THE JONES BOYS FINISH ONE TWO AT OVAL NATIONALS

Perris Auto Speedway hit a home run this week when the three-day $25,000 to win Oval Nationals ended with a Bud Kaeding win and spin for the Davey Jones led team in front of a packed house. Davey's brother Tony, almost stole the show, but a yellow killed his last chance with a lap to go with him on the move behind the youngster. The Non Wing Championship remains in the Richard Griffin camp after Cory Kruseman missed reclaiming his title by 3 points in the official finish.

Mrs Wags is workin' on it! Here is half! And Here is more and the last Finally!!!!

Although car count at the Oval Nationals wasn't as high as expected this year, the two qualifying nights held extra excitement with the twin 20's, the 2nd of which each night was inverted by the finish of the first. Thursday night didn't have quite the electricity of Friday's charge by Tony Jones, but both nights were well worth the effort to drive the freeways to see. Thursday, Rip Williams ran away with the straight up start and came back in the 2nd one to run 9th behind Troy Cline. On Friday, Tony Jones blasted to the front to win the first one from the 3rd row, then was 3rd behind Jerry Coons Jr and Brent Kaeding in the second one.

Bud Kaeding did very well in the USAC wars all year. Since Davey Jones came aboard as the crew chief, Bud is one of the hottest drivers in the land right now. He won 5 in a row before crashing last week while leading the Western World at Manzanita, and then positioned himself just perfectly for the big buck finale on Saturday night at the PAS. He and his father, Brent Kaeding, started on the front row and almost ran away with it. When I asked Brent on Friday night what he had planned to do with Bud on Saturday, he said he would just "follow him"! Brent led the first 9 laps, then after his son did a slide job on dad, he did follow him until the young Cowboy Jones slid by him also.

Tony Jones was the show on Friday as he started in the 3rd row of the first main event and calmly displayed his high-speed slide job until he took the lead from Cory Kruseman about halfway and "cruised" himself to the win. Then, from the tail of the second race, he made it to 3rd before banging the wall and settling for that spot. Tony, driving the Mike Wall Trucking, Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply, Concept Powder Coating # 37, put on a dazzling display to make the podium twice. On Saturday he started 6th and had to work his magic to get by Brent for a chance at the leader. Tony put a move on the young Kaeding and was slightly ahead, but Bud didn't let up on one of those "stay on the gas and crash or let in" bold moves drivers make. Tony had one more opportunity at a repeat $25,000 win with a lap to go, but a car stopped on the track bringing out a yellow, with his last lap pass planned and about to be executed, foiling his heroics.

Brent Kaeding made a strong appearance with his non-wing work finishing 8th and 2nd on Friday and 3rd on Saturday. Even though his hauler was by far the biggest and tallest in the pits, he had to prove it on the track, and he did that! Brent has always been tough competition when he takes his wing off, and this week was no different. Brent has 2 SCRA and 10 CRA wins in his history of running down South. His "outlaw" motor was very evident at the Oval Nationals.

I think the track wasn't to the liking of some, but the strong went to the front. A hard fought battle for 4th through 10th was extremely fun to watch with Yeley, Kruseman, Scott, Davis, Griffin, Sherman and Kirby all putting their moves on each other. Jeremy started 24th and grabbed 9th for the best passing job, something he is getting really good at, and was a show of his own. Rodney Argo finished 19th, but he passed into 3rd early in the race, and was later "involved" in an incident that ruined his chances. The same goes for Rip Williams, as he looked strong until he was caught up in two incidents and done, finishing 18th. After winning on Thursday, it looked like he was in good shape to run for the crown. J J Yeley was the spoiler who passed Cory on the last lap and finished 4th after a 4th and 10th finish on Thursday. The USAC sprint car champion was very fast both days, but never really mounted the expected charge he is known for.

The Non Wing World Championship finals were not the feature story here this weekend, but for those who were paying attention, it was a close race. Even though Cory Kruseman and Richard Griffin didn't figure in the podium dance on Saturday, Richard finished 8th and narrowly beat out Cory, who was 5th, by only one car, for the Non Wing World Championship title for the 2nd year in a row. Neither had their usual forward moving gear working, and nobody knew where the NWWC points were until the feature had completed. Mike Kirby was third, Troy Rutherford and Steve Ostling followed in that order for the series. Mike Spencer was the NWWC rookie of the year.

Although the weekend was not totally void of crashes, it was held at a minimum. The worst looking nasty happened to Danny Sheridan when his Moose Racing entry seemed to want to find a way to fly, and went high up in the air, landing hard and destroying the front end and probably a lot more. He was fine. Tracy Hines had an almost normal looking crash, but came flying out of the car with a fuel fire blazing on his suit. Later, it was reported he does have a broken leg & ankle, and will have surgery to repair this them week. A tough break for one of the top USAC drivers. It was his second crash of the weekend in the Tamale wagon as several USAC boys came to play in SCRA cars.

Tony Elliott could have mailed this race in from Indiana. His ride in the Gardner Motorsports # 2 car was stopped on Thursday when he was hit from behind, destroying the one race old new car. Another Sled chassis was ready for Saturday, but he was unable to recover from another banging, and finished last in the Saturday A Main. Jerry Coons Jr won a prelim and was looking good in the finale when he was banged hard into the wall, the resulting flat tire took him out of the event. Too bad because he looked like he had something for the podium boys. Bill Rose was scheduled to run the Rick Becker # 67, but was unable to make it due to a cancelled connecting flight on Thursday and wasn't able to change his qualifying night to Friday, so went back home.

The pomp and ceremony on Saturday night included a darkened front stretch line-up that featured announcer Scott Daloisio, all dolled up in a tux, walking the moving spotlight to each car and driver for introductions. Although it was a nice touch, it helped to run the race a little late as "curfew plus 30" probably created a pricey fine, but they got it in. They introduced the former winners, all present, and then did the starting line-up with a nice music accompaniment. After the traditional 4 wide parade lap, (which was photographed by Steve Lafond of Tear Off Heaven Fotos, so you know you want one!), the race was on. Some might remember the opening night 4 wide he took that is on many walls, some even autographed and auctioned off!

Unfortunately for Gary W Howard, he was the recipient of two nudges from the winner during the event. The first one was in the preliminary night heat when Bud made the pass on Gary for the last transfer only to have Gary come back and reclaim it. Then, on the last lap Bud does the slide thing again, only this time he doesn't clear Gary, and instant junk for the # 25 Jim Ruth car, when Gary crashes into the wall. Just racing some say, but Bud made the main and Gary didn't. Gary returned on Saturday in a different car and finished 15th, but was clipped by the winner again when Bud did a few spins near the finish line in victory circle as Gary tried to come by him. Yes, that car needs repair, too. The 1st # 25 car got $150 of Wagsbucks on Thursday. Friday's recipient of $150 was Dan Hillberg, and then on Saturday Danny Sheridan got the last $150.

What did I like about it all! Most everything, but there weren't enough entries. The three days were too much for the car count, perhaps two days would have been enough with only 50 cars. If we can get significant participation from Indiana, making it a true national race, then it would work. The inverted heats and 2nd feature made passing and entertainment a reality. It was a great event that justified the big crowd, but did you know it was raining less than an hour after the thing ended? And it rained hard the next day?

Jimmy Sills brought his two seater, the $135 a ride sprinter, and gave some very fast trips around the oval all three nights. I think he out-qualified about a third of the field. Much of the last night was electric as the features leading up to the big one made for some really hard racing. Sherman made the last transfer to the A Main and was the only car to come from the D main. That was a long haul and he looked tired but happy when it was all over. He ran nearly 100 laps, so the Mark Priestly crew did a great job!

A lot of interested dignitaries were in the crowd, including Roger Ward, so the World Series win (hooray!) by the Diamondbacks didn't keep anyone home. The SCRA only has one more race, November 17 at the PAS, so it will be the last gasp night for all the fans. You can still get involved with the Kindoll Classic by calling the SCRA office, or contact Carol Wolfe at 714-836-6985 to get yours. The laps are $50 each and there are a few left. Help make this the best one yet and get involved. If you get bored this week, Jim Naylor's Ventura Raceway runs sprints on Saturday night.