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See You At The Races!!! |
| Wagsworld by Ken Wagner |
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GARDNER
ONE – GRIFFIN ONE |
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In
the old days, the mean and nasty cowboy gunslingers met in the
middle of the narrow dirt streets of many frontier towns and settled
their differences with speed and reflexes. The times have changed,
but really nothing has changed. It will be a shootout on the NWWC
Tour when Richard Griffin and
Damion Gardner square off at Hollywood Hills Speedway in
Albuquerque, and continue on thru a nine race series of traditional
sprint car racing in August. The only difference will be instead of
six shooters, the Demon and the Gasman will use 410 bullets and rely
on lightning quick reflexes to prove who is the baddest of the
cowboys in SCRA. Before
the mighty SCRA goes on the road, there was a little matter of
one/two more races before the haulers headed out of town. With the
postponed feature from the 4/26 race ready to kick the night off,
the double header would bring out a good crowd and the two 30
lappers were like night and day, so different. In the first one, it
didn’t take the Demon long to pass Rip Williams and
scoot on to his 7th win of the year, and now 11 lifetime wins with
SCRA. It was a pretty spirited race with Gardner clearly the man to
beat once he took the lead, yet the Gasman was up to the challenge
until a late race yellow for another car happened. Richard pulled
into the work area with a flat tire after the line-up was looking
ready to go. They went ahead and restarted without him! I won’t
relay the comments I heard after the race from many, but as Bubby
Jones told me many times, you don’t leave your heroes in the pits
when they can go! Richard’s crew had him ready quickly and they
didn’t wait for him, so his fans were unhappy, and so was he!!!
Damion went on to win in the Willis Machine, TCR, Gaerte # 45 with
little difficulty and looked fast in doing it. Rip
Williams
driving the AMA Plastics, Tomarco Fasteners Systems, Weld Wheels, #
3, chased him to the end, well almost as he suddenly ran out of fuel
before the finish line and dropped to third at the checkered flag.
Rip was fast until the very end. The forever bridesmaid, Steve
Ostling had his 5th runner-up finish this season in the Stress
Relief Eng. Feese Solid Surface Spec., Angell & Giroux, # 29, as
he continues to run up front with this unexpected position move up.
Steve’s attitude is cool as he continues to make the blue and
white car a constant threat and one wonders when he is going to get
the win this year. While
the Gasman stewed over his missed opportunity, the regular
portion of the night began with qualifying and the regular show. The
Gasman was already mad over the last race ending and his attitude on
the track showed it! He was 2nd quick behind the Rip Williams and
finished 2nd in the JE Pistons Passing Masters Dash behind the Demon
to start on the front row of the 30 lap main. Whoa baby! The first
start showcased Gardner to the front, then Griffin putting his
slider on him in turn three and Damion crossing over to get back the
lead as ………. a yellow flag flew. Whew! Richard took charge on
the next start and began moving the Temecula Valley Pipe and Supply,
Arizona Race Mart, Circle C Marketing, # 50 away from his nemesis.
Within two laps, Gardner came around with his right rear wheel
without the cover and packed with mud. With a bouncing right rear
tire, he looked resigned to the pits as he slowed when a yellow came
out from an incident in turn 4. He was still moving slowly down the
backstretch when Tony Jones wheel came off causing him to
flip, and quickly changing the flag to red. The Cowboy was fine and
running in 2nd at the time, so we don’t know if he had enough to
catch the Gasman, but he was on the move. The woe is me syndrome
visits many in the pits and Tony just can’t seem to exorcise the
gremlins, but he will because he had his spurs on this week and was
going forward. This
changed things because now the Demon would have time to change the
tire and resume in 3rd, instead of being parked in the pit. It
didn’t get much better for him really, but first he took 2nd from
Rip and began chasing down the determined Gasman. With a few laps to
go Damion made his move. He had been moving a little closer each lap
until he cut low into turn one and came up in front of Richard
coming out of two. Then the key point of the race happened when he
moved over in front of Richard. There looked like plenty of room,
but the Gasman was hard on the gas and quickly closed the distance
between them and ran into the black car sending him up on the two
left wheels, with the other two up on the wall. When Damion came
down on all four wheels, he slowed with a flat right rear tire and
went to the work area. He got back in to finish 13th, but any chance
of a sweep was gone. Richard ran pretty much uncontested to the
checkered from here, winning his 47th SCRA race and 61st CRA/SCRA
total. In
victory circle an animated Gasman went off for three reasons!
(1) He was mad about last weeks slide job by Damion that pushed him
to third, (2) he was mad about not being allowed back in the first
feature, and (3) he was mad about drivers who continue to go by him
and slide up in his groove. Of course that is racing as we all know
it for eons, and Richard has been on both ends of the slide jobs, so
one would thing his frustration on dealing with the Demon is
probably the crux of the whole deal. Richard was the most animated I
have ever seen him after a race. Usually, he calmly has a drink and
gives me that sneaky smile and says we’ll get em’ next time. NO,
not this week, as he was the aggressive Gasman of old, showing some
fire. Damion accepted this with his usual attitude and confidence
that he will win out the next time. The war is on and we get to
watch. The next race will be what it will be as he hasn’t backed
down yet, and relishes the competition. In fact, there is no backing
down in this 2nd year driver, as he has proved time and
time again. It will make the tour a great battlefield as these two
have much respect for each others driving ability and just want to
win! Makes you want to go on the tour, ehhh? Troy
Rutherford
took a run on the Gasman late, but fell short in the Roy Miller
Freight Lines, Sander, Vital Express, # 7 and got his 16th top five
finish of the 19 races run so far. He said the yellow flags hurt him
as his tire was perfect, then cooled off during the lull and it took
too long to get going again. Troy continues to run consistent and
now is only 41 points behind the Gasman’s total for the
championship. Steve Ostling got third and the overall
mythical “champion” of the night. He said the car just didn’t
seem to respond like normal, but his wheel sawing routine worked
very well as he climbed the podium twice in one night. Too bad he
will be staying home for the tour as the Fischer Motorsports team
will save the money and invest in their car for the rest of the
season. Actually, they are out of spares as the last month has been
particularly tweaky with their spares. Just another great driver who
can do it in the dirt so well. Adam
Mitchell
had a good pair of fives for his night as he continues to open some
eyes with his impressive driving. Both features had him on the move
as he worked the field and showed off more of what he has been doing
in this, his best season so far in his career. Two finishes in the
top five show his improvement continues as the white charger seems
to be working perfectly for him. Like many teams, more sponsorship
can only make it better. Until recently he wasn’t going on tour.
Now, he will drive Ben Lancaster’s # 14 and that should be fun. The
SCRA general membership meeting went off at 3 PM in the pits.
President Ron Shuman discussed some items about the tour and warned
the travelers to buy tires to cover at least the first race. He also
noted the USAC races will have a 1200 pound minimum weight rule,
with the rest the normal 1250. The Oskaloosa race will pay $ 500 to
start, an increase over last year at the $30,000 to win event in
Iowa. I
had no help, with Mrs Wags desertion, so didn’t get a chance to
pass out the weekly Wagtimes Shiny tire awards. So sometime as soon
as we get home from the long trip, the following will get their
bottle: Jimmy Crawford and Rip Williams for the first feature, then
Dan Hillberg and Rickie Gaunt the 2nd one. All my girls were busy or
gone and the tires stood out. In light of the fewer Wagsbucks presentations this season with out minimum $200 payout, , I have added two more to the Wagsdash list due to their on track troubles the last two races. Steve Venard and Dan Hillberg will be invited to the 13th annual race at Ventura on October 18th. With only 10 pencilled in, we will continue to add to the field when appropriate. The
annual Ellen Ellis calendar is taking shape as we added sponsorship
on each monthly page. Anyone wanting to sponsor their favorite car
in the top 12, let us know, it’s only $100 and we have a few spots
left. This year Mrs Wags is creating the best one yet with her new
found talents, and it will be available the holiday weekend double
header at the end of August. It goes to press while we are on tour,
so don’t hiccup, she will finalize it within two weeks. Like
always, ALL the money goes into the Wagsdash race. As
of today, I have quietly collected over $2300 for the NWWC Tour.
Thank you to all have contributed, the racers will thank you. I will
collect throughout the tour as we go along, so look for me, remember
it is not a cheap trip. And to whoever keeps telling people I am not
going, that has never been a question, only transportation was an
issue. I’ll try to publish the list of who is going, but so far
the top ten, minus Ostling, are probably going to be there with many
more. Mel Murphy, Alan Ballard, Jimmy Crawford, Mike Spencer are
some I think are going. Mike Kirby is going only to the first race
in Buzz Shoemaker’s # 0, but they will come back home after that
one. Others are doing part of the two week long series to keep the
costs down. Levi Jones will be driving Glenn Crossno’s # 38. If
haven’t decided to help yet, think about this. Haulers gettiing 5
to 7 miles per gallon, going at least 6,000 miles times $1.50
average equals $1500 minimum. Then add motels, food, phone calls,
well you get the picture. Get involved. Indiana
Sprint week finished with the West Coast boys doing quite well and J
J Yeley really cutting a wide swath through the field back there. He
won 4 races, tying the all time USAC win total of 19, and continues
to make the rest chase him. Jay Drake was 2nd in points
as he had a good series. The half I saw was highly entertaining and
it makes me think the tour would be more interesting if the dates
were covering this week. A
Lealand McSpadden story, about his latest condition, was in
an Arizona paper this week. The story pretty well explains the
strength and courage the Tempe Tornado is showing under this bad
situation. Check here to read about the Hall of Famer we all are
praying for: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/0725mcspadden0725.html.
See
you at the PAS watching the VRA this week and packing for the lonely
tour as Mrs Wags used up all her vacation time, so has to stay home.
A
FEATURE (30 laps - from 4/26 event) A
FEATURE (30 Laps) As
always, look for my correction/additions on Monday night, as I never
get it right the first time! SCRA
Points |
