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November 25, 2015 at 01:56:29 AM
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RACING SCENE Column (PAS Oval Nationals – Part I) – By Tim Kennedy

Los Angeles, CA. - The 20th annual Budweiser Oval Nationals Presented by All Coast Construction took place at the half-mile clay Perris Auto Speedway from Thursday-Saturday, November 12-14. It was another rousing success for competitors, promoter Don Kazarian and fans. Distant fans also were able to view the event via internet PPV on The Cushion. The non-wing USAC National and Amsoil USAC-CRA sanctioned event featured 410 cu. in. sprint cars all three nights after the Oval Nationals in 2013-14 had support classes competing on the program.

Total purse for the 2015 Oval Nationals was $125,000 thanks in a large part to “Big Mike” Grosswendt, owner of All Coast Construction, which builds quality lifestyle homes. Mike, who is 6'9”, added even more money to the 2015 Oval Nationals purse and increased the payoff for Saturday's A-main winner, who received a whopping $25,000 check. Second and third place finishers collected $15,000 and $10,000 respectively. The final race paid $1,000 just to start and 26 drivers did so. Thursday and Friday 30-lap A-mains paid $5,000 to the winner each night and each feature starter received at least $500 on those nights.

Each night awarded USAC National and USAC-CRA points and had qualifying, heats, B and A-mains. That gave fans a complete show each evening. Additionally, drivers accrued Oval National points on Thursday and Friday preliminary nights. The six drivers with the most total points transferred directly to Saturday's lucrative 40-lap feature and did not have to take part in time trials Saturday. The super six had a separate hot lap session and ran a six-lap “Super Six Dash” with a fully-inverted start based on their points. The finishing positions of that dash determined starting positions one through six in the 40-lap main event.

POINTS: The six drivers with the most Oval National points after Thursday and Friday racing were: nights one and two feature winner Robert Ballou-292, Brady Bacon-267, Dave Darland-261, Kevin Thomas, Jr.-246, Tracy Hines-239 and Thomas Meseraull-238. The next four drivers in P. 7-10 were: Damion Gardner-236, Richard Vanderweerd-232, Bryan Clauson-230, and Chase Stockon-225. The top six point earners in Thursday racing were: Ballou-145, Darland-140, Stockon-139, Clauson-132, Bacon-129 and R. Vanderweerd-126. P.7 was Jon Stanbrough at 122.

Ballou, the 2015 USAC National Sprint point leader, made history by winning four Oval National features in a row in 2014-15. Last year he won the Friday preliminary main prior to winning the 19th Oval Nationals Saturday. This year he won the two preliminary 30-laps mains Thursday-Friday. He drove his own No. 12 Maxim/Ott to all victories. This “career year” season Ballou has won 12 USAC National features in eight states. His triumphs came in Ocala, FL., Gibsonton, FL, Kansas City, KS., Eldora-Rossburg, OH., New Egypt, N. J., Port Royal, PA., Newberrytown, PA., Sun Prairie, WI., Kokomo, IN., Terre Haute, IN.,and Perris, CA. (twice).

Oval Nationals 2015 total entries were 52 including backup cars. Actual car counts were: 49 Thursday, 48 Friday, and 47 Saturday (including the six top drivers in Oval National points), so 41 drivers participated in Saturday time trials. The 2012 Oval Nationals for 410 sprinters had 44 cars. The 2014 PAS Oval Nationals had 55 total sprint cars and 2013 had 53 cars including some 360 cu. in. sprint cars that had raced in the 360s only Thursday preliminary night. That evening matched cars from two USAC 360 divisions—Southwest Division (Arizona) and Western (California) Division. That format was a carryover from the 2013 Oval Nationals format. The only 360 sprinter in action at the 2015 Oval Nationals was the No. 04 driven by Mike Collins. Austin Liggett's No. 83 was a 410 Thursday, but he blew that engine and had a 360 in it the next two nights.

Wednesday, November 11 was PAS open practice night for Oval Nationals sprint cars only from 5:00 to 9:00 pm and 37 cars logged laps. Fans were admitted free of charge to the grandstand. Laps by each car were updated and shown on a large monitor at the back of the USAC trailer. Drivers and fans watched the screen each night to learn who was fastest. A USAC worker said C..J. Leary ran the fastest practice lap at 17.02. Seven Oval National drivers made their initial appearance at PAS. They were: Kody Barksdale (Okla.), Robert Bell (Iowa), Lee Dakus (Alberta, Canada), Aaron Farney (Ind.), Josh Hodges (N. Mex.), Brady Short (Ind.), and Mitch Wissmiller (Ill).

TIME TRIALS: The PAS one-lap sprint car track record is 15.891 (113.272 mph) and was set by Mike Spencer on Nov. 2, 2012. Thursday Oval Nationals TT on a very windy night ran from 6:21 to 7:03 pm. The first driver to qualify, Justin Grant, set the fastest time of 16.655 and it withstood all attempts to beat it. That was unusual because drivers usually want to qualify in mid-qualifying order (somewhere after tenth in qualifying order). Only one car did not qualify.

Friday qualifying (with only mild wind all night) ran from 6:05 to 6:44 pm. Fast timer was tenth qualifier Bryan Clauson at 16.647. All 48 cars present logged at least one lap. Mitch Wissmiller ran a 17.463 on his first lap in John Springstead's No. 36 Buckley (the last one ever built). Mitch entered turn one on his second lap, lost his brakes and power, and rode up and along the crash-wall almost to turn two. He did not flip and drove slowly to the pits. His first lap time earned the pole starting position in the third of five heat races. However, his car was a non-starter for the evening and also scratched from inside row five in the 24-car B-main.

On Saturday 41 cars qualified from 5:46-6:16 pm and 16th qualifier Austin Williams was fastest at 16.575. Car owner Dwight Cheney withdrew both of his No. 42 Maxims Saturday because he was not happy about their speed/results. He said he had spent almost $5,000 to field both cars including entry fees, tires, fuel and crew pit passes at the Oval Nationals. He did not plan to compete November 19-21 in Tucson at the annual Western World Championship event. After Saturday's PAS race Dwight played host at his Glendora home as usual to Dave Darland and a crew member. They planned to drive their rented car to Tucson for the WWC event after visiting the beach.

Flags flying above turn two were limp nearly all night so final night spectators enjoyed the best weather of the three-day event. The high temps st 5:00 pm and temp after the Oval National features each night in Perris were: Thursday-68 degrees and 52 at the main event; Friday-73 and 61 after the main, and Saturday-79 degrees and 54 after the feature. Mid-westerners would love those numbers for outdoor racing in November.

DRIVERS BY STATES: The 49 Oval Nationals drivers this year came from eight states and one foreign nation as follows: 31 from California; eight from Indiana; two each from Arizona, Illinois and Oklahoma; and one each from Alabama, Iowa and New Mexico. One driver came from Alberta, Canada and raced out of Indiana this summer.

CHASSIS & ENGINE: The USAC official entry list for the 2015 Oval Nationals showed 14 different chassis builders and 26 different engines. The breakdown by most popular entries follows:

Chassis: Maxim-17; DRC (Devin)-nine; Spike and Stinger-seven each; Victory-three; plus ART, Eagle, and Jon Boy-two each. Single chassis builders were: Avenger, Buckley, Racecrafter, RT, Triple 7 and XXX.

The most popular engine supplier was Ron Shaver with seven. J & D built four. Advanced, Chevy and Kistler built three each. Two each engines came from Claxton Mopar, Fisher, Foxco, Ott, RC Performance, S & S, Stanton Chevy and Shark. Solo engine representatives were: Arringdale, BRC, Bailey Brothers, Blakesley, Chrisco, Dynotech, Gaerte, Hixson, Picks, Pro Flyer, Rosson, Williams Mopar and Wesmar. Bryan Clauson drove Joe Dooling's No. 63 Spike/Fisher (Stanton) to victory in Saturday's 40-lap feature. Clauson, a two-time Turkey Night GP winner, said he will drive Dooling's No. 63 USAC midget at PAS on Thanksgiving evening in the 75th running of the famous Turkey Night GP. The two-time TNGP winner at Irwindale Speedway will be trying to win his first TNGP on dirt.

PAS Oval Nationals crowds increased gradually in the main grandstand from one-third full Thursday, to two-thirds full Friday, and about four-fifths full Saturday with the turns one and four bleachers more full as well. The pit area was crowded all three nights. Southern California freeway traffic is getting worse. Leaving home before 3:00 pm Thursday it took me two hours and 25 minutes to go 53 miles from my house to PAS. On Friday it took two hours. On Saturday it took the usual one hour on a weekend.


HEAT RACING: Thursday and Friday nights had five heat races with the first three rows fully inverted so the fastest qualifier started in P. 6 in the first heat. Both nights had 10-lap C-mains for 41st and slower qualifiers. The first four finishers in each heat transferred to the A-main that evening. Saturday (starting at 6:44 pm) had four heat races with the first two rows fully inverted so the fast timer started fourth in the first heat. The first two finishers in each heat Saturday advanced to the A-main that evening. Heat winners came from these starting positions: Thursday-P. 2, 2, 2, 6, 4; Friday-P. 6, 4, 4, 2, 6; Saturday-2, 1, 2, 1.

The “Super Six Dash” for the six highest in points after the first two nights followed Saturday's heats. Dave Darland started fourth and won by leading the final five laps. He barely edged Kevin Thomas at the finish line. Front row drivers Meseraull and Hines followed. Back row starters Bacon and Ballou finished fifth and sixth. Darland declined (as he did last year) to pick the inside or outside starting spot until he saw how the track was prepared for the feature. He eventually picked the inside position.

Two 12-lap B-mains had 15 starters and each race transferred the first five finishers into the 40-lap feature. The 26 feature starters lined up as follows:

> Six “Super Six Dash” drivers in the order of their dash finish.

> The top two finishers in Saturday's four heats in rows four-seven.

> The top five finishers in each B-main with the first B cars on the inside row and the second B cars in the outside row in rows eight-12.

> Two USAC-CRA provisional starters in the back row 13 in P. 25-26.

Following Saturday's four heats and Super Six Dash promoter Don Kazarian introduced 2015 Oval Nationals Grand Marshal Tony Jones to the crowd. He said Tony, now actively raising his family, is one of the most popular drivers who ever raced at PAS. He said Tony ranks 14th most prolific in combined CRA, SCRA, and USAC-CRA 410 sprint car feature victories. Tony, the 2000 Oval Nationals winner, also spoke to the crowd.

INTROS: Appropriately for a major event, PAS management turned off all the front straight lights to introduce all 26 drivers individually from the back to front row. Track announcer Scott Daloisio (in a tux, white shirt and red bow tie) introduced each driver at the start/finish infield and they walked to their cars. Four abreast parade laps behind a white pickup truck pace vehicle were perfectly aligned. An aerial fireworks display launched skyward from beyond turn two added to the showmanship. PAS starter Kevin Winters has been on the PAS starters stand for about ten years and the assistant starter has been there four years.

The 40-lap Oval Nationals feature started at 9:33 pm and had three yellow flags. K. Thomas outgunned pole starter Darland and led laps 1-22. On lap 5 Damion Gardner (running fifth) got high leaving turn two and bumped the backstretch wall. His two front wheels lifted into the air as he powered forward in P. 11 after losing five positions during his close call. Then the yellow flag flew after a metal side panel flew off a car near turn one. So Gardner moved back to fifth place because the yellow flag lap 5 did not count. That timely debris enabled Damion to get his podium finish.

The first car lapping took place on lap 15. On lap 23 an accident sidelined cars running one-two. Leader Thomas (No. 17rw) revealed something broke in the rear end entering the third turn and it contacted the wall. His car spun across the track. Second-running Meseraull (only five yards back) could not avoid slamming the right side of his No. 66 into Thomas' car. The impact bent Meseraull's right side exhaust header and knocked the right side nerf bar into the RR tire. His car went to the work area but it was too damaged to continue. Clauson inherited the lead over Ballou, Darland, Hines, D. Gardner, Bacon and Stanbrough.

By lap 30 Clauson had opened a straightaway lead over three-time Oval Nationals winner Darland. Ballou, Gardner, Hines, Stanbrough, Windom, Brody Roa and Stockon completed the top ten in that order with 20 cars on the lead lap. On lap 35 Gardner made an outside pass from the backstretch through the third and fourth turns on from straightaway near the starters' stand between the crash-wall and now P. 4 Ballou. Hines placed fifth, followed by Bacon, Stanbrough, Windom, Stockon, Roa and Grant. Roa earned his first USAC National top ten finish. Twenty of 26 starters finished with 18 drivers on the lead lap.

First-time Oval Nationals winner Clauson received the checkered flag at 9:59 pm with a straightaway lead (6.542 seconds) over Darland accompanied by more aerial pyrotechnics from beyond turn two. It was Clauson's 33rd USAC National Sprint feature triumph, ranking him 11th best in the 59-year old series. Following the feature, Ballou answered questions about why his strong run to the front faltered. “I really stepped on my (word omitted for publication). I got into the third turn (on lap 19) under the 17rw for the lead, jumped the cushion and broke my left rear shock. I should have waited to take the lead. I had more speed than the 17rw, the 66 and 63 (Clauson) and would've won the race.” Nevertheless, Ballou headed to Tucson with a 60-point lead racing for his first national championship.

DNF REASONS: Non-finishers in the 40-lap feature were for various reasons.

> No. 74x Hodges – on lap 3 stopped next to the outer wall “because the oil filter came loose and the motor seized.”

> No. 15f Farney – Running 15th on lap 7 “I received a broken LR wheel after the orange 5 car (Grant) ran up the back of my car at turn three.”

> No. 56 – Bernal – P. 13 on lap 9 - “The engine lost power because it lost a cylinder.”

> No. 66 – Meseraull – P. 2 lap 23 involved in crash with leader No. 17rw.

> No. 17rw – Thomas – P. 1 lap 23 something in rear end locked up entering third turn and hit wall.

> No. 37 – Mitchell - “I wasn't going forward and got lapped so I pulled in to get out of the way.”

TOP THREE QUOTES:

Winner Clauson, a two-time (2013 and 2015) Indianapolis 500 driver, was interviewed by pit announcer Chris Holt. He stated, “This is so special I can't thank everyone enough. This is the best job in the world to drive race cars. Thanks to my dad and my team. This is a good motor. This race has gotten away from me so many times. I couldn't win, but finally closed the deal.” He described the blown engine (broken crankshaft) Friday and quick trip to Glendale, Arizona to get the engine they had sold to Mike Martin. Bryan said car owner Joe Dooling and Brodie Hayward did most of the driving. They returned overnight and started removing and replacing the blown engine at 10:30 Saturday morning in the PAS pits. “My dad and crewman Tyler did most of the work at the track,” he added.

Clauson looked at his right rear tire and said, “It looks pretty awesome for 40 laps. I had more if I needed it. Traffic was my only worry. I worked best on the bottom. We had two or three photo finishes in races earlier tonight. I'm going on vacation (to Lake Tahoe) and will race next weekend at Tucson.” He then thanked “the Kazarian family, Budweiser and “Big Mike” from All Coast Construction for taking this event to the next level.”

Pit announcer Ronnie Everhart interviewed runner-up Darland. He said, “I had a good weekend. The track was racy all weekend. My crew gave me a good race car again. I have driven this 71p car three years now. Hopefully I'll be back here for the next ten years to get Oval Nationals wins four, five or six. I had a good DRC chassis and Foxco engine.”

Chris Holt interviewed the highest finishing USAC-CRA regular D. Gardner who occupied the P. 3 step on the podium. Damion stated, “We were racing in traffic. The bottom groove was good every night. It was wide at exit. I played around the track. They wore out the bottom, so I went up top and picked off some of them. I thank Don Kazarian. I love this track and this racing.”

AWARDS: The Tony Jones Hard Charger Award and $1,000 cash from “Big Mike” went to Indiana driver C. J. Leary for his charge from 21st to 13th (+ eight positions). The CRA-Wagtimes award and $1,071 in cash went to Arizonan R. J. Johnson. Austin Williams was the final night Billy Wilkerson Fast Time trophy winner and received extra cash from the Dick Woodland family from Paso Robles. The Ray Scheetz Mechanic of the Race award and unique trophy with a replica green tractor on it was presented to Tim Clauson, father of the winner. They originally started racing from their home in Northern California. After announcing the P. 1-26 official finish, as scored by USAC scorer Freddie Sachs, PAS announcer Daloisio signed off at 10:15 pm.






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