IRWINDALE, California — It was a hot day (100+) and even hotter night Saturday for second generation driver Rod Johnson, Jr. in the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale Auto Club Late Model 50-lap feature. It was his sixth ACLM feature triumph this year in 14 events for the ACLM rookie and 2009 King Taco Super Truck track champion. The son of the 1999 super late model track champion drove the Sunrise Ford sponsored High Point Racing No. 15 owned by three-time ACLM track champion Tim Huddleston. The 21-year old winner shot past series veterans Mike Johnson and reigning series champion Nick Joanides to go from third to first place on a lap 18 restart. The Canyon Country resident picked the right night to win because the Pro Cast Products, Inc. race paid the winner $3,000, instead of the usual $1,000. It was the sixth and final race on the annual Truckers Night promotion. Two other divisions used the half-mile and three classes used the third-mile.
About 30 working trucks, including 18-wheelers, flat beds, big rig tow trucks and specialty vehicles lined the infield before the National Anthem. They paraded around the half-mile before racing commenced. Several big rigs participated in a timed backing contest between rubber cones in the infield. A big rig broke down and had to be towed from the contest to the pits. Unfortunately, the rig got stuck between the tractor and the trailer at the top of the track entrance ramp. Two truck tow rigs tried to free the trapped rig, but failed until the tractor and trailer were separated and removed individually. Some 1,800 spectators present watched the eventual solution for the trapped truck across the track beyond the half-mile. Racing on the third-mile enabled competition to proceed on schedule.
The Vista Paint Super Stocks took the green flag at 7:32 pm following the big rig portion of the evening. Eleven of 12 super stocks present started and ran a 10:46.385 all-green flag 30-lap main on the half-mile. Point leader Rich DeLong II, from Santa Clarita, started second and led the final 29 laps for his seventh victory in 13 features this season. Next, 15 Bandolero youngsters raced 20 laps on the third mile. Ricky Schlick led all the way in his car numbered 24 car in honor of Jeff Gordon. Race three was an eight-car Justice Brothers Mini Stock 35-lap race on the third-mile. Jacob Rogers, 21, took command on lap 10 and won in his Ford Pinto for the second time this year. Event four was the second 2010 appearance of the Drive Tech Racing School late models. Students raced 25 laps on the half-mile in identical 1999 Chevy Monte Carlo racing school cars. Ted Stoneburner won for the second time this season. A 22-car Echo Equipment Legend Car field was race five and ran 35-laps on the third-mile. Darren Amidon won his second TS@I feature in a row and his ninth in the last 11 races. The sixth featured event was the fourth ACLM 50-lap main of the year in 14 races. The longest race distance has been 75 laps. R. Johnson made his usual low groove work again and won by 1.940 seconds over Joanides.
ACLM 50: With a six-car inversion based on time trials, Johnson launched from sixth grid position. Fifth fastest qualifier Joanides had the outside front row spot and led the first 17 laps over third starter M. Johnson and pole starter Sean Bennett. On lap 18, debris in turn two caused the first of six yellow flags. At the green flag, Rod J. passed second place M. Johnson entering the first turn and used an inside pass on leader Joanides in turn four to take charge for good. A three-car crash on the backstretch during lap 28 involved Kyle McGrady, rookie and S2 2010 champion Dylan Lupton and Johnny DeLuca. Only DeLuca continued. A lap 38 crash involved Travis Irving, whose CHP-backed Toyota Camry met the outside wall after contact. Irving dropped out on lap 9 with a flat tire. He pitted and replaced it on the lap 18 caution and returned, nine laps down. Irving raced behind and alongside tenth place Christian Copley, a driver he feuded with two weeks ago on the track. With many eyes on the pair, Irving pressured and eventually passed Copley's No. 33 on the backstretch on lap 38. At turn four the RF of Copley's car contacted the LR of Irving's No. 85, which veered into the crash-wall hard at the right front. He drove to the infield and parked it. Later, the angry crew inspected the bent RF frame in the pits and again blamed No. 33.
After each double-file restart, Rod J selected the inside with Joanides alongside in row one. The race winner got the jump each time and quickly opened a 15-yard lead that he upped to 30-yards by the 9:59 pm checkered flag. Thirteen of 20 starters finished and all completed 50 laps during the 37-minute event. Trailing Rod and Joanides were HPR driver Brandon Davis (from 5th starting spot), hard charger award winner Darren Cheek (from 10th), Chris Holloway (from 9th), Bennett (from pole), 15-year old Las Vegan Dylan Kwasniewski (from 4th in Dean Kuhn's No. 16 borrowed car for the first time), ACLM newcomer and ASA Speed Truck vet Taylor Cuzick, 19, from Tolleson, AZ, in the Freightliner of Arizona No. 18 (from 8th), DeLuca (from 14th) and George Atkinson (from 13th). Copley continued non-stop and finished 13th. with 16-year old Benjamin Mahan, in his second ACLM race, 14th, 14.661 seconds back. Rod J ran the fastest lap of the race at 19.169 (93.902 mph) on lap 29. Joanides ran the second fastest lap at 19.268 on lap 3 as race leader in Loyd McGhee's No. 77 Chevy. After 14 of 15 point races Rod J now leads Joanides by 32 points (626-594). Third place Holloway at 576 is also in the title chase with a maximum of 100 first place points available in the final two events.
VPSS: Pole starter Eric Sunness led lap 1 over DeLong, who took command for good on lap 2 in his 2009 Chevy Impala SS. He opened a straightaway lead by lap 18 and eased his pace to half a straight (4.032 seconds) by the conclusion. Sunness earned second in his Camaro. First-time fastest qualifier Gary Frankovich (2009 Chevy Impala SS) placed third, ten seconds back. Bryan Harrell lost his No. 55 Camaro in the last race head-on crash with the first turn attenuator. This week he borrowed Larry Sampson's No. 94 Camaro to start and finish fourth. Steve Smith started and finished fifth. Curtis White (No. 64) and Gary Read (No. 44) also used borrowed DeLong Racing Camaros this week to finish sixth and tenth respectively. Ten drivers finished and five of them logged 30 laps.
DRIVE TECH L/M: The second appearance this season for Drive Tech racers had another eight-car field for the student racers who get actual racing experience at various tracks as part of their Drive Tech instruction fee. Their instructor, Richie Altman, started last and raced among his pupils to observe their driving up close and personal. He was in third place on the final lap when he pulled into the infield. Fastest qualifier Derek Bozcula, from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, led the first 21 laps from the pole. Outside front row starter Ted Stoneburner was 40-yards back at lap 10. He then reeled in the leader by lap 21 and on lap 22 made his inside pass in turn four to lead lap 22. On the white flag lap Bozcula made a clean slide job pass in the second turn to recapture the lead. Stoneburner came back on the inside in the fourth turn and made his winning pass to edge Bozcula by 0.354. The nine minute race had one caution flag on lap 2 for a solo spin. Only the top five drivers completed 25 laps. Rob Vining, Shane Trittler and Richard Smith (in a No. 95 Lightning McQueen look-alike car) rounded out the top five.
EELC: A strong 22-car Legends field used a six-car inversion. Pole starter Michael Smith led three laps until hit and spun by P. 2 Eric Gunderson. Both drivers restarted at the back. Third place Chad Schug inherited the lead and paced laps 4-15 as FQ Amidon charged from sixth to second by lap 10. Amidon passed Schug on the inside in turn four on lap 16 and remained a length or two ahead of Schug to the lap 35 checkers. He won by 0.281 over Schug, with SLM veteran Matthew Hicks third, 1.303 back. Brent Scheidemantle, 17, was the former 2010 point leader until a broken camshaft during the last main event dropped him eight points behind Schug. Scheidemantle started tenth and raced up to fourth, 5.184 seconds from the winner. Mark Borchetta, Mark Iungerich, Josh Geer, Jordan Hyland, Gunderson and M. Smith completed the top ten. Twenty-one of 22 starters finished and 14 ran all 35 laps in a ten minute race with one brief caution.
JBMS: Newcomer Bill Cable set FQ time in his No. 54 and started from pole position. He led the first nine laps before dropping to fourth position. Point leader/reigning series champion Daryl Scoggins had his Ford Pinto in P. 2 on lap 10 when he received a bump from behind by P. 3 Cable and spun to the infield. Scoggins quickly returned in P. 7 without losing a lap, but he finished seventh and saw his point lead drop from 20 to eight points over race winner Rogers with only one race and 50 first-place points up for grabs. Ryan Bragdon, 18, in just his sixth race this year, registered his fifth consecutive second place finish. He trailed Rogers by 0.620. Richie Altman, Rod Schmitt, Seth Wilson, Cable and Scoggins all ran 35 laps. P. 8 Steve Patterson finished fours laps down in the ten minute, all-green race.
BANDOLEROS: (Saturday) – Fifteen youngsters ages 8-14 raced their 30-horsepower Briggs & Stratton-powered cars twice this weekend. Ricky Schlick, 13, started third and led all 20 laps Saturday in his S & J Towing of Pomona No. 24. He scored four victories this season and finished third in final track points despite a technical disqualification after his victory on opening night. Bando rookie Ricky Lewis,12, placed second, 1.191 back. New point leader Ryan Cansdale, 11, started and finished third after an opening lap tangle in the second turn dropped him and FQ/pole starter R. J. Stearns, 10, back to sixth and eighth after the first circuit. Mikael Lovas and Christian McGhee completed the top five. Trevor Huddleston, 13, was the point leader starting the weekend, but he had clutch and rear end damage Friday when he finished eighth and slipped six points behind 2009 track champion Cansdale. Huddleston, son of three-time ACLM champion Tim Huddleston, qualified only 12th best of 15 qualifiers Saturday and placed sixth, dropping 12 points in back of Cansdale (710-698) after 17 of 17 TS@I point races.
(Friday) – Sixteen Bando drivers raced in the 20-lap race at 8:10 pm during the weekly Friday night open practice session. FQ Schlick started and finished first after leading 19 laps. With deuces wild as LA Dodgers announcer Vin Scully likes to say, Cansdale started second, led lap 2 and finished second, 1.225 back. McGhee came from ninth starting spot to earn third. Lovas and Michael Womack were fourth and fifth. The 18-minute race had three cautions and one red flag of ten minutes. On lap 7 third place Stearns No. 48 had an oil line break, spewing oil on his LR tire. He spun in the fourth turn inside groove. Fourth place Amanda Poertner, 13 and a two-time feature winner this year, veered up the track “to avoid hitting him (Stearns) in the drivers side door” and slammed hard into the outside wall with the right side of her car. Sixth place Brandon “Shorty” Weaver, 10, did the same thing as three other drivers spun out behind them. The ambulance and wrecker arrived quickly. Poertner said she only had a sore neck and remained at the track after consultation with ambulance paramedics. Her No. 5 and Weaver's HPR No. 56 both left the track on the back of the wrecker with bent frames. The two cars and the two drivers did not return Saturday. Thirteen cars finished all 20 laps once the race resumed on a balmy mid-80s evening.
