By Ken Wagner
February 18, 2007

A marvelous day started with pit chatter turmoil and ended with another new winner for the 2007 USAC/CRA series, the third in a row. Garrett Hansen, a mere rookie who bought a retiring Mike Kirby’s equipment late last season, looked pretty sharp right away with a fifth place finish in October at Ventura as one of his few sprint car races. He started on the front row of the main event with veteran Rip Williams to his left, and after a short battle wasn’t bothered until the Cowboy almost reeled him in at the very end of the 30 lapper. The silver # 70 was up to the challenge and pulling away from everybody until THE Jones boy showed up. Garrett was 11th quick and 2nd in his heat before the main event. He looked like he belonged out there and on the top of the podium when it was all over.

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The Cowboy Tony Jones was fifth quick this week in the Alexander Silver Bullet car. He won his heat easily and started fifth in the main event. He took a while to get around a fast Jason York and then chased down The Ripper. A very low originating slide job put him in second where he began to reel in the leader. With some dozen laps left and a straightaway between him and the leader, he pulled up close but needed a yellow or a few more laps to score, and was a close second at the flag. He is the new point leader as Darren Hagen could only manage 8th on the night and dropped into second in points. Watch out for the Cowboy, his spurs are janglin’!

The veteran Rip Williams was in a good position to get his record breaking 104th win, but hung onto his podium third place finish and looked good doing it. The black # 3 took the Ripper to another heat race win before he started on the pole of the main. Still driving the Jack Jory Corp sprinter, he looks good at third in the championship points.

How about that save by Mike Spencer in the feature? Was it one of the best all time? Just how many times have we seen a driver bike the left side up and over into a bone crushing crash going into a corner? On a scale of 1 to 10, what did Spencer show us? I say 10 as he came up high, and somehow got the little red sucker hard right with all four wheels back on the ground before the wall and then utilized the cushion to bring it back and continue on. Wow! He finished fifth after setting fast time, then grabbing second in his heat before starting 8th in the main. He dropped back to about tenth before coming back in the end. I think he is looking good in the little red sucker and that team will be in the winners circle sooner than later.

Tyler Brown comes to us from nearby Norco, CA and he certainly was impressive this week after getting ninth and 21st in his two races so far this year. I know he did some lightning sprints, but his action so far is noteworthy in the bright yellow sprint car. He was sixth fast, third in his heat and started 4th on the main event grid. He hung in for a long time until he faded to 9th as the more veteran drivers came by him. Watch his progress from here, he could be a sleeper.

Damion Gardner might want to consider putting a red stripe on his new Pace sponsored white number 71, because he did so well in a red car the last two years. He had nothing but trouble as he was bumped in his heat and stopped against the wall, then ran second in the Semi to start 12th in the main. He worked his way up a few spots before contact seemed to send him into the wall for a few rolls. He was fine, but so far he hasn’t got the new car to obey enough to score well yet. Don’t worry; he’ll be back in two weeks to continue his impressive driving skills.

The defending champ, Cory Kruseman doesn’t appear to be defending this year as he missed the opener due to Australian commitments and may have someother plans during the year. He was ninth at Manzy and 7th this week after having 2nd quick time and a 4th in his heat to transfer to the main. He was in one of his three team cars of a different darker blood red, his a little brighter, and it was hard for even this savvy race fan to pick out which one he was in when they hit the track. His was 21K along with Michael Trimble’s 21 and Alex Schutte in 21X. Those other two are development cars set up by his guys and should prove to be interesting as the season goes on.

Transponders, in car one way radios and Hans devices are part of the show in CRA this year as new stuff appears. The transponder makes scoring and qualifying easier, the radios make line-ups easier and much, much faster. It speeds up the show tremendously as evidenced by our getting done by 9:30 this week, a record for me. We were home in Vegas before my 1 AM update was due. There are four styles of approved Hans devices to choose from. Some drivers are reluctant to try them, but a little birdie told me one driver who really didn’t want to wear one, changed his tune after suffering a hard crash. I like the three new things, so let’s get on with it.

Being it was my first CRA race of the year, I had a lot of catching up to do. Forgive me for having a life, but I am not on anyone’s payroll, so will do what I want this year. My plan for the season is to attend as many CRA races as I can. The only races in doubt are at Tucson, but we’ll see. I intend to do as much as I can with my camera at each race and will have Mrs Wags with me most of the time. She may miss a few races due to family matters, but I am looking forward to seeing who wins each week and will be on the road a lot from Sin City. It is different, but if I can leave right after the main and not hang around for an hour, I can be home in my own bed that night. It isn’t much different than before when we usually got home in Mission Viejo about 1 AM. It does require more time and I don’t intend to miss much racing because of it, although I am going to Cooperstown and the Little League World Series in August and that might make me miss a race.

Now comes two subjects that caught my attention that make me burn. Jeff Kristensen’s dumping by USAC and Steve Ostling’s truck getting keyed at Perris are so wrong. I am appalled at both, but then this modern world of liberal BS might finally be wearing me down. There are so many changes to our world by the (don’t hurt anyone’s feelings group) that sometimes I wonder what they are smoking. I have to dial 1 for English? I have to use sign language at some fast food eateries to order. I am worried about my freedom because today’s politicians in charge don’t realize what it takes to protect our freedom, because they think the religious foreigners are kidding. And, people think they can do and get away with anything they feel is OK with them. Where did I go wrong? Did Ostling deserve to have his truck keyed because he is an official trying to make the rules govern our racing? What type of person can do this to someone who has converted from driver to official to help the club? Did someone get a call against them, and was he wronged? Look around; there is a $900 reward to find this person or persons. I can go on and on about the inequities of life in and out of racing, but one thing is for sure, some sad people need to be spanked, and that’s another thing (parents can’t spank their children because of what?), man I am hot now. The incidents of stupidity just keep on coming, don’t they? I’ll cool off, but it won’t change the world’s dumbing down to make everyone equal. It even affects our racing.

As for Jeff’s services no longer needed by USAC, that is a bad business move. These racing videos always need to be done for posterity, history and the good of the racers, at every race. USAC should use their vast resources and clout to make sure the highlights get on the few outlets left, and also be made available on their web page. I understand that NASCAR gets 99% of the strokes on TV now, but we can’t give up! Jeff does good work and markets the CRA very well by the work he does. For a lack of $150 per race available money, and that doesn’t even pay his expenses, his work has been stopped. The new “entry fee” (that was never to be charged to CRA) could easily pay his fee. USAC can’t afford that small amount, oh I forgot, the offices in Indy require the good old boys to be paid well regardless of what happens out west. I know it sounds like bitterness, but if you were Jeff, how would you feel? If you were Garrett Hansen, wouldn’t you want that tape? If you were his fan or just a video collector, don’t you want this business to continue? Isn’t this part of that “promoting the CRA promise” sold to us in the beginning three years ago? So get involved and help Jeff and the CRA. SPEED TV's Feedback Page is at http://www.speedtv.com/feedback/. Just fill out the online form and click submit. That’s only one outlet that was once open to us. E-mail USAC, CRA, and the powers that be, and get your voice heard. I know I am not a video collector, but I also know many others are. Help Jeff out and do something positive.

Ok, calm down, get aware and get involved. Your club needs you in many ways, so pick one or more and do something. Go to the races, help a team, get involved with the friendly Wagtimes people to help the little guys, cheer on your favorites and wear their colors! Its racing and we all love it, but how much. Show by example how you feel!

See you in two weeks and think Wagsdash XVII on October 6th at Ventura.

USAC/CRA finish for Perris – 2/17/07

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Garrett Hansen, 2. Tony Jones, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Scotty Weir, 5. Danny Sheridan, 6. Mike Spencer, 7. Cory Kruseman, 8. Darren Hagen, 9. Tyler Brown, 10. David Cardey, 11. R.J. Johnson, 12. Jason York, 13. Jimmy Crawford, 14. Rodney Argo, 15. Dustin Morgan, 16. Matt Rossi, 17. Matt Mitchell, 18. Matt Stewart, 19. Alan Ballard, 20. Damion Gardner, 21. Rickie Gaunt, 22. Michael Trimble. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Hansen.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-T.Jones-189; 2-Hagen-167; 3-Williams-157; 4-Spencer-151; 5-Sheridan-142; 6-Hansen-133; 7-Gaunt-130; 8-Weir-120; 9-Johnson-108; 10-Brown-102.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: March 3 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway