By Ken Wagner
May 17, 2008

What looked like a great Memorial Day weekend started out with a small B-day celebration for me in Long Beach with some close friends, but that was the end of that! On our trip down from Lovely Las Vegas we encountered not one but two mid-west type rain showers that went on into the Friday night celebration later. It was not a surprise when we woke up Saturday morning to the phone calls of Perris cancelled and put us in a dilemma. We left the party Friday night and went out to Highland, about an hour and a half in rain shower freeway fun to spend the night before the PAS experience the next day. Had we stayed in Torrance like we had an option to, we would have climbed in the Kittle hauler and gone to Santa Maria to watch Danny Sheridan’s win up there Saturday night. No, we decided that the risk of more rain was too great to chance it, as we are not the young race chaser fools of years past, and opted to go home, awwwwwwww shucks.

It rained a lot on the way home, but I made plans to go solo to Tulare on Sunday AM. I was just about to blast off for Tulare when I got the call, and it saved me a long drive to watch boat races, so now the weekend is half over and I am here stuck getting two rooms ready for new flooring on Tuesday. Oh well!

I had to check my GPS to make sure when I was in California on Saturday and that it was sunny So Cal, because the rainouts were very surprising and my long term memory can’t remember that last time we had such a two day holiday rainout in my history of going racing. Happily, the word got out early, thanks to both race tracks, and the gas savings alone was enormous for the race teams. I know the deserts need the rain, but I think Mother Nature could have been a little more understanding and showered the weekdays instead. It probably was a nice break for all the racing families who had to find a way to enjoy time without much practice of what to do during racing season besides race.

Next up will be the second edition of Open Comp sprint car racing from Fass/Gardner presentations. The event should be even better than the first one as all the heroes are planning to race this time, including Danny Sheridan and Cory Kruseman, both missed the first one due to commitments elsewhere. There is just too much money on the table to miss these specials.

Their will be mufflers this time and a $20,000 front row challenge to spice things up. The pole sitter in the feature will have his choice to go to the back and try to win the race for the $20,000 bonus. If he doesn’t accept the challenge, then the other front row starter gets a shot. I can see where some would really want this opportunity to bank some big bucks. This track is a very nice oval and the covered grandstands really do cut down the wind that is so prevalent in the high desert. It’s not really very far up there from the LA area, so get goin’.

There will be an announcement very soon about a golf tournament on Friday before the Wagsdash, so stay tuned for the details. Also help me out with the Wagsbucks for the hard luck driver at Victorville. If you can’t attend, send me a check and we’ll include it. E-mail me to get my address. The first open race $200 with to Chris Tramel after a fire onboard ended his chance of racing. We can make this like the old Wagsbucks days when fans helped out the hard luck low buck teams!!!

Already I am getting some neat stuff for the annual Wagsdash Auction, but can use more photo’s, die cast cars, autographed anything and racing stuff that will help put more money in the low buck racers pockets. The Ventura Chaplain has another antique bell for us this year. I am blessed with the help you give me. Also if you want to get your name or sponsor name on the 2009 sprint car calendar or the Wagsdash t-shirt, now is the time to get moving. The calendar starts coming together in June.

Summers here so much is ahead and I hope our racing is in the minds of everyone. See ya at the track.