Unedited ramblings.
The biggest thrill would have to be former Winston West regular, Ricky Bogart signing a one-race deal with Purex and the opportunity to qualify the No. 70 NASCAR Winston Cup car for Sunday’s race.
Auggie Vidovich was seen practicing the No. 70 NASCAR Craftsman Truck. We are anxiously waiting to see if he will be out qualifying the truck, but at least we know he did make the SW Tour race and will be starting 19th.
This will be a debut in the NFSWS for young Brandon Whitt, who spent 2001 running late models on tracks across California, the young gun will start the race from row 14. Rumor is former Winston West driver, Ron Esau, is working with the young driver who is also rumored to be running a car purchased from Bruce Bechtel.
Several cars were involved in accidents during qualifying, possibly brought out by an oily track surface after a car had an engine go up in smoke. I believe the car that had engine difficulties was the No. 66, but I did not catch the driver’s name.
The No. 01 of Kenny Shepherd and the No. 26 of Zach Niessner both were brought into the garage on hooks at the same time. I don’t know if they were the result of an oily track, contact or individual accidents. Niessner’s team, whose car experienced a fire, was able to get the car through tech at out to qualify, albeit still coated in the material that was released from the fire extinguisher. Shepherd was not so lucky. Nor was the No. 8 of Steve Smith or the No. 11 of Jimmy White who also were unable to qualify after crashing in practice.
Several drivers were aggravated with the system in which qualifying was handled. There were 53 cars participating in the day’s events. Getting the car through tech was a major nightmare for a number of the teams. One car only had a lap of practice before qualifying; possibly it was the No. 17.
It was reported that the qualifying was actually stopped at some point during the day to allow several cars to get through tech. Not being at the track, and suffering a poor connection I am not sure this is fact.
Drivers not in their qualifying position in the line when it was their time to qualify were given two qualifying laps but only the first lap counted. Scott Lynch in the No. 81 was believed to have had a top-ten qualifying run and was dropped down to 31st after his 2nd lap was thrown out.
Winston West champion, Brendan Gaughan has an eagerly awaited press conference slated for Friday at 1pm.
Finally although he did not make the field, Adam Andretti was again joining the NFSWS regulars. Having the kids and grandkids of any racing family makes for a real enjoyment, and when names like Mears, Petty and Andretti compete it allows people from all across the nation to relate to our racing.
And here in the west we really have it good. Look at our cars, our tracks, and our teams. What wonderful entertainment they provide from the High School Series at Mesa to the So. Cal Late Models at Irwindale to the traveling MSRA Pro-4s and American Race Trucks. We are so fortunate!
Tomorrow will showcase some of the best talent you will find in the West. Several of our RBNWS stars have joined the field of FSWS regulars. With Kenny Schrader on the outside pole and our own 2001 Champion on the pole it gives the drivers in the field two rabbits to outfox. It is going to be good!
