|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Wagsworld by Ken Wagner |
|
|
|
THE
"KIRBYMAN" KAPTURES 44 TH SCRA WIN |
|
Mike
Kirby
stole the exciting SCRA show this week when he had a chance to sub
for the absent Super Rickie Gaunt. With Super Rickie off on a non-racing related
wedding adventure, Mike had a chance to shine in the car that is a
lot like the one he drove when he was part of the Alexander Trucking
Team two years ago. Beating the Demon
and the Gasman in front
of the big crowd has to bring a smile for all. Mike Kirby was never
gone, but he is certainly back now, and became a Super Sub for this
week! It has been since October 5th of last season since Kirby has tasted the thrill of victory in a 410 sprint car with SCRA. He lost his family sponsorship at the end of last season when the Geurin's decided to retire and enjoy the good life without pouring their retirement in a racecar. Mike looked like he had several "deals" lined up for 2003, but didn't finalize anything that looked like it was right, until Buzz Shoemaker got both feet deep into racing. For years, Buzz has been restoring some of the finest antique sprint cars you could ever want to see or own, but late last year he bought a 360 sprint car and he and his son Doug have been having a ball racing. When it looked like Kirby might be available on a regular basis, they stepped it up for a 410 motor and Mike has been driving the orange # 0 for about 10 weeks now. On the side, Mike has been driving his big fast stock car in events here and there, and will continue to do that. He will be at a big stock car event next weekend in Reno when the SCRA runs again at the PAS on July 26. The Shoemaker team has not had the best of luck so far, but recent outings have been better and they look for much more in the future. With
an opportunity to sub in a car he really liked, the Alexander
Trucking, Ray's Trucking, Larry Murakami Cont. silver # 4, the
weekend seemed like a made for TV special with Kirby as the star.
It's not like Mike has lost confidence in himself with so many
missed races and DNF's, but this year has been almost a write off so
far in a sprint car. Except for a 360 win at Bakersfield in Buzz's
"other" car, his attitude was very low due to incomplete
races, one after another, no matter how hard he tried. When Mike
qualified 4th quick, he smiled and said "this could work"!
Then he ran 2nd to Tony Jones
in his heat and beat fast timer Rip
Williams in the JE Pistons Passing Masters Dash and he was ready
for the main event. Starting on the pole is not often a sure thing,
and it wasn't this night, but what he did was nothing less than
teach the vets that he was back and ready to win. When
Mike led the Demon and
the Gasman on a merry chase thru heavy lap traffic for more than
half the race, it was a wild barnstorming effort by all three and
highly entertaining for the fans. What can only be described as the
best race of the year at Perris was action packed from the beginning
to end. Those three literally put all their moves on the table every
lap. Every time his followers would put a wheel near him, Kirby
would slice thru a sudden opening in traffic and pull away. A lap 23
yellow flag took away the lap traffic fun and made the top three
line up in single file for the final battle. Kirby just continued to
pull away from both on two more restarts, and won a race in his
friend Rickie's car. The happy winner was laughing in victory circle
because he knew the next day he would be seeing Rickie in Laughlin
as they planned to party hard in the casino's and on the water and
enjoy this one with their family's. The team got a $100 bonus for
winning from the pole by Del Mar Wire, a regular feature in SCRA
this season. The
last two races have not been great for Damion
Gardner in his quest to chase down the pointleader Griffin.
Damion was involved in that 13 car pile-up three weeks ago and then
a balky car didn't give him his usual forward thrusts he has become
known for on Firecracker night. This week however, the Willis
Machine, TCR, Gaerte, # 45 was ready for action. Damion had a tire
shred in his heat and nailed the wall hard enough that the drag link
came unhooked and the front end was hurt. He won the semi with a
half lap lead at the end and started in the 4th row in the main,
after Ostling dropped out with a motor problem. His charge to the
front was pretty "Deamonlike" as he moved into a three way
battle for the lead that lasted until he got that # 45 so sideways
both ways (left and right as it appeared he had help) coming down
the front chute, it was another miracle he didn't collect a few cars
and somehow he kept going. His lightning fast reflexes didn't fail
him as he lost several spots, but he went back to work and pulled up
on the Gasman late in the race in third and showed us another slide
job that seems to come from nowhere out of this guy. This one came
on the last corner and gave him 2nd place over a surprised Gasman. Richard
Griffin
was very racy this week. He drove the Temecula Valley Pipe &
Supply, Arizona Race Mart, Circle C Marketing # 50 to 3rd quick, and
then won his heat. He started on the second row of the main and
didn't take but a few seconds to jump on Kirby's tail and chase him
for 30 laps. Kirby was the master, but Griffin was not far behind as
he tried to find the way around for another win. Richard was
aggressive and entertaining every time he hit the track. The SCRA
point leader now has a 67 point lead over Troy
Rutherford and over 100 over third place Gardner. Even though he
was "jobbed" by Damion on the last lap, he could have won
this thing if Kirby had given any openings earlier. Rambo
Rutherford
made the top 5 for the 15th time this year finishing 4th from his
8th starting spot. His car was sharp in the shiny tire contest, but
my girls didn't bless "Fronk" with his much wanted bottle.
I know I am in trouble! Steve Ostling ran 4th in the Dash only to have the motor spit out
some pushrods. No, they didn't go outside the motor, but were
nowhere to be seen when the dents in the valve cover were noticed
and they took a peek. They received the $200 Wagsbucks, but since
Steve is ineligible for the dash, Ben Lancaster's car, driven by Brian
Stanfill, will be added to the Wagsdash entry list. The last
time I did this I forgot about Ben when I posted the final line-up,
but Ben pointed out his # 14 wasn't up there to me. He reminded me
of my embarrassing moment when I went by to tell him he's in this
year's race, but sadly he said the motor was also internally
rearranged and they would be gone for a bit to repair. Oh, and I
forgot to mention I added Mel Murphy to the Wagsdash list last week
after their troublesome night. Rip
Williams
night was not a good one as the John Jory Corp # 3 Stinger came out
firing with fast time at 16.700. He ran away with his heat race win
and was 2nd in the dash. When the main started, he didn't last long
and pulled in very quickly with a motor that didn't sound right and
a red light blinking. Later I heard it was electrical, but didn't
confirm. He would have been in the mix, but it was not to be.
Teammate Mike English is
looking good and reports he still has a little headache thing
bothering him from his bad crash a few weeks ago, but might be out
soon. He hopes he is better before the tour because he is the truck
driver for the team for goodness sakes! Actually, he will be having
a check-up this week and let the doctor tell him how his recovery is
coming along. He hasn't missed any work and that might be why his
head hurts, no time off! Josh
Ford
had an awesome night in the Willis team car this week. Josh has one
year of 360 action under his belt and now is 1/2 way thru his rookie
SCRA season, and all I can say is he is improving every time out. He
was 10th quick in the strawberry special and won his heat and
started right behind his teammate in row five. He was on the move
and had his best finish so far in 5th. "Spunky"
Mike Spencer had a tough night this week. He was 11th in
qualifying, but was 6th in his heat and ran 7th in the semi. Since
Ostling dropped out, and lucky for him, they took 7 to the main. He
did real well, getting as high as 4th, but a flat tire put him to
the back. He recovered to get 11th, but was on the gas again. Adam
Mitchell
was right behind Josh as he hooked it up to run a fine race this
week. He was 6th in the dash and the main as his white charger was
making some moves. Kevin Urton came out first on a sloppy track and still was 6th quick
as all five above him came out much later when the track was better.
He ran 7th and is enjoying this wingless stuff. Jordan Hermansader got married last week and showed up this week in
Bob Ferro's # 91, repainted from red to black. Jordan has been gone
for 8 months and did very well to get 8th. Bobby
Graham got another shot in Glenn Crossno's # 38 car as regular
driver Levi Jones was
running USAC closer to home. He grabbed 9th and was doing well at
the end. Jack
Dearmond Jr
was out for a spin at the races this week. He came without the halo
that has weighed on him heavily the last few months. He still has a
neck brace but said that was much better. He looks good and says he
gets another checkup soon and will report how his bones are doing.
Hopefully all will be well. He spent the night in the pits and
looked like he enjoyed it as he left soon after the race completed. The
Wagtimes shiny tire awards this week were tough. Many cars did their
best to garner it, but as it turns out, the guy who shined my
Wagsmule tires up earlier in the day did the same for the Gasman's #
50 car and the girls picked him as the winner. They didn't know
about the mule at the time, but Eric Kaufman was proud of his work.
Randy Waitman's crew got the runner-up bottle as about a dozen more
were in the running. A great display as Rutherford, Mitchell, Urton,
Hermansader, Tony Jones, Bragg, Nation, Williams and a few more were
on the shiny showcase for the week. Nice job everybody! By
now you have probably heard about Don Weaver's quest for a Legend's
of Ascot revival on October 4th at the PAS. Many of you will
remember the Gilmore Roars party every year that brought in money
for injured racers for over 30 years and was an invitation only
event! That event ended two years ago, and since then Don has been
working on a replacement with some added features. Don is looking to
spotlight the CRA history makers during the Ascot years that include
drivers, mechanics and other personalities that made our sport what
it is today. This effort is wide in scope, but the first year is
designed to get started by having a get together to honor the
initial inductee's into a Southern California Hall of Fame and
continue on to perhaps have a real museum for the CRA history that
is so rich. And you can be a part of it! Already Weaver had a little "all star balloting" effort that put five famous names into this years inauguration ceremonies. J.C. Agajanian, Parnelli Jones, Allan Heath, Ray Sheets and Harry Schooler will be the first to go in, and many other greats will be eligible in next years event, so if you are one of those "legends", don't worry your time will come!! This is the start of something that could be very big in our local racing and will make great strides towards a possible museum that all fans can enjoy. Weaver
has the October 4th day all planned out for everyone's enjoyment.
For only $35 you can get admission to that nights great SCRA race,
plus a bench racing snack time starting at 11 AM, followed by lunch
at 1:00 PM with tri tip, chicken, baked beans, salad and a roll with
a drink before the ceremonies that start at 2:30. There will be some
other special inaugural goodies included in the fee for prepaid
admissions, ONLY. There will also be a collectors item program that
is a must for all! This event is a bargain and is open to all who
want to come and enjoy the inaugural event. There will be many cars
from the old days on display so bring your cameras. Currently there
is a drawing for a mini-Sheby motorcycle that is great and can be
seen in Mrs Wags pics on Wagsweb. it's a sharp bike and only a few
hundred were made. You can be a part of all this by sending a check
for $35, made out to Gator Supply-Legends, to: P.O. Box 5331,
Torrance, CA 90510. Or call 310-549-3562 or E-mail legendsofascot@aol.com
for more info. Send a donation if you can't make it. Now
that North Vernon is back on the schedule, I am glad because I will
see four Indiana Sprint races this coming week while the SCRA is
dark. Traveling to the hot lands of Indiana is always fun, but we'll
take along some cool drinks and stay in the shade as I travel with
Mike Clark and Jack Kraemer. See ya at Perris on July 26 when there
will be two main events for SCRA!!!! A
FEATURE (30 Laps) SCRA
POINT STANDINGS |
