By Ken Wagner
August 3, 2009

Another crazy week, after a month long layoff in USAC/CRA, as Tony “The Cowboy” Jones drove his silver bullet, Alexander owned, # 4 to his 36th all time win putting him 13th on “THE” list. Afterwards he treated the crowd to his jubilation while standing up in the seat and driving around the track waving to the crowd, and then doing his signature move of climbing the front stretch fence, again.

For my pics Click here. For Mrs Wag's pics Click here. For the Doug Allen pics Click here for them.

Tony assumed the lead on a restart after David Cardeyspun, and then held off first Danny Sheridan and Garrett Hansen until he finally took the 30 lap checkers and added his first win of the 2009 season. While there was a lot of action behind him, he just drove a little harder and pulled away to a good lead and another win on his slate of many memories for the famous Jones Clan.

Tony is like many drivers who are unhappy with the big gaps in the schedule this causing some track time reacquainting each time out. The next race is again 4 weeks off, so the answer may be for them to do a little 360 racing as those ”little” guys run somewhere every weekend.

Garrett Hansen had another good night as he qualified 5th and won the semi before starting 9th in the main event. On the start, he went quickly towards the front and had the Cowboy in his sights the rest of the race, but couldn’t get close enough to make the pass. He now is in 2nd place in the points and also leads the USAC midget point deal.

Dynomite David Cardey continues to impress with his driving. He had a whirlwind evening before ending up on the podium when it was all done, but it wasn’t easy. He ran 8th quick in qualifying and then, since it didn’t mean much, couldn’t catch Hot Shot Howell in his 360 machine in the second heat. He lined up on the front row of the main event and powered into the lead with the little red sucker closing on him. Mike Spencer was so close when David spun, they clung together to a stop and both went to the back. Mike was out soon after the restart with a broken rear-end. David however, was on the gas and was closing on 2nd place when the checkers fell. In all that, he took over the point lead as two of the other leaders didn’t finish the race.

Greg Bragg has been giving the Moosemobile a real workout lately as he rolled a 4th place finish this week. In the last 8 races he has been in the top 5 five times with a best of 2nd place on my birthday in May. He’s another driver who makes a long drive just to race with us and Greg continues to make the Moosemobile sing. Tonight’s highlight for him might have been passing the Kruser for4th as he was bullish in the pass.

The Ripper Rip Williams continues to show the kids, not just his, how it’s done. At his age you might think he would be happy to sit on the sidelines and watch his boys race, but noooooo, he still is a force. This week he didn’t qualify, so had to start last in his heat, and the Semi where he was 4th, to transfer to the main event. He again started last and passed 16 cars to get the hard charger award and was surely pooped at the end of the night.

Cody Williams was right on dad’s heels at the end with a 7th place finish and got bragging rights this week with his brother Austin, who was 13th. These two are going to be fighting each other for a victory before too long. Alex Schutte did pretty good to finish 8th in his rental this week. Fast time was by Cory Kruseman who ran 5th in the main.

The down side this week caught several. Danny Sheridan was checking on his opportunity to pass the Cowboy early in the main when he had a problem. He was very fast after a 2nd quick timing and starting 7th on the main grid. He had chased down the leader and pulled up alongside of him going down the front stretch, so was trying to take the lead. Uh ooooooh happened down the back stretch as he tried to keep his speed up coming into turn three, but the car got in a roller coaster like trough that spit him up in the air. When he came down, he was too close to the wall and slipping sideways, he went into a snap roll that put him on his head. His crew put it back together, like humpty dumpty, and sent him back out where he finished 12th.

I didn’t find out what the problem with the original # 93 that Blake Miller qualified at 17.370, but the # 93X came in 7th quick and his night started. He was 2nd in his heat and started 3rd on the main event grid. He dropped back a tad on the start, but quickly began rolling it up towards the front. He had a little problem with getting his car to come out of turn three right, and after a couple of bouncy near misses, he managed to bang the wall hard enough to end his night. At the time he was the point leader. Now he is in 4th place and with only 6 racing weekends left on the schedule, 10 race days, this thing is well over half way to being done.

Bill Rose came all the way from Indiana to be the first car out in the main event. Don’t know why, but Josh Ford and Rodney Argo were next to go to the pits before too many laps were down. Then Spencer was hooked off when he stopped on the track. It was another good night of racing, but the carnage was there like normal.

Mr Goodbucks strikes again giving $100 each to the owners of cars driven by: Greg Alexander, Randy Carlile, Mickey Hawkins, Tom Ogle, and Matthew Shedarowich. The Mr Goodbucks plan is sponsored only at Perris. The Wagsbucks collection of $205 this week went to Andrew Reinbold from Arizona when he crashed hard in his heat and was done for the night. Thanks to both Mr Goodbucks and you Wags fans who came by to add to the pot. And for those who say they would have stopped, but I looked too busy, come on by, I have time! I will collect at Calistoga, but don’t expect much help up there. We’ll see if I can go first.

Congrats to the racers who shine their tires. I know we haven’t done the award for several years, and my procrastination about it continues, but there were at least 8 cars that did a great job with the Moosemobile probably the best followed by Jonny Bates, Danny Sheridan, Dennis Howell and several others. I didn’t make a list, but promise to give this important showmanship more time and ink in the future. The fans do notice and they like it!

It is very sad to note that one time driver and car owner Elgin Freeman passed away of a massive heart attack on Saturday July 25th. Elgin is known also for driving the Freeman and sons Jr fueler that use to take on the mighty blown Chryslers back in the day. Elgin spent the last 15 years or so living in Laughlin, AZ and was still screening t-shirts the past few years. Rest in peace Elgin.

The Louie Vermeil Classic is our next race. The two day show is in that big half mile track in Calistoga.The 2nd annual event will be hard to beat the forst as last year was an awesome show. There are many thngs that go with this event and include the wine tasting on Saturday where for $10 you get a commemorative glass and can try over 15 different winery’s for the one price. The money raised here goes to the drivers. There are Hot air Balloon rides for $10, a live auction and autograph session for Sunday. Steve Howard is collecting money for the event and raised a lot of extra money for last years event. Contact him at So Cal Performance if you want to get involved. The scenic little town is worth the trip and the racing on the long and big half mile is fast and furious. Check it out, you might really enjoy it. September 5th and 6th, put it on your schedule.

After the holiday race, Perris gets the next three stops with The Kindoll Classic on September 19, then a fair date on October 10th and then the Oval Nationals November 5th thru the 7th. A 2 day Pacific Coast Open comes the next week at Tulare with the season closer on November 28th, that being the Glenn Howard Memorial.

I must say something here about my Bride. Mrs Wags has had some serious foot problems for a long time, which is part of the reason for her limited racing schedule, and it is just getting worse. The problem starts with arthritis and ends with bone deterioration, and there are three separate pieces to this puzzle, with each having to be dealt with stand alone. We just found out this week she is going to need serious surgery before they will quit hurting when she walks. Without the Mule at the track to get her around, she is reluctant to go racing right now. Calistoga is probably out, but we’ll see. I don’t want to have to tow my Mule up there, but if she decides to go, that is if she hasn’t had surgery yet, I’ll have to do it. She hasn’t set a schedule for the knife, but each step will take 3 months to recover from, so the doc says. On another front, she is starting to put together a 2010 racing calendar, even though there is no Wagsdash this year. The money from the sale of the special calendar will go into next years Wagsdash. The new edition will be a combo of a driver head shot and at least part of their race car. She and photographer Doug Allen are cooking up a good one!

I plan to take in Santa Maria on the 15th, the Tony Jones party at Zanzabuku Sports Lounge on the 16th and maybe a little league game or two at the big park in San Bernardino as the Las Vegas kids will be playing there. I have to admit, not traveling every weekend is welcome, but not racing is not! See ya at a track near you soon. Watch out Barber, I’m on my way, I hope.

8/1/09 CRA FEATURE: (30 laps - With Starting Positions) 1. Tony Jones (1st), 2. Garrett Hansen (9th), 3. David Cardey (2nd), 4. Greg Bragg (6th), 5. Cory Kruseman (8th), 6. Rip Williams (22nd), 7. Cody Williams (11th), 8. Alex Schutte (18th), 9. Matt Mitchell (15th), 10. Ludvig Solberg IV (12th), 11. Richard VanderWeerd (10th), 12. Danny Sheridan (7th), 13. Austin Williams (21st), 14. Jonny Bates (20th), 15. Jimmy Crawford (13th), 16. Dennis Howell (19th), 17. Ronnie Gardner (23rd), 18. R.J. Johnson (14th), 19. Mike Spencer (4th), 20. Blake Miller (3rd), 21. Rodney Argo (16th), 22. Josh Ford (5th), 23. Bill Rose (17th). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 David Cardey, Laps 8-30 Tony Jones.

NEW LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-David Cardey-519; 2-Garrett Hansen-497; 3-Mike Spencer-491; 4-Blake Miller-491; 5-Greg Bragg-430; 6-Danny Sheridan-374; 7-Cory Kruseman-362; 8-Rip Williams-332; 9-Matt Mitchell-312; 10-Cody Williams-259,

NEXT LUCAS OIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: September 5-6- Calistoga (CA) Speedway