TROY RUTHERFORD RUNS 2ND IN SPRINTS AND WINS THE USAC MIDGET MAIN.

One week ago, gray wet skies and marvelous mud pies were the order of the day at Perris Auto Speedway, but seven days later, clear blue skies and Thunderbird flies dotted the air on a perfect Saturday race day. Rip Williams used a fast car and a few slide jobs to win his first USAC/CRA race of the year. Troy Rutherford tried to catch the Ripper in the 30 lap main, finishing 2nd, and then went out and won the Midget main in a smaller yellow version of the Mark Priestly owned sprinter. The great weather was very different than last Saturday, but the racing was wheel to wheel and major manly.

Mrs Wags is on the ball. Here are her pics for April 24th! click here to view. Also, here are a few from me. View here.

Rip Williams, driving the black # 3, John Jory Corporation, Weld Wheels, Stinger, was on the gas this week as he started 7th in the main and used one of the oldest moves in the books to get to the front, the slide job. The afternoon breezes dried the track out unmercifully, but it stayed very racy thru the Semi. When the feature got going, and Damion Gardner was out front leading easily, the track got seriously slippery from the bottom to the missing top cushion, thus the elbows came out and the racing got tough. With this Eldora type track, the only way to pass was with the fast run on the top and dive baby dive to the bottom, then ease up in front of the car your passing, and then slip back into the top groove, again. When it works, it’s great, when it doesn’t, it can get ugly.

Many drivers during the night were forced to utilize this daring maneuver, but Rip pestered his way to the front with it. He had two major confrontations that will be known in history as "ouch" to the victims! The first involved Tony Jones when the “Cowboy” was running well in about 4th. Rip tried his hard charging move out of turn one coming up alongside Tony going into turn two, and…. they bumped! Tony got on the gas momentarily and tried to pull away and….. they bumped again. Jones popped up in the air a little, but came down and was the loser. He tried to keep it going, but spun to a stop against the wall and Rip continued on. Jones restarted at the back and finished 8th.

Rip continued on looking for his next move up, and when he got to the leader, he tried another slider. This time he came into turn one very low and then flung it up right in front of the Demon in slo-mo speed before they got into turn two. This caused the high groove flying Damion to slow quickly in order to avoid hitting the black car too hard, but he ended up stalling his car, and Rip took the lead. Damion restarted at the back and came up to finish 12th in the four laps remaining. The “old” man Ripper was feisty tonight. His fans loved it and Jones and Damion’s fans didn’t. Sprint car racing is not for the squeamish, and only the strong survive to win in these monster horsepower machines. Tonight, the strong was the Ripper, but the question is, will next week be a barnburner for the fans to witness? My guess is yes! Rip, by the way, is the new point leader with Damion’s finish sending him back to third, and Rutherford squeaking into 2nd place. Only 41 points separate the top four as the season warms up.

Troy “Rambo” Rutherford really got his mojo going this week. In the main event, he too was using the slide job as his passing tool. He and Jordan Hermansader had a lot of intense battles for 2nd at the time. Rambo would slide Jordan coming around three and Jordan would come back down under him to retake the spot. That went on until Troy finally took the spot for good, with some good traffic moves. The racing was hard fought and you had to be hard nosed and daring to move up. Rutherford was that and more as he battled until he secured second, but didn’t have time to get to the leader to make it interesting in the last 4 laps. The early wild passing efforts could have put either Troy or Mike Kirby in the lead as each made some great attempts to get by young Hermansader when he was in 2nd. Still, nobody could make the low groove work at all and when they tried it, some shuffling happened as the “train” moved on by above them. Troy, driving the Sander Engineering, Llumar Window Films, ICI, # 7, then went on to drive an identically painted Midget and had a big win there. It was a good night for the young lion.

Jeremy Sherman hasn’t had much luck on the road when he leaves his home track of Manzanita, but this week he struck a blow to change all that. Driving Buzz Shoemaker’s, Pick’s Racing Engines, Stinger, # 0 car, he qualified 17th, then won his heat and started on the 7th row in the main. He began to work the testy track, picking off car after car, until he made the podium in third at the end. A great drive, and perhaps his luck has changed! Maybe Buzz and son Doug will get some luck themselves if Jeremy comes back again, they had a good night!

Mike “Killer” Kirby looked good after setting fast time at 17.370 and transferring to the main to start 8th. He moved up to third quickly and made some daring moves, but got bit by the low groove dive attempts to pass that failed, and eventually settled for 4th. He was this close to 2nd several times, but eventually put it on the top and brought the red # 38 home in rolling fashion.

Jordan Hermansader had easily his best run of the year as he fought tooth and nail with the heavy hitters and eventually ending up 5th in the Alexander, silver bullet, # 4 car. It might have been his best run with the 410’s as he really looked like he was in the hunt for a win this week. Ronnie “the Rocket” Case can’t be superstitious as he doesn’t seem to be bothered by the green color on his Don Blair owned # 33 car. He qualified 15th, got the last transfer to the main in his heat and started way back there on the opening green flag of the main event. He made some great moves on the slick track to finish sixth, and should be proud of his best ever finish with USAC/CRA and a 410 motor. Right behind him in 7th was Gary W Howard, who was looking pretty good himself late in the race. The Venard Brothers finished 9th (Brian) and 14th (Steve) for their best efforts together in a main event. Brian ran as high as 7th and let the slick track negate any late charge, as the groove was very narrow. Steve brought out the # 49 car that has the long awaited new paint job that is reminiscent of the old # 97 car of his dad, Buster, that he drove many years ago. He is really proud of this car, and rightfully so!

Matthew Rossi (10th) and Mike Leslie (13th) have both only run with us occasionally, but both had smooth and strong nights this week. Mike was also 6th in the midgets, doing double duty tonight. “Naughty” Nadine Keller made her first USAC/CRA main event with her iron block 360 and did very well, staying with her “seat time” adventure plan very well. She was thrilled afterwards getting experience on a track that went from heavy to slick.

Bad luck seems to follow Jimmy Crawford in his quest to run the 410’s this season in his new Twister car. He had some problems at Manzy on the first trip there, where for two days he hardly got it off the trailer. More of the same tonight, as he was doing just fine in his heat until he went down the backstretch and it wouldn’t turn. His wall banging crunch signaled serious damage to the un-repairable car. He got the first Wagsbucks of $200 for the year and the first invite to the Wagsdash. His wasn’t the worst crash of the night. Adam Mitchell launched his white rabbit into the catch fence in turn one. He jumped the cushion and destroyed the car. Even the motor took a hit when it broke off a piece where the motor plate bolts to it. Help sponsors! This one's a write-off! And for those who ask, we rarely give Wagsbucks to those who make the main, with our reasoning they already get more for just starting the main, than we pay out. He looked fine afterwards, but today he better feel good because the family is picking up their new Dapple Dachshund puppy, already named Sparkling Princess. This is courtesy of 4 year old daughter Paige’s great imagination. This new playmate might keep their brother to our dog, Dubya, a little calmer with a pal around. Mike Spencer had the gears in his rear end get stripped and he pulled off early in the main. The shiny tire award this week went to Uncle Harry of the Rutherford two cars that shined all night.

Thunderbird flies? March Air Force Base had an air show nearby that was pretty spectacular and wildly loud over the racetrack late in the afternoon. I don’t know how it makes you feel when you see and feel the F-16’s swosh overhead, but it made chills run down my spine in the heat of the afternoon. Spectacular jets overhead, flying within inches of each other, trailing white smoke and doing things my stomach would never forgive me for, it was an awesome display. Almost as much fun as watching sprint car racing!

Word from the Tulare SCRA show has Super Rickie Gaunt the big winner with 25 cars making the event. Teammate Charles Davis Jr was 2nd reversing their finish at the 10 lap test run at Barona last Friday. Peter Murphy rounded out the podium, with Steve Ostling 4th and Kevin Urton 5th.

Wow! Ricky Johnson winning his first main at Manzanita since 1999! And, his son RJ was 5th! What a rush for the Johnson family! Jay Drake won the USAC sprint main at Beaver Dam with Cory Kruseman 4th, and John Scott 15th as our graduates from So Cal continue to shine in the Midwest USAC wars. Early day today for me as we installed a new 22nd century IBM mainframe that is so new, it hasn’t been officially announced yet, so I was pooped after a late night and an early 6 am rising. It’s installed and working just fine, thank you! What does the future hold for the Wags? Tune in soon to find out. Next week will have tales of a special event and more great sprint car racing, as Barona goes head to head with the PAS! Ouch, it’s starting to hurt!

USAC/CRA FEATURE: (30 laps)
1. Rip Williams, 2. Troy Rutherford, 3. Jeremy Sherman, 4. Mike Kirby, 5. Jordan Hermansader, 6. Ronnie Case, 7. Gary W. Howard, 8. Tony Jones, 9. Brian Venard, 10. Matthew Rossi, 11. Rick Becker, 12. Damion Gardner, 13. Mike Leslie, 14. Steve Venard, 15. Greg Bragg, 16. Nadine Keller, 17. Adam Mitchell, 18. Bobby Cody, 19. Dwayne Marcum, 20. Steve Paden. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-26 Gardner, Laps 27-30 Williams.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Williams-343; 2-Rutherford-325; 3-Gardner-321; 4-Kirby-302; 5-Cory Kruseman-242; 6-Jones-213; 7-Sherman-208; 8-Bragg-170; 9-B.Venard-163; 10-Hermansader-159.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: May 1 - Perris (CA) Auto Speedway

SCRA A FEATURE at Tulare (30 Laps)
1. Rickie Gaunt, 2.Charles Davis Jr, 3. Peter Murphy, 4. Steve Ostling, 5. Kevin Urton, 6. Alan Ballard, 7. Mike. Faria, 8. Sweet, 9. R. Faria, 10. Altaffer, 11. Seth Wilson, 12. Boespflug, 13. Casey Shuman, 14. Alex Pruett, 15. Ronnie Clark, 16. Verne Sweeney, 17. Robin Yount, 18. Mark Nation, 19. Evett, 20. Martin, 21. Danny Sheridan, 22. Kaline Verville No Time. Laps Led: Murphy 1-11, Gaunt 12-30

The next SCRA race is at Barona on May 1.