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Tony Jones, Brody Roa and Jake Swanson
Lakewood, CA. – Open wheel race car drivers Tony Jones, Brody Roa and Jake Swanson will be involved in another sport this weekend in an event designed to raise money for a very important cause. All three drivers are entered in the fifth annual Zanzabuku Charity Golf Tournament that will benefit the Susan G. Komen Program for the Cure and its Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. The charity event is scheduled for Saturday, April 24 at the Little Recreation Golf Course in Long Beach. Like most families all three drivers have been affected in one way or another by this dreaded disease.
Tony Jones finished fourth at Perris Auto Speedway in his last race on April 10, earning the hard-charger award after starting 18th in the Saturday night main event. He missed out on a podium finish as Matt Mitchell slipped past him on the white flag lap. Jones had the Perris fans on the edge of their seats as he made a hard run to the front. After missing the first three USAC/CRA races in Arizona and Las Vegas due to a lack of racing funds, Jones and the Mark Alexander, Silver Bullet #4 opened their season at the PAS with some hard luck finishing 24th in the Sokola Shootout on February 28. The team bounced back at Perris on March 27, with a fifth place finish in the main event. The next USAC/CRA race is set for May 29, when Perris Auto Speedway presents its annual "Salute to Indy" race. There has been talk of the team putting together a 360 engine to take advantage of several open dates on the early USAC/CRA schedule.
Joining Tony Jones for this weekend's golf tournament will be long-time sponsors John Gardner (La Villa Mexican Restaurant) and Scotty Stallmo of Stallmo Trucking. The fourth in the Jones group is crew member Richie Stevens.
Brody Roa, the 2009 California Ford Focus Dirt Car Champion, began campaigning a sprint car at Ventura Raceway at the start of the racing season and has impressed several of the veteran drivers who compete at the seaside track. Brody's father Brett, a former sprint car driver back in the days of Ascot, has been his son's biggest supporter this year as they purchased a new sprint car chassis and put it together to compete with the VRA. Brody is a student at Cypress College and last weekend ended up flipping following a late yellow flag at Ventura. That has not deterred the young driver as he is in the running for Rookie of the Year honors with this very competitive sprint car organization. Brody is a hard charging driver with a bright future in California sprint car racing.
Both Brody and Brett will be playing golf with their sister and daughter Mallory as well as Brett's brother Bernard this Saturday, at the Little Recreation Golf Course in Long Beach.
Anaheim's Jake Swanson just celebrated his 17th birthday on April 21, and the young driver is now in his rookie year with the USAC Western States Midget Series following a few races with the midgets last season. Jake also competed in the Ford Focus Midgets in 2009 and late last year Swanson Motorsports signed a partnership agreement with Honda Performance Development, Inc. (HPD). HPD is Honda's racing company within North America and is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. That has resulted in a new, more powerful Honda engine that the midget race team debuted in Bakersfield April 17. Jake already this year has competed with the stars of the National USAC Midget series in Arizona in addition to west coast races at Perris, Ventura and Bakersfield. He is an honor roll student at Cypress High School and has a well planned career in open wheel racing. Like his good friend Brody Roa, Jake's father Chris plays an important role in his racing career.
Joining Jake and his father Chris this Saturday for the Susan G. Komen Program for the Cure golf tournament will be his grandfather Chuck Swanson and cousin Danny Swanson.
Jones and the Alexander Race Team as well as the race teams of Brody Roa and Jake Swanson are sponsored by the Zanzabuku Sports Lounge.
Following the tournament more than 100 golfers will gather at the Zanzabuku Sports Lounge to help raise money for this very important Breast Cancer Awareness program. A 40 inch, flat screen, color television will be auctioned off during a raffle that will follow an outdoor barbeque at the Lakewood bar. In addition several other raffle prizes will be given away in a ceremony that will recognize the day's best golfers. Each golfer will receive a commemorate hat and several other gift items in each of their individual golf packages in appreciation for their call to action. In addition Perris Auto Speedway has generously donated two free tickets for each golfer to their race on June 12, which features the USAC/CRA sprint cars and California Lightening Sprints. Several other Perris ticket packages will be raffled off during the afternoon.
Brody Roa will have his #91 Sprint Car on display outside of the bar to add to the day's festivities. Prior to the award ceremonies the bar will feature racing videos provided by Jeff Kristensen's Raceway Video that will provide some exciting entertainment for the golfers in the early part of the afternoon.
The Zanzabuku Sports Lounge is located at 4825 Paramount Blvd. in Lakewood, CA.
"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza" -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS
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