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Topic: All Time California (CRA, SCRA, USAC-CRA) Win List
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April 03, 2019 at
10:13:26 AM
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I really enjoyed watching the CRA sprint cars on DirtVision at Perris on Saturday night, as part of the WoO show. They have such a rich history with iconic winners and champions. It did make me wonder if anyone has maintained an All Time Win List of the 3 eras (CRA, SCRA, USAC-CRA)? I think it would be interesting to see where the Demon and Kruseman match up against Dean Thompson and Shuman and on and on.
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April 03, 2019 at
02:52:53 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: JP50138 on April 03 2019 at 10:13:26 AM
I really enjoyed watching the CRA sprint cars on DirtVision at Perris on Saturday night, as part of the WoO show. They have such a rich history with iconic winners and champions. It did make me wonder if anyone has maintained an All Time Win List of the 3 eras (CRA, SCRA, USAC-CRA)? I think it would be interesting to see where the Demon and Kruseman match up against Dean Thompson and Shuman and on and on.
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By my strictly unofficial stats, here are the top 10:
1. Cory Kruseman 104 CRA:67; USAC-CRA:37
Rip Williams 104 CRA:29; SCRA:63; USAC-CRA: 11
3. Dean Thompson 103 CRA: 103
4. Ron Shuman 90 CRA: 72; SCRA: 18
5. Leland McSpadden 88 CRA: 78; SCRA: 10
6. Damion Gardner 86 SCRA: 12; USAC-CRA: 74
7. Bubby Jones 80 CRA: 80
8. Bob Hogle 63 CRA: 63
Richard Griffin 63 CRA: 14; SCRA: 49
10. Mike Kirby 60 CRA: 5; SCRA: 45; USAC-CRA: 10
later,
Bob Mays
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April 03, 2019 at
03:12:01 PM
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Bob Mays-- YOU ARE " THE MAN ". Hope to see the weekend of inductions for the NSCHoF&M. Badger Boy
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April 03, 2019 at
03:21:03 PM
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FYI-- Six have already been inducted into the NSCHoF-- Rip, Dean, Ron, Leland, Bubby Hogle; and Richard Griffin will be inducted this June. I believe Damion and Cory are sure bet inductees as soon as they meet the age requirements. Badger Boy
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April 03, 2019 at
04:19:50 PM
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Well lets not forget norcal please.
Narc was non-wing for many years and Calistoga ran non-wing with a track champion.
Some of these guys won up there too.
Also Leroy , jimmy sills and jimmy boyd ,jan opperman beat on the so-cal guys pretty good back in those days.
Plus all the mile races for big cars and midgets/sprint races.
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April 03, 2019 at
04:35:07 PM
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I'll never forget the time when Cory started on the pole for the midget main at sacramento mile.
Boy that didn't go well.
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April 03, 2019 at
05:16:01 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: supermod47 on April 03 2019 at 02:52:53 PM
By my strictly unofficial stats, here are the top 10:
1. Cory Kruseman 104 CRA:67; USAC-CRA:37
Rip Williams 104 CRA:29; SCRA:63; USAC-CRA: 11
3. Dean Thompson 103 CRA: 103
4. Ron Shuman 90 CRA: 72; SCRA: 18
5. Leland McSpadden 88 CRA: 78; SCRA: 10
6. Damion Gardner 86 SCRA: 12; USAC-CRA: 74
7. Bubby Jones 80 CRA: 80
8. Bob Hogle 63 CRA: 63
Richard Griffin 63 CRA: 14; SCRA: 49
10. Mike Kirby 60 CRA: 5; SCRA: 45; USAC-CRA: 10
later,
Bob Mays
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Kruseman’s 67 wins were with SCRA, not CRA.
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April 03, 2019 at
06:54:55 PM
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I have a few additions to this listing. These are also from my own compilation so they should at least be pretty close.
Jimmy Oskie - 58
Brad Noffsinger - 50
Mike Spencer - 37
Tony Jones - 36
Eddie Wirth - 33
Mike Sweeney - 32
Rick Goudy - 31
In my opinion all of the top 10 listed in Supermod47's post should be in the Hall of Fame. In addition to being my favorite, Mike Kirby was also one of the best to drive in Southern California. Also, I think that if Cory Kruseman hadn't gone east for a few years, he would be the all time winningest driver of the whole bunch by a pretty good margin. Not counting the original CRA days at Ascot, I believe that the SCRA days and early USAC/CRA days were some of the greatest years for sprint cars in Southern California. As a result, I think the win totals of Kruseman, Kirby and Griffin are all the more impressive. I don't believe I ever recall seeing deeper fields than the period beween 1995 and 2005.
While I recognize that Damion Gardner is a top rate driver and am in no way demeaning him, I believe that over the last several years he has been a big fish in a relatively small pool. For a few years he and Mike Spencer were the top of the heap with not many others picking up significant numbers of wins. Once Bruce Bromme passed away things went downhill for Spencer and Damion became the dominant driver. Now we see Brody Roa challenging him, but I fear that the days of deep fields where many different drivers were regularly a threat to win are behind us. All that said, the USAC/CRA guys put on a really good show and and I really miss seeing them race.
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April 03, 2019 at
11:00:35 PM
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The SCRA era at Perris was a high water mark for West Coast sprint car racing. 40 to 50 cars at nearly every race, tons of good drivers and a bunch of wrenches who knew what they were doing. Guys had to race really hard just to finish in the top 10. I sure miss those days.
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April 03, 2019 at
11:10:30 PM
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This message was edited on
April 03, 2019 at
11:46:43 PM by BIGFISH
Reply to:
Posted By: JP50138 on April 03 2019 at 10:13:26 AM
I really enjoyed watching the CRA sprint cars on DirtVision at Perris on Saturday night, as part of the WoO show. They have such a rich history with iconic winners and champions. It did make me wonder if anyone has maintained an All Time Win List of the 3 eras (CRA, SCRA, USAC-CRA)? I think it would be interesting to see where the Demon and Kruseman match up against Dean Thompson and Shuman and on and on.
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This is where you'll find the USAC/CRA and the Silver Crown, National Sprints, Midgets and more. I watched the Silver Crown race and it was a top-notch production, so I signed up for their yearly pass. They're also covering the Oval National and the Western this year...flowracing.com
Half the lies they tell about me aren't true.
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April 04, 2019 at
08:01:51 AM
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I was at USA Raceway (or whatever it was called then) in Tuscon in 2011 and Mike Kirby was drving a late model. Did he have some sort of disagreement with USAC or something and he switched classes?
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April 04, 2019 at
10:01:43 AM
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41
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Reply to:
Posted By: supermod47 on April 03 2019 at 02:52:53 PM
By my strictly unofficial stats, here are the top 10:
1. Cory Kruseman 104 CRA:67; USAC-CRA:37
Rip Williams 104 CRA:29; SCRA:63; USAC-CRA: 11
3. Dean Thompson 103 CRA: 103
4. Ron Shuman 90 CRA: 72; SCRA: 18
5. Leland McSpadden 88 CRA: 78; SCRA: 10
6. Damion Gardner 86 SCRA: 12; USAC-CRA: 74
7. Bubby Jones 80 CRA: 80
8. Bob Hogle 63 CRA: 63
Richard Griffin 63 CRA: 14; SCRA: 49
10. Mike Kirby 60 CRA: 5; SCRA: 45; USAC-CRA: 10
later,
Bob Mays
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Thanks Bob, that's awesome. All great racers, but the order of wins is a little different than I would've expected, which is exaclty why I asked the question. Good on Kruseman and Rip!
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April 04, 2019 at
01:14:10 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: Michael_N on April 04 2019 at 08:01:51 AM
I was at USA Raceway (or whatever it was called then) in Tuscon in 2011 and Mike Kirby was drving a late model. Did he have some sort of disagreement with USAC or something and he switched classes?
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Mike was a late model driver before he started racing sprint cars, but I'm not sure why he made the switch back.
It might of had to do with the lack of quality rides available as most teams are family owned and driven out here, he drove for his father in law for a number of years but they shut down do to the exspence of racing.
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April 04, 2019 at
01:18:41 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: badger boy on April 03 2019 at 03:12:01 PM
Bob Mays-- YOU ARE " THE MAN ". Hope to see the weekend of inductions for the NSCHoF&M. Badger Boy
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So Supermod47 is Bob Mays?
Cool dude, he gave me a killa guided tour of Speedy Bill museum in Nebraska & we had some good converstaions at Chili Bowl...
Wait, was Clark Kent really Superman? who coulda guessed?
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April 04, 2019 at
04:59:49 PM
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This message was edited on
April 04, 2019 at
05:01:46 PM by KOP
Reply to:
Posted By: JVan on April 03 2019 at 06:54:55 PM
I have a few additions to this listing. These are also from my own compilation so they should at least be pretty close.
Jimmy Oskie - 58
Brad Noffsinger - 50
Mike Spencer - 37
Tony Jones - 36
Eddie Wirth - 33
Mike Sweeney - 32
Rick Goudy - 31
In my opinion all of the top 10 listed in Supermod47's post should be in the Hall of Fame. In addition to being my favorite, Mike Kirby was also one of the best to drive in Southern California. Also, I think that if Cory Kruseman hadn't gone east for a few years, he would be the all time winningest driver of the whole bunch by a pretty good margin. Not counting the original CRA days at Ascot, I believe that the SCRA days and early USAC/CRA days were some of the greatest years for sprint cars in Southern California. As a result, I think the win totals of Kruseman, Kirby and Griffin are all the more impressive. I don't believe I ever recall seeing deeper fields than the period beween 1995 and 2005.
While I recognize that Damion Gardner is a top rate driver and am in no way demeaning him, I believe that over the last several years he has been a big fish in a relatively small pool. For a few years he and Mike Spencer were the top of the heap with not many others picking up significant numbers of wins. Once Bruce Bromme passed away things went downhill for Spencer and Damion became the dominant driver. Now we see Brody Roa challenging him, but I fear that the days of deep fields where many different drivers were regularly a threat to win are behind us. All that said, the USAC/CRA guys put on a really good show and and I really miss seeing them race.
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"Also, I think that if Cory Kruseman hadn't gone east for a few years, he would be the all time winningest driver of the whole bunch by a pretty good margin."
Lets pump the brakes here for a moment......
I wouldnt be so quick to put the west coast non-wing crown on Kruseman and certanly not by a "good margin". Like Kruser when he was off racing USAC for Tony Stewart, Shuman wasnt around for a spell too. Prior to all his years on the WoO tour with the Ofixco Racing Team, Shuman was often a part-time CRA racer as he was running around the country racing very early in his career and raced CRA when he wasn't elsewhere. Remember the Stanton years???
Im not sure how the numbers would have played out between the two if both had raced in the west w/o racing around the country but it sure would have been interesting to see the outcome. I would have to research it but it would be interesting to see how many combined western non-wing events both attended to get the total of wins they do have.
On a side note...
While the topic was non wing sprints, I believe the sprint car King of California as a whole regardless of wing or non-wing (and likely by a wide margin) would be Brent Kaeding.
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April 04, 2019 at
06:21:00 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: KOP on April 04 2019 at 04:59:49 PM
"Also, I think that if Cory Kruseman hadn't gone east for a few years, he would be the all time winningest driver of the whole bunch by a pretty good margin."
Lets pump the brakes here for a moment......
I wouldnt be so quick to put the west coast non-wing crown on Kruseman and certanly not by a "good margin". Like Kruser when he was off racing USAC for Tony Stewart, Shuman wasnt around for a spell too. Prior to all his years on the WoO tour with the Ofixco Racing Team, Shuman was often a part-time CRA racer as he was running around the country racing very early in his career and raced CRA when he wasn't elsewhere. Remember the Stanton years???
Im not sure how the numbers would have played out between the two if both had raced in the west w/o racing around the country but it sure would have been interesting to see the outcome. I would have to research it but it would be interesting to see how many combined western non-wing events both attended to get the total of wins they do have.
On a side note...
While the topic was non wing sprints, I believe the sprint car King of California as a whole regardless of wing or non-wing (and likely by a wide margin) would be Brent Kaeding.
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Good points, KOP. Kruseman was awfully good and had a top ride with Harlan Willis when he left. I'm told that that car drove like a cadillac. Anyway, my opinion is based solely on my observations as a fan. I think he could have had at least 20 more wins. Maybe that doesn't qualify as a "wide margin," but what the hell. It's bench racing after all.
If I remember correctly, Shuman really didn't run regularly in California until well into in his career. Prior to that he was all over the place, picking up CRA races early and late in the year as you mentioned. If he had run most of his career in Southern California as did Kruseman I have no doubt that he would be the win king. To me their careers had quite different trajectories. To be fair, I didn't really follow Shuman until he came to CRA and stayed. I can't remember exactly when he did that. Was it in the mid to late 80s? How long did the run with the WoO?
It'll be interesting to see what happens with Gardner. I wonder how much longer he'll run and how many more wins he'll pick up. I'm kind of surprised that he hasn't bailed out and run winged cars closer to home.
As for winged California drivers, I don't have much knowledge since for many years I was a wingless sprint snob. I've since gotten over that, fortunately. I do recall Kaeding being pretty dominant for a lot of years, though.
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April 05, 2019 at
10:06:12 AM
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According to supermod47's records, Brent Kaeding has 221 sanctioned wins (after 2018), which is eighth on the all-time list behind Steve Kinser (764), Sammy Swindell (476), Emory Collins (359), Donny Schatz (307), Gus Schrader (289), Doug Wolfgang (237) and Gary Wright (230). 114 with NARC, 84 with KWS, 9 with WoO, 8 with CRA, and 6 with SCRA...
If this post isn't results, stories or something c
constructive, it isn't me!
@BillWMedia
www.OpenWheel101.com
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April 06, 2019 at
06:01:28 PM
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One of the problems in tabulating wins is what "main events" do you count. Do you only count points races? Well that would eliminate some really major wins. In multi-day shows do you count the preliminary night events?
Personally I think all main event wins sanctioned by the association should be counted regardless of whether points were awarded or not AND even if it was a preliminary night where only part of the field ran. Using this theory Dean Thompson had 113 CRA wins according to my count.
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