IRWINDALE, California — After a hot day a Saturday Night under the lights with a nice breeze blowing in, a cool beverage in your hand and hundred and half laps of close-up, three-wide, NASCAR racing action sounds like a whole bunch of fun. Here's an open secret: IT IS! And this week all Union members (with ID) will get in FREE.
"Auto Club Late Models running not one but TWO races on Saturday night."
The Speedway will also take a few moments to recognize the contribution that unions and their members have made over the years and welcome them to the grandstands in pre-race ceremonies.
EARLY ADD: It's also BACK TO SCHOOL night at the Speedway and anyone bringing in (at least, you can bring more!) $5.00 worth of new/unwrapped school supplies will get a FREE adult ticket for the evening. Bring it on!
And then, the night's NASCAR show begins with a great group of racing divisions starting off with the national championship Auto Club Late Models running not one but TWO races on Saturday night TWINS (a great deal for the fans, in fact, fans dressing as twins and appearing at the box office will be able to purchase two regular price tickets for the price of one this Saturday!).
A great deal for the fans and a double-edged sword for the teams. You must do well in each race, you must avoid any sort of trouble in race 1 that would keep you out of race 2, and you must calculate the effect of a 100-point shift in the numbers for a twin win. Lots on the line and much to think about with twin runs. By the way "track position" here means keeping a good car under you for two complete races over the period of an hour and a half this Saturday night.
Brandon Davis, Huntington Beach, leads the Auto Club cars with 688 points and nine wins over the first fifteen races. Wilton, California's Dylan Lupton, who won the last race a week ago, has 624 points in second place, with Taylor Miinch (Alpine), Rookie Nik Romano (Atherton), and Toni McCray (San Bernardino) lined up like flights into LAX on a late Friday afternoon with 620, 606, and 568 points respectively. The Auto Club-sponsored class is the Speedway's designated national championship division for 2011.
Close points races seem to be the theme this year at the Speedway, and the fans are the beneficiaries. FOR EXAMPLE: Take the Echo Equipment Legends Brent Scheidmantel has 592 points, three wins, two seconds which puts the Oak Hills driver "only" two points behind Alta Loma's Chad Schug who leads the division with six wins and two seconds. Not all that far in the rear view mirror is Aaron Wells. The Studio City driver is third with 478 and looking at that nice "5-Oh" that they pay for first place in the very popular, very colorful Legends Cars.
The Jan's Towing Bandoleros have become a real crowd-pleasing race attraction at the Speedway this year. The tiny coupes, powered by two-cylinder Briggs and Stratton engines and driven by driver aged 8-14 have been putting on racing shows that get everyone's attention. These stars of the day after the day after tomorrow are about as racy as they come with the leading pair only 10 points apart after twenty-one races! LaVerne's Christian McGhee has 972 points and Daniel Nicolai right on his back bumper at 962 points the guys finished sixth and fifth respectively last race and both are eyeing higher finishes for themselves this time around the Speedway's wide third-mile inner track.
Long time Speedway competitor Curtis White (Norwalk) leads the Vista Paints Super Stocks with 362 point to Rich DeLong III's (Santa Clarita) 358. That's a gigantic four whole points! And Long Beach's Zack Green is only 14 behind DeLong.
Capping the night off, the aptly-named Pick-Your-Part Outlaw Figure-8 machines will blast the criss-cross track a high rate of knots lead by Long Beach's Steve Stewart who won the opening race of the season and the ran second in four straight. His 288 leads Oak Hills' Jay Henson by 14 points, who's got 30 on Riverside's Rod Proctor at 244. Contrary to public opinion, the idea here is NOT to run into each other, but to time one's passage through the center of the "X" just in front or just behind the other driver, who is trying to guess what you are going to do when the cross road comes up each lap! Closed eyes and crossed fingers: optional. Fan excitement: guaranteed!
FAN NOTE: The Figure 8 machines are traditionally sent out last because of the (perceived) greater possibility of a track clean-up (debris, fluids, sweat) after their race, however, many times the "8-cars" run closer and cleaner than one of the stock divisions on a particular night. Stick around and see what happens this time!
Gates open a 4PM, the FREE King Taco On-Track Autograph Party kicks off at 5:45PM and the Anthem rings out at 7PM. After that, it's non-stop NASCAR until the last checker of the night! BE HERE!
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