By Ken Wagner
May 21, 2006

The sacred high cushion at Manzanita was not in attendance for this weeks visit by the USAC/CRA, so the rubber down action in the 30 lap main event left the field spinning their smoking tires as Damion Gardner set his 9th fast time and won his 4th CRA race of the season, with little problems on another hot night in Phoenix. Damion drove the Ron Chaffin owned, Temecula Valley Pipe and Supply, Arizona Race Mart, Shaver # 50 to his 40th lifetime sprint car win. Crew chief Bruce Bromme Jr was home with his wife Pam, who was in the hospital this week. He still talked with the crew plenty during the night, and since the savvy crew knows their roles, they were able to get the win in his absence.

For Mrs wags pics click here or wags pics Click here.

The Demon kept his car extremely straight all the way around the oval, much like he was in a slot car, and kept it mostly in the middle of the rubber laden track and lead the last 20 laps. He made the “move of the night” on the start of the feature when he crossed the starting line in 9th behind a gaggle of cars heading for the bottom, He quickly followed Mike Spencer into turn one up in the top groove. As they neared turn two, he cut down and squeezed tightly between two cars, and the three of them came out of turn two together, looking like one car! He then pulled forward and landed in third place, a net gain of five spots. From there he easily chased down second place Rodriguez and assumed the lead when the early leader, David Cardey went to the work area for new rubber. On inspection, his tires were not abused after the race.

Cory Kruseman came to town looking to win after a rough race last week, and almost made up for the race where he crashed twice. He was 8th quick, second in his heat and started 5th in the main event line-up. In the main he drove the Glenn Crossno owned Agromin, Sander Engineering, ITI Performance, # 38 to third quickly, then followed first lap leaderJohnny Rodriguez until the young driver slipped up too high on the track and the Kruser moved up a spot. He then pulled up to the leader and, with a smoky right rear tire blazing, made a valiant attempt at a win. When he showed the Demon a wheel, the leader gassed it to the checkered flag, with the Kruser a close second.

Johnny Rodriguez had his best outing with the CRA in the Roy Miller Freight Lines, Sander Engineering, Barnes Systems, Black & blue # 7 owned by Mark Priestley this week. Starting on the pole of the Main, he quickly took the lead and ran smooth the whole race. He was second until Cory got by with a few laps to go, and at that time was feeling he had something for the red car that led, but he didn’t protect when the other red car came by him. What happened to him is kind of like the old shell game when you try to keep track of the shell where the hidden item is, until the “artist” shows how you picked the empty shell and you lose the cash.

The track went black partly because many teams picked the wrong tire, but more likely the dry track didn’t have enough moisture in it. At times like this, it is doubly hard to get the set-up right and save your tires. Of course, the additional tires bought to keep up makes the cost go up substantially. When you add up the long tow over the hot desert, the cost of gas, fuel, tires, food and lodging, it is no wonder some teams choose to stay home a week.

The blues brothers Charles Davis Jr and Rickie Gaunt finished 4th and 5th in that order this week as the team continues to run up front each race. They won’t go to every race, but will put their stamp on those they do attend. Jesse Hockett came from the Midwest to run Jim Massey’s car and got 6th after looking like he was going to destroy the car in the semi while leading and climbing the back stretch wall coming out of turn two. He recovered with a cool move and transferred to start 10th in the main.

Bullet Blake Miller, that rookie who can fly the Black Widow Special owned by Nadine Keller and wrenched by the Gardner Clan, is more impressive each time out. He must like the fast ˝ mile track as he was on the gas to get the hard charger award coming from18th to 10th by the end of the race. He was third in his heat.

Danita’s favorite driver, David Cardey, was very impressive this week, but the teams choice of tires not. He came out like a lion jumping from his 4th starting spot to 2nd and making the pass up around the leader after one lap. He went on to fry his tries, reload, and finish 20th with more frying of his rubber during the race. Local driver Bruce St James ran 2nd in his heat and 15th in the main as he had his best outing with the club.

In the coming weeks, the CRA visits Perris, then Ventura, then Perris and Santa Maria as the racing heats up for fans who travel. The racing will be hot, so pack a bag, I have to now.

My racing this season was interrupted by our moving from Mission Viejo, Ca to Las Vegas in March. The preparation was intensive and took weeks of packing, loading, unloading, unpacking, and it’s still not done. What a zoo, so much stuff and no room for it all. I will be “working” on the next phase of the move for some time now that the heat is here. After leaving my 29 year job, I couldn’t find any job that (1.) I fit the profile,(2.) paid enough to do it, (3.) was not “nights and weekends” or (4.) would entertain me and allow me my continued racing love. So I have finally come to terms with retirement and have settled in. I am very busy with remodeling our home and yard, going to grandson baseball games, and all completing the honey do’s Mrs Wags can name, so here I am. I might consider a racing job that is part time and furthers my racing interests, but don’t have a clue where to look. I have driven home from Perris each race so far and will probably continue to do that because Mrs Wags has a job and needs her rest. Trips to Ventura, Santa Maria and any other venues far from LV, will require some long drives and I am prepared, but she will probably miss some she normally would go to. Until we can get her retired, I might be rolling down the highway alone some. I love sprint car racing and will have to figure out how to make the Wagsdash happen from here and what format it will be this year. See ya at Perris.

5/20/06 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Cory Kruseman, 3. Johnny Rodriguez, 4. Charles Davis Jr., 5. Rickie Gaunt, 6. Jesse Hockett, 7. Mike Spencer, 8. Rip Williams, 9. Jeremy Sherman, 10. Blake Miller, 11. Tom Stansberry, 12. Mike Leslie, 13. Tony Jones, 14. Chad Boespflug, 15. Bruce St. James, 16. Mike Martin, 17. Danny Sheridan, 18. J.T. Imperial, 19. Bobby Cody, 20. David Cardey, 21. Josh Ford, 22. Seth Wilson, 23. Tom Ogle. NT

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS: 1-Gardner-633; 2-Kruseman-594; 3-Gaunt-470; 4-Sheridan-460; 5-Jones-438; 6-Spencer-437; 7-Davis-431; 8-Williams-365; 9-Cardey-358; 10-Ford-345.