|
RACING SCENE Column – (PAS Oval Nationals) – By Tim Kennedy
Los Angeles, CA. - The 18th annual Budweiser Oval Nationals presented by All Coast Construction ran three nights at Perris Auto Speedway from Thursday, October 31 through Saturday, November 2. Thursday was the first all 360-powered Oval Nationals sprint car competition billed as “The Grudge Series”. It matched drivers from two USAC-sanctioned 360 series—the Southwest Series and the West Coast Series in race three of three. It paid $2,500 to win and $300 to start the 30-lap feature. A strong 360 cu. in. field of 35 competed with 25 Californians, joined by eight Arizonans and two drivers from Indiana. One Hoosier was in a California car and the other drove a car from Arizona.
Although Thursday's crowd count was disappointing, competition was hot on a 70 degree evening. PAS had not used time trials for prior 360 events, so a new track record was assured. Four drivers set a NTR six times. Arizonan Charles Davis, Jr., the 15th qualifier, locked up the NTR of 16.739. Officials wisely expedited racing with qualifying from 6:19-6:44 pm. Four competitive heat races ran from 7:11-7:35 with the top four finishers in each heat moving to the A-main. A six-lap trophy dash at 7:50 for the eight fastest qualifiers who qualified for the main in their heats used a fully inverted lineup. The 11th and ninth quickest qualifiers were in the front row after three of the fastest eight did not make the dash. The dash finishing order became P 1-8 in the feature. Richard Vander Weerd led every lap and set a NTR of 1:46.46. He received a $100 bill.
Two 10-lap B mains sent the top three finishers in each B to the feature. Jon Stanbrough set the new 10-lap mark of 2:56.95. Don Gansen won the second B by 8:11 pm. The 22-car A-main started at 8:40 and concluded at 9:02 pm after three caution flags. It was very competitive with three race leaders and four lead changes. The 22 drivers in the feature state of residence was California-15, Arizona-five and Indiana-two. Bob Baker, National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Executive Director, was present following the NSCHoF board meeting in Perris. Infield announcer Chris Holt interviewed him over the pit microphone.
Richard Vander Weerd led the first four laps from the pole. Third starter Mike Spencer, in Mark Priestley's No. 7, led laps 5-19 and 28-30. Eighth starter Bryan Clauson led laps 20-27 and was a close second on lap 30. Then he jumped the third turn cushion and stopped at the crash-wall as the starter was waving two checkered flags. Matt Mitchell, from 12th, had a solid run to P. 2 and Ryan Bernal finished third after starting fourth. Brody Roa was the hard charger for his impressive drive from 21st to fourth in his two year old Maxim. Stanbrough, R. J. Johnson, Troy Rutherford, Vander Weerd and his twin brother Jace were P. 8-9. Mike Martin placed tenth in his team car to Clauson's ride. Dennis Howell was 11th as the last lead lap driver. Clauson, Tom Hendricks, Bob Ream, Jr and Gansen were down a lap; seven drivers were non-finishers.
PODIUM QUOTES: Winner Spencer said his dad gave him hand signals from the third turn infield so he changed his line. He added, “The bottom had moisture and you could slide it across there. Mitchell got alongside me and I had to do something different or I'd have finished third. I don't know what happened to Bryan. He's a good racer.” Runner-up Mitchell said, “I never had a 360 in my 37 car before. I thought I had a chance for the win.” P. 3 Bernal told the crowd, “It got crazy at the end of the race. Guys were throwing sliders. All three guys up front drove really good races. Thanks to Mike from All Coast Construction for putting up more money. I used a borrowed motor and it was one of my better races here.”
Shon Deskins, Davis and Spencer entered the race ranked 1-2-3 in Grudge Series points. Non-finishes by Deskins and Davis dropped them in points. Spencer won the second annual Grudge Series (CA vs AZ) championship with 170 points to 146 by R. J. Johnson , 138-Deskins, and 137-Davis. Ryan Bernal won the first Grudge title in 2012. It was a $15,000 point fund series this year. Persons who witnessed Thursday's 360 Oval Nationals hope it will become an annual race during the PAS Oval Nationals weekend.
The 410 Oval Nationals on November 1-2 purse topped $73,000. It paid $700 to start and $15,000 to win the 40-lap feature Saturday. The event was the final 2013 point race for the USAC National and USAC-CRA regional series. After Friday racing concluded Bryan Clauson clinched the USAC National title for the second consecutive year. Damion Gardner earned the USAC-CRA driving crown that he also won in 2005. Clauson won by 63 points and Gardner had 133 points on 2008-12 champion Spencer. Friday's 30-lap A-main paid $5,000 to dominant winner Nic Faas in Mark Alexander's No. 4. Fans raved about the 2013 Oval Nationals format that awarded event points to the top ten qualifiers (descending from 10 to 1), heat races (16-14-12-10), C, B and A mains. Feature points were 125-122-119-116, etc. down to 70 for P. 24.
FRIDAY: An impressive field of 53 drivers, from seven states, competed November 1. California led with 33 drivers. Indiana sent 11, Arizona five; one each came from NC, NV, OK and PA. Qualifying (49 of the 53 cars) lasted from 6:08-6:43. Six drivers qualified faster on lap one and 43 drivers ran faster on their second lap. There were seven 360-powered cars in the 53 car field; they competed for All Coast Construction bonus money for the highest finishing 360 cars Friday and Saturday. Friday's top four in 360s were: Jake Swanson, Landon Hurst, Trent Williams and Aaron Stone. Saturday's top four were J. Swanson, T. Williams, Stone and Arizonan Bruce St. James. When interviewed by infield announcer Holt, St. James said he is a Monday-Friday 9 am to 12 noon news radio talk show host on KTAR-(92.3fm) in Phoenix. He said he plugs racing on his show. He added that he is not mechanically inclined, but his former racing driver girl friend Jessica is great at working on his sprint car.
Racing started at 7:35 with the C-main for 41st and slower qualifiers. The top four advanced to the back of the B-main. Five eight-car 10-lap heat races inverted the first three rows. Winners started from positions 2-5-6-2-6. Guessing the four transferees to Friday's heats to the A-main was difficult. I successfully picked 3-3-3-4-2 for 75%. Indianans Windom, Stockon, Clauson and Ballou and Cali's Faas won passing-filled heats. All five heats had winning times from 2:53 to 2:57. Wind whipped flags straight out at the scoreboard outside turn two and dried out the track by feature time. Jake Swanson, from Anaheim, sub-drove John Springstead's No. 14 and had the fastest qualifying time (27th overall) with a 360 engine. Irony: Springstead's other car, No. 14J, was raced by legend car and midget veteran Cody Swanson, of Norco. They are not related.
CLS winged sprints (motorcycle engines) on Friday had 20 cars present, including three from the San Joaquin Valley. Guy Maresch and teen Kevin Michnowicz won a pair of 6-lap heats. PAS Senior Sprints for drivers 45+ use 360 engines and had a season-high 17 cars. One driver came from Florida. Toby Sampson had fun in his old No. 82 John Boy-built chassis with an old cast-iron engine from a modified. Ed Schwarz and Bruce Douglass won 8-lap heats after starting fourth and seventh.... The 410 B-main started 24 cars with the top four finishers advancing to the 30-lap A. Brody Roa started 11th and charged in his 2013 Maxim (a 410) impressively to third place with 18 cars racing at the finish.
A 20-lap Senior Sprint main started 14 cars and was a fan-pleasing run for two title contenders. Rick Hendrix, 60, led the first 17 laps from pole. Ventura's B. Douglass started fifth and took P. 2 at lap 8. He pursued high-running Hendrix on the inside. On lap 18 Douglass shot to the inside at the starting line and took command. He led by only five yards starting the final lap. Hendrix looped 360 degrees low, kicked up dust and finished second, a straightaway back. Hendrix returned Saturday with an 18-point lead and won his first PAS Seniors championship to go along with his prior USAC TQ Midget and USAC Western Midget championships. Douglass was the 2012 PAS Seniors champ and Bill Badger won the inaugural PAS Seniors title in 2011.
SENIOR QUOTES: The top three stopped for PA interviews. Winner Douglass said, “It was a great race. I love racing with Rick. It was a great track. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.” Hendrix stated, “I'll try to win it tomorrow.” Third place Schwarz, a little fatigued, said, “It was a battle out there. I have to go home and get some sleep before racing again tomorrow.”
Friday's 26-car, 30-lap A-feature had two provisional starters—newlywed Cody Williams and Arizona champ R. J. Johnson in row 13. Ronnie Gardner was P. 5 in the B-main and the A first alternate. He started 24th in the A when Ryan Bernal's No. 56 Mike Phulps P. 4 heat race car had a major problem that ended its weekend. Bernal drove his old No. 73x Ford ride Saturday. The A-feature started at 10:34 with no wind and had two yellows and one red flag. On lap 5 a nasty-looking crash at the end of the front straight near section C caused a red. David Cardey and Austin Williams tangled and flipped simultaneously. Rip Williams spun his car and backed hard into the back of his son's John Jory upright team car. Cardey crawled from his overturned car onto the clay. Three other drivers, including Stanbrough and Nick Drake, also stopped. At the green, Faas again opened a 40-yard lead that he maintained to the 11:02 pm finish. It was still 55-degrees. Chase Stockon finished second on his second trip to Perris. Brady Bacon, Clauson, Spencer, D. Gardner, Dave Darland, Matt Mitchell, Tracy Hines and Justin Grant completed the top ten. Sixteen of 22 finishers completed 30 laps and six drivers logged 29 laps.
TOP THREE: Faas won his fourth PAS feature of 2013 and captured four of the last seven sprint features. He thanked his Alexander racing team and mentioned his mishap a week earlier in the Canyon Speedway, Peoria, AZ event. “I got the lead early and paced myself through lapped traffic. I caught Ronnie Gardner and apologize for contact. I'd rather run second tonight and win tomorrow.” P. 2 Stockon stated: “Second place running the cushion reminds me of a track back home. I'll try to improve tomorrow night.” P. 3 Bacon also ran the cushion in the No. 69 Hoffman Triple X/Stanton Mopar. “I couldn't take many chances before racing tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be back up here tomorrow night.”
The CLS 20-lap main event, which started at 11:13 and finished at 11:32, had five caution flags. Only a few hundred spectators from an earlier crowd of 2,000+ remained in the grandstand to watch the CLS main. Kevin Michnowicz won with Kawasaki-power over point leader Steve Limon. Ex-sprint car driver Alex Grigoreas was third. Michnowicz had to be pushed around to the finish line on his post-checkered flag lap. “My car got really hot so I stopped it,” he told spectators. Asked why he has not raced much this season, the teen said, “I've been busy with my friends. Dad will drive tomorrow.” Runner-up Limon clinched the 2013 CLS driving championship. Third finisher Grigoreas said his No. 84, which ran second from lap 4-19, had a broken gear during the final eight laps and he nursed it home.
FIRST-TIMERS: Drivers racing for the first time in the PAS Oval Nationals included:
> Tyler Courtney, 19, has raced six years and moved from midgets to USAC Sprints this year. He ranked ninth in USAC National points and eighth in owner points with his No. 23c. Nick Drake was the second-ranked rookie at 13th. Courtney, a blond driver from Indianapolis, has a pair of USAC Sprint P. 2 finishes (Ocala, FL and at Putnamville, IN—a track his grandparents owned from 1980-96). He also scored a third at West Memphis and a ninth with USAC at Peoria, AZ on Friday, October 25. He said he liked PAS and compared it to Kokomo Speedway near Indy.
> Trent Williams, a 16-year old from Victorville, raced a brand new No. 52 Victory chassis that debuted at the Oval Nationals. His dad Ron owns it and his younger brother helps. Trent raced a rented Victory chassis earlier this season with URA at the Route 66 and OSS tracks.
> Nick Drake, 17, is the son of open-wheel drivers Jay Drake and CLS vet Denise Szymczak. He drives for his step father, former SCRA 410 sprint car veteran Troy Cline, and Haas CNC sponsors Cline's No. 55.
> Landon Hurst, 24, lives in Riverdale (near Hanford) and raced his No. 179 John Hurst (dad)-owned 2012 Maxim this season. It is 360-powered and sponsored by Kings River Commodities. Landon has raced micros a couple of years and is a Polaris ATV factory driver at races all over California, including Glen Helen, Temecula and Victorville in So Cal. Why No. 179 on his sprinter? “That's my ATV number,” Hurst replied. He said he loves the PAS track because it's fast. He qualified 29th fastest of 49 cars Friday and beat more than a dozen 410s. He started heat five on the pole, ran in the top four to lap 3 and finished fifth, ahead of two 410-powered cars.
The No. 21B sprinter has been raced this season at Hanford, Tulare, Watsonville and Santa Maria by Dylan Black, who remained at home to work. It is owned by Heath Duinkerken of Duinkerken Farms in Layton, CA. He owns 1,000 acres of walnuts and almonds on the Kings River. It was their first trip to PAS and they hired 19-year old Wes McIntyre, from Indiana. Wes made his PAS debut at the 2012 Oval Nationals driving the orange No. 5 Baldwin Brothers car from the Midwest.
SATURDAY FINALE: With six drivers locked into the feature by Oval National points Friday, 45 drivers re-qualified for four 10-lap heat races Saturday. Hines set fast time of 16.482, 0.356 slower than Darland's quick time Friday. Heat winners were: R. Vander Weerd, Stanbrough, D. Gardner and 360-powered Jake Swanson, sub-driving for ill J. J. Ercse, an engine builder for TRD in Costa Mesa. The “Super 6 Dash” for the six locked-in feature drivers made one think the winner of Saturday's 40-lap feature would come from that group and it did. Dash winner Spencer, P. 2 Darland and P. 3 Clauson finished in the top three A-main positions.
Second starter Darland, in the No. 71P DRC/Foxco owned by working class husband and wife Steve and Carla Phillips, led all 40 laps. The Phillips duo won their first USAC main event in May 2013 and now have seven triumphs with Darland driving. It was USAC Sprint feature victory 47 for 47-year old Darland. He now ranks second only to 74-year old Tom Bigelow, a 52-time USAC Sprint feature winner. Fast-closing Clauson was a length back (0.106) and Spencer third. They earned $15,000, $5,000 and $3,000 from the $44,000 A-main purse. Top six starters Stockon and Bacon rounded out the top five before a much larger crowd than Friday. Fans who attended only Saturday missed the best pure sprint car racing of the Oval Nationals on Thursday and Friday nights when passing was king.
Wheelchair-bound super-fan Shawn McDonald was grand marshal. Retired driver Tony Jones took memorial laps in his old ride (Alexander No. 4) to honor the late Ray Scheetz, a former PAS employee and long-time sprint car chief mechanic for major teams. He passed away at 75 on October 7. USAC 2013 sprint car champions Ryan Bernal (Western Classic Sprints) and Danny Faria, Jr. (West Coast Sprints) were honored. Bernal won by 50 points and Faria by 27. USAC 410 champions Clauson and D. Gardner were recognized as well. Pit announcer Ronnie Everhart interviewed David Cardey about his retirement from driving sprint cars after the Oval Nationals.
Generous open-wheel sponsor “Big Mike” Grosswendt, the towering 6'8”sprint car and midget fan, deserves special mention. He has backed Ventura Raceway and the USAC versus VRA Midget “Roar by the Shore Series” at Ventura for years. This year for the PAS Oval Nationals his All Coast Construction awarded many thousands of dollars in purse and cash bonus awards. Recipients were 410 sprint jockeys, 360 teams, CLS and Senior Sprint drivers. His repeated largesse deserves nomination and induction into the hall of fame at the NSCHoF in Knoxville, IA in the sponsor category. ... Fastest qualifiers Friday and Saturday (Darland and Hines) each received $600 in honor of Billy Wilkerson, the late CRA 1967 and 1970 champion and NSCHoF inductee. The Wilkerson family and Dick Woodland auto display in Paso Robles were behind the award.
SUPPORT MAINS: Prior to the 410 feature, Rick Hendrix won the 360 Senior Sprint 20-lap main and with it the 2013 PAS Seniors championship. It was the third season for the PAS all-360s series that keeps growing in car counts and close competition. Rick and his wife Yumi are popular with other competitors. ... Doug Nunes, from Kingsburg, won the CLS 20-lap main, run after the 410 Oval Nationals A-main ended shortly before 11 pm. Steve Limon won his first CLS championship by 83 points over Dan Hillberg, who also was seeking his initial CLS title. In 20 years of CLS racing, 17 drivers have won the CLS driving championship. Six champs—Tony Everhart, Greg Bragg, D. Cardey, Johnny Bates and Don Gansen—later raced sprint cars. Bobby Michnowicz, 49, raced CRA sprinters prior to coming out of retirement to race with CLS. Jon and Chris Rahe moved on to race midgets. CLS has a non-point race November 16 at the Imperial County Fairgrounds near El Centro.
Jay Agajanian was interviewed over the PA about the upcoming 73rd running of the USAC Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix on Thanksgiving, November 28. Ron “Sleepy” Tripp, a past USAC Midget National and Western Series multi-champion, will be the TNGP grand marshal. Track announcer Scott Daloisio informed fans past TNGP winners have been invited to attend the second consecutive TNGP at PAS. Rick Goudy, Chuck Gurney, Kevin Olson, 8-time winner Ron Shuman, and Jordan Hermansader accepted invitations. Possibly Parnelli Jones, Billy Boat, Jay Drake, Tony Simon and others will attend. There will be an open practice night Wednesday, November 27.
|
