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RACING SCENE Column - (Perris TNGP Notes) – By Tim Kennedy
Los Angeles, CA.- On Wednesday, November 27 from 5:00-9:00 pm 44 USAC Midgets practiced for the 73rd Turkey Night Grand Prix the next day. At 7:15 pm Randi Pankratz (No. 8 EdmundsAutoresearch/Fontana) caught the third turn cushion and flipped five to seven times onto the embankment. She emerged uninjured. Her dad Wally said the bent frame (four or five inches) and other damage made it “an $8,000 crash” and eliminated the car from Thursday racing. Randi, 43, borrowed the 2005 Stealth/Honda from the No. 05 Van Dyne/Swanson team. She raced it as No. 8 and used a provisional berth to start 33rd in the 98-lap feature. She parked in the pits on lap 2 for 33rd position.
Another practice night crash at 8:10 involved Kyle Smith, 22, from Moorpark. He backed his No. 22K Agromin Soil 2000 Stealth/Chevy into the first turn wall and broke the rear end. His crew worked on repairs until the track closed shortly after 9 pm and raced Thursday. Kyle, the 2012 VRA 360 sprint car champion, and his dad Mike entered the ex-Bill Camarillo midget. Bill's racer sons, Brian and Brent, have retired from racing for business and to start families. Kyle's sister Courtney is engaged to ex-VRA midget/360 sprint car driver Brian Camarillo.
Wednesday practice times at half-hour intervals were posted by USAC. By 6:30 29 cars had practiced with Caleb Armstrong (7C) fastest at 17.044 on his 12th lap. At 7:00 24 cars had run and Rico Abreu was quickest at 16.796 on lap 12. That lap was well-under the official one-lap TR of 17.025 set last Thanksgiving by Darren Hagen. The new official track record set in Thursday qualifying was “only” 16.889. At 7:30 23 cars had run and Bryan Clauson (39) had the fastest lap of 16.901 on lap 14. At 8:00 Christopher Bell (71) had the fastest lap in the prior half hour with 16.996 on lap 7. At 8:30 Cody Swanson (71S) had the best lap of 17.395 on his third lap. In the final posting at 9:00, 23 cars posted times and Hagen's 17.360 was quickest. Abreu (No. 67K) won the second qualifying race Thursday by a straightaway. He ran a sub-track record lap of 16.774 near the end of the 12-lap race.
TNGP 2013 DRIVERS by STATES: The 48 drivers represented 13 states as follows: 27-Calif., 7-Ind., 3-Okla., 2-Ill., and one each from Alab., Ariz., Kan., Mich, MO., N.Car., Nev., OH,, and Tenn. ..... TNGP CHASSIS: The 48 midgets represented 12 different chassis manufacturers as follows: 24 Spike, 5 each Beast and Stealth, 3 Bullet, 2 each EdmundsAutoresearch, Ellis and TCR, and one each Breka from New Zealand, DRC, Eagle, Stewart and Triple X. ..... TNGP ENGINES: The 48 engines were:18 Esslinger, 7 Fontana, 5 Van Dyne, 4 Chevy, 3 each Stanton Toyota and Speedway Toyota, 2 each Honda and Toyota, and one each Brayton Ford, Pro Flyer, Stanton SR 11 Mopar, and Ed Pink Toyota.
Nine of the top ten in both USAC Honda National Midget and Western Midget points raced in the 2013 TNGP. Eighteen of the National Midget Driver of the Year top 30 drivers in 2013 points (kept by Bryan Gapinski, of Wisconsin) raced in the 73rd TNGP. Bryan tracks all midget racing associations nationally and awards points based on the purse/historical significance and car count at events. Top point events include the Tulsa Chili Bowl, Night Before the 500, Pepsi Nationals at Sun Prairie, Wisc., Hut 100, Belleville (Kan.) Nationals and TNGP. This year 504 drivers scored points after 189 races (up from 184 in 2012).
Christopher Bell, of Norman, Okla,, won the NMDotY 2013 championship in his first attempt. The 18-year old rising star scored 1508 points in 40 races with ten feature victories. P. 2 Zach Daum had 1260 points in 44 races with eight victories. Bell also won the USAC National Midget championship with 1101 points to 984 for runner-up Bryan Clauson. Ronnie Gardner was the highest western driver in NMDotY points--P. 9 with 692 points in 29 races with 13 feature triumphs. Gardner, 25, won the USAC Honda Western Midget Championship for the first time by 326 points (1233-907) over Jake Swanson.
PROGRAM: The 26-page TNGP color program by Program Guys (Harold Osmer & Neil Nissing) was another winner. It had an artsy depiction of 2012 TNGP winner Kyle Larson's No. 71 Bullet/Toyota on the cover. Slick paper pages used color racing photos and ads on nearly every page. It had tributes to the late Jason Leffler and championship engine manufacturer Dwaine Esslinger, who died in his sleep on 8/2/13 at age 79. A full page carried questions/answers with TNGP Grand Marshal Ron “Sleepy” Tripp, 60. Sleepy, a 161-time USAC feature winner and USAC National/Western Midget multiple champion, missed the 2012 TNGP after being hospitalized following his serious highway motorcycle crash. Parnelli Jones (1963 Indy 500 winner) should be the 2014 TNGP Grand Marshal on the 50th anniversary of his first TNGP victory in 1964 at Ascot.
Sleepy never won a TNGP but finished second twice at Ascot—in 1978 to Rick Goudy and in 1987 to Ron Shuman. Arizonan Shuman won a record eight TNGP races at two tracks—Ascot (six) and Bakersfield (two). Other second place drivers to Shuman were: Steve Lotshaw (1979), Bob East (1980), Kevin Olson (1981), Jeff Heywood (1982), RichVogler (1984), Tony Elliott (1992) and Robby Flock (1993). Only Olson from those runners-up ever won a TNGP (in 1983).
The annual TNGP $5.00 printed program lists the top five feature finishers in P 1-5 order for each race from 1934 to present. The 2013 Perris 98-lap top five will show Dave Darland, Brad Sweet, Caleb Armstrong, Zach Daum and Ronnie Gardner, in only his second TNGP. It will be the first top five TNGP listings for Sweet, Daum and Gardner. Darland has a pair of firsts (2007 & 2013), a third (1999) and a fourth (1998). Armstrong has a “Lawrence Welk” triple-a one (2011),a two (2010) and a three (2013).
CAR COUNTS: The official TNGP car count at PAS was 59 last year and 48 this year. Missing cars this year were the three car Cory Kruseman team, Allen cars (Chad Boat and Josh Pelkey), Calvin Martens team (Casey Shuman and Troy Rutherford), two cars for Mike Sala, Neverlift and for Bill Ecker teams, midwestern cars—Wilke 11 (Brady Bacon), Dooling 63 (Jerry Coons, Jr.), Davey Ray 33, a second Don Fike No. 3, Levi Roberts No. 2, and single cars Andy Bondio 47, Evan Margeson 50, Robby Josett 02, Dennis Howell's Watt 81, Voitel 21, and Rick Shuman 22AZ. New entrants not present last year helped augment the 2013 field.
During the many pre/post-race minutes, interviewees included: 2013 midget champs Bell and Gardner,TV's and Racer.com writer Robin Miller, S. Tripp, Page Jones, Cary and Jay Agajanian, past TNGP winners and numerous 2013 drivers. ... TQ driver West Evans, past TNGP runner-up Aaron Fike, and USAC-CRA 410 driver Rip Williams attended. Courtney Crone, 12-year old junior speedway bike and Ford Focus midget racer at Ventura and San Bernardino this year, was pit-side with her dad Jack.... Videographers Dean Mills and Jeff Kristensen recorded events for posterity.
FORMAT: TNGP promoters should address the complaints of fans about the traditional TNGP format. PAS had only three TNGP races for the last two years and long delays between races. The first 2013 qualifier started at 7:20 and the second qualifier ended at 8:00. The feature started at 9:14 and ended at 10:24. That was 74 minutes between races to watch a 98-lap race that took 70 minutes. Fans grumbled about that in person and on Internet websites. Irwindale had Ford Focus Midgets and 360 sprint races at each TNGP so the lack of full midget races was not noticeable. There is nothing sacred about the fastest 14 drivers in midget qualifying going directly to the feature. TNGP qualifiers 15 and slower go into two 12-lap qualifying races from which the first eight finishers in each advance to the feature in rows eight through 15. It is time to have ALL qualifiers race their way into the feature via four or five heat races. A four car inverted starting lineup would give quickest qualifiers a solid chance to race their way into the feature and retain their qualifying times for feature starting positions. Drivers finishing fifth back could still race into the feature through one or two B-mains depending upon total car count. That format would give fans watching in person and on the Internet on Thanksgiving seven or more races.
Ten WRA vintage racing cars (seven midgets and three sprint cars) were on display for arriving fans just inside the main entrance. ... Most competing cars this year were built from 2009-2012. Keith Kunz said his cars are 2012 Bullets and 21-year old Abreu's 67K was the oldest in his four car fleet. The oldest midgets in the field were a 2000 Stealth (No. 55K) and a 2002 Stealth (No. 12 Hendrix).
AGES: The youngest driver at 15 years, six months was Parker Price-Miller, from Kokomo, Ind.; the oldest driver was 2013 PAS 360 Senior Sprints champion Rick Hendrix at 60. The median age of the 48 TNGP drivers this year was 27. Dave Darland, at 47, became the third oldest winner of the 73 races to date. The oldest winner at 50 was Joe Garson in 1958 and the next oldest at 48 was Billy Cantrell in 1962. That was the first TNGP I saw and I haven't missed one since then, making my TNGP run 51 consecutive years. Cary and Jay Agajanian have missed one TNGP each since their dad J. C. promoted his first TNGP in 1955. Other age 40+ TNGP winners were Tony Bettenhausen, 43, in 1959, and Gary Patterson, 41, in 1977. The average age of all TNGP winners since 1934 is 28.
Darland fan Jeff Montgomery arranged for him to race an ARCA stock car for the first time at the 2.5 mile Daytona International Speedway in February 2014. The Chevy is by Bobby Gerhardt (an eight-time ARCA Daytona 200 winner from 1999-2012) and the engine is from Richard Childress Racing. Dave will have a mid-December test session before qualifying begins for the televised February 15 Daytona 200 mile, 80 lap ARCA race. It will be the largest speedway Dave has tackled. By the way, Dave continued the now two-year old tradition of the TNGP winner kissing the bronzed Stetson hat atop the Aggie trophy during PAS victory ceremonies.
REASONS FOR DNF: TNGP 2013 non-finishers and reasons included: Shannon McQueen, blew oil filter O ring and lost all oil so she shut off the engine and pitted to save the engine; Marcham and Meseraull--engine overheating; Bell--blew RR tire-pitted; Price-Miller--dead battery; Clauson and K. Swindell--engine problems; Hagen--ignition; D. Armstrong--bent RR radius rod and pitted several times to repair and then change it. He finished numerous laps down because yellow flag laps counted to lap 75. No drivers changed tires under the lap 78 red flag because teams were warned during the drivers meeting that to do so would cause them to lose a lap. ... Eric Malies, of Rio Linda, Calif., brought Work N' Woody, the famous push vehicle, to push on Thursday. His parents, Art & Carol Malies, of Deming, N.Mex., used it on the WoO circuit for decades.
Bobby East was entered to drive Terry Klatt's No. 4 Beast/Chevy that he raced at Canyon Speedway in Peoria, Ariz. November 14-16. He returned home to Indiana after the November 22-23 races at Cocopaw Speedway near Yuma, Arizona were rained out. He had an intestinal virus and called his dad on Wednesday to see if he should fly west for the TNGP even though he did not feel well. Bob told him to stay home and he got Damion Gardner to drive the No. 4. Damion, who is 36 or 39 depending upon which USAC Yearbook DOB you use, came within four laps of winning his and Klatt's first TNGP. They missed victory only because his LR wheel came off in turn four on lap 95 of 98. Damion returned under non-counting caution laps to finish 12th with 17 cars still racing.
DON BASILE ROOKIE OF RACE: Last year at PAS there were 12 TNGP feature rookie candidates for the Basile award. The 2013 event again had 12 rookie contenders for the award. The 16th annual award honors J. C. Agajanian's right hand man and later owner/promoter at Speedway 117 in Chula Vista. Don's son Bob commissioned the award in 1998 to honor his late father, a National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee. The award comes with $500 cash and a plaque. The annual winner is the highest finishing first time starter in a TNGP main event. This year it appeared at times that Andrew Felker, the lap 1-49 race leader, D. Gardner, or C. Bell would be the Basile Award winner. However, they all experienced problems and the prestigious award went to 17-year old Tanner Thorson, a Keith Kunz team driver.
The 12 eligible TNGP rookie contenders in 2013 (with starting and FINISHING positions in parenthesis) were: Thorson (20-10), D. Gardner (14-12), Tyler Thomas, 17 (19-14), Kevin Thomas, Jr. 22 (29-15), Nick Drake, 17 (10-16), Parker Price-Miller, 15 (1-18), Trey Marcham, 22 (32-20), C. Bell, 18 (11-21), Felker, 21 (2-22), Cody Swanson, 23 (27-26), Scott Pierovich, 25 (17-30), and Randi Pankratz (33-33). Past Basile TNGP Rookie of the Race winners include: Kasey Kahne (1998 inaugural presentation), Dave Steele, a two-time TNGP feature winner, Bobby East, a TNGP winner, owner/driver Jerome Rodela, Kevin Swindell, Kody Swanson, Nic Faas, Aaron Pollock, Ryan Durst, Brad Loyet, Mike Murgoitio, Levi Roberts, Dalton Armstrong, Kyle Larson, and Ryan Bernal, the 2012 winner.
William “Ricky” Shelton, 35, made his first USAC start since 2001 at the 2013 TNGP. He ran two midget races in 2009 at Ventura and Hanford. Why did he leave racing? “I made bad choices in life. I'm getting back into racing to get my life going again,” he told me in the pits. The former Huntington Beach resident was USAC 1995 TQ Midget rookie of the year and TQ 1996 champion, 1997 USAC Western Midget rookie of the year and champion, and third finisher in final 1998 USAC National Midget points when he won six of 28 USAC midget starts. He now lives in Bakersfield and works in sales for Caterpillar.
Shelton's black midget is a 2003 Stealth/Esslinger and former Floyd Alvis BCRA green Interstate Batteries No. 18. Ricky leased it as Full Circle Racing for a year to run 10-15 times in 2014. Co-owner is long-time crew chief Ty Hindman, son of USAC Western timer/scorer Dick Hindman. They used No. 15 for point purposes to help third place 2013 USAC Western points owner/driver David Prickett, who had to sell his racing equipment. David and his wife Brittney are expecting in January 2014 a “blue baby” to be named Davey Jean. Her pre-birth diagnosed heart condition will require major financial expenses. Ricky qualified 26th fastest of 48. A front straight multi-flip during his qualifying race heavily damaged the car. ... The No. 45 Neverlift 2009 Spike/Chevy driver was Terry Nichols, 21, from Delano. He has raced a USAC Western 360 sprint car since 2009. He put “Davey Jean Prickett” on the car visor.
KUNZ TEAM: The three Keith Kunz 2012 Bullet/Toyota midgets were the 2012 cars he built last year. Kyle Larson's 2012 TNGP winning No. 71 sat in reserve next to the team hauler. Bell's 71 ride was the 67 car that Clauson drove and rolled while in P. 2 to Larson in the 2012 TNGP. Bell won six of 20 USAC 2013 National Midget Series features plus four elsewhere. Bell is very informative, polite and even says sir. The 5'10”, 160 pound driver could be called “Young Money II” because he reminds me personality and talent-wise of “Young Money” Larson (current NASCAR phenom who watched the 2013 TNGP from the pits). Bell's PAS debut was competitive all night. He said he liked the track and called the fifth-mile clay Macon, Illinois his favorite speedway. “I'm living my dream right now,” he told me. Next season the high school grad plans to race USAC midgets and sprint cars again plus the No. 21 Silver Crown car. He has raced winged sprint cars three times this year with WoO and plans to race more winged sprint races in 2014.
Chico, Calif. 500cc outlaw karts and 360 sprint car veteran Tanner Thorson is from Minden, Nevada. The home schooled teen raced a Kunz midget (No. 67) because of his friendship with Kunz driver Abreu. Personable Thorson raced in 32 midget features in 2013 without a victory, but he won the National Midget Driver of the Year rookie of the year title by 50-points (581-531) over Parker Price-Miller. Thorson's tenth place in the 2013 TNGP earned him the 16th Don Basile rookie award. He told me he and his family watched the 2012 TNGP from the PAS grandstand. Abreu's No. 67K reportedly lost its brakes, yet he finished eighth and ran all 98 laps. The 4'5” driver from Rutherford in the Napa Valley wine country is the son of the Abreu Vineyards owner.
The three car Keith Ford team used three new drivers at the 2013 TNGP. The 2012 TNGP lineup had R. Bernal in No. 73 (P. 3 in feature), Faas in No. 72 (P. 4 in main) and Aussie Michael Pickens in No. 73x (P. 16 in the feature). This year Kevin Thomas, Jr. drove the No. 72 2012 Spike/Fontana to 15th in the feature. Jac Haudenschild, 55, drove the No. 73x 2011 TCR/Esslinger to 28th (DNF), and Darland drove the No. 73 2011 TCR/Fontana to victory in the 98-lap finale. Darland used a factory-built spec 7 engine that he first used at Canyon Speedway two weeks earlier. Jac said his wife Patti's California family--brother Mike Sweeney and mom Sally Hogle did not make it to Perris. Ford and his partner, former midget driver George Ito, are strawberry/raspberry farmers in Oxnard and Santa Maria. Keith's son Josh, 31, retired from driving midgets and sprint cars two years ago after he married. Josh graduated from CSU Channel Islands in Camarillo with a masters degree in accounting and now is in charge of accounting for his dad's business interests.
TCR was founded by owner/driver Larry Brown in Bakersfield. He sold his midget/sprint car jigs in 2004 to Calvin Martens, who ran two of his TCR midgets in the 2012 TNGP at PAS with drivers Troy Rutherford (No. 11) and Casey Shuman (No. 86). Martens sold the jigs to Glenn Crossno a few years ago. Glenn later sold them to a buyer in New Zealand. Ford team crew chief Jimmy May told me the third place 2012 TNGP midget driven by Bernal was destroyed at the 2013 Tulsa Chili Bowl. He told me the team plans to build a winged 360 sprint car for 2014. The program showed all three midgets as Spike chassis with one Esslinger and two Fontana engines. May told me their team used one Spike (for K. Thomas) and two TCR chassis and one Esslinger and two Fontana engines.
HMIEL TEAM: The No. 56A and 56P 2009 Beast/Esslinger cars of Shane Hmiel are ex-No. 4 Terry Klatt cars. Great Clips, the long-time NASCAR team backer, sponsors both midgets. No. 56 is used as a tribute to late midget driver Alex Pruett. The popular driver died on 9/23/07 in his sleep at age 20 at home in Carefree, Arizona. Alex used No. 56 on his USAC cars. 56A is for Alex and 56P is used for Pruett. Steve Pruett, the father of Alex, is involved with the Hmiel midgets along with Great Clips, a Kahne and Leffler sponsor in NASCAR's Nationwide Series. Stratton drove 56P at PAS after Hagen won the Friday, Nov. 15 USAC feature in it at Arizona's Canyon Speedway. Hagen switched to the 56A car that Leffler drove in the PAS 2012 TNGP.
Duncan Emmons posted a $100 bonus for the leader of lap 4 this year in honor of Leffler, who took the TNGP lead on that lap last year. Early leader Felker received that bonus. Hmiel, 33, is a NASCAR and later USAC open-wheel driver paralyzed when his Silver Crown car bicycled and flipped atop the third turn railing at Terre Haute, Ind. (10/9/10). He spent many months in grueling physical therapy. Shane navigated around the PAS pits in his motorized wheelchair and displayed a sense of humor when talking racing to well-wishers.
Michigan resident Taylor Ferns, 17, was the fourth fastest qualifier in her dad Jim's No. 55 Spike/Gary Stanton SR 11. She will have a new John Godfrey-built wider body Stealth for the January 14-18 2014 Tulsa Chili Bowl. Taylor and Jim, owner of a trucking firm, flew west for the TNGP and flew home Friday. Caleb Armstrong (No. 7C) co-drove the Ferns team hauler from Indiana to Perris and back to the Midwest. Two Armstrong team (7A and & 7C) truck drivers made the 20-24 hour tow in the Armstrong rig. The two teams pit alongside each other and traveled to and from Perris together. They used Interstates 10, 40 and 44 through Oklahoma. Caleb said the 2013 Beast/Stanton Toyota he drove at PAS is the same car he flipped multiple-times in the Belleville Nationals. “We repaired it,” he said. Caleb said his team still owns his 2011 TNGP winning car at Irwindale. “We still race it on paved tracks,” the cordial driver told me.
ROOKIE SENSATION: Kokomo High school sophomore Parker Price-Miller is 15 (DOB 5/22/98) and in his first year of midget racing. Why the hyphenated surname? His mom Kami Price and dad Jeremy Miller were teens when he was born and they never married. His step-father Scott Ronk is his No. 9P midget car owner. Mom Kami, 33, was in the PAS pits, but his dad had to work at home. Parker has years of 600cc mini sprint racing experience. He finished 2013 as the Professional Open Wheel Racing Inc. (POWRi) rookie of the year and second in National Driver of the Year rookie points (to T. Thorson) with one feature triumph in 31 mains. Bernie Steubgen's Indy Racing Parts is his sponsor, as is Magnet Marelli, an Italian firm similar to NAPA in this country. Brady Bacon raced their identical second midget (No. 11c) two weeks earlier in Arizona as No. 99P. Kevin Swindell flew to Perris and drove the 11C Spike/Esslinger as re-numbered 71X.
Zach Daum, from Pocahontas, Ill., won the 2013 POWRi driving championship. He also finished second in both Badger Midget Auto Racing Association and National Midget Driver of the Year driver points. Zach raced Dan Daum's Eagle/Toyota and was the “TNGP Hard Charger” award winner for racing from 15th to fourth. Last year Zach finished ninth in the PAS 98 lap main. Daum's hauler crew towed to PAS in 24 hours and arrived Thursday for the race. Tracy Hines (using the same No. 24 Bob Parker Spike/Toyota he raced at PAS in 2012) also skipped Wednesday practice.
Don Fike's RFMS No. 3 team brought only one DRC/Esslinger for Illini Chris Windom. Last year Hagen and Darland drove the 3 and 3F Fike cars. ... No. 91T Tyler Thomas, of Collinsville, Okla., made his PAS debut as one of four 17-year old drivers. He finished fourth in POWRi final points. The micro midget vet calls his home track Grain Valley Speedway, a third-mile clay oval near Kansas City. His chassis is a Triple X out of Washington state and he used Esslinger power. ... FF Midget vet Jarid Blondel, 17, made his first full midget start at the 2013 TNGP. He raced the ex-Austin Smith EdmundsAR/Fontana now owned by his dad Mike Blondel, of Orange. Jarid qualified 34th fastest of 48 drivers and set 19th fastest time. He started third in the first qualifier, spun on laps 1 and 5 and DNF.
Andrew Felker, from Missouri, finished second in POWRi 2013 points and fourth in NMDotY points. He did not make the TNGP main last year in a 59 car field. He made sure he made the race in 2013 by becoming the first driver to break the year old one-lap track record in time trials. His No. 11A Spike/Fontana was the second fastest overall and secured one of 14 direct transfers to the feature. He led it for the first 49 laps and was second when a flat tire on lap 50 sent him to the work area. ... Brad Sweet, from Grass Valley, California, now races in NASCAR out of Mooresville, N.C. He drove the Willie Kahne midget with Gary Zarounian sponsorship--67Z was Zarounian's USAC number and the Z was for Gary's surname. The Breka chassis is built in New Zealand and the TNGP was the first time it raced locally. Sweet's Factory Kahne TNGP No. 67 in 2012 was a Stealth.
NICK DRAKE: The 17-year old Mooresville, N.C. high school student and Ford Focus midget racing veteran (including at Irwindale's 2011 TNGP) has racing in his blood. The 2013 TNGP was only his third full midget race. His first two outings were at Peoria, Arizona two weeks earlier. His No. 55 Spike/Esslinger has Haas Automation sponsorship from the co-owner of the Stewart-Haas Racing NASCAR team. Nick said his racing goal is NASCAR. His father is Jay Drake, now 44 and a USAC sprint car/midget/Silver Crown and Indy Lights veteran. His mother is the former Denise Sczymczak, a front-running CLS winged mini-sprint driver in the mid-1990s .Her brother Rob Sczymczak (Nick's uncle) was the 1996 CLS champion with many CLS races at PAS that season. Nick's midget car owner is his step-father Troy Cline. Troy is now 44 and a past winner in SCRA 410 sprint cars and a NASCAR K & N West stock car veteran a decade ago. Troy and Denise wed in 1996; Nick has a step-brother and sister now 7 and 6 years of age. Denise was in his pit at PAS for his TNGP debut.
Jerome Rodela said his No. 25 Spike/Toyota is an ex-Gerhardt Western Speed of Fresno car that Nic Faas raced for that team before it disbanded. It is the same car Nic flipped at Calistoga on the 2013 Labor Day weekend. The frame was bent but Jerome “straightened it and replaced broken parts at a total cost of about $3,000.” Nic drove it from 22nd to sixth in the 2013 TNGP feature. ... The 51J Bobby Martin (driver R. J. Johnson) and 51S Pat Fly of Pro Flyer engines (M. Spencer) cars are 2010 Spikes. ... The No. 86 Allen Ennis Spike/Chevy is a 2009 Spike and ex-Brent Camarillo VRA midget. Bakersfield's Chris Ennis, 27, drove it and also races USAC 360 sprinters and was 360 sprint rookie of the year. ... Thomas Mereraull drove BCRA car owner Dave Lamott's Stealth/Bob Wirth Honda that Brody Roa drove at PAS last turkey night.
WESTERN CHAMPS: Mitchell Johnson, 25, is B.S. Mechanical Engineering grad from CSU Northridge. His dad Walt, Jr. raced TQs and midgets and his grandparents, the late Walt, Sr. and now retired Pat Johnson, were USAC Western officials for decades. Mitchell and his driver Ronnie Gardner dominated the 2013 USAC Western Series. They won nine of 29 main events and Gardner won his first driving title by 326 points. Mitchell's No. 68 is so numbered because that was his hockey number. Their 2009 Rick Stewart is one of the last three cars built in Phoenix by Stewart, who died shortly thereafter. Mitchell bought the car two years ago from Arizonan Walt Wadsworth; he recently bought a second 2009 Stewart chassis for use next season.
Engine Builders: R. Gardner works for Esslinger Engineering and midget driver (No. 39K) Kyle Edwards, 18, builds engines for Stewart and Tres Van Dyne. He raced his dad's Ellis/Van Dyne. Driver J. J. Ercse builds Toyota racing engines for TRD in Costa Mesa. ... T. Van Dyne's No. 05 raced by Anaheim's Jake Swanson is a new Spike chassis with a Van Dyne engine. ... Rick Hendrix said his No. 12 is the same 2002 Stealth/Van Dyne he has raced for ten years. ... Jake's first cousin Cody Swanson, 23, drove a 2011 EmundsAR/Van Dyne owned by his dad Kirk. Cody recently married his high school sweetheart Kylie Crawford, an educator, and moved from Norco to Covina.
USAC 360 non-wing sprint car (No. 7T) veteran Taylor Simas, from Chico, raced the Doug Bock No. 62 Spike/Esslinger for ill Britton Bock, who did not travel to PAS. Simas, 23, was in his only 12th midget event and missed the feature. Bock teammate Shane Golobic, 22, from Fremont, also missed the main after finishing fifth aboard the Bock No. 26 in the 2012 TNGP. Shane had a breakout 2013 season in which he won his first WoO 410 winged sprint car feature on April 5 at Antioch Speedway driving the Joe VonSchriltz No. 121. Golobic also did a solid job as a rookie in the three final 2013 NASCAR K & N West stock car features driving Bill McAnally Toyota Camrys. On October 12 at Roseville he drove the No. 20 Camry, started 14th and finished eighth in a 24-car field after 150-laps. At the new Kern County half-mile on October 26 he started 16th in No. 20 and finished 8th with 20 of 28 cars racing at the end of 150 laps. On the Phoenix mile November 9 he was fourth fastest qualifier and drove the No. 16 Camry to 21st in a 50-lap race. He is attracting interest from stock car owners.
Tony Everhart, 59, drove his own Ellis/Brayton Ford No. 55T sponsored by his own El Cajon-based construction firm (retail stores). He started last in the first qualifier and pitted with a magneto problem. Tony also races his own USAC-CRA 410 sprint car and owns a 360 engine as well. ... PFC Joey Fabozzi, of Norco, returned on leave from active duty in the U.S Army infantry to race his No. 84 Spike/Fontana on turkey night at PAS as he did last year. He is stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas and in the middle of a four year enlistment. He again missed the main in his only race of the year.
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