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Los Angeles, CA. - The third USAC Western Swing stop at the Perris Auto Speedway half-mile clay track was scheduled for Saturday,February 27. On Friday promoter Don Kazarian postponed the “Sokola Shootout” to Sunday, February 28. It was a wise move because the 70% chance of rain hit Saturday as forecast and made the track non-race worthy. Mud was a reported to be 18 to 24 inches deep in the infield. Four small “lakes” were visible on the Sunday rain-date. All midgets and sprint cars pitted beyond the first turn on pavement near the fairgrounds corral area for the first time that I can recall. PAS management, also for the first time, allowed spectators in the grandstands to go to a stand at the back of the grandstand, sign a liability release, obtain a pit pass wristband for admission to the pits. Fans were able to go to and from the active pits during the afternoon and evening by showing their wristband to the security guard at the pit entrance beyond the turn one grandstand. Fans really enjoyed that innovative, “we appreciate you” type gesture. It would not be possible to do if the pits were in the infield as usual.
The postponed event on Sunday had a blue sky, sunny 66-degree day at noon and it was still 51 degrees when racing concluded. Mud in the infield made it unusable on Sunday. Pit gates opened at 10:00 am and the front gate at 1:00 pm. Wheel-packing for midgets and sprint car started at 1:15 with hot-lapping at 2:00 in three groups for midgets, and 2:30 in four groups for sprint cars. Qualifying for 30 midgets, one at a time, ran from 3:04-3:38. The 37 sprinters qualified individually from 3:44-4:27. USAC's one-lap track record for midgets is 17.037 by Billy Boat in John Lawson No. 15. On Sunday Hagen's 17.701 was the fastest qualifying time. Damion Gardner's one-lap National TR of 16.047 on 11-3-05 did not fall either. Mike Spencer, the 14th driver to qualify, set quick time of 17.380. The usual music favored by PAS fans played before features. Songs included “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC and “The Boys Are Back in Town”. Videographer Dean Mills made every stop on the western tour and sent audio/video of the races over the Internet to home-bound fans.
After qualifying the track crew reworked the PAS clay surface and had it in great shape for racing. Four 10-lap midget heats (with a six-car inversion) started at 5:31 in daylight with track lights on and concluded at 6:03. The first four finishers in each heat moved to the “A” main. Midget heat winners started in positions 6, 3, 2 and 6. Four 9-car 10-lap sprint car heats ran from 6:14-6:54 and sent the top four finishers in each heat directly to the feature. Winners started in positions 1, 2, 1 and 2. The first heat had seven heavy hitters in it. They included Bud Kaeding, Ricky Gaunt, Bryan Clauson, D. Gardner, Chad Boat, FQ Spencer (the 2008-09 USAC-CRA champion) and Brad Sweet starting in that order. I was only able to pick correctly two of the four transfers. Sprint car heat winners were Kaeding, Cory Kruseman, Seth Wilson and Robert “Cat” Ballou.
Clauson won the 11-car, 12-lap midget “B” main from the pole. Second place Shannon McQueen, a Bakersfield CPA, was in second place when she jumped the first turn cushion and flipped about three or four times and landed atop the car of another female driver—Randi Pankratz. Randi restarted and was in P. 6 when she lost the oil drive belt and stalled at turn three, ending her night. She had to start her United Parcel Service job in the central California coast town of Atascadero at 3:00 am so she most likely departed immediately. Her dad, Wally took their No. 8 midget home to Orange County. The race ran from 7:23 to 7:40. The 19-car, 12-lap sprint car “B” main also sent the first six finishers to the feature and FQ Spencer led all the way (LAW).
The 22-car, 30-lap midget feature ran from 8:19 to 8:54. Second starter Bobby East, best known for his paved track prowess, LAW and won his first ever feature at the PAS. The race had a lengthy red flag on L 6 when last place Chris Ganson bicycled and flipped high in the air twice to the embankment as parts flew off. His car landed back on the track and rescuers had to persuade him to take a ride in the ambulance for medical evaluation. Chris wanted to walk away. At the hospital reportedly doctors found a crushed vertebrae in his lower neck and planned to do surgery.
The 24-car, 30-lap sprint car feature started at 9:19 and concluded at 9:50 pm. Tracy Hines, from outside row one, led L 1-2. Tony Jones flipped about four times in the third & fourth turns on lap 2, ending his night. Pole starter Chris Windom, 19, made an inside pass at turn four on L 3 and led three laps. Third starter D. Gardner, 32, made an inside pass entering turn one as the first four cars ran in close proximity. He opened half a straightaway lead by L 20 and had a three-quarter straightaway lead on L 27 when the yellow flag flew. Damion opened a 30-yard victory margin over most improved sprint car drivers Henry Clarke, from California, and Windom, from Illinois. It was the fourth $6,000 feature victory for “Demon Damion” in five USAC National sprint races this season.
The top three sprint drivers stopped at start/finish for their trophies and interviews. Gardner said: “I'll tell you honestly, when you have good people working for you you win. It make me happy to see my crew happy. I attacked the track. It seemed to work. Thanks to my sponsor Pace Lighting for their support and thanks to Perris for having this race on a Sunday. Who says when it goes dry slick you can't make it work. I thought with all the slicing and dicing that if Clarke got out front he'd be gone like he's suppose to do.” Runner-up Clarke stated: “I learned from the best with Cory (Kruseman) and then Keith (Kunz). It's good to run up front with these guys. Too bad we had the yellow. I was catching Damion,but I didn't know if I could get by him. He was gone. Getting into turn one got scary a couple of times, but I try to think about it after the race. I may come back and run some CRA races this year during down times.” Third place Windom said: “It was just Jeff (car owner Walker) and me working on the car. It was a good night.”
PIT NOTES: The blue No. 78 Chevy II-powered midget driven by Kenny Warren, 27, of Phoenix, is an interesting story. The owner is Scott Spivey, son of long-time So CA midget owner Herb Spivey. Herb picked up the 1996 Ellis chassis in Nor Cal four years ago. It is the ex-No. 9 BCRA car and the owner had it in the rafters of his shop. Herb went up to buy wheels/tires and the owner threw in the old chassis. Bob “Boomer” Burggraf, the one-time Ascot Park scoreboard operator (both manually on the backstretch and electronically from the press box) helps crew the 78 midget in the pits. His Bob's Handyman Service, in Phoenix, sponsors the 78 midget. ... PAS starter Eddie Ramirez and his assistant were in the starting stand. USAC Pit Coordinator Evelyn Pratt, 90, did not attend the Tucson or Las Vegas races. USAC's Jason Smith from Indy was at those races. Evelyn was back in the pits at Perris using her microphone as usual to exhort teams to get on-line for the next event. ... Ernie Bartley III, of El Cajon, made his 2010 debut with a brand new Spike/Gaerte midget. Their old chassis is for sale.
Kenny Perkins, 18, of Victorville, was present with his John Aden-built 777 chassis sponsored by Bumble Bee Plastics. He was the only driver unable to post a qualifying time. ... Shane Hmiel's No. 17 sprint car uses an ITI Performance engine built by Gary Meier. ... The PAS has 30+ race dates booked this year from February through November 27. The “Sokola Shootout” $5.00 color program had an outstanding color cover with the National Midget No. 17B and Western Midget No. 47 champions cars in action on dirt as the top half of the cover. The bottom half of the cover had broad-sliding sprint cars of 2009 National Champion Levi Jones No. 20 and 2009 CRA Champion Mike Spencer No. 50. ... Fifteen of the top 20 USAC-CRA drivers in final 2009 point standings raced in the February 28 PAS event.
Following the Thursday, February 25 USAC sprint car main event at LVMS in North Las Vegas Mike Spencer and his mom drove home on I-15 so Mike could get to work Friday by 8 or 9 am at his engineering job in Murrieta. Mom drove initially from Las Vegas so Mike could rest after his 11th place finish in the 30-lap feature. She said she drove a little bit above the Nevada interstate speed limit. Mike said you're going too slow, so he drove home the rest of the way. They arrived home at 3 am. ... Levi Jones' No. 38 Viper/ITI midget was unable to start the “B” main because the oil line came off earlier during a race and ended their night. ... Tracy Hines' No. 8X Murray Erickson midget from Texas sounded sour on its first and only qualifying lap. The cause was a timing problem that they cured by reseting the timing. He finished third in his heat race to make the feature. ... The No. 27 Kevin Bloom, Jr Kaeding Maxim sprint car that he flipped at USA Raceway in Tucson is repairable according to the team.
Damion Gardner and his No. 71 Pace team stayed at The Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas on Thursday and Friday nights. They watched the World of Outlaws race Friday night at LVMS and he said the WoO track Friday was a lot better than the track on which USAC teams raced. I spoke to Tulsa Chili Bowl 2009 winner Damion at The Orleans lobby restaurant during breakfast Saturday morning. (On Friday racers were told the PAS race Saturday had been postponed to Sunday, so everyone had ample time to go south to Perris.) Damion told me he concentrated on sprint cars, but he would accept a good midget ride if one came along. His team towed south to So CA Saturday afternoon through rain in the desert and heavy rainfall in So CA. They all stayed overnight at CRA No. 42 car owner Dwight Cheney's house in Glendora. Dwight helped Gardner's team in the PAS pits as usual. The Gardner team departed right after their PAS feature victory and drove north on interstates 215, 15 and 40 to an overnight stop in Flagstaff, AZ en-route to their Indiana home base. ... Billy Boat and his son Chad, 18, were driving straight home to Phoenix on I-10 right after the Perris final main event. Billy said Chad is still in high school and he had to attend classes in the morning. Asked who will drive their rig home, Billy said quickly, “I'm the driver. He can sleep.” Chad deserved the rest. He finished third in the midget 30-lap main and 12th in the 30-lap sprint car feature.
Former CRA sprint car No. 86 owner/driver Dick Woodland, who now resides in Paso Robles, said his automobile and race car display museum will have its grand opening on Saturday, May 8, 2010 from 10 am to 3 pm. American racing legend Parnelli Jones, the 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner, will be the celebrity guest. The museum site is the Estrella Warbirds Museum & Automobile Display, 4251 Dry Creek Rd., Paso Robles, CA. For more information check www.warbirds.org. Dick owned the Ward Duck Company at he southwest side of the 605 freeway and Valley Blvd. in Los Angeles County for many years in the 1960s-90s. He sold the property and it was to be developed into a park, but that has not happened yet.
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