WASHINGTON 500

The day started out with practice for all divisions. Rain thought she was going to play a little mischief...she started sprinkling during the West practice...but guess she changed her mind as she moved on with lightening speed.

Eric Holmes took another quick time. I heard it was a track record...but have not verified that yet. Anyway, he is on fire this year as is Jason Bowles. Eric has won 4 times and Jason 2 times. And they have battled hard, as the photo below from the race at the ASA Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, Oregon shows.

A couple of drivers that were expected to be up leading the points have struggled some this year. One is Jeff Jefferson, former NASCAR Northwest Tour Champion.

On a side note the NASCAR Northwest Tour is now the ASA Northwest Tour thanks to Ron Bennett and ASA's Dennis Huth saving what was left of this series after NASCAR dumped it. And boy they not only dumped it but kicked the car owners in the teeth when they told them at the banquet things were good in da hood for years to come...what was it 3 weeks later they said.. buh bye... thanks for driving.

Well that is old news... back to Jeff Jeff...after his fighting bad luck and mechanical gremlins he finally got in a good finish at Evergreen, coming in for fourth.

Below is a picture of him and team mate Jim Warn. Rumor is they are thinking of moving on. Have heard they want to finish off this season and maybe run one more year then move up to the Trucks or something like that.

Now here is one of those photos that can prove we "knew him when". Jeff Barkshire at this moment was winless in the series...I wonder if he somehow felt it was his night to win...because he did, much to the thrill of his local fans.

When qualifying was over there was a long wait until the West race started. According to NASCAR the race was scheduled for an 8:30 start and according to the track a 9:00 start, but it in fact did not start until after 10:00 and was not complete until almost midnight.

What better way to spend time while waiting than to share food with the family. Here Jeff Jefferson relaxes with his Dad, George. Boy...we sure are lucky to have some of the old-timers, the guys that were around... to say remember when...in this series. Below Dr. Hunt and Jimmy from the Rick Suran crew diagnose the back up engine... something about a damaged oil pan...?

Three of the biggies in the world of racing. Dennis Huth (r) president of the ASA, Joey Mancari (center) in charge of the NASCAR West and Chad Little.

All three of these guys do a lot for racing. Huth has been going around building champions by working with local tracks. At last count he sanctions more local tracks than NASCAR. He created the ASA Short Track Divisional Champion where the one driver who accumulates the most points will be named the ASA Short Track National Champion. With the title comes a cash reward, and the ultimate dream – a test session with Joe Gibbs Racing. For more on this program check this story: The ASA Creates New Short Track Championship

Joey has held the West together very well, considering all the changes NASCAR put this series through. Yes, a lot of drivers have been lost due to the increased cost of running this series coupled with hard economic times, but through it all Joey has managed to save a lot of drivers... at least it appears that way to me. He is also one of the few people that are located back east that will freely answer questions...helping all of us better understand the series and the changes it is constantly going through. If not for Joey there would be a lot of unknowns.

And Chad Little is rumored to have done a great job down in Mexico (I know we never hear about this...another NASCAR secret) ...nice car counts, increased visibility of NASCAR in Mexico, etc. That says a lot. Maybe NASCAR should put Chad Little to work in the West...what do you think?

The #00 car of Naima Lang was unstoppable in the Late Model race. In the end of the race I think his was the only car on the lead lap. It was a long race for these guys...and some fans wondered if maybe the West/ASA should have been longer and this race either shorter or ran as twins. Lot of fun though watching the locals...and all were very impressed by this driver's talent.

The ASA Northwest Tour after struggling for car count this year had a full field with something like 23 cars that entered the race. At some races earlier this season car count was half of that. In fact I think Stateline Speedway canceled an ASA race due to low car count. Very happy to see them building back up.

The NASCAR pull out turned what was a great series upside down. But it looks like it might be making its comeback now. Takes time to put it all back together is all.

As you can see by the photo below there is a lot of close racing in the ASA... here Eric Richardson lets Harold Racynski know he is there.

Below Kelly Mann goes low...but not quite low enough to avoid a bit of knocking on the bumper from fellow racer, Joey Tanner.

The ASA Northwest Tour race was won by Gary Lewis. This guy has been unstoppable the past few years. I don't know how many races he has won...but the thing is it is not in just one series or at one track...he wins the ARCA, the Montana 200 and now this.

This sort of proves that it is money, not talent, that is more important in the world of racing today. Thing is...if someone would have picked him up back when he tried out for the NASCAR Trucks...they probably would have made money off him...through a sponsor wanting to be part of it.

Here Mike David's team works on the car during the competition yellow. Mike has had a tough season. He is still 4th in points but it seems he is down on horsepower or something. He started the season with an open motor and purchased the NASCAR motors after the race at Kyle, Texas. Since then he seems to be going backwards. But maybe it is just me that thinks that? I have tried to get him to say what is going on with that NASCAR motor, but being the class act that he is, he won't say anything negative other than things like he is working on a weight difference that needs to be accounted for.

And did the crowd go wild when Jeff Barkshire won? They sure did! It seemed Jeff was always there for a win but had tire grief. Looks like they figured it all out and now in the photo below...he doesn't have to worry about saving tires. First time winners are the best.

Here Jeff gets a hug from his girlfriend. Oh and by the way...he is lucky to have her. I met her at Irwindale and she is such a nice lady...they deserved this win. Way to go!

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