SAN BERNARDINO, California – The contenders for the Hype Manufacturing Super Late Model championship have had three weeks to plan their strategy for the final four races at Orange Show Speedway. They only needed three seconds because no planning was required.
Three drivers are separated by just 16 points and that means the strategy will be the same for each of them when racing resumes Saturday (Sept. 8) with the Super Late Models headlining a program that also includes the quick ASA Pro 4’s, the highly-competitive Aflac Factory Fours, the Stock Cars USA series, the Mini StocKars and the final Demolition Derby of the season.
That menu guarantees excitement for the regular visitors to the ASA-sanctioned quarter-mile oval as well as those celebrating Robertson’s Ready Mix Family Night, Mark Christopher Hummer Night and Public Servants Night.
As part of the evening, representatives of Robertson’s Ready Mix will present a donation to the Ronald McDonald House to assist in that organization’s services to families of critically ill children.
Public Servants Night has been instituted to honor those who regularly risk their safety and their lives to assist the public. All law enforcement personnel, fireman and forestry department members and emergency medical technicians and their families will be admitted free by displaying their badges or official identification at the box office.
Spectator gates open at 5 p.m. and racing gets under way at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (62 and over), handicapped and juniors (13-16) and $2 for children (6-12). Active military personnel and veterans with valid military identification are admitted free of charge. Parking is $4 per car with entry through Gate 3 off Mill Street.
Those unable to make it to the speedway still can follow the action with “Orange Show Speedway Live,” the radio broadcast on KTTD (AM 1350) that begins at 8 p.m.
Ten races into the 14-race season for the Super Late Models, Rick Chavez has a 2-point lead over Frankie Gould and a 16-point advantage over 2005 class champion John Manke. So with four races remaining in which to determine a champion, all three will have the same game plan – win the race, if possible, but above all else do everything possible to avoid the kinds of mishaps that can have a devastating effect on the point standings.
That’s essentially the same strategy everyone employs each week, but it will get special emphasis from the top three because it’s been proven that stating the objectives is much easier than accomplishing them.
No one has dominated Victory Circle. In this season’s 10 races there have been six different winners and four two-time winners – Chavez, Manke, Glen Cummings and Linny White – and only defending champion Cummings has managed to win back-to-back events.
No one is immune to the kind of bad luck that will result in a subpar finish, either. So Gould perhaps might be smart to knock on wood a few times this week, since he’s finished seventh or better in every race and that consistency has made him a contender.
On the other hand, in the past four races, since his second win on June 2, Chavez has lost 32 points to Gould and 26 to Manke. Part of that is due to an on-track incident between Chavez and Manke July 21. But three weeks ago, with 20 laps to go in a 50-lap main event, Chavez was running fifth, and he said he gladly would have settled for finishing there and maybe losing four or six points from his 16-point lead over Gould.
Instead, Chavez got hit and put out of the race by a driver out of title contention. He finished 10th while Gould got third and Manke fourth, and any margin for error during the rest of the season had disappeared.
The points battles in the Pro 4 and Aflac Factory Fours are pretty well decided with four races to go. Rex Lockwood leads Eddie Secord by 30 points in Pro 4 and Spencer Samaro is 56 points ahead in Factory Fours. But in the Stock Cars USA series, Michele Rouse trails Mark Whitson by just 8 points with two of the eight races left and in the Mini StocKar class, defending champion Dean Caskey is 4 points behind Mike O’Hara with three of seven races left.
A busy month for the speedway will continue Sept. 15 with the Lucas Oil Route 66 Burnout, presented by The Press-Enterprise, and on Sept. 22 with the Toys for Tots 100 ASA Late Model race, a 100-lap, open competition event with a $6,400 purse.
The Burnout, a contest in which drivers use the accelerator and brakes to try to create the most tire smoke in a 1-minute period, is an annual competition during the Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous. The Burnout will be held in the speedway from 6:30 to 10 p.m. There also will be Drifiting and Quartermidget exhibitions. Tickets are $6, with children 12 and under free, and $1 of each ticket will be donated to the Boys and Girls Club of San Bernardino. Parking is through Gate 8 off Arrowhead Avenue or in the dirt lot across the avenue.
The Sept. 22 Late Model feature will be a non-points race open to anyone with a Late Model and the $100 entry fee. That entry fee includes a Test and Tune session from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 21. Other classes are welcome to practice that night as well, for the usual $30 charge.
That weekend also will serve as the area debut of a proposed USAC Junior Ford Focus Midgets class. There will be practice and qualifying Sept. 21 and the main event will run at 4 p.m. Sept. 22, in advance of a Family Night program that features the Late Models, Stock Ponys, Leno’s Rico Taco Legends Cars and Bandoleros.
Racing at Orange Show Speedway is sponsored by Lucas Oil, Blackhawk Protection, Hype Manufacturing, Del Taco, Aflac Insurance, KTTD radio (AM 1350), Leno’s Rico Taco, Soboba Casino, Budweiser, Hoosier Racing Tires, Frank’s Radio Service, Torco Racing Fuels, Parker Pumper/BSR West, Eibach Springs, JP Striping, Center Chevrolet, Pepsi, Matich Coporation, L. Curti Truck and Equipment, One Stop Landscape Supply, Extreme Exhibits & Logistics, Little Green Onions and the San Bernardino County Sun.
