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FANS
BORN IN THE 1960S GET INTO SATURDAY’S SPRINT CAR RACES FOR $5.00!
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(JULY
19, 2005, PERRIS, CA) This
Saturday night when Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply presents the Valvoline
USAC/CRA Sprint Cars and the wingless California Lightning Sprint Cars at Perris
Auto Speedway, fans who were born in the 1960s will get into the races for the
1960s price of only $5.00! Any
fan born in the 1960s attending Saturday’s doubleheader can show a valid id
displaying their birth date at the ticket booth and they will get in for $5.00.
Once inside they will be treated to a full program of 21st
Century high tech sprint car racing. The
popular Valvoline USAC/CRA Series is coming off a two-week layoff after ten
straight weeks of racing. Saturday’s
event marks the start of twelve straight weeks of action for the group that
includes two night’s (July 29th and 30th) at Skagit
Speedway in Burlington, Washington. The
next time the two-year old series has a week off is October 15th. Even
though the series has been off for a couple of weeks, several drivers have kept
busy racing in other events. Cory
Kruseman of Ventura, California, Concord, California’s Damion Gardner and
impressive teenager Alan Ballard of Bakersfield, California have been in Indiana
since last week contesting the annual Indiana Sprint Week.
Considered one of the toughest events in all of sprint car racing,
Indiana Sprint Week draws in many of the nations top stars for seven days of
back em’ dirt track racing in the space of nine days.
As
his piece went to press, three of the seven nights have been completed and
Kruseman, who won the 2002 Indiana Sprint Week Championship, is leading the
prestigious series once again. Driving
for Indiana based car owner Keith Kunz, the 34 year-old veteran won the series
opener at Twin Cities Raceway Park in North Vernon, Indiana last Thursday.
He took fifth last Friday night at Bloomington, Indiana and won again on
Sunday night at Haubstadt, Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway. Things
have not went quite as good for Gardner or Ballard.
Gardner finished fifteenth in the series opener at Twin Cities and did
not make the main at Bloomington. On
Saturday before rain-washed out the show (rescheduled for this Tuesday) at
Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Indiana, Gardner flipped in qualifying.
However, the flashy veteran impressed one and all by qualifying second
and giving CRA a one – two finish when he chased archrival Kruseman across the
line Sunday night in Haubstadt. While
Ballard has yet to make one of the main events, he has qualified for the heat
races in two of the first three nights of the series.
That is a feat in its own for the talented teenager, as many cagey
veterans did not qualify for the heats. The
18-year old barely missed transferring to the main on Sunday when he finished
fifth (the top four transfer) in his heat race behind Kruseman. Indiana
Sprint Week wraps up on Friday night at the Terre Haute Action Track on the
Wabash Valley Fairgrounds. As soon
as the final checkered flag falls, Kruseman and Gardner will be racing again,
but this time it will be to the airport. The
pair, who has no love loss between the pair after a controversial incident while
battling for the main event lead at The PAS in late June, will be off to catch a
flight to California for Saturday’s USAC/CRA race at The PAS.
Once
back on west coast soil they will continue their quest to chase down series
point leader Rip Williams of Yorba Linda, California.
Williams, 49, has a commanding 113-point lead over Gardner heading into
Saturday’s race. Kruseman is
another 24 points back. Torrance,
California’s Mike Kirby, who placed 12th in the main at Ventura
last Saturday, is fourth in the standings with Buckeye, Arizona’s Charles
Davis Jr. fifth. Kruseman
will jump back behind the wheel of Glen Crossno’s red #38 that he has four
wins in this season. For Gardner,
Saturday will be like old times. He
is driving his normal ride, Ron Chaffin’s red #50, in Indiana Sprint Week.
There is no way the car can get back to the west coast in time for
Saturday’s show. Instead, Gardner
will be driving the same car he steered to five wins in his first season of
wingless sprint car racing in 2002. Word
has it that car will be silver and green just like it was when “The Demon”
burst upon the scene. The only
difference will be the number. Instead
of the #20 it carried in 2002, it will be the same #50 that Gardner has driven
for Chaffin over the past two seasons. Series
regulars Danny “Showtime” Sheridan, of Santa Maria, California, and last
years USAC/CRA Rookie of the year, “Rocket Ronnie” Case of Camarillo,
California, both posted wins last Saturday night.
Sheridan won the Bandit Sprint Car main at Santa Maria Speedway while
Case took the victory in the VRA main at Jim Naylor’s Ventura Raceway.
They are both expected to be in action at The PAS on Saturday. The
California Lightning Sprint Cars, which have been the springboard to USAC/CRA
for Bobby Cody, Mike Spencer, Greg Bragg, David Cardey and Josh Williams, will
be making their third appearance at The PAS in 2005.
Unlike most of their appearances at The PAS, this week they will be
running without wings. Lakeside,
California’s Brent Sexton and Johnny Bates of Laguna Niguel, California have
won the first two races at The PAS this season.
Bates leads Sexton by 24 points in the standings.
Rialto, California’s Donny Gansen is third in the championship chase. This
Saturday’s open wheel double-header will feature qualifying, the 3-lap Snap-on
Tools Trophy Dash, four heats races, a B main and a 30-lap A main for the
Valvoline USAC/CRA Sprint Cars. The
California Lightning Sprints will contest four heat races, a B main event and a
20-lap A main event. Spectator
gates will open at 5:00 PM with racing at 7:00. 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. racesatthepas@aol.com
is the only authorized Internet address to issue official media news released
from The Perris Auto Speedway or Oval Entertainment VALVOLINE
USAC/CRA POINT STANDINGS
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