IRWINDALE, California - Greg Pursley started in the front row of a 40-car NASCAR Super Late Model 150-lap feature Friday night in a preliminary event at the 5th annual Toyota All-Star Showdown on the Irwindale Speedway half-mile. He dueled his long-time rival Rip Michels, the pole starter, for the $10,000 winners' share of a $50,000 purse in front of about 3,000 spectators. Both dollar amounts were Irwindale track records for SLM competitors. When the checkered flag flew in the one hour and 11 minute race, which Speed Channel televised live, Pursley edged Michels by 0.302 for his 26th feature victory at Irwindale. His victory total is tied for eighth place in track history.
Pursley, a 39-year old resident from nearby Canyon Country, drove in only his third SLM race of the year. He had won the 2004 SLM track championship at IS with 13 main event victories and the Pacific Coast regional and NASCAR weekly racing series national championships as well. His dream 2004 season yielded a six-figure NASCAR bonus. The NASCAR Elite Division veteran has been chief driving instructor at the LA Racing at Irwindale Speedway driving school and the crew chief for Gene Price's AMI Metals/Brek Manufacturing 2007 Ford Fusion team. Driver Mike Price left the ride after racing in 15 of the 19 SLM point races at Irwindale. Crew chief Pursley raced the car in two of the final four races at IS. He changed the car number from No. 3 to 13 (the number Pursley drove in 2004 for another car owner) and finished seventh and eighth in his two prior races this year.
There were 55 cars in the pits for Thursday 5:00 to 9:00 p.m practice. Two Friday practices sessions started at 10:00 a.m. Time trials at 2:30 p.m on a 92-degree Friday afternoon had 49 cars face the timing clock for 40 available starting position in the SLM 150-lap race. The 40 fastest qualifiers started straight-up based upon qualifying times. Michels' 18.177 (99.026 mph) in Bob Bruncati's 2007 Sunrise Ford Fusion edged Pursley's 18.273 by 0.096 of a second. SLM qualifiers came from Bakersfield, Las Vegas, Tucson, central California and San Diego areas for the initial SLM event during the prestigious Toyota All-Star Showdown event. The 40 car field took the green flag at 6:47 p.m for 150 laps around the six to 12-degree progressive banking of the nine-year old speedway in eastern Los Angeles County. Officials scheduled a five-minute break about lap 100 for a full field, mandatory pit stop in the infield pits. The break for service and refueling took place after lap 96 following three caution laps for a spinout. Tire changes were not allowed. The extremely competitive 150-lap race (twice or three time the usual IS 75 or 50 lap SLM feature distances) had five race leaders and nine lead changes, all but one lead change came under green flag racing conditions.
Michels led the first three laps over fellow front row starter Pursley, who made an inside pass in the fourth turn to lead laps 4-7. Michels returned the inside turn four pass and led lap 8, but outside-running Pursley nipped inside-runner Michels in the same corner and led laps 9-21. Third starter Scott Dodd, 19, charged past Michels high in turn four on lap 10 and chased leader Pursley. They lapped the first car on lap 14 and the next car five laps later. Dodd, in his family-onwed Lucas Oil Chevy, took the lead from Pursley on lap 22 and soon opened a 20-yard advantage. The first caution flag flew on lap 32 for a one-car spinout. Debris at turn four caused the next caution on lap 43. At lap 50 Dodd led Pursley, Andrew Phipps, David Ross, David Mayhew, Dan Moore, Michels, Scott Conaway, Speed Truck winner Andrew Allen, Kevin Thompson, 2006 IS SLM champion Van Knill and Travis Thirkettle, the IS 2007 SLM rookie of the year and 2006 Late Model champion.
Knill, in his older Jackson Race Cars Ford 2006 IS championship car, spun across the starting line on lap 59 to the inside front straight K-rails protecting the infield pit stalls at the inside edge of the third-mile track. As the Speed TV camera car driver, Knill gave TV viewers an exciting ride. He pitted and returned without losing a lap under caution. On lap 84 the starter again displayed the yellow flag for five laps because of a two-car tangle. Pursley passed Dodd on the inside leaving the second turn when the green flag flew on lap 89. He paced the still 34-car field through lap 92. The first six drivers-Pursley, Phipps, Dodd, Mayhew, Michels and Moore-were nose-to-tail at that point.
On lap 93 Phipps, the IS third place driver in 2007 final SLM points and a two-time feature winner, passed Pursley for the lead on the inside at turn four. Dodd followed Phipps' No. 7 Greg Lobosky Chevy past Pursley. A three-car crash on lap 94 heavily damaged cars of Brian Jones and Ron Esau and resulted in three laps under the yellow flag. Track cleanup at turn three continued as all cars made the full field mandatory pit stop. Per race rules, a wheel spin (shown on live TV coverage) determined the inversion for the final portion of the race. The wheel stopped at six. The running order at the lap 96 stoppage was Phipps, Dodd, Pursley, Mayhew, Michels and Moore. So Moore had pole position with Michels alongside for the resumption of racing. Mayhew and Pursley occupied row two, with Dodd and Phipps in row three. Conaway, Thompson, Dan O'Donnell and Thirkettle followed in the same running order--sixth through tenth with 30 cars able to resume racing.
The green flag flew at 7:52 p.m and a four-car crash in turn three caused another caution, so the running order remained unchanged under the lap 97-103 caution. Michels shot past Moore into the lead at the lap 104 green flag and paced the race narrowly. Pursley took second from Moore on lap 125 and had the fastest car on the track. Sixth place Phipps dropped out on lap 126. Pursley was all over Michels at lap 130; he passed him on the inside on lap 133. Pursley extended his lead to 10-yards by lap 136 when fourth place Mayhew blew his engine in turn two and oiled the low groove. Top ten runners Conaway and Thompson spun out in the oil. As crews applied speedy dry and a truck-towed jet dryer blew of the residue, lap 136-142 were run under caution. At the lap 143 green flag, outside-running Pursley held off inside-running Michels for two close laps before he opened a length or two advantage before the lap 150 checkered flag.Moore finished third after closing on the top duo during the final eight laps despite a deflating right front tire that made steering difficult. Dodd, Allen and Las Vegas resident Charlie Wahl followed within 2.982 seconds. Thirkettle, Knill, Johnny White and 19-year old SLM rookie Derek Becker rounded out the top ten as 17 of the 23 finishers completed all 150 laps. As the leaders crossed the finished line four cars collided and spun out. They included cars in eighth through tenth driven by Gary Jenkins, Conaway and Greg Voigt plus Johnny Borneman III. All four drivers lost positions before crossing the finish line.
Following the race winner Pursley told the crowd, "It was a very good night. I was surprised. My goal was just making the Grand National race (in Joe Nava's Ford Fusion). I knew we were good in the super late model. We just tried to save our stuff for the end. I wasn't worried. I ran the middle not the high line. This is my second race of the year," Pursley added. Runner-up Michels, the 2007 SLM series IS track champion and 2006 NASCAR Elite Division Southwest Series champion, complimented Pursley. "If I had to go down tonight I go down to the best. He (Pursley) is a class guy and he flat out-drove us. Greg knows how to race clean. It was one of our best races. I've had my days and he has had his days. Today was Greg's day. We just missed by a hair. We put on a heck of a race. He's the best I've raced against," Michels told the media. Third place Moore, who finished sixth in 2007 SLM points at IS, said, "Finishing third to Rip and Pursley is pretty good."
During Thursday night SLM practice Stephen Peace had a reported tire problem and slammed into the third turn wall, ending his racing weekend. Mike Lee also bent his front end after wall contact and scratched from Friday racing. During Friday morning SLM first practice session three more cars were eliminated. Chris Johnson, the September 22 SLM 50-lap main event winner, spun out in the No. 20 Speed Wong Racing Chevy entering the first turn and stalled in front of oncoming cars. Two-time 2007 SLM winner David Beat, the fourth place driver in IS 2007 SLM points, arrived quickly, tried to pass and had his intended hole close. Beat slammed into Johnson's car with a tremendous impact and stopped. Tucson driver Dusty Fielden, 23, then slammed into Beat's No. 6 Dodge on the low side. All three drivers were uninjured, but all three cars were eliminated from the event with extensive body and front or back clip damage. Only 49 of 55 entered SLM cars participated in the 2:39 to 3:36 p.m qualifying session.
GRAND NATIONAL OPEN QUALIFYING RACE: The final race televised during the three-plus hours on Speed Channel was a Grand National race to fill the final six positions in the 40-car, 250-lap race Saturday night. The 25 fastest GN qualifiers in Friday time trials (televised live from 5:10 to 6:19 p.m during the 5:00 to 9:08 p.m telecast on Speed) went directly to the feature. NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion Andrew Ranger, a two-year Champ Car World Series open-wheel veteran, had a guaranteed starting position (26th). The four highest finishers in 2007 Busch East and GN West season points not yet included in the starting field by main event victories or qualifying times received provisional berths for starting positions 27-34.
With 51 GN cars present, 17 cars raced for the six available transfers to Saturday's 250-lap feature in a 50-lap Open qualifying race Friday from 8:40 to 9:07 pm PDT. Mexican driver Antonio Perez started from the pole and led the first lap. Fourth starter Mike Johnson, the 2004 Toyota All-Star Showdown GN feature winner at IS, charged past Perez on the inside at the starting line on lap 2. Laps 17-24 were run under caution after a car oiled the track. At the lap 25 green flag, Busch East veteran Johnson led Perez, Chris Bristol, Pursley (in Joe Nava's 2004 Ford Fusion), Rick Wall and Ryan Philpott. Pursley passed Perez for second on lap 27. Transfer positions changed several times. A lap 28 crash involved Wall and Thomas Martin, the Auburn, CA driver who finished second in the 2006 All-Star Showdown Elite Division feature.
With ten laps to go, Johnson, from Salisbury, Mass., held a five-yard lead over Pursley, Perez, Bristol, Philpott and Jamie Dick. Martin, on the inside, and Dick, on the outside, battled fiercely for the vital sixth place from lap 40-48. On lap 49 the cars of Pursley and Perez came together on the backstretch and Perez spun to the infield, causing a yellow flag and a two abreast restart for the final two laps. Johnson, Pursley, Philpott, Bristol, Dick and Martin occupied the precious top six positions. At the lap 49 green flag, seventh place Woody Pitkat shot to the inside entering turn one and came out of turn two in fifth position with Martin and Dick following closely. On the final lap three cars exited the second turn side by side. Martin and Bristol made contact and Dick got involved as the three drivers battled for the final two transfer berths. The cars of Martin (No. 85) and Dick (No. 84) spun out and Bristol continued. Dick's car spun to the inside concrete K-rails protecting the pits. Martin's car spun up the track on the backstretch and collected the passing car of West Coast Pro Truck winner/SLM rookie Ryan Black. Both cars slid into the outer wall together near the third turn as the checker waved for the front runners. The Martin and Black cars had to be towed to the pits, but no driver injuries resulted.
The final order was Johnson over Pursley by 0.256, with Philpott, Pitkat, Bristol and the restarted Perez following in that order within 2.06 seconds of the winner. Todd Souza, Candace Muzny, Wall, David Ross and Darrell Midgley were the only other finishers. Six drivers did not finish. Johnson's No. 96 Ford had received left side damage when hit by the passing car of Stephen Berry as Johnson entered the track at the third turn track entrance during a practice session. Both Busch East cars, pitted next to each other, required repair work that cost the teams practice time. Winner Johnson said, "I knew I had to get out front early because I knew stuff would be going on back there (in the 50-lap Open qualifier).
Summary: (SLM)
Main (150 laps): Greg Pursley, Rip Michels, Dan Moore, Scott Dodd, Andrew Allen, Charlie Wahl, Travis Thirkettle, Van Knill, Johnny White, Derek Becker, Mark Perry, Gary Jenkins, Keith Spangler, Steve Rogers, Scott Conaway, Johnny Borneman III, Greg Voigt, Kris Terris, George Ruark, Michael Egurola, David Ross, Brett Edwards, David Mayhew, Kevin Thompson, Andrew Phipps, Jason Patison, David Quartero, Thane Alderman, Kevin Woods, Brian Jones, Ron Esau, Charles Price, Rickey McCray, Jr, Ryan Becker, Ron Norman, -- Not Classified Tony Jackson, Dan O'Donnell, Cole Whitt, Matt Jaskol, Alex Haase.
