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RACING SCENE Column - (USAC-CRA SPRINTS @ PAS Feb. 17) -- By Tim Kennedy

Los Angeles, CA. - USAC-CRA Sprints - Perris - Feb. 17: Garrett Hansen, 21-year old 410 cu. in. sprint car rookie, made a giant leap in the steady rise of his USAC open-wheel racing career Saturday, Feb. 17 at Perris Auto Speedway. The Manhattan Beach resident, who will turn 22 on March 28, drove his dad Gary's 2006 Ellis/RC Performance Chevy to an impressive victory over 410 veterans Tony Jones and pole starter Rip Williams. Garrett started second and led all 30-laps in the ex-No. 96 Jim Kirby yellow & black sprinter that his brother Mike Kirby drove to a feature victory at PAS on 5-13-06. The Hansen's have a new Eagle that is almost ready to race, but with the success of their Ellis chassis I would keep racing that car. I told Gary a flourescent-orange number would help fans in the grandstand identify their current silver car with white No. 70 Hansen Welding of Gardena car. The last No. 70 to win a CRA main event probably was Glen Rea's Chevy driven by his son Ron. The last time I spoke to Ron about six years ago he was driving a cement truck in Las Vegas.

On Feb. 17 Hansen was making his seventh 410-sprint car start, or eighth if you count the Feb. 9 Manzy heats-only night. He raced only four times with USAC-CRA late last year to remain under the five-race limit to retain his rookie status. He plans to compete for 2007 series rookie of the year honors. Garrett was a VRA 360 cu. in. feature winner at Ventura Raceway and a Bandits Sprints 360 main event winner. He has seven career feature victories in the USAC Western Midget Series, including four last season (4/8 at Ventura), 5/28 at Tucson, 9/16 at Bakersfield and 9/30 at Ventura). He was sixth in driver final 2006
points. Garrett won the 2003 USAC Western Midget Series rookie of the year trophy after finishing 14th in points. He finished seventh in 2004 points and won most improved driver trophy for the USAC Western Midgets. He climbed to fifth in the 2005 USAC Western Midget rankings. Garrett finished fourth in 2002 USAC Ford Focus Midget driver points during the inaugural season for the FF series. He also was a quarter midget national champion and raced karts.

Other impressive USAC-CRA rookies are Tyler Brown, 21, the driver of Troy Brown's Bullet, and Michael Trimble, 20. Brown won two USAC Western Midget Series 2006 features (3/25 at Bakersfield and 7/1 at Ventura) and finished third in final driver points in 2005 and 2006. He finished ninth in USAC Midget 2004 points. He was 11th in 2002 USAC Ford Focus Midget driver points. Trimble, a USAC 360 Western Sprint, VRA and SCRA 360 sprint veteran, drives one of Cory Kruseman's three 410 Bullets. Trimble finished 13th (2003), fifth (2004) and seventh (2005) in USAC Western Sprint points. At PAS Feb. 17 Hansen started second and finished first. Brown started fourth and finished ninth. Trimble started ninth and was still ninth on lap 3 when his car stalled and finished in the DNF column. Hansen's triumph moved him to sixth in 2007 USAC-CRA points with 133 and Brown is tenth in points with 102 heading into the fifth night of the 2007 season on March 3 at PAS.

All ten of the top ten drivers in USAC-CRA point standings raced at PAS Feb. 17. Two weeks earlier 12 of the top 20 in final 2006 USAC-CRA driver points raced in the PAS season opener. The eight cars present in the 36 car field Feb. 3 that were not in the 34 car PAS field Feb. 17 were # 14 Mike Kennedy, #75 Steve Conrad, #92 Bobby Cody, # 6 Todd Hunsaker, # N8 Nate Ziegler, # 66 J. Hicks, plus flippers # 33 Jonny Bates and # 73 Josh Ford. Six cars present Feb. 17 that missed the Feb. 3 race were # 42 Casey Shuman, # 26 Rob Kershaw, # 55 Tony Everhart, # 21x Alex Schutte, # 71 Damion Gardner and # 67k Dustin Morgan. The fastest qualifying time Feb. 3 was 16.815 by # 4 Tony Jones and the 10th best time was 17.176. Mike Spencer (# 50) set fast time of 16.746 Feb. 17 and the 10th best time was a 17.189. Both times were close to the marks set two weeks earlier.

The high temperature Feb. 17 at nearby Riverside was 88 degrees. It was still 77 degrees at 5:00 p.m when warm-ups and hot-lapping began. Qualifying for 34 cars ran from 6:00 to 6:28. Two drivers ran consistent qualifying laps. Rip Williams ran 17.270 and 17.269 (0.001 difference) and David Cardey ran 17.357 and 17.351 (0.006 difference). The 30-lap main event started at 8:54 and had a nine-minute red flag on lap 14 when ninth-place Damion Gardner had something break at the front of his No. 71 Jason Leffler DRC/Mopar. He hit the wall and tumbled several times at the wall. He crawled from the overturned car without injury. Later "Super" Rickie Gaunt's No. 94 Keller ride dropped out with "a broken piston" according to Jack Gardner, Sr. The A-main concluded at 9:19 and it was still a semi-warm 57 degrees shortly after the race.

USAC-CRA chief steward John Estopellan, who mans the USAC radio to drivers, said three of the drivers on Feb. 3 did not have radio contact with him. On Feb. 17 the number of drivers without USAC radio contact fell to two--Gaunt (21st) and Matt Stewart (18th). The chalkboard at turn four was used as necessary for them. John's two sons, Rich (the USAC-CRA tech director) and Mike also are USAC-CRA officials again this year. USAC Southern California Series Coordinator Chris Morgan was present with his blond bride, the former Allison Sweeney, of Phoenix. The newlyweds tied the knot January 6 at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, CA as planned with about 70 persons in attendance.

Steve Ostling, the new USAC-CRA racing director, is the "new sheriff in town" and he is enforcing the rule-book as expected. He made two calls at PAS Feb. 3 that upset two teams. He set Rodney Argo back two positions from third to fifth in heat four for a jump start, dropping him from a direct transfer to the A main. Rodney raced his way from the B main into the feature. Jimmy Crawford, scheduled to start fifth in the A-main, did not have his # 51 car on the grid in time and was sent to the last row for reporting late to the grid. It seems an angry person keyed Ostling's personal car in the parking lot and caused about $4,000 damage. The reward was up to $900 Feb. 17 for anyone turning in the name of the culprit who vandalized Ostling's car.

Josh Ford received a badly sprained ankle during his nasty flip on the backstretch during the Feb. 3 main event. "We only saved the steering gear and motor and junked everything else," he said over the infield microphone. Ford had entered the Feb. 9-10 Phoenix "Copper on Dirt" race, but missed it because of his ankle injury. He will race March 3 at PAS in his back-up car. Owner/driver Nadine Keller, the Azusa PD cop, missed the Feb. 9-10 Manzanita races in Phoenix because she was ill. She qualified 18th fastest of 34 drivers Feb. 17 but scratched from her heat race and the B main because of her lingering flu. She did serve as starter for the weekly tricycle race at the starting line for youngsters from the grandstand during the PAS intermission.

I spoke to Rodney Argo at PAS Feb. 17 and asked why he dropped out of the Manzanita Speedway first heat Feb. 9 on lap six after leading the first five laps. His No. 19 Ford-powered sprinter had no apparent car problem when he pitted. Rodney told me he had a problem with his now USAC-CRA mandatory HANS device. He said it got under his shoulder harness and he could not catch his breath. He said wearing the HANS device was still a problem for him at the Feb. 17 PAS race. Jason York flipped wildly on the backstretch Feb. 3 at PAS and wiped out his primary car. He praised the HANS device for enabling him to escape serious injury and race his backup car Feb. 17.

Danny Sheridan said his No. 18 Kittle Motorsports sprinter on Feb. 3 and 17 was the same car he drove when he won his first USAC-CRA main event on 10/7/06 at PAS. It also was the car he drove in the Nov. 2, 3, 4 PAS Oval Nationals. "We raced our backup car Feb. 9-10 at Manzanita in "The Copper on Dirt" event in Phoenix. Darren Hagen, mimicking NASCAR Nextel Cup star Tony Stewart, climbed the starter stand after his Feb. 3 PAS feature victory. Darren and his dad have started collecting checkered flags as mementos following his feature-winning performances. The Pomona Valley Quarter Midget Racing Association had to vacate their track of 50 years on 1st St. in Pomona. The city is developing the property. The track has spawned many current open-wheel stars, including Josh Wise, making headlines currently. Joe Ganino, Jr, the promoter of the quarter-mile paved Orange Show Speedway, deserves praise for adding a quarter-midget track for the quarter-midget club at his facility in San Bernardino.

I do believe that the last car #70 to win a CRA main event was Charlie Zabinski at Ascot,not the Glen Rea owned car.

Thanks to Tim Kennedy for such an insightful report of last week's race as well as tidbits at the end of his column. Mr. Kennedy's efforts make sprint car racing the great sport that it is. Here's hoping that he continues to provide USAC/CRA racing summaries throughout the year.

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS