By Ken Wagner
September 2, 2008

Bringing traditional sprint cars back to Calistoga after over 20 years was obviously a big hit and a monumental success, a rare win-win deal. The wingless sprints hadn’t been on this hallowed track since the 80’s and the opening night sent chills thru the old guard in attendance as horsepower was the key to victories by Tim Kaeding and Kevin Swindell at the USAC/CRA event. Calistoga is one of the tracks where sprint car history comes from, and to see the faithful come out and pack the grandstands and receive two hot races was just what the doctor ordered for this bunch.

Here's my pics Click here. Steve Lafond's Click here for Sat and Click here for Sun, plus Chucko click here for sat and click here for Sun, and Doug Allen's click here.

Kudos to Steve Howard for ramroding this thing together and to all who helped, including Greg Sower and the USAC folks that made it happen. The Wine tasting deal raised a lot of money for the racers as did the raffle that included many neat donated items. The success of the event will be measured in the scheduling of next year’s event here.

The first night was magical with some stringing them out nicely heats, but two awesome features, midget and sprinters, that left the crowd dreaming of more and wondering what it took so long to get here. Daron Clayton was one of several USAC national drivers who came out to race, more would have been there except for the benevolent USAC scheduling of a rained out event right on this race. Daron jumped in the # 83 Crossno sprinter and set fast time, but missed the main and wasn’t heard from the rest of the night. The main event was really two races in one as Jesse Hockett jumped to a large lead early and looked like the winner with ten laps to go. Unfortunately the smoking tires had something to say about that as a yellow bunched them back together. Jesse gave way to Tim Kaeding who had dispatched his father Brent earlier and went on to pass Jesse for the lead. The battle they had was very entertaining as it looked like Jesse would get back the lead when Tim’s tires looked sad with two laps to go. Somehow, Tim held on to grab the win and the crowd recognized doozy that had just been played out.

Brent Kaeding looked pretty strong as well making the podium after his son had come from 11th to win this one. There were many who had some good runs, but perhaps the best run that didn’t pan out was by Nic Faas. About midway thru the 30 lapper he caught fire and began separating himself from the back markers as he rolled up right behind the top four who were swapping spots back and forth trying to grab the win. Nic was running 5th and right on Jesse, and appeared to be faster than him. They went into turn one like they were hooked together, when Jesse bobbled over the cushion and suddenly slowed, Nic reacted quickly to follow suit and slowed as well. Unfortunately, Jesse pulled away and Nic lost fire and stopped. That was the end of him, but he was hot until that.

Damion Gardner looked fast going to the front from his 4th row staying spot, but encountered an unbending 4th turn cushion that managed to flatten his right rear as he was reaching for 2nd place. He ended up 20th after restarting. Greg Bragg was the first night hard charger as he came from 23rd to 13th. Bill Rose had a marvelous night until he had a flat with a few laps to go, relegating back him to 16th. He would get 6th the next night in David Miller’s # 66 car.

The midget race was very exciting both nights as Johnny Rodriguez won both mains, but had his hands full with Scott Pierovich. The first night they swapped the lead many times before Johnny took control in the end. The second night Scott took charge with two laps to go, but got sideways out of turn two and gave up a sure win at that point. Good racing for the little cars.

The second night the issue was settled early when Kevin Swindell Passed Bill Rose on lap 5 and checked out on the field. Lots of action behind him with Jesse Hockett trying to overtake the youngster as well as battle with Tim Kaeding and Damion Gardner. Blake Miller broke the track record before Jesse broke it last after him. Blake was a consistent 5th each night on great runs and was the best finisher of the So Cal travelers.

The weekend had two packed grandstands and 32 cars putting on some great racing. The heats were not real swell with 8 cars on the long half mile leaving them free running very fast. The mains were passing and passing with the big motor cars landing in the top each night. Jesse, Tim and Kevin were in the top 4 each night and there was plenty of man to man close quarter combat going on as the races unfolded. It was fun watching the faces in the crowd enjoying something from out of the past that they discovered they missed. It was the best it could be, now let’s see if we go back next year? Why not, it was a blast!

I know there were horror stories about getting the haulers on the right roads to get to the track in a timely manner for this big track nestled in the trees and hills of Calistoga, but it all worked out with some clever map planning. The wineries were a draw, but Greg Sower made sure some wine tasting happened at the track. Several Haulers reported they had to “back out” of the windy pass from Santa Rosa and go around on a much longer direction. I stayed in Petaluma with the leader of the old Petaluma Posse of years gone by at Don “The “ Barber’s home as he hosted us as well as Baylands Frank Hall for the two nights, and we had fun heading over the pass to the track each day and having country sausage for breakfast each day. It was a pleasure to be there and be greeted by so many old friends, and many new ones, proclaiming it was good to see us, and that made me proud. I can’t wait until next year!

The Wagsdash is now on us. Beginning with the Wagsdash Golf Tourney on Friday, which still has some spots left, and following with the Chili Feed at noon on raceday, the weekend will be packed with fun and racing, and fans should get involved and have some fun. Two great features of the best in CRA racing and beautiful weather, chili feed, a pit stop contest and a sexy driver contest all coming together this weekend. The Wagsdash field invited so far include; Billy Blinn, Ludwig Solberg IV, Jonas Reynolds, Joe Gunderson, Eric Severson, Jonny Bates, Brein Kinney, Todd Hunsaker and now Tony Everhart and Cody Williams. Johnathon Henry won the Saturday night VRA feature and Kevin Kierce was the hard charger coming from 20th starting position to finish fourth. Both qualified for the Wagsdash. Everything starts around noon, so plan to get there early like always and don’t miss out!

8/30 FEATURE: (30 laps - With Starting Positions) 1. Tim Kaeding (9th), 2. Jesse Hockett (2nd), 3. Brent Kaeding (6th), 4. Kevin Swindell (12th), 5. Blake Miller (1st), 6. Mike Spencer (10th), 7. Jason York (14th), 8. Cory Kruseman (15th), 9. Rip Williams (13th), 10. Tyler Brown (17th), 11. Jason Statler (3rd), 12. Henry Clarke (19th), 13. Greg Bragg (23rd), 14. Shane Golobic (21st), 15. Alex Schutte (16th), 16. Bill Rose (11th), 17. Garrett Hansen (8th), 18. Nic Faas (4th), 19. Darrell Hanestad (18th), 20. Damion Gardner (7th), 21. Matt Mitchell (20th), 22. Danny Sheridan (22nd), 23. David Cardey (5th). NT.

*Shain Matthews Flipped During Heat Race #4. **Cody Williams Flipped During The Semi-Main. ***David Cardey & Matt Mitchell Flipped During The Feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-20 Jesse Hockett, Laps 21-30 Tim Kaeding.

8/31 FEATURE: (30 laps - With Starting Positions) 1. Kevin Swindell (4th), 2. Jesse Hockett (8th), 3. Tim Kaeding (5th), 4. Damion Gardner (2nd), 5. Blake Miller (10th), 6. Bill Rose (1st), 7. Garrett Hansen (7th), 8. Daron Clayton (6th), 9. Brent Kaeding (15th), 10. Cory Kruseman (13th), 11. Danny Sheridan (16th), 12. Mike Spencer (3rd), 13. Jason Statler (22nd), 14. Shane Golobic (17th), 15. David Cardey (19th) 16. Greg Bragg (12th), 17. Terry Schank Jr. (14th), 18. Tyler Brown (11th), 19. Nic Faas (9th), 20. Shain Matthews (20th), 21. Jason York (18th), 22. Rip Williams (21st). 11:15.35

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Bill Rose, Laps 5-30 Kevin Swindell.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Spencer-1,074; 2-Hansen-982; 3-Miller-961; 4-Sheridan-927; 5-Kruseman-771; 6-Brown-744; 7-T.Jones-658; 8-Cardey-588; 9-Josh Ford-506; 10-Faas-448.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE is Wagsdash 18: September 6 - – Ventura (CA)