LOS ANGELES, California — Perris Auto Speedway staff introduced Saturday night, November 7 A-main drivers in a new, fan-friendly manner. Track announcer Scott Daloisio, in a black suit and using a portable microphone, introduced each driver individually on the main grandstand front walkway with drivers positioned adjacent to their car on the track. Track president Don Kazarian and USAC timer/scorer Dick Hindman accompanied Daloisio as they walked from Section M to Section A. Each driver was introduced and then walked to the track and got into his sprint car. Fans had a chance to talk to drivers as they awaited their introduction. Cory Kruseman kissed his young daughter (about 9) before he walked down the steps, through the gate to the track and to his sprinter as she walked back to her seat with her maternal grandparents in Section K. That was a new race track experience for father and daughter. At past PAS Oval Nationals staff turned off front straight track lights and used a spotlight on the scoring tower roof. It illuminated tuxedo-clad announcer Daloisio as he moved from back row drivers to front row drivers and introduced each driver. It's all part of Oval Nationals showmanship that makes this prestigious race special and must-see entertainment. The PAS pace car for the Oval Nat'ls was the white dirt late model car. Fans were informed NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Tony Stewart (in Texas for his race at TMS November 8) was watching the PAS races live on the Internet via the USAC website live streaming. Friday's parade lap had seven rows four abreast in perfect formation. Saturday's parade lap had six and a half rows four abreast. The 26-car A-main field Saturday had 12 USAC-CRA regulars and 14 USAC National Series drivers.
I spoke to National Sprint Car Hall of Fame 2009 inductee Rip Williams in the pits early Saturday evening. He said his family rides to and from the speedway together from their home in Yorba Linda. He confirmed that his oldest son Cody, 20, has been dating fellow sprint car driver Heidi Tressler for six months. She is a veteran 360 CI sprint car driver at the high desert track in Victorville where they have raced on the same track. At home the three Williams sons shared two bedrooms. Cody had his own room; Austin, 19, and Logan, 13, shared the other bedroom and used bunk beds. After a recent home remodeling all three sons now have their own bedrooms. Cody received the NSCHoF National non-wing 2008 season rookie of the year award Saturday during the Oval Nationals. Cody's brother Austin is as prime contender for the same non-wing sprint car rookie of the year award for 2009. Youngest son Logan raced this year in a USAC Junior Ford Focus Midget owned by Wally Pankratz. At El Dorado High School in Placentia both Cody and Austin played varsity football. Cody wore No. 44—his current CRA car number—as a starting running back and corner-back. Austin wore No. 12 as a 150-pound starting wide receiver and outside linebacker and backup quarterback. He uses No. 2 as his CRA car number. Dad Rip wore No. 43 as a starting running back at Garden Grove High, so his boys are carrying on the successful family tradition of high school football and sprint car racing.
HARD LUCK CONTENDERS: Several drivers had forgettable 2009 Oval Nationals. Four flip victims come to mind in this order for me. 1> DAVE DARLAND with two flips (Fri. in H-5 and Sat. in B-main). What made missing the Fri. & Sat. mains especially difficult for Dave is the fact he entered the Oval Nat'ls a close second (-27 pts) to Levi Jones in point standings. Darland's three night Ovals features finishes were 16th, DNS, DNS compared to Levi's P. 3, P. 1 and P. 3. Those results handed the 2009 USAC National Sprint championship to Levi. Only two races in Tulare (Nov. 14-15) remained and Levi led Dave 1735-1557. In fact, third in points Cole Whitt at 1545 was close enough to take second from Darland at Tulare. 2> BLAKE MILLER, P. 3 in CRA points, flipped the Gardner 93 and 93x cars in turn one without injury during Thursday qualifying runs and did not race the first night. 3> KEVIN SWINDELL flipped twice (Thurs. H-5 and Sat. A-main). 4> MARTY HAWKINS flipped his low budget sprinter twice (Wed. practice and Fri).
Jimmy Crawford's No. 11 car sounded loud at one point during the Oval Nat'ls. The cause was half an exhaust header tube missing on the right side. It blew off and the crew didn't have time to replace it before the next race that night according to Ray Stansberry. They repaired it before racing Saturday. The smoke coming from the car was a crankcase ventilation problem according to Ray. He said Steve Gresham is the engine builder for owner/driver Crawford. ... The yellow Benic No. 2B sprinter Darland raced only on Thursday is an experimental car built during the spring of 2009. It only has two races on it. The car featured a wild-looking nose. Brad Kuhn raced it earlier this season. ... Mike Grosswendt, a 6'9” race fan, businessman and photographer, was in the PAS pits for the Oval Nat'ls. He sponsors the All-Coast Construction three-race 360 CI sprint point season and Chris Wakim's No. 9 sprinter at Ventura. He is the www.surfnsprint.com website originator as well and covers Ventura Raceway happenings thoroughly. Mike said he has been an involved sprint car fan for five years. Racing needs more fans like Mike. ... Four DAK Racing Simulator sprint cars were located behind the PAS main grandstand between turn four and the starting line. Fans were able to sit in the cars and match their electronic times around the simulated Eldora Speedway shown on the cockpit screen. Top times were posted on a board at the exhibit. The used sprint cars were an ex-Chris Windom yellow & red No. 17, ex-Cory Kruseman white and red No. 21, ex-Jon Stanbrough/Daron Clayton black & yellow No. 10, and ex-Tony Elliott blue & yellow No. 7.
AWARDS: The Dean Thompson Award presented Saturday went to Jon Stanbrough as the high-point driver after the first two nights. He said, “It was the fastest car based on lap times Thursday night, but the fastest car doesn't always win. It was tough getting through lapped traffic. I had the lead a few times but got pinned behind a lapped car at one point.” ... If an overall Oval Nat'ls rookie of the year award was presented after three nights of tough competition there were three prime contenders. 1> Ronnie Gardner – third fastest qualifier of 52 Thursday, P. 10 in Thurs. A-main and P. 14 in Sat. A-main; 2> Kevin Bloom, Jr. P. 17 in Fri. TT, P. 7 in B-main, and Sat. P. 8 in the B, plus P. 12 in the 40-lap A-main; 3> Austin Williams – P. 15 in Sat. A-main. ... Many of us noticed significant development in the racing skills of So Cal racers Henry Clarke and Nic Faas after they spent the 2009 season racing in the Midwest. Henry (Keith Kunz No. 67) finished the three A-mains in P. 6, P. 13 and P. 9 Saturday. Nic finished tenth in Friday's A-main and 20th in the Saturday 40-lap feature. Bob Baker, from the NSCHoF, presented the 2008 national non-wing sprint car rookie of the year award to Cody Williams at his home track.
Friday's battle for the 4th and final transfer to the 25-lap A-main was intense. Davey Pombo (No. 11P) started 4th and D. Darland (No. 2B) started 8th. After lap 7 Darland was in 5th and Pombo 4th. Darland took P. 4 from Pombo on lap 9 with an inside pass from the fourth turn to the starting line with the white flag waving. Pombo appeared to be angry and determined to regain the final transfer position as he raced hard down the backstretch. Pombo entered the third turn under Darland in a slide job passing attempt. Exiting the fourth turn the two drivers were side by side and appeared even with Pombo inside and Darland outside. Did Pombo's car push up and was there any contact? Only the two drivers know for sure. Suddenly Darland's car veered right, hit the outside wall and flipped onto its side in front of section M as the checkered flag flew at 7:53 pm for the leaders--Casey Riggs, Matt Mitchell and Kenny Perkins. Pombo finished fourth. Darland climbed out of his overturned car and surveyed the heavy damage to the front and back of the blue Benic 2b. He did not appear to be mad, but was concerned about getting the car ready to start 5th in the B-main. The B started at 8:20 with Darland sitting in the cockpit in the pits and his crew unable to complete required repairs in time. Darland was announced at the back of the 28-car A field using one of two USAC National provisional starting positions. His car was too damaged to compete, so Tracy Hines (P. 8 in the 12-lap B) used the second USAC National provisional berth, started 28th and finished 18th. Cole Whitt used the other National provisional spot and started 25th. Greg Bragg and Garrett Hansen used the two CRA provisionals in Friday's A-feature.
Veteran drivers present Saturday included Jimmy Sills, Billy Felts, Mike Sweeney, Duane Feduska, Jimmy Oskie, Shane Carson, Tony Hunt, Steve Howard and Howard Kaeding at his grandson Bud's pit. ... PAS president Don Kazarian interviewed Grand Marshall Emmett Hahn and presented the traditional jacket gift to Emmett, the annual Tulsa Chili Bowl co-promoter with Lanny Edwards. Hahn said he had never visited The PAS and added, “I wish we had a track like it in Oklahoma.” Kazarian then said, “Last night we had one of the top three main events ever run here.” ... Kazarian also spoke to J. C. Agajanian, Jr. and J. C spoke about the upcoming 69th running of the USAC Thanksgiving Midget Grand Prix at Irwindale November 26. Five lucky fans who bought PAS race programs were eligible for free tickets to the classic midget race. ... John Jory, owner of the three sprint cars driven by Rip Williams and his two sons, will be the NSCHofF North American non-wing sprint car rookie of the year annual presenting sponsor from this point forward. He just might have to present the award to his 2009 CRA rookie driver Austin Williams. ... Long-time infield announcer Chris Holt interviewed Friday's A-main winner Levi Jones, who said his car owner Tony Stewart was watching the PAS races on the Internet while he was at Texas Motors Speedway for his NASCAR Cup race. “It felt like I was racing 15 guys for the win (A-main) last night.”
PIT NOTES: PAS staff lowered the American flag to half staff Friday and Saturday before racing started to honor the 13 U.S Army personnel who lost their lives in the tragic mass murders at the Ft. Hood, TX. Army Base. ... Marty Hawkins, from Santa Rosa, raced his own No. 3m sprint car. His dad Chad said Josh Blakely, of Blakely Landscaping, gave the car to him if he would race it. ... The No. 7c Parker Stone Co. Maxim is owned by Corey Tucker, of Charlotte, N.C.. It seems Nor-Cal driver Bryan Clauson, who now races out of Noblesville, IN, made some valuable contacts while racing through 2008 as a NASCAR team developmental driver in the Nationwide Series. He often ran in the top ten and had some impressive NNS finishes. Without sponsorship regular NASCAR rides have evaporated for Clauson and other open-wheel stars such as Riverside's Josh Wise. Both have returned to their winning ways in USAC open-wheel cars. In fact, Clauson has double-digit midget and sprint car feature triumphs in 2009; he won the prestigious Belleville (KS) Midget Nationals and USAC's Indiana Midget Week championship. ... Gardner Racing 2008 driver Tyler Brown was set to race the No. 66 D. Miller sprint car at the 2009 Oval Nat'ls, but reportedly he caught pneumonia and the 66 car was not entered. He was better by race time I was told. ... The No. 7a and Ok sprint cars are 777 Race Car chassis built by John Aden, of Apple Valley. He built about ten cars this year according to the team. They race primarily at Victorville. On Thursday Aden set 33rd FQ time, placed third in his heat, started 20th and finished 17th in the A-main. ... Coleman Gulick, from Binghamton, NY, is an interesting 16- year old who drove the orange No. 14 DRC sprinter owned by his dad Pete. He crashed Thursday and Friday after two steering failures and did not race Saturday. I spoke to Coleman Saturday in the pits as he watched cars hot-lapping. He has been racing since age 5 when he started in go-karts. He always used No. 14 since he started racing and his use of 14 is not because of A. J. Foyt. The Gulick team raced their USAC Silver Crown car Thursday, Nov. 12 at the PIR mile in Avondale, AZ. His dad recently bought the No. 56 Galen Fox Foxco paved and dirt S/C Beast cars that Darland raced for years. They plan to race for 2010 USAC S/C rookie of the year. Coleman has raced a S/C once this season at the 7/8-mile Iowa Speedway in Newton, IA and finished ninth. At PIR Nov. 12 Coleman qualified his No. 114 S/C 21st fastest in a 23-car field and finished tenth in his first race on a mile. His racing goal? “NASCAR Cup”, he replied. ... DNFs: Justin Grant, the 2007 BCRA Midget champion, drove the light blue No. 5 Baldwin sprinter at the Oval Nat'ls and dropped a valve in his second night driving the car. The team returned with a different engine Friday. ... Chad Boat dropped out of the PAS Thursday main on a lap 16 red flag with engine trouble in his No. 30 Maxim. He and dad Billy changed engines the next day. ... Austin Mero's No. 71k sheered a pin off the mag. ... Jonny Bates' ex-No. 67 Keith Kunz Bullet broke the U-joint and did not race Friday. After repairs he raced his No. 33 sprinter Saturday. Bates said he sold the ex-No. 29 Drake chassis that Jay Drake and Steve Ostling drove for car owner Bruce Fischer. Bates sold his old 33 car, the ex-Fischer No. 29, and it became the lightly raced No. 24 in CRA.
The No. 2 ex-Ernie Duncan Chevy A-1 Tire Service sprint car on display on the PAS main concourse during the Oval Nationals was restored over a 12-year period by Carl Olson. Former CRA owner/driver Dick Woodland, of Paso Robles, now owns the famous car and it is kept on display at the Estrella War Bird Museum & Automobile Display, 4251 Dry Creek Rd, Paso Robles, CA. Woodland told me he also owns the No. 4 Morales Bros. Don Edmunds-built Moser-Chevy sprint car, the No. 83 Edmunds-built Glen Swinney Chevy, and the now No. 93 Don Thomas sprint car. The Ernie Duncan No. 2 sprinter was built in 1962 by Don Brown, a 2005 NSCHoF inductee. Its suspension is spring front and cross-bar torsion rear. It was the only upright sprint car built by Brown, who is known for building “Mechanical Rabbit” roadster sprint cars at his shop in Indiana. The black Duncan No. 2 has red/orange front flames and a silver leaf number. It has been displayed at the NSCHoF Museum in Knoxville, IA and at the NHRA Museum at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA. The car raced to 1979 and is now displayed cage-less. Drivers of Duncan's sprinter over the years have included Joe Saldana, Dick Sutcliffe, Al Bartz, Frank McDaniel, Wayne Basham, Billy Wilkerson, a 2004 NSCHoF inductee, and Max Sweeney, who drove it at Ascot Park in Gardena.
PODIUM COMMENTS: The top three A-main finishers stopped on the front straight for trophy presentations and interviews with Chris Holt or Ronnie Everhart all three nights of the Oval Nationals. Following are their comments.
(Thurs.) - Levi Jones (P. 3) - “I had trouble in my heat race, but my car was fast all night long. When you put Bryan Clauson in the front row you know you're in trouble. He races across the country all year.” Jon Stanbrough (P. 2) - “I'm a little disappointed. I had a fast car. It was a good night for points. Saturday is the big money night. Ray (Scheetz) did a helluva job working the race track. It's the best I've ever seen it. I'll come back tomorrow night and try to pick up another spot.” Clauson (P. 1) - “Starting fourth we had our work cut out for us. Tony Jones' problem made our job easier. My car worked great all night. This is a great way to start off the week. This thing was on a rail and almost too loose. I should have tightened it up a bit. This track played right into our hand. This is right where you want to end your night.”
(Fri.) - Mike Spencer (P. 3) – “That was a lot of fun. It doesn't get much better than that. We did what we needed to do to lock into the first three rows for tomorrow night. This dirt is awesome.” Stanbrough (P. 2) – “We're definitely locked into the top three in (Oval National) points. Thanks to Ray (Scheetz) for doing a great job on the track. Congratulations to Casey (teammate Riggs). He did a good job in winning his heat race. It's good to get out here from the cold in Indiana. I don't think I had the fastest car...I know I had the fastest car. I had a good hard race with Levi (Jones). I respect him and he respects me. We'll be back tomorrow.” Jones (P. 1) - “It feels great to come out on top. Jon and I really battled. This is my first win at Perris. I hate to see Dave Darland (series championship rival) have trouble. It's a bummer to race two nights for not much money to get to the big money Saturday.”
(Sat.) - Jones (P. 3) - “This is a lot better weekend at Perris than earlier this year and last year. I didn't think we'd clinch it (2009 USAC National championship) here. Now we can go to Tulare and just have fun. The car has 40+ races on it and it's like new every night.” Spencer (P. 2) - “I told Casey Shuman a few years ago he'd have nightmares after Bud Kaeding passed him on the last lap and I'll probably have them after this one. He (Gardner) was fast. Thanks to my car owner Ron Chaffin. I just rode the first ten laps and let the fuel burn down and then hustled and made my arcs a little wider. I slid back on him low but could not get to him.” D. Gardner (P. 1) - scored his biggest and most lucrative victory in sprint cars. “I'm a west coast guy. It's where I'm from. Anyone who says tacky tracks aren't racing didn't watch that one. I was patient. I'd see one car after another in front and I thought I didn't want him to win or him either, I want to win. I have good stuff. I knew I could go upstairs and beat him. I went to the inside to win.”
NEXT YEAR: The early 2010 sprint car racing schedule is taking shape. PAS management announced that the last weekend of February (26-27) will have USAC National and CRA Regional sprint cars plus USAC Western Series midgets competing at the PAS. The same popular doubleheader will be presented at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway dirt half-mile track earlier in the week as it was in 2009 when USAC raced on Wednesday and World of Outlaws winged sprints Thursday night. The open-wheel racing series serve as preliminary attractions for the Friday through Sunday NASCAR weekend at the 1.5-mile adjacent LVMS track.
LIGHTNING SPRINTS: The winged California Lightning Sprints had 22 cars present for three heat races Friday. They lost one car Friday and added two cars Saturday including Tim Moody's No. 3, the former No. 3 Jon Rahe championship car, and Donna Kotlinski in No. 88. They started all 23 cars present in Saturday's 20-lap main that began racing at 6:30. John Bluntach started second, led all the way and won by 35-yards. Bobby Bender, 23, started 19th and changed forward to finish second in his black & green No. 4 after passing his 16-year old brother A. J. (Alec James) on lap 17 with an outside pass in the fourth turn of the half-mile. The Bender brothers from Ramona finished second and third. Friday night Bobby spun a bearing and locked the crankshaft of his Kawasaki 7X12 engine on the first lap of his heat. He borrowed an engine from the Stuart Hielscher, Sr & Jr team from Temecula. Dad Stuart, 50, won the 2009 championship. B. Bender tied for most feature wins (4) with Stuart, Jr.. during the 18 race season. CA Lightning Sprints use Henchcraft (of PA) chassis with 1,000cc or 1,200cc Suzuki, Kawasaki or Yamaha motorcycle engines and weigh 925 pounds. About 60% of the teams reside in San Diego County cities. The friendly group is known for good sportsmanship and competitive, close racing. Driver ages range from teenagers to upper 60s. There were eight wingless races in the 18 events run at tracks in Perris, Ventura and Santa Maria. The cars reach about 90 mph at the end of the PAS straights according to B. Bender. Current sprint car drivers who raced CA Lightning Sprints include: Mike Spencer, David Cardey, Darren Hagen, Jonny Bates, and Greg Bragg. There are some talented current drivers in the series who may move up to sprinters in coming years.
