May 7, 2011

By Ken Wagner

Is it all worth it? I mean does driving 11 hours in one day, for over 700 miles coming and going, to see the best damn 30 lapper of thunder and lightning like the old days of great racing, and returning home for Mother’s day a doable quest and ……… worth the trouble? If you mean getting to see a real race on a dusty slick track after a “delay-fest” night of stockers and modifieds that dirves sane people crazy, the answer is a resounding YES! I loved it and the sprint cars racing wheel to wheel was just as I remembered it, fabulous!

My pics from Hanford Click here to see. Steve Lafond adds his work Click here, Doug Allens work is here as usual click here to view.

When the night started neither the fans nor the drivers could see anything coming out of turn four when the CRA heats were on display. Somehow they raced on, the dust let up and what a show it was, perhaps one of the best since Lealand McSpadden use to grace this track many years ago. With 24 cars in the house, it didn’t matter that there were 360’s in the field, as everyone was on the gas and the resulting main event was a bomb! The opening green flag saw Greg Bragg start his night off in the lead for two laps before Cory Kruseman took over. Then Danny Faria wrestled it away from him after Cory’s 11 laps of fame. It wasn’t known at the time but “Mr Hollywood” Faria had no brakes after a lap two incident and fought every corner from that moment on in a valiant effort that almost had this one added to his win total. He really did an outstanding job without brakes, you try it! That was until he spun out the team car to the winner with four laps to go, yipes, with the eventual winner Bud Kaeding seriously on his case for several laps. When Budman took the lead on that last restart, it was all over as he bested Nic Faas at the end who had roared from his 19th starting spot to grab 2nd place in a great ride in the Alexander’s Silver Bullet car. Bud was awesome in his run to the front and makes me wonder why he isn’t back in Indiana tearing USAC up like he did a few years ago, or better yet, why not come south and give the CRA heroes something to think about. It’s not too late for him to make a run at the CRA championship, is it?

When this 2,413th CRA main event started, the dust was distracting, but the 20 cars on the track were wheels in the air and fighting immediately, and I had a feeling it was going to be special. Somehow point leader, and undefeated Mike Spencer, got jostled down the front straightaway on lap 2 and some wheel banging went on with him exiting the speedway for the night while bringing out the first yellow, ending his run of domination for 2011. On that wild scramble, Jeff Gardner went sliding to the infield with a very tweaked front end, his night also done. This is where “Mr Hollywood” got his brake line severed and yet on he went into the battle taking the lead on lap 14. Oh I forgot that “Budman” leaped up on an almost parked Bullet Blake Miller, who was having his hands full with the low turn one “Big Bump” that would throw a number of cars off line sliding low around it in the feature. Bud’s mount literally hung onto the yellow beauty and they looked like two dogs in heat as they came to a stop in the corner. They both restarted in the rear and what followed was one of the most exciting come from behind runs since the Tempe Tornado started 24th back on a CRA tour at Lincoln, PA when he finished 2nd to Mike Kirby with no visibility due to severe dust billowing for 30 laps. Ahhh, but I reflect too much as I remember!

Bud Kaeding was the show, and rightfully so, but he wasn’t the only show in town Saturday night as two young CRA stars had some of their own brilliance along the way. When young ”Sneaky Nic” Faas qualified earlier in the day, running the bottom exclusively for 19th quick, I was concerned for his first trip to Hanford. But, as they say that was not a problem later when he started in the last row of the main. Sneaky Nic did in fact sneak up on the field as he was hooked up going to the front right away. When he got to third, he had only the two team cars with Bud and Danny in front of him and he still looked very fast. The Alexander car that once had a future hall of famer in the seat, The Cowboy Tony Jones, was set up for speed and Nic utilized it all in his run towards the front. It was a great job by the young driver, one of his best efforts in a sprint car, who was blessed with his parents cheering him on from the main grandstand.

Matt Mitchell started the year off with a podium at the opener in Perris, but was looking for better. Just like Faas, Matt started in his qualifying spot (13th) in the main and began a great ride up to third before the end. He utilized some of his great moves to go forward and looked like he had something in the tank left at the end, but it ended too soon and he made his second podium of the year passing ten cars. Matt says he has something new that will unfold at the next race that should make him even faster. He also has a secret weapon in his corner as Garrett Hanson has been working on his car exclusively while he waits for his back to get over a bad crash a couple of seasons ago. Garrett has tried to let it heal on it’s own, but what is needed apparently is a very expensive surgery to fix it. Until then he still is a good wrench for his buddy Matt.

For all practical purposes, the Hanford track wasn’t at its best this night, but the racing was really special. In the old days, this place was one of the very best race tracks in California and always a must see when we raced there. On this night it gave the crew chief’s fits to keep up with it, but the small crowd got to see a special main event that was one of the best I have seen in the over 25 years I have been going there. In these tough times, it is unfortunate that a Saturday night NASCAR event probably kept some of our fans home. I must also note here that fans might chose racing on TV, or the internet, instead of spending their hard earned money, or is it their savings, to go to a live racing event. TV and the internet is free after all, and I wonder why the live internet events can’t be tape delayed, so our great fans could go racing instead of doing home race watching! Sorry, there has to be a way to get the fans in the stands so we can go forward as the dwindling attendance numbers continue to erode our favorite sport. At least the live event could be blacked out in the southland allowing others farther away to see it!

After my long 23 hour day, and after 6 weeks of no racing for this Wag, it was a worthy adventure going to this race. Of course it wasn’t all peaches and cream this trip, but you gotta love driving a Vette on these long trips, roaring down the black top with horsepower roaring at the slightest touch of the gas pedal, the motor music alone is worth it! I drove to Bakersfield for lunch with Randy, Julie, her dad Gary, Paul, plus Steve and Shelley Ostling at a Logan’s Steakhouse. After a great lunch graciously paid for by Gary, I decided to jump in Randy’s big Ford SUV so I could rest on the way back to Bakersfield after the races. Well, you might say I picked the wrong pony this time, as we heard a noise when he started the SUV up. Hmm, that clicking sound was what (?) and yet still I loaded in and we took off. Unfortunately, it wasn’t but a few miles down the road when we quickly pulled off the freeway into a gas station where Paul and Randy checked the transmission oil before proceeding. The dipstick said it was full, but the next attempt at driving the SUV was aborted when the nasty noise coming from the broken tranny forced a “park it or else” routine. Stevo was called back South from his track heading direction to rescue us. While he and Shelley took me back to my car, Randy was ordering AAA to pick up his toy and take it to his family repair shop back in Torrance. Paul rode with me as Steve took the other three on to Hanford. After the races they would be getting a ride home, somehow.

Is it a sign of the times as this week produced a startling bit of news from the Kittle Motorsports, Danny Sheridan Racing Team. They announced a cutting back move that included selling the Hauler and many related 410 parts and putting their efforts in running a 360 for the near future as the team wants to stay together and race. Last year, as I told everyone, money was a problem for the team big time. How they ever made it thru the year with a low buck budget ledger, finished 2nd in points and was trying to go forward like normal this season is merely a giant sleight of hand magic trick! Now finally they are facing the grim reaper of our racing gods and are trying to continue on with the hopes that someone of great forward thinking who has a lot of cash can infuse their 410 dreams to get them back where they wish to be. But, in today’s real world, this reality show is grounded without 410 racing for now, and life will go on, but they are sticking together! They begin next week at Tulare in that 360 event, and if that is the way it has to be, so be it!!!

Randy Shiosaki, The Kittle Krew Chief and his sidekick Paul Dean, were at a racetrack without their revered little blue sucker for the first time in a long while, and so both got interested in helping someone else for the night in lieu of sitting in the grandstands, heaven forbid! Randy had hooked up with Danny Faria and his ride for this event, so at least he was at home with a wrench in his hand getting in his favorite type of racing fun. It looked like things were really good for that team as the red # 2 race car led 12 laps until the loss of brakes was the killer ending for them. I didn’t see who Paul helped, but I know he wasn’t just standing still out there.

Sitting in the reserved grandstands with Don “THE” Barber, Trucker Frank and Suitcase, most of what’s left of the Petaluma Posse of the old days, was fun as they came down for the CRA show and we only had to bail out of our “reserved “ spots once. Until the barnstorming feature, The Barber was musing it was a long way to travel for the “delay-fest” of stockers and modifieds we all endured, but afterwards there was nothing but smiles on the three amigos as they went out the gate knowing like me it was all worth it!

There was a too small crowd for such a great night, and I am saddened for the promoter and hope when we return for the last race in November that we can fill the place up! There was so much good racing with our sprint cars, who could forget David Cardey’s 360 spin in the feature and continuing on!

I HATE THIS HEADLINE! ARE 410’S DEAD OR IS IT MERELY A MEDIA MESS? IS THUNDER AND LIGHTNING FIZZLING OUT? DID THE PREVERBIAL CASH COW DIE? AM I WORRYING TOO MUCH?

During the long break since I last sat in a grandstands for racing, I’ve been home in lost wages thinking, a dangerous thing for me, and I seem to be lost on what is going on in our racing world, A.K.A. the wonderful world of USAC/CRA 410 thunder and lightning. Since I don’t have a crystal ball or a swami to help me, is it best remembered or can we possibly move it forward into the 21st century and bring back the good ol’ days of packed stadiums and “C” mains every race? Where did we go wrong? Where are we headed? What will it take to put that nasty slogan I hear only too often (410’s are dead!) out of our heads?

I always thought I had a good handle on what was going on in our racing and where we should go, but now that I get nearer to my golden years, I realize I have no clue. And looking back, I am not sure I ever did! My grandsons have a whole different outlook on life and what is fun for the younger generation and it doesn’t include the growth of sprint car racing. Cage fighting, that’s what they like, how come I don’t see it? I have followed racing thru my version of what’s hot from the 1970’s Ascot CRA days thru the NARC days up north, the wonderful WOO trips to Knoxville, and the realization that we had it best with traditional sprint car racing back home and went with it. I left Knoxville early on Saturday mornings the last few years I went there to come home to what I know is the best racing there is. I lived and breathed CRA traditional sprint car racing and supported it the best way I could by raising money and running the Wagsdash for low buck teams the last 20 years. And now………. I feel like the fossil I seemed to have turned into. What can I do to help???? Search me, I am still willing, but have lost the foresight!

I wasn’t in favor of the death of the original CRA, but figured the racers needed leadership after Glenn Howard started the SCRA and moved on. How was I to know that the ultramodern Perris track, that was the answer to our dreams after Ascot closed, would begin to lose cars and fans like a tsunami moving thru So Cal. That their opener was the best crowd they would ever see. History tells us that USAC’s support when they came to town was not what we expected, but we still went racing. I am stuck in limbo as I watch the message board wars in public that need to be resolved in private. I see the desire to pay the racers less becoming a problem, a big problem. I see the dwindling crowds causing much of this. I see too much that makes me sad and I say stop it, and get together and work it all out. Remember, most of the “problems” in CRA history have been the breakdown of loyalty to the club by owners and racers who do their own thing without thinking about the big picture!

We need more than Perris to keep the racing going! We need new fans, fans returning to watch, sponsors, more cars and probably we need a strong leader to make it all happen. I’ve always supported the racers and management from Frank Lewis to Glenn Howard, to Ron Shuman, to USAC. I see what Steve Ostling, Julie Shiosaki and the little band of CRA officials who work their butts off and try to make the racers world a better reality, but they need help! I can’t speak for the promoter who doesn’t have the racers in mind, or the promoters who are trying to work some magic to grow this thing, but I can speak for myself when I say, let’s get it right or the 410’s are DEAD! Perhaps some wish it that way, but not me!

Is the Kittle/Sheridan announcement just the start of CHANGE coming and our racing community currently suffers from? Will there be others backing off the 410 road and more owners switching horses to stay afloat by going to the CHEAPER (?) 360 racing? Will Perris be able to hang in there and grow their crowds? Will travel become even more limited for our CRA teams. Will people notice that without the 360’s running with us we have no car counts to brag about? Is the traveling fan extinct like a dinosaur and no longer part of the mix? Am I the only one who prays for a resolution, or is the world according to Garp controlling us? Am I imagining things or did I only recognize about 20 people in the grandstands last night. There was a time when I had more than that in my Wagtimes group, but no more! Perhaps I should, as one friend told me this week, concentrate on my basketball and baseball life as my racing world spins out of control. Am I going to have to move to Indiana to get to see my beloved 410's race? Ohh my, the heat and humidity of it all!

It seems to me that all the people who spend time complaining, including me, should spend their time shopping for fans and sponsors instead of stirring a pot that is already black on the bottom and threatening to burn up in our atmosphere! Let’s all pledge to bring someone, or send someone new to the races, with their kids (!) and rejuvenate our sport. Call all your former grandstand fans and urge them to come back! Aren’t there a lot of us sitting at home with time on our hands who can start a sprint car racing revolution (SCRR) and get some grass roots info-mercial moving. Now is the time to flex our love of racing muscles and inform the uninformed. We need to start kicking these rotting tires of racing now, before it all flattens out! Go – Go – Go – TEAM! It’s your racing life too! Many of us are an army of one, and armies can grow when they stick together on one goal! Think about it, it’s in your court!

I am now looking forward to the next Perris race on the holiday weekend ahead, but might venture out somewhere this next weekend to get another racing fix. It won’t be 410’s but will I notice, or care? That remains to be seen as just being with my racing friends sometimes is enough! I will see YOU along the way, won’t I?

Keep in mind that the Wagsdash this season is destined to be parked due to all things related to our racing, but that I still will collect a few bucks along the way to put on one of the last races of the year starting with a Wagtimes hard charger award and more Wags low buck racing presentations to the car owners who can use some extra money as the figure grows. News about when and where will be forthcoming. Also remember my friend Mike Clark’s quest to raise money in memory of Jack Kraemer to be presented at Terre Haute on July 13th to a hard luck driver and other awards if funds are available. See me or Mike along the way to get involved.

5/7/11 FEATURE at Hanford Raceway: (30 lap FEATURE: (30 laps) Starting spot in Parenthesis 1. Bud Kaeding (4), 2. Nic Faas (19), 3. Matt Mitchell (13), 4. Cory Kruseman (5), 5. Rip Williams (1), 6. Jace VanderWeerd (11), 7. Rickie Gaunt (9), 8. David Cardey (6), 9. Greg Bragg (2), 10. Cody Kershaw (17), 11. Blake Miller(3), 12. Rusty Carlile (15), 13. Cody Williams (14), 14. Marty Hawkins (20), 15. Rodney Argo (18), 16. Austin Williams (7), 17. Danny Faria Jr. (10), 18. Mike Spencer (8), 19. Jeff Gardner (16), 20. Richard VanderWeerd (12). NT.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Bragg, Laps 3-13 Kruseman, Laps 14-26 Faria, Laps 27-30 Kaeding.

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT POINTS: 1-Spencer-242; 2-Cardey-236; 3-Mitchell-224; 4-Miller-222; 5-Bragg-181; 6-Faas-163; 7-Gaunt-163; 8-C.Williams-130; 9-A.Williams-124; 9-David Bezio-117.

NEXT AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT RACE: May 28th – Perris, CA – Perris Auto Speedway