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Irwindale, CA., Oct. 25 – Local newspaper 3" X 7" ads during the week called it a Toyota Speedway at Irwindale "Night of Destruction". Out-of-state drivers made it a night of profit in the $10,000 Pick Your Part Outlaw Figure 8 one-hour West Coast Championship. R. J. Norton, Jr., from Indianapolis, "came west on vacation and had some fun" Saturday in the featured event of the night. A full house of 7,000+ filled the grandstands and suites and overflowed to the top of the track administration building overlooking the third and fourth turns. Spectators gasped, laughed and thoroughly enjoyed the five event show on a 70-degree evening. Two jet-powered pickup trucks even entertained fans during an intermission with their on-track flame-producing speed bursts.
A 15-lap, eight-team "train race" of three connected cars per team, ran the Figure 8 course. Then a ten car "trailer race" ran the third-mile and concluded the evening with a scheduled 20-lap race that went 22 laps. Cars towed trailers containing boats, tent trailers and a horse trailer that got smashed and run over by competitors. With no debris flag delays, the race progressed rapidly. Earlier, the season championship for 1970s-era pure stocks on the third-mile was decided when point leader Tommy Agosta won the 30-lap main. It was his first track series championship. The nine-minute race was a caution-free event. The first race of the night was the season finale for the touring ASA Speed Truck Challenge Series based in Upland, CA. Darren Young, who clinched the 2008 ASA Series championship at the last race at Havasu, (AZ) 95 Speedway, started second. He led all 100-laps in the No. 18 United Nissan/Sudden Impact Chevy S-10. The 44-year old driver from Gilbert, AZ is now a three-time ASA Speed Truck champion.
FIGURE 8 RACE: Norton, the fastest qualifier in the 18-car field, started from pole position in the straight-up lineup with TS@I 2007-08 champion Steve Stewart, of Long Beach, alongside. Norton led the first 53 laps over fellow Indianapolis driver/third starter Eddie Van Meter. Both drivers drove their usual Indianapolis Speedrome F-8 rides. There were two brief red flags on laps 4 and 12 to remove stalled cars from the infield intersection. On lap 54 Norton dropped to third place as Van Meter and Casey White, also from Indianapolis, passed him in traffic. On lap 69 Norton's No. 69 was back in second place, about three-quarters of a lap behind the leader. At lap 115 Norton had closed to half a lap back, and five laps later he was a quarter lap behind Van Meter. He closed quickly and on lap 133 passed Van Meter with an inside move entering the first turn. The two Hoosiers had trailed lapped local Figure 8 star Billy Ziemann for several laps. As the clock ticked towards the one-hour conclusion at 9:20 pm, Norton extended his lead to 50-yards over Van Meter. Norton earned $5,000 and Van Meter took home $2,500. The race went 158 laps—a new track record for the event. The old record was 129 laps two years ago. Last year winner John Zaretske, from Washington state, only had to run 58 laps because of two lengthy red flags for collisions.
Hoosier Casey White finished two laps back in third and won $1,000. The Gunderson family team from Maple Valley, WA, finished fourth through sixth—Brian's No. 15 was fourth, Nick's No. 33 was fifth and Ryan's No. 13 was sixth. They received $500, $400 and $300 respectively. Brian and Nick were five laps back and Ryan ran 150 of the 158 laps. There were nine of 18 starters on the track at lap 75. Three more starters rejoined the fray before the finish and 12 cars reached the checkered flag. Seventh through tenth finishers, who received $250 each, were Steve Stewart (149 laps), Ziemann (148), Keith Heaslet (138) and Rod Proctor, who returned from a long pit stop to log 104 laps. The running time was 57:42.798. Norton ran the fastest lap of the race at 19.531. Van Meter's 19.791 was the second quickest lap. One car from Washington (No. 49) was unable to qualify or start the race because of a major engine problem. S. Stewart beat Ziemann 390-380 for the TS@I Figure 8 track title.
ASA SPEED TRUCKS: Young's Chevy S-10 was dominant throughout the 34:17.513-timed all-green flag 100-lap race. He lapped every truck up through fourth place and he was only ten yards behind the third place truck at the conclusion. Young's teammate, Chris Buescher, a 15-year old rookie from Prosper, TX, set the fastest qualifying time and started fifth in the five-truck inverted start. His No. 3 United Nissan S-10 reached second place on lap 10 and remained about ten yards behind Young until lap 50, when he settled into a secure runner-up position to the finish. He trailed Young by 3.009-seconds. Randel King, the 16-year old 2008 Auto Club Late Model TS@I rookie of the year and an ASA Speed Truck driver during 2007, did not post a qualifying time. He started last (17th) and provided the main excitement of the race by passing truck after truck. He was seventh on lap 60, fifth on lap 70, fourth at lap 80 and third on lap 89 when he went to the inside entering turn one and passed Todd McLauchlan, a two-time ASA 2008 winner a TS@I this year. Third place King, from Riverside, was the final driver to complete 100 laps; he trailed Young by 19.360 seconds. McLauchlan and Dallas Colodny rounded out the top five as drivers in positions four through 12 completed 99 laps. Sixteen of 17 starters finished. Runner-up Buescher ran the fastest lap of the race at 19.973 as he chased Young, whose best lap was 20.108. King's best circuit was 20.169.
PURE STOCKS: The 12-car pure stock 30-lap race on the third-mile used a fully inverted start to maximize passing. There were four leaders. Patrick Miller led the first four laps. Justin Good paced lap 5-13 and title-contender Mike Colato, Jr, 26, led lap 14-16. Then point leader Tommy Agosta, 18, made an inside pass in turn four and led lap 17-30. The all-green flag race took 9:06.535 and nine cars finished with the top seven drivers on the lead lap. Good placed second, 2.390-seconds back. Third place Dave Foster was 2.824 seconds behind the winner. "This is my best finish of the year and I'm on Social Security," he told spectators. On the final lap Colato was in second place, about 25-yards in back on Agosta. Lapped rookie Jeffrey Best spun out in turn four right in front of Colato, who spun into the front of Best's Chevy. Colato continued but he dropped from second to fourth. Title-contender Chad Kelly finished fifth, 7.158-seconds behind the winner. First-time track champion Agosta told the crowd, "I'm glad that's over." Agosta finished with 642 points to 622 for Kelly and 596 for Colato.
TRAIN RACE: The 15-lap "train race" on the Figure 8 course started eight teams of three cars per team. The driver was in the first car and a brakeman was in the third car, with the middle car unoccupied. The team of Robert Rice/Keith Johns led early laps. Somewhere amid the smashing and bashing the winning team of Randy Bylsma/Kevin Vanpienbrock took the lead and the $1,000 victory. Some teams lost the third car from contact and with all three cars forming a train they were disqualified. The Rice/Johns team finished second. Billy and Travis Altfather were third. Two females—Louise Johnson and Amanda Spittle—participated in the third car of their teams. They finished sixth and eighth respectively.
TRAILER RACE: The wild, ten-car "trailer race" used some of the unhooked cars from the "train race' to tow a trailer. Four of the trailers carried rowboats. Other trailers carried folded tent trailers, a horse trailer and a Volkswagen "bug" sedan. The "pirate" rowboat that won the first "trailer race" this year was back. They planned to use the boat to go fishing Sunday. As trailers and some cars became disabled the all green flag race had drivers ignoring debris and three of the loose rowboats on the track. Some drivers took aim and hit the boats to knock them out of their path. Five teams were disqualified for lack of trailer contents. The event concluded 20 laps plus two more laps in 8:53.344 before drivers realized their fun race had finished. The top five finishers in order were: Keith Johns and Robert Rice (both with 22 laps), Adam Ditto (- 1 lap), John Zimmerman (- 4 laps) and Jonathan Destrfano (- 5 laps). The winner received about $800 or so based on the total entries in the event. It was 9:54 pm and fans filed out to the filled parking lot still smiling.
During 4:00 to 5:00 pm time trials, Buescher ran a 19.825 (90.794 mph) fast lap in the 17-ASA truck field. Norton's 19.301 (70.318 mph) lap on the Figure 8 course beat the second fastest qualifier by 0.342 as 17 of 19 cars present qualified. The Outlaw F-8 track record is 18.104 (74.967 mph) by Norton at the same event last year. Ken Michaelian, 19, set the pure stock fast time on the third-mile in a 12 car field. His 17.317 (69.227 mph) was a NTR for the class. The old track record, set by Colato on 9/27/08, was 17.430 (68.778 mph).
The ten NASCAR and track championship contests are now completed. Champions and other top point finishers will be honored at the 10th annual track championship awards banquet on Saturday night, November 15 at the track. The only remaining TS@I race remaining in 2008 is the annual USAC Thanksgiving Night Grand Prix for Midgets. USAC 360 Sprints and Ford Focus Midgets will race also during the open-wheel triple-header on November 27 when another full-house is anticipated in the grandstand. .
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