Rod Tiner) chassis with a Borello engine from Grass Valley, CA raced twice in 2008. Brad Sweet drove it as No. 83. Colby will race this car in the winged Golden State Challenge Series during 2009. POST-RACE AWARDS: Coons won the $175 Midgets Hard Charger Award for racing from 27th to 3rd. He said his crew deserves the award for making the rapid engine change after the B-main. Sweet received the Sprint Car $175 Hard Charger Award after stalling on lap 9 and charging forward to finish 8th. The S/C $175 award went to 4th place Tracy Hines. Hockett (No. 199) received $100 as the S/C 50-lap race halfway leader. Sprint winner Hagen thanked Dustin Morgan's dad and his own dad for putting his No. 93H sprint car ride together for the Western Swing. He also thanked “My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Kaeding's crew chief received the crew chief award. Kaeding thanked S/C No. 19 and 21 Team 6R car owner Darrell Guidici for hauling his BK Racing No. 29 S/C car to Phoenix from its Indiana home base. Award ceremonies ended shortly after 11:30 pm and fans streamed into the pits for autographs and racing conversation with their favorite drivers. |
