CAMARILLO, Calif. – Seven races into the 2001 Super Late Model Division season at Irwindale Speedway, Charles Utts leads the championship standings. Again. Utts’ third place finish in the Community Recycling 75 at Irwindale Saturday pushed him atop the standings for the second time this season. The race marked the fourth time this season the former Ventura Raceway champion finished among the top five. He has seven consecutive top-11 finishes.
“We’ve been consistent, and that’s important,” Utts said. “I’d sure like to win a race.”
Utts gets his next chance Saturday when Food 4 Less Super Late Models return to the track for another 75-lap event. Utts has won a race at Irwindale in each of the track’s first two years of operation.
For his career, Utts has captured main event victories at Ventura, the old short track at what is now The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (he won the Western Region Modified Stock championship there), Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield (he is a two-time champion there), Tucson Raceway Park and Irwindale.
Utts works at the family printing firm, Custom Printing, where he heads the Sales Department. He lives in Camarillo with his wife Kristen, a former True Value Mechanic of the Year winner, and their daughter Ashley.
