THE GASMAN IS BACK - BUT THE KRUSER IS ON TRACK

Three major things happened in SCRA racing this week at The PAS, but one was just the same old exciting thing! Cory Kruseman continued on his 2001 spree as he won his 5th race in a row at Perris, 11th of the season and 48th lifetime in SCRA. The Gasman, Richard Griffin, returned to racing sooner than anyone predicted but him. And the huge magnanimous Perris crowd gave up over $8,000 for Big George Gervais' recovery fund. Any of those three are major happenings, but the beat goes on in So Cal racing as the year continues to entertain us.

Mrs Wags pics are up now Click here to view!

Cory Kruseman had to wait out two starts called back of the opening green, with the last clearly the best for him, before chasing a flying Rip Williams for 17 laps. At that point, shockingly, he got a break when Rip got tangled up with a lap car and The two of them spun out in front of the oncoming pack. That "little" incident put Rip and Rickie Gaunt at the back of the restart line-up, but sent Griffin, Mike Spencer, Jordan Hermansader, Marc Hart, and Brian Venard to the showers early, signaling extensive and expensive repairs for some. It happened so quick, after Rip made contact with Ronnie Clark, that the next 6 cars on the top groove stacked up like firewood before the dust had cleared.

On the lap 18 restart, Cory, driving the Omni-Turn C N C Lathes, TCR, Del Mar Wire, # 45 sprinter, did his usual as he ran away from the pack and crossed the finish line well ahead of second finishing Troy Rutherford. Cory said it was hard to see behind Rip early in the main, and he used the silver number 3 on Rip's fuel cell for guidance, like a ship would a lighthouse, as they went flying into the corners. Cory had returned from Oskaloosa, IA where he finished 5th in a special non-wing invitational main during the annual $50,000 challenge race. Next year, as part of the NWWC Tour, a full night of non-wing racing will be featured at Oskaloosa!

Troy Rutherford was happy in his 3 race old Sled chassis, Sander Engineering, Barnes Oil System, Tucson Tool, # 4 as he is getting more comfortable in the bar car after running a coil over for most of the year. Troy was the hard charger of the night when he came from his 11th starting spot to get to the podium as he held off John Scott the last half of the race. The Gardner clan got another bonus this week as young Jimmy Gardner Jr won the Consi to start the night out right. Jimmy continues to improve under the watchful and tutoring eyes of the Gardner men.

Richard Griffin made a surprise visit to the PAS, and not only showed up, but proved he is very fast at recovering. He also came to boot Tony Jones out of the seat of the "Little Red Sucker" and get on with his effort to earn the owner title for his car owner. He looked like the Richard we know as he only missed two races. He ran 2nd quick time on the night, won his heat, ran third in the J E Pistons Passing Masters Dash before he got stacked up in the main while running third. If you were looking for a cast on his arm, forget it, he had a mere bandage on the arm where the serious cut mangled him a month ago. Those doctors in New Mexico must have done a great job. Rumor has it he was given a choice to do some rehab in one of those centers where they grind you through recovery, but instead he chose to rehab his own way, at the wheel of a sprint car. Glad you are back Gasman, the packed house was thrilled! As for the deposed Tony Jones, he was in the house looking for a ride that didn't come, but was walking the grandstands with his helmet to support Big George! lets find him another good ride!!!!

Our hats off to a throng of people who facilitated the raising of $8,300 for Big George Gervais, who is still in the hospital slowly recovering from injuries he received in a hard crash two weeks ago. To Randy Shiosaki of Design Works for creating "get well soon Big George" decals that raised a significant portion of the money, and a big get well banner that the fans signed. To Jeff Prusia whose huge get well card was also signed by the fans, plus his creation of a dynamite 24 x 20 rendering of Big George in action that was auctioned off to raise money for George. To all the drivers who walked the stands filling their helmets for Big George, that was a big deal. To the SCRA officials and PAS personnel who orchestrated the evening's activities for Big George. To Gwen Rice who made ribbons for the cars to fly in George's honor. To the fans who ponied up the cash for George and his family ($8,300 from the racers and fans this week, plus $1,100 last week)! And the entire Gervais Racing team, led by crew chief Tim Huvor Sr and his wife Linda, who all came dressed up in their uniforms and visited with the fans all night in the Big George booth. That combination of cooperation proved once again that racers take care of their own when they need it! Last week at Tulare, the Jerry Hudson created get well decals earned the $1,100 mentioned above. Now all we need is for Big George to wake up and light some fireworks!

John Scott was consistent this week in his Pace Electronics, Pro Prep, Design Works Custom Graphics, # 83. He was 3rd quick in qualifying, 3rd in his heat, 6th in the dash (what, no 3rd?) and 3rd again in the main event. And as usual, his car was sparkling every time it hit the track! John continues to run hard in his continuing effort to becoming a better driver and beating these SCRA heroes.

Perhaps Mike Kirby should send a thank you card to a lap car that spun late in the main this week. There have been other occasions that lap cars have cost him dearly on the track, but not this week. Mike had started in the 5th row and worked his was up to 4th by half way through the main event. He chased John Scott the last half of the race, but when the white flag came out, he passed the starters stand slowing drastically with a left rear tire that was coming off the rim. He was still in 4th at that point, but by the time he got around to the 3rd turn, he was dropping back fast in the finishing order. Ahh, but sometimes you come up smelling like roses, and presto, he was saved by the checkered/yellow flags that starter "Cat" Jaskowiak was waving. Don't ask, but Cory had already crossed the finish line when the lap car spun and that made it official, so Mike got the position he earned on the lap before the, well lets just say he was lucky this time, and will take the good finish. His teammate, Super Rickie Gaunt, came back from his stop in "the" incident to grab ninth.

Rodney Argo had a strong night when he tied his only other top five finish of the year. He was 9th fast and won his heat before finishing 8th in the dash and 5th in the main. The big Ford was cookin' and he pointed it in the right directing all night. Rodney hasn't had many good clean nights this year, but maybe he is ready to turn that around.

Rip Williams was overpowering early in the night letting everyone know he was back, too! He was 4th quick in qualifying, won his heat and the J E Pistons Passing Masters Dash quite handily, then took the lead in the main for 17 laps before "the" incident put him in the back. He strapped back in, put his elbows up and began to pick em' off one by one, until he was in 6th as the checkers flew. A strong performance for the Ripper, showing he will be a force the rest of the year, you can plan on that!

Danny Sheridan was very unlucky this week. After a great feature article on the team in the local Orange County Register newspaper on Wednesday, he was 7th quick in qualifying and running well in the heat when he was suddenly bumped into the wall hard in a typical racing incident that "happens". The crash was so hard and violent, that it broke the chassis, and the team spent the rest of the night stripping the chassis to send back, via the Charles Davis delivery service, for Buckley to repair. It was one of those things, but Danny was on the gas and moving forward as usual. The team later received the Wagsbucks, and Laurie and Tom Sertich immediately gave it to the Big George recovery fund! If you want to send a donation to Big George, log on to wagtimes.com and click on the Big George banner for the mailing info.

It looks like a number of drivers in SCRA are feeling like they get snake bit every time they get on the track. Take Brian Venard for instance. His sharp family owned # 47 sprinter just went through a costly rebuild after the NWWC tour and were only out for the second time since that bad crash. Brian was a victim of "the" main event incident that took out the leader, Rip Williams. Now they must regroup to find the money to replace the broken bolt on's and probably the chassis which got tweaked too much this time. Marc Hart said he thought he should retire and run only the Wagsdash, where he is a two-time winner, his luck has been so lousy this year. Last week a motor problem sent him packing, and then after winning the Semi this week, he got caught up in "the" incident as well.

Lance Gremett didn't make it far enough to get caught in "the" incident, but he struggled with a car that kept coming out of gear, and that situation got him only a 30th in qualifying (and he said that was lucky), so ultimately he couldn't recover from the rear starting position in the semi and didn't make the main. He feels good in the car and still has mounds of potential waiting for his seasoning to unleash! Add Jordan Hermansader to this list, as this nice guy continues to look for that first big win in a sprint car. He has had numerous rides, but now is trying to make his presence felt in the # 12 Pratt machine. So far, he hasn't made that breakthrough, but looks like he is ready to bust out. He too was caught up in "the" incident. Ronnie Clark was part of "the" incident when Rip tried to go under him on a very tough track to pass and maneuver thru traffic on. It looked like Rip was taking his chances every time he approached a lap car, with Cory right on his tail, before Ronnie got his ticket to the showers.

Shiny Tire award winner this week was handled without me as I was off counting the money with the Gervais crew after the helmet walk, so the winners are Marc Nation and Rodney Argo. I hear the rainbow show was great, but didn't make the grandstands until the green flag fell. I was told that there were many worthy competitors!

Will Perkins dropped by the booth to say hi. He has retired from driving now and said he is spending more time with his kids and is happy with his decision. He may come back to help someone else, but for now is very busy being a father. Casey Shuman was in the pits after the races and said before he thinks about returning to run with the SCRA, someone will have to have a really sweet deal. He is very happy with his 360 ride in his team car to point leader Gary A Howard, running with the VRA at Ventura. Look for more good results from him when the fair is over this week. Cal Smith, another low buck car owner, was around checking out everything this night. He is so busy in his business that sometimes he just doesn't have enough time to get ready to race!

With The Gasman back, the points deal is as follows: Cory leads with 1799 points. Griffin is 2nd at 1485, Kirby next only 18 points behind at 1467, Rutherford 4th and only 4 points back of Kirby at 1463, and Scott in 5th at 1278. Cory is 314 points ahead of the defending champ Griffin, so the race for second is the one to watch with 22 points seperating Griffin, Kirby and Rutherford. This could turn out to be interesting! Harlan Willis has a 145 (imagine that) point lead over Ron Chaffin for the car owners title.

Look for me at Lawrenceburg, Gas City and Bloomington this week in Indiana as I try to take in a little NAMARS Sprint and Midget action. I will have a few decals with me, so get yours. Too bad that North Vernon was cancelled, because I like that place when it's wet. That will give us a little time to stop for a visit with JJ Yeley and Davey Jones on Gasoline alley in Indy. These two transplanted SCRA boys are looking for success in the BIG picture and finding it! I will be back to Santa Maria on Saturday, so don't worry! We will be back at The PAS on Aug 25th before our second visit to Ventura, and the start of a two-day extravaganza closing out at the PAS on Sunday of the holiday Labor Day weekend. Get crackin'!