July 30, 2011

By Ken Wagner

On a warm summer evening, but nothing like the humidified Indiana trip I just came back from, 28 cars showed up for the annual Kindoll Classic and Mike Spencer won the 30 lap affair for the 3rd time in a row! He was 6th quick and after winning his heat, he started in the 2nd row of the main with the 8 car inversion. He jumped into 2nd behind early leader Greg Bragg and swung into the lead on lap 4. He didn’t give up the lead as the race moved along to the end. It looks like the little red sucker is on a roll and it doesn't appear anyone has anything to stop the championship train unless Nic Faas and Matt Mitchell can catch it, we'll see.

My pics Click here to view. Doug Allens work is here as usual click here to view.

Nic Faas started his night off being 2nd quick and running 3rd in his heat. He was seeded into the last man standing dash with the other 3 quick timers and came out ahead when the deal was done for some extra cash. In the feature he started in the 4th row and moved swiftly to 2nd, but was never able to get a good bead on the little red sucker. It was a strong night for the silver bullet and the Alexander racing team.

The podium wasn’t destined for Danny “Showtime” Sheridan, so it seemed, after he was 5th quick, just missing the cash dash and then crashed in his heat. Something broke as he was in a transfer and the little blue bugger met the third turn wall, hard. It took the crew a lot of work to get ready for the Semi, and they barely did, and Showtime won that easily. When the main started he was in 9th spot and immediately on the move. Suddenly a four car scramble left him stopped in turn 4 and ready to restart in the back. Almost like a fantasy story, Danny rolled up to third but couldn’t reel in the top two. It was his 2nd top five finish in a row.

This week we had the additional 360 Senior cars that made it look like more cars. They ran their own feature plus the 410 main, so a pat on the back to them. Jesse Denome won the Senior feature after a real battle at the end where he was passed going into turn three, and in classic sprint car style, he cut under the offender and raced to the checkered flag a winner. That was pretty exciting stuff for the fans. Oh and for the winged lightning sprints, guess who now has more wins than his son in this division? Bobby Michnowicz won his 4th race subbing for his young son Kevin, who chose going to the X games instead of racing? I’d never let my father drive my winning car!

The crowd wasn’t packed, but those who came saw some good action. I sat up in the grandstands sans Wagtimer’s this week as only Racers Pub Fred and his sidekick Roy K were nearby. The Prolong sales booth had their normal supercharged little metropolitan and what appeared to be a 600 horsepower, Aries powered, blown 32 Ford. Yikes, when they fired it up behind the grandstands, it lit up the sky with flames rolling out of the headers about 10 feet or so, and it was loud. It looked like some of the cruisers during RT 66 weekend at San Bernardino.

I came down early in the morning and went back after the races on another turnaround. I really don’t like it, but I don’t see the family if I don’t. Next race for me is Santa Maria when I will have my Granddaughter Zoe with me. Look for us and keep on racin”!

Keep Hanford on your schedule on November 12th. The last race of the season for USAC/CRA will give us a chance to help the low buck racers in lieu of no Wagsdash this season. That will be the target race for creating some low buck racers money in Wagsdash like collections and payouts. We will be paying out for the hard charger, hard luck owner, best appearing car and hopefully some other payouts as if it is a Wagsdash day. There will be a Wagtimer’s gathering on Friday night before the event for all the traditional workerbee’s and friends. I am over $120 in my Lafand Jar of Change (Junior) at my house and Steve has more in his like usual. Collect your change for us. I am putting up some pics for sale and you can bid by e-mail. Any other items I have will also be added and all the monies collected will go to this event. Click here to bid! I’ve got 3 months to get as much money as I can and depending on how it goes, we’ll add things to put money in the racers pockets. Get involved and let me know what you can do. I know the economic problems many have, so I am not going to hassle you this year, if you can help, do it! We’ll call it the “a fun day with Wags stuff” and see how it works out. I have about $500 in the bucket so far, so…………?

Fast Time: Ronnie Gardner, 93, Gardner-16.504

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Mike Spencer, 2. Nic Faas, 3. Danny Sheridan, 4. Austin Williams, 5. Ronnie Gardner, 6. Cody Williams, 7. Brody Roa, 8. Kenny Perkins, 9. Greg Bragg, 10. Damion Gardner, 11. Matt Mitchell, 12. David Bezio, 13. Johnny McCall, 14. Brandon Thomson, 15. Matt Shedarowich, 16. Jesse Denome, 17. Bobby Bender, 18. David Cardey, 19. Rodney Argo, 20. Randy Waitman. NT

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT POINTS: 1-Spencer-502; 2-Faas-479; 3-Mitchell-466; 4-A.Williams-391; 5-Bragg-385; 6-C.Williams-332; 7-Cardey-318; 8-Rickie Gaunt-304; 9-R.Gardner-281; 10-Blake Miller-277.

NEXT AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT RACE: August 13 – Santa Maria (CA) Speedway