Tulare Thunderbowl hosts Dave Helm Memorial this Saturday October 13
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA - October 8, 2007...The World of Outlaw Sprint Series will converge at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway for the final time in 2007 this coming Saturday October 13. The night of action featuring the best sprint car drivers on the planet will pay honor to long time car owner Dave Helm who passed away in February. The Helm family will be honored on the track during the event, which should be a memorable evening of racing competition at the 1/3 mile Thunderbowl Raceway located in Tulare, Calif.
Helm’s Selma Shell Racing No. 11h has been one of the most recognizable cars in sprint car racing over the last 10-15 years and his passing in February saddened everybody in the racing community. The current driver of the Selma Shell 11h is St. Mary’s New South Wales, Australia native Kerry Madsen. The driver known as the "Mad Man" currently sits 13th in World of Outlaw points and is the leading contender for the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year award. Madsen has one win this season, which came in February at Volusia just before Helm passed away. The Selma Shell machine has been a regular competing car on the national tour for 10 years and successful stints on tour have been had in it by Paul McMahan, Tim Shaffer & Greg Hodnett among others.
Prior to being a regular World of Outlaw car, the Selma Shell Racing team was a very successful operation racing around the California circuit with Fresno driver Steve Kent. The Helm/Kent combination finished runner up in the Northern Auto Racing Club point standings in 1993 and were runner up in the Golden State Challenge King of California points in 1992, ‘93 and ‘94. The team also had big wins at Chico’s Mini Gold Cup, Hanford’s Pombo/Sargent Classic, and picked up a memorable victory at Calistoga during Speedweek in 1994 when Kent performed a textbook slide job on Brent Kaeding in the final corner to take away a shot at a Speedweek of bonus of $100,000 put up by JW Hunt. All in all the Dave Helm Memorial should be a great night as we honor a man who dedicated so much of his life to the sport we love.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Series has featured a fantastic battle for the point lead over the last month ½, but Fargo, ND’s Donny Schatz has been on a roll recently and has taken advantage of a few not so good nights by Brownsburg, IN’s Joey Saldana to increase the gap to 90 points. Schatz, who will be running under the banner of Tony Stewart Racing next year, picked up his fourth career Williams Grove National Open win a couple weeks back and has a second consecutive WOO championship in his sights. Schatz has had one of the best years of any driver in recent memory and to make things even more impressive, he has done it all against arguably the deepest field of talent that the series has ever had. In addition to his win at the National Open, he has also driven his Tom Johnson Camping Centers No. 15 to huge wins at the Knoxville Nationals, the Kings Royal and the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup. Schatz won the series’ most recent event held in Princeton, Minnesota giving him his 18th victory of the season.
Saldana is trying hard to bring the gap back down and will be looking for his second Thunderbowl Raceway win of the season this Saturday. Saldana won the Gold Cup Race of Champions at Chico in September and had cut the gap between himself and Schatz to less than 20 points when they left the West Coast. In the blink of an eye, however, the deficit was increased immediately after as Schatz won back to back races & had a runner up performance following the West Coast swing. No matter how the year ends, Saldana has had an outstanding season and is also expected to compete at the Thunderbowl Raceway during the Trophy Cup, which is coming up on November 16 & 17.
Saldana was part of a memorable weekend when the World of Outlaw competed at the Thunderbowl in February. After winning the opening night feature he was running in third on Saturday when Altoona, Iowa’s Terry McCarl attempted a slide job in turn four that didn’t end up in Saldana’s favor. Saldana ended up flipping the Kasey Kahne Racing No. 9 in turn four and McCarl went on to finish second after charging from the 11th starting position. During post race interviews the crowd showed its displeasure with McCarl and the always colorful T-Mac roared back at the crowd in one of the most memorable interviews in Thunderbowl Raceway history. McCarl will return to the Thunderbowl on Saturday in the Big Game Tree Stands No. 24 looking to improve his finishing position by one spot and pick up his second career win at the 1/3 mile clay oval.
Dover, Missouri’s Danny Lasoski comes to Tulare third in WOO points and will be behind the wheel of the potent locally based Roth Motorsports No. 83. Lasoski has had a rather quiet season, but his consistency has kept him up near the front of the point standings. "The Dude" has won five races this year including a sweep of the two-day Harvest Classic in Calistoga on Labor Day weekend. Owasso, Oklahoma’s Daryn Pittman has had a strong year with six wins and currently sits fourth in points aboard the Titan Garages & Car Ports No. 21. Pittman has never won at the Thunderbowl, but came close in 2004 when he popped a tire while leading coming out of turn four on the final lap. Clovis, CA’s Jason Meyers rounds out the top five in World of Outlaw points in the Primerica Financial No. 14. Meyers came close to getting his first career California WOO win at the Harvest Classic on Labor Day where he exchanged the lead a couple different times with Lasoski before coming home second. The 28 year-old recently became a father as wife Robyn gave birth to their first child, Delaney Paige.
20-time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser of Bloomington, Indiana will be looking to get into victory lane this weekend. The driver of the Q-Oils No. 11 has had a tough year but still ranks sixth in points with nine wins, the third most of any driver in the series. Other drivers in the top 10 of World of Outlaw points set to compete at the Thunderbowl will be the Caravan Racing No. 7 of Elk River, MN’s Craig Dollansky; the Tony Stewart Motorsports No. 20 of Nashville, TN’s Paul McMahan; the City Wide Insulation R19 of Mount Vernon, WA’s Jason Solwold and the Casey’s General Store No. 6 of Aliquippa, PA’s Tim Shaffer. More top World of Outaws Sprint Series competitors expected to compete at the Dave Helm Memorial include: Wooster, Ohio’s Jac Haudenschild; Bartlett, TN’s Jason Sides; Findlay, Ohio’s Chad Kemenah; Sioux Falls, SD’s Justin Henderson; San Jose, CA’s Randy Hannagan and more.
A couple drivers who don’t claim any association with a 410 series and are expected at the Thunderbowl will be Indianapolis, Indiana’s Shane Stewart and Medford, Oregon’s Roger Crockett. Both drivers have been dominant in the Northwest this season and should be top contenders on Saturday night.
Tickets have been going fast for the Dave Helm Memorial and the number to call to reserve the best seats available is (559) 688-0909. All seating is reserved and bleachers cost $40 with main grandstands being $45. The front gate will open up at 5 pm and racing is expected to get underway around 7. You won’t want to miss your final chance of the season to watch all your favorite World of Outlaw drivers compete at the always exciting Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway. The 1/3 mile clay oval was recently resurfaced with 50 truck loads of new clay, which is expected to make the track lightning fast and should make for side by side racing all night long.
Race fans will also be able to keep track of all the action on the new Thunderbowl Raceway scoreboard. The new scoreboard was unveiled during the U.S. Western Modified Nationals a couple weeks ago and adds a modern touch to the facility.
The Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway is located on the Tulare County Fairgrounds at the corner of Bardsley and K Streets in Tulare, California. For a seating chart, directions and more log onto http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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