5 Crown a fun trip for this fan!!

DRAKE - PETTY - MARVEL - SCOTT - BIG WINNERS THIS WEEK

With three days in Indiana to whet my appetite for non-wing racing with NAMARS, and then a quick trip back home to hit Santa Maria to end my week of fun on Saturday night LIVE with SCRA, It was a blast! A trip to see the only 3 races of the NAMARS 5, make that 3 Crown series was cool and showcased sprints and midgets without qualifying with three different winners when the dust cleared, and I mean that. Then John Scott nailed the set-up and sped to his 5th SCRA win on a fast track at Santa Maria after I weathered the flight from Chicago with no harm done, and my weekend was done!

Mrs wags pics are ready now!

As it turns out, I saw the only three races of the 5 Crown, and all that is after the North Vernon race was cancelled a few days before the opener (?) and the last night was rained out at Putnamville after I left. At the opener at Lawrenceburg, the weather was nice for the track with new promoters this season. They had new fencing, and more improvements notable, and plan to replace the cement cracking grandstands maybe next year. The track looked wet and stayed pretty good all night, but 100 open wheel cars running almost 200 racing laps made for some slick n' dusty racing that was still very exciting. Jay Drake was driving the car Troy Rutherford had raced during the Indiana Sprintweek, just checking it out. Jay started 18th in the main and took the lead and attention away from a very spirited battle between pole sitter, Tony Elliott, and Tracy Hines on the last lap. Those two battled most of the 30 laps, but Drake used his finesse on a track gone slick, and picked them both off. Jay grabbed the lead on the white flag lap, while the 2nd and 3rd place cars fought for what they thought was "their" win. Many fans in the stands had no idea Jay won, but if you were watching both the front row battle and Jay's dramatic charge to the win, you had to get excited about this one! It was the best race of the three, and then some! Word has it that Elliott and Hines each claimed the win while Drake smiled in the winner's circle! Note here, Mark Westfall nailed the midget win from his 18th starting spot, too!

The second stop was at Gas City, and I like this place a lot. The spitting rain most of the day didn't stop the action on the track as Brandon Petty claimed the win from the pole on a night the track was gone before the main started, but there was plenty of slide jobs to entertain. Petty led every lap and Bud Kaeding was runner-up in the Davey Jones set-up car. Bud just couldn't get close enough to strike after reeling him in early, but was in position to win had Petty messed up. Davey is our transplanted California crew chief that is having a ball with Bud's talented shoe running strong in the Midwest this season. He is hoping to make it permanent and move his family back to Indiana very soon. The midgets were a show until time stopped them when leader, Jerry Coons Jr, had a driveline failure and Tracy Hines inherited the shortened race. Too bad for the Arizona native, as Jerry earned the top slot, but they had already decided the next flag was the end, and he was it!

The last stop for everyone, as it turned out, was at Bloomington Speedway. What a well manicured place this is, but add 100 sprints and midgets and the track went the way they do sometimes back there, somewhat slick and treacherous for many. Justin Marvel, whose pretty cousin Jamie went crazy as he led the entire 30 laps, and won this one running exclusively on the extreme bottom from the get go. After an initial battle with Jon Stambrough for a few laps, Justin stayed low and putt putted his way around the bottom until checkers time, gradually pulling away. The rest of the best vainly tried the top fast line, but a tall berm was ungracious to many who drove the "it takes nerves of steel high line" and didn't hit it just right to move up. A good win for Justin and his team, so maybe they will be able to come to California for the year ending races. This annual 5 Crown series is not in the traditional hot summer like Sprintweek, so it was much better on the human comfort zone. My thanks to Jack Kraemer's limousine service and Mike Truex's help to make this quick trip happen, it was well worth it, as usual.

I got a chance to visit with J J Yeley in his shop on Gasoline Alley for a short while. He was extremely busy getting ready for the pavement event that night at Anderson, so I spent my time trying to stay out of the way and get a feel for his racing team. The GT Racing team, owned by David Waltemath and Bob Price, looked ready for racing with cars and parts everywhere in the relatively small shop space that about equals a three-car garage and twice as deep. In the shop was one Twister midget and several Twister sprinters, besides the Beast pavement car they were setting up. That car has the widest look to it as I guess you want to spread out the low balance of the chassis to make it track easier. Bob was in the office when we arrived and said he only came for a few days from his home in Arizona, but had stayed several weeks! The seriousness of their quest to get J J ready for the 4th place finish he ultimately had that night, was very interesting to watch. They were checking shocks on a computer and using a leveling device for set-up. I met his motorman, Ben Snyder, who also does the motors for the Fischer Motorsports team, while he was in the shop. JJ was intent and with that visit done, it was off to Bloomington for me as he was getting his game face on for the night on the pavement.

I can sum the 5 Crown series up very simply. The weather was great, almost too cool one night, and I was glad I threw in a sweatshirt to wear! The racing was hard and entertaining with some surprises thrown in. The midgets at Gas City were really racy with lots of passing and pass backs, but the downside is they had a lot of yellow and red flags, much more than the sprints, yet still were worth it to me when they actually raced. The USAC scheduling again affected the Indiana boys as they rescheduled the Anderson May rainout, right on the Friday night Bloomington date and took the points chasers away. Poor scheduling, but we see the evidence of no co-operation time and time again in their scheduling, even doing it against their own scheduled races? Lawrenceburg was the best race I saw in Indiana since the Frankie Kerr win at the Clabber Girl Nationals two years ago and the North Vernon SCRA NWWC race. Bloomington provided that scenic view of racing, and a fun place to watch once again. This series got shortened so it is tough for travelers, but there aren't that many like me who are willing to go that far to see it, so the local crowd was still full and cheering all night.

The trip thru Chicago was uneventful, except for the urge to take the $400 voucher to wait for a later flight, but I had a race to go to. When I landed at LAX and faced the 4-hour drive to beautiful Santa Maria, I just did it. When John Scott got the jump on Cory Kruseman in the JE Passing Masters Dash and beat him in that 6-lap race, I knew that was probably a preview of this week's winner. Sure enough, when John again jumped ahead of the Kruser in the main, it was all over but the running laps, for all practical purposes. Lightning fast would describe the track as John drove the Pace Electronics, Pro Prep, Design Works Custom Graphics, # 83 to his 5th SCRA win in fast fashion. He didn't miss a beat as he rolled around the top faster than his pursuers could catch up.

Troy Rutherford took advantage of an opening, and made the only pass in the top five, for his runner-up spot two weeks in a row. Troy started the race sans wheel cover on the right rear, and was lucky a lap 15 crash allowed his crew to rectify that. The mud was beginning to make the tire shake and he probably was going to have a problem. Troy made the Sander Engineering, Barnes Oil Systems, Tucson Tool, # 4 sing as he chased the winner. Frank Sheltren took credit for the shiny tires, saying he was just testing us (?) as they got the shiny tire award for the week. The mini went to winner John Scott's crew.

The point leader, Cory Kruseman, continues his great year with his best finish at Santa Maria in two trips up there, finishing in 3rd. He worked hard for his podium finish in the WorldGate Networks, TCR, Del Mar Wire, # 45 all night. Cory had the Gasman all over him the last 2/3rds of the race, so was very pleased with his finish. His 1862 points leads Griffin by 310 on the season.

Lance Gremett earned a ride to the hospital after he crashed in a pile with the # 92 of Danny Sheridan. Someone checked up in front of them and they both paid for it on the crash that was very scary looking. Lance was actually fine before the unscheduled road trip, but they wanted to check him out before he got to go home with a headache. All exams were fine and he was sent home with a clean bill of health. Danny was fine but the car suffered its 3rd incident in three weeks. The team is a little snake bit, but this one was unavoidable.

Richard Griffin was hard on the gas in this one, proving he hasn't lost his touch with the month off, but no matter what he tried to do to pass the Kruser, it just wasn't working for him, or anyone for that matter, on the super slick fast track. Richard was in a different car this week as the crashed version from last week will require some chassis man attention before it comes back. Richard sends his best thanks for the great picture from Steve Lafond that was signed by the pits and fans.

Ronnie Clark was the hard charger this week as he came from his 20th starting spot up to 13th before the end. Ronnie has been driving the # 33 as Hank Winter is resting until his motor returns to battle. A local driver in a 360 made the main this week as he held off the veteran Troy Cline in his heat to transfer. Gary Rayburn was 17th in the main for his good finish. Rodney Argo spun in the main and didn't lose a spot when he recovered and continued on exciting the crowd. Charles Davis Jr, 5th, Jarrett Chaney, 6th, and Bobby Graham, 7th, all had really good nights and top finishes this week. Mike English set fast time, broke a motor in his heat, then the crew replaced it and he ran 9th in the main event.

This coming week we get another race at The PAS. Look for the special George Gervais fundraiser going on. Raffle tickets for a special vacation package will be sold for $1 with all the proceeds going to Big George. All the billboard sponsors at The PAS have pledged $100 for making this trip happen to raise money for George. Get your chance, as the drawing will be held at The PAS.

Get ready for the holiday two-day extravaganza at Ventura and Perris. Its almost here, and wake up Big George, your missing all the fun!