By Ken Wagner
October 4, 2008

When the night started Tony Jones was riding a 3 race winning streak at Perris that was pretty awesome, and point leader Mike Spencer had a 109 point lead for the 2008 championship. When the night ended, nothing changed for Tony as he drove his silver bullet, La Villa Restaurant, Ferreira Dairy, Alexander Trucking number 4 very hard to another win. He led all 30 laps in this week’s edition of thunder and lightning with the USAC/CRA. Unfortunately, Spencer’s point lead was cut to 63 as he had a problem in the main event. The Cowboy was 10th quick and won his heat on his way to starting outside the front row in the main event.

Here's Mrs Wags pics Click here. And my pics Click here. Doug Allen's click here.

Tony took the lead at the start with David Cardey taking a few shots at him before recovering from a nasty bike job that only lost him one spot. This gave slick Nic Faas his opening to go get the Cowboy. For probably 20 laps the 38 year old Jones was hassled by the slick 19 year old youngster every corner. Jones, just being The Cowboy, held him off and then pulled away at the end. His 4th win of the year puts him now tied for 13th on the all time So Cal list with Eddie Wirth and Mike Sweeney, all with 33 wins. What have the Alexander’s found? Whatever it is, Tony is taking advantage and putting the car in the winner’s circle. He must be tired of climbing the fence, no, he’ll be glad to do it e very race, but it was a long dry spell.

Blake Miller continues to chase the point leader from his second place spot and when Mike Spencer got whacked early in the main and couldn’t return, he gained nearly 50 points on him. Blake got to drive his own car this week s it performed flawlessly. Bullet Blake was quick timer with 16.716, ran 2nd in his heat and started 8th in the main event grid. In the Jeff Gardner owned and sponsored by Roy Miller Freight Lines, Gardner Pipe & Mechanical, blue # 93, Blake moved smoothly thru traffic to grab second late in the race, but too late to catch the Cowboy. He is showing a lot of consistency as his position in second in points is well earned. The likeable redhead doesn’t seem to be affected by anything, and just goes out and has a great time.

You can’t say enough good things about Nic Faas’s driving, and his car is super fast as he challenges the front runners every race. He leads the USAC midget deal and only comes by the sprint car wars when he is free. Nic drives the # 17 family sprinter sponsored by Simpson, Advanced Racing Suspensions and Petry Computer Services. At nineteen, he has a great future ahead of him and Slick Nic is a force to deal with now, but when he gets more seat time, watch out veterans, this youngster is serious trouble when he races with you.

Danny Sheridan did a yoemans job this week after qualifying for the 7th row in the main. He ran it to 4th near the end and that despite having one little soree around turn three that looked like he might have lifted off all four wheels, but he still landed and went on OK to the end. After Tyler Brown brought out the new blue # 96 last week and looked ready to make that one a winner, it was surprising to see him turn up in Nadine’s # 16 ride in the Semi. He transferred to the main in theblack # 16 and started last in the main. He wasn’t the only driver with problems this week,and as usual, there were many others who bit the bullet so to speak. Mike Spencer was the first to go out in the main when he got the car a little sideways and was punched hard by another car, so hard they couldn’t get it repaired and ready to restart. Gregg Bragg was the other car involved in that incident and he was done as well when he got on his head.Alan Ballard was running very strong in 5th when his car went silent down the front stretch and he was out. Cory Kruseman pulled in on a yellow and didn’t return with a problem. Danny “Hollywood” Faria had his trouble and was on the hook and out early as well.

Two drivers not seen lately in these parts showed up this week. Matt Stewart, lately of motocross racing after selling his sprint car last year, got a ride in Tony Everhart’s second car. He gave it a ride and just missed transferring to the main. Bobby Ferro tried his # 91 out for some fun and drove it hard, but missed a transfer as well.

Several travelers dropped in to swell the car count this week, mostly to run here before the Oval Nationals, and it was fun having them. Peter Murphy, Rusty Carlile, Danny Faria and Andrew Reinbold all made the long tow. Peter ran 7th for the best of the lot with Andrew 14th and Faria 17th. Rusty missed the main by 1 spot. Having 37 cars was a treat as that makes the heats much better and more heroes to cheer for.

It didn’t look good when the moisture coming down the hill to Glen Helen area was light but still wet. Arriving at the track created the usual packed scene. I was thankful for being able to park in the Oval area, because it was a long walk to my mule from the area they were putting people. I missed the lockup the week before and had to leave my mule exposed, so it was a tad dirty, but still there! The delay to let the cars into the pit area like usual was twofold. First the Monster truck event earlier in the morning was done, but they were still inside. I guess they decided to leave them there. The other problem was the wait for an ambulance to treat a young fair attendee that got hurt. It was misting very lightly as we waited to sign in, so much so I had to take my specs off as they were getting wet. Finally, all inside we went and the night began.

Having the night overcast and actually cool was very different and signaled the start of fall with cooler weather ahead. The annual Oval golf tourney was cancelled due to lack of interest, so a practice night is scheduled for Wednesday night and will be free in the grandstands to all spectators who can go. I didn’t go fair shopping for food this time, or anytime now that I think of it, but the grounds were covered with the usual booths hawking their wares as we snuck in from the pits and moved thru the crowd to the grandstands. The show was over before 9:30 and we were out the gate, on the road and home by 1 AM for a nice change. With a week off, I will be going to the reunion drags in Bakersfield, actually at the drag strip called Auto Club Famosa Raceway. One of Josh Ford’s sponsors, Walt Stevens a former top gas dragster driver back in the day, will be running a front motored dragster that represents what they used to run back then. I’ll be checking him out and the racing on the strip plus the usual car show that is all over behind the grandstands every year. Many of the sports famous cars of the 60’s and 70’s ill be there to show off.

The 2008 Legends of Ascot Event is sold out. There are NO ticket sales on the day of the Event. Admission to the Event includes plenty of “bench racing”, the Award Presentations that will honor Chuck Hulse, Ned Spath, Billy Boat, Brad Noffsinger, Carl Allemen, Don Brasile, Louie Senter, and a lifetime achievement award to the entire Gardner family , plus auctions, raffles, an excellent buffet lunch, collectable souvenir program, the vintage racecar display, and admission to the USAC/CRA sprint car races on that night. Contact: Legends of Ascot (310) 549-3562, legendsofascot@aol.com, www.legendsofascot.com if you have any questions.

October 4th FEATURE: (30 laps - With Starting Positions)
1. Tony Jones (2nd), 2. Blake Miller (8th), 3. Nic Faas (4th), 4. Danny Sheridan (14th), 5. Matt Mitchell (9th), 6. David Cardey (1st), 7. Peter Murphy (11th), 8. Rodney Argo (15th), 9. Josh Ford (13th), 10. Cody Williams (20th), 11. J Hicks (10th), 12. Jordan Hermansader (16th), 13. Henry Clarke (17th), 14. Andrew Reinbold (21st), 15. Alan Ballard (5th), 16. Cory Kruseman (3rd), 17. Danny Faria Jr. (18th), 18. Tyler Brown (#16 - 22nd), 19. Rickie Gaunt (6th), 20. Mike Spencer (7th), 21. Greg Bragg (12th), 22. Austin Mero (19th). NT.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Tony Jones.

HARD-CHARGER: Danny Sheridan 14th to 4th.

NEW LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Spencer-1,251; 2-Miller-1,188; 3-Sheridan-1,154; 4-Garrett Hansen-1,039; 5-Jones-927; 6-Kruseman-884; 7-Brown-874; 8-Cardey-790; 9-Ford-690; 10-Faas-531.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: October 18th – Perris (CA), Perris Auto Speedway