Racing Scene Column – (OSS June 29)
By noderel:
Los Angeles, CA. - On Saturday, June 29 URA ran its third 2013 race at historic Macro Air Orange Show Stadium, which seats 4,000 on the front straight and another 4,000 on the backstretch. The three open-wheel divisions event featured 20 URA Unlimited Sprint Cars (15 410 cu. in. and five 360s), nine URA Limited (Ford Focus) Midgets, and 21 winged California Lightning Sprints powered by chain-driven motorcycle engines. A So Cal heat wave had a 111-degree high at OSS earlier in the afternoon matched hot action on the track. It was still 106 when I arrived at 4:45 pm. Once the sun set it was a comfortable, shirt-sleeve evening with a slight breeze. It was still 86 degrees when the final main event concluded at 11:28 pm. That was three minutes later than the OSS four division event on June 1.
The $4.00 OSS program had a full page tribute to the late Jason Leffler. It included a color photo of Jason in the No. 13 winged sprint in which he lost his life June 12 after a RF suspension part failed and led to his flip at a five-eighths mile clay track in New Jersey. The first 75 program buyers also received an OSS RACEO card in it. The top three car numbers were read after each race until winners claimed the prizes—two OSS tickets and a Jeff Kristensen DVD of an OSS race.
OSS sprint car counts at the first three 2013 races were 22 (April 27), 24 (June 1) and 20 (June 29). Sprints qualified from 6:30 to 6:49. The one-lap track record of 13.797 was set by No. 92 David Cardey on June 1. Nic Faas, the third qualifier, set the June 29 quick time of 14.054. CLS broke the one-lap TR of 14.494 set by No. 7 Jeff Dyer on April 27. CLS qualified in three groups of seven cars and No. 4x Steve Limon set the NTR of 14.291. He also won the 20-lap CLS feature after starting tenth and leading the final 12 laps.
HEAT/TRACK: The blazing sun played havoc with the clay track surface despite new clay trucked in since the June 1 race. The clay came from Roosevelt Cemetery located across Vermont Ave. in Gardena from Ascot Park. That famous 1957-1990 speedway also used the same site to replenish its famous clay surface. OSS management used the water truck to water both the dirt infield and clay racing surface repeatedly during the event. That tactic worked well until 20-sprinters raced 30-laps of the feature. Dust became a major problem then and dust also flew into the grandstands. Promoter Scott Burns did what he could preparing the track to beat the heat.
All three racing divisions ran heat races and main events with CLS and URA midgets running 20-lap mains. Then URA sprints concluded racing with a competitive 30 laps that had frequent passing for positions. Clayton Ruston, who turned 13 in mid-June, won his third consecutive URA midget main at OSS and led all the way. New URA midget drivers were CDCRA dwarf car veteran Angel Figueroa in Walt Boyd's No. 2x. It was his first URA midget outing. CLS vet Alex Bissett, 18, and speedway cycle 150cc Junior rider Courtney Crone, 12, were the other newcomers. All three acquitted themselves well and finished on the lead lap in their heat races and in the feature. Crone started last (P. 9) and finished a close seventh in the orange No. 32 Wally Pankratz Autoresearch/FF with eight of nine starters racing at the finish. Bissett was in P. 5 on lap 12 when overheating caused his race exit.
URA's 30-lap sprint main was as troublesome and time-consuming as the June 1 OSS sprint feature was a classic, memorable short-track main. This time 20-cars started at 10:35 pm. Spins caused two restarts at 10:40 and 10:43. The next yellow flew on lap 16 with only two cars lapped at that point. Brody Roa started his No. 91R Spike/Shaver on the pole and led all 30 laps, but he had to fight off Matt Mitchell to lap 23 and then June 1 winner Cardey to the lap 30 checkers.
Zaniness occurred on lap 23 after P. 2 Mitchell and P. 3 Cardey got out of shape, touched and veered through the fourth turn infield and back onto the front straight. Mitchell's No. 91 Bobby Ferro car made contact with Damion Gardner's No. 4A entering turn one and caused Gardner's car to slide into the first turn wall, where it stopped. Both drivers restarted at the back. Then Gardner's car stopped on the backstretch for his second stop. He pushed off again but by URA rules two stops and you're out. Gardner continued to circulate under caution and did not respond to the black flag. Announcer Doug Busey said Gardner's Alexander Racing 4A car would not be scored.
RED FLAG: With disgruntled Gardner at the back behind Mitchell's car, URA Race Director Steve Ostling ordered a red flag at 11:02 pm to resolve the situation. All cars stopped on the front straight. An official leaned into Gardner's car and told him to leave the track. He believed he was a victim and not the cause. Fans in the front grandstand booed and got vocal. “Let him race,” was heard frequently. A tow truck in the infield backed up to Gardner's car to lift it and remove it from the track. Then Gardner allowed a truck to push his Alexander No. 4A slowly back to the pits via the second turn exit road. He placed 17th after charging from eighth starting to fourth position in 23 laps. The green flag flew again at 11:13 after a delay of 11 minutes.
Flat RR tires became a problem for Don Gansen. The turn four crashes involved the Cody Swanson and Logan Williams cars on lap 24. On lap 28 Cal Smith got hit and spun in turn four and collected L. Williams 3X car. Both were sidelined. The top five entering the white flag lap were: Roa, Cardey, Austin Williams, Seth Wilson and Rip Williams. On the final time through the second turn A. Williams tapped the back of Cardey's 92 car; Wilson's 1X hit the back of AW's No. 2 and turned it 360 degrees and it raised a cloud of infield dirt. AW's car finished 12th. His dad Rip, 57, shot from P. 5 to P. 3 as he avoided the melee. Thirteen of 20 starters cars crossed the finish line.
When the dust settled, CLS driver/infield announcer Alex Grigoreas, still clad in his racing uniform, interviewed the top three. Alex did another excellent job interviewing in only his second time handling the infield microphone. Winner Roa said, “I heard him back there, but I just hit my marks. I put my wheel over the berm and knew they couldn't get past.” His girl friend Taylor ran up and gave him a big kiss. His dad Brett also enjoyed victory ceremonies. Brett said it was his team's largest race payday ever. “We won the Wagsdash twice--at Ventura in 2010 and at Hanford in 2011--and that paid $2,500 each time.” OSS sprint features pay $2,550 cash to the winners. Runner-up Cardey (the OSS June 1 winner) started seventh. “I was lucky to get there. There was a lot of chaos behind me. I waited for Brody to make a mistake but he never did.”
The $100 cash award posted by fan Ziggy for the P. 8 finisher went to Cody Williams. The $200 hard charger award from Ron Schwarze went to quickest qualifier Faas. He was in P. 5 when he spun in turn two on the initial lap. He restarted the full 30 lap race at the back in P. 19 and raced forward to fifth (+14 positions), proving passing was possible on the quarter-mile clay. Adding to Nic's impressive drive, Nic was in P. 9 on L 23 when the Mitchell and Gardner cars collided in turn one. In the ensuing scramble, Nic's Alexander No. 4 spun 360 degrees and continued non-stop after losing three positions. If he had stopped it would've been his second stop and both Alexander cars would be out because of the two stop rule. David Bezio (13th to 7th) and D. Gansen (19th to 13th) both gained six positions.
CHASSIS INFO: The Jack Jory four-car team for the Williams clan uses three different chassis. The 2 and 3 cars are Spikes, the 44 is a Viper and the 3X is a Stinger (the ex-Wiley Miller frame). Cardey's No. 92 Sertich “Moose-mobile” Victory chassis is the same car the team had on display at the Industry Speedway Wednesday night cycle races June 26. The No. 14 John Springstead sprint car raced by INEX Legend Car and VRA Midget veteran Cody Swanson, of Norco, is an old 1999 John Boy chassis built by John Sullivan in Sacramento. Swanson showed great promise at OSS as a sprint car driver, especially with an older chassis and with a 360 engine against 410 powered cars.
MIDGETS: The black, white trim and gold number 3 midget is owned by Chuck Turner, of Anaheim, and it debuted with URA at OSS June 29. Turner recently bought the 2005 Stealth from So. Cal's Gordy Edwards, who bought the car. A Fresno-based owner placed a for-sale ad for the midget on the Midget Madness website. Gordy never ran the car and quickly sold it to Chuck after he inquired about it. Turner hired CLS No. 3 driver Alex Bissett to race it and he did so three times before the OSS June 29 event. He raced it at Bakersfield Speedway once and at Ventura Raceway twice. The Turner/Bissett team plan to go to the January 2014 Tulsa Showdown the week before the Tulsa Chili Bowl. Alex, a recent Hemet HS graduate, said he raced in the last pre-Chili Bowl Showdown event and was black-flagged from the B-main for an oil leak. He said there were four classes and 938 entries.
Alex said his family owns two No. 3 CLS cars and might sell one of them as his midget/sprint car driving career expands. I asked Alex why he did not race the No. 1A older Maxim of Seth Wilson June 29 (he made an impressive initial sprint car debut in the car June 1 at OSS). He said the 1A car was in the OSS pits June 29 on an open trailer, but they decided to save the car to race at Perris on July 4 in the new Young Guns Division for drivers under age 21. It appears that talented Alex has midget and sprint car rides lined up for his future racing career expansion.
Wally Pankratz again had his blue 37 and orange 32 FF Midgets in action at OSS. On June 1 Jarid Blondel drove 37 and A. J. Burns, 18, drove the 32 car. On June 29 Burns switched to the 37 car and URA first-timer Courtney Crone raced the 32. Wally coaches both. He said A.J, son of promoter Scott Burns, will be going to college at Oklahoma U. He also tipped that he will bring his 37 and 32 midgets to Industry Speedway on Wednesday, July 10 for annual demo hot-laps on the speedway cycle racing track. He said he and Courtney (who races the No. 4 Junior 150cc cycle) will drive the two midgets on the small, indoor dirt track.