IRWINDALE, California -- Two NASCAR series, 300 scheduled laps of main event competition, plus a 15-minute aerial fireworks show following the second race attracted a capacity crowd of 6,500 for the Wednesday, July 4 Whelen All-American Series doubleheader at the half-mile Irwindale Speedway. The Grand National West King Taco 200-lap race, televised live on HDTV and on a delayed basis on Speed Channel, was round nine of 13 and lured a field of 34 entries for 30 starting positions. The track's in-house Auto Club Late Model series also fielded 34 entrants and started all 34 in the 100-lap longest race of the season. ACLM drivers had run one 50-lap main and seven 40-lap features this year.
ACLM: In the preliminary main event, ACLM drivers took the green flag at 7:02 p.m with 34 drivers scheduled to race 100-laps or 45-minutes whichever came first. The time constraint was necessary to allow time for GNW Series driver introductions and the TV on-air live telecast at 8:00. Michael Wright, from Yucca Valley, started his No. 23 Chevy Monte Carlo from pole position as the seventh fastest qualifier. He led every lap for the first ACLM feature victory of his career. The 45-minute race had seven caution flags for single or multi-car incidents and concluded at 7:47 p.m after 85 laps. The two-time MSRA Pro-4 Modified champion, a 10-time main event winner on the IS third-mile, became the sixth different feature winner with nine of 14 scheduled ACLM events completed.
Jubilant Wright performed several donuts on the front straight before joining the second and third place drivers at the finish line for trophy presentations and interviews over the track PA system. "This has been a long-time coming. I have to thank Jeff Schrader at Racecar factory. This car was on a rail tonight," Wright said. He bettered his best ACLM main event finish of third on March 31 this year. Wright jumped from fifth to third in current series points, marking his highest ranking at this stage of the season for the most competitive series at IS.
Rookie Jace Meier set his first ACLM fast qualifying time during single car time trials from 3:30 to 4:05 p.m. He spun seven on the inversion wheel and started seventh in one of four Justice Brothers High-Point Distributing Chevy Monte Carlos. The 18-year old recent high school graduate from Las Vegas raced into second position on lap 63; he used the inside groove to challenge Wright closely for the victory during the final ten laps. Meier trailed by five yards on lap 79 when the white flag was shown indicating one more lap. An incident in turn two brought out the caution flag so drivers completed the next four laps under caution with all drivers informed by radio on lap 82 that the race would end after lap 85. The green, white checkered flag finish followed. Meier pulled alongside Wright in the final turn but trailed by 0.276 at the finish. He recorded his third runner-up finish this season in nine features.
During his post-race interview at the finish line Meier said, "That was a lot of fun. I could have moved the 23 car but I didn't want to take him (Wright) out. I'd rather finish second than take him out. I think we're the point leader." Actually, Meier retained second place in series points, but he reduced his deficit from 36 points to eight (334-326) behind Tim Huddleston, his team owner and the IS 2006 ACLM champion. Huddleston started 14th and finished 16th with a damaged car after a troubled run throughout the race. He had a smashed hood by lap 20, and pitted under a caution to remove it. On lap 70 his car got into Sean Bennett's car leaving turn four, angering Bennett who stepped from his crippled car to point at Huddleston under caution.
Richie Altman started second and finished third in his Racecar Factory-built Monte Carlo. "This car was on a rail," he told the crowd. He also said the four blue cars (Huddleston's team) were tough to beat. Three of the four Huddleston cars had problems and came home with body damage and sub-par finishes. Second quickest qualifier Scottie Jenkins started sixth and was a close second on lap 44 when he slowed, pitted and came back without his hood to finish 21st. Third fastest qualifier Chris Carmody was third at lap 70, but he made wall contact while fourth on lap 80 and finished 20th, the last car on the lead lap. There were 22 of the 34 starters still racing at the premature conclusion. Huddleston finished 16th.
ACLM rookie Brian Wong, another 18-year old recent high school graduate, started eighth and finished fourth in a Team Wong Racing Monte Carlo owned by his father Darryl Wong, a real estate developer in Los Angeles. Brian's fourth place tied his career-best finish and was his fourth P4 finish in nine races. Wong climbed from tenth to seventh in current points and 48 drivers have 2007 ACLM points. He ranks second among the talented nine-member rookie class in the 2007 ACLM series. Daniel DiGiacomo (from 13th), Austin Grabowski (from 11th), Kevin Callahan (from 9th), Mike Varela (from 10th), rookie Travis Irving (from 17th) and last feature winner Mike Johnson (from 12th) completed the top ten finishers.
GRAND NATIONAL WEST: The 200-lap King Taco Grand National West race provided a thrilling three-car duel during the final eight laps. Brian Ickler, a 21-year old second year GNW driver from San Diego, won his second consecutive GNW race only four days after his first victory on June 30 at Roseburg, OR. He drove Bill McAnally's No. 16 NAPA Chevy Monte Carlo with former driver Craig Raudman as his crew chief. McAnally's No. 16 NAPA Chevy has now won eight of the 16 GNW features at Irwindale since the track opened in 1999. Other winners in the blue and yellow car have been Brendan Gaughan, Austin Cameron and Steve Portenga. Ickler, a 2005 super late model series driver at IS and a 2001-2005 SCORE off-road racing veteran and 2003 champion, traded the lead nine times with fastest qualifier Eric Holmes. Ickler, the fifth ranked driver in 2007 GNW points, led 147 laps and Holmes led 53. Ickler won $6,250 from the $117,039 purse. He also collected a $10,000 bonus posted by HDTV Network for leading the most laps this season. The race had seven caution flags totaling 30 laps and took one-hour and 24 minutes to complete.
Mike Duncan started third and finished second in his Lucas Oil Chevy. He trailed Ickler by ten yards (0.956). Holmes was 1.603 behind Ickler. Duncan was in third position on lap 94 when he spun out to the grass in turn two "after the 61car hit me". He continued at the back of the then 24-car field without losing a lap. All cars stopped at the infield pits along the protective concrete K-rails that lined the third-mile track. During the ten-minute midway break at lap 101 teams could change to two new tires, add fuel and do other work as necessary. Double-file restarts after each caution enabled Holmes and Ickler to trade the lead frequently and helped Duncan pick off cars in his climb back to the front. Holmes took the lead on lap 88 following a lap 83-87 caution and he led at the midway pit break.
Ickler led lap 103-110. Holmes shot back into the lead on a lap 111 restart and paced the field through lap 128. Ickler made an inside pass in the fourth turn on lap 129 and proceeded to open a straight-away lead by lap 178 with his outstanding-handling car. Then a caution flag for fluid on the track wiped out his huge lead. The green-flag reappeared on lap 186 with another double-file restart. Ickler continued to lead, but the caution flag flew again on lap 189 for a slowing car. At the lap 193 green flag, Holmes made an inside pass from turn four to the starting line to lead that lap. Ickler retook the lead on lap 194 as the three leaders raced three abreast from the second through fourth turns without incident. Duncan took second from Holmes on lap 195 and held second to the finish line. Twenty-one of 30 starters finished and 14 drivers completed all 200 circuits.
Jason Patison, a 26-year old Irwindale Speedway regular in several series, made his first GNW start an impressive debut. He and a partner recently purchased a Robert Yates No. 38 M & M Ford Fusion that David Gilliland raced last year at Martinsville, VA. With Lucas Oil and Jim Beam sponsorship, Patison, from Corona, qualified 14th without much practice time. He started 14th and finished a closing fourth, 1.939 seconds behind the winner. Point leader Mike David started 20th and finished fifth. He saw his point lead slip from 82 points to 76 over new runner-up Duncan. Brett Thompson, Tim McCreadie, from Watertown, N.Y, GNW rookie Eric Richardson, Johnny Borneman III and Jim Inglebright completed the top ten finishers in the final rundown.
McCreadie, a 33-year old newcomer to stock car racing and a Richard Childress
Racing development driver, was impressive. The 2006 World of Outlaws Dirt
Late Model champion and Tulsa Chili Bowl Midget Classic winner started 15th in
the Ferris-sponsored No. 31 Chevy. He ran in the top ten most of the race and
was ninth at the midway break. A pit stop while sixth on lap 108 under caution
dropped him back and he was running 16th when lapped by the leader on lap 151.
On the lap 189 caution McCreadie received the "lucky dog" beneficiary pass
around the pace truck to rejoin the lead lap in 14th position. He used the final
eight laps to race past seven lead lap cars and finish seventh on his first
visit to Irwindale. "I like this track and the multi-grooves a lot and hope to
return for the Toyota All-Star Showdown event (October 19-20). This was only my
sixth race on pavement," the personable, second-generation driver added as he
discussed the race with third finisher Holmes in the pits. The GNW Series
will compete next on Saturday, July 14 at Miller Motorsports Park, a 3.06-mile
road course in Tooele, UT. The GNW series will return to Southern California on
Saturday, August 11 for a 45-lap race on the California Speedway 2.8-mile road
course in Fontana.
