RICH ZIMMERMAN NON-WING CHALLENGE NOT WHAT IT COULD HAVE BEEN.

Here we are trying to shake off a very hot afternoon in Hanford as the 2004 Valvoline USAC/CRA Series continued after a few breaks in the summer schedule. With the temps reaching nearly 107 the day before the race, it didn’t turn out like expected. The track was perhaps as good as it gets and Damion Gardner literally dominated the track and his competitors to win the 30 lapper with ease. He pulled within 11 points of the point leader, Rip Williams.

Since Mrs Wags was MIA, here are some of what I captured from the night. Click here to see.

The heat was very much part of the day, but when Bobby Cody broke the track record for traditional sprint cars, you knew it was a good track early, but would it last? The number one answer? YES! After it was lowered again by Peter Murphy, the Demon lined up his black n’ red bomber and laid down a new track record 15.162 to set the crowd buzzing. That was over a half second under the old record, but he was not done yet in the Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply, Arizona Race Mart, Madera Produce black number 50 Eagle with the red tail. Since the team brought out the new Eagle chassis at the end of June to replace the John Boy that had done so well for them the last few years with Richard Griffin in the seat, they had immediate positive results. Damion is far more comfortable in the new car and now has several wins to show for it. He has been on a roll, and if not for a couple of traffic tussles, he would have at least two more wins at Skagit and Habstadt.

In his heat the Demon started last and marched thru the field to grab the lead, then drifted off the track going down the backstretch. No biggie, as he passed them again for a sizzling10 lap victory. He then started 8th in the main and had fourth captured after two laps and took the lead on lap five that he would not give up. He didn’t miss a beat as he pulled away from the pack, using his new learned “patience” going thru traffic, and not giving the competition any chance at him. If this hot run by the ‘little red sucker” is any indication of things to come, the rest of the club better get prepared to see a lot more of the view of the rear of his fuel cell.

When Mike Kirby and his crew arrived at the track, they unloaded both the 4-bar car and the coil over that has given them three USAC/CRA wins this season. They decided to run the 4-bar car after figuring the track would be too rough for the coil over to work well. Mike then went out and qualified for the main thru his heat in the red # 38, ITI Performance, Sander Engineering, TCR. He started fifth in the main and dodged a few errant moves by others to get the lead before the Demon charged by him. He chased hard, but had to settle for a well deserved 2nd, but it wasn’t without some excitement on the well prepared track that lasted all night.

Peter Murphy is the nicest driver from Australia going around these parts. He is a great driver to visit with in the pits as he is having fun and entertains all with his great accent. Normally a wing driver, Peter has come south to have some fun without the upper hardware on many occasions. He ran strong at Skagit two weeks ago with USAC/CRA and has put in some great laps at the last few Oval Nationals, so he is no rookie to wingless action. He drove the # 21 Tarlton Special very well this week and had a good battle with point leader Rip Williams before climbing on the podium for the first time with the wingless club. He was the second car to break the track record before the Demon, so he was fast in his snub nosed front end car. He had to run the semi, a 12 lap race he won, to get to the main and started ninth before moving up to 3rd at the end. With the Golden State series down for the year up North, maybe we will see a lot more of him as he looks very comfortable without the crutch up top.

Perhaps the most exiting non-winner this week was Rick Williams, no relation to Rip. Not only was he 2nd quick in qualifying in his 360 motored black # 6x car, he ran second in his heat behindJordan Hermansader and would start 7th in the main event. If the crowd was shocked by his ultra quick qualifying time, they hadn’t seen nuthin’ yet! He made his quick car float slide jobs by some fast cars up to 2nd place and looked like he had more. Not only was he fast, he was wide and it took Kirby a lot of patience to finally get back by him later in the race when he slowed to 6th, still a great run. He was very impressive, so the question is, could a 410 be in his future?

The point leader, Rip Williams was the hard charger of the night as he came from 12th to 4th using all his wiley ways in the black John Jory Corp # 3. The Ripper looked like he enjoyed the exercise in his Stinger race car and looks forward to his favorite track, Perris, coming up next Saturday. Local driver Terry Schank used his 360 red # 1 wisely and came quietly from 13th up to 5th for a great performance against the hot dogs of USAC/CRA. I don’t know much about him except he had a great night at Hanford. Steve “The hired gun” Ostling came back from running 10th at Indiana’s Gas City Raceway the night before to drive the Billy Wilkerson’s blue # 11 very well all night. He was 3rd in his heat and came from 15th to eighth in the main.

There were a lot of good performances by local 360 drivers, including Arron Chaney, who made the main and finished a strong 11th in the Martin Chaney owned # 69 once driven by his brother. Chris D’Arcy gave it a good shot after spending the afternoon rounding up affordable and legal used Hoosier tires so he could race. He just missed the main.Brad Evett and Jonathan Logan put in some good laps as well. Axel Walker, from nearby Washington state (?) came down to run after taking the wing off at Skagit for the USAC/CRA show up there. Long drive, you bet!

There were some bad news boys as usual, with some having worst luck than others. On the original start, pole sitter Jordan Hermansader was looking for a good run from there. Already he had won his heat and looked good as he took the lead, but before a lap was done, he was booted in the rear and spun out on the infield with a flat tire. They waited for him, a good move, and he restarted at the back. From there he managed to get back to 12th by race end, one position ahead of the offender.

Danny Sheridan has been on a roll of his own this year, winning 7 of 11 with the Bandits, making life tough for his competitors. He made the main and was doing very well early running in 2nd until a yellow flag flew. Some extra curricular activity on the line-up left him with a flat left rear tire and a trip to the work area. He restarted at the rear and began making a large charge to the front until another car got out of control next to him, sending him off the track, and almost on his head, with a folded down front end, and an early trip to the showers. He was not a happy camper with his non finish, but he still belongs running with the big boys and will be back.

Bobby Cody had his troubles this week even after making a wild charge to take the lead. He only held that position for one lap because of a wild biking maneuver his car took going into turn one. He got back into action to finish 9th, but one wonders if he hadn’t almost flipped the car, if it couldn’t have been better. He was 4th quick and won his heat for a good start. Greg Bragg and J Hicks were two more that raced hard all night with Greg getting 7th and Hicks 10th. These are two guys who make a difference as both have a lot to give and will surprise us all one day with a win I am sure.

So, we had a great race on a well prepared track in the heat, with 30 cars racing hard for the appreciative crowd, what could be better? More fans and more cars would be nice, but I hope Dave Swindell and his crew liked what they saw and will continue to build what is started at one of the best tracks in California, Kings Speedway.

What’s up with SCRA? That is the number one question asked me as I travel along to the races. Since I have no “official” news, I can only say one thing from my own observations. They are in trouble. If you look at the schedule for the rest of the year and the number of cars on the tour, it doesn’t bode well for the organization that Glen Howard built some 10 years ago. With less than a dozen travelers on the annual NWWC Tour and only a couple of the west coast stars among them, the tour still hasn’t hit a speed bump yet. The car counts have been great at Hollywood Hills, Oskaloosa and Gas City, but for the first time the SCRA is taking a back seat to the local stars along the way, which was the point when Ron $human started this deal.

Point Leader Rickie Gaunt won at Hollywood Hills, but was 17th and 8th the next two “on the road” races with top drivers attending from all over. The NWWC could probably keep going, if the money stays high like at Oskaloosa and Lakeside, but the promoters can now do it themselves if they want to continue on since only a few of the west coast stars are traveling these days, and then only if the race is high paying. Oskaloosa doesn’t need any association when you put up $30,000 to win, the racers will all go there just like the Mopar Thunder drawing power at Eldora. Lakesides $10,000 to win and a great promoter, will bring some cars, but car counts there the last two years were not big, even with great racing on the big half mile. Without the USAC/CRA heroes, the traveling NWWC bunch is less formidable than ever, even with the addition of mid-west USAC stars like Cory Kruseman, Bud Kaeding and Tony Elliott looking to cherry pick the big money. I can’t or won’t predict what will happen, only keep observing and reporting the results of the split-up that never needed to be, the one that has hurt the fans the most.

The honoring of Rich Zimmerman, a well known sprint car fan who passed away last year during the Western at Manzanita, was a great idea. His son Kevin put up $10,000 for a 12 lap dash for non wingers and Rich’s long time friend, Leroy Beddingfield, helped Kevin collect more money until they reached over $17,000. The idea was to run the race on the first night of the Knoxville Nationals in the state where he had a lot of family and honor him with a traditional event, and most importantly, EARLY in the night so it could get the best exposure to the rabid wing fans on a track not yet battered by the wing cars.

The top ten finishers at the Oskaloosa Challenge the night before would be inverted with four promoter option additions. There were some cone hitting “concerns” about the finish on Tuesday night, but the official SCRA finish put Sammy Swindell on the pole of a now 14 lap dash paying $5,000 to win, then $3,000, $2,000, $1,000 with at least $500 to start. A very worthy undertaking. The four promoter’s options were good, but what about Jay Drake or Mike Kirby, two champion drivers that didn’t make the option in? Either would have been a worthy addition, but since Smoke Johnson opted to not run, The four earmarked for adding to the special race, Damion Gardner, J J Yeley, Rickie Gaunt and Davis Jr, would start behind the ten from Oksaloosa.

The reason I am explaining this is for all those who thought this would be a great chance to showcase the wingless performance on a night that the Kings of the Outlaws were doing their thing at the biggest wing race in the land. In my mind we missed a big opportunity here, because it was relegated to the end of the night. Unfortunately, it didn’t give us Traditional fans what we wanted to see when the race was run after Tim Kaeding had beat the best of the WOO and they simply used the mud up. So, the one groove track could not showcase the wingless style like we know it. In fact, it was the worst possible thing that could have happened for non-wing exposure, or maybe that was the idea. When Sammy won wire to wire in Jeff Walker’s number 11, with little movement behind him, it didn’t help. Yes, Damion Garnder and J J Yeley put on a show from the back, but wouldn’t it have been nicer if there was a battle for the lead on a heavy track? Oh well, they were stringing them out nicely, and those fans may never know what we see weekly at tracks in Indiana and California on a regular basis. I hope the fans were impressed, but it was probably too late in the night to comprehend. The finish was Swindell, Matt Westfall, Levi Jones, Zach Chappell, Dave Darland, Damion Gardner, J J Yeley, Jac Haudenschild, Dickie Gaines, Jon Stanbrough, Cory Kruseman, Jesse Hockett, Rickie Gaunt, and Charlie Davis Jr. I listened to the SCN radio live reporting, but never heard them explain who Rich was or talk much about anyone but the WOO regulars. I hope the track announcer made it clear what it was all about. Man, where is my cheese, to go with my whine? Wags out!

Well, the USAC/CRA bandwagon returns to Perris for the first time since Dubya ran away under the fireworks lit sky on July 3rd. He did return two days later, for those that havn’t heard and now The Wags “BIG DAWG” DASH (two races in one) fund raising is heating up and I need your help! This will be the last week to get your name on the annual 2005 traditional Ellen Ellis racing calendar so see me or Mrs Wags Saturday as we go to press on Monday. I should have a new dynamic Demon/Ripper poster for fans that is awesome. Also I have a little “Pocket Rocket” donated by one of the drivers and I will be selling raffle tickets on it, with all the money collected going into the dash. Get involved with this new improved dash and help us build the biggest purse in the 14 year history of the event. All of you who have met me around the country as I traveled to the races who want to help can, just call 949-473-9247 or e-mail me at winglesswarriors@aol.com to get involved.

USAC/SCRA FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Mike Kirby, 3. Peter Murphy, 4. Rip Williams, 5. Terry Schank, 6. Rick Williams, 7. Greg Bragg, 8. Steve Ostling, 9. Bobby Cody, 10. J.Hicks, 11. Arron Chaney, 12. Jordan Hermansader, 13. Rodney Argo, 14. Brian Venard, 15. Greg Taylor, 16. Jonathan Logan, 17. Steve Paden, 18. David Cardey, 19. Ronnie Case, 20. Danny Sheridan, 21. Kevin Urton. NT

NEW VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Williams-932; 2-Gardner-921; 3-Kirby-864; 4-Troy Rutherford-675; 5-Tony Jones-573; 6-Ostling-521; 7-Bragg-519; 8-Venard-486; 9-Hermansader-476; 10-Cory Kruseman-470