By Ken Wagner
October 13, 2009

It was a nice fall day at the PAS, and after dark we had a heavy track following an afternoon of lightning sprints racing on the sun fed oval. Mike Spencer was second quick after qualifying, but the narrow track, and a few wide cars, kept him from transferring to the main event directly. After winning the Semi, he started on the fifth row and reeled em’ in until he was able to pass the early leader on lap 17 and pulled away to his 4th win of the year, 3rd in a row and 13th of his CRA career.

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Mike drove the Bruce Bromme Jr prepared Maxim chassied little red sucker with patience and confidence in winning this week. Owned by Ron Chaffin, the red # 50 car won 3 in a row for the first time since July of 2005 when Damion Gardner did the deed. Damion also had a streak of 4 in a row earlier that year. This pattern is Spencer’s best run since he began driving for Chaffin and with this week’s success; he now leads David Cardey in the championship point’s race by 8 points.

Perhaps the biggest surprise this week was Jimmy Crawford’s strong 2nd place finish. Jimmy has had a number of interesting experiences in chasing after his first win with CRA. This week Ray Stansberry was helping in his pit and after Jimmy was 10th quick and transferred from his heat with a 4th place finish, it put him on the outside of row two in the 30 lap main event. When Wes Gutierrez took the opening lead, Jimmy pulled into 2nd and followed until the young 17 year old had something break and the wall claimed another prize. Only winner Spencer was able to pass him as he was smooth and ended up on the podium with his best ever finish with the 410 boys.

David Cardey is developing a reputation for passing cars. He got his second hard charger in a row this week as he came from his 15th starting spot up to 3rd at the end. Sometimes he doesn’t get much credit for passing, like when he crashed in qualifying last time out, had to use another car from the back of his heat and in the main, but still cruised up to 4th at the end. David is fighting for his first championship and the weeks ahead will be a testament to his ever-increasing skills as he runs up front each race. He continues to guide his Viper chassied car with some excellent moves as he is one of the elite of the CRA hot dogs now.

The heavy track made for some great racing as the night started with a narrow groove and widened as the rim runners pushed it up. It was not without incidents as Rip Williams got on his head in his heat when he tried to find his way thru the narrow groove from his back row starting spot. He was fine, but done for the night. The 17 year old youngster from Northern California, Wes Gutierrez came to town to make his mark again, but even after earning the pole in the main and taking the lead for two laps, he bounced off the wall and was done too early. The other nasty spill in the main was the Ford powered, Don Argo owned sprinter with Rodney Argo at the wheel. He was running up front when he got on his head hard and probably destroyed the chassis. He received $145 of Wagsbucks plus $100 of Mr Goodbucks “wild card” money to help defray the cost of fixing the black # 19.

Speaking of Mr Goodbucks, in addition to the $100 wild card presentation to Argo, five competitors in the Semi who missed the main got a fin each again this week. Ronnie Case, Cody Kershaw, Jace VanderWeerd, Danny Ebberts and Royal Adderson all were presented the money designed to help out a little and encourage them to come back again. They all were very appreciative for the extra money and sent Mr Goodbucks a big thank you. That is $600 more dollars for the racers this week from Mr Goodbucks.

The next race is the Oval Nationals at the PAS in nearly a month and usually there are some who come to get in a few laps on the track before the three day event, the biggest of the year for the CRA. The brothers Camarillo, Brian and Brent, came to do just that. Both made the feature and they freight trained their way to 15th and 16th in that order with some good moves and fast fun. Danny Ebberts hasn’t been around these parts for probably a year, but he was in the house and taking his laps in renewing his memory of the ½ mile track. Cody Kershaw was another visitor, normally a VRA 360 driver, who made the tow from the beach.

Perhaps the person who had the most fun on this day was ”Okie” Toby Sampson, famous chassis builder and fixer for many teams. Toby has been running with the lightning sprints in a Dan Hillberg team car for some time. He won his first race with them a few weeks ago so is already having fun. On this day he got the nod to jump in the David Miller car with Rickie Gaunt’s name on it after the expected sub was sick. Rickie is out after having some serious back surgery, but should return very soon. Okie took the opportunity to drive one of the beasts he makes his living off of working and welding on. It has been some time since he drove a sprint car so, as he said, he was getting some heat in Miller’s motor and enjoying the ride. H just missed the main but was happy to be there.

The Gardner Motorsports team had their problems this week as young Blake Miller mangled the primary car in the wall in hot laps and were forced to roll out the black # 16 for the nights racing. Blake set fast time in it, but in the first heat he missed the transfer so came back to run second in the Semi. Starting next to Spencer in the fifth row in the main, he fought hard to go forward, but ended up 12th after an encounter with another car when he was probably in 4th at the time.

Tony Jones had his elbows up this week as he went up and back a few times before settling for 5th place. At times he looked like he was going to the front, but then the heavy cushion he was trying to force higher would bite him and he would have to rein her in before heading back on the gas while a few fun-seekers would run by him. Fun to watch, but he worked hard for his finish and showed the usual “Cowboy” action the crowd loves.

Danny Sheridan had his chance to do a little Cardey routine from the back this week as he ran hard as usual. He missed the front row inversion by one spot and ended up starting 12th on the grid. In 7 laps he was up to 6th when he had to hit the X for an adjustment and return to the back of the pack on a restart. He fought the back markers until he moved to 8th at the end on some heady moves as he was as fast as anyone tonight. Nobody works harder than he and his Kittle Krew as they put the little blue bugger on the track fast and ready every week. At intermission they publically thanked one of their key sponsors, Pat Kehoe of the Pace organization, for continuing to support their team in this economic hard time everyone is experiencing. Nobody has to tell anyone that without sponsors like Pace, these teams wouldn’t get to race. It was a nice touch as the Kittle Krew chief Randy Shiosaki had the whole team out there to pass this message on to Pat.

The fair race each year is a great advertising tool for sprint car racing. Not only is it free to get in the grandstands to watch after you get in the fair, but plenty of new fans can get a look at what we like and hopefully come back! When you get out of your teens, most people are like me having had it up to here, but the food is usually pretty good. The grilled corn on the cob was delicious as was the asparagus. I am sure there were more treats, but I was stuffed. I also got a taste of Pink’s hot dogs, a place that I hadn’t tried before. Even though I think I have great knowledge of LA’s finest eateries, and some not so fine, this one was new to me. I enjoyed my jailbird dog, a Martha Stewart, but it was messy. We arrived around 11 am and took about 2 hours to check out all the booths and sales stops along the walk around the area. Every spot outside the grandstand of the racetrack was filled with food or sales items with a few barkers trying to lure people in to win $100 or something mundane. They say just give me your name, address and phone number, that’s all, and you too can be a winner. Imagine the neat mail you will get. Anyway, for some it’s fun, but for me I am better off in the pits.

When I got back in the pits, the Lightning Sprints were running, and I never left. It gave me some time for learning about my camera. Doug Allen continues to train me on my many mistakes. Most importantly, he analyzes the different switches I mistakenly flip, which messes up my ability to take my pics automatically. This week’s new message was the focus point on the camera viewer. I had no idea that little red dot needed to be centered, and don’t know how I moved it to the wrong spot, besides. That kind of thing is always happening and I am totally oblivious to these changes until they stop me from doing something I want. I don’t know what I would do without Doug. I wish I could just lock in the settings so I can’t screw em’ up! How about I just pay better attention?

Do you know what high anxiety is? When you were a kid and Xmas was near, didn’t you get real anxious for “Santa” to come? Didn’t your blood pressure kick up and drive you nuts as the hours counted down for that new bike that was hopefully coming? I kind of feel that way now when I try to guess what is going on with my racing. Low car counts, mediocre sized crowds, new houses being built right up to the fairgrounds property, car owner meetings, possibility of sanctioning changes, sprint cars gathering spider webs in race shops, the cost going straight up and the economic times making it all seem like it’s on spin cycle, what does it all mean? Sprint car racing is driven by several things. Perhaps the biggest is the history of race families, those racing and those spectators, being at the very core. Are we getting any new fans, enough new drivers, is there new money coming to the sport, what will it take to renew the look and feel of times when packed houses and plenty of cars raced hard to perform and have fun? Beats me, but I know one thing, if we all continue to be complacent and don’t individually do something, it will not improve, I promise you that.

As for the Oval Nationals, it is the race of the year at the PAS and for those of you who wait for Saturday night to come before testing the freeways to the track, you are missing out, and you just have to plan ahead! This event is special from the camping out by racers and fans to the racing on the track each night, you should be there to experience it all. The pits are open in the mornings, so everyone can go down there and watch the teams work on their cars, you don’t need a pit pass. It starts on Wednesday night as there is practice with grandstand access free. It can be a happening as you blend in with one of racings premier events featuring the best sprint car drivers in the land. There is plenty of camping space and the fun in there is also part of the ambiance of it all. Three days going by very quick and the whirlwind of wonderment catches us up in it for something we don’t get to see very often. Plan on coming out and staying for the whole thing, you will not be sorry. Get involved and bring a little extra $$ for the racers, buy their fuel for them, their pit passes, their lunch, any help is appreciated! Just make it a special weekend and come on down to the PAS on November 5th thru the 7th!

Some more time off from our racing, AGAIN, but I will take in the nostalgia drags in Bakersfield this week, then the Trophy Cup in Tulare and then we’ll see about the next weekend as NHRA and Super Modifieds are in Las Vegas close to home.. Regardless, next year we need more CRA races! See ya along the way.

10/10/09 FEATURE: @ the PAS (30 laps) 1. Mike Spencer, 2. Jimmy Crawford, 3. David Cardey, 4. Greg Bragg, 5. Tony Jones, 6. Matt Mitchell, 7. Austin Williams, 8. Danny Sheridan, 9. Josh Ford, 10. Cody Williams, 11. Ronnie Gardner, 12. Blake Miller, 13. John Aden, 14. Dennis Howell, 15. Brian Camarillo, 16. Brent Camarillo, 17. Mathew Shedarowich, 18. Richard VanderWeerd, 19. Garrett Hansen, 20. Ludvig Solberg IV, 21. Rodney Argo, 22. Wes Gutierrez-NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Gutierrez, laps 3-16 Crawford, laps 17-30 Spencer

HARD-CHARGER: Cardey – 15th to 3rd

NEW LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1- Mike Spencer-745; 2- David Cardey-737; 3- Blake Miller-687; 4- Garrett Hansen-662; 5- Danny Sheridan-581; 6- Greg Bragg-566; 7- Matt Mitchell-505; 8- Rip Williams-437; 9- Cory Kruseman-397; 10- Tony Jones-331.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: November 5th-7th, Perris (CA), Perris Auto Speedway, “14th Annual Budweiser Oval Nationals