Forum: SCRAFAN.COM Forum (go)
Moderators: ljennings

SANTA MARIA, Calfornia — West Coast 360 Sprint Cars, Papich Construction IMCA Modifieds, MMI Factory Stocks and Toste Grading & Paving Mini Stocks raced Santa Maria Speedway Saturday night.

Danny Sheridan, of Santa Maria, had a night off from the USAC/CRA 410 Sprints and brought his 360 Sprint Car out for the night. Sheridan started third in the field and managed to outduel third place Davey Pombo, of Kerman, and fourth place Rusty Carlile, of Bakersfield, but couldn't run down Richard VanderWeerd, of Visalia, who captured his second straight 30-lap feature event. Dennis Howell, of Rancho Palos Verdes, finished fifth. Pombo set fast time of 14.111 seconds and VanderWeerd, Sheridan, and Atascadero's Greg Porte captured 8-lap heat races.

Is there a top ten or complete list posted somewhere?

Thanks

"Winged or non-winged its all about 
the sprint cars for me!"
http://mattmusselldesigns.daportfolio.com

Thanks for the report Matt. Richard Vanderweerd may be the hottest young sprint car driver in California. Congratulations to the team.

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

Richard did do a great job. Hope to see you boys at Perris this weekend. Thanks to the track promoter and his outstanding crew. BEST racetrack I have taken a sprinter to this year. Gal in the pits did a great job. Thanks for getting the turn four wall scrapped so it could be seen. With the lack of 410 races, I look forward to returning to SMS a few more times this year. Better money, better track, beats the Hell out of Naylors soup kitchen as it has become the greatest little slop track in America. The man sure loves his water truck and wrecking race cars. Ray

Ray

If you don't like a particular track fine, your choice. Don't go there, simple. However 32 sprints and 15 senior sprints did go for 47 total car count at Ventura. Why would you take a thread about SM and turn it into bashing Ventura (no actually you got personal and bashed Naylor)? Just my humble opinion.

Kevin just doesn't call it like he sees it. Always holding back. LOL

Ray Stansberry, thanks again for bringing the car up to Santa Maria. From a longtime fans perspective it is fantastic to hear the positive response from teams who travel to SMS this year. I look forward to your teams return.

Chris Kearns is going to be a force to reckon with on the entire west coast promoting scene. He understands a "good" pay out structure (not top heavy but rather spread throughout) and he makes sure the "customer" or otherwise known as "race teams" are taken care of. He provides a festive and comfortable atmosphere for the fans and most importantly... track prep...we have had the best track prep at SMS since the days of old with Doug Fort.

The racers from Ventura will really enjoy it when they come up for the grand slam. I cant wait to have all that combined talent battling it out on the fast 1/3 mile. Oh yeah, Ventura guys when you come up... if you can, take off those silent 180 degree mufflers... it makes it a treat in the stands. :-)

"Winged or non-winged its all about 
the sprint cars for me!"
http://mattmusselldesigns.daportfolio.com

Did I miss something? Did Kevin post something and then delete it?

"Winged or non-winged its all about 
the sprint cars for me!"
http://mattmusselldesigns.daportfolio.com

I did post something and then figured I should deit it just a little bit so,.. here is the edited version

A little water for a heat race or two, A little rough a few weeks ago BUT remember EVERY race has a winner. AKA one driver that figured it out. And then you have drivers that spin out all by them selves, While leading,... TWICE!!! in just a few laps. Then you have a couple drivers that start up front and go to the back,..If it makes them/you feel better about them/your selves to blame the race track,.. or a particular tire,..knock your self out BUT remember,.. EVERYONE was on the same track. The truth is that Ventura has spoiled most everyone that runs there. Ive been all over the country and seen racetracks that on their best night are nowhere near as nice as Ventura on a bad night. Personally,.. I little bit differant track each week makes for better racing.

You are so right Kevin. I miss USAC/CRA racing Ventura. I just hope we can make it up there before the end of the season.

Everyone is racing on the same track and usually the winner has everything right on; right tire, right shocks and right set-up.

Have a great one and I hope to see you race soon.

June

RIP Chet and Mark.  You might be gone but never will 
be forgotten.

What are everyone else's opinions on the number of sanctions Chris is running and the time it takes to run them all? And is this pretty much the way the Forts ran the place?

We're usually there from six-ish to after eleven to get everything in. The fans don't seem to mind; most hang around 'til the bitter... But this is =farm= country, and a lot of the people in the stands, as well as in the pits, get up at 3:30 a.m. Just wondered.

"Winged or non-winged its all about 
the sprint cars for me!"
http://mattmusselldesigns.daportfolio.com

The dirt needs clay to hold the moisture. Next time you see Jim ask him to haul in loads of real clay.

Track configuration+clay =track holds up!

track configuration+dirt=slop turning to dry slick for every race

Pit guy, I appreciate your response and your opinion, but I think perhaps you have taken something from my post that was not intended. The entire purpose of my post was merely a response to ray Stansberry's post that took a Santa Maria thread and tried to turn it into a BASH Ventura thread. "but they do not show up because Jim is such a great promoter who spoils them week in and week out!!!!!!" No where in my post did I proclaim that Jim is, was or may become,.. as you say "such a great promoter" I was only referring to the race track being smooth and racy for the sprint cars. (as the person complaining is a sprint car guy) Trust me, I appreciate the frustrations that the support classes feel. Typically the 1st sprint car heat and the sprint semi are run on a WET race track. But I ask you this,.. if 8 cars start a Modified heat on a WET racetrack and the guy that started 6th wins the race but the guy on the pole spun out, HOW can the guy that spun out blame the race track? I can also tell you that the only time that main events are shortened is after multiple yellows, with cars that mysteriously start and drive way the INSTANT that the yellow flag is displayed. As for your questions,..."How often do you see these divisions getting 9, 12, 14, 15 lap mains???? How often do you see them getting more than 12-15 minutes to run there mains??? (how many times have the sprint cars completed there main in 12-15 minutes or less!!) How often have they pleaded with the track officials to get better tracks to run on or a few more minutes to run their mains?" I do not know where I could find that kind of information. To the best of my knowledge it only happens a few times a year that a division has its main shortened, Keep in mind there is a curfew at Ventura, and if it typically takes an hour to run the Sr. and pro sprint main and the dwarfs are on their 5th or 6th yellow and its nine o’clock,.. WELL,...You gotta do what you gotta do.

Sorry Kevin- I thought your statement that Ventura has spoiled most everyone that has raced there, implied that you thought Jim was a great promotor, my apologies...I know when a promotor does spoil the drivers who put on his show and the fans by giving the drivers a track where they can put on a great show, he would generally be viewed as a great promotor- something that it seems that Chris Kearns is trying like heck to do. And for the record, at Ventura the IMCA mods have had laps cut 5 of 12 times, Sr Dwarfs 4 of 8 times, pro dwarfs 5 of 10 times, and sport compacts 4 of 8 times in 2009 thus far (information courtesy of VRAFan.com). I cannot recall this happening at any other race tracks I has visited in my life, except under truly extraordinary circumstances. Remember, if it was not for the cars in these support divisions, Ventura Raceway would not be a profitable venture, and would most probably have been a footnote in the history books by now.

I love sprint car only shows, or minimally one or two support divisions, but unless someone comes along to foot the bill and sponsor to pay the sprint car purse (as well as the weekly upkeep for the track), we are stuck with these 6-7 division per week shows. And if no respect is paid to the support division drivers who faithfully show up hoping they might get all of their laps this week, they will slowly start to get fed up and start leaving, and it will be a crying shame.

Ray may not have used the most PC way to show how much he appreciated what Chris Kearns did last week, but he was not that far off base with his description of what Ventura Raceway has become. Cory proved that the messed up clay there can still hold water, if it is run in right at the start of the night, we wont have to see the grater or water truck as often as we do- kind of like how it was in the late 90's and early 2000's