By Ken Wagner
April 30, 2006

On a not too clear day when the local air show was mostly lost in the grey skies, the blue team of Tony Smiley’s Phoenix based racer cars swept the night’s top two positions. Charles Davis Jr led all 30 laps from the front row and used a lot of patience to maintain his composure after each restart He won his first ever race at Perris along the way, and it was his first USAC/CRA win as well. Driving the Tony Smiley, Smiley Crane Service, Extreme Chassis Co, # 8A, Charlie took charge immediately and put his blue car in the winners circle for the first time this season. Charlie won his heat to start the night off.

Mrs Wags pics click here, or for Wags click here.

Super Rickie Gaunt started right behind Charlie in the main event and chased him the whole race to finish second in the other team car. Rickie also has a victory this year and the pair are a load to deal with, often looking like a blue blur when they run together like this week. Rickie won his heat and started 4th in the main and gave a strong chase for 30 laps.

Danny Sheridan is making the podium a habit as he grabbed third after the last yellow flag stoppage restart. Damion Gardner had held third until he had a tire going down and it was lucky there wasn’t another yellow, which there should have been in my opinion, or he might have finished farther back. Danny started fifth in the Kittle Motorsports, El Camino Pipe & Supply, Red Line Oil, # 18 sprinter and dropped back early, but rallied to get his second podium finish of the year. The boy is coming!

The Demon looked like he might have a chance for a win in spite of the black slick surface that dictated a slide job night of passing, or none at all. He started 8th after getting his 7th fast time of the season and moved quietly up to 3rd before he couldn’t go any farther because Rickie kept pulling away on the restarts. His tire was going down, maybe a bleeder or just track abuse, and he had a major handling job the last few laps getting around the corners. He pulled to within nine points of Cory Kruseman, who finished 10th on the night.

It was my first race in a couple of months, so I was glad to see the “methanol monsters” running wild again. I wasn’t impressed with the checker/yellow finish with two cars upside down in turn one. That could have been serious as drivers pressed to move forward at the end of the race. It skewed the final results with an existing rule dictating how they finished behind the winner with a revert back situation. I know there were people on both sides of this, but another restart wasn’t out of the question because the flagman had plenty of time to slow them down before they got to the finish line.

There are a number of new drivers that will be worth watching this season. Jonny Bates is moving from the Lightning Sprints into Steve Ostling’s old ride and has a lot to learn about the care and feeding of one of these horsepower beauties. Matt Mitchell is news to me, but he was very impressive all night and 8th place was even more so. Chad Boespflug impressed me as the SCRA champion of 2005 and looks to give the CRA boys a run for it. Of course, rookie of the year candidate Bullet Blake Miller was also impressive with an 7th place finish with the heroes going after him every lap.

Most of the slide jobs were good, with a few a bit short, but no one tried to play chicken as they backed off and made a run under the offending car when it was that close. If you didn’t have a good slider in your arsenal, you went backwards! It was kind of like watching skating on ice as the moves were graceful, explosive and entertaining for the crowd.

Tony Jones, and Josh Ford were both impressive as they finished 5th and 6th respectfully. Josh came from 14th for more passing than the Cowboy, but Jones was dealing with trying to get to the leaders. Steve Ostling was the hard charger of the night after qualifying last on the ice rink and starting last in the main event. He came from 22nd up to 13th in the Ford powered Don Argo owned car. The car also got the mythical shiny tire award that was once a Wagtimes staple. By the way, two races and $5 in Wagsbucks collected doesn’t bode well for the return of my collections. We shall see.

In the OH NOOOO category, David Cardey, J Hicks, Rick Becker, Robert Ellis, Mike Kirby, Tom Stansberry and Chad Boesplug all found misery on the track in one form of malady or another. Hicks never got it going with something breaking in his gas pedal linkage. Kirby suffered a mysterious slowdown and dropped out late. The rest were in fender benders that was in addition to early hot laps and qualifying crashes for Ludwig Solberg, Matt Stewart and Seth Wilson.

It was an enjoyable afternoon trying to catch a glimpse of the F14’s, or were they F16’s or whatever, zooming by in the gloomy sky. I am always impressed with the skill and speed they show off, but goose bumps are a staple for me when I really can watch them. Honestly, it had been too long between races for me, but I’ll try to get back in the groove. The distraction of uprooting me and my possessions from California was long and tiring, but now that our Mission Viejo house belongs to someone else, I’ll just have to adjust. How am I doing in Lost Wages? It just depends, as I have three grandsons playing baseball right now and there are games almost everyday. Since Terry is working and I am not, I have plenty of shopping and honey do’s that keep me hopping. Our home now requires some renovation, that’s normal for Terry because whatever was just fine when we bought the place, must be changed per her usual “lets see how this looks” routine. She will make it nice, but now I have to plan the paint, new flooring and other changes so it gets done in a timely manner. I don’t want to drag it out! As for the weather here, they say just deal with it and you will get use to it? Hot is hot and air-conditioning doesn’t keep you cool in the baseball grandstands. Incidentally, Christopher’s high school team, Silverado, is ranked ninth nationally, can you imagine? He is a senior so is looking for someplace to get an education and play baseball.

Back to racing and my highlight of the day was just being there and spending time with my racing friends. I know we all lead different lives, but on Saturday’s we come together for the best racing anywhere and I am just happy to be a small part of it. Perris is next in two weeks for CRA, so I might just sneak off to Ventura on Saturday for my first visit to the best little track by the sea this year. Of course it goes from what was a 100 mile drive to maybe 350 or more, but I can do it!

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner,16.966; 2. Cory Kruseman, 17.150; 3. Tony Jones, 17.308; 4. Johnny Rodriguez, 17.397 and 5. Matt Mitchell, 17.442.

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Charles Davis Jr., 2. Rickie Gaunt, 3. Danny Sheridan, 4. Damion Gardner, 5. Tony Jones, 6. Josh Ford, 7. Blake Miller, 8. Matt Mitchell, 9. Johnny Rodriguez, 10. Cory Kruseman, 11. Mike Spencer, 12. Alan Ballard, 13. Steve Ostling, 14. Davey Pombo, 15. Rip Williams, 16. Chad Boespflug, 17. Tom Stansberry, 18. Mike Kirby, 19. Robert Ellis, 20. Rick Becker, 21. David Cardey, 22. J Hicks. NT

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS: 1-Kruseman-513; 2-Gardner-504; 3-Sheridan-376; 4-Spencer-369; 5-Gaunt-349; 6-Jones-341; 7-Davis-338; 8-R.Williams-298; 9-Ford-296; 10-Cardey-285.