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(MARCH 1, 2005, PERRIS, CA)
Add the names of USAC National Sprint Car stars Josh Wise and Dave Darland to
the list of entries when Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply presents the USAC/CRA
Valvoline Sprint Cars at Perris Auto Speedway this Saturday night, March 5th.
Wise, a 22 year-old who was born in Janesville, Wisconsin and calls Riverside,
California home, drives for NASCAR Nextel Cup superstar Tony Stewart in USAC's
National Sprint Car, Midget and Silver Crown divisions. This Saturday at The
PAS, he will pilot the beautiful Mark Priestly owned yellow #7 sprint car.
The Jurupa Valley High (Mira Loma, CA) graduate started racing quarter-midgets
when he was 8 years old. In 1994 Wise captured the B-Light Quarter Midget
National championship in Sacramento, California. He moved to three-quarter
midgets with USAC in 1999 and won the series championship and was named Rookie
of the Year. One season later, he won the Rookie of the Year award in the USAC
Western Midgets.
Wise captured the biggest win of his career in 2003 when he won the prestigious
Bellville Midget Nationals on the notorious high banks in Kansas. That same
season he scored two big sprint car wins under the lights at Perris Auto
Speedway when he won the VRA 360 Sprint Car Nationals in August and his first
ever 410 sprint car victory in SCRA competition.
Wise relocated to the Midwest in 2004 and had a fine season taking Stewart's
midget to second overall in the USAC National Midget standings. He also finished
tenth in points in the USAC National Sprint Car standings despite not running
the entire series. He scored wins in the sprint car series at Lima, Ohio and
Memphis, Tennessee.
While Wise is a relative newcomer to the big time of open wheel racing, Lincoln,
Indianas Dave Darland is one of the legends of the sport. The 38 year-old
has four USAC National titles to his credit. He won the Silver Crown title in
1997, Sprint Car championship in 1999 and back-to-back midget triumphs in 2001
& 2002. In 2004, he ended up third in Weld Racing Silver Crown points,
seventh in National Sprint Car points and ninth in the National Midget
standings. Through the years, Darland has scored wins in several major USAC
events including the Tony Hulman Classic, 1998 Indiana Sprint Week Championship,
Hulman 100, Tony Bettenhausen 100 and the Robbie Stanley Classic. Totaled up, he
has 16 lifetime USAC National Sprint Car wins, 23 National Midget victories and
10 first place finishes in Silver Crown action.
On Saturday Darland will be in the cockpit of the same Dwight Cheney owned
orange and blue #42 that he steered to the season opening USAC/CRA win at
Manzanita Speedway in January. In addition to his win in the Cheney car at
Manzanita this year, he has one other victory in USAC/CRA competition. Driving
for longtime car owner Ben Lancaster, he won the 20-lap Sokola Classic
preliminary at Manzanita in 2003. Darland dazzled Perris Auto Speedway fans last
October when he came from the back of the pack all the way to fifth, before a
crash set him back in the prestigious Budweiser Oval Nationals.
Darland and Wise had better be ready to get down and rumble with the best sprint
car drivers in the west including Mike Kirby, Rip Williams, Cory Kruseman,
Damion Gardner, Tony Jones, "Super Rickie" Gaunt, Charles Davis Jr.,
Mike Spencer and the rest of the USAC/CRA Valvoline Sprint car stars.
Saturday's action packed program will consist of qualifying, the Snap-on Tools
3-lap Trophy Dash, four 10 lap heats races, C main, a 12 lap B main and a 30 lap
A main event. Spectator gates will open at 5:00 PM.
March is "Relay for Life" month at The PAS. The Riverside County Clay
Oval has joined with the American Cancer Society to help fight the dreaded
disease. The PAS hopes to raise more than $10,000.00 for the cause during the
month.
Perris Auto Speedway is conveniently located on the freeway close 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 any event at Perris Auto Speedway, please call (951)
940-0134.
VALVOLINE USAC/CRA POINT STANDINGS
1. Mike Kirby - Torrance, CA - 109
1. Charles Davis, Jr. - Buckeye, AZ - 109
3. Rip Williams - Yorba Linda, CA - 94
4. Cory Kruseman - Ventura, CA - 93
5. Seth Wilson - San Clemente, CA - 83
6. Rick Williams - Castro Valley, CA - 82
7. Mike Spencer - Temecula, CA - 80
8. Damion Gardner - Concord, CA - 73
9. Rick Ziehl - Las Cruces, NM - 64
10. Jimmy Crawford - Ventura, CA - 60
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