By Ken Wagner
October 10, 2007

What a weekend, as the 17th Annual Wagsdash was picture perfect in between two very windy days in Ventura, much to my amazement and pleasure. It was a great night of great racing on the “best little dirt track by the sea” highlighted by Blake Miller’s 15 lap come from the back rousing victory in the annual Wagsdash. In the CRA main, I hear Scotty Weir pulled some come from behind antics of his own to win his 3rd USAC race of the year. I missed it, but many who talked about it, talked good about it!

Mrs Wags Dash pics Click here. Her PAS pics Click here. and Wags dash stuff Click here. Wags PAS Click here. and Gerry Johnson Click here plus Bob Hawkins Click here and Perris from Bob Click here. And now Jim Fargo's work Click here.

The weekend is always the busiest on the Wagtimes schedule as each year it takes a lot of work to raise money for the little guys of the local USAC racers. Friday is a day of setting up the midway with tables, a stage and getting the auction area all settled and ready. Pictures have to be framed and wrapped to protect them from the moisture of the beach. After all that work is done, then a Friday night dinner of all the Wagtimes workers and other interesting parties finishes the day off.

Wagsdash race day starts with getting the auction items, the cookies and the cooking area set-up and ready, and at noon it all begins. As the La Villa Mexican Restaurant chili gets served, fans and racers come in for a bite and a look see of things available to bid on. The annual Pit-stop contest begins before 2 PM and this year five teams raced to change a shock and right rear the fastest. For the first time in Wagsdash history it was a tie between defending champKevin Kierce and the Gardner boys with Blake Miller’s car. Kevin made a $100 challenge for the loser to put more money in the Wagsdash. The “run-off” had Kevin and his team the winner with a new record time of 31 seconds, two better than the young Black Widow boys. It was a real pressure packed event and brought some wild cheering when it was over.

The sexy driver contest is always fun as Julie Shiosaki and her helpers bring the “captured” drivers on stage to get support for their chance to be the sexiest of them all. The crowd picks the top 5 drivers by cheering and then they go off to gather as much money form their fans and friends. The one with the most is the winner. Dirty Danita and her two Diva’s were very instrumental in helping David Cardey win as the total for the fun and games was $1305 towards the purse. What a great deal and it was fun watching.

The Wagtimer’s worked endlessly thru the day making sure everyone was fed and also helped to get everyone involved in many ways. They deserve a big hand: Steve & Korie Lafond, Sonia Bandy, Krista Bandy and David, Gerry, Ashley, Jeff and Tracey Johnson, Keri Alveran, Mike and Evelyn Clark, Stephen Pettegrew, Pat and Lee Ann Normoyle, Darleen and Stubby Dils, Joe and Ellen Ellis, Julie Shiosaki, Jim Fargo, Marilyn Griffith, Lois Ward, Norm Bogan, Joy Paulson, Fran & Jim Herdrich, and John Gardner. THEY ALL DID GREAT!

The Wagsdash line-up is always a fun thing to do for me. I try to keep it tight to my vest, but the many inquiries about “am I in” or “how do I get in” keep on coming in. When I arrived in town, I already had a number offhand picked cars who were in the race and some who indicated they might or might not be there. After sorting thru who was and wasn’t there, I posted my line-up and waited for the main fallout. After the main event I had to add in several to take the place of some who could not answer the opening bell of the 15 lap dash. Due to curfew, I cut it back to 15 laps. Before I headed to the infield to watch, I added the needed cars to make our starting 16. When I counted 17, one of the officials came over to ask which car was to be black flagged. I saw the last two were Royal Adderson and Ronnie Case and I personally told Adderson he was in. Case is a former Wagsdash Champion, so I decided to let em’ go with 17.

It didn’t take Dennis Rodriguez long to get the lead and pull away a bit. A spin and then a hard crash by Adderson after a spindle broke, stopped the late running race momentarily. Then, with just a few laps to go, and Blake Miller pulling closer to the leader, Dennis pulled over to the wall, done! Alas, a broken motor could not have come at a worse time for the one time rookie of the year with CRA. Blake came from the back to get his 2nd Wagsdash win, putting him on the no go list in the future with Marc Hart and Alan Ballard.

Kevin Kierce was a victim of another car when he spun to a stop early in the race, but surged back from the tail to get 4th on a great drive. Ronnie “I snuck into the dash” Case started 17th and cruised up to 7th to win Steve Lafond’s Jar of Change that held $310 this year. Perhaps the biggest surprise was Brian Camarillo’s charge at the end that made him look like a winner, but he ended up a close second. Jimmy Crawford looked a little grumpy as he took third. The annual Long Tow Award from our friend George Rimmer in England went to Dan Tedrick # 88. Dan was 15th in the feature in his low buck racer. It was a very competitive race and the fans that left early missed a good one.

The auction was great as the Demon’s flyin’ helmet brought $900 for the top amount of the day. The rear-end clock was awesome, as was the bear in the driving suit, both donated by Jim Fargo. Many great photos and other neat stuff were out on display. The Indy brick and the antique bell, donated by Ed Lauderdale (the Minister with the Ford Focus group) brought a lot and were very popular. The 2007 collage created by Julie Shiosaki was a much wanted item again this year. The photographers who brought great pics included Doug Allen, Steve Lafond, Stan Jr, Jim Fargo and Mike Arthur. Dale Frye sent along a great AJ Foyt creation that was autographed and was another hot item. Greg Staab from the National USAC world brought a thick USAC history book that went well. So much good stuff!!! Thanks to all the donators, as all the money raised, the sum when all is in will be around $18,000, again, and will be paid out at Las Vegas to all the car owners who are there. Anyone missed will have a chance at the Oval Nationals the next week.

These greatly appreciated Wagtimes Sponsors are: Agromin, John Jory Corp, Black Widow Racing Team, ITI Performance Motorsports, Ron Bach, JAF, TOHF, Hondo500.com, Don Flanders, Bruce Douglas, Timeless, Pat & Leann Normoyle, Kittle Motorsports, Hoseheads, Ron Didonato and Spintech, Thunderhead, Doug Allen Photos, LaVilla Mexican Restaurant, Raceway Videos, Fran & Jim Herdrich, The Bandy Clan, Dale Frye, Jack Kraemer, Mike Clark, JN Designs, Big Steve and Maggie, Tom & Laurie Sertich, Lois Ward, The Darlin’ Dils, Tissie and Amy Bowers, Roy Kischell, Stephen Pettegrew, Brother Brett’s dad, Jim Cardey, David Sinsley, Mark Spivey, Norm Bogan and Regine & Rio of R&R Blankets plus many more who handed me cash at the track during the day.. And for the beautiful trophies from my friend Trophy Dave of Trophy City in San Jose, the Wagsdash Champion trophy was the best ever!

The day was best remembered for Glenn Howard who passed away recently and was the Grand Marshal of the Wagsdash. His two sons, Gary and Steve, filled in for him as a great night of racing honored him. The Glenn Howard poster is one everyone will want and is available for a dollar each plus shipping. Or see me at the track, I’ll bring some with me to the Vegas race and the Oval Nationals.

With my “no lift” order still in effect, I was stuck on my mule most of the weekend going nuts, trying to take it easy, but like all the Wags workers, I was thoroughly exhausted on Sunday morning when we all had breakfast to bask in the afterglow of another successful event. It takes all of the workers doing their thing and all of the buyers and participants doing their thing to make this happen, and you did it again. Mrs Wags and I say thanks and look forward to next year!

Chris Holt is working very hard on this worthy project. As a special treat for the fans, a special Trophy Dash is being planned for the Jack Kindoll Classic at Perris Auto Speedway. Sponsors are needed to make this a reality and this is a great way for fan participation or to advertise your company / workplace. Here is your chance to be a part of the show. The format is still in the planning stages. A standard CRA format is 4 cars, 3 laps- but with more sponsorship, it could be 6 cars, 5 laps. Interested parties can call the PAS for further details at (951) 940-0134 or see Chris Holt (PAS Infield Announcer) at the races. Let’s make it happen as I pledge $100.

For the first time ever, there was a race the day after the Wagsdash, and nobody was looking forward to that! The wind was blowing sooooooooooooo hard, how hard was it, the trip from Ventura to Perris was a darting experience on the highways. When we arrived in Perris, it wasn’t really bad, but as the sun went down, Mother Nature reared her ugly mouth and just about blew us out of there. We had to go thru a zillion security checks to get thru all the fair biz checkpoints and to the pit booth. There was a delay getting in and when we finally drove into the pits, we could see the reason why. The pits were packed with the remnants of a monster truck show, and they took their sweet time loading up and getting out of there. What mess for our racer’s. Finally, they were gone and our 29 guys unloaded and hustled to get started.

Mike Spencer took charge of the main event to win his fifth race of the year and pulled within 53 points of Tony Jones. The little red sucker continues to get stronger and stronger under the direction of Sparky Spencer as he is becoming one of the best drivers on the west coast. Cory Kruseman made a run at him in his house car, but couldn’t make the pass and settled for 2nd. Rickie Gaunt snookered Danny Sheridan in traffic and took over 3rd near the end.

David Cardey was injured when he and the Demon got together in the main event, but after some stitches he will be good to go at Las Vegas, the next CRA race. During the long wait for another ambulance, as they took him in for some stitches, the crowd practically deserted the grandstands. The wind was blowing the dirt in the faces of the fans and it was hard to see without goggles. It is unfortunate because the race was free to fair goer’s who paid $9 to get in, and many of them packed the stands early, only to bail out when it got so windy and dusty.

Tony Jones had a tough weekend as he was unlucky at both tracks when he couldn’t avoid a particular car and didn’t finish either race. This ultimately took his 139 point lead down to 53 and makes a race of it after a season of him holding a large lead most of the year. For the Cowboy, the same driver showed immaturity and seemed to be “after” him both nights. Later, some extra curricular activity between the two teams, will now keep Garrett Hansen and # 4 car owner Mark Alexander suspended two races due to sanctions because of heated exchanges. It would not be right if any driver were able to keep a championship away from another competitor, especially when he isn’t in the points chase himself, by purposely taking out another driver. In the old days, these things were handled off the track, as it probably should be today. The key is off the track, not on it, it is too dangerous in these high speed machines. Now the point’s race will be exciting watching the silver bullet and the little red sucker on the track against each other the rest of the way. Hopefully these two will decide the champion without interruption.

There are still a few Wagsdash t-shirts left with most of them Large with a few 2X. I have about 2 dozen sweatshirts, so ask for them as well. The posters and the last of the non-wing calendars are still available, so e-mail me or see me at the track. It has been a recovery week after a very tiring weekend, but it was all worth it, lets do it again next year!

WAGSDASH: (15 laps) 1. Blake Miller, 2. Brian Camarillo, 3. Jimmy Crawford, 4. Kevin Kierce, 5. Bobby Michnowicz, 6. Dwayne Marcum, 7. Ronnie Case, 8. J Hicks, 9. Eric Severson, 10. Luis Espinosa, 11. Tyler Brown, 12. Nadine Gardner, 13. Chris Wakim, 14. Brandon Thomson, 15. Dan Tedrick, 16. Dennis Rodriguez, 17. Royal Adderson. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Scotty Weir, 2. Rip Williams, 3. Mike Spencer, 4. Troy Rutherford, 5. Damion Gardner, 6. Cory Kruseman, 7. Danny Sheridan, 8. Blake Miller, 9. Brian Camarillo, 10. Rickie Gaunt, 11. Josh Ford, 12. Greg Taylor, 13. Tyler Brown, 14. Davey Pombo, 15. Johnathan Henry, 16. Tony Jones, 17. Jake Hodges, 18. David Cardey, 19. Garrett Hansen, 20. Dennis Rodriguez, 21. Brian Venard. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 D.Gardner, Laps 16-26 Spencer., Laps 27-30 Weir.

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Mike Spencer, 2. Cory Kruseman, 3. Rickie Gaunt, 4. Danny Sheridan, 5. Rip Williams, 6. Tyler Brown, 7. Josh Ford, 8. Scotty Weir, 9. Blake Miller, 10. Michael Trimble, 11. Jimmy Crawford, 12. Davey Pombo, 13. Chris Wakim, 14. R.J. Johnson, 15. Critter Malone, 16. Jonny Bates, 17. Tony Jones, 18. Garrett Hansen, 19. Damion Gardner, 20. David Cardey, 21. Darren Hagen, 22. Alex Schutte. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Gardner, Laps 2-7 Spencer, Laps 8-10 Sheridan, Laps 11-30 Spencer.

NEW LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Jones-1,729; 2-Spencer-1,676; 3-Sheridan-1,561; 4-Gaunt-1,511; 5-Weir-1,381; 6-Williams-1,311; 7-Cardey-1,141; 8-Kruseman-1,084; 9-Miller-1,001; 10-Johnson-914.

NEXT LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: October 27 - Las Vegas (NV) Motor Speedway Dirt Track