By Ken Wagner
August 6, 2006

Celebrating the passing of two CRA family members was first and utmost when the USAC/CRA opened the evening at Perris Auto Speedway this week. Pam Bromme, wife of crew chief Bruce Bromme Jr and Big Jon Stallmo, longtime member of the Alexander Motorsports entries, were lost to the racing community last week, both due to cancer. Damion Gardner and Tony Jones represented by driving their rides, the red # 50 and silver # 4, on two lap salutes to them in an emotional opening. A fitting tribute to both and then it was time to race.

For Mrs Wags pics click here. For Wags pics Click here. And Doug Allen's work for this week Click here.

Perhaps a fitting ending would be that the two cars would run up front and maybe one of them would win, Hah! A storybook scripted race followed with exactly that happening. Tony “The Cowboy” Jones, driving the La Villa Restaurant, Communications Innovations # 4, started his evening with a few slide jobs on his way up from the back of his heat. He capped it with a thrilling move for the win over Seth Wilson on the last corner of the 10 lap preliminary. Looking very determined, Jones looked good for the feature.

The 30 lap main event had some good and bad, but when it was all over, the Cowboy took the lead by giving the Demon one of his own sliders for a resounding victory. Tony was on fire as he swept to the lead and pulled away for his third win this season and 19 lifetime west coast wins.

Damion Garner came up a little short this week, but not by much. Driving the Temecula Valley Pipe and Supply, Arizona Race Mart # 50, he was fun to watch. His skill in controlling his car was obvious early on as he fought the car and still took the lead. After inheriting the lead when Kruseman smoked a motor, he couldn’t hold off the determined Cowboy at the end. He was second in qualifying, his heat and the feature for a triple double of sorts. In finishing second he took over the point lead by five points.

Danny Sheridan had a rough trip to Washington like a lot of others, but he rebounded to grab a spot on the podium by driving the wheels off the Kittle Motorsports, Red Line Oil # 18. He was black flagged at Skagit for having no front bumper? He was fifth in qualifying for one of his best of the year and fourth in his heat prior to the main.

Mike Spencer destroyed his fairly new Maxim on the road trip so the team rebuilt and came out with another new car. Not knowing what to expect, they were happy to set fast time in the new roller. Mike won his heat handily and started eighth on the main event grid. On one of the early restarts, he had a failed electrical component that was replaced and he started on the back. His run to fourth was one of beauty as he is a legitimate contender every race now.

Evan Suggs rived on the scene last year in one of VRA champion Wiley Miller’s old cars and between classes has come along way. His fairly new Avenger chassis has been doing well with him in control and his improvement has been startling. With one fast time and two runner-ups to Damion, the perennial fast time expert, that opened some eyes. This week he only qualified 13th and started in that position in the main and finished fifth for his best finish with CRA this year. The talented driver is smooth and confident on and off the track as he impresses more each race.

Alan Ballard put the Buzz Shoemaker # 0 car in sixth this week as the oil field worker continues to try and make some noise in his racing. He is working long hours to be able to go racing and is determined to get his second win soon.

On the negative side this race lost six cars before the third start went off two wide. The first one saw David Cardey get smacked into a scary spin to the inside of the K-Rail right in front of the starter. He wasn’t hurt, but the car was on the trailer after re-firing and then pulling to his pit. Davey Pombo and Blake Miller got involved with a couple of others who restarted, but they didn’t. Josh Ford was in position to do some damage from the front row, but his engine quit during one of the restarts and he was done. Verne Sweeney got tangled with someone and dropped out. Charles Davis jr also was a victim of car problems and was gone early as well. The carnage continued when Rip Williams, who had to take Matt Mitchell’s team car ride away from him after Matt had convincingly won his heat while Rip’s car quit running in his heat, blew the motor in that one and he was done. The last of the surprising twists happened to Cory Kruseman while he was leading. He had been passed by the Demon early and then regained the point with some great driving before the smoke billowed out from under the hood and he pulled off, losing a chance at a win and his points lead.

Other drivers had their problems during the night as well. Ronnie Case had a wheel come off and he crashed alone in the semi. Nadine Keller was very racy as she passed her way into a transfer in the semi, but ended up on her head when she and Matt Rossi touched wheels and both were done. Bobby Cody reported a rocker arm problem in the Moosemobile and they were done early. Matt Stewart couldn’t get the car to fire and missed out, even though later he fired it up just fine.

Kevin Zimmerman has challenged all the Wagtimer’s and Wagtimes supporters to meet his Wagsdash donation of $1000 in honor of his father Rich, who passed away almost two years ago. Terry and I will be the first, so who’s next? Even if it’s not $1000 – who’s next to get involved. That is $2000 for the 16th annual race for the little guy. Hey I got a check for $38.06 in the mail for Wagsbucks. Can you beat that! Guess who from, if you are a true Wagtimer, you will know. Jerry K caught me last night again and added to the pot. I also needs auction donations. Anything that would be a good item to make money for the race is welcome. More later.

See you at Big Jon’s “gathering” on Saturday.

8/5/06 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tony Jones, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Danny Sheridan, 4. Mike Spencer, 5. Evan Suggs, 6. Alan Ballard, 7. Rickie Gaunt, 8. Seth Wilson, 9. Jeremy Sherman, 10. J.J. Ercse, 11. Tom Ogle, 12. Steve Ostling, 13. Cory Kruseman, 14. Johnny Rodriguez, 15. Rip Williams (#3m), 16. Charles Davis Jr., 17. Verne Sweeney, 18. Josh Ford, 19. David Cardey, 20. Blake Miller, 21. Josh Williams, 22. Davey Pombo. NT *

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Kruseman, Laps 8-16 Gardner, Laps 17-22 Kruseman, Laps 23-25 Gardner, Laps 26-30 Jones. NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS: 1-Gardner-1,189; 2-Kruseman-1,184; 3-Spencer-1,003; 4-Jones-973; 5-Sheridan-906; 6-R.Williams-783; 7-Gaunt-694; 8-Cardey-667; 9-Davis-634; 10-Ford-618.