TQ Midgets @ STADIUMS
By Tim Kennedy

Los Angeles, CA. - The NMRA-TQ Midget season kicked off during early NFL pro football post-season playoff time in January. Three non-point, exhibition races were held in conjunction with the featured "Monster Jam Stadium Series Invitational" monster truck events at major league stadiums. The TQ midgets raced one eight-lap heat race and a 20-lap main event on clay oval tracks laid-out in the infield and outfield of the baseball stadium. Don't worry baseball fans, protective plastic layers and tons of clay covered the lush grass. The dates were Saturday nights January 12, 19 and 26. The venues were the 2002 MLB World Series site--Angel Stadium in Anaheim (home of the 2002 world champion Angels)--for January 12 and 26 races. The January 19 site was Qualcomm Stadium, home of the NFL San Diego Chargers. The results of all three events follow:

> Jan. 12 - Angel Stadium, Anaheim: In front of a sold-out 45,000 monster truck fans, eight TQ midget teams raced on a flat, eighth-mile clay oval. There was close side-by-side racing in the eight-lap heat and 20-lap feature. Randy Moody won both races in the No. 55 Dave Lambert-owned Dennis Hart chassis with Honda 750cc engine bored out to 836cc. Last season Moody started nine of 13 NMRA-TQ point races and won five of them in the same No. 55 TQ. He started fourth and won the heat race. In the main event Moody started sixth and won by one-length at Tony Otto's checkered flag. Michael Bliffen (No. 20) from 7th starting slot, Scott Dobson (No. 18) from 3rd, Scott Niven (No. 66) from 4th, West Evans (No. 36) from 2nd, Jenna Bliffen (No. 3) from 5th, Bruce Hiroshima (No. 5) from 1st and Ron Ahrendt (No. 59) from 8th, finished second through eighth respectively. All TQ teams participated in an open-pit tour for early-arriving fans during mid-afternoon.

> Jan. 19 - Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego: Eight TQ teams again competed on a fast flat, fifth-mile clay oval. A sold-out stadium with 62,000 fans of monster truck competition watched the TQs race between the monster truck portions of the annual event at the historic former NFL Super Bowl site. Eight NMRA-TQ midget teams again competed to demonstrate TQ midget racing to the monster truck fans. The audience was primarily families, teens and youngsters. Richard Ortega, Jr. started and finished first in the eight-lap heat race. Scott Dobson came from 7th starting position to finish a close second. In the 20-lap TQ main event, Bruce Hiroshima, from 2nd in his own No. 20 Jerry Clerc-built /Clerc Honda 750cc, took the victory. Dobson (No. 18) from 5th, Randy Moody (No. 55) from 6th, Ortega (No. 8) from 7th, Jenna Bliffen (No. 3) from 3rd, West Evans (No. 36) from 1st, Scott Niven (No. 66) from 4th and Ron Ahrendt (No. 87) from 8th position. Tom Aldrich, the retired 1989-92 SCRA sprint car starter from San Diego, came out of retirement to perform starter duties for the first time in many years. He started the NMRA races while regular starter Tony Otto performed other official duties in the infield.

> Jan. 26 - Angel Stadium, Anaheim: The third rain storm of the week in Southern California had an impact on the NMRA-TQ portion of the Monster Truck Jam at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. TQ Midgets were to race one heat race at 5:40 p.m and a 20-lap main event at 6:00 prior to the 7:30 start of the featured monster trucks, which again sold out the 45,000-seat stadium. There were standing room only tickets for sale on the day of the event despite the chilly mid-50s evening. With heavy rain in the Saturday night forecast, promoter Live Nation kept the plastic covering on the clay surface of the field until almost 6:00 p.m. The TQ heat race was canceled and the eight TQ teams present lined up for the scheduled 20-lap main event at 6:30 on the now expanded track from two weeks earlier. The track was laid out in rectangular shape around soft, barrel-like course markers and the two jumps used by the monster trucks. The TQ track was larger than the January 12 eighth-mile oval and appeared to be the equivalent of a fifth or quarter-mile. The start/finish line was on the right field line near first base and the track ran from the RF line to center field (turn 2) and then toward the left field line (turn 3) and on to the MLB home plate area (turn 4) and back to S/F to complete one lap. Steve Parke (No. 59) did not start (DNS) and he worked the infield. Seven TQ midgets took Tony Otto's green flag in a rolling start at 6:31 and raced an all-green flag four-minute race. Weather and time limited the race to 12 laps and drivers said the track was a lot rougher than two weeks earlier as a result of rain earlier in the week. Most of the 45,000+ monster truck fans had not arrived when the TQ midgets raced. So the TQs, which cannot race in the rain, raced the TQ feature about two hours earlier than originally scheduled. The TQ line-up, which was determined earlier in the day by a pill draw, had Ron Ahrendt (87) and Jenna Bliffen (3) in row 1, West Evans (36) and Scott Niven (66) in row 2, Bruce Hiroshima (20) and Scott Dobson (18) in row 3, and Randy Moody (55) alone in the back row. Ahrendt jumped into a quick lead as he sought his first TQ feature victory in his own Dave Ellis chassis/Honda 750cc. He paced the first seven laps by one to two lengths over 25-year old, third year TQ driver Jenna Bliffen, of Lakewood. On lap 8 Bliffen found the opening she sought and propelled her Stealth/Honda to the inside of Ahrendt's car when it drifted high entering the third turn. She extended her lead to a straight-away (50-yards) during the final five laps. Ahrendt held on for second to tie his career-best main event finish. Evans, in his Stealth/Suzuki 750-cc, finished about 20-yards back in third place. Moody and Dobson trailed closely in fourth and fifth respectively. Hiroshima and second-year TQ driver Niven followed.

Other preliminary racing entertained fans from 6:00 to the 7:30 p.m advertised starting time for the headlining monster trucks that attracted a family audience and many youngsters. Ten Snap-on Tools Rhino mini-vehicles powered by one-cylinder Yamaha engines raced a pair of heat races. Todd Arthur (yellow No. 56) won his heat and the 10-lap Rhino main event at 8:20 p.m (between the two major monster truck events of the night. Four Pro-Lite off-road racing pickup trucks (Toyota, Ford, Nissan) raced a 6-lap heat and then a 10-lap main between the two monster truck features. "Dusty" Laduc (No. 99) won both races and was the only finisher in his main after one truck rolled on lap 3 and the other starter spun out on the white flag lap.

There were 12 monster trucks in competition, including trucks named Grave Digger, Shocker, The Patriot, Arachnaphobia, Tropical Thunder, Jurasic Park, Donkey Kong, and Monster Mutt, a vehicle with the simulated ears and long tail of a Dalmatian dog. It appears that the monster trucks are the recognized stars, not the drivers. Two female drivers drove the huge-tired trucks. The first monster truck competition at 7:30 was match racing--two trucks racing simultaneously over jumps and around barrels after side-by-side standing starts from the dirt hill in the infield. The two finalists were Tropical Thunder versus Escalade. The all-black Escalade won the race and first-place trophy in light rain that had spectators who were not under the second deck wearing rain gear and/or using umbrellas. The final monster truck event for all 12 of the behemoths was the free-style competition with each truck having 90-seconds to climb and jump over old cars, jump obstacles and perform donuts on the dirt baseball field to amass style points. Three judges awarded points (1 to 10) for a maximum of 30-points possible. Escalade and Grave Digger tied at 27 points each, but Grave Digger exceeded 90-seconds, so Escalade was declared the winner. Fans booed because they believed Grave Digger put on a better show. The driver of Escalade then gave the first place trophy to the driver of Grave Digger in a display of sportsmanship. The Monster Truck Jam concluded in light rain shortly after 9:30 p.m.

Monster Truck Jam has the Las Vegas, NV event at Sam Boyd Stadium, home of the NCAA football Las Vegas Bowl, next on the schedule. Taped monster truck events at major stadiums around the country are shown on Speed Channel. Tickets for the Monster Truck Jam ranged from $20 to $40 with good lower level seats going for $30. The Live Nation organization (HQ in Chicago) is known for promoting more than one event on the same day around the country in major league baseball and NFL football stadiums and filling them routinely. In the past there were more than a couple of famous monster trucks such as Big Foot. Fans love the match race and free-style format. I was told that the owner-built unique monster trucks cost in the $300-400,000 range; drivers can win first place event payoffs in five figures. Of course, their share of sales of models of their monster trucks, yearbooks, t-shirts and other merchandise adds to their income. Kids (male and female) drag their parents and relatives to these events and backers rival fans of pro wrestling for their enthusiasm. Too bad auto racing can't fill these stadiums the way midgets did after World War II. Can you imagine the 270+ midgets at the Tulsa Chili Bowl racing in a series of warm-weather major league stadium races during the off-season when those stadiums are not in use by MLB or NFL teams? But then auto racing most likely wouldn't attract the 40 to 60,000 fans necessary to make the stadium rental and affiliated costs for the dirt moving financially viable.

TV COMMERCIAL: Irwindale Speedway is a popular setting for shooting TV commercials. On January 21-22 a crew taped an Aflac commercial with the Aflac duck and NASCAR Cup driver Carl Edwards driving the Roush-Fenway No. 99 Ford. It will be shown on upcoming NASCAR racing telecasts. Carl actually raced at Irwindale Speedway once in a USAC Silver Crown race, the second ever at IS. The date was 3/24/01and Carl finished sixth in a 10-lap last chance race for qualifiers 25th -34th in the 34-car field. Carl finished sixth in the qualifying race and earned the last (30th) starting position in the 30-car field for a 100-lap main event. Edwards completed 98-laps in his own No. 80 Beast chassis for 21st finishing position, with 26 cars running at the finish. This was the period in his budding racing career when Carl gave out business cards advertising his availability to drive racing cars. I received one of the now famous business cards from Carl on 3/18/01at Phoenix Int'l Raceway. Following his introduction on the portable stage at the starting line, personable, ambitious Carl game me a card as we walked towards his 29th starting position in the 30-car grid for the PIR Silver Crown 100. That day Carl finished 19th, completing 71 laps before overheating sent his low-budget No. 80 to the pits.

This year will be the tenth season for IS racing. The track will host 30-weeks of Whelen All-American NASCAR Weekly Racing Series action starting March 22. The track also booked D-1 drifting, formula drift, USAC and SRL events for the 2008 season. Tim Huddleston's High Point Distributing, Justice Brothers NASCAR Auto Club Late Model five-car team announced that IS veteran Legend Car and ACLM driver Lindsey King (No. 09) will be racing in one Tim's five Chevy Monte Carlos at IS in 2008 as part of NASCAR's Diversity Program.

USA SPEEDWAY CLARIFICATION/CORRECTION: My story of the January 13, 2008 USA Speedway BBQ Luncheon Awards Ceremony at Industry Hills Expo Center needs clarification/correction in a few areas. Revised paragraphs follow: The first combined speedway cycle racing awards presentation on 1/13/08 was arranged by USA Speedway, an exclusive competition affiliate of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) for Speedway Motorcycle racing, promotion and rider development. It was new USA Speedway Chairman of the Board Harold "Howie" Zechner, of Pasadena, who came up with the idea to move the speedway cycle awards to the city of Industry. It had been held for the last two years on the S. S. Queen Mary in Long Beach. "We wanted to cut down on our overhead so it could be a free event for the entire Speedway Cycle community. Our rank and file was being priced out and we wanted to include all the Speedway race-tracks and not just those sanctioned by us. This place is perfect," Howie said.

USA Speedway is a membership organization that sanctions professional motorcycle competition but it does not run racing events. When the former Executive Director (Bill Amick) left that position for health reasons, cycle partisans decided they could do the job themselves. The nine-member USA Speedway board has nine votes, one per person, with one vote for AMA. Members include Dave Joiner, the promoter of Fast Fridays Motorcycle Speedway in Auburn, CA, Bill Cody, Gary Hicks, Sr., Ryan Evans, Paul Flanders, Rick Miller, Brian Gains and Ken Salient, who works for AMA in Ohio. The board motto could be stated, "Help us help you," stated Zechner. It's a time of change and a new beginning for speedway motorcycle racing throughout the United States. The web site is www.usaspeedway.org.

Speakers at the BBQ/awards ceremonies included four-time Speedway world champion, the great Barry Briggs and Bruce Penhall, a 50-year old who won the 1981-82 Speedway world championships. He retired on the podium after winning his second world championship so he could work as an actor on the TV series "CHIPS", Sam Ermolenko, the 1993 Speedway world champion, had just flown in from England. "Bullit" Billy Hamill followed and called the USA Speedway January 13 event "awesome". Other speakers were Charlie 'the Edge" Venegas, Nate Perkins, Bobby Schwartz and from northern California Mike Bast, the man who has won more Speedway US National Championships than anyone in history. Mike's brother Steve, 55, died on 10/30/07 from kidney and heart complications. Steve won the Weslake GP in 1967, '68 and '69. He won the Elsinore GP in 1970 and the US Speedway Championships in 1969 and '74. He also was a pioneer in 1970 as the first American Speedway rider to join the British Speedway leagues, racing for the Wembley Lions. In addition, he won six Speedway Cycle California State Championships. Cousin Bart Bast won the 1998 Speedway Racing Association (SRA) National Championship. Uncle Harlan Bast, who turned 72 in November, still races speedway cycles in Auburn.

Speedway cycle promoters spoke about the state of speedway cycle racing. Former speedway racer and second generation promoter Brad Oxley (son of long-time Costa Mesa Speedway promoter Harry "The Godfather" Oxley) said, "it shouldn't be only the job of the promoter to promote speedway cycle racing. The challenge is before us. We must serve fans, riders and supporters of speedway." USA Speedway Board Chairman Zechner also stated this theme when he spoke earlier. Oxley awarded appreciation plaques to 14 persons, including long-time Speedway backer Warren Russell, who has helped at least 20 riders over the years and currently sponsors Bobby Schwartz. Mr. Russell always sponsors one night a year at Costa Mesa Speedway and in 2007 expanded that to sponsor one night at Industry Speedway. Dave Joiner, chairman of the USA rules committee, revealed the names of the nine-member USA Speedway rules committee. He named George Rich, 86, an honorary member of the rules committee. Joiner, celebrating 25 years at Fast Fridays, then presented the 2007 riders awards for his track. Ricky Wells, 16, received his Under 21 Speedway Cycle National Championship award from Zechner and Joiner. Wells is Mr. June 2008 in the Justice Brothers Car Care Products (Duarte, CA) 2008 racing calendar..

[2008 Show Coverage] [Barn & Field Cars] [Blast to the Past] [Book Reviews] [Build Articles] [Buyers Guide] [Classifieds] [Club Directory] [Event Listings] [From our Friends] [Garage Shots] [Guest Columnists] [www.hotrodhotline.com/md] [New Products] [Newsletter Archive] [Order a Catalog] [Our Heroes] [Press Releases] [Rodders Forum] [Rodders Row] [Shop Tours] [Vendor Directory] [Young Rodders] [Advertising Information] [Modern Rods]