By Ken Wagner
May 31, 2008

The second edition of the Open Comp Gardner/Faas experience was more fun, more cars, more fans and more excitement as Victorville Speedway showcased the best of the west this week. With 42 cars signing in, and really nice weather making it a great day, the event was surely a success even at the box office.

For my pics Click here. Doug Allen's pics Click here. Bethany Thrasher's pics Click here. and Ellen Ellis Pics Click here.

This new partnership of Jack Gardner Jr and Cary Faas is working out very well with two good events and some great racing on the small Victorville oval. They draw for main event starting positions with the top eight getting to play a little game of chance to get their launching position. Lucky Blake Miller drew the pole and had the first opportunity to go to the back and run for $20,000, but he declined. Then Casey Shuman, who boldly told the crowd earlier after setting fast time that he was here to go for the big money, but he also declined. That left it up to Josh Ford who said why not, and he went to the back to prepare his charge. Unfortunately, Josh had his problems and could only come back up to 9th.

When the green flag dropped, Shuman jumped to the lead he would only surrender to Blake Miller on a great pass, but that was negated by a quick yellow flag that put Casey back in the lead on the next restart. The only other problem was at the 10 PM curfew time with only 8 laps down from one of many red and yellow flag stops. The checkered shockingly came out with the red flag. The crowd gulped out a “can you believe it”, (or was that *&#*#@**&%$*) before it was announced the race would resume. Whew, a good move by management as many in the crowd were booing and showing their unhappiness over the checkered flag! Casey felt he had won, rightly so, but the crowd wanted to see him earn it. And the Garner/Faas duo stepped up and paid the fine so the crowd got to see a race they came from all over to see.

After the cars were realigned and restarted, Casey was hounded first by Blake Miller and then Danny Sheridan for the rest of the race. Try as they might, it was all Casey’s when the checkered flag flew and the 30 laps were done. It was very exciting watching Danny do his thing and Casey keeping him back. In addition Mike Spencer got involved and the three of them were running three wide around the small oval making the crowd gasp a few times, especially when Showtime braved running in between the other two several times so close……..well it was hot! Eventually, the little red sucker suffered from contact with the little blue sucker and Mike was done.

Danny finished 2nd and was disappointed he didn’t get the $5000 1st prize and maybe even more so the neat trophy that went with it. “Showtime” ran a good race, but just couldn’t get around Mighty Casey.

Bullet Blake Miller came in a close third and was happy about that. His pass on the leader was masterful, but after the red flag stop the car wasn’t as hooked up quite as well as earlier.Tyler Brown was 4th and Garrett Hanson 5th, after starting 14th, going to the back after a flat and came roaring back to the front. Great job!

There were plenty of crashes during the night as one might have thought they all were going for the $20,000. Dave Bezio in the Ziegler # 8 got the $200 of Wagsbucks for the tough luck driver of the night. I need more help the next race to make that happen so give me your bucks. There were plenty more crashes in the main event. Don Gansen hit Jordan Hermansader a ton on the front stretch and he continued on around to the 3rd turn before stopping. He was had a broken kneecap and lost his brakes, thus the continuation. I missed Jimmy Crawford’s wild endo, but he walked away not a happy camper. Nic Faas was lookin’ good in his car after many weeks off for a midget ride. He dropped out early during the main event and will only run with us when he is not in the point leading midget.

Tony Jones had a tough night after qualifying second, running third in his heat and drawing 8th on the starting grid. He was doing good until a flat tire sent him to the work area for new rubber. He came back out and came back up to about 7th when he spun to stop on a yellow flag because he only had two positions on his gas pedal, half way and full throttle. He drove that way for a number of laps, but this yellow made his night a quick ending one. A bunch more dropped out for various maladies, but in the end the podium three kept hammering out a good story until the end. Cory Kruseman was looking strong until he pulled to the infield in his heat, ending his night.

Cody Williams continues to do very well. He had a couple of incidents ahead of him, but didn’t get sucked into disaster by making at least two good saves and finished 6th in the main event. Tyler Brown’s strong 4th was music to his ears as he had a great run in the Gardner # 96.

Overall, it was an exciting race day with a big crowd and the only way to go is up for this group. After a quick moment in the pits to congratulate a few it was time to head home with a little dinner presented by the very kind Brian Kittle who sent us merrily on our way knowing no Big Mac’s for us this time!

Thanks to the Wagsbucks contributor’s for tonight as the racer’s always appreciate a little extra $$$ when they have a bad night. Where does the Open show head next? I heard the word Prescott Valley, so look out as these open shows are fun for all, and they pay more money.

Steve Howard continues to collect money to add to the purse for the two day Calistoga race the week before the 18th annual Wagsdash at the end of August. There is more than $20,000 extra money being put up and will include tow money for all the CRA hot shoes headed up there. There will be Wagsbucks there as well, so if you want to add to it, see me. Make your plans because Calistoga is one of the most beautiful tracks in the country and is a true half mile settled in between the big trees of the fairgrounds. Remember there are many wineries up there so you can replenish your wine cellar while we are there.

Keep thinking on how you can help sprint car racing… We must grow our sport!

Speaking of money, Tony Jones mentioned the push truck drivers that came up from Perris could use a little help. Because of this they shared the money collected for them and everyone went home with a little help. That’s what I mean when I say Think about how to help our sport.

Oh, and for those who were puzzled by the crutches this weekend: I guess I should not pick up heavy objects any more. The deep pain muscle problem will go away soon, I hope, but it’s been a week and the meds are not working like the heavy duty stuff yet, but it’s getting better. I’ll be at Perris regardless, so look for me. Remember the Wagsdash, the race for the low buck racers, at Ventura Raceway, September 6th, 2008. I gathered in a few more items for the auction this week, so keep em’ coming.

Victorville Speedway – May 31, 2008

TIME TRIALS:
1. Casey Shuman, 32- 13.644, 2. Tony Jones, 4- 13.657, 3. Nic Faas, 17F- 13.686, 4. Cory Kruseman, 21K- 13.709, 5. Blake Miller, 93- 13.725, 6. J Hicks, 66- 13.761, 7. Henry Clarke, 41K- 13.763, 8. Danny Sheridan, 18- 13.794, 9. Mike Spencer, 50- 13.811, 10. Tyler Brown, 96- 13.814, 11. Josh Ford, 73- 13.849, 12. Cody Williams, 3- 13.910, 13. Rodney Argo, 19- 13.933, 14. John Aden, 7X- 14.041, 15. Rickie Gaunt, 25- 14.064, 16. R.J. Johnson, 38- 14.079, 17. Don Gansen, 7G- 14.083, 18. Garrett Hansen, 7- 14.098, 19. Seth Wilson, 17- 14.127, 20. Alan Ballard, 75- 14.159, 21. Shon Deskins, 20- 14.180, 22. J.J. Ercse, 84- 14.226, 23. Eric Severson, 11- 14.342, 24. Jimmy Crawford, 0K- 14.354, 25. Robert Ellis, 43- 14.372, 26. Jordan Hermansader, 36- 14.381, 27. Brandon Thomson, 92T- 14.421. 28. Ludwig Solberg IV, 13- 14.421, 29. Ryan Devitt, 72- 14.722, 30. Luis Espinoza, 92- 14.763, 31. Dave Bezio, 8Z- 14.824, 32. Tony Everhart, 55- 14.840, 33. Aaron Altaffer, 21A- 14.901, 34. Tom Grunkemeyer, 55X- 14.973, 35. Brian Schuler, 77S- 15.005, 36. Ronnie Case, 8- 15.099, 37. Gordon Edwards, 50X- 15.153, 38. Mike Kennedy, 14- 15. 320, 39. Brein Kinney, 85- 15.368, 40. Joe Gunderson, 57- 15.408, 41. John Butler, 54- 15.623, 42. Heidi Tresler, 3X- 15.783.

C-MAIN: (8 laps)
1. Ronnie Case, 2. Aaron Altaffer, 3. Tom Grunkemeyer, 4. Brian Schuler, 5. Brein Kinney, 6. Heidi Tresler, 7. Joe Gunderson, 8. Mike Kennedy, 9. Gordon Edwards, 10. John Butler.

HEAT RACE 1: (10 laps)
1. Mike Spencer, 2. Casey Shuman, 3. Blake Miller, 4. Robert Ellis, 5. Don Gansen, 6. Shon Deskins, 7. Ryan Devitt, 8. Rodney Argo.

HEAT RACE 2: (10 laps)
1. Garrett Hansen, 2. Jordan Hermansader, 3. Tony Jones, 4. Tyler Brown, 5. Luis Espinoza, 6. J.J. Ercse, 7. J Hicks, 8. John Aden.

HEAT RACE 3: (10 laps)
1. Seth Wilson, 2. Josh Ford, 3. Eric Severson, 4. Rickie Gaunt, 5. Nic Faas, 6. Brandon Thomson, 7. Henry Clarke, 8. Dave Bezio.

HEAT RACE 4: (10 laps)

1. Alan Ballard, 2. Danny Sheridan, 3. Cody Williams, 4. Jimmy Crawford, 5. R.J. Johnson, 6. Tony Everhart, 7. Ludwig Solberg IV, 8. Cory Kruseman. SEMI-MAIN: (12 laps)

1. Nic Faas, 2. J Hicks, 3. R.J. Johnson, 4. Rodney Argo, 5. Don Gansen, 6. Luis Espinoza, 7. Aaron Altaffer, 8. J.J. Ercse, 9. Henry Clarke, 10. Ronnie Case, 11. Ludwig Solberg IV, 12. Tom Grunkemeyer, 13. Tony Everhart, 14. Brian Schuler, 15. Shon Deskins, 16. Brandon Thomson, 17. Ryan Devitt, 18. Dave Bezio.

FEATURE: (30 laps - With Actual Starting Positions)
1. Casey Shuman (2nd), 2. Danny Sheridan (3rd), 3. Blake Miller (1st), 4. Tyler Brown (6th), 5. Garrett Hansen (14th), 6. Cody Williams (4th), 7. Seth Wilson (13th), 8. Rickie Gaunt (9th), 9. Josh Ford (21st), 10. Mike Spencer (5th), 11. R.J. Johnson (12th), 12. Eric Severson (15th), 13. Luis Espinoza (19th), 14. Robert Ellis (17th), 15. Tony Jones (8th), 16. J Hicks (10th), 17. Jimmy Crawford (18th), 18. Alan Ballard (16th), 19. Nic Faas (7th), 20. Don Gansen (11th), 21. Jordan Hermansader (20th), 22. Rodney Argo (22nd).