VENTURA, California– Stockton’s Johnathon Henry, a high school junior, outran two veterans and won the D’Angelos Sprint Car Shootout at Ventura Raceway.

It was Henry’s second career win at Ventura and it came in a rich race. The Shootout is a three-race series for sprint cars that pays $2,000 to the winner of each race and has a $500 prize for the driver with the most points in the three races.

“This is so exciting, to finally get to Victory Lane,” Henry gushed over the track’s public address system.

The other main event winners at Ventura included Randy McGraw (Ojai) in the IMCA Modified division, Charlie Butcher (Santa Barbara) in the Junior Focus Midgets, Bill Van Praag (Ventura) in the Senior Dwarf Cars, Brian Saxton (Mentone) in the Pro Dwarf Cars, Cole Wakim (Simi Valley) in the Mini Dwarf-Pistons, Ricky Lewis (Oxnard) in the Mini Dwarf-Superchargers and Jessica Clark (Westlake Village) in the Junior Midgets.

Henry, 17, was fourth in the running order in the early laps of the Shootout. He inherited second place when Rick Hendrix and Chris Wakim, Cole’s father, came together while racing for the lead. Henry drove around veteran Troy Rutherford to take the lead on the 13th circuit around Ventura’s .20-mile clay oval.

There were several caution periods and resulting restarts over the second half of the 30-lap race. Rutherford and former track champion Kevin Kierce pulled even with the leader, hoping to rattle him. But the kid was quick and steady on the restarts.

“I don’t let people rattle me,” Henry said after the race. “I don’t get rattled very easily.

Henry is a junior at Linden High School in Stockton. He started racing when he was five years of age.

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