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| RACING
SCENE by Tim Kennedy |
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Los Angeles, CA. - The inaugural "Fred Gerhardt Open
Wheel Classic" at Madera Speedway Friday and Saturday, April
18-19 was a welcome addition to the racing calendar of events in
California. Friday featured USAC National/Western States/BCRA
Midgets with a 100-lap, 33 cars in 11 rows of three and a
three-abreast start. BCRA statistician Jim Montgomery said
BCRA ran such a format at the San Jose Speedway from 1953-59.
Madera officials added three provisional starters so there were 12
rows of three and 36 starters on "The Fastest third-mile in the
West" banked, paved track. The Midget 100-lap winner received $3,000 from the $16,995 feature portion of the $19,595 total purse. USAC Ford Focus California Series (with North and South Series points) was the support show Friday. Year two of the entertaining series is giving Midget racing a much-needed injection of new driving talent. Many of the newcomers are 16 to 18 years of age and proficient drivers after years of racing quarter midgets, 600 cc micro midgets and/or go-karts. Saturday featured USAC 360 ci Sprint Cars and SRL Super-Modifieds in a pair of 50-lap mains. The $4.00 souvenir program cover pictured drivers Tony Stewart and Jason Leffler, both past multi-time USAC champions who have moved on to NASCAR racing. The program featured informative stories on the innovative Fred Gerhardt and drivers Stewart and Leffler. Stewart, the 2002 Winston Cup champion, raced in three of the four divisions at Madera. He skipped only the Ford Focus Midgets. Leffler, active in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2002-03, raced in the Midget and Sprint classes for Madera promoter Rick Gerhardt's Western Speed Racing Team. Both Stewart and Leffler have raced in the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 events. Stewart finished 13th (one of 18 drivers on the lead lap) in Friday's 100-lap Midget feature after starting in the last row as a provisional starter. He won both the Sprint Car and Super-Modified mains in exciting fashion Saturday. Leffler was in fifth place on lap 77 when spun out by Dave Steele in Friday's Midget feature and placed 26th. He finished sixth in Saturday's Sprint main. Fred Gerhardt (Rick's father) was born to German immigrant parents from Prussia. His father, Henry, was a wagon builder by trade and Fred helped him build wagons on the family farm in Biola, CA. As a teen Fred built hot rods and later got into Midget racing. His No. 45 Midget won the 1948 Turkey Night Grand Prix at the famed Gilmore track in Los Angeles with Bill Vukovich driving. They also won the 1950 AAA National Midget championship. Fred turned to the Indianapolis 500 and entered cars in the classic over a 20 year span. A third place finish was his best result in 1969. He enjoyed three Indy Car victories with driver Gary Bettenhausen in 1969 and in the 1970 Michigan 500. Fred's innovations included an electronic starting system, a platform jack system to raise all four wheels simultaneously for faster pit stops, and an aerodynamic wing to improve down-force at speed. He also helped design/build the Drake turbo-charged Offenhauser in 1966, and was the primary American rear-engine chassis builder from 1966-1970. Fred built an innovative car-lift system for enclosed trailers that is still utilized throughout racing in NASCAR, IRL, USAC and by teams at short tracks. He had many inventions still in use by California's agricultural industry. Showmanship ceremonies played a large part of the Gerhardt Classic. Following Friday's Ford Focus 20-car Midget 30-lap main (ten more laps than the usual 20-lap distance) the promoters brought out several racing cars for demonstration runs around the track at 8:30. Leffler drove his orange No. 40 Western Racing USAC Eagle 360 Sprint Car and Stewart drove the orange No. 1 Western Racing SRL Super-Modified. A two-seater, fan ride-along, 468 ci big-block Chevy SRL car, owned by SRL president/owner Davey Hamilton and driven by current SRL driver Lonnie Adamson, gave fans a preview of Saturday racing. HISTORIC CARS: Retired Indy 500 driver George Snider drove the black and white No. 45 Bardahl-sponsored Fred Gerhardt roadster driven in the 1963 Indy 500 by Chuck Stevenson, whose name still adorns the side. Snider used an open-face style helmet from that era. Bill Vukovich, Jr drove the 1950 AAA National Championship No. 45 Kurtis Midget chassis, raced for Gerhardt by his two-time Indy 500-winning father. It was the second time Bill, Jr has driven the famous Midget. He drove it on the Manzanita Speedway quarter-mile track in Phoenix two years ago. Southern California Ken Hillberg, who has owned the No. 45 Midget for years, said Lujie Lesovski and Emil Dietz built the car that now has a Chevy engine in it instead of the 110 ci Offy. Additionally, promoter Gerhardt had all 36 Midget main event drivers chauffered from the pits onto the track and to their racing cars on the front straight. The three drivers in each row stood in the back of each 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 271 pickup truck and shared one of the 12 trucks for the ride to their Midgets. Each driver waved a small American flag in a salute to our forces fighting in Iraq. The 100-lap Midget main won by J. J. Yeley started at 9:53 and had two yellow flags for solo spins near the back of the pack. A complete, single-file restart followed at 10:00. Eight incidents produced the caution flag and 52 laps were run under the yellow flag. The two-day Gerhardt Classic, eight years in the planning stages, is scheduled as an annual event. It deserves fan support. Attendees at Madera's Gerhardt Classic came from throughout the West. They included Kings Speedway promoter Dave Swindell, Indy 500 vet Davey Hamilton, writers Bill Sessa and Norm Bogan, Jerry & Vivian Crowell, Dick Hindman (with 70 of Irwindale Speedway's electronic transponders), BCRA's Floyd Busby, Madera's Justin Loyear and retired Midget driver Rusty Rasmussen, from Fresno. Johnny Boyd, another retired driving great from Fresno, must have been present as well. Busby gave us a copy of his excellent new format BCRA monthly 12-page, color newsmagazine. He also had a flyer for the big $9,000+ BCRA/WMRA race June 14 at Shasta Speedway in Anderson,CA. Two huge wrestler-type security staff, wearing maroon Madera Speedway shirts, worked in the pits at Stewart's pit stall to shield him from autograph seekers while he was busy preparing his racing cars. Irwindale Speedway also provided the same security service to Stewart in the pits last Thanksgiving at the Midget Grand Prix. Stewart, who received a $6,500 appearance fee reportedly, flew into Fresno in his jet days early and assisted in promoting the Madera races. In fact, Tony met fans and signed autographs Thursday night at a special session in the Table Mountain Casino, on Highway 41 east of Madera. Someone present said Tony left a good chunk of his money at the gambling tables of the Indian gaming establishment. It seems "the Rushville Rocket" is a better racing driver than a Mr. Lucky gambler. |
