Showing that he is fully recovered from the life threatening injuries that he suffered last summer, Colorado's Rick Carelli beat Winston Cup star Ken Schrader on the start and then paced all 50 laps to win the Penda Truck Accessories 50 mile NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series season opener to cap the annual Copper World Classic at Phoenix International Raceway Sunday afternoon. Carelli picked up a ride in a team Chevy Monte Carlo to veteran Colorado racer Ed Belec for the race and timed second fast to share the front row with new track record holder Schrader. Carelli took the lead on the opening round and was never challenged in his $10,500 win. Carelli's mount was sponsored by Arvada Excavation and RE-MAX International. Unsung Rick Allison from Mesa, WA grabbed second from Greg Pursley on lap 40 and finished there as Pursley faded to a fifth place finish behind Idaho's John Dillon and Washington's Ron Eaton. Allison runs as a team car to California ace Jim Inglebright in all the major west coast events. Eaton had battled his way from 18th starting and 13th starter Doug McCoun was sixth ahead of Indiana's David Stremme, who nearly won the November race here.
With a 75 car turnout, just making the 41 car starting grid for the 50 mile feature on the 1 mile paved oval was a chore. One of the last cars to qualify on Saturday afternoon, Schrader destroyed the track record with his 132.217 mph run, nearly a full mph faster than the Ron Hornaday Jr mark of 131.454 seconds. Carelli was nearly two mph slower at 130.733 and the next four fastest cars were all above the 130 mph barrier. New series regular Pursley was third fast in the Community Recycling mount ahead of Mark Reed, Allison and Kenny Shepherd. The 129 bracket had just four drivers in it as November winner Scott Hansen put his Ford in 7th spot ahead of Dillon and the Ford of Matt Crafton. Central California NASCAR Tri-Track Challenge Series champion Burney Lamar surprised by timing 10th fast. Another young California driver Eric Holmes made his debut in the Star Nursery car that Kurt Busch won the 1999 series championship in with a 17th fast qualifying effort. Long time Ford advocate Garrett Evans has switched to a Chevy for 2000 and he timed 19th fast. The fastest 30 qualifiers automatically made the 50 mile feature and they were joined by the top 3 finishers from each of the two 10 mile consolation races and five provisional starters. Washington's Zachary Niessner and Winston West racer Eric Norris won the two consolation races with Winston West champion Sean Woodside, Tucson's John Baker, Washington's Jeff Jefferson and Kevin Richards also making the transfers. The disappointed list of 34 drivers who failed to make the feature starting grid included last year's pole sitter Mike Grady from New Mexico, Irwindale Speedway Grand American Modified champion Larry Krieger, Craig Raudman, former super modified star Scott Backman, Watsonville Speedway dirt track star Todd Souza, Oregon's Darren Shaw, Carelli car owner Belec, Sonora's Nathan Tucker, Ultra Wheels Spec Truck star Steve Smith, Canada's Bill Lawrence. Colorado's Mike Snow rented the Dillon backup car after his car was heavily damaged in a Friday practice crash, but he failed to make the event through time trials. Irwindale ace Ben Walker also crashed in practice.
The delays in the open wheel portion of the four division show saw the late model feature starting over 1 hour behind schedule and the drivers faced a fierce setting sun entering turn 1. Carelli raced into the lead over Schrader, Pursley, Reed, Allison and Shepherd on the start. Holmes fell back in the pack when he slipped high in turn 1 on lap 2. The first caution came on lap 8 when fourth place Reed spun into the turn 4 crashwall. Allison took over fourth on the restart with Hansen into fifth. Augie Vidovich was running in the top 8 when his hood pin came loose and he lost a lap pitting to make repairs. Pursley gained 2nd from Schrader on lap 13 and Allison was third on lap 15. The front threesome of Carelli, Pursley and Allison had checked out on the field when Scott Busby crashed hard into the turn 2 fence for a lap 21 yellow. Busby escaped unhurt, but his car was heavily damaged. Utah ace Todd Ellison spun to avoid contact. Roger Avants spun in turn 2 for a lap 26 yellow and Vidovich tried desperately to unlap himself on the restart. The standings with 30 laps down and 20 to run showed Carelli leading Pursley, Allison, Schrader, Hansen, McCoun, Dillon, Eaton, M K Kanke and Stremme.
McCoun was running a higher groove than the other top runners and he took fifth from Hansen on lap 31 and fourth from Schrader on lap 33. Carelli had opened a solid margin when Allison moved in to challenge Pursley for 2nd with Dillon now dueling McCoun side by side for fourth. As Allison took 2nd from Pursley on lap 40, Darrell LeMoure drove through a turn 2 spin without forcing a yellow flag. Pursley fell off the pace as he lost third to Dillon on lap 46. Allison reeled Carelli in in the heavy lapped traffic over the closing rounds, but settled for his strong second. Dillon was third and the late charge for the ageless Eaton gained him fourth as Pursley settled for fifth ahead of McCoun, Stremme, Evans, Kanke, defending race champion Jim Inglebright, Shepherd, Crafton, Lamar and 32nd starter Norris as the top 29 finishers all finished on the lead lap. Hansen was a late race dropout.
Summary Fast Time-Ken Schrader 27.228 seconds (132.217 MPH) NTR 1st Consolation Race-Zachary Niessner, Sean Woodside, Jeff Jefferson.. 2nd Consolation Race-Eric Norris, John Baker, Kevin Richards. A Main-Rick Carelli, Rick Allison, John Dillon, Ron Eaton, Greg Pursley, Doug McCoun, David Stremme, Garrett Evans, M K Kanke, Jim Inglebright, Kenny Shepherd, Matt Crafton, Burney Lamar, Norris, Jon Zaretzke, Schrader, Niessner, Frank Maronski Jr, Woodside, Rocky Nash, Baker, Kevin Hamlin, Richards, Bruce Bechtel, Gary Terry, Roger Avants, Scott Lynch, Todd Ellison, Eric Holmes, Darrell LeMoure, Augie Vidovich, John Lemke, Jeff Hillock, Jefferson, Carson Woods, Mark Reed, Bob Lyon, Jason Fensler, Scott Hansen, Scott Busby, Ed Hoffman.
