IRWINDALE, California — Brandon Davis, 25, won the Auto Club Late Model 40-lap feature Saturday at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale by avoiding a crash and leading the final 25 laps in the HPR No. 55 ACS Chevy Monte Carlo. It was his eighth triumph in 12 events this season, his second in the track's NASCAR Whelen All-American Racing Series premier class. Davis won the first five features this year and the last three features in the series. A special celebrity race with ten S2 Chevy full-bodied 350 horsepower cars lured a near capacity crowd of almost 6,000 to the track for the second annual Kids Against Cancer Night. It was the first such Justice Brothers Celebrity Race with TV and movie celebrities. Actor William Fichtner edged fellow actors Frankie Muniz and closing Mark-Paul Gosselaar on the half-mile in an exciting finish that had spectators standing and cheering. Fichtner won the 2011 Toyota Celebrity-Pro race a the Long Beach Grand Prix and Muniz won the 2005 LBGP Celebrity-Pro race on the streets of Long Beach.
A silent auction had 93 unique racing-related items and all proceeds went to the fight against pediatric cancer. Southern California Toyota Dealers Association also participated and sponsored some of the S2 cars. Four other main event winners on the entertaining evening included series champion Jeff Williams in a 25-lap Southwest Tour Trucks main on the half-mile. Robert Rice won a “Boat Race” with all eight cars towing trailers carrying boats on the third-mile. The timed race lasted about 20 laps. Third-mile racing victories went to Danny Nikolai in a 20-lap Jan's Towing Bandolero event and Darren Amidon in an Echo Equipment Legend Cars 30-lap contest.
ACLM: Davis was an aerial commuter for for the third time this season. He practiced his K & N Pro Series West ACS Ford Fusion at the Portland International Raceway 1.944-mile road course Saturday and flew south on the same six-passenger jet that flew him from K & N West races in Utah (April) and Infineon-Sonoma (June). With ACLM qualifying at Irwindale starting at 7:00 pm, Davis arrived in time easily at the nearby El Monte Airport. As 14th and last qualifier, Davis set fastest qualifying time and started sixth via a six-car inversion. Toni McCray, the sixth fastest qualifier, started from pole position in her No. 90 and led the first 15 laps over second starter/ACLM rookie Nik Romano. Davis worked past Chris Holloway for third on lap 11. At the start of lap 16, Romano passed McCray for the lead. Davis went even lower in turn two and shot from third to first. Romano's HPR No. 51 pushed up into McCray's car, which hit the backstretch wall hard on the right side and was sidelined. Romano spun and was t-boned by fourth place Holloway,eliminating those two cars as well. Drivers escaped injury. Davis selected the inside for the double-file restart and beat Taylor Miinch to turn one and couldn't be caught. Dylon Lupton took second from Miinch on lap 20 and trailed his HPR teammate by 35-yards (-1.722) at the checkers. Miinch earned third (-2.812).
Kyle McGrady enjoyed his career-best fourth place in his family-owned K & N No. 11 Chevy. Rookie Andrew Murray, 14, also had his ACLM career-best result (fifth). Jeff Williams, Austin Dyne, Johnny DeLuca and Devon Ostheimer also ran 40 laps and finished in P. 6-9. Last finisher Rodney Peacher was a lap down. The 26-minute event had one red and one yellow flag. Davis met with media in the press box and then went home to Huntington Beach to sleep. “I have to catch a commercial airline flight tomorrow morning from LAX to Portland.” Qualifying was scheduled for 11:15 am and the 68-lap, 125-mile race at 3:10 pm. Davis had the fastest overall time in Saturday's two practice sessions. He also said his retirement from the Sonoma race last month while in second place to eventual winner Joey Logano was caused by a Yates engine that they set too tight. He said the engine was looser for Portland, where he qualified eight fastest in a 30 car field and finished 11th.
CELEBRITY RACE: Ten Racecar Factory-built NASCAR S2 cars were used and celebrities had several opportunities during the week and Saturday afternoon to practice. Celebrities also participated in the 5:45 to 6:30 pm autograph session for fans on the front straight. All ten S2 cars were positioned on the front straight and the celebrities credits were given over the track PA system. From pole to the back the ten celebrity drivers were: William Fichtner – TV – Entourage – MDs – Prison Break & movies – The Dark Knight, Crash, Blackhawk Down and 2011 release Drive Angry in 3D with Nicholas Cage; Riki Rachtman – TV host on MTV and VH1 and radio personality; Kim Coates – movie – Blackhawk Down; TV – Sons of Anarchy and Human Target; Mark Kriski – KTLA-TV Channel 5; Peter Shinkoda – TNT-TV Falling Skies; Frankie Muniz – Fox TV series Malcolm in the Middle and numerous movies; Skeet Ulrich – TV Law & Order-LA, CSI-NY; Mark-Paul Gosselaar – NYPD Blue; Christopher Knight – TV - Brady Bunch as son Peter Brady; Jessica Clark, 17, USAC Ford Focus Midget 2011 point leader and S2 veteran, filling in for KTLA Ch. 5 morning anchor Jessica Holmes to form Team Jessica.
The first five drivers listed raced in a single-file six-lap heat race at 7:45 pm. Fichtner (No. 0) led all the way. His best lap was 21.035 and runner-up Rachtman (No. 55) ran a 20.771 trying to overcome Fichtner's early lead. However, he trailed by 1.360. Coates (No. 44), Shinkoda (No. 03) and Kriski (No. 15) followed and ran best laps of 21.0 to 22.4. Kriski filled in for Los Angeles KABC-TV Ch. 7 meterologist Dallas Raines, who was present and gave the starting command and drove the Toyota Camry Hybrid pace car. The second celebrity heat went to pole starter Muniz (No. 50) whose best lap was a 21.133. P. 2 Gosselaar (No. 51) trailed by 1.882 seconds. Ulrich (No. 56), Knight (No. 8) and Clark (No. 57) followed. All drivers recorded best laps in the 21 second bracket. Both races took 2 minutes and 8 seconds and were caution-free. Muniz won at an average speed of 84.044 mph; Fichtner's winning average was 83.823 mph. The S2 one-lap track record is 19.932 (90.307 mph) by Andrew Anderson in the 44 car on 4/9/11.
The ten celebrity drivers had a chance to relax for an hour and plan strategies for their 15-lap main event. It followed the Legends and ACLM features. At 8:59 pm the ten S2 cars took the green flag in single file order from celebrity starter Paul Blevin, of Riverside. He is one of three IZOD Indy Car Series race starters and an Indianapolis 500 starter. Fichtner shot into the lead immediately over fellow heat race winner Muniz and led all 15 laps. Inside running Muniz, a formula car racing veteran who plans to race Indy Lights in 2012, ran a close second all 15 laps in his first stock car race. On lap 5 P. 5 Rachtman spun in turn 4 and following drivers adroitly avoided contact. Drivers took the lap 9 green in single file order and Muniz immediately challenged leader Fichtner. At the lap 14 white flag, Fichtner held a one length lead with closing P. 3 Gosselaar two lengths in back of Muniz. The three leaders were about to lap tenth place Kriski as they entered turn 3. They emerged from turn 4 with Muniz leading by a nose on the inside. However, Fichtner regained first place between turn 4 and the finish line and beat Muniz by 0.073 with P. 3 Gosselaar to the left of Muniz and 0.193 in back of the winner in a close almost three-wide finish that had fans standing and cheering. Ulrich, who is related to NASCAR retired driver Ricky Rudd, placed fourth, 2.353 back. Clark, Coates, Shinkoda, Knight, Rachtman, and Kriski followed and all logged 15 laps.
LEGENDS: Sixteen EELC drivers, including July 16 flipper Mark Iungerich, took the green flag for 30 laps after the two six-lap celebrity S2 heat races. The extremely competitive race had four leaders. Mark Borchetta led the first three laps from the pole. Then third starter Eric Gunderson led through lap 14. Brent Scheidemantle, Eric's intense rival two weeks earlier, passed him on the inside entering turn 3 and held the point in a five car nose-to-tail battle. On lap 19, 2007 series champion Darren Amidon made his winning move and dashed from P. 3 to the lead past the two prior leaders. Gunderson also passed Scheidemantle at the same time. Amidon beat Gunderson by 0.684 with Scheidemantle and Borchetta in P 3-4, a second behind the winner. Chad Schug was in the five-car mix and ran in P. 2 from laps 14-17, but he slipped to fifth, 2.311 seconds back at the checkers. Legends rookie Ryan Cansdale, 12, enjoyed his series best finish of sixth. The 2009-10 Bandolero champion was only 3.565 seconds behind the winner. Jared Torres, Jordan Hyland, Aaron Wells and Gary Scheuerell rounded out the top ten with 15 of 16 cars racing at the end. The 15-minute race had three cautions flags and all but one finisher on the lead lap.
SWT TRUCKS: A 12-truck race had a five truck inversion. That didn't deter fastest qualifier Jeff Williams,who passed laps 1-2 leader Ronnie Davis, Jr. on the third lap and ran away to a 40-yard victory. The 13-minute race was slowed by one cautions flag for a spinner to the turn 4 infield grass. It was Williams' fifth victory in five events this season. Super Truck veteran Todd Cameron took his first ride in the No. 87 Neil Conrad SWT truck. He started fourth and took second from Davis on lap 19 on the inside entering the first turn. Brady Helm started third and finished behind Davis. Ed Cutler was fifth. Kirk Knostman, Al Rizzone, Cecil Phelps and Tony Curtis followed in P. 6-9 and also completed 25 laps. Dan Coburn and Steve Reeves were a lap down in P. 10-11.
BANDOLEROS: Night two of the weekend doubleheader resulted in bookend victories for No. 33 driven by Danny Nikolai, of Granada Hills. The 14-year old charger won both 20-lap features on Friday and Saturday nights for his sixth and seventh triumphs this season. He started third and led all 20 laps Saturday to beat sixth starter Christian McGhee by 1.784. Mikael Lovas, Ricky Schlick, fastest qualifier R. J. Stearns, Austin Farr, Brett Scoggins, leading rookie Ricky Lewis, Troy Wesolowski and Ryan Dunkleberger completed the top ten. Sixteen of 18 starters finished with 12 drivers on the lead lap. A three-car crash on lap 5 in the second turn sidelined Brandon Weaver and Kendall McCulty, whose car spun into the crash-wall.
Fifteen Bando drivers raced in Friday's main event after Jakob Ulrich's car was sidelined by wall contact. In 7:00 group qualifying with five cars in each session, Nikolai broke the one-lap track record of 18.061 by Ricky Lewis on June 10. Nikolai's 18.047 (66.427 mph) is the new standard. He started from pole position and paced every lap in the caution-free 6:06.525 race that had a 65.414 mph average speed. Nikolai was so quick that he ran the only sub-18 second lap, an all-time track race record lap of 17.930 (66.860 mph). Third fastest qualifier McGhee, an eight-time feature winner this season, took second from Stearns on lap 3 and trailed Nikolai by 1.290 at the finish. B. Weaver, R. Lewis, Ian Wesolowski, M. Lovas, A. Farr, R. Schlick, Blaine Perkins and B. Scoggins completed the top ten. All 16 starters, including first-time racer McKenzie Eshleman, 12-year old granddaughter of car owner Dave Eshleman, finished and 13 drivers ran all 20 laps.
BOAT RACE: The final event of the night had eight car/trailer/boat units on the grid. The race started at 9:42 and ran in the usual counter-clock-wise direction. It concluded at 9:53 pm. Rules stipulated that if you lost your boat you were eliminated. Three cars were still towing boats at the end of the timed event. A poll of grandstand fans determined the winner based on fan applause. The winner was Robert Rice in his No. 7 Chevy El Camino. Newcomer Anthony Guisa earned second and third place was Daryl Scoggins, the track reigning mini stock champion. Drivers aimed at competitors trailers/boats to separate or smash them and sideline competition. Many direct hits produced a track full of debris to the delight of the still nearly full grandstand.
