RACING INSIDER - IRWINDALE APRIL 15

Source: Janet Peery / RacingWest
Date: 04/15/2000

One of the things I found out last night is that there are a whole lot of Saugus racers at Irwindale Speedway. As I made my way through the pits and asked the drivers why they chose to race Irwindale they started with "it's a new track" but the final word was "I used to race Saugus and now I race here." And they are comfortable with that. They are back racing with the same folks they raced with a few years back.

Twenty three year old Darren Cheek was at Irwindale for his first race of the season in the No. 62 Super Stock. Cheek comes from a Saugus racing family - his father raced Saugus for 20 years and won the Super Modified Championship there. His uncle, Tru Cheek, was a multiple winner and champion. The younger Cheek had escaped the racing bug…that is until he went to a race at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino. He came back to his home in Phelan and told his dad he wanted to race; that all led to where Cheek is today, a nice young man racing for experience with dreams of moving up and most likely he will. His race last night was not all he had hoped for, a tire blew sending him into the wall and hurting the car, but look for the Cheeks to get it back together and be back on track for the next event.

Garrett Yamada was competing in the No. 36 Grand American Modified. Yamada began his racing career when he was 18. His resume includes Motocross, two Mini-Stock championships at Saugus in 1989 and 1990, and several years competing in the MSRA Pro Four Series. Now after a five-year absence Yamada is back racing for fun and United in Harmony, a program that helps underprivileged and homeless kids.

Tim Woods III turned in a top-ten qualifying run. Involved in a multi-car incident two weeks earlier that totaled his car, Woods has a new car and is very pleased with it … and he should be! The car (backed by Woods' driving skills) netted him a 4th place finish. Look to see Woods racing in select Tour (ok..Featherlite Southwest Series, NASCAR Touring) races this season. He will be competing at Irwindale twice, the October Classic at Mesa Marin and the season finale at Phoenix. Although the Tour actually races Irwindale three times there are two good reasons Woods won't race one of those events - he is trying to keep it at 5 races to maintain his rookie status and the team feels they would be cutting themselves thin trying to run two divisions one night, the goal is to put the efforts in the Super Late Model car.

Brian Kelley driver of the No. 77 Card Service Intl./Ladco Racing Super Late Model was 6th quick in qualifying and drove a masterful race dodging the wrecks and holding on for another top-ten finish. Kelley and his crew is a great bunch of people and they sure can brew a good cup of coffee!

David Gilliland received his LTR engine and was pleased with it. He was fastest in the first practice, but come second practice a lot of cars went out on stickers and Gilliland's time fell to 11th quick. Gilliland started the race eleventh and had a great run going until a loss of power steering sent the No. 97 Monte Carlo into a wild spin missing the wall by inches. Gilliland took advantage of his dirt tracking experience and one of the nicest looking cars on the track (with decals made by the lovely Lisa Gilliland) was spared from what should have been total destruction. The people in the stands were amazed that Gilliland kept it off the wall.

Yanagawa was in the No. 75 Super Late Model this week with a new team and a new car. Qualifying 22nd for the race, Yanagawa was very pleased with the Jackson Race Car. He will be running a few races in the car while the team is building another car. You may possibly be seeing a two-car team emerge. As we found out last week Yanagawa is driving for experience. He has very definite goals to move up through the ranks like every other driver and like every other driver his ultimate goal is to race one of the premier divisions of NASCAR. Once the Japanese market sees what this driver is up to you can bet we will be seeing some overseas sponsorship on his car.

If you know anything at all about the Winston West, then you know the name Jimmy Insolo. Missing in action for too long, Insolo is back on track racing the No. 50 Super Late Model this season. Although the veteran successfully maneuvered his way around the wrecks and avoided any contact in the end it was the equipment that cut his night short. But like the other drivers the race is always the next one.

Super Late Model point leader, Greg Voight was seen with his crew welding under the hood. Voight had qualified 4th and had a mishap in the trophy dash when he swerved to miss a car that had checked up in front of him and hit Dan Holtz. But both Voight and Holtz got their competitive cars back together in time for the main. Holtz finished second and Voight finished third, another podium for these talented drivers. Thanks for running the RacingWest decal :^)

Track record holder in the MSRA Pro-Four division, Kenny Smith, has sold one of his Winston West rides and bought a Super Late Model running it under the No. 143. Son-in-law, Scott Porter, is piloting Smith's MSRA Pro-Four. Porter also competes in the No. 74 NASCAR Mini-Stocks pinto. Smith said if all goes right fans will see him in three Winston West races this season. Smith and his family also run the Quick Pick Motorsports Buffet right outside their hauler and the best part about it is it only costs a smile to eat there. I dined on Spaghetti, garlic bread, fruit salad and chips. But the lasagna looked good, too. If you are interested in crewing on a car Smith Motorsports is always looking for extra talent and can be contacted at markenn43@aol.com.

Another driver returning to the Winston West is Sean Woodside. Currently competing in the No. 45 Super Late Model at Irwindale and the No. 4 Pontiac in the Southwest Tour, Woodside will be competing in 3-5 events for car owner Donna Walker. Former crew chief, Jeff Schrader, will be reunited with Woodside to help with setting up the cars.

Charles Utts, winner of the last race, was back with his team, Kristen his wife. Utts qualified 5th quick and was quick in both practices, when some of the other cars were falling off in second practice Utts was right there. He was very pleased with the car and didn't have to touch a thing. Utts won the trophy dash putting him on the pole for the main.

The Super Late Model race itself was slowed by a number of cautions and a lot of good cars were damaged. Cars were going three and four wide and although the lead swapped a few times quick time qualifier, Ben Walker, was first across the line when the checkers flew, followed by Holtz, Voight, Woods and A.J. DiMarzo.

The top five finishers in the Grand American Modifieds were Rip Michels, Jimmy White, Roger Carufel Jr., Travis Thirkettle and John Watkinson.

In the NASCAR Super Stocks Main Event it was TK Karvasek, Jeff, Steve Gilmore, Yagel Berkovitz and Mike Price.

In the Legends it was: Jon Zernikow Gary Scheuerll Tom Landreth, Don Pinkus, and Harold Grafton

In the Ultra Wheel Spec Trucks it was Joe Herold, Jon Campbell, Bill Helgeson Riverside, Dave Blankenship and Jim McGill.

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