BAKERSFIELD, California -- A near capacity crowd turned up at Bakersfield's Mesa Marin Raceway, for a June 23d special edition of Thursday Nigh Thunder, to see Bakersfield's racing hero Kevin Harvick in his last ever race at Mesa Marin before the track closes in October.
The event was the Firecracker 100 NASCAR Late Model race, presented by McMillen Homes-Cingular Wireless and the Law Offices of Young Wooldridge, and when it was all over Bakersfield’s Brian Richardson took the trophy home after leading the final 60 laps during a very dominant performance.
Harvick's homecoming attracted a lot of attention that brought in Late Model teams for other regional tracks who seized the opportunity for an extra night of racing and the possibility of a big paycheck. A full field of 28 cars took the initial green flag led by Roy W Degeer and Cody Pruitt on the front row.
Degeer made quick work of putting the hammer down on his Ford Taurus and jumped into the lead. However, his early race rhythm was disrupted by a lap four pile up that had a great deal of significance to it.
In a racing is rubbing situation, going on in the back of the pack, the cars of Kevin Harvick, Ray Marraquin, Mike Mullhall and Glen Burke found themselves wadded up in the middle of turn three. A series of successive yellow flag pit stops for repairs kept Harvick on the lead lap and he eventually rallied to finish seventh.
The green flag returned on lap 14 and Degeer again paced the field this time with Eric and Brian Richardson chasing him. There were two brief cautions, for debris, that slowed the field. Brian Richardson moved into second, on lap 36, and, on lap 40, pulled down low in turn three for what turned out to be the winning move of the race.
The race was slowed four more times, for debris and minor incidents, and with each restart Brian Richardson got great restarts and immediately pulled away from the field. But it was the eighth, and final caution flag, that hurt the most. On lap 94 Tim Huddelston was trying to take third away from Eric Richardson. Going into turn one Huddelson drifted high and got into the side of Richardson. A large piece of sheet metal flew off of the Huddelson car and landed on the track. When the yellow flag flew into the air everyone knew what was coming next: another Mesa Marin green-white-checker finish.
At a time when Brian Richardson needed a great restart, that's exactly what he did. He had a three-car length lead when the field passed under the checkers. NASCAR Southwest and West Series visitor Burney Lamar finished second, Eric Richardson was third while Huddelson and Degeer completed the top five.
After pulling his Rich Pak Motorsports Chevrolet into Mesa Marin's victory lane, for the third time this year, a very happy Richardson said "the car was perfect, we were running faster times at the 100th lap as we were on the first lap. The crew gave me a great car and the tires were perfect. I've never had a racecar that good. The first two or three laps after a restart I had a little trouble getting grip and then it came in perfect. I did want that last yellow but the car had just enough in it and it was awesome."
Burney Lamar drives the Les Denherder owned NASCAR Auto Zone Elite Division Southwest Series car and also drives a car in the NASCAR Grand National Division West Series owned by Kevin Harvick Inc. Lamar was not planning on driving at Mesa Marin that night until he got a call from one of his bosses.
"I had a lot of fun tonight and I need to thank Les and Sue, (Denherder), for giving me the opportunity. Kevin Harvick called me on the phone last Monday and said what are you going to be doing Thursday night. I thought I was going to be with him at Sonoma, (Harvick's Nextel Cup race at Infineon Raceway,) and he said no you're not you're coming out here, (to Mesa Marin) and race with me. I called Les and he said no problem. He called me back 20 minutes later and said he had a ride for me."
In early January Kevin Harvick Inc announced the signing of Lamar to their new driver development program. The deal calls for Lamar to drives KHI's West Series car as well as some selected appearances in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Despite the demands of competing in two west coast touring series for two different team owners, Lamar is having the time of his life and has clearly proven that he was the right choice for both jobs. Commenting on this year's driving duties, Lamar said "I can't say enough about Kevin and Lalana, (Harvick), doing that. It's been a great opportunity to go back there, (North Carolina), and work with Kevin and everybody at their shop. I also owe a huge thank you to Les Denherder for making it all possible. He's a lot of the reason why I'm still racing from last year to this year. Our sponsors, HPS Mechanical, Goreniger and Victory Circle Chassis, has done so much for me I can't even begin to describe it."
(PHOTO CREDIT: Swanson’s Speed Shots)
Despite any high emotions from running his last ever race at Mesa Marin and despite an early race crash and a seventh place finish, Kevin Harvick was all smiles and seemed to thoroughly enjoy his homecoming all evening long.
Harvick will be the first to tell you that Mesa Marin Raceway was a huge factor that launched his NASCAR career to its present status as a driver in the Nextel Cup Series and a multi car team owner. After starting his future driving career racing go-karts, Harvick became a regular at Mesa Marin driving a car that he and his dad, Mike, built in their shop behind the family home. In 1993, at the age of 16, he won the Mesa Marin Late Model championship. From that point success, and a lot of hard work, took him through NASCAR's west coast touring series and through their big league national series.
While Harvick arrived at Mesa Marin with the plan to win the race, the lap four crash pretty much killed any chances of it. The damage to the front end of his Chevrolet was massive and it appeared that his homecoming race was going to end early.
But Harvick had two important things going for him on this night. The first was the car that was built by Gary Collins Motorsports who is one of the premiere racecar fabricators in the country. The second thing was the fact that Collins was leading Rich Pak Motorsports on pit road that night. Rich Pak is one of the better, and organized, teams in Mesa Marin's Late Model Series. During a successive series of yellow flag pit stops, the team removed the mangled sheet metal from the entire front end of the car and kept Harvick on the lead lap.
Despite the fact that his Chevrolet Monte Carlo now resembled an IMCA modified from the local Bakersfield dirt track and despite the fact that a broken front shock showered sparks in the air every time it slammed into the asphalt in the turns, Harvick lined up for the restart in last place and began the job of working his way through the field. You could tell, by the huge roar from the crowd, when Harvick passed another car for position. In fact, a lot of racing observers speculated that if the Firecracker 100 had been the Firecracker 150 Harvick would have won the race.
Despite his strong competitive nature as a race driver, Harvick said the evening was not about winning or losing the race. It was about racing one more time at a track that means so much to him. "The people from this racetrack, the fans here and even the city of Bakersfield have done so much to support my racing career I felt I just needed to be here tonight. Tonight wasn't really about winning or losing a race," he said.
All throughout the afternoon Harvick graciously granted interviews to the unusually large media contingent that turned out for his final race. He was especially appreciative of the many fans that wanted an autograph, a photo and a handshake from him.
When asked the proverbial question about Mesa Marin Raceway's impending closure Harvick said he really didn't how to react at first and found himself reflecting on the opportunity that came from racing there and how much he treasured his long time friendship with Collins family who own Mesa Marin. "Everything I've done in my racing career started here," he said adding, "there were a lot of great years and a lot of great things happened. When I stop and think about how many days of my life I've spent at this racetrack it, (the closure) makes me said. It's definitely an emotional situation and it's a little hard to take."
