|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Press Release |
|
|
|
JUSTYNE HAMBLIN DOMINATES FOR FIRST WIN AND THE WORLD IS RIGHT |
|
AUGUST 11, 2008 --- Justyne Hamblin dominates for her first iTi Performance win in Bandit Sprint Car Series. Justyne winning really isn’t earth shattering news, is it? This is her first sprint car feature win but it was inevitable right? Well the answers are yes it is earth shattering news. Why is because this young former Rookie-of-the-Year has very worked hard for two seasons to get this first one. The dues have been paid in full. Another reason is how it was accomplished but more on that later. I think that first win is special for any racer. But again its significance in this case lies in the manner in which it was done, along with the genuine popularity of the person who won. What is not as relevant as people make it out to be is Justyne’s gender. Yes, sprint car racing is still dominated by men and boys but the number of successful women racers is more plentiful than in the past. Justyne is the first woman to win a Bandit Series feature race but she is among a growing list of women winning in motorsports in general and sprint car racing specifically. Young Hamblin is a racer period. Her family that supports her and crew that prepares and services her car are as dedicated and competent as there is in our sport. This is a race team exactly like other competitive teams. Justyne does not have to rely on her gender to get a head so she relies on her own gifts as well as the teams talents and abilities. The fact that every racer competes on a level playing field seems to suit her just fine. A bit of my biased editorial portion is based on my experiences. I have coached boys and girls sports to a great extent over the years at different levels. I know that my girls compete as hard as my boys did and do. This is part of the joys of having lots of kids. My oldest daughter has competed with boys in club soccer and volleyball in her youth and high school days. Now she is married, in her 20’s and a high school coach herself. I don’t favor comparisons of women to men where women get a handicap (like golf for instance) or compete only with their gender because men and women are physically different. They compete at their own respective levels. But automobile racing is one of the few sports and athletic competitions where men and women compete on equal footing. No favoritisms, handicaps or segregation are in place. Racing is pure in that sense. I have to confess that there is also a piece of me that was rooting for Justyne based on my own experiences and just plain sprint car fanhood. I do love racing period and I am indulged every race with hundreds of people I call friends to help put on a race with my favorite people in the world. I am freakin’ spoiled! It is not always easy, dang difficult at times but that is racing is it not? We love it. How this deal unfolded played right to my fanhood as well as my dadhood and a bit of the coach in me. Not many racers ever win feature events while some win more than their share. This is the nature of sport. The first win in any class, at any stage of career is an important milestone moment. It was big for rookie Richard VanderWeerd earlier this season as it will be big for brother Jace, Wes Gutierrez, Tyler Schmidt and all of the other rookie and veteran racers working for their first win. Winning is a significant accomplishment for any racer and cannot be taken for granted. The first win is reputed to be the hardest, most difficult win and therefore more memorable. She already carries a strong fan base because as she sat on the front straight waiting to be pushed off a young fan with her dad was yelling to her and waving. Calls came from all points as fans tried to get the drivers attention. T-Shirts were even sold out before the feature. Justyne Hamblin is a popular driver with fans and racers because she is a real and happy person. No prima donna attitude like Danica, just a racer who has the eye of fans like little 7 year young Gracie Aviles who proudly wore her Hamblin T-shirt. So why Justyne Hamblin’s win was so earth shattering was how she did it. She did in such a spectacular fashion that caught the attention of everybody in attendance. Mini Stock racers, Dwarf car racers, Modified racers and the entire sprint car bunch all took note. All of the fans in the stands including restless and rideless champions Greg Porte, Jimmy Thompson and Jeff Fiscus cheered in approval for the exhibition that Hamblin put on. These former champions above all know how difficult this feat was. Heads buried under hoods poked their noses out and fellow stooges crawled from under cars to see what the fuss was about as Hamblin started moving to the front. At the start of the race Peter Murphy took full advantage of his outside front row starting position and took a semi-comfortable lead of a length or two as USAC star Alan Ballard, Jace VanderWeerd and Davey Pombo were dicing it out for the first half of the race. Jace seemed to have a mechanical situation with sparks flying from the mid point of his car, dropped back and eventually nursed his ride to 12th. “Big Daddy” Pombo was putting pressure on Ballard who was looking to take Murphy’s spot. This trio seemed to have things in hand and was content to keep the contest between them for the entire 30 lap feature. Meanwhile Hamblin did not start well from her fifth place position and slumped to mid-pack and was down to 9th position on a lap 12 caution. Whether it was an air adjustment on a mid race red for a Mike Larson flip or the track came to her or the fact that Justyne felt messed over by being placed in 9th on the lap 12 restart (her crew was upset about the scorers’ placement) but Justyne’s race began on the 13th circuit. She got up on the wheel as Murphy took off with the field in tow; Hamblin found the high line to be to her liking and her spectacular run to the front began. She dispatched Rusty Carlile, Tyler Schmidt on the restart and kept going forward. Driver 8 got into a scrappy dog fight with Albert Pombo and Jace VanderWeerd in squeezing between high running Pombo and the unforgiving concrete wall. Hamblin’s run was an exhibition of rim riding to the likes of Jack Hewitt, the late and great Jan Opperman and even our own Davey Pombo and Jeff Fiscus along with a few others I have witnessed over the decades at the venerable Speedway. Only a few have ever run the top at Santa Maria so fearlessly. Hamblin had one of the all time great runs ever, even possibly topping the talents before her and their exhibitions! Justyne’s squeezing between a high running Alberto Pombo and the wall, then gave Jace the chrome horn as she simultaneously banged wheels with “Fast Albert” on the back straight in a ballsy act of bravado that fans will long remember. Also the fact that these racers all saved their wrecks from happening when a slowing VanderWeerd was pushed sideways and Albert P’s slide for life on the back straight while Hamblin stood on the hammer, stayed high and moved to her next victims. Pombo gathered it up beautifully and followed the 8 forward. At this point, I believed Hamblin’s was to be a noteworthy run but never was she going to run down the talent at the front. My bad! The Tachi Palace 8 car was able to get on the bumper of Davey Pombo after Davey and then Hamblin worked past the fading Ballard. Fast Albert took advantage of the Hamblin tow and followed the lead toward the front, even eventually working his way around cousin Davey before the checkers fell. But Hamblin’s duel with Davey lasted a lap or so and looked like Pombo wouldn’t give an inch. Hamblin found that inch for a wall hugging pass. Then it actually looked like it was going to get interesting when flagman John Hansen waved the yellow flag for Norwalk’s Brandon Thomson stop because of a motor that done broke on lap 21. Poor Peter Murphy, if there could ever be such a phrase. He had no clue that he was to be Hamblin’s final victim. Nobody in attendance with a sane mind could have predicted the whoopin’ she was going to put on the Bandit dominator, Murphy. As Peter went high, Justyne went higher, further and faster as this rocketeer pulled along side the Black Tachi Place machine on the 23rd lap and then blasted past as her red and white Tachi Palace ride down the back shoot. The Tachi full house had everyone covered as the duel was actually anti-climactically brief. The excitement was not done though as Hamblin kept to what brought her to the dance and stayed on the loud peddle and the Braille driving nerf scraping the wall moves kept eyes focused and the 8 car. Bouncing off the turn one wall and stretching to an impressive near straight-a-way win the improbable happened and in remarkable fashion. The period from lap 12 until lap 23 was stuff that racers and fans can talk about for a long, long time. The final laps Justyne showed veteran sense and moved down a car width to a safer gap between the wall and her mount without lifting off the throttle much. It was set up superbly by Steve and the crew but it was all the pilots doing. For any driver to win like this is remarkable and to win a race like this may never happen ever again. For this to be a driver’s first win is like Peter Murphy so eloquently said “Wow!” Hey, I said “wow” myself and heard “wow” from many others. Some times a simple phrase says it all. In victory lane Hamblin was so excited and pumped and flew up and out of her car as ecstatic and emotional dad Steve was there to greet her. Arms extended high and the cheers of the crowd in unanimous explosive approval. The bright eyes sparkled and her cheeks raised the helmet as the grin jumped through her helmet. The interview with veteran track announcer Jim Pluhar proceeded as the joyous Hamblin crew high fived and hugged and took the obligatory victory lane photos. The ever classy champions Peter Murphy and Davey Pombo were among the first to congratulate Justyne who was clearly and refreshingly overwhelmed in this win as well as everybody in attendance it seemed. I even stole a hug and got a picture as a memento (Checkout Santa Maria’s web site). A noteworthy concept of this win is it is demeaning to simply say this was great because it was the first for a woman. It demeans the accomplishment and it demeans the talent of those with whom she competed and beat fair and square. So I did take minor exception to the Santa Maria Times article about the because we do realize a significant aspect and the milestone achieved. But make no mistake this was a supreme display of talent and bravery by Justyne Hamblin and not any more or less important by virtue of the racers gender. The victory lane celebration was a rare one too. No victory lap, I saw the infield crowd of Mini Stock teams and Dwarf car teams stacked deep into the infield to get a glimpse of the celebration. They, like the crowd in the stands, saw a race and an out come that was special and one well worth the price of admission and then some. I must say in a season that has been blessed with so many great races and this is a topper in a long line of great races. And we are not done yet. There are still six races left in the season. The main event was fast and exciting and had great racing throughout even though this storey had its own unfolding. But even so, the heat races were pretty fun and exciting too. Journeyman Santa Maria driver and recently returned Iraq veteran Steve DeMott took the Spintech Mufflers first heat race of the evening. DeMott out raced visiting VRA star Bruce Douglass and fellow transfers Hamblin and Murphy while non-transfers included VMAC fast qualifier Jayson May who finished behind former VRA champ Luis Espinosa and a head of local yokel Billy Jones. Jones is a long time veteran of several different divisions at Santa Maria spanning two decades while makes no pretense about anything other than just loving racing and enjoying the dream of racing his sprint car. The Stainless Storage Solutions heat 2 was won handily by the speedy BR Motorsports rookie of the race Richard VanderWeerd. Second place USAC visitor Alan Ballard in the Stansberry 75T was followed by Davey Pombo and the safely transferred Rusty Carlile. The “outlaw” Brandon Thomson, the “Mad Professor” Jeff Culver and “Masonry Mike” Larson missed the cut and had to line up behind the top transfers. Brandon makes the long tow to a race some where just about every week-end. That is precisely why he is an outlaw to me by the original definition. This third generation wheel man will race at Ventura, Victorville, Bakersfield, Kings and Santa Maria or where ever else he and Grandpa Fred decide to haul to on any given Friday or Saturday night. Isn’t that a real outlaw? Thomson isn’t a point’s racer, he is just a racer. There are some others but not near enough. Jeff Culver is a long time high school auto shop teacher and pretty accomplished engine builder. How cool is it to have a racing teacher? Mike Larson is a masonry contractor who is a few years new to racing and made his debut in a sprint car. Tough to do but he is working it out. The Extreme Mufflers third heat race went to Hollister’s favorite son and Bandito rookie stud Tyler Schmidt as he captured his first heat race win. Tyler had fellow rookie Jared Little hot on his tail and ready to pounce should Tyler falter in an entertaining heat. Fellow transferees were Jace “The Answer” VanderWeerd and “Fast Albert” Pombo. Jonathon Logan and Rick Eberhardt did not get their times back for the feature by virtue of their 5th and 6th place finishes respectively. This was another significant milestone on his way to Bandit stardom and future feature victories. Schmidt has been close to his first heat win for several weeks but this coupled with his s 6th place feature result show this young dudes learning and improving every week. Little has over come early season mechanical problems to settle in to some good seat time is just now showing some of his talent and ability. Eberhardt is an accomplished road racer who took up sprint cars a few seasons ago but decided to try non-wing racing for this year. Rick has had his frustrations as he is used to being a top contender. He has my admiration because even though this deal isn’t easy he is working hard to get the hang of it. Rick makes the long tow from Livermore to Kings or Santa Maria every week. A couple of weeks ago they raced way up in Chico on Friday night in a 410 Winged car with Pete Murphy at the wheel and then drove like a bat outta hell to drop the car off and load the Bandit car at 3AM Livermore time. Then travel to the Hanford “place to race” in his car while Murphy got his car to the track. That’s a distance comparable to several smaller states up there from the Fresno area. These guys are racers racers for sure. So why is the world right? Because! On a weekly basis the people that come race with the Bandit series in 2008 is awe-inspiring. Look at the veteran talent racing in the Bandit Series- Davey Pombo, Peter Murphy, Dan Faria, Danny Sheridan, Jimmy Thompson, Kevin Barnes, Jeff Fiscus, Greg Porte, Rusty Carlile, Jessie Mack, Jonathon Logan, Jayson May, Davey Knott, Jeff Gardner, and Greg Bragg are joined by the likes of Alan Ballard who started with the Bandit series a few years ago and VRA champions like Greg Taylor, Luis Espinosa and Josh Ford. Visiting VRA stars like Brandon Thomson, Bruce Douglass, Derek Buckley, and Ludwig Solberg IV. The young stars that shine like contenders Hamblin, Albert Pombo and Michael Faccinto along with Adam Frith-Smith, Austin Mero, Greg Alexander, Jonathon Henry, and Henry Clarke who all will be here and beyond and back again to make this one of the greatest regional race series in the entire United States. And then there is the bumper rookie crop of drivers who is a dozen strong and led by feature winning Richard VanderWeerd. Richard’s brother Jace and Wes Gutierrez all have had a great battle for Rookie-of-the Year going and the outcome is in doubt although Richard is putting some space between him and the others recently. Other rising talents of the Bandit world like Ricky Kirkbride, Jared Little, Tyler Schmidt, Tyler “T.J.” Smith, Newt Price, Justin Grant, and the “G-Man” Geoffrey Strole who all have great racing futures a head of them. Most of these young racers are coming from the mini-sprint world as talented and successful drivers with skills developed over many seasons. And one of my favorite rookies and people Rick Eberhardt who is a veteran of racing has taken on this challenge late in a racing career. This bunch is why sprint car racing has such a bright future in California. And for me, the best part…is that all of these racers, families and crews are such great people and make racing so entertaining for our fans, a pleasure for the venues we race at and a pleasure for me. The world is right because of the race we had and especially the people that make up this Bandit Series. We’ll see you all next week at Kings Speedway… BANDIT SPRINT CARS-Santa Maria Speedway - Nipomo, CA August 9, 2008 TIME TRIALS: 1. 8M JAYSON MAY, Taft- 13.607, 2. 35 Albert Pombo, Easton- 13.850, 3. 32Jonathan Logan, Hanford- 13.917, 4. 8 Justyne Hamblin, Hanford – 13.920, 5. 75T Alan Ballard, Bakersfield – 13954, 6. 21Peter Murphy, Clovis- 13.982, 7. 27Davey Pombo, Kerman – 13.961, 8. 88 Jace VanderWeerd, Visalia- 14.078, 9. 51Rusty Carlile, Bakersfield – 14.088, 10. 31 Bruce Douglass, Ventura – 14.265, 11, 10Richard VanderWeerd, Visalia – 14.367, 12. 49 Tyler Schmidt, Hollister – 14.373, 13. 35D Steve DeMott, Santa Maria - 14.410, 14. 19 Brandon Thompson, Norwalk – 14.482, 15. 25Jared Little, Hanford- 14.532, 16. 09 Luis Espinosa, Woodland Hills – 14.664, 17. 71C Jeff Culver, Lompoc – 14.694, 18. 4 Rick Eberhardt, Livermore- 14.932,19. 16J Bill Jones, Santa Maria – 14.967, 20. 7L Mike Larson, Nipomo – 15.265 (20 CARS) SPINTECH MUFFLERS HEAT RACE 1: (10 laps) 1. STEVE DEMOTT, 2. Bruce Douglass, 3. Justyne Hamblin, 4. Peter Murphy, 5. Luis Espinosa, 6. Jayson May, 7. Billy Jones. STAINLESS STORAGE SOLUTIONS HEAT RACE 2: (10 laps) 1. RICHARD VANERWEERD, 2. Alan Ballard, 3. Jace VanderWeerd, 4. Albert Pombo 5. Brandon Thomson, 6. 71C Jeff Culver, 7. 7L Mike Larson. EXTREME MUFFLERS HEAT RACE 3: (10 laps) 1. TYLER SCHMIDT, 2.Jared Little, 3. Davey Pombo, 4. Rusty Carlile, 5. Jonathan Logan, 6. Rick Eberhardt. BANDIT FEATURE: (Starting Position) 1. JUSTINE HAMBLIN (5), 2. Peter Murphy (2), 3. Albert Pombo (6), 4. Davey Pombo (3), 5. Richard VanderWeerd (9), 6. Tyler Schmidt 10), 7. Alan Ballard (4), 8. Rusty Carlile (7), 9. Steve DeMott 11), 10. Jonathan Logan (14), 11. Jared Little (12), 12. Jace VanderWeerd (1), 13. Jeff Culver (17), 14. 16J Billy Jones (19), 15. Rick Eberhardt (18), 16. Bruce Douglass (8), 17. Brandon Thompson (15), 18. Luis Espinosa (16), 19. Mike Larson (20), 20. Jayson May (13) *BR MOTORSPORTS ROOKIE AWARD: RICHARD VANDERWEERD *VMAC QUICK TIME: JAYSON MAY *iTi FEATURE WINNER AWARD: JUSTINE HAMBLIN |
