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(NOVEMBER
16, 2004, PERRIS, CA) When Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply and Vista Paint
present the Valvoline USAC/CRA Sprint Cars in the Jack Kindoll Classic at Perris
Auto Speedway on Saturday night, fans may see a historic and very emotional
event. Rip Williams first ever championship and his 100th career sprint car win.
Williams, a 48-year old father of three sons, began his now Hall of Fame,
27-season sprint car career in 1978 when he shared the CRA Rookie of the Year
honors with Ric Paronelli. Since then he has racked up 99 sprint car main event
wins, which is only four shy of the late Dean Thompson’s total of 103.
However, the popular Williams has never won a season long championship. He came
close on several occasions including 1990 when he lost the CRA crown by a mere
16 points. That could all change at The PAS on Saturday.
Heading into Saturday’s season finale, Williams holds a 50-point lead over
Concord’s Damion Gardner. The maximum amount of points available on the night
is 74 (if a driver was fast qualifier, won his heat and the main). The main pays
60 points to the winner and 13 points for last. If Williams maintains the
50-point advantage through qualifying and the heats and both he and Gardner make
the main, the championship will be his.
It is ironic that the veteran could sew up his first championship at Perris. In
the early days of the track, Williams so dominated the competition that he
seemed to be public enemy #1 and the mere mention of his name brought cascades
of boos from the stands. He won eight main events at The PAS in 1996, 11 in
1997, six in 1998 and six in 2000. With each main event victory the din from the
stands grew louder.
However, things started changing late in the 2001 season. The boos started
changing to cheers and today the affable veteran has a huge fan following and is
arguably the most popular sprint car driver at Perris Auto Speedway.
It has been over 21 years since Rip Williams scored his first main event win at
Ascot’s Salute to Indy on May 28, 1983. Will this Saturday be win number 100?
Will he finally nail down his first sprint car championship on Saturday? The
only way to find out is to be on hand for what is sure to be a very historic and
EMOTIONAL night of sprint car racing at “Southern California’s Home to Major
League Sprint Car Racing,” Perris Auto Speedway.
Spectator gates will open at 5:00 PM.
Perris Auto Speedway is conveniently located on the Lake Perris Fairgrounds,
home of the Southern California Fair, approximately one hour east of Los
Angeles. Take the 215 Freeway, exit at the Ramona Expressway and go east two and
a half miles to the fairgrounds.
For more information on this or any other event at Perris Auto Speedway, please
call (951) 940-0134.
JACK KINDOLL CLASSIC CHAMPIONS
1997 Rip Williams
1998 Cory Kruseman
1999 Richard Griffin
2000 Cory Kruseman
2001 Cory Kruseman
2002 Steve Ostling
2003 Lance Gremett
VALVOLINE USAC/CRA POINTS
1. Rip Williams – Yorba Linda, CA – 1664
2. Damion Gardner – Concord, CA – 1614
3. Mike Kirby – Torrance, CA – 1567
4. Troy Rutherford – Ojai, CA – 1059
5. Greg Bragg – Visalia, CA – 910
6. Mike Spencer – Temecula, CA – 881
7. Cory Kruseman – Ventura, CA – 880
8. Steve Ostling – Corona, CA – 855
9. Bobby Cody – Costa Mesa, CA – 807
10. Tony Jones – Corona, CA - 795
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