RIPPER WINS SPECIAL RETRO 3 LAP DASH HONORING LEGENDS OF ASCOT.

On a night that the Legends of Ascot were in the house, Damion ”The Demon” Gardner put on another great run in front of a big crowd and some racing legends to win his 5th Valvolene USAC/CRA feature in the last 8 races. He set his third fast time in a row, and started eight on the main event grid.

Mrs Wags Legends of Ascot pics Click here. Wags Legends extra's Click here. Mrs Wags track stuff is here.

Last week, the Demon got caught up in a wall banging incident that sent him to the trailer early losing valuable points in the championship race. The crash hurt the black and red car enough, that the team brought out a brand new red model that was flat fast out of the box. Driving the Temecula Valley Pipe and Supply, Arizona Race Mart, Ron-Ber, Inc # 50, Damion never gave up the lead after chasing down early leader Greg Bragg on lap 12. From there, he was in his own zone until the 30 lap feature ended. He seems to like that Eagle chassis.

Point leader Rip Williams had great night as he maintained a 42 point lead with his runner-up spot in the John Jory Corp, AMA Plastics, Ricks Truck Works # 3. Rip won a special 3 lap trophy dash that paid out $2500 dollars raised for the 4 fastest cars of the night, just like the old Ascot CRA days. He won $850 of that cash for his win. Consistency has been the Ripper’s credo this year as he runs hard each week and has been finishing well.

Mike Kirby has been quiet lately in Glenn Crossno’s # 38 TCR. It looks like he is about ready to win again as he has been on the podium four out of the last six races. His night didn’t start well as he lost a wheel on a start of his heat, after they tried to go 4 wide down the backstretch and he turned out to be the loser, but returned to win the semi and start 10th in the main. He moved thru traffic to get up to third, but two late race flags bled too much air out of the right rear tire and he had to hang on the last five laps for third in the Snap on Tools, Sander, ITI Performance car.

The likeable Aussie/NARC wing driverPeter Murphy showed up this week in Harlan Willis # 45 that has seen a number of new faces in the seat this season. Steve Ostling, Bud Kaeding and a few more have given Harlan and crew chief, Mike Nigh, a lot of new experiences, and they report new challenges with lots of fun, on their limited schedule this season. Peter was running without the top hardware for another thrill seeking time. He was in the Legends trophy dash and finished 4th in the main event.

Last weeks winner, Jason York didn’t repeat this week, and had a tough night on top of everything. He banged the wall in qualifying and had repairs to make before running in his heat. There he kissed off another car late in the race to capture the last transfer, and then went on to run 13th in the main event. There were others with trouble during the night. Troy Rutherford was running well in the main when he appeared to catch the top berm and flip sideways several times before his night ended on lap 26. Adam Mitchell missed one of his qualifying laps, then just missed a transfer in his heat, forcing him to the Semi. He was doing fine until a flat pushed him back to eight, but he took a provisional start and still finished last in the main when he pulled off in the feature early.

Bobby Cody was extremely disappointed when he spun on a late race restart while running 5th and finished 17th. He said it was one of those things, but when you are an up and coming driver who has improved as much as he has this year, his intense desire to succeed makes these setbacks hard to accept. Bobby just needs some seat time and it will get better. Steve Ostling ran 10th for the 2nd time in two weeks, but last week’s efforts weren’t reported in last weeks nationally printed results.

Jordan Hermansader and Greg Bragg both were outstanding this week. Greg led the first 11 laps of the feature and eventually finished sixth on a last lap pass by Jordan at the flag. Greg is quietly 5th in points in the Pratt # 12 car and Jordan 9th as both are having their best years with the 410’s. Jeremy Sherman overcame a slow qualifying time to start 21st in the main event and run up to 9th for the hard charger award of the week. Driving Buzz Shoemaker’s car, he did make some good moves to get there. Rick Williams got a shot in Billy Wilkerson’s # 11 car this week and ended up 12th as visitors continue to come in and do well. Seth Wilson and Alan Ballard returned home from the mid-west and still made the race. Alan crashed against the wall in the semi and was done while Seth made the main, but encountered some problems relegating him to 21st.

Don Weaver and Belita Michnowicz put on the 2nd annual Legends of Ascot event at the PAS this week. Held in a tent because the air-conditioned building used last year was unavailable, the heat was a factor as the legends inducted into the historical annuls included Dean Thompson, Billy Wilkerson, Bruce Bromme Sr and Bruce Bromme Jr, Johhnny Moorhouse, Sleepy Tripp, Ron Shaver, Rusty Espinoza and Ed Hudson. Great event for all involved and a fitting tribute to our heroes in Southern California racing. One of last years inductee’s Parnelli Jones, drove the famous red Bromme # 1 car to pace the races this week. What a rush that was for many in the stands.

A sad day it was this past week when Jim Grisham was killed while returning the rig of Jimmy Crawford from a midwest racing trip. It was reported he fell asleep and crashed while on the last leg of the trip nearing Ventura. His services will be held September 3rd at the Pierce Brothers Griffin Mortuary, 101 E. Wilbur Rd, Thousand Oaks, Ca 1360 Phone: 805-495-4641 for more info. Rest in peace.

This coming week is the return to Ventura for the club and another barnburner is expected on the “best little dirt track by the sea” on the Ventura Fairgrounds. You have to see it to believe it as Mike Kirby, Rip Williams and Damion Gardner will be looking to get the big win, but look out for Tony Jones, Troy Rutherford and a few others to upset the top three on the small oval. Rumor has it the Black Widow Racing Team will have Rickie Gaunt in the seat of their 2nd car if the motor gets back. Can Super Rickie grab the win. Make the drive, it’s worth it! PS. Look for a few new wrinkles to the Wagsdash.

DASH: (3 laps) 1. Rip Williams, 2. Murphy, 3. Gardner, 4. Cody. NT

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Sherman, 2. Gardner, 3. Hermansader, 4. Rick Williams, 5. Cardey, 6. Howard, 7. Venard, 8. Heidenreich. 2:57.88

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ziehl, 2. Cody, 3. Ostling, 4. York, 5. Hillberg, 6. Feduska, 7. Urton, 8. Kirby. 2:57.54

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Bragg, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Rutherford, 5. Mitchell, 6. Becker, 7. St. James, 8. Argo. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Williamson, 2. Wilkins, 3. Jones, 4. Murphy, 5. Wilson, 6. Ballard, 6. Keller, 8. Linder. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Kirby, 2. Wilson, 3. Venard, 4. Howard, 5. Cardey, 6. Urton, 7. Hillberg, 8. Mitchell, 9. Becker, 10. Keller, 11. Heidenreich, 12. St. James, 13. Linder, 14. Feduska, 15. Ballard, 16. Argo. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Rip Williams, 3. Mike Kirby, 4. Peter Murphy, 5. Jordan Hermansader, 6. Greg Bragg, 7. Brian Venard, 8. Rick Ziehl, 9. Jeremy Sherman, 10. Steve Ostling, 11. Gary W. Howard, 12. Rick Williams, 13. Jason York, 14. Kevin Urton, 15. Mike Spencer, 16. Keith Williamson, 17. Bobby Cody, 18. Eric Wilkins, 19. Tony Jones, 20. Troy Rutherford, 21. Seth Wilson, 22. David Cardey, 23. Adam Mitchell. NT

NEW VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Williams-1,064; 2-Gardner-1,022; 3-Kirby-971; 4-Rutherford,-752; 5-Bragg-615; 6-Jones-613; 7-Ostling-598; 8-Venard-562; 9-Hermansader-542; 10-Cory Kruseman-534.