THE LAST GASP KINDOLL CLASSIC IS NEXT!!!!!!
IT'S BEEN A GREAT YEAR!!!!

With the season championships settled in the SCRA, and with a week off, the final race at Perris will show who is still focused. The Jack Kindoll Classic will be the stage and the final chapter will be written in bold ink. Don't kid yourself, Cory Kruseman and Richard Griffin will make one more battle memorable. If this hasn't been one of the most exciting season's, I can't remember when it was better. Two guys fighting for the title Richard held for 3 years, and it took a real strong year by the Kruser to unseat him. Who will win the last race ofthe year is a toss-up!

Remember how the season started? Cory and Richard coming around turn three at Manzanita, both looking for the win and Richard suddenly going into a wild ride, sending the Kruser on to the victory. Since that race, Cory went on to win 13 more races, the last at the PAS on September 22. Richard has won nine times this year and his last was on September 29th at Santa Maria. Since then Cory has 6 of 9 top five finishes while Richard has 4 of 9, so neither has lit it up the last two months like the rest of the year. Cory clinched his 1st SCRA driving title at Ventura on Wagsdash night and the car owner title for Harlan Willis the next week. Richard grabbed the NWWC Title by three points over Kruseman last week, so both have plenty to be proud of, and look for them to make the last race a good one.

It has been a super year of the Kruser in this non-wing world of excitement, but there has been plenty more. Troy Rutherford has had an extremely consistent year, his best one yet, driving one of the Gardner Sleds to third in points behind the two attention getters. Troy won only two races, but one was the $10,000 gem at Lakeside on the NWWC Tour. Since the Gardner's built him a 4 bar car, and quit experimenting for now with the coil-over version, he has really done well.

Rip Williams won two races, and spent most of the year getting used to the change from Stinger to Gamble chassis. His luck hasn't been the best this season, yet he has been in the hunt many nights. Like many of the top drivers in the SCRA, the competition has been the overwhelming problem for most. When you have so many potential winners, the one left standing each race alone on the top of the podium, has earned it! Rip hasn't slowed down, but his competition has picked it up. He looks like he can still run with the big dogs!

Mike Kirby has three feature wins this season and been a factor many times. His outstanding driving style is always in the mix and especially at Ventura where he has won more sprint races than any other SCRA driver. His figure eight league is doing well as he does that for fun and is hard to beat in that crazy action. Mike still has the potential to win a championship if all the pieces fall into place for next year.

Tony Jones has done so much on the track, yet missed a lot of races this year. He only won 4 times, but drove several cars along the way. After parting ways with the # 48 car that he won the Oval Nationals in last year in June, he has been in the Mike Wall # 37 , as well as the Gardner # 2 car. He has had six podium finishes in a row, as the season winds down, and looks to do more as he hopes next year is more settled than this one. He is just getting started.

There are many more success stories this year. Still as the long season closes, and the future is getting closer to set in stone, the schedule for 2002 is coming. The opener next year will be a day race, yes I know, I hate them, but it's something new for the fans. I could go into all my reasons for not liking sunshine baked track races, but if they race, I will be there with my sunscreen on. An early February date is set, then we move on. The NWWC Tour is getting closer to final, the Perris races are set and the Wagsdash has a new date. For the last few years, the Wagsdash and the Trophy Cup of my friend Trophy Dave Pusateri, has collided on the same night. I am happy to report he is staying on that October date, but we are moving. Next year, we will be a week later on October 26th and could possibly have a Halloween theme, what with all the ghouls and goblins running around.

The rookie battle has been a good one as three have come along very well in their first year. Michael Hinrichsen gets the brass ring as he never looked like a rookie from the moment he won a heat race last year, he was amazing. His ability has grown and he was just too hard to catch for the rest. Mike Spencer has had a great year, looking smooth and veteran-like on the track. He is second in Rookie points and was the NWWC rookie of the year. Ronnie Clark is the third rookie to run for the title and has been driving for Hank Winter all season. With Hank moving on to stock cars in Tucson next year, Ronnie will be on his own. All three could move up next year into the pack of strong runners. Isn't it fun watching them develope!

The Kindoll Classis is next! Jack Kindoll was Jimmy Oskie's car owner back in the days of Ascot. The familiar blue # 81 was seen wining a lot of races over the life of that car. His widow, Wilda, has continued on with racing and once again hosts this years running of the race named after him. Wilda can be seen "working' in the pits each week The race can still use some lap money, so don't forget to let Carol Wolfe at 714-836-6985 know you want to support this race.

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