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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| RACING
SCENE by Tim Kennedy |
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Los Angeles, CA. - I attended the SCRA sprint car season
opener at Perris
Auto Speedway (PAS) February 15 and was impressed by the 41 car
count for the
first race of the year. A quality lineup was present despite
the absence of
main event caliber veterans Mike Kirby, John Scott, Jeremy Sherman,
J. J.
Yeley and others. The grandstands were 50-60% full of
racing-starved fans on
a chilly evening. Temperatures at the track were 68 degrees at
3:30 and 52
degrees at 10 p.m. Following three days of rain Tuesday through Thursday, the track surface was heavy and dust-free all night, but the infield could not be used as the pit area. A 20-25 yard "lake" of standing water occupied the usual pit stall area near the first turn. All race teams had to pit in "the back 40" that normally provides the space for pit area parking. SCRA officials worked around that potential time-killer and expedited the show. It was a full moon night and predictably zany things happened. Sprint cars running out of fuel near the conclusion of the feature reminded me of some daytime races in the past when sprint cars blew right rear tires and dropped out late in the main event. Troy Rutherford was the survivor and he didn't have to go to Africa or the Amazon to collect the first place money, trophy and points. Even the winner had a scare as his fuel pickup faltered briefly in turn four three laps from the finish. Winner Rutherford said his car " was too tight and I had to lean it down on a yellow flag". Sprint cars pushed off to qualify from the second turn of the former quarter mile track and, after running two qualification laps, they parked in turns three and four of the shorter track. Three groups of 15, 13 and 13 were necessary to get all 41 cars qualified. Unusual breaks occurred during which one group of qualified cars was taken back to the outside pits and a new group of non-qualified cars entered the track. The procedure worked well and qualifying took only 61 minutes. New at PAS this year is a 15-second lap club billboard above the second turn embankment. The board currently lists only one member of this exclusive "club". A 15.954 lap by Damion Gardner on 10/31/02 in his own #20 sprinter made him the only 15-second club member to date. The board is sponsored by two racing websites- www.hoseheads.com and www.diecastgarage.com. The new PAS 15-second club billboard is patterned after the Cragar 19-second club at Ascot Park in the 1980s. That board graced the back of the main grandstand at Ascot's main entrance. New members were added whenever a driver ran a 19-second lap during time trials. A surprise ceremony took place in front of the main grandstand at 5:40 before racing commenced. Pit announcer Chris Holt, a newlywed, and driver Rickey Gaunt presented flowers "to SCRA's two first ladies"-Wilda Kindoll and Evelyn Pratt Both ladies, who have been around racing for about 50 years, were surprised by the attention. They spoke briefly to the crowd and said they consider racers as "family". The PAS 2003 season from February 8 through November 22 has 44 race dates and 34 of the dates have sprint cars on the card. Two unique pairings of SCRA 410 c.i. sprinters and VRA 360 c.i. sprint cars are booked for March 1 and October 4. Veteran racing videographer J. R.Ybarra is now doing the SCRA videography work atop the PAS officials tower instead of long-time SCRA videographer Dean Mills. Joe Vargo, Riverside Press-Enterprise, and Martin Henderson, L.A. Times, were present February 15 to report on the SCRA opener for their dailies. In a surprise, Ken & Mrs. Wags Wagner were in Hawaii celebrating their 28th wedding anniversary so there were no "Wagsbucks" funds collected for distribution to drivers who experienced misfortune while racing February 15. Three drivers-Danny Sheridan, Charles Davis, Jr and Bobby Cody-flipped during the program, all three tumbled during the 30-lap "A" main. The track was heavy after three days of mid-week rain. The PAS track crew worked the track surface between the "B" and "A" mains, and the track looked better for the "A" main than it did before the heat races. SCRA rookies in action were Seth Wilson, Alan Ballard, Josh Ford and Trevor Brilman. Best-viewed (from the grandstands) sponsor name was Porta-Stor in large letters on Marc Hart's No. 15 TCR sprinter. The popular weekly PAS fan involvement continued this year. Chris Holt, with a wireless microphone, roams the grandstands before each heat race and selects a fan at random. The fan then picks a driver in that heat race as the winner, and if the selected driver wins the race the fan receives from Chris two free tickets to an upcoming race at the PAS. Chris sits and watches the heat race with the fan. He solicits a response from the fan when the race concludes regarding how their chosen driver performed. On February 15 fans picked drivers who finished second, first, eighth and fourth. The winning fan, who selected Rickey Gaunt, was a guy from Amarillo, TX who was sitting with a female friend. He promptly received from Holt two free ducats to the February 22 World of Outlaws event. He said they would return for the WoO race. By the way, the third heat had drivers from AZ, IL, NV and NorCal and five SoCal drivers in the nine-car field. The first race started at 5:50. The popular early season twilight event began the "B" main at 7:27 and the "A" main at 8:23. The feature race should have finished well before 9:00 p.m, but two red flags and six yellow flags resulted in the checkered flag flying finally at 9:20 after 30 eventful laps. Only nine of the 22 starters were running at the finish (RAF) and all nine ran 30 laps. Blown engines claimed early race leaders Richard Griffin and Rip Williams and flips sidelined three drivers. Fuel shortages after a lap 27 caution caused refueling stops by Rodney Argo, Jerry Coons, Jr, second place Cory Kruseman, third place Mike Spencer and Steve Ostling. It was a wild race that you had to see to believe. Music played on the outstanding PAS sound system included Leila; Magic Man; Only in America (Brooks & Dunn); I Love L.A. (Randy Newman); Miami Vice theme; The Boys Are Back in Town; Bad Moon Rising (Creedance Clearwater Revival); Another One Bites the Dust; Old Time Rock and Roll (Bob Segar); LaVida Loca; Sweet Home Alabama; ESPN Sports Center theme during "A" main driver introductions; Fame; We Will Rock You (of NBA fame) and the charge "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" (from boxing). There is never a dull moment at the PAS, where fans love their dirt track non-wing sprint car racing. |
