The NWWC-Western World - SCRA three-day event was another step closer to the end of the season as November approaches. Bud Kaeding, coming West on a hot streak of five dirt wins in a row, brought his super lightweight, Davey Jones led, # 29 sprinter to dominate 59 of 60 laps of the Western World that he ran in, but you have to finish to get the just rewards. Bud led all 20 laps on Thursday night's opener, beating a fast Jerry Coons Jr and Cory Kruseman pretty handily. Then on Saturday, he lined up next to Friday night's winner, Jeremy Sherman, and took the lead that was his until his front end snapped with less than a lap to go, sending him into the wall and a screaming fit of anger after his car stopped.

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Jeremy, on the other hand, was in his new ride this week, the # 7 Mark Priestly owned car. Former driver of the car, Mike English, was in Lowell Carsten's # 91az until the motor detonated, while running very well. Sherman had come from a few rows back to catch and pass the leader Rip Williams on Friday to win in his second outing in the car. He was unstoppable and had high hopes of repeating the victory dance the next night for the big money. In the 40 lap main event, it looked like all Kaeding until the very end, as he didn't abuse his tires and was ready to claim the big win on the big half mile that didn't seem to bother him at all. Sometimes things happen, and when the restart took off after his crash, only Tony Jones stood in the way of young Sherman, and he couldn't quite get the right move to take his 2nd win in a row here. Jeremy, now driving the Roy Miller Freight Lines, Angelus Waterproofing, LA Pipe & Supply # 7, was in the right place at the right time to earn the biggest win of his career and 5th win in SCRA competition.

Runner-up Tony Jones didn't look like he was going to be around at the end as a little smoke coming from the engine raised a few eyebrows. Tony made the Mike Wall Trucking, Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply, Concept Powder Coating # 37 look like a winner all night as he skillfully moved forward and avoided problems that caught other drivers. His patient and smooth action on the track put him in position to win, but he couldn't strike quick enough on the last restart. My podium man continues to impress as he was 4th on Friday.

SCRA Champion, Cory Kruseman, looked every bit the man to beat when he pulled up on Kaeding midway thru the race and made a few serious thrusts to get by. After harassing Bud with several attempts to pass him, he rode over the cushion coming out of turn two and whacked the wall hard enough to seriously slow him down. Luckily, as he slowed and checked out his steering, another car stopped on the track. He resumed his 2nd place spot on the restart, but wasn't quite as fast as before. Later, when his right rear exploded with a few laps to go, all hope of clinching the car owner championship for his owner, Harlan Willis, looked lost. Somehow, the crew got the tire replaced and he returned to get 12th, one spot ahead of Richard Griffin, who had a flat tire right at the very end push him back many spots. Now there are two champions, at least, on the WorldGate Networks, Del Mar Wire, Pro Shocks # 45 team. Congratulations to Harlan and Cory, they certainly earned the acclaim.

Jerry Coons Jr, the Arizona native who has been running with USAC for the last few years, was 2nd on the opening night and 3rd in the big one. Jerry was driving the family sprinter and did the best of the small number of USAC drivers who competed. Jerry drives both Midgets and sprints, and is always in the hunt at the checkered flag wherever he runs. The likable young man still lives in Arizona, but calls Indiana his racing home.

Earning the Saturday night hard charger award was John Scott, who like USAC Champion J J Yeley, had to come from the back of the C Main, the Semi and the A Main to also earn the praise of the crowd. He raced from 23rd to 7th! John had a blown motor on the opening night when he lined up for that main event, thus putting him way back in the line-up to compete. Keith Williamson and Derek Davidson were the hard chargers for the prelim nights, both doing well in traffic.

J J Yeley also had a blown motor, but his was after getting into third place early in the 20 lap main on Friday night. J J probably passed more cars than anybody else during the three days, but showed his patience as he calmly worked his way up to finish 4th in the big main on a great ride for the ABC Sand & Rock, # 76, Twister Chassis car on his jaunt. Winning the USAC Sprint Car Championship doesn't seem to have sunk in yet, even though he is only the second Arizonian to ever do it!

Steve Ostling overcame a very smoky motor earlier to grab fifth place in his Fischer Motorsports # 29. Steve led briefly on Friday night and returned to make the top five in the big pay feature. It was a quiet 5th as he didn't draw attention, just smoothly hung around to score well. Many others did good jobs, beginning with Tyler Walker, that one time "poster boy" of the WOO who does back flips in the winners circle. He didn't get that close this week for his specialty, but did mange a 6th lace finish, running with the heavy hitters from SCRA and USAC. Tyler was driving the Cory Witherill car and showed his versatility in moving forward with very little non-wing experience. Danny Sheridan ran 7th on his qualifying night and 8th on Saturday as the Moose racing driver worked hard for his spot. Danny is making showtime a regular feature in SCRAk, and this week was no exception. Mike Kirby was moving his All American # 5 sprinter closer to the front when he followed Kruseman off the track with a flat tire while running 4th near the end. Mike ended up in a respectable 10th after replacing the tire. Brian Venard's 15th was a victory after he was 12th on his opening night and had to come thru the Semi to allow his Mopar motor to be "singing in the main".

Levi Jones had a great weekend in the Glenn Crossno # 38 car, right up until he too had a flat tire in the main. Unfortunately, that was not all that was wrong with the car, as a broken shock sent him back to the pits for his second stop as soon as he pulled back on the track. He was sixth on his qualifying night. Adam Mitchell had a drive shaft problem stop him from his great run in the main after a 7th on Friday. Charles Davis Jr had a front-end problem drop him from the race, after starting out fast and passing several cars. It was the same problem, different wheel that took him out of the Wagsdash the week before.

The car count was lower than expected for the three day event, so the two qualifying nights only featured three heats, a semi and a 20 lap main event. The combined two prelim nights equaled less laps than the one complete race night last week at Ventura. Attendance started out low Thursday as expected there and picked up on Saturday with a full house that saw a 15 lap C Main, a last chance 20 lap Semi and the 40 lap main event. Although the crowd like what they saw, the Kaeding dominance overshadowed the SCRA's top stars most of the race with the expected battle between the Kruser and the Gasman never happening. Was it the track, tires or was Bud just faster than everybody?

Missing from the mid west were Jay Drake and Dave Darland, two of the strongest USAC stars, both injured and recovering back home. Tony Elliott stepped into the Gardner # 2 that Tony Jones drove last week, Bill Rose borrowed Dan Hillberg's # 82, Brad Noffsinger was in the Gaunt Construction # 40 and Jon Stanbrough in the Jack Yeley # 2 car, to complete the visitor list getting rides. Only Elliott made the big show, finishing 18th after a whack from another car. Eric Rossi, Peter Murphy and Andy Forsberg were wing runners removing the hardware for this one. The extra competition is fun to watch as they all are very competitive and need only to get a little more seat time to do very well as Peter Murphy has already proved with a top five at Santa Maria recently.

This coming week is another 3-day event called the Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway. The format and payoff are somewhat different than the Western World, with more cars expected to enter to make the two qualifying nights very competitive. Also making those two nights more memorable will be the twin 20's format that is coming back. This is where the first feature will line straight up by qualifying times, then the second one inverted from the finish of the first. It will be wild and worth the freeway drive you'll encounter from wherever you come from! The last time we saw this twin action at the Oval Nationals, Rip Williams won both features in the Friday night fun race. Look for the battle for the $25,000 first pace money to heat up and the show to be worthy of making each night for the preliminaries.

Look for me at the PAS during the Oval Nationals at the Wagtimes Booth out front. We will be continuing the Dale Earnhart painting raffle for George Gervais. I will also have raffle tickets available for the 2001 Kawasaki 4 X 4 Kawasaki ATV and the T-shirt quilt, all drawings to be held the last night at Perris, November 17. We will have some left over Wagsdash T-shirts, including the sensational flag version until we run out! So, come by the booth and get involved as we begin raising money for the Kindoll Classic event only a few weeks away. You can buy laps for the 40 lap main event, with a minimum of $50, but no maximum on each lap. Get your name in the program for supporting the year ending race. Just pick a lap and see me in the booth or Carol Wolfe in the pits at the Fischer # 29 car.