USAC SPRINTS--PERRIS OVAL NATIONALS - (Part I)
By noderel:
The Perris Auto Speedway Heimark Distributing USAC AMSOIL Anheuser Budweiser Oval Nationals (November 3-5) was the 26th running of the prestigious race on the Riverside County clay half-mile. The 2020 event was canceled because of the COVID pandemic. The Oval Nationals revival in 2021 was back to normal and fans returned. Many also watched at home via pay per view. The car count increased from 34 in 2021 to 41 this year.
Drivers last year came from six states and this year from seven states: Arizona, Alabama, California, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and Nebraska. Total purse was $118,270. Thursday and Friday 30-lap main event winners received $5,000 and all A-main starters received at least $500. Saturday's 40-lap A-main winner received $20,000 and feature starters received at least $1,000. Special awards added to the money disbursed following the Oval Nationals. The distinctive white eagle Oval Nationals trophy also was awarded to Saturday's winner.
Credit should go to PAS promoter Don Kazarian for keeping non-wing 410 ci sprint car racing active in So Cal since the track opened in 1996. He has kept the racing traditions of Ascot Park alive after the Gardena track closed following the 1990 season. The Oval Nationals became a worthy successor to Ascot's Pacific Coast Championship event. For decades the PCC was one of three high-dollar sprint car classics along with the Knoxville (Iowa) Nationals and Western World Championship at Keith Hall's Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix.
Kazarian, in his mid-60s, received recognition when he was named the 2021 national non-wing 410 promoter of the year in the annual contest for 360 and 410 promoters of winged and non-winged racing. That honor was well deserved. However, Kazarian also deserves to be nominated and inducted in the promoter category into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa. He signed a lengthy extension of his PAS lease last year so he intends to continue promoting PAS races.
One of the first things that hits a person entering the PAS this year is a large white billboard between the first two turns. It reads “# Save Perris” in large black letters. It relates to the fact that the State of California Department of Water Resources plans to expand the Perris dam located beyond the PAS backstretch. That means the speedway and state fairgrounds on which it is located would be demolished. The timeline is not set yet. Predicted costs for the dam expansion have increased dramatically since the plan became known. If implemented it could be another waste of government tax money as is the current misguided bullet train project between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Opponents of the Perris dam expansion and demolition of the fairgrounds and PAS racetrack are asked to telephone their opposition politely to Governor Gavin Newsome at (916) 445-2841. All caller topics are logged and the governor is informed about how people react to various issues. Also contact California Senate and Assembly members from Riverside County so they can help derail the expensive and disruptive Perris dam project.
What makes the PAS Oval Nationals such a must see event is the fact it is a point race for USAC National Sprints and USAC-CRA regional sprint series. This year nine of the top ten national drivers raced. Only Chase Stockon was absent. Fourteen of 41 drivers were 2022 USAC National series drivers. Most of the point chasing USAC-CRA drivers competed. As usual national drivers dominated Oval Nationals qualifying, points, and money won. It proved again that racing more often helps develop skilled drivers.
California drivers such as Anaheim's Jake Swanson and Max Adams moved to Indiana several years ago and race often there. Their racing skills have improved noticeably. Brody Roa and Eddie Tafoya, Jr. also benefited by their Indiana Speed Week racing. A week before the 2022 Oval Nationals Swanson finished second in the Friday Western World feature at Cocopah Speedway near Yuma, Ariz. and won the Saturday main event and $20,000. He finished second in the PAS Oval Nationals for another $10,000 payday. USAC National Sprints completed 38 races in 2022 and had eight rain-outs. USAC-CRA completed 21 events, had a rain-out early, two races lost to central California July water use restrictions, and several cancellations because of September forest fires.
The 2022 Oval Nationals field of 41 sprint cars had eight different chassis builders. DRC led with 16 cars. Triple X had seven, Maxim-five, Eagle and Spike-two each, and one each from Ellis, Sherman, and TCR. Most of the USAC National Series cars were built in 2022. Engine makers included Kistler, Rider, Claxton, Shaver, and Don Ott. Thursday and Saturday A-main winner Brady Bacon had a Rider and Friday winner Robert Ballou used an Ott engine.
Bacon's victories in Thursday and Saturday A-mains earned $5,000 and $20,000 paydays for his No. 69 Hoffman Racing Chevy. He also won $10,000 as the inaugural Bubby Jones Race Faster Award from Spire Sports. The USAC National Sprint Series selected ten races from May through November and counted points from those races. Bacon topped Justin Grant by 34 points. That gave him $35,000 plus his money earned for fifth place in Friday's feature.
Bacon became the 17th different Oval Nationals champion. Three time winners of the white eagle trophy are: Bud Kaeding, Dave Darland, Damion Gardner and Kevin Thomas, Jr.; the latter two competed in the 2022 Oval Nationals. Two-time winner Cory Kruseman is retired and a midget/sprint car owner and operator of his own race driving school in Ventura.
Cars entered in the 2022 Oval Nationals that were no shows were: Tye Mihocko (No. 5), Brent Owens (71), and rookie Shane Sexton (74). Car counts from Thursday through Saturday were 40, 38 and 36. Four cars that raced Thursday did not race Friday. Cars of Verne Sweeney (98) and Danny Sheridan (12A) were damaged in Thursday's semi-main too severely to compete. Dan Taylor (T5) and Jason McDougal (22AZ) had engine problems. The No. 23 TCR oldest car in the field was built by Larry Brown in Bakersfield at least 18 years ago. Current owner John Bellegante, 92, maintains his sprinter at home in Barstow.