JIM GRESHAM REMEMBERED BY THE CROWD.

As the 2004 USAC/CRA Valvoline series continues, the club made it’s 2nd trip to Ventura Raceway The evening began with a touching tribute to Jim Gresham, a man well-known to the local racing scene, who died last week when the hauler he was driving crashed. Most recently, Jim has worked as a crewmember on Jimmy Crawford’s team. He will be missed.

Mrs Wags Pics are ready.

A heavy fog rolled in as the Main Event lined up, but that didn’t seem to bother Mike Kirby as he followed Mike Spencer for 27 laps before making a pass up and around the youngster, denying him his chance for a first USAC/CRA win.

Kirby, driving the Snap on Tools, Sander, ITI Performance, # 38, was 6th quick on the night out of 33 cars, ran third in his heat, and was scheduled to start 5th in the Main. After two red flag stops, the rules mandated single file restart had him in third position, where he grabbed 2nd quickly and went on to dog Spencer until that late pass for the win. Kirby used his coil over version car here instead of the 4-bar car used the last trip, and it worked out very well for this popular winner. He won in this same car with a 360 in it at a VRA race here earlier in the year, which is why they put the 410 in it this time out. It has been nearly 4 months since Kirby’s last 410 win, and he and his crew were elated.

Point leader Rip Williams picked up a few points on nemesis, Damion Gardner, as he drove the John Jory Corp, AMA Plastics, Ricks Truck Works # 3 to his 5th top five finish in a row and second runner-up spot, in two weeks. Rip chased the winner most of the race and swept into 2nd when Kirby took the lead. The Ripper continues to run consistent as the season enters the homestretch. The chance to capture his first driving championship of his career, though not a lock, is certainly a possibility.

Mike Spencer looked to be in good shape as he led the third attempt to start (or restart) the Main Event in the number one position on the grid. He had a nearly flat left rear tire the entire race, but still had his first win within his grasp up until the very end. The young lion has improved a lot in his Spenco Machine, Murrieta Development, Del Mar Wire, # 44 car, and almost pulled off what surely is coming very soon, his first big win! He settled for 3rd, his best of the season out of 3 top five finishes. Mike has run some in Indiana during the year and has missed a lot of races on the left coast.

Jimmy Crawford has had a tough time recently. Losing crewman Jim Gresham in a hauler crash was devastating. Still, he came to race this night and made the Main, earning a front row starting spot. When his car lined up at the back of the Main instead, he popped into the announcer’s booth and told the crowd he wanted Ronnie Case to have a chance to win rookie of the year. He put him in his # 13 car after Case failed to qualify for the Main Event. Unfortunately for Ronnie, he was one of the two red flag stops when he biked the unfamiliar car high and just got it on four wheels, when he nailed the wall hard enough to put him out.

Damion Gardner was making a run through his heat when disaster struck. The Demon loves to win and runs hard all the time and had cleared into second place. When he set the car hard left coming out of turn three in an attempt to get the leader with a familiar move he uses, it was oops time. Unfortunately, the car he had just passed missed the brake testing sign and whacked him enough to send him on a wild toad ride into the wall. The car needed major repair work by the crew, but he came back to win the Semi and ran 5th in the main.

Rickie Gaunt made a rare appearance with USAC/CRA in the Nadine Kellar back-up car that Mike Spencer drove at Skagit. He set fast time at 11.970, ran 2nd in his heat and lined up 8th on the Main Event starting grid, where he finished after a lot of hard racing on Super Rickie’s part. Gary W Howard brought his family for an outing to watch this week, as the Jack Keene car was staying in the garage. When he walked in the gate, Ron Bach put him in the Mopar-powered car usually driven by Tom Stansberry. Gary was 2nd in his heat and ran 16th in the finale for a fun night.

Greg Bragg was the hard charger this week coming from 20th to 12th. Great job by the man who is running 6th in points this season. Others doing some passing on a track that wasn’t surrendering much this week were: Tony Jones from 15th to 7th, Danny Sheridan from 17th to 11th and Damion from 9th to 5th.

The 14th Annual Wagsdash has finally settled several things and is ready to happen. The date change from October 23rd back one week to the 16th is final. I know a few of you are going thru some rearranging, but I can only say I am sorry. Just don’t miss it! Stories of air and room reservations being changed are flying, and I hope everyone can still make it! Brad Noffsinger has confirmed he can make the earlier date, to be the Grand Marshal, so a great poster of him is in the works in the Naylor production studio right now. It is more than rumor that he will be the mystery driver in the Keller back-up car that night, so that is news. He will be the first Grand Marshal in Wagsdash history to add racing to his Grand Marshal duties.

As for the format change, let me clarify a few things. For a number of reasons, I have decided to forgo the annual Wagsdash 30 lapper that always presses the curfew time at Ventura. I will instead realign my Wagsdash purse payout. I never know what the purse will be at race time, but hope to have somewhere in the $18,000 range like prior years. Given whatever we bring in, it will likely be paid out in the following fashion. There will be two dashes run early in the night. Prior to the race, I will select 20 low buck racers like always (they have to have run at least 5 USAC/CRA events to qualify). At the drivers meeting, I will draw 4 names out of these twenty, and they will run 6 laps for a $2,500 purse. It will be called the “Little Dawg” Dash. Then the top six point leaders in USAC/CRA will be inverted and run 8 laps for a $3,000 purse. This will be the “Big Dawg” Dash.

The remainder of the money will go into the evening’s regular USAC/CRA Main Event. The winner’s share will be increased by $2,500, thus paying $5,000 to win. The hard charger of the night will receive $1,000. The low buck hard charger will get the”Lafond Jar of Change” that annually totals about $500. The highest finishing low buck driver will earn an additional $2,500. The shiny tire winner will receive $500, based on who gets the loudest cheers from the crowd during introduction (time permitting), and the runner-up Shiny Tire recipient will receive $300. There will be cash awards for the first car out of the Main, the quickest driver, the 5th place semi finisher, the 14th place finisher (for the 14th annual), and many more special Wagsdash type of awards according to what is available. The intent is to make this a better race for the crowd, get more money to all the racers, and beat the curfew!

Now, I must raise the money for the race, and your help is needed! Several avenues are available for those who would like to get involved. You can sponsor the annual Wagsdash t-shirt with $100, $200, $300 and $500 spots available for your name or business logo. You can buy raffle tickets for the pocket rocket or the t-shirt quilt (soon to be under construction by Mrs Wags.) You can donate cash to the purse or any items to be awarded to the racers. You can get your name in the program and on the www.wagtimes.com. Just get involved! We hope you’ll come to the Friday Night bash at Cronies and meet and greet some racers and Wagtimers and have a great time. We could also use some help during the Mrs Wags Chili Feed and throughout the evening. Chili starts at noon. E-mail me at winglesswarriors@aol.com or call at 949-472-9247, to get involved.

FEATURE: (30 laps) Main event winner 1. Mike Kirby (5), 2. Rip Williams (6), 3. Mike Spencer (1), 4. Rodney Argo, (7), 5. Damion Gardner (9), 6. Bobby Cody (4), 7. Tony Jones (15), 8. Rickie Gaunt (8), 9. Jordan Hermansader (12), 10. Mike English (11), 11. Danny Sheridan (17), 12. Greg Bragg (20), 13. Rick Ziehl (3), 14. Seth Wilson (15) 15. David Cardey (19), 16. Gary W Howard (14), 17. Alan Ballard (17), 18. Troy Rutherford (13), 19. Bruce St James (13), 20. Ronnie Case (20).

NEW VALVOLINE USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Williams-1,131; 2-Gardner-1,076; 3-Kirby-1,038; 4-Rutherford-772; 5-Jones-656; 6-Bragg-650; 7-Steve Ostling-598; 8-Hermansader-586;9-Cody-573; 10-Venard-563.