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| RACING
SCENE by Tim Kennedy |
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NMRA-TQ Midgets |
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Los Angeles, CA - The 26th Copper World Classic at Phoenix
Int'l Raceway (Mar. 21-23) had three of the four racing divisions
that competed in the CWC last year. IRL Indy Cars, USAC Silver
Crown and USAC Midgets were the repeaters. IRL Infinity Pro
Series was the new division, replacing the SRL Super-Modifieds.
It was the third year for IRL Indy Cars as part of the CWC. It
marked the 59th Indy Car race at PIR dating back to the first event
in 1964. It was the seventh Indy Car race at PIR under IRL sanction. There have been seven different winners in seven IRL races. Starting in 1996 winners have been Arie Luyendyk, Jim Guthrie, Scott Sharp, Scott Goodyear, Buddy Lazier, Sam Hornish, Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan this year. Attendance estimates Sunday were in the range of 20 to 30,000, probably several thousand more than last year. Saturday had a USAC S/C 15-lap consolation race, USAC Midgets 25-lap and IPS 100-lap features before a sparse crowd. Sunday had USAC S/C 100-lap and IRL 200-lap races. The temperature was a perfect 82-degrees Sunday under a cloudless, blue sky. The CWC total car count this year was 119-29 Midgets, 53 S/C, 15 IPS and 22 IRL cars. The CWC car count in 2002 was 126--37 Midgets, 53 S/C, 16 SRL Super-Mods and 26 IRL cars. CWC car counts from 1996 through 2001 in order were 177, 215, 194, 191, 207, 161 and 132. NASCAR Southwest Series stock cars were part of the CWC in most of those earlier years. The $10 color Purex-Dial CWC 80-page program had eight pages more than the 2002 edition. The cover showed only Hornish's yellow No. 4 Pennzoil IRL car. CWC starters this year were Bryan Howard (IPS & IRL) and Tony Roberts (USAC Midgets & S/C). Dave Fisher, father of IRL driver Sarah Fisher, worked as crew chief of the USAC S/C No. 26 driven by Aaron Pierce. The one-lap track records did not fall this year in any of the three returning divisions. Last year in time trials all three divisions established NTR. Dave Steele set both the Midget and S/C marks and Castroneves set the IRL standard. The PIR track records (with the 2003 fastest times in parenthesis) were-Midgets-26.436-136.178 mph (26.653), S/C-25.449-141.459 mph (25.963) and IRL-20.012-179.888 mph (20.100). The mark set in the new IPS was 24.014-149.912 mph. This year had the 100th CWC main event and the three first-time CWC winners made the new total 57 different feature winners. The three new winners were Aaron Pollock (Midgets), Mark Taylor (IPS) and Tony Kanaan (IRL). Only Steele repeated on the CWC stage. His S/C trophy this year will join his coveted, distinctive copper globe Midget and S/C CWC trophies from last year in his trophy case. Usual CWC entrants Jason Leffler and Mike Bliss were absent this year. Leffler was racing his NASCAR Truck at Mesa Marin in Bakersfield, while Bliss was busy racing his NASCAR BGN car at Texas Motor Speedway CWC weekend. Past CWC winners who raced in the '03 CWC were Castroneves, Hornish, Paul White, Brian Tyler, Jimmy Kite, Michael Lewis, Dan Drinan and Bentley Warren. CWC Drivers by States: Midget drivers came from nine states-IN-12, CA-six, IL-three, AZ, and OH-two each, and CO, FL, ID and TN-one each. S/C drivers hailed from 20 states-IN-18, CA-six, IL, NC and PA-three each, OH, TX and WI-two each, and AZ, FL, GA, ID, MA, ME, MI, MN, MO, ND, TN and WA-one each. IPS drivers call nine states and three foreign countries home-CA-two and AZ, CO, IN, MI, MO, NY, TX and WI-one each, plus Canada-three, and Brazil and England-one each. IRL drivers represented 10 states and six foreign nations-CO and OH-two each, AZ, CA, CT, MI, NM, PA, TX and WI-one each, plus Brazil-four, Japan-two, and New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Sweden-one each. CWC Midget Chassis: Eight chassis builders were in the field-Beast had 19, Drinan and Stealth had three each, and there were solo cars from Competition Welding, Hawk, Keith Kunz, Rick Stewart and TCR. Midget Engines: Eight engine builders supplied engines-Mopar had eight, Ed Pink had seven (six Fords & one Chevy), Gaerte-five, Esslinger-four, Ford-three, plus one each from Brayton Ford, Buick and Joe Fontana. CWC S/C Chassis: Eleven builders were led by Beast with 35, Stealth-four, Drinan-three, J & J and Tobias-two each, and B & S, Competition Welding, DRC, John Boy, Nolen and Tex-Mex-one each. S/C Engines: Chevy led with 22, Earl Gaerte had 13 Mopar-three, Ed Pink-two, and the balance of the field came from individual engine builders. IRL Indy Car Chassis: Dallara had 18 and G-Force had four. IRL Engines: Toyota led with 10, Chevy had seven and Honda five. All 15 of the IPS cars by series specs mated the Dallara chassis and Infinity engine. CWC Time Trial Variances (fastest to slowest): Midgets--26.653 (135.069 mph) to 33.481 (107.523) for a 6.828 second (27.546 mph) variance. S/C cars-25.963 (138.658 mph) to 28.950 (124.352) for a 2.987 second (14.306 mph) difference. IPS-24.014 (149.912 mph) to 27.787 (129.556) for a 3.773 second (20.356 mph) variance. IRL-20.100 (178.512 mph) to 21.615 (166.544) for a 1.515 second (11.968 mph) difference. CWC Features-(In parenthesis Cars Started/Finished & Percentage): Midgets--29 St., 10 Fin.= 34%, nine of 10 on lead lap=90%. S/C-31 St., 18 Fin.=58%, 14 of 18 on lead lap=78%. IPS-15 St., 10 Fin.=67%, nine of 10 on lead lap=90%. IRL-22 St., 12 Fin.=55%, nine of 12 on lead lap=75%. IRL had a new IRL winner in the first two races of the year. Both Scott Dixon (at Homestead, FL) and Kanaan switched from CART to IRL this year. Most exciting race of the weekend was the Midgets, followed by the IRL, S/C and IPS in that order. Why? The Midgets had six race leaders and eight lead changes and only seven yards between the winner and second finisher at the checkers. The IRL had five race leaders and eight lead changes and 35 yards between the first and second finishers. S/C had two race leaders and four lead changes and three yards between the first two cars at the finish line. The IPS had one leader and no lead changes and 40 yards between the first two cars at the conclusion. |
