LOS ANGELES, California — There were 300 to 400 persons present at the Petersen Automobile Museum, at 6060 Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles for the Saturday, November 21 11 am to 2 pm tribute to the late Walt James. A printed handout had a photo of smiling Walt on the cover and the words “Walt James – A Champion in the Race of Life – A Humble Hero”. So true. Bruce Flanders served as the emcee at the top floor of the historic museum founded by late magazine publisher Robert Petersen. The site is the former Seibu Japanese Restaurant at Fairfax Ave. on the Wilshire Miracle Mile. Many persons spoke from the rostrum about Walt and his affable personality. His leadership skills and famed story telling came in for praise as well. About 50 of the attendees at the tribute traveled north 65 miles on Highway 101 to Ventura for a night of USAC Midget racing. The site was Jim Naylor's banked fifth-mile clay jewel of a race track. The new Ventura Raceway event had only midgets from three series in the crowded pits. There were 14 Junior Ford Focus midgets (now called Young Guns), 16 Dirt Series Ford Focus midgets, and a whopping 46 midgets vying for National and Western Series points.
The first running of the J. W. Mitchell Fall Classic presented by Automotive Racing Products (ARP) honored the memory of J. W. Mitchell, Jr (1-18-1943 – 7-30-2000). He lost his life at age 57 as a result of a USAC Western Series crash in his No. 87 midget on October 2, 1999 at Kings Speedway in Hanford, CA. He raced his No. 87 Edmunds Autoresearch/Esslinger for years, primarily on dirt tracks, and his brother Nick drove a similar No. 37 midget. J. W. was hospitalized in a coma for nine months before he succumbed. J. W. ran the Mitchell Co. that had 2,002,800 sq. ft of warehouse and office properties. His brother Nick (car owner) and nephew Matt (driver) are currently active in USAC-CRA sprint car racing with their No. 37 sprint cars and participated as competitors in the J. W. Mitchell Fall Classic with their No. 37 and 37x midgets.
Grand Marshall for the first J. W. Mitchell Fall Classic was midget racing hall of fame driver Ron “Sleepy” Tripp, of Costa Mesa. He retired in 2003 holding many racing records. He was the USAC 1975 National Midget Series rookie of the year and champion, and the 1976 USAC Midget National Champion. He won seven USAC Western Midget Series driving championships (1983, 85, 87, 88, 90, 91 and 92). Sleepy won more than 250 career main events, including a record 104 Western Midget Series features. He won 18 USAC main events in 1988 alone and recorded 33 feature triumphs at Gardena's Ascot Park. During his 30 year midget racing career (and some sprint car and champ dirt car races as well) Sleepy raced in four countries—USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Among his major victories are a pair of Belleville (KS) Midget National victories in 1985 and 1987. He was a 1986 inductee into the National Midget Racing Hall of Fame in Wisconsin and the youngest inductee at the time. Sleepy and his wife Erin, whom he met while he was racing in New Zealand, have one daughter, Shay. Ron and Erin attended the inaugural J. W. Mitchell event in Ventura, signed autographs and presented trophies. When asked about competing again he said he couldn't fit in the cockpit of a midget anymore.
The J. W. Mitchell Fall Classic event at Ventura had an informative 28-page, color cover, $2.00 printed program It contained a track welcome by Cliff Morgan, plus pages about honoree J. W. Mitchell and Grand Marshall Tripp. Of course, driver entry rosters for all three midget classes, point standings, photos, driver biographies and VRA track results for the last race and current point standings were included. Ventura Raceway has one of the most informative weekly track programs around. The track has a printed program for all events except the annual Ventura County Fair. Situated across the street from the Pacific Ocean, Ventura Raceway has the benefit of moist air that keeps the clay surface racy all night, the way Ascot Park benefited from its proximity to the ocean.
Ventura Raceway promoter/track preparer/announcer Naylor does not like time trials. USAC events use time trials to determine starting lineups for races. The J. W. Mitchell event presented an interesting compromise. The format used a dual heat race format for all three USAC midget classes. Each class ran two rounds of heat races and a pill draw determined the starting lineups for all drivers in round one. The Junior Ford Focus and Dirt Track FF classes each ran two rounds of 8-lap heats, while the National/Western Midgets ran five heats in round one and five more heats in round two. There were 14 competitive heat races that ran from 4:50 to 7:41 pm. A printed sheet for the J. W. Mitchell event had formats for up to 17 cars, 18-27 cars and the 28-40 plus cars format that was used. USAC called round one heat races and the second round qualifying races. Drivers earned one point per car passed in heat races that determined qualifying race lineups, which also awarded one point per car passed. The top 18 cars in points after the five heat and five qualifying races made the A-main event. Cars ranked 19th and lower in points competed in a pair of 12-lap semi-mains and started straight-up according to combined points from heat and qualifying races. The first six cars in each semi-main were inverted. The first two finishers in the two semi-mains (based on more than 32 cars) moved on to the A-main and started in positions 19-22. A-main cars started straight-up in positions 1-18. Any provisional starters had to start behind the first 22 starters who had raced their way into the feature. The Junior FF ran a 20-lap main, the Dirt FF Series ran a 30-lap feature and the National/Western Midgets ran 40 laps.
At 5:20 FF driver/midget sponsor Alan Budnik's daughter sang an outstanding rendition of the National Anthem, which was followed by the first round of National/Western Midget heat races. With nine or ten midgets per heat race, winners came from starting positions 2-4-9 (Bobby East)-1-3-4-2-3-2-1. The two 12-lap semis had winners Matt Streeter (No. 14jr) and Kory Swanson (No. 19) start in positions one and two. Runners-up Caleb Armstrong and Brian Camarillo started eighth and sixth respectively. Josh Wise (No. 11 Wilke Racing) missed the cut when his car handling went away and he dropped back before spinning on the final lap.
FLIPS: There were a total of six flips or rollovers during the J. W. Mitchell Fall Classic. Drivers walked away.
Junior FF: (1)--In the main event Nick Drake (the Charlotte, N.C.-based 13-year old son of driver Jay Drake) got sideways leaving turn two and rolled onto the side of his No. 55 Bowman Beast/FF. He restarted and finished ninth.
Dirt FF National Championship: (1)--Cody Kershaw flipped on L 5 in the third turn in qualifying race one.
Midgets: (5)--Johnny Rodriguez flipped the second Mitchell No. 37x in heat two on L 1 in the first turn. They parked the car with significant damage. ... David Prickett rolled in the fourth heat. His car did not run the qualifying heat because Prickett hurt his back during his rollover. Cole Carter sub-drove Prickett's No. 15 in the second semi-main and started last in the feature by using a provisional berth. He dropped out and was awarded P. 20. Cole agreed to drive the 15 car in the TNGP at Irwindale five days later. ... Rick Hendrix flipped in qualifying race one and Josh Ford flipped hard in qualifying race three. Ford had missed recent races with a foot injury. The car was unable to continue. ... Josh Lakatos caught the crash-wall leaving turn four on lap 29 of the 40-lap main. Shannon McQueen's car pushed up into his car and turned it into the wall, where it rolled onto its side. He climbed out unhurt, walked to the pits and shook his fist at McQueen as she passed under the yellow flag.
The Junior FF main ran six minutes from 8:09-8:15 pm with one yellow flag. The two N/W Midget semi-mains ran from 8:26 - 8:36 with 11 starters and from 8:42 – 8:51 with 12 starters. The Dirt FF National Championship race ran 11-minutes from 8:57 – 9:08 with one yellow for a stalled car. The N/W Midget feature ran from 9:25 – 10:00 pm and had seven yellow flag incidents. The red flag was not used for rollovers and minor flips to expedite the show. ... Midget winner Brad Kuhn, from Avon, IN., entered the race as the USAC National Midget & Driver of the Year point leader. He started ninth and became the fourth race leader on lap 23. (Cory Kruseman led L 1-10. Matt Streeter paced 11-13. Bryan Clauson was in front from lap 14-22). Kuhn won by 15 yards with 16 of 24 starters racing at the finish and all on the lead lap. A key highlight of the N/W Midget feature was the late race battle for second place between Chad Boat (No. 30 Boat) and Ryan Kaplan (No. 20 Kaplan) for second place. On lap 39 Boat took P. 2 as he raced between Kaplan's car and the wall exiting the fourth turn with the white flag waving from the usual Ventura starter, Phil Stevenson. The battling drivers duplicated that exciting fourth turn exit as they raced towards the checkered flag. Boat couldn't have had more than a few inches between his car and the wall to his right and Kaplan's car to his left. Exciting stuff.
Post-race Quotes from Winners:
Midget winner Kuhn said a week earlier on the SPEED Channel “Wind Tunnel with Dave DeSpain” show that he was going to Irwindale to test and win the Turkey Night GP. He added that he was going to Ventura November 21 to win the $5,000 for first place. He backed up that statement on the track. The added $5K purse came from the Mitchell family. Kuhn stated, “Thanks to all the fans for coming out. It's colder than back home in Indiana.” Naylor replied, “The ocean is right there.” Kuhn thanked his Beast/Fontana No. 17B Rotolo-Weirich Racing team and wrench Scott Benic. ... Junior FF winner Alex Jacobsen, from San Jose, said, “It's my first race in a big race. It's a rental car from Cory Kruseman Racing School and my parents paid the money. This is the biggest trophy I've ever won.” ... Dirt FF winner Andrew Mulhearn said, “I've never won a championship, much less a national title, so this is big.” ... P. 2 and P. 3 drivers in the featured National/Western Midget race also pulled to the finish line for interviews and awards. Naylor told runner-up Boat, “Your dad (Billy) won here in John Lawson's No. 15 midget and your car 30 is double that number, so are you twice as good?” Chad, 17, replied, “The car was great. Thanks to all the fans for coming out. Have more races here. I like racing here. This track is really racy top and bottom. Second place sucks.” Naylor said he might have more midget races and this race again next year. ... Third place Kaplan said, “I had a good car. I ran up to the front and had fun racing with Chad. The track was prepped perfect. You could go through holes or run the top and bottom.”
DRIVERS:
> Brody Roa is the 18-year old son of ex-CRA sprint car No. 84 driver Brett Roa, who later became the long-time mechanic/crew chief for CRA/SCRA driver Mike Kirby's No. 5 and 96 sprint cars. Brody won his first USAC championship in the Roa family No. 91 white & florescent green Beast. He earned 877 points to 832 for runner-up Cody Swanson, 19, the 2007 Legend Cars rookie of the year at Irwindale Speedway when he raced for the Speed Wong team. Brody said he will step up to 360 cu. in. sprint cars in 2010 and compete at Naylor's Ventura Raceway.
> Jim “Jet” Davison raced his now red and white No. 59 Dirt FF midget. This year he marked his 30th year as a racing driver.
> Michelle Decker, from Guthrie, OK, drove a backup Shannon McQueen black midget. They are the same size and look like sisters. Decker also raced a McQueen midget at the last Tulsa Chili Bowl classic in her home state.
> FF driver Zach Stout (No. 95) is a paramedic. He is in the top ten in USAC FF Pavement Series points.
> Midget qualifying heat two had two drivers from the same small town of New Castle, Indiana (2,000+ miles from home) starting in the third and fourth rows. Tracy Hines finished fifth and Caleb Armstrong finished seventh in a nine car field.
> Chris Gansen is the 19-year old younger brother of VRA 360 sprint car driver Donnie Gansen.
> Garrett Hansen, 24, won the 2010 USAC Western Midget Championship for his first USAC racing title. He had a 119-point lead over Alex Schutte (pronounced “chute-E”) with only the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale remaining on Thanksgiving evening. Garrett won the midget championship convincingly despite missing seven or eight midget races while racing his No. 7 USAC-CRA 410 sprint car to fourth place in sprint car points. That is a commendable achievement for any driver.
> During Ventura's midget qualifying race four, Wally Pankratz (Rodela No. 25x newer car) and his daughter Randi (Pankratz No. 8) lined up in row four. Randi finished sixth and Wally ninth. In the second 12-lap semi-main they again started side-by-side in row five of six. On lap 11 of 12 Randi passed her dad Wally on the outside through the first and second turns. Randi finished sixth and Wally seventh, but only the first two finishers advanced to the feature.
J. C. Agajanian, Jr plugged the 69th running USAC Turkey Night GP at Toyota Speedway @ Irwindale and on the Ventura PA system awarded tickets to the event to five lucky program holders. This year is the 75th anniversary of the first TNGP, the “granddaddy of all midget racing classics”. ... Naylor interviewed racing book author Harold Osmer, who plugged his outstanding racing books. ... Thomas Luce also had his California Jalopy Association book plugged over the PA system at Ventura. It is a great read for fans of mid-20th Century jalopy racing in Southern California. ... Ventura Weather: The clear, sunny day had a 61 degree temperature at 4:50 pm when heat races started. It was still 51 degrees after the final main event at 10 pm. Fortunately, it was not windy so the wind chill factor was OK for jacket-wearing fans and competitors. ... Andrew Mulhearn, a teenager from Whittier, became the 2009 National FF Dirt Champion (a one race championship). Following his flag-to-flag feature run, he received a nice trophy for his mantle. All trophy presentations and winner interviews followed the final feature at 10 pm. ... Hopefully, this third weekend of November all-USAC Midget event at Ventura will become an annual event between the USAC Sprint Car second weekend Tulare event and the Thanksgiving TNGP at Irwindale. The first weekend of November USAC Sprints Oval Nationals at Perris kicks off this now great racing month for USAC and open-wheel racing fans and competitors.
