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RACING SCENE Column – (PAS Oval Nationals – Part III) – By Tim Kennedy
Los Angeles, CA. - The 20th annual Perris Auto Speedway Oval Nationals from Thursday-Saturday November 12-14 was well attended and had a strong car count of 410 cu. in. sprinters. Two 360 cu. in. sprint cars participated. PAS fans were able to watch local stars compete against touring USAC national drivers. Separate USAC National Sprint and USAC-CRA sprint car series top three point battles were close for the two series 2015 championships. Both series concluded their point battles with three nights of racing at USA Speedway in Tucson, Arizona from November 19-21.
When the dust settled Robert Ballou won his first national championship with 13 feature triumphs in the 40 completed races. Six USAC National Sprint race dates were lost to rain or cold weather. Damion Gardner won his fourth USAC-CRA driving championship with eight feature triumphs in 26 events. In the midst of our four year western states drought, no USAC-CRA events were lost to rain.
Ballou had his Nor Cal based dad (John) and mom (Cindy) in the PAS pits from Rocklin, CA as usual. Dad John watches Robert race from the roof of his trailer in the pits facing the front straight. Cindy said she is too nervous to watch Robert race so she sits in the cab of his truck facing the front straight. She counts off the laps as he passes the starter each lap. Robert praised his Maxim chassis and his reliable engines built by Don Ott.
The orange No. 5 Baldwin Brothers Racing Maxim/Claxton Mopar team from the Midwest seems to be partial to drivers from California. They have used three Californians in five of the last six Oval Nationals as follows: 2010-Justin Grant (CA), 2011-Chris Windom (IL), 2012-Thomas Meseraull (CA), 2013-Grant again, 2014-Chad Boespflug (CA), and 2015-Grant again. Their car this year is a new 2015 Maxim because their 2014 car was destroyed in a crash earlier this year.
Jon Stanbrough and his wife Melinda towed west to race their light blue and white numeral No. 81 JFK Co. tribute sprinter. He said his next project is building a No. 12$ replica Stanton sprint car that Oklahoma-based Shane Carson drove several years in the Knoxville (IA) Nationals during the 1980s. ... Casey Shuman, driver Ron's 36-year old son, was in the PAS pits selling Ascot Park merchandise for Chris Agajanian. He said he is seeking a ride for the Turkey Night midget GP. He said his sister Kylee, 31, is now the mother of three including a baby girl. Her two older children are boys with the oldest age 4.
Persons present in the pits at the PAS Oval Nationals this year included: retired USAC national champion driver Levi Jones from Illinois. Videographer Greg Stephens, who taped World of Outlaws winged sprint car races around the country for use on TV racing programs, made his first PAS visit in 12 years. Racing photographer Jim Chini also attended. Late CRA president Walt James' younger daughter Wendy also watched from the pits.
RIS website writer/photographer Ed Hollowell also attended after moving to rural Indiana earlier this year following his retirement from a So Cal aerospace firm. Past CRA starter Steve Vodden, assistant starter Don Read, Jack Crone and 360 PAS Young Gun driver Courtney Crone, 14, watched from the pits Saturday. So did Jay and Francie Agajanian. Current VRA 360 driver Troy Rutherford also spectated from the pits Saturday.
BABY BOOM: Births of infants fathered by sprint car drivers are increasing dramatically since the last Oval Nationals. Oklahoman Brady Bacon's daughter Levany was born on 11/19/14 in Arizona after he raced in the 19th Oval Nationals. She was in the pits this year. ... R. J. Johnson, from Arizona, and his wife Megan welcomed daughter Rigan on 4/30/15 as their second child. She weighed in at 5' 10”. TQ Midget 2014 champion and 2015 USAC-CRA rookie Anthony Lopiccolo and his wife welcomed their first baby, a 7' 6” daughter, on 6/28/15.
USAC-CRA champion Mike Spencer and his wife welcomed their first baby—daughter Vera Mae on 5/9/14. She entered the world at 7' 7” and will have a baby brother due by the end of December. He will be the fourth grandchild for Mike's parents—Mike (a retired CRA sprint car driver) and Karen Spencer. Their daughter has two children, ages 4 and 1.
Cody Williams and his wife Heidi (nee Tressler) welcomed their first child, a daughter on 6/28/15. Lexi Jo weighed 7' 6”. She is the first grandchild for 2004 USAC-CRA champion Rip Williams and his wife Becky. Rip's oldest son, a machinist, and his wife reside in Corona. Heidi gave birth in Victorville's Victor Valley Hospital where she works as a registered nurse (RN) with her specialty being labor and delivery. Her first child came with about seven plus hours in labor from 1:30 to 9:00 pm and an epidural. Heidi was a 360 sprint car driver for years and a 360 sprint car feature winner at Victorville's Victor Valley Raceway three-eighths mile clay track. She even raced her No. 3 with USAC-CRA twice in Perris on the half-mile in the same program in which her fiance Cody also raced. Heidi works at her RN job in Victorville and her mom takes care of Lexi Jo until Heidi takes her home each evening.
Thomas Meseraull's baby girl, Carley Ann, was born 8/4/15 and weighed 6' 14”. Mom Anna is a racing fan from Kokomo, IN where she met Thomas, a Californian from San Jose. Petite Anna said her delivery was easy and their daughter is alert at races. She was wide awake in the pits after the Oval Nationals concluded Saturday. The Meseraull family drove from Kokomo to California in a leisurely five days so they could sight-see along their route--highways 64, 44, 40, 15 and 215. ... The DRC/Fisher No. 32 owner/driver Chase Stockon, now from Haubstadt, IN, drove his rig west via the same route from Indiana to The PAS. He departed Monday morning and arrived Tuesday night in Perris.
Meseraull and his family are flying out of Los Angeles on November 30 to Australia. He will race the winged No. 29 sprint car for local owner Robert Dawkins in the December-January series. That participation will make him eligible to race in the 2016 American-Australian Challenge race during the 2016 Knoxville Nationals for drivers who raced sprinters in both countries. Thomas was selling his latest t-shirts with the yellow No. 29 Aussie winged sprinter and his red No. 66 USAC sprint car for $20 in the PAS pit area.
ROOKIES: There were several impressive 20-year old newcomers at the 2015 Oval Nationals. They were: Josh Hodges, from New Mexico, who drove his dad Jack's No. 74x 2015 Maxim/Foxco. Josh and I share January 20 birthdays. ... Bespectacled Aaron Farney, from Indiana, was the leading 2015 USAC National Sprint Series rookie by a wide margin at PAS. He won the honor officially after the three-night Western World Championship event in Tucson. Aaron won his first USAC National Sprint feature in Terre Haute, IN. on July 15. It was a popular victory with racers and fans. Farney is a protege of Robert Ballou and pits his No. 15f Maxim/Ott next to veteran owner/driver Ballou at each track. Asked how he liked PAS, Aaron said, “I like it.”
Another 20-year old is Max Adams, from Loomis, CA who drove an ART chassis (Sacramento) with a Bailey Brothers engine (Napa). Max, who raced in his first Oval Nationals last year, flipped without injury in Saturday's B-main this year. ... Robert Bell, 52, came to PAS for the first time as a 2015 USAC National Sprint Series season-long rookie. He is from Colfax, IA (35-miles east of Des Moines) and is known as “the Colfax Comet” ... Local driver A. J. Bender, 22, started on the pole and impressively held off USAC National driver/Alabama native Kevin Thomas, Jr., the second fastest qualifier. A. J. yielded third spot to Brady Bacon on lap 8, but held the fourth and final direct transfer to Friday's A-main for the final three competitive laps and earned deserved applause from appreciative spectators.
Hodges, in his first start at PAS, started second and led all ten laps in Thursday's third heat. He won by 15-yards over the runner-up and raced as if he had raced the PAS half-mile often. He started 20th and finished 15th in the 30-lap main event. On Friday Hodges set third fastest qualifying time, started sixth in heat three, finished fourth and advanced directly to the A-main. He started fifth in the feature and finished 13th with 22 drivers still racing. Saturday Josh again qualified well (P. 5), placed third in his heat and second in a B-main. He was the first drop-out from the feature. The Hodges team towed from New Mexico Tuesday night to PAS with Josh's dad Jack and crewman Dan sharing the driving. A 13-year old helper tagged along and helped. Josh attended college classes Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday morning he flew from Albuquerque to Ontario Airport. Jake Argo picked him up at the airport and drove him to The PAS.
The Hodges team uses Foxco engines bought from driver Johnny Herrera, of Albuquerque. They used an Ostrich-built engine when they raced winged sprint car races in their home state and Arizona. Josh is mechanical engineering student in his third year at New Mexico Tech University in Socorro, N.M. His goal in racing is “to have fun because it's tough to make a living racing.” Asked how he likes PAS, Jake said, “I love it. It's not like anywhere else I've raced.” He races winged and non-winged sprint races at various speedways in Arizona and New Mexico.
PIT NOTES: Jake Swanson flipped the No 92 Tom & Laurie Sertich 2015 Victory chassis in turn four during Friday time trials. They welded on the right front panhard bar, but had to use their older 2014 Victory chassis to race. ... The Y69 car owned and driven by Ramona's Randy Waitman, 54, is a 2008 Maxim body on an older chassis. ... The Farney 15f cars are 2004 and 2010 Maxims that they bought from Indiana Race Parts. The team took 35 hours to tow from Indiana to PAS from late Sunday to Tuesday morning. ... The No. 71p Phillips Motor-sports ride of Dave Darland is a reliable 2011 DRC chassis. ... Another veteran chassis still winning is the No. 17rw Michael Dutcher 2009 Maxim.
The No. 66 Amati Racing sprint car is a two-month old DRC/Dynotech in which Meseraull won feature events 33 and 34 in the 40 race national series. His victories came at Eldora Speedway on September 26 and at Lawrenceburg, IN. on October 17. The Amati crew said they recorded ten main event wins this season, including the two in USAC. They also had one POWRi midget victory. Jon Stanbrough won two USAC features in 2013 for the Amati team. They towed west to PAS from Indiana with four drivers sharing driving. No. 66 was used originally by Chuck “the one-armed bandit” Amati, the grandfather of car owner Shane Wade. Chuck's daughter is Shane's mom.
Owner/driver C. J. Leary, from Greenfield, IN, said he built his No. 30 white car for the 2015 Oval Nationals. He barely missed the feature and chose not to use a provisional berth to start at the back of Thursday's A. He said he had only used one of four available provisions this season. He added, “Starting at the back of 26 cars and racing for no series or Oval National points, and no money unless I finished in the top ten, was not worth it.” On nights two and three C. J raced his black No. 30 DRC chassis, a trusty car he had used all season.
Newlywed Matt Mitchell is the owner of the Orange, CA. firm Pit Boss Jacks, aluminum one-pump racing jacks. They are used by NASCAR Sprint Cup teams owned by Roger Penske and Rick Hendrick among others. The lightweight jacks need frequent rebuilding because of their hard use during NASCAR pit stops. Matt's one employee in North Carolina is Troy Cline, a past 410 sprint car feature winning driver at So Cal tracks and step-father of open-wheel and NASCAR K & N East stock car driver Jay Drake.
HINES: Past USAC Silver Crown and National Midget champion Tracy Hines is leaving USAC racing after the 2015 season. He said he will be the competition director for the NASCAR Camping Work Truck Series ThorSports team owned by Duke and Rhonda Thorson of Sandusky, Ohio. Hines raced the No. 13 ThorSports truck for several seasons starting in 2005. This year ThorSports fielded three Toyota Tundras —No. 13 of Cameron Hayley, No. 88 of Matt Crafton (the 2013-14 series champion), and No. 98 of Johnny Sauter. Hines said he will only race winged sprint cars in Ohio as time permits. Tracy had two drivers on the IN. to CA journey and took two days for the trip of 1,765+ miles.
Owner/driver David Bezio, from El Cajon, announced he is parking his USAC-CRA No. 37x Victory/Kistler sprinter in 2016. He said he will concentrate on his family and business and will assist his 9 and 6-year old daughters who want to race go karts. David said he might accept an offer from another car owner to race in USAC-CRA occasionally.
During the fifth heat race Friday the light blue No. 81 JFK Co. sprinter (Jon Stanbrough) and red No. 50 (Mike Spencer) were racing together in P. 3-4 during the final three laps. It reminded many of Jimmy Oskie racing the light blue JFK 81 car against his buddy Dean Thompson (in the red Bruce Bromme sprinter) at Ascot. Oskie, now 69, looks amazingly as he did during his CRA sprint car racing years. Oskie, a five-time CRA driving champion (between 1969-1979), and NASCAR seven-time champion Richard Petty never seem to age. Jimmy told me he stays trim by going country line and two-step dancing three nights a week at The Ranch on Ball Rd in Anaheim. He revealed he never raced in Perris. PAS opened in 1996. However, Jimmy has driven a sprint car at PAS to pace main events and during memorial salutes for recently deceased persons involved in racing.
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