Source: Tim Kennedy
Date: 04/07/2008

IRWINDALE, California - Point leaders Charles Price (NASCAR AC Delco Super Late Models) and paraplegic Ricky James (West Coast Pro Trucks) repeated their Toyota Speedway at Irwindale season-opening main event victories Saturday night on the progressively banked half-mile. Todd McLauchlan (ASA Speed Truck Challenge) and 14-year old Ryan Reed (Legend Cars) won their first career main events. ASA trucks also used the half-mile. Aaron Anderson, a 12-year old veteran in the D & D Construction Bandoleros, led all 15 laps in the first of five features. Legends and Bandoleros raced on the third-mile in front of approximately 2,000 persons on another chilly night during week three of NASCAR Whelen Weekly Racing Series competition.

SLM: The premier in-house stock car series produced a 22-car SLM field for the second SLM race of the season. Winner Price, 21, drove the same No. 55 Dave Eshleman-owned 2007 Ford Fusion that Rip Michels drove to the Irwindale track championship last year. It was his seventh SLM race and his second in his winning ride. Price again started fifth as he did March 22. He ran fifth to lap 8 when the first two car tangle occurred. Both mishaps resulted in spins and penalties to the back of the field for instigators of the spins. Third place Derek Becker looped on lap 8 in turn two after fourth-place Travis Thirkettle tapped his car. Officials sent both drivers to the back. Fourth fastest qualifier Andrew Allen led the first 22 laps by a few feet over fastest qualifier/fourth starter Nick Joanides, who contacted and spun Allen on lap 23. Officials sent the former leading duo to the back and presto, Price inherited the lead. He gradually opened a half-straight lead over Scott Dodd by lap 44, when a solo spin by a back-marker caused a caution flag. Price again opened a gradual 20-yard advantage during the final seven laps and won by 1.157-seconds over Dodd's family-owned 2006 Chevy MonteCarlo. Dan Moore finished third for the second consecutive race in his older of two 2007 Ford Fusions.

"I was worried on the lap 44 restart," Price told the media. "A lot of faster cars had had problems tonight, so luck pays off sometimes. I had to learn patience from tearing up cars in the past. Thanks to Dave Eshleman for putting me in this car and to Dan Moore for loaning us a power steering pump today." Ryan Partridge, 19, dazzled spectators by charging from last starting position in the 21-car field to fourth place in the No. 21 Speed Wong Racing car that Joanides drove last year. Partridge set sixth fastest qualifying time to earn the outside row three position. However, he missed the SLM drivers meeting as he watched his car go through tech inspection. His penalty was the standard move to the back order. He finished 1.616 seconds in back of the winner. Making Partridge's ride from the back to front more sensational was the fact it was his first ever SLM race. He has raced late models, trucks and Legends at Irwindale for several years and he is looking forward to a part-time ride for Speed Wong on the Grand National West circuit.

Scott Conaway, Thirkettle, Derek Becker, David Beat, Ryan Becker and early leader Allen completed the top ten. Eighteen drivers were still racing at the end of the 50-lap event. The SLM finish produced the final melee when earlier spin victim D. Becker received contact from eighth place Joanides and spun his No. 47 across the finish line and nearly hit the turn one wall protective attenuator. Officials penalized Joanides from his eighth place to 14th position, last place for the lead lap cars. Tenth place David Ross saw Becker's car spin and moved to his left into the RF of 11th place Brian Fitzgibbons at the finish line. Fitzgibbons' car stopped on the track near turn one with the front smashed and smoke rising from a broken power steering hose. It was towed to the pits. No driver injuries resulted.

WCPT: Fastest qualifier Ricky James uses hand controls because of his three-year paralysis following a moto-cross racing crash. He started third as he did last Saturday when he won his initial feature. James took second on lap 15 and chased pole-sitter/early leader Christian Copley to lap 21. The two leading trucks made contact between the third and fourth turns and both rookies got loose briefly. They regained control and continued to the finish with James leading the final ten laps to win by 50-yards (2.650-seconds) over Copley. Inspirational James placed sixth in the March 2 Los Angeles Marathon racing wheel-chair division with a time of one hour and 40-minutes. He credited his mentor Dean Kuhn, a 23-time main event winner at Irwindale in Grand American Modifieds and truck divisions, for setting-up his truck to race the inside groove. The all-green flag race on the half-mile took only 10:19.793. All 15 starters finished and eight drivers completed all 30-laps. Ronnie Davis, Jr., Takuma Koga, from Japan, and 2006-07 series champion Jeff Williams finished third through fifth respectively.

ASA SPEED TRUCKS: The touring ASA Speed Truck Challenge Series made its first of two scheduled trips to Irwindale this season with 16 trucks competing in race three of 2008 for the popular series. Second-year series driver Todd McLauchlan, a 48-year old former Cajon Speedway racer from Alpine in eastern San Diego County, entered the race tied for second in 2008 driver points, only three digits behind the leader. McLauchlan set second quickest qualifying time, won the 6-lap trophy dash and the 50-lap feature on the half-mile. It was his first career feature victory in the series and first victory at Irwindale. Third starter McLauchlan was the third race leader in his No. 38 ICM truck. He traded the lead twice with fastest qualifier/fourth starter Darren Young, of Phoenix. Billy Wease, a USAC midget/sprint car/Silver Crown open-wheel racing veteran from Noblesville, In, set fourth fastest qualifying time and started from the pole in his second ASA truck race. The 21-year old Roger Penske developmental driver, who now resides in Charlotte, N.C, won the 100-lap USAC Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix at Irwindale on 11/23/06 as a Western Speed Equipment driver.

Wease led the first 16 laps Saturday in a tight, four-way battle with two trucks high and two low. Young led lap 17-21. McLauchlan took second on lap 18 and dueled Young evenly to the finish. Inside-running McLauchlan led lap 22 after making his inside turn four clean pass stick to the starting line. Young then paced laps 23-24 before McLauchlan again shot past Young on the inside in turn four. He won by 10-yards (0.719) over Young, who lost second to Dallas Colodny on lap 48 and regained second a lap later. Young edged Colodny by 0.094. Wease settled for fourth position with Jason Black, the point leader after two races, fifth. Wease said his ride in the heavier truck was a major difference from his experience in the more nimble USAC open-wheel racing cars. The all-green flag race took 17:17.204. Fourteen of 16 starters were racing at the finish and 12 drivers ran all 50 circuits.

LEGENDS: One of the major upsets in a season of early upsets occurred in the scheduled 30-lap Legends race on the third-mile. The checkered flag flew two laps early because of a 30-minute time limit that the Legend drivers exceeded following seven caution flags. As in the SLM feature, spins and penalties for leading drivers resulted in the involved drivers going to the back of the 28-car field. Fastest qualifier and five-time track champion Tom Landreth came from third starting spot to lead the first two laps in his colorful 1934 Ford coupe replica. Pole starter and 2007 series champion Darren Amidon was second and tapped Landreth's car on the third lap in turn four. Landreth looped and continued in sixth place, but the yellow flag had flown. Officials sent both champions to the back and they raced forward in tandem to the top ten. Donny St. Ours, a 14-year old Bandolero-racing graduate, inherited the lead, but fellow Bandolero grad Andrew Anderson, 15, passed him and led lap 3-18. On lap 11at turn four third-place St. Ours hit and spun second running Matt Lundstrom, from Snohomish, WA, and St. Ours hit the wall hard. His RF wheel came off and rolled to the infield near turn one. A wrecker towed his disabled car to the pits for 28th (last) position. Rookie St. Ours also dropped out of the ASA truck feature in his bright green truck.

On lap 19 leader Anderson received a tap from fellow Bandolero grad/sixth quickest qualifier Brent Scheidemantle, 13, and looped. Officials ruled that Anderson had come down the track into the second place car, so both drivers had to go to the back, handing the lead to third place Chad Schug. The three-time Legends feature winner last season has raced Legends every season the small cars have raced at Irwindale. Schug led lap 19-25 in a tight, four-car battle until he spun out on lap 26 and the fourth and fifth place cars also spun out. Landreth and Amidon were running 7th and 9th at that point. With three departures in front of them they gained three positions each. Officials ordered a green, white, checkered finish with youngster Reed leading Matt Hart, Josh Geer, Landreth, newcomer Chase Catania and Amidon. Perennial podium finisher Landreth used a final lap pass of Geer to finish third, 0.704 behind the winner. Reed, in only his second Legends race, won by 0.539 over Hart. Reed dropped out on lap 17 in his debut main and finished 25th. Landreth retained his point lead after two races as unlikely as that prospect appeared on lap 3 when he had to restart 27th. Despite all the spins, crashes and penalties, 21of the 28 Legends finished and 17 drivers were on the lead lap after a most unusual event.

BANDOLEROS: Fastest qualifier Aaron Anderson, 12, led all 15-laps from the pole in the Bandolero third-mile race that kicked off main event action. All six starters finished on the lead lap in the 5:18.320-timed race that had one caution. Eric Sloan, 13, and Lexi Moore, 9-year old daughter of SLM driver Dan Moore, followed. McLaughlan won the 6-lap ASA Speed Truck trophy dash in the first race of the night at 7:00 p.m after passing early leader Young on lap 5 in a 2:01.226 race. Hard Charger Award winners were Ed Cutler (WCPT), Mike Kal (Speed Trucks) and Scott Conaway (SLM).

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