The Supermodified Racing Association rolled into Anderson, California’s Shasta Raceway Park for the first time since 2006 with gorgeous mid 70’s degree weather (it was 112 on the last visit) and a whole truckload of drama for the evening. There were six Supermods in the pits at the start of practice and the drama started immediately. First A.J. Russell of Clovis, California broke a drive shaft yoke before getting up to speed and retired to the pits for repairs.
A second practice session ended when Tony Thomas of Mill City, Oregon experienced a suspension failure at the start finish line and piled into the pit lane wall when the car wouldn’t turn. Early suspicion centered on the left front shock absorber. Although Tony wasn’t visibly injured, the car was terminal for the race and an already short car count became shorter. Remember what I said about drama.
The third practice involved a second driveline failure in the A.J. Russell machine, this one also taking out the quick-change rear axle center section. Without getting a lap on the clocks, young Mr. Russell’s team faced the major job of disassembling the entire rear suspension and replacing the rear axle to get the car ready to race. The seven team was becoming the queen of this drama.
Also experiencing problems was Kenny White in the 89 Car. Jim Birges won everything but the qualifying battle in this car at the Madera Speedway SMRA opener three weeks ago, but broke his back and ankle in a motorcycle incident shortly thereafter. Step in Mr. White who has been without a ride since his car owner passed away at the end of the 2008 season. Kenny was getting the feel of the car and getting faster with each practice session. However, every time he shut the engine down, he would wind up with fuel on the headers and a flash fire that consumed about a gross and a half of spark plug wires during the evening. The comments of his crew chief were quite dramatic, but not for public consumption.
The qualification bell was rung and four Supers heeded the call. The seven car was still on jack stands with nothing but behinds and flailing elbows in view from the what seemed like thirty people all trying to turn a nuts or bolts on the car. When the dust had all cleared, Bryan Warf (91) of Meridian, Idaho was fastest at 13.554 on the low banked 3/8 oval. Troy Regier(98) of Dinuba, California was second fast at 13.638 followed by Jeff Russell(85) of Boise, Idaho, at 13.728 and Kenny White (89) of Fresno, California at 13.769. The 7 car was still buried in behinds and the 6W car was headed North on Interstate 5 on the way to major surgery.
Next up was the trophy dash. With only four cars, all of the line ups for the evening were fully inverted. Kenny White started from the pole and was flanked by Jeff Russell. Troy Regier and Bryan Warf made up row two of the four lapper. White and Jeff Russell went side by side for most of the lap one with White holding the edge at the line. Russell slowed dramatically on the backstretch on the second circuit with Regier and Warf moving up and the 85 heading for the pits. White pulled away while Regier and Warf battled until lap four. White took the checkers with Regier and Warf 2/3 of a second behind. Jeff Russell was sorting problems in the pits. Remember what I said about drama? White’s fastest lap was 0.13 seconds faster than his qualifying time.
Next, the same four cars lined up in the same order for a twelve lap heat race. The behinds were no longer in evidence and the car was on its tires, but the elbows were still applying torque and more drama in the A.J. Russell pit. At the green, Kenny and Jeff again went side by side, this time for nearly three laps before White cleared Russell completely. Meanwhile Regier and Warf were flying in relatively close formation a short distance behind. Once the cars got in single file, Kenny White started to slowly eek out a lead. He went sailing up into the third groove (better known as the place no one wants to drive in) in turn one about lap eight, but the car stuck and although Russell closed up a bit, he couldn’t reach the flying 89 car. Results were White, J. Russell, Regier, and Warf. Remember, this is a drama, not a musical. White turned a lap at 13.497 during this race before trying to burn the car down again. The track qualifying record is 13.483.
The Supermodifieds were scheduled for a fifty lap feature and just prior to same, the 7 car was pushed off and began making real race car noises for the first time in about two hours. A quick leak and integrity test told the crew the car was ready. A.J. lined up at the back of the formation. Rows one and two were the same as the rest of the events.
The green flag flew for the feature and the 89 and 85 cars again went into close formation for a couple of laps. Kenny White finally got a clear lead about lap four and A.J. Russell took fourth from Warf at the same time. Jeff was closing on Kenny going into the turns, especially turn three, but Kenny was hooked up extremely well coming off the corners and would scoot away. Meanwhile, A.J. began to attack Regier’s somewhat evil handling car (Troy was having trouble getting the car to rotate in the center of the turns all evening) and made several outside attempts to pass. A track official said one of the two lead cars was spraying fuel and the yellow flew after 16 laps and the 89 car was black flagged. With the car idling in the pits and burning off excess fuel in the headers, the fire crew attacked with gusto and the evening ended for Kenny White. The crew chief’s comments went well beyond the dramatic. And for an added bit of drama, Mr. White turned a lap of 13.494 seconds before retiring.
The green lights relit on lap seventeen and Jeff Russell began to pull away. The younger Russell was meanwhile having one major battle with Regier. Warf watched the best show in the house from close behind. At both twenty and thirty laps, the order was J. Russell, Regier, A.J. and Warf. Finally on lap thirty one, A.J. went low instead of high and pulled alongside of Regier on the backstretch. A side by side run through turns three and four gave A.J. the advantage and he took off after the elder Mr. Russell while Warf moved up on Regier. At forty laps, the Russells were running nose to tail with A.J. sticking the nose both high and low looking for an opening. Warf was all over Regier. A lap later, the yellow hanky waved in the wind as the 7 car coasted to a halt in turn four with temperature gauge reading Nuclear. Young A.J received a standing ovation from the crowd as he was dramatically pushed down the front straight toward the pits.
With the green flag once again in view, Jeff Russell pulled out a good lead on Regier who was having an epic battle with Warf. Bryan finally made a dive to the inside coming down for the white flag but couldn’t hold the car down low in turn one and backed out of it to keep from taking both Regier and himself to the wall. Jeff Russell was the leading man in this drama with Troy Regier and Bryan Warf both receiving accolades for their supporting roles. The Supermodified Racing Association managed to entertain a great crowd with a short car count but with competitive racing throughout the program. With two battles going on during most of the feature, the race was very entertaining and left the crowd yelling for more.
From the South Bank of the San Joaquin, I am the Racing Widow’s Husband.
