The Firecracker 50 day on Wednesday at the PAS was hot and much more. Many of the SCRA drivers went out front to play traditional 4th of July games with the fans. Hot dog and watermelon eating contests were fun with sack races even more entertaining. A lot of cold drinks were downed as the thirsty day went on. After all that, Cory Kruseman, driving the Omni-Turn CNC Lathes, TCR, Del Mar Wire # 45 rushed to the front and pulled away from his nemesis, Richard Griffin, each restart in the 50 lapper.

Mrs Wags pics from Wednesday are here!

Cory was his unstoppable self on another holiday race, and picked up his 45th SCRA win to match his car number. He is only 8 wins behind the SCRA win leader, Rip Williams, as he adds to his amazing year that he already has 8 victories in. Richard worked hard to get close to Cory as the race played out, but couldn't get around the new father. The Gasman set fast time, again, at 16.807 and continues to inch closer in the points deal.

Tom Downing was one of many who had a little trouble with the wall this night, and ended up with $113 of Wagsbucks to take home to help fix his busted racer. Troy Cline and Alex Grigoreas had their crews get the shiny tire awards, as the tires were looking good under the fireworks tonight! The packed house stayed around to watch the mega-fireworks show that was again outstanding. Next stop, Santa Maria, where it was nice and cool away from the hot Perris climate.

The SCRA made their first visit of three to Santa Maria this season and the Gasman sure liked the home cookin' he stole. Richard Griffin fought a very fast track to get by hometown hero, Danny Sheridan, and ran a tad higher than the rest of the field for his 7th victory of the year, and his 35th SCRA lifetime win, for a total of 49 non-wing CRA/SCRA wins. It also pulled him a little closer in the championship points battle as the point leader, Cory Kruseman, finished 13th after an incident with a lap car knocked him out with a half a lap to go. Cory has 1511 with the Gasman at 1382, just 129 points behind as Richard has cut over 100 points off the lead since they left for the Mid-west.

Mrs Wags pics from Santa Maria are ready!

Griffin, driving the Arizona Race Mart, Circle C Marketing, Madera Produce # 50, was 2nd quick on the night, ran 3rd in his heat, 5th in the dash before nailing down the 30 lap win as he took the lead for good on lap 12. Richard continues to surge forward from his slow start of the year in his effort to repeat as the SCRA champion.

Danny Sheridan, who lives nearby, is no stranger to the track. He broke in with the SCRA two years ago with his own 360 racer and finished 2nd to Rip Williams that night. He did it again this week, but this time he is driving the Moose Racing Team's 410. Danny gives the Jans Health Bar, Costa Mesa Honda, Koehler Chiropractic # 92, Buckley chassied car a full workout. He had the lead in the main early after giving it up to Rodney Argo and then reclaiming it, but couldn't hold off the mighty Gasman's charge. Who could this night, he was unreal on the track? Danny is really coming into his own with some great driving, so we can look for his first official 410 win very soon. He won the JE Pistons Passing Masters Dash and was 10th quick on the night.

The chassis war is heating up as Richard and Cory stack their wins giving their respective supplier lots of advertising. TCR, from Larry Brown also a racer who competed this weekend, has nine wins, John Boy seven, Avenger and Stinger two, with Sled and Okie/Drake one. Although chassis are traditionally different, many of them still mirror the '89 Gambler pattern that is still very successful today. Many chassis builders will make any kind of a special request that a racer might want, but like always, whatever is working is what is ordered.

Mike Kirby, driving the Geurin's Mobile Home Service, State Wide Towing, Barberie Mold # 5 Stinger, had a smooth podium 3rd place finish, as he continues to show off his skills. He has to step it up now that Super Rickie Gaunt is his teammate. Actually, his only focus on the track is moving up to win, and he wants to beat them all, especially Rickie just because he is in a team car.

Rip Williams hurt his car so bad in a crash at Perris on the 4th of July that the team swapped all the good stuff to the second chassis before coming to Santa Maria. Rip is not sure if the other one is salvageable, but had his 2nd best night of the year with his 4th place finish here. Rip is looking for his first win of the year in his new Gambler car and is working hard at it.

John Scott was having a good night until he caught the cushion and flipped hard coming into turn three in the main. The car made at least one hard quick revolution before another car touched his and he slipped off the wall and came to an abrupt stop, with the car landing on its wheels. It took a long time to get him out of the car, and he took a trip to the hospital because of some pain that was uncomfortable, but should be home by the time you read this.

Casey Shuman looks like he has found a new home at Ventura with the VRA. He ran this week in the Barbara Howard owned # 94 that he has driven before, and by the looks of things, he likes it and might stay awhile. We will miss him, but he is racing, so that's not bad at all.

Hank Winter says it looks like this might be his last year with SCRA. Citing the money it costs to run two cars and his young family needing more of his time, he plans to stay home and run a, I don't know if I can say this, but a stock car of all things. He wants to try something new! At age 40, he says he has not lost the desire to race, but needs to be with his family more and the long tows to run with the SCRA were just taking him away from home too long. He will finish out the season in a brand new car that is ready to hit the track. I for one am very sorry to see him move on, because we need people like him in the pits and representing the racers. His always-positive attitude, even when things were the pits, and his ability to "smooze" with everyone plus make the kids really feel good, will be missed. So, as the year winds down, don't miss his pits after the races, go see why this nice guy will never finish last!

Greg DeCaries returned to SCRA racing after a few weeks off. He says it was nice to do some other things for a change, and it helped to relax and get ready for the 2nd half of the season. It was a nice break for the whole team, but now they are focused on going to the front! Car owner, Mike Hasebe, is considering selling his 40-year plus Hanford Radiator business. If that happens, we will see the team travel less and hit fewer SCRA shows without that cushion from the business that pays the bills for these expensive toys. Retirement beckons, but Mike has raced a long time, so we will see what he and his sons will come up with. Greg had 6th on the night as he looked good on the 1/3 mile oval all night.

Troy Rutherford had a slow, for him, qualifying time this week when he came in 22nd on the list. It caused him to start 20th in the main event. After getting caught up in a six car parking event melee in turn three early in the race, he managed to roar back to 8th for the hard charger award of the week. His teammate, young Jimmy Gardner Jr, has his work cut out for him this week. Jimmy has to do all the work on his car, as part of the agreement to get to run the family # 96. He suffered his first flip during qualifying this week and came up limping and with blurred vision in one eye. The eye should be fine, he says, and the knee will improve while he replaces the broken parts. He was up watching the race in the grandstands when we saw him late in the night with his signature smile on his face.

Steve Ostling had a tough night in the Fischer Motorsports # 29. He crashed in his heat and had to run from the back of the semi. They had to repair a lot of stuff on the car and didn't get it right for the 12-lap race, so he ended up 9th after passing several cars. His team ended up with the $150 of Wagsbucks collected and said to say thanks for the help, they needed it. Shiny Tires went to Greg Porte, a local driver whose car was just brilliant under the lights, with the mini to Danny Sheridan's # 92.

It looked like Rodney Argo was going to have a great night after he ran 3rd in his heat, 2nd in the dash and started on the front row of the main event. After Sheridan took the opening lead, Rodney powered around him and led six laps before some twitchy moves from his new TCR car cost him the lead when he biked it over the cushion coming out of turn 4. He later had a problem that sent him to the work area, but when he returned, he was a lap down and finished 17th. The car looked strong and racy, so maybe he is about to bust out.

Although the racing wasn't what I would term at the very best for this track, the crowd really got heated up watching the Gasman and Showtime Sheridan duking it out. I have to remember that not all fans think like I do, nor watch a race like I do, so what I might think is less than ideal might very well just ring their bell! I know the Gasman's crew loved the show and rightly so, their driver kicked some booty out there. There was plenty of that excitement the small oval gives you, but a second groove would have been nice. The freaky weather, which included a rain-storm the day before, didn't make it easy in track prep.

Steve Lafond made one of his rare Tear Off Heaven Fotos appearances as everyone's ace photographer, so I know we will be seeing some more great Santa Maria shots in the papers and on our web page. He is already signed up for next years SCRA NWWC tour after hearing about PA, so beware back East, Lafond is coming! He brought along Steve Lombardo, who is a webmaster for Dave Darland and many others. You might hear that name from the SCRA in the future as rumor has it the club's web page will be undergoing a facelift and he might be the guy who does it.

For those who wondered what happened to Michael Smith, the former driver of the Fischer Motorsports # 29, he is moving to Texas. Michae's employer is transferring him to that Southern local, and as his Uncle Rick reports, although he is not crazy about the idea of moving there, he is happy for the opportunity to keep his job and realize new "opportunities". Things always work out for the best, they say, so he expects, when he gets settled, to look for a place to continue his racing career.

Randy Pankratz was at Santa Maria with her TQ on display in the grandstand area. She had a "track Experience" opportunity for all fans to ride in her car. For $150, or two people for $250, you can take a ride on the dirt at Santa Maria in thi little car. I think she said two 15 lap sessions for each participant and she needed at least 4 people to make this work. If you want to drive a TQ, just for the fun of it, call 805-610-6788 and talk to Randy.

I went to the night drags this past week at Pomona, no this isn't a commercial for the drags, but was impressed with the nostalgia cars that competed. Some of the old fuel rails and fuel altered's can really put on a show and with the tire size limitations, (10 inch wide slicks?) they still run low 6's. The ground shakers like John Force's funny car and Larry Dixon's dragster do literally shake you senseless when they are on a hot run. Man, my ears hurt, but the unreal vibrations of the 300 mile per hour passes cured my back, what a rush!

OK, back to the PAS this coming week, so keep them cards and letters coming. Oh, by the way, fill your coolers with Gatorade, it will probably be hot again and they are having Fan Appreciation day that will start early in the afternoon. More games for the fans and some free food, too! I hope they find mustard for the dry hot dog eating contest if they have another one. Our grandson Tory reported he was in the contest last week and couldn't choke down the dry dogs. On TV the next day we saw some record setter who ate 50 of the bad boys by watering them down? Maybe that's the secret! Anyway, it will be another barnburner, so we will see you there!