GREAT WEEKEND FOR FANS AND RACERS WITH TWO RACES AND 44 CARS MAKING THE MAINS.

Damion Gardner made the “little red sucker” sing this week grabbing his 2nd CRA win of the season. The weather at Perris was perfect as a cool breeze greeted the crowd anxious to see the seasons first 50 lapper with 33 cars in the house. Bobby Cody led the first 14 laps convincingly, but when he and Gardner touched wheels, he came out on the losing side and slid to a stop backwards against the inside front stretch K-rail and was done for the night. The track was like the weather and tires were never an issue, as Garner looked like the Demon we all know as he worked his way to the front and pulled away after overtaking Steve Ostling on lay 36.

Mrs Wags has got her stuff together and her pics are up. Click here! And then for my pit walk click here.

There have been few long races as smooth as this one with no fuel or tire problems, and some hard action on the track made the Memorial Day weekend kick off with a bang. Starting on the third row in the main event, Damion Gardner drove the red, Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply, Arizona Race Mart, Madera Produce, # 50 like it was silver and green. He was 7th quick and 2nd in his heat before his putting this one in the bank for the Bruce Bromme Jr led team. They have worked hard to change their set-up patterns for their new driver this season and watch out as Damion is always a handful. Damion was on a plane at 1:30 in the morning, heading to Eldora for another shot at that fast place, but can you say rainout!

Mike “Killer” Kirby looks intent on running smooth and chasing after the points after another stellar race this week in the ITI Performance, Sander Engineering, Snap On, # 38 TCR car. Kirby was 2nd in qualifying, 3rd in his heat and started on the fourth row in the main next to fast timer, Troy Rutherford. He used a lot of patience and his “Kool” head moving thru the pack and ultimately slipped into 2nd, but alas there was not enough laps left to chase down the winner. He had a few wheelstands along the way as he put the fast car to the front. He is one point ahead of Gardner in the chase after point leader Rip Williams as the season nears the third of the way in.

If determination was all it took to be a winner, Rip Williams was one long ago. Forget that he has never won a sprint car championship, even though he has driven cars that won the number one for two different car owners, Rip has a lot going for him this year. He leads the points by 42 at this juncture and doesn’t look like he is going to give it up. He was 3rd quick and won his heat on the way to finishing third this week. Looking fast as always in the black John Jory Corporation, Weld Wheels, Stinger # 3, the Ripper is living up to his nickname. His car has been fast every week and that’s why he is the point leader, he stands on the gas hard!

Although Bobby Cody had an early exit in the main event, his friendly signal to the eventual winner showed his extreme displeasure in getting knocked out of his 2nd race in a row. Bobby has turned a 180 in his driving career this season, first starting with asking for help after an extremely tough season last year. As a rookie two years ago, he hit the dirt with a fast car that had some directional problems, putting him on the trailer more times than he wanted, and sometimes with a car battered and bruised. Like most of us, his off track “situations” weighed heavily in his racing, but he resolved all that and hit 2004 with a different attitude. He requested help from Harlan Willis and Mike Nigh and they delivered in spades, redoing his car and giving him a chance to improve his driving. The results showed immediately as he has run harder and faster, and with better control than ever. He hasn’t been as lucky as he wants yet, with a 7th at Hanford his best run so far, he has had some front running experiences that didn’t complete well, like this past week when he almost made it to the finish line, but looks like he is coming to be a contender more so every week.

Several drivers had some great stuff for us this week starting with Greg Taylor who got his first ride in the Harlan Willis # 45 this week. He was 9th quick out of the box and just missed a transfer from his heat. He made it with a 4th in the Semi and ran strong all night finishing 8th. The talented driver is jumping around with some pavement 360 racing, some VRA and CRA, so is ready to bust out. Harlan is known for his ability to get the best out of his driver and we’ll see if this is a one time venture or not.

Jack Dearmond Jr has returned to racing after last years crash that broke his neck. He wore the halo long enough and has done some laps on practice nights, but was ready to race again. His new car is silver with some orange flames on it. The nose piece will be different next time out as it is inverted more than the allowable one inch. It is a good looking car and he did very well with a 10th place finish from the back row for the hard charger run of the week. He was all smiles as this was a long time coming.

Greg Bragg has been improving each week in the Bill Pratt owned # 12 once driven by Steve Ostling. He ran a strong race this week getting to fifth with one of his best outings ever with CRA. He passed plenty of good cars for this finish to be an exceptional one. Steve Paden is a known midget driver in these parts. He showed up this week with a pristine black Stealth chassied number 01 and took on the seat for the first time. He didn’t make the main, but did well for his first time racing with the CRA.

The “oh nooo” group this week included Bobby Cody’s problems and went on with others. Steve Venard changed owners and car numbers, but not the color scheme, as he made the main only to be the first to drop out. Rick Becker got the black flag for his fuel cell being loose and he was done. Adam Mitchell returned to the wars with a new car after his awful crash a few weeks ago. He was doing great shaking it down in the main, but a water hose broke and he pulled in. Dwayne Markum dropped out late in the race in the Jim Ruth # 25, and then the young Jim Ruth’s 50th birthday party started a little early! Jeremy Sherman made it over from Phoenix to drive Billy Wilkerson’s # 11 car, but ended pulling off early with a 15th place finish after one stop in the main.

They still haven’t found out who battered the water truck at Perris, so it’s time for the man (?) to step up and tell all. If it was an accident, just spit it out and get onto the restitution. If not, be a man! The PAS is getting creative to be more fan friendly these days. In addition to knocking the admission back a dollar this season, they give away tickets to the next race each week if four fans can predict who is going to win the heat races. Now they are doing some “what if” promotions by announcing before the main if certain drivers win, a special $5 off for the fans in attendance if they bring their ticket stub back to the next race. You know, it’s not easy to be a promoter, and finding ways to bring the fans in is very hard!

Super Rickie Gaunt made it 4 in a row at Barona in SCRA racing this past weekend. Teammate Charles Davis Jr was runner-up for the 4th time as well as the Extreme Twins keep cashing the biggest checks in the SCRA world. Good jobs also by Kevin Urton, Allan Ballard and Mike English as well as 25 cars made the event.

I am a little late this week because, in addition to the great racing we saw on Saturday night, I took two grandsons to the Dodger game Sunday and also watched five baseball games of my 9 year old grandson Hunter, who was in town playing at the Big League Dreams park in Riverside. They won 4 of them and played for the championship of the tournament, against the number one rated team in the nation in their age group, the “California Juice", and lost.

USAC/CRA Main event winner Damion Gardner, Kirby, Williams, Ostling, Bragg, Spencer, B Venard, Taylor, Rutherford, DeArmond, Hermansader, Zeihl, Hillberg, Case, Sherman, Mitchell, Jones, Argo, Marcum, Becker, Cody, S Venard.

Points USAC/CRA (50 Laps): 1) Williams 592, 2) Kirby 550, 3) Gardner 549, 4) Rutherford 516, 5) Jones 340, 6) Bragg 333, 7) B Venard 332, 8) Ostling 328, 9) Kruseman 313, 10) Sherman 310.

SCRA -MAIN EVENT (30 Laps) 1. Gaunt, 2. Davis, 3. Urton, 4. Ballard, 5. English, 6. Clark, 7. Sweeney, 8. Gremett, 9. Whitcomb, 10. Springstead, 11. Tedrick, 12. Reyer, 13. Ellertson, 14. Wilson, 15. Martin, 16. Pruett, 17. Everhart, 18. Nation, 19. Pelkey, 20. Shuman, 21. Schuler, 22. Murphy.- No Time. Laps Led: Sweeney 1-7, Urton 8-11, Gaunt 12-30