August 17, 2011

By Ken Wagner

Austin Williams won his first ever USAC/CRA race and he did it with Danny Sheridan on his tail for 30 laps. The young son of hall of famer Rip Williams did it in spite of one mistake that almost spun him out about halfway thru. Imagine leading from start to finish for 30 laps without a rear view mirror and still winning, what a rush. He took the lead at the green flag and with only one yellow to rattle him, hung in for a great win for the family and John Jory Team. It was an exciting end to a small 18 car count main event that kept the crowd entertained and on their feet at times.

My pics Click here to view. Korie Lafond's work Click here to view. For Steve Lafond Click here to view. Doug Allens work is here as usual click here to view.

Danny “Showtime” Sheridan has never won at his home track running with CRA, but he came very close in this one. Starting on the outside front row, he pulled even with the eventual winner coming out of turn two on the opening lap, but slid up into the cushion soft stuff and that was the old ball game. He fought a “pushin the cushion” set up car and man handled it for a very good podium slot, his second in a row. He’s never been closer to winning at home, but he was on the gas sawing the wheel the whole way.

Ronnie “Little G” Gardner had himself another good finish, his third top five in a row and first podium of the year! He was 5th quick and started 5th in the feature and slipped into 3rd with plenty of time to go. He looked like he might continue on, but Sheridan was able to hold him off and he settled for third. Little G has really improved since his ride has been more consistent and look for more from this smart young driver from the Gardner camp.

It’s always a pleasure to go to a race at Santa Maria, especially a non-wing CRA event. This race wasn’t necessarily unexpected at a track that is known for first time winners. Names like Ed Organ, Bobby George, Kim Craft, and John Andretti all won for the first time there, and in addition, it was their only win! Tyler Brown won his first of 2 at Santa Maria, Steve Howard won his 1st of 3 , John Scott won 2 of his 5, as did Garrett Hanson, even the redhead Blake Miller has 1 of his 6 wins there and Duane Feduska got 1 of his 2. So history has shown it’s a good place for first timers and now we have one more.

It was a great day with little wind and a full grandstand and the 18 cars came to race hard. Matt Mitchell found out the hard way in his heat when he got up and over very high going into turn three and landed on his head. He ended up running ninth later, but it hurt him nevertheless. Mike Spencer, the point leader and 3 time CRA champion, set fast time at 14.227 and won his heat going away. He would There were only three 6 car heats, but plenty of action as cars tried to get their spot in the main secured. Danny Faria and Cory Kruseman won the other two heats with at least a yellow flag stop in all three. I wonder where all the cars were as nobody was running sprint cars in the Southland? Is it that bad in our economy? Well, it must be.

Promoter Chris Kearns continued his $1000 to win Last Man Standing Dash and the winner turned out to be Mike Spencer when Little G couldn’t get the advantage on the last 2 lap portion of the event. It gave the fans something to watch in between the racing. Also on the track was what was supposed to be one high speed ride in a two seater and turned out to be about 7 rides with Danny Sheridan doing the chauffeuring for the lucky dogs!

Steve Lafond gave me a neat canvas painted pic of Mike Spencer for the Wags-online-auction. I put it up, so get to bidding. There are a lot of neat pics out there so get involved as all the money will be awarded at the Hanford CRA race in November. It will be my Wagsdash like event for this year. Just e-mail me at winglesswarriors@aol.com and put your bid in on any of the items. Also, if you have some extra money (ha ha ha ha ha ha) start getting it to me for the event. Or add some items, let’s make some low buck car owners happy on that race day.

A press release from Brody Roa was released this week. August 15, 2011, Long Beach , CA – Mike and Jim Zupanovich , owners of HD Industries / Harbor Diesel and Equipment, Inc. in Long Beach announced today that they are joining Brody Roa’s BR Performance Sprint Car Team as a major sponsor starting with the USAC/CRA 410 race at Perris Auto Speedway, this Saturday, August 20. HD Industries / Harbor Diesel and Equipment, Inc. President, Mike Zupanovich said, “We are very excited with the prospect of what this new support will help Brody achieve.” Brody plans on making the most of this great opportunity as he continues gaining experience in his sophomore year. “The support of HD Industries should boost my team’s performance and help us run all the races that we have on our schedule, which will hopefully include the Oval Nationals”, Brody said shortly after this announcement. How nice for the young man who is going places in his sprint car.

Perris is this week and I wonder what the car count will be? It is the last race before the annual 2 day event at Calistoga, so I hope we get support for both. Regardless, I will be at both looking to have a good time on my racing trips. Every race is a trip to me these days, but I still love the thunder and lightning and hope it booms very loud!

8/13/11 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Austin Williams, 2. Danny Sheridan, 3. Ronnie Gardner, 4. Danny Faria, Jr., 5. Richard VanderWeerd, 6. Mike Spencer, 7. Jace VanderWeerd, 8. Rip Williams, 9. Matt Mitchell, 10. Rusty Carlile, 11. Cory Kruseman, 12. Nic Faas, 13. Rickie Gaunt, 14. Johnathon Henry, 15. Cody Williams, 16. Rodney Argo, 17. Bill Jones, 18. Wes Gutierrez. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 A.Williams.

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT POINTS: 1-Spencer-561; 2-Faas-518; 3-Mitchell-505; 4-A.Williams-457; 5-Greg Bragg-385; 6-Williams-362; 7-Gardner-343; 8-Gaunt-338; 9-Sheridan-333; 10-R.Williams-319.

NEXT AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT RACE: August 20 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway