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Irwindale, CA., May 9 – Tim Huddleston won his 39th NASCAR Auto Club Late Model feature on the banked half-mile Toyota Speedway at Irwindale Saturday in front of about 3,000 spectators on “Mother's Day Celebration Night”. Moms and kids 15 and under were admitted free. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Darlington 500 race was shown live on large televisions in the track's Chalet Village area between the main grandstand and pit entrance. The three-time ACLM track champion (2005, 07, 08) from Agoura Hills started first and led all 50-laps in his High Point Distributing 2008 Chevy Monte Carlo sponsored by Justice Brothers Car Care Products. The Race Car Factory chassis # 65 had to be about two-thirds rebuilt after a hard crash during the April 25 race in a third turn crash with Andrew Myers. “We finished rebuilding it last night,” Huddleston said, “and I only got three practice laps with it before qualifying today.” He said he has named his No. 50 Chevy “Sandbox” because his crew said he likes to play with his toys (race cars) in the sandbox.
Huddleston, the third most prolific feature winner at the track, logged his first victory this season. He is only two feature triumphs behind the second ranked driver on the TS@I main event victories list. He cut four points from the point lead of ACLM series 2009 leader Nick Joanides and now trails by 22 points (228-206) after five of 18 scheduled races. Huddleston earned $1,000 for his winning ride. He thanked spectators for attending and wished all mothers in attendance a happy mother's day. He thanked his wife Lisa (the daughter of long-time stock and sprint car racer Oren Prosser, Sr.) for being such a great mom to their three children. Team owner Huddleaston not only enjoyed his own success Saturday, but saw his four driver development program late model drivers finish in positions 5-6-7 and 12. All four “blue crew” drivers were on the lead lap in RCF-built Chevrolets. He told the media, “Five cars intact at the end is better than the win.” He praised his crew for working long hours to midnight many nights. They rebuilt four of the five cars after they were damaged extensively two weeks ago. They finished the last rebuild job Friday at 3:00 pm after RCF did the chassis repair in Irwindale and his team did the body work at their shop.
Mike Johnson started third, took second on the first lap and chased Huddleston all 50 laps before settling for second, 1.953-seconds behind Huddleston Johnson ran the fastest lap of the race at 19.169 on lap 3. Huddleston's 19.194 a lap earlier was the second quickest lap. Joanides, the point leader in both late model and super late model series, started fifth and ran third all the way. He trailed by 2.646 seconds. Travis Irving, in the CHP-backed RCF-built Toyota, came from sixth on the grid to finish fourth, 3.353 seconds back. Rookie Dallas Colodny, the second fastest qualifier and outside front row starter, placed fifth in Huddleston's No. 5l team car.
Rounding out the top ten were: Travis Motley, rookie and USAC Ford Focus Midget graduate Beau DeBard, Ray Robinson, 19-year old Brennan Newberry and rookie Tim Smith, 23. The all green flag race took 16:32.092. Nineteen of the 21 starters finished and 12 drivers ran all 50 laps. Colodny, a 20-year old ASA Speed Truck two-year veteran from Reno, is the leading rookie in points at fourth place with 186. Bakersfield's Newberry, another USAC FF Midget graduate, and Hesperia's Kyle McGrady, 16, also rank in the top ten in ACLM points at 136 and 134 points respectively. One car missing Saturday was Eugene Dewberry's No. 15 driven by Andrew Myers, who was disqualified April 25 for rough driving. Reportedly, Dewberry is angry at the DQ and has parked his car.
CLASSIC STOCKS: An 11-car field of classic stocks ran 30-laps on the third-mile with a fully inverted lineup based on afternoon qualifying times. Dave Foster started first and led 12 laps before fourth starter Tommy Agosta, the 19-year old series 2008 champion, passed him and led the balance of the race in his 1972 Chevy Monte Carlo. He won by ten yards (1.131 seconds) over closing 20-year old Ken Michaelian, the winner of all three prior main events this year. Foster finished third with fastest qualifier Mike Colato, Jr. and Harry Michaelian fourth and fifth. All 11 starters finished the caution-free race that took 9:01.684.
MINI STOCKS: The Justice Brothers Mini Stock Series also used a fully inverted lineup (12 cars) on the third-mile. The race had four leaders and a sensational battle for victory during the second half of the 35-lap race. Daryl Scoggins, a 36-year old LAPD cop at the San Fernando Valley West Valley Station, used the outside groove from lap 14 to 28 before he cleared leader Tyler Rogers after several tries. It was the same technique he used two weeks ago with his 1978 Ford Pinto to defeat the Rogers father-son Ford Pinto team of Steve and Tyler Rogers. At the finish, son Tyler was second (-0.268) with Kevin Bernhardt third (-0.850). Richie Altman was fourth and Rod Schmitt fifth. Ten of the 12 finished and all of them completed 35 laps. Scoggins' second consecutive victory moved him into a first place tie with two-time 2009 winner Tyler Rogers at 194 points.
DRIVE TECH: The third-ever appearance (first this year) of the Drive Tech Racing School Late Models (1999 Chevy Monte Carlos) had a seven-car field of student racers. As part of their racing school tuition they receive on-track racing experience at various tracks. They raced an eight-lap heat race at 5:00 pm and a 20-lap main at 7:25. The all green flag race on the half-mile had three leaders. Dennis Tarlton, of Forest Hill, N.C, led lap 8-20 and barely edged fastest qualifier Ted Stoneburner, from Sherman Oaks, by 0.347. Third finisher Eric Durensberg, from Reno, was 8.447 seconds from the lead. All seven starters completed the 20 laps in the 6:51.130-timed race. Stoneburner won the seven-car, 8-lap heat race over Jeff Smith by 0.953. Tarlton was third (-0.969).
AUTO SOCCER: The final event of the night was the first Auto Soccer event this season. The event pit a five-car Pick Your Part team of orange cars against a five-car Jan's Towing team of white cars in the infield of the third-mile. The match used an old 450-lb round propane tank painted white with black spots to resemble a soccer ball. A black and white striped station wagon served as the referee car. Huge truck tires, painted white, marked the goals at each end. The red flag flew twice when the “ball” went out of bounds. After 15 minutes of action and car smashing, as the opposing sides battled for the “ball”, several PYP cars were disabled. Rubber-less tire rims on several cars sent sparks off the pavement. Jan's Towing scored a “gooooaaaallll” to win 1-0, ending the fan-pleasing match at 9:26 pm. Don Helgeson, in Jan's Towing No. 4 car, scored the goal on a breakaway charge to the goal with the metal ball on his front bumper. Helgeson, who formerly raced the No. 18 truck on the TS@I half-mile, led the Jan's team to their first victory over the PYP team in five tries. PYP won the inaugural TS@I auto soccer match in November 2007. Last year PYP won all three auto soccer events by a combined score of 5-2.
For the first time, ACLM time trials took place at 7:00 pm instead of 4:00 pm. Fans were able to see qualifying and how car numbers on the top ten scoring pylon changed as faster cars qualified. To further ensure that pylon changes were on-going, the qualifying order was inverted based on the current driver point standings instead of a qualifying order pill draw. Lower drivers in points went on the track before higher ranked point drivers got their turn to challenge the clock. The fastest time changed five times before 20th qualifier Huddleston's 18.839 topped his prot�g� Colodny's 18.955. The entire session took 18 minutes from 7:01 to 7:19. A “Can Your Momma Drive?” slalom course around rubber pylons in the infield awarded prizes to the two mothers selected from the crowd in a special Mother's Day event.
Hard Charger Awards went to (ACLM)--Rookie Tim Smith for racing from 15th to 10th. (Classic Stocks)--Colato for his run from tenth to fourth. (JBMS)--Rookie Ryan Bragdon ran from 12th to ninth for his first hard charger $100 award. Fast timers were Huddleston (ACLM); Stoneburner at 20.054 in Drive Tech; Colato (C/S) and Bragdon (JBMS).
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