Golden State Shake

By Kevin Eckert

March 26, 2009 Van Horn, Texas: In search of Michael Schenker, international guitar hero. It has been 31 years since I first saw Schenker play for UFO in Allentown’s Agricultural Hall. And though much of my heavy metal youth has faded, Michael remains my favorite six-string performer, full of gritty tone and melody within melody. Unfortunately, the teenage alcoholic (now 54) has forever been a German version of George "No Show" Jones, canceling shows and bustin’ up bands.

Schenker in San Diego was my Monday choice to chase Saturday’s scintillating World of Outlaws show of 35 frantic, uninterrupted laps. I left Tulare for San Luis Obispo only to learn Monday’s MSG concert was cancelled. Still slated for El Paso on Wednesday, I lit out for Texas on 166 across the Sierra Madres to Barstow down 247 to Joshua Tree and across the Mohave Desert to the Colorado River that marks Arizona.

Tuesday’s sunset signified an end to four wonderful weeks in the glorious Golden State. It all started in Perris with Darren Hagen’s last-to-first midget charge, climbed the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco, split Sacramento to Auburn and ascended to Grass Valley, base camp for the NorCal opener at Marysville, Mini Gold Cup at Chico and St. Patrick’s Day in Nevada City, which is "swarming with artists and hippies and old prospectors" according to harp-pluckin’ resident Joanna Newsome. Marysville saw a last-to-fifth surge by Tyler Walker, Chico counted Danny Lasoski as the last cushion rider, and Tulare ended with Joey Saldana and Terry McCarl trading slides.

My time in the Golden State would have been less golden if not for saint Leslie Goodhue, who suffers Crohn’s Disease eased by state law that allows six plants of sticky green marijuana. During eight years of Bush, such law was ignored. Under the Obama watch, decriminalization has quietly commenced.

California in my mirror, I attached to I-10 for 112 miles that brought "Tehachapi to Tonopah" to life. It’s a line from Little Feat’s first album (and they were albums in 1971) by Lowell George. The song is Willin, which Steve Earle covered in 2002.

I exited I-10 "halfway to Gila Bend" on I-8 to Casa Grande (rumored recipient of Manzanita relocation cash) and I-10 again. I considered a southern route through Tombstone’s scene of the Gunfight at the O.K Corral (1881) to Skeleton Canyon where Geronimo surrendered in 1886. However, hysteria about Mexican drug thugs made me stay on the interstate. My duct tape bumper would surely stamp me "undocumented" by Border Patrol or worse, coke mules with machetes. Anderson Cooper is interviewing them right now.

During the 165 miles of New Mexico on I-10, I passed the prison exit for Southern New Mexico Speedway, which was Mesilla Valley in 1987 when Tommie Estes and Sonny Kratzer won with the Jim Klein 39. World of Outlaw winners in Las Cruces were Andy Hillenburg (’96), Dave Blaney (’97) and Steve Kinser in 1999. Kinser carries sponsorship from Mesilla Valley Transport, a partner to Southern New Mexico Speedway and J.H Rose, the Texas trucking firm that finished fourth in the 1962 Indianapolis 500 with Arizona’s Don Davis.

El Paso is home to Lee Trevino Drive to honor the golf pro. I once asked another famous resident about the location of Van May Way. "It’s behind there," Van revealed. It was 1971 when May used his Corvette to tow his sprint car to Hanover, Pennsylvania. El Paso’s Steve Siegel and George Bischoff of Las Cruces would follow Van and big brother Walter ("W" or Dub) May.

I arrived in El Paso feeling good. I had Schenker for Wednesday and maybe Thursday in Dallas, and a new track in Crandall on Friday followed by ASCS national forces in Oklahoma City.

It went to hell in a hand basket.

Schenker cited visa problems for postponing his entire Texas tour. My brother predicted as much, so I phoned to let him laugh. He told how Lanny Edwards had already thrown ASCS down the drain in OKC. Wednesday appears as if I had driven past Ventura, Perris and Manzanita for 305 sprints in Crandall and ASCS Gulf South at the Gator Motorplex. That was before Crandall postponed a week. I still plan to span 622 miles to Willis, unless they cancel before you read this.

Texas is long way from Monterey, where I last posted. I was only 27 miles from Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, where the World of Outlaws were slated to start the California season on March 7. Monterey Bay had been soaked by rain on 21 of 23 days and Watsonville was wiped out well in advance. I assessed damage to the Santa Cruz Fairgrounds as puddles in the pits. But the strangest sight was the grass that covered the quarter-mile. Ocean Speedway looked like a spinach farm. March 7 was to have been my first visit since 2001 and in those eight years, banking has been reduced.

Highway One past La Honda (home to Neil Young), I entered South San Francisco. As an Oakland Raider fan of 38 years, I had to visit Jack London Square. I wondered which waterfront bars once welcomed Raiders, Black Panthers and Hell’s Angels. I passed the police station and wondered which Raiders had been fingerprinted there besides Warren Wells and Sebastian Janikowski. In the search for silver and black artifacts, I found the Pacific Coast Brewery and its Leviathan Stout, a 10% grog advertised as "blacker than squid’s ink."

I bounced back across the Bay Bridge to San Fran, circling Fisherman’s Wharf and dodging a trolley up Nob Hill. I thought of Joe DiMaggio smacking baseballs for the San Francisco Seals in 1933 and Bill Russell rebounding basketballs for USF championships in 1955-56.

Van Ness Avenue had an old eight-story theater that played Slumdog Millionaire, which is an intricately woven tale. Tired of motels, I headed for Grass Valley via UC Berkeley, which Ronald Reagan called "a haven for communist sympathizers, protestors and sex deviants" before opening fire on students in 1969.

Concord to 680 to 80 through Vacaville, home to a mile and a quarter of asphalt on which Roger McCluskey defeated CRA in 1959 and Ken McLaughlin perished in 1960. I passed the exit to the Dixon Fairgrounds where Ohio’s Rick Ferkel defeated Dub May in 1977. West Sacramento makes me regret not seeing West Capital Speedway or watching Gary Patterson race. I reached Roseville and thought of Dave Bradway Jr. As with GP, Junior drove for Clyde Lamar when I saw him win the 1986 Jayhawk National in Kansas City and beat The Outlaws to open the ’87 Mini Gold Cup. Dave died at that year’s Dirt Cup.

On the eve of the 2009 NorCal opener at Marysville Raceway Park, the thermometer in Grass Valley read 30. Sandals of San Francisco quickly dropped to the bottom of the rotation. The time had arrived to suit up as if Lambeau waited. Fortunately, mercury remained in the low 40s and promoters Paul and Kathy Hawes had full bleachers and pit. Their track has Sierra Nevada on tap! In all reality, 2009 was my first visit since I had only ever been to an afternoon stock car slugfest in 1989.

Back then, Marysville Raceway Park was called Twin Cities Speedway. It opened in 1968. Two years later, Sierra Mesa National Raceway sprouted nine miles east of Marysville. It was paved in ’72 (when Leroy VanConett of Galt gathered the NARC checkered for Ted Hunting) and closed by 1973. In the field of winged 360 sprint cars at the Marysville opener of 2009 was Ted’s son Doug Hunting.

The early cancellation in Watsonville brought Outlaw talent to the Twin Cities of Marysville and Yuba City. Faced with 14 days between Las Vegas and Mini Gold Cup, Tennessee 360 product Jason Sides swapped Ott engines at BR Motorsports in Hanford and headed north on 99. Last season when early Outlaw races were ruined, Sides swapped Bulls Gap for Devils Bowl, Eldora for Hohenwald, Haubstadt for Wheatland, Sioux Falls and Knoxville for Little Rock, and Granite City for Oklahoma City.

Also making a Marysville debut was Oklahoma native Shane Stewart, now selling his home in Indianapolis. Last season, Stewart was the World on Outlaws driver for Dennis Roth. This year was uncertain. The orange Screamin’ Eagle One of Mike Doyle is no more. Shane won 43% of his A-mains in that car. He returned to Australia to drive Colin Bulmer’s car second at Classic and eighth at Presidents Cup. Marysville saw Stewart and car owner/crew chief Paul Silva debut an A.R.T chassis by Art Boune, builder of the wings which won Gold Cups for Steve Kinser in 1978-79. Stewart and Silva emerged from Devil’s Bowl atop the chase to be $60,000 ASCS champions.

Returning to Marysville for the first time since NARC Speedweeks of the 1990s were Tyler Walker of Los Angeles and Tommy Tarlton from Fresno. Fastest on the clock at 12.74, Tarlton thanked Dean Bruns, who finished 2008 with Tom and visited on a night away from chores for Chad Kemenah. Second fastest was Pockets Silva and Hillenburg prodigy Shane Stewart.

Marysville was muddy. It needed extra hot laps to burn what became about a groove and a half. Tarlton and Stewart were unable to transfer through heats, finished first and second in the B, and were inverted to row five. On pole was Auburn’s Andy Forsberg, winner of 60 races in 12 seasons, most recently the Marysville finale of 2008.

Outside of Forsberg was three-time track champ Korey Lovell. Korey and Kevin are sons of Richard Lovell, who (together with brother Ron) owned the Yuba City Scrap & Steel 71 that won Gold Cup prelim with Wayne Sue (1980), Western World prelim with Chuck Gurney (’81), Dirt Cup with Tim Green (’83), Louie Vermeil Classic with Ron Shuman (’83), Jayhawk National with Jimmy Sills (’84), Chico with Shane Scott (’85) and Rick Haugh (’87), Hanford and Placerville with Rick Hirst (’89), Chico with Kevin Pylant (’91) and Walter T. Ross Memorials with Marc Zieske (’92) and Darrell Hanestad in 1994.

NorCal’s winged 360s enjoy extraordinary numbers (much like central PA 358s) that resist North America’s alignment to ASCS cylinder heads. Pacific Sprint Cars as Marysville calls them were preceded by wingless two-barrel 360 "spec sprints" that fire by 12-volt battery. Mason Myers crashed one in turn two and was hooked around to a mud hole inside turn four, which got the highway tow truck stuck. Spec sprints were cut from 30 to 20 laps.

Redding’s Tyler Wolf, another champion of 12-month karting campaigns, was a Silver Dollar 410 rookie who peaked seventh last season. With steel cylinder heads, Wolf was a spec sprint leader in Marysville until Terry Schank of Santa Rosa ran him down. Second in a two-barrel Ford was Jeremy Hawes, son of the promoters.

Eighth in the spec sprint opener was Sacramento’s Ralph Cortez, who has guided BCRA midgets to second at Ukiah and third at Petaluma. Cortez competed in Chili Bowls in 2003 (D16), 2005 (J12), 2006 (E13) and 2007 when he ran one of four Cliff Blackwell midgets to eighth in an I-main.

Cortney Dozier was the only Marysville driver in both sprint car classes. On any given Saturday, Brandon and Derek raise the number of Doziers driving sprint cars to three.

When the winged headliner began, Tyler Walker had his right rear shredded by contact. His gang green swapped it and the left rear, a tiny unit seldom seen outside of Chico. The increase in stagger enabled Walker to roll the top of turns three and four where others could not.

Forsberg led every lap in his Triple XXX. He is the son of Richard Forsberg, a Calistoga NARC winner in 1981 and ’84. Andy was pressured slightly by Sides, who started fifth and finished second assisted by his ex-wrench from Tasmania, Scotty Males, married to Greg’s sister Shelly DeCaires of Elk Grove.

Lovell and Jimmy Trulli took third and fourth followed by Walker’s first appearance since 1996. Chili Bowl competitor Kyle Larson brought Harley Van Dyke’s car from row ten to sixth chased by ex-Roth wrench Steven Tiner, Stewart, Colby Wiesz and Mike Monahan, who towed 125 miles from Sparks, Nevada.

Out the gate headed for the airport was Darin Smith, who helped James Sweeney in Marysville before reuniting with Rocklin’s Robert Ballou. Sweeping a Golden State weekend at Watsonville and Placerville in 2006, "Heavy D" and Bob-a-Lou bring the Dallas Mulvaney Maxim to Eldora on April 10-11.

Washington native Rod Fauver fielded a wingless USAC 410 that Jason York flipped at Perris a week prior to bringing a winged 360 to Marysville for Zach Zimmerly of Oregon. Fauver’s truck was sponsored by the Jimmy Sills Driving Experience that conducts class at Marysville.

Marysville’s first NARC 410 winner in 1992 was Kevin Pylant of Santa Cruz. He and father Don rolled into the 2009 Mini Gold Cup early as did the weathered Goodhue camper and newer unit of Denny and Cindy Thomas. Tulare told how well cared for fairgrounds are in California and Chico reinforced it. Restrooms and showers were cleaned and stocked on a daily basis, albeit with the toilet squares or "post-it notes" cursed by Silver Dollar demon Randy Frank.

Forsberg, Sides and Walker led nine guys from Marysville to Chico in successive weeks. Mike Stallings left Chico for Hanford and Monahan skipped the Outlaw opener. Mason Moore crashed the Steve Tuccelli/Alan Bradway 360 and had the family 410 at Silver Dollar. Brett Miller missed the 360 A-main but cracked an Outlaw 410 feature. Also in both places was Pat Harvey, father-in-law to Jason Statler, who relocated baby Craig Statler from Los Gatos to the Grass Valley hometown of wife Stephanie. Robbie Whitchurch was in Marysville and Chico after racing his USAC midget in Las Vegas.

The Gold Cup Race of Champions is so big that it spawned a baby. Halfway through its 55-year run, Gold Cup added Mini Gold Cup, which began as a second World of Outlaws visit in 1987. It remained an Outlaw show until 1992 when Ted Johnson tired of NorCal’s nasty months of March. Mini Gold Cup rolled on for 17 years until the 2009 version returned to WoO sanction. The 23rd annual was unique in following contemporary Outlaw protocol where both nights pay the same $10,000 to win and lock no one into anything. Everyone must qualify anew which by definition, makes Friday no preliminary at all.

Friday was my first Chico card since the Gold Cup of 2001, which was three days before 9/11 and sadly, how I remember it. I had seen no Mini Gold Cups since the first four, though I was rained out of the prelim in 2000, when a second rainy day coaxed me 540 miles to Perris. In my absence, Eric Rossi (Wright 35) won that Mini Gold Cup.

Mini Gold Cup 2009 was the first Silver Dollar program directed by John Padjen’s son Alan, who has big plans for the quarter-mile. He wants to completely resurface and in the process, carry turn four to the wall and eliminate reverse bank. Just like at Marysville, such changes will make Chico larger and faster.

Joey Saldana became the fastest man in Chico history by turning the first 10-second circuit. During the 14-day schedule break, Kasey Kahne Racing left Vegas for the southern Indiana enclave of Tim Engler, the injection wizard who helped fuel their Gasoline Alley Mopars. Silver Dollar started Saldana fifth before he took the Budweiser Maxim around Jonathan Allard on lap one, Donny Schatz on lap two and Terry McCarl on lap seven. Last car between Saldana and Silver Dollar pesos was the Direct TV unit of Kahne comrade Craig Dollansky, who was taken wide by crippled Kraig Kinser. Saldana used the obstruction to drive away.

Silver Dollar has certainly been rougher, but the spring return of the World of Outlaws encountered two trenches, at least. Dollansky dropped second to Sammy Swindell, altered his entrance to turn three by inches, yet hooked a hole so hard that it threw him straight off the track, all four wheels in the air.

After backing into Vegas concrete, Jason Meyers spent the schedule break in Fresno recovering physically and mechanically. Chico started with Meyers seventh to second in the GLR Investments KPC. "I think we ran about 200 laps tonight," Meyers told Tony Veneziano about 13 yellow and two red flags.

McCarl won the Crane Cams Dash before the finest finish (third) of his World of Outlaws season and Silver Dollar career. Terry’s best previous Chico finish was sixth for Country Builders in his prelim to the Gold Cup of 1992. Carrying associate sponsorship from the AmeriCash Advance company of Adrian Berryhill, Terry’s black Big Game Treestands Maxim hooked a rut on the final restart and had his left rear wheel mangled by Tim Kaeding, who surrendered several spots.

Danny Lasoski’s fourth-place in the Casey’s General Store Maxim was best of his World of Outlaws season and hinted of more in store. Steve Kinser owned 21 wins in 57 Chico cards entering Mini Gold Cup, where he backed down the hill in the dash to trash a Quaker State Maxim. Starting last in a spare, The King dodged carnage to fifth followed by the Kantor Oil Maxim of Chad Kemenah. Sitting second in the quest for his first Chico checkered since 1996, Swindell sailed the Tom Rolfe Maxim over the hill to settle for seventh-place.

Mini Gold Cup opened with too many stoppages to be good. Everyone hoped for a better conclusion but was disappointed. The cushion was on edge for heats already and after the middle was pillaged, rubber screeching did commence. Such a travesty was beyond my Chico experience. No aid came as rain was reported. Wet weather never arrived until Sunday morning.

We cannot control the quality of racing. We can however, control our quality of drink. Since 1979, Chico has been home to the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. In four nights, I tried eight of ‘em from Best Bitters, Porter, Brown and Stout to Torpedo, Bigfoot (9.6), ESB (Early Spring Beer) and the pick of the crop, Chico Estate Harvest Ale bestowed upon me by Chris Lovett, brewmaster and former partner-in-crime to Randy Frank.

Brad Furr, beating the World of Outlaws of 2002 in finals at Watsonville, Port Royal and Fort Worth, landed on pole for a Friday heat, jumped the start and was docked one row. Later, he was among the locals black-flagged for violating the two-spin rule. Saturday started with Sammy Swindell jumping from the pole in the same fashion as Furr, yet he was afforded another chance.

When inconsistencies by referees are separated by hundreds of miles, few see them. When they are committed in front of the same fans on the same weekend, it insults intelligence, like telling people that only one of Saldana’s many cautions was "unassisted." Saldana stopped to service a tire flattened by his teammate, but officials must view stops and spins differently.

As the surface withered, Jason Meyers was first to make the middle work, gliding inside Jason Sides for the crucial second spot into the dash, which he won. To lead all 40 laps after qualifying 31st best shows the best and worst of WoO procedure. Good things happen to Meyers in Chico, where he posted the first win of his sprint car career at the 1999 Mini Gold Cup. During last year’s schedule lapse, Jason won it a second time.

The finale to Mini Gold Cup would have been a total follow-the-leader snore if not for upstairs drama from Danny Lasoski. Quickest on the clock (11.58 from Friday’s 10.91 record), Lasoski was last in the dash but found a thin cushion around one and two that carried him to contention. On lap 22 of 35, he passed Kraig Kinser for second. The Dude drew alongside Meyers but could not get to the bottom of turn three as leader. Lasoski landed second for Kistler of Ohio and a Pennsylvania crew of Chris Strait and Barry Jackson, who is the "J" in JEI chassis.

After two Friday crashes, Kraig Kinser dropped a cylinder on a Chevy yet stayed in the rubber to get third in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim. Dollansky finished fourth as Maxims horded 3-4-5-6 with Steve Kinser and Jason Sides. TK Concrete collected seventh with a KPC commanded by Kerry Madsen, who opened a third straight season with Sonny Kratzer of Allentown, Pennsylvania as crew chief. Two more Maxims filled the Top Nine for Jac Haudenschild and Jesse Hockett.

Tenth was Jonathan Allard’s A.R.T. As the only American to appear this winter in New Zealand and both coasts of Australia, Allard made 15 starts that snared first in Auckland and Bay Park, fourth at Palmerston and fifth at Wellington, Brisbane and Parramatta City. In his first U.S heat of 2009, Jon won.

Hockett hit the Silver Dollar jackpot. Driving for his fifth different car owner (Joe Loyet, Tom Buch, Carl Edwards and Jim Massey) this year, Jesse put Duke and Scott McMillen on pole of a heat, which they won. After the dash, Jesse just hugged the bottom to collect $1600. World of Outlaw drivers want to time first, second or ninth through 16th fastest because if they rank third through eighth, they must pass a really fast car to start better than row six. And winning a World of Outlaws A-main from behind a ten-car dash happens about every 80 races.

One night earlier, the roulette wheel went against Hockett and Wayne Johnson, both of whom progressed from C-to-B but no further than four and five spots from the A. Overfilled oil caused Wayne to watch gauges when Sean Becker sailed under Johnson and Randy Hannagan in their heat. Ultimately, he earned eleventh for Harold Main, who made the 2006 Gold Cup final with Becker but never finished as high with the World of Outlaws.

One of eight car owners to employ Johnson in 2008 (along with Wayne Simmons, Hammers, Al Christoffer, Anderson, Glenn Styres, Pete Postupack and Scott Benic), Grass Valley’s Harold Main sat Johnson in his JEI for Chico and Tulare. They ate steak with us at The Willo, where I agreed to show an Okie what is Behind the Green Door in San Francisco. Wayne chose to wait for his wife in September when he and Harold do Gold Cup.

From the Mineshaft Saloon, Johnson told the Toller sisters that our San Fran plan was postponed on St. Paddy’s Day. Did you know "paddy wagons" were so named because they mostly contained drunken Irish? ‘Tis true laddy. Seeking a green shirt in my satchel, Trevor Green was all I could find.

Saint Paddy’s Day meant that it was time to quit wrestling with "J.J Yeley" the 180-pound Rottweiler and release the hounds to the Tulare Thunderbowl for two races that easily exceeded anything at Marysville or Chico.

Highway 49 from Grass Valley to Oakhurst is 230 miles of smiles. Ireland itself cannot be greener. There are only 25 miles from I-80 to Placerville yet I was reminded why 49 is a bad road to bring a rig. As navigator for Mile High Racing in 1987, I guided Rich Bubak through mountains that heated his engine on the way up and brakes on the way down. In my limber little Escort, it was a blast.

Drytown brought me five miles from Ione, home of Justin Grant, due to crew for Jeff Walker in Noblesville, Indiana. After winning BCRA midget races at Hanford and Petaluma last year, young Grant won in his second start in the sprint of Steve Harris, a 2009 Mini Gold Cup car owner behind Bobby McMahan and son Kyle Harris. Steve started www.racingforthetroops.com. I neglected to mention how my visit to the General Patton Museum found Justin Grant/Steve Harris Racing cards free to the public.

Oakhurst brought me to the door of Katie’s Country Kitchen, the diner started by Mrs. Morrie Williams. Morrie has created heroes in zeroes for 13 years with Greg DeCaires (1996), Jim Carr (’97), Peter Murphy, Tim Kaeding (2002), Dennis Moore, Trevor Green (2004) and Jonathan Allard, all of whom won with a Williams Zero. Oakhurst is also home to Mike James, now forever known as the tosser of cheese at the final wingless 410 race ever at Manzanita. Oakhurst Mike would not join me in the Oak Room, so I caught 99 in Madera for "Chowchilla Mike" Lindbeck’s couch.

Madera Speedway was recently the third-mile of asphalt chosen for the DeBeaumont Motor Sports Driver Challenge. From a field of 33, ten names were reduced to three: Arizona’s Alex Bowman, Oklahoma’s Jonathan Beason and Colorado’s Levi Roberts, who shined brighter than finalists Keith Bloom, Kyle Cummins, Kyle Dickerson, Joe Liguori, Justin Melton, Cody Swanson or Tanner Swanson, according to Motorsports Management International (Lorin Ranier and Kirk Spridgeon), Marc DeBeaumont and Tim Clauson. Beason and Roberts will drive a second DeBeaumont midget to Bowman, who will begin in BCRA because he is just 15.

Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, California has attracted international talent ever since meat merchant Dennis Roth decided it should. The circle of World of Outlaws promoters is a tight click but as participating owner of two or three sprint cars, the man who made millions from Beef Packers guaranteed Steve Faria’s first Outlaw purse in 2004. Thunderbowl has become the kind of place eagerly anticipated by fans and teams alike.

The place threatened to come unglued when Australian native and adopted Fresno son Peter Murphy won his heat, won the dash, and took off with an ex-Elite engine. It was bolted into a former Steve Kinser Maxim like the one in which The King cashed $50,000 at Parramatta when Peter served as Steve’s winning crew chief, not Nick Speed as reported. Speed stayed to Robbie Farr’s side of the Waldron pit area, according to Murph.

Traveling internationally for 15 years, Randy Hannagan has a few places where he surprises people. Generally, they are big half-miles like Eldora or Knoxville but in recent years, The Hurricane has developed affection for Thunderbowl. Two wins in two 50-lap Trophy Cups helped. Randy has really polished a diamond pattern that enters Tulare’s first turn on the cushion and skims to the bottom of turn two. Second quick, Hannagan used it on Lasoski in his heat. Fourth in the dash, Randy altered his exit to glide around Murphy for the lead.

Sammy Swindell was fourth fastest and second in his heat for a dash spot. In the feature, Murphy fell behind Swindell and Jason Solwold, who raced for Marc (Shark Engines) Huson at Chico and Dennis Roth in Tulare. Sammy slid Randy in turn four and again in turn one of lap 22, crowding him hard. The Hurricane stood his ground. The final caution on lap 25 of 35 seemed to leave too much time to stifle Swindell but Hannagan split provisional Kraig Kinser and Lucas Wolfe to buy time.

Hannagan’s last lap was brilliant defense. Entering low into turn three to block a slide, Randy drifted to the wall off turn four to block again, and back left to curb any crossover. Had it been anyone other than a former pupil, Swindell may have been less gracious. On the podium, Sam talked of leaving Randy just enough room, which the teacher was proud to see Hannagan hammer.

Tulare represented Randy’s second win with the World of Outlaws and first since Pevely 2001. Hannagan’s winning Gaerte Maxim was suspended on Integra shocks without national Penthouse sponsorship but local bucks from the Central Valley Meat Company of Lawrence Coelho, car owner to sons Brian (a Golden State winner at Watsonville in 2000) and Steve Coelho, who crossed third against NARC at Antioch and Santa Maria.

Hannagan had spiritual guidance too. Last fall, he dedicated Trophy Cup to late friend Walt Branco. Last winter, he lost mother Margie to lung cancer. In his pit was father Jim while his brother Terry "was probably jumping out of his wheelchair at home."

Washington’s Jason Solwold finished third as teammate to Tim Kaeding. Tyler Walker was fourth in the JEI of NMI Industrial Contractors. A nice tussle on the cushion involved the Leonard Lee Maxim of Jac Haudenschild and local boy Jason Meyers, who finished fifth and sixth. Jac will spring son Sheldon into the Ohio sprint scene as soon as snow melts. Terry McCarl set a track record and reached seventh with Tim Kaeding eighth in a KPC.

Murphy fell to ninth. If anyone had told Peter on Thursday that he would score a Top Ten with the World of Outlaws on Friday, he’d have been mighty pleased. But to lead ten laps and then retreat made Murphy uncomfortable with the praise heaped on him.

Peter talked of a slight vibration in the engine. On its second night, the motor did not complete its heat race. "Remember that vibration?" Murphy asked. "We don’t have it anymore."

Friday turned a trifle quiet so I dragged DAK Simulations down K Street to join Kaeding Performance at Vejar’s cantina. Two-time USAC Silver Crown king Brandon "Bud" Kaeding was helped to a siesta when friends tagged his face with grafitti. BK (Brent) and BF (Bill Foland) opened the motor coach bar to rum that we drank like Captain Jack Sparrow. Details are disputed yet one trash can was reportedly sacrificed. Still, I sensed a deeper respect when Brent called me "Bela Lugosi" for sucking blood ‘til five AM.

Friday is promotional suicide in California, where Thunderbowl boasted twice the crowd as the first night. Other than Chico where Friday racing has remained the norm, California sprint car racing is a Saturday sport.

Arriving late Saturday was Washington’s Logan Forler, a 600cc graduate of Deming dirt who made five pavement midget starts in 2008. Third at Port Angeles was Logan’s best. For his first three weeks as a sprint racer, Forler chose ASCS Gulf South in Beaumont and Cleveland, ASCS Southwest in Tucson, and the World of Outlaws in Tulare.

Kasey Kahne’s USAC wheelman Brad Sweet of Grass Valley observed the Marysville opener before flying to Texas for midget dates in Wichita Falls and Austin. Unfortunately for fans (but fortunately for Sweet, who is lost on pavement), Wichita Falls rain caused the Lloyd Ruby Classic to die two weeks before Lloyd himself. Back under wings on the Thunderbowl where they topped Trophy Cup four months before, Sweet and Rod Tiner lost a Shark engine early Friday but nearly made Saturday’s dash.

Sam Hafertepe of Texas seemed eager to escape California. Chico found him in two crashes that kept him from either A-main. Sam’s Silver Dollar crew included Ontario sprint driver Daryl Turford but when hasty repairs fell incomplete, Turford was shipped home to Canada. In danger of missing all four California A-mains, Hafertepe found a low lane past Lasoski and Lucas Wolfe that shuffled Tommy Tarlton from a transfer. Tarlton had taken the Rebel 360 opener at Hanford after crashing in Marysville.

Tulare saved the best for last. I’ve seen every sanction of note and more obscure and where the World of Outlaws exceeds every other club is its ability to reel off non-stop features. These races are rare and precious. And in a series where traffic determines victory, Thunderbowl thrust The Outlaws into 35 green-flag laps.

Swindell challenged in Vegas, Chico and Tulare, where he followed fast time with a zero pill and eight laps ahead of the dash. With the cushion on the wall and middle turning black, Thunderbowl threatened to go like Chico because bad weather approached again. To its credit, the surface stayed shiny and slick and never locked tires to one lane. Smart as he is, Sammy did not have his Honey Run Quilters Maxim as ready for 35 laps as the Burnett Rock Maxim of McCarl (which passed him on lap seven) or the Budweiser Maxim of Saldana that ultimately won the race.

Saldana slid McCarl only to see Terry immediately swipe the lead back. On lap 14, Joey managed his slide out of turn four to secure the spot. "When I got to Haud," said Saldana, "I didn’t know what he was really going to do, so I slowed myself down." Joey soon found McCarl at his elbow, forcing a move past Haudenschild to scamper out of danger.

"The cushion was right around the fence and I hit the wall a couple times," Joey revealed. "This is the World of Outlaws. These guys are professionals and we are supposed to go non-stop."

Saldana’s souvenir trailer touted Budweiser swag ten feet from the Budweiser tap that featured a life-sized cardboard of winning car owner Kasey Kahne, who had Joey’s third win witnessed by his father Kelly Kahne.

Winning the first World of Outlaws stop at Tulare in 2004, McCarl scored second in 2009. Swindell suffered third-place and surprise. "I figured someone would get in the wall," said Sam.

California was a dent to the Armor All of Donny Schatz, who could not leave Chico fast enough. Thunderbowl opened with Donny doing a wheelstand off the turn four cushion that dropped him out of sixth-place. Tulare’s conclusion was better for the champion’s Shaver J&J, which finished fourth after a nice dice with Craig Dollansky. Craig’s crew chief Mike Woodring worked on the historic Tulare winner of Erin Crocker in 2004. Thunder claps on the cushion by Tim Kaeding crossed sixth chased by Kemenah, who failed to transfer on Friday.

World of Outlaws left the Golden State of California for the Copper State of Arizona and their last look at the venerable Manzanita Speedway in southwest Phoenix.

The biggest story in sprint car racing is how Manzanita was purchased by Southwest Industrial Rigging for a sum between "10 and 20 million" according to Bobby Martin. I know the Martins lost money last year ("about $468,465") and hope they can live with killing a family member. They should either take their riches out of town (how can they look friends in the eye?) or build a new facility as close to the city as possible.

I fear that Phoenix will go the way of major cities such as Memphis, Dallas and Denver where weekly sprint racing is all but dead. Sure, some discarded dates will go to Canyon or Tucson. But not everyone will drive that far. Some will stop racing altogether.

I have seen it happen all too often. It only takes a tour of my homeland to remember how raceways are fragile. Harmony, Reading, Flemington, East Windsor and two tracks in Nazareth all perished within about 25 years. West Capital, Baylands and Ascot all fell within 11 years.

The corner of 35th Avenue and Broadway in Phoenix never seemed attractive as a development among the endless junkyards. The Big Money leaked in from the south. Where’s the love?

Rolling across Texas from 4979 West 13th Street, Speedway, IN, 46224 or (317) 607.7841 or Kevin@openwheeltimes.com

Travels with Charley: USAC Opens

By Kevin Eckert

March 3, 2009 Monterey, California: Seekers of scenic highways bow down to the mother of them all, Highway One. No wonder movie stars James Dean and Steve McQueen felt like racers, because anyone who can cut nice corners for a hundred miles from Ragged Point to Pebble Beach possesses some of the right stuff.

Forty years after his passing, literary giant John Steinbeck of Salinas still casts a shadow on the shore. In 1940, Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath about those who fled Oklahoma dust for California fruit. In 1945 came Cannery Row, set in the sardine factories along the Monterey waterfront that are all boutiques and bars now like Sly McFly’s, home of live blues and Anchor Steam.

Steinbeck authored East of Eden in 1952, later a motion picture starring James Dean of Fairmount, Indiana. When he landed that role, Dean acquired a Porsche 356 Speedster for road races in which he finished second in Palm Springs, third in Bakersfield and exhausted an engine in Santa Monica. It was during the filming of Rebel Without a Cause when James traded the 356 for the 550 Porsche that became his coffin. To exit Highway One on 46 is to pass the junction of 41 where Dean died in that silver Spyder on September 30, 1955. He was headed for a race in Salinas.

Pebble Beach Road Races were deemed too dangerous, so Monterey opened its Laguna Seca Raceway in 1957. James Dean would have loved it as much as Steve McQueen, who raced there in ‘59 after filming the Magnificent Seven.

I found myself on the corkscrew when Indy Cars ended their 1989 season at Laguna Seca. After 300 kilometers, Bakersfield off-road hero Rick Mears defeated Mario Andretti, an Ascot sprint winner for Steve Stapp in 1965. Among that 1989 CART cast was Pancho Carter of Huntington Beach. Brent Kaeding joined me in the corkscrew to watch Indy Cars lift the left front.

Monterey Bay is where the World of Outlaws was supposed to be on Saturday, March 7. Ocean Speedway in Watsonville however, is flooded, so The Outlaws are off until Mini Gold Cup on March 13-14. Plan-B centers on Marysville Raceway Park, where winged 360 sprint cars and wingless 360 two-barrels will blaze.

Marysville is 500 miles north of the United States Auto Club cards at the Perris Auto Speedway. Saturday’s sprints and midgets were memorable, mainly for Darren Hagen’s last-to-first demonstration but also for the first USAC National victory ever by Rickie Gaunt, though it occurred on another long gone tire-smokin’ surface.

Who was happiest to see USAC open its sprint, midget and champ car seasons in the west? That would be Hoosier Tires, the purple machine that made money like a roulette wheel when Manzanita, Las Vegas and Perris all took rubber. Sprints and midgets create the greatest program. But until the United States Auto Club can conceive a tighter show than one that hot laps at three and ends at midnight, perhaps these combo cards are beyond them.

The third annual Copper on Dirt opened USAC seasons for Silver Crown, Sprint and Midget divisions on the Manzanita Speedway half-mile. The Martins at Manzanita (cutting Chris Morgan as manager after November late models fell flat) wished to purge the Silver Crown class that USAC insists on reinventing. These are your grandfather’s race cars: too few, too slow and too expensive to a promoter. Not wishing to reduce three classes to two (Eldora now a three crown), USAC convinced Manzanita to keep Silver with Copper.

USAC promised 20 champ cars. They delivered 16, though there would have been 18 if thieves in Oklahoma City had not snatched Gene Nolen’s rig carrying cars for Shane Hollingsworth and Ron Gregory. USAC proceeded as if they had a full field with Thursday practice and inconsequential Friday heat races.

Dirt track practice is less silly on opening day when new teams and machinery have yet to fire. Manzanita seemed in splendid shape, other than the stones rattling off the metal bleachers on which Sean Buckley and I stood in turn one. "Rev 1" Ricky Ehrgott was especially bold and while watching him wrestle the third turn cushion, a canary yellow midget nearly left the yard behind him. Sirens sounded as an ambulance arrived to transport Robby Josett, who was diagnosed with a broken arm and punctured lung.

Thursday practice came to a screeching halt. USAC said something absurd about hot lapping at 2:30 on Friday afternoon. Though they missed that by an hour or two, cars started early enough to make Manzanita look like El Centro on a windy day.

Friday’s sorry surface was compounded by an asinine format devoid of A-mains. Ten-lap "Copper Bowl Shootouts" set Saturday’s first five rows. To crack such a pole dash, USAC inverted eight and transferred two. Despite stacked odds, Brad Sweet and Darren Hagen won midget heats from eighth, Chad Boat and Josh Wise went from eighth to second, and Levi Jones advanced from eighth to first only to let Nathan High slip inside. Levi later won the dash to secure midget pole.

High had one of five AMRA midgets in the USAC pits alongside Matt Rossi, Terry Goodwin, Stevie Sussex and Danny Sheridan, who also ran the ProFlyer Ellis at Perris but missed both A-mains. Sussex hot lapped an LTC coil car for Bob Price on Thursday and did not return Friday or Saturday.

Local mini sprint driver Dennis Carrier Jr. recorded no time but raced a Manzanita midget anyway. Veteran of two Hut Hundreds, dad finished fifth in a 100-lap midget race on the Manzanita quarter won by Larry Rice for Arizona’s Richard Polnau in 1973.

Buddy Lowther opened 2009 in Phoenix, Vegas and Perris midgets. Buddy splits time between Thornton, Colorado and Cincinnati, Ohio, dividing seasons between RMMRA and USAC regionals such as last summer’s Alex Pruett Memorial where he finished eighth in Grundy County, Illinois.

Out of retirement for Manzanita was Bryan Stanfill, who started one outdoor event in two seasons. Stanfill followed Brad Kuhn into Billy Mentgen’s midget from Denver. They were 33 of 38 on the watch but with each passing lap, Bryan became faster.

Colorado was also represented by Luke Icke, who drove to Phoenix in mom’s PT Cruiser. Luke and Buddy talked some smack about "puttin’ the ol’ man down" but of course, cousin Ty and I annually bury the boastful. "When the going gets weird," once wrote Doctor Gonzo, "the weird turn pro."

Midgets that followed me from Fort Worth to Phoenix were driven by Bryan Clauson, J.J Yeley, Brady Bacon, Brad Loyet and Dustin Morgan. They faced enormous tire bills. Bacon used a sprint provisional at Manzanita, broke his midget in Vegas hot laps and skipped Perris to prepare for winged ASCS 360s in Dallas (March 20-21) and Oklahoma City on March 27-28.

Armstrong Farms fielded Dakoda and Caleb Armstrong and a third Manzanita midget for Josh Wise, who led five laps. Clauson claimed the lead and had the win well in hand when Wise lost power in turn one. Though he coasted clear to his pit, a senseless caution called for green-white-checkered and on the restart, Clauson’s driveline disintegrated.

Grass Valley’s Brad Sweet led the last two Manzanita midget laps to add to the famous places (Eldora, Knoxville, Belleville) he has won. To pad that list, he really wants to win the USAC return to Williams Grove on Wednesday, June 3. Fresh from his first Australian tour, Sweet was handed a Toohey’s New to feel as if he was back at Parramatta City.

Sweet’s Kasey Kahne Racing team expects to win. When it happens, they rarely rejoice. Nathan High on the other hand, was plenty high. To run second against factory midgets on the Manzy half-mile is comparable to pestering the World of Outlaws. A week later, High would run second to Josh Pelkey in the ASCA 360 opener at Canyon Speedway Park.

Tucson’s Jerry Coons appeared in South Australia and New Zealand before using a Manzy midget provisional to progress from last to third. Glendale’s Chad Boat qualified quickest on Friday and finished fourth on Saturday over Darren Hagen.

Keith Kunz debuted Number One on a Red Bull Bullet for Cole Whitt while hiring Western World sprint winner Kevin Swindell for the red IWX entry. Off the final corner, Brad Kuhn applied a clean slide to steal seventh from Swindell. Predictable as a six-year old, Kevin showed his ass after the checkered by cutting off Kuhn. It proved a recurring theme, prompting some to yearn for a time when punks got punched.

J.W Mitchell had sprint and midget at Manzanita for Matt Mitchell (he flipped the midget) and sprint for Josh Wise, back in three USAC classes for the first time since he drove for Tony Stewart Racing at the Four Crowns of 2005-2006. TSR was busiest with sprints, midgets and champ cars for Levi Jones and Tracy Hines. Stewart’s Silver Crown cars were fastest at 20.27 (Levi) and 20.34.

Manzanita began the three-sport USAC assault of Shane Hmiel, who teamed with Coons in Weirich champ cars, Dave Darland in Benic sprint cars, and with Casey Shuman in A.J Felker midgets. Still beloved by the Stratosphere, Shane had rooms in the Vegas casino comped for Benic Racing.

Daryl Guiducci’s Team 6R had Fatheadz champ cars for Brian Tyler and Kody Swanson, a midget for Swanson, and Toyota sprint car credited to Jacob Wilson yet driven by Hunter Schuerenberg. Kody qualified a Manzy midget but did not race it, leaving some to wonder when he will improve on dirt.

J.J Yeley shook down both Toyota midgets of Cruz Pedregon before opting for the Odyssey Battery One as Number 75. It crossed tenth. Up from the sprint C, J.J could not conjure the Manzy magic that won win him 10 of 24 SCRA races between 1996 and 2000.

Josh Ford brought sprint and midget to Manzanita, Vegas and Perris. Manzy found Ford in the midget dash and C-to-B with the sprint car. Josh made both A-mains in Vegas and midget final in Perris while again settling C-to-B with the sprint car.
Roseville, California’s Colby Copeland made his USAC debut in the desert by timing 13 of 53 sprint cars. Copeland had covered the 777 miles to Manzanita for midget (2006) and mini sprint race that he won in 2007 before weighing light. Last year’s Chili Bowl uncovered Colby in a Felker midget before he embarked on a rookie sprint season that peaked eleventh in a Gold Cup prelim. Copeland was clinging to a transfer from Saturday’s B-main when he spun and stacked Bacon into Tyler Brown.

Manzanita rookie in 1993, Rodney Argo returned to The Valley of Sheriff Joe for only the second time in three years, yet qualified faster than factory drivers Sweet (Mopar), Jones (Chevy) or Johnny Herrera, Rip Williams, Cory Kruseman, Jon Stanbrough, Mike Spencer, Shane Cottle, Robert Ballou or Schuerenberg.

Despite destroying Tony’s cars last autumn, Ballou was welcomed back by Tony Smiley but could not extend Extreme to the A-main. Robert returned to Indiana to prepare sprint cars for Dallas Mulvaney. On a short list to replace Jimmy Jones as Ballou’s crew chief was Greg Staab, Bernie Stuebgen or maybe, Darin Smith. Staab was out west to assist 6R Racing.

Manzanita sprint heats had Darland and Kevin Swindell sweeping from eighth to win. Whitt went from eighth to second behind local lion Charles Davis in a nice drive. Hagen hustled from seventh to first Friday and won the dash for Saturday’s pole.

Seventh at Chili Bowl, Chris Windom had the fastest sprint at Manzanita before it all went wrong again. Three months ago, Chris crashed in Phoenix and after winning Saturday’s B, he flipped again on lap 25 of 40. Windom went C-to-B in Vegas before also missing the Perris A-main.

Despite reporting all inventory stolen, Tom Rolfe Construction traveled to Florida and Nevada with Sammy Swindell, and to Arizona, Nevada and California with Kevin Swindell. Manzanita’s abrasive opening surface prompted an enormous cushion on which no one could string together three good laps, least of all Kevin, who stumbled and flipped Coons from second on lap 37 of 40.

Under red, Jerry walked by Kevin and tapped his own helmet as if to say "think" next time. Once his back was turned, Jerry was blitzed by Sammy Swindell, who was blocked by Rob Hoffman. As he did to Daron Clayton in 2007, Sam tried to kick the Hoffman family jewels. Is every dirt track simply a litter box for the Swindells to stir their shit?

On the restart, Kevin got dusted by Darren as a cheer rose from the capacity crowd. Swindells cried how Hagen had lagged to get a run at the golden child. Is it not enough to ram people post-race? Must we hear sniveling too?

Hagen handed the first-place trophy to Oklahoma’s Scott Morgan, who seems to like racing more than his son Dustin. Willie Ator assembled a second Ark Wrecking Maxim that won immediately at the hands of Hagen. Ator’s assistant was Ohio’s Cody Jacobs, a 2008 sprint winner at Lakeville and son of Dean. Hagen has now won ten sprint races for Jack Yeley (Lincoln Park 2004), Mark Priestley (Perris 2007), Jim Whiteside (Gas City 2008) and Keith Kunz at Perris (2005), Lernerville (2006), Anderson (2006), Las Vegas (2007) and twice last season at Winchester.

Darland drove the Benic Maxim to Manzanita’s third-place and for the first time in forever, had no dirt champ car or midget. Kunz raced only one sprint car with Whitt, who was fourth. Missouri’s Jesse Hockett followed his $13,000 ASCS Rebel haul with five of six Volusia evenings and a cross-country haul to fifth in Phoenix.
Indiana Underground’s first race of 2009 proceeded to set Jon Stanbrough on fire on the frontstretch during a red flag. Jon sat back in his melted seat to score sixth. Car owner Terry Riggs and mechanic Mike Dutcher also had a champ car that Stanbrough steered to sixth-place.

Shane Cottle’s departure from Larry Contos and Tray House opened that champ car to Josh Wise. Cottle teamed with Joe Devin to drive the Ken Pierson DRC that Devin and Jack Slash dragged across I-40. It qualified slowest and put Shane on his head after nine of 50 laps.

Hockett was happy to be back in Silver Crown. He’d had a little taste in 2005 when he made two starts for Kasey Kahne. He convinced Tom Van Kiersbilck to buy a champ car for two starts in 2007. Last summer, Hockett ran Terre Haute for Pierson and Devin. This time, Jesse joined Chris Santucci and Robert Hubbard in a Ford funded by Carl Edwards. Hockett and Hubbard worked together at last summer’s Knoxville Nationals. Each time their champ car touched Manzanita, it got faster.

Hockett and Bud Kaeding ran first and second in Friday’s dash and resumed their battle atop Saturday’s thick cushion. Kaeding stayed committed to the rim as Jesse made time on the bottom of turns three and four. It must’ve felt slow to The Rocket, who shifted upstairs without radio instruction. Bud was better out there and stole the win at lap 47 of 50. The loss by Hockett presented me a K&N cap from Hubbard, who does not keep "second-place" hats.

After carrying a sprint provisional to tenth, Levi Jones jumped in a champ car for third trailed by Tracy Hines and Derek Hagar, an Arkansas rookie to the 2008 USAC Silver Crown circuit at Springfield, DuQuoin and Eldora. Winner of winged 360 sprint wins in Alabama and Mississippi, Hagar rode a rude cushion to fifth in a champ car credited to Terry Klatt of Nebraska.

RE Technologies took second and fifth in Phoenix. They had been approached about a champ car for Kevin Swindell, son of the driver for whom Santucci toiled four years. "I’m just getting to where I can stand him again," said Chris of Sam, who leveled large charges when TMC terminated. "And hiring Kevin would mean that I could forget about any more help from Harrold Annett," Santucci added.

"Front Row Bob" Hubbard was headed home to Memphis. I fled Phoenix through Sun City on Del Webb Boulevard. Who was this Del Webb who had his name on the hood of the A.J Watson roadster that finished third in the 1961 Indianapolis 500 guided by Rodger Ward of Los Angeles? Webb was a war profiteer who made so much money building internment camps for Japanese citizens that he and two other guys bought the New York Yankees. Webb built the Flamingo for Bugsy Siegel in Vegas and also owned Sahara and Mint casino. After ten World Series rings, Webb sold his share of the Yankees to CBS. In 1960, he started Sun City, the first real retirement community in the U.S.

The 15th annual Sedona Film Festival was my destination but unfortunately, I misread its schedule. Rather than Giancarlo Esposito directing and starring in Gospel Hill, there was a Jane Seymour tribute. I chose to drive 15 miles to Cottonwood for Gran Torino that features another tour de force by Clint Eastwood, who was mayor of Carmel when he made Heartbreak Ridge in 1986.

Sedona is spectacular. I arrived with Monday’s sunset to see the rocks glow red. Some of the scenes in Midnight Run (a hilarious 1988 flick in which Robert DeNiro plays a bounty hunter) were filmed outside of Sedona. It was Yavapai territory until their winter of 1876 death march to the San Carlos reservation. Rich white people like John McCain and Al Pacino live here now.

Sedona to Flagstaff on 89 is an awesome stretch of Arizona vista. Flagstaff is still 250 miles from Vegas with virtually no room for improvisation. It is I-40 for 150 miles to Kingman and 93 to the Hoover Dam, the monumental 1935 concrete project that never ceases to amaze, as will the new bridge when finished in 2010.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway scheduled USAC and World of Outlaws for the nights preceding NASCAR. On the surface, wingless sprints and midgets coupled with the fastest cars on dirt seemed to suit every fan. On the surface however, is where Vegas dirt questions always point. The half-mile in the desert is used only twice per season. There is no weekly show to smooth the bumps. To prepare LVMS, Chris Blair hired Randy Grove, formerly of Hagerstown and now at Lowe’s. Grove had a family emergency and Randy’s replacement had a heart attack. In stepped Bob Sargent, the Illinois organizer who laid down a nice early surface that went away with a Wednesday vengeance. Thursday was what the winged boys like.

Iowa’s Terry McCarl tried both sprint classes in Las Vegas. His only previous wingless sprint starts were at Knoxville (2000) and East Bay in 2006. Unable to keep his brake from locking, McCarl timed terribly but got to within two spots of a heat race.

Tyler Walker, who had Scott Chastain cars for both Vegas classes, never came off the cushion for USAC group qualifying or C-main, which he won. But sometime during the sprint B, the smell of rubber touched the knowing nostrils of Rob Hoffman, who tipped his sprint driver Jerry Coons. Jerry told midget crew chief Greg Wilke, who went one compound harder on the right rear.

Leader in Fort Worth and Phoenix, Clauson made another tight outside pass of Bobby East to set the Vegas pace. But tire wear was so severe that when Cole Whitt flipped on lap 13, the entire Top Five swapped tires to restart last, handing command to Coons.

Kasey Kahne, making his first midget start outdoors on dirt since winning the Belleville Nationals of 2001, was alongside the leader to spark the partisan crowd. Kahne confessed a bleeder problem that deflated his left rear tire too much to keep pace.

Coons captured the first national USAC midget meet on Vegas dirt since the 1997 season finale. Clauson came from the back to second over provisional Boat, East, Kuhn, Garrett Hansen, Yeley, Swindell, Hines and Hagen.

The first midget race ever on Vegas dirt was also won in 1997 by Salinas shoe Ronnie Day over Tony Stewart. Day was also a winged 360 winner at Vegas along with Ted Finkenbinder, who won with Tony Elliott (1998) and ran Turkey Night 2008 and Vegas 2009 with Florida’s Ricky Ehrgott.

Bakersfield 360 racer Rusty Carlile towed 300 miles to Vegas to transfer from C-to-B, and proceeded to Perris as did Tom Sertich, who began Greg Bragg’s season in Vegas and Perris.

It was unclear which white 17 might crash. Nic Faas flipped in a Vegas C-main before Brett Burdette busted his car to pieces in the Vegas A-main. Brett went home to Indiana; Nic missed the Perris A-main by three spots. Vegas saw Josh Wise flip a Pedregon midget and scratch the Mitchell sprint that won its heat race. Perris did not go much better when Wise spun twice in his midget heat.

Keith Kunz again showed how to lock down on Vegas rubber, raising the left front high as Cole Whitt walked away. Two years ago, Kunz Bullets won USAC/CRA shows with Wise and Hagen. Whitt did the deed with a Chevy by Richie Brannan.
Hockett has never seen a surface on which he cannot pass as Jesse jockeyed from tenth to second. Desert fox Johnny Herrera can also pass when a track goes black. The king of Aztec advanced to third from row seven. Hockett and Herrera were two who raced in Vegas with and without wings along with Tyler Walker, McCarl, Tom Rolfe (relying on two generations of Swindell) and Montana’s Brent Kronfuss, who had never performed topless.

Stanbrough qualified fastest and finished fourth in Vegas followed by Darland and Damion Gardner, who led despite wrecking in his heat. The Demon has ex-Kahne crew chief Davey Jones, who said Kasey had to fire him "because Willy didn’t have the balls!" DG Racing is more Pace than Leffler, though Jason was in Damion’s pit. I joked how Jason was a "cheater" as stamped by NASCAR to which he corrected, "Rough rider." Gardner, Coons, Hagen, Boat and Yeley completed the Top Ten in Nevada.

Oh for the glory days of Diamond-P when my room at Circus Circus was comped. The economic downturn sparked talk of Vegas rooms as low as $25, which was the price flashing on the Sahara marquee. I wheeled in there like L.C Kesterson! They marked me up to $35, which still seemed better than driving ten more stop-and-go miles to save ten bucks.

I worked the Sahara like Sinatra. Not really, but it is where the original Ocean’s Eleven was filmed in 1960. It is updated with NASCAR café and rollercoaster. Back from the buffet (stiff at $16), I passed Robby Gordon who, despite civil upheaval, guided a Hummer through Argentina and Chile during last month’s Dakar Rally. The son of "Baja Bob" Gordon did a meet and greet at the Hard Rock Café that sponsored his Jim Beam Toyota.

Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman were in the TSR pit observing the ease in which Donny Schatz and Ricky Warner whip the fastest racers on dirt. During his Daytona time, Newman won his first asphalt modified race at New Smyrna.

Vegas signaled that the World of Outlaws teams willing to pull from Florida are owned by Stewart (Schatz and Kraig Kinser), Kahne (Joey Saldana and Craig Dollansky), Steve Kinser, Jason Meyers, Lonnie Parsons (Danny Lasoski), Lon Carnahan (Jac Haudenschild), Jason Sides, Jon Kantor (Chad Kemenah), Tony Vermeer (Kerry Madsen), Todd Quiring (Terry McCarl), Tom Rolfe (Sammy Swindell), Dennis Roth (Tim Kaeding), Wolfe, Ellenberger and Hafertepe.

Vegas was typical of an Outlaw show where nothing happened until about ten laps into the A-main when leaders reached traffic. Heats were hot laps ("like watchin’ ants fuck," declared Davey Jones) and the dash was more hot laps, though interesting to watch Dollansky wheel-slap Sammy to the win. On the A-main start, Craig ran Swindell wide and led seven circuits before Sammy surged back. Dollansky acquired a severe vibration that knocked off the radiator cap and blinded him with mist.

Schatz sits on top of the World of Outlaws because he and Warner work the lines no one else can. Everyone in Vegas was tied to the cushion except Donny, who glided under Swindell in turn one of lap 16. Under caution, Sammy chose to blame Bobby McMahan. Would someone get the old man his medication?

USAC tire concerns in Vegas revolved around burning them bald. Outlaw apprehension was about rocks or rubble left by a pack of street stocks. Right rears were cut beneath Wolfe, Hafertepe, Haudenschild and Steve Kinser. Schatz had to plug a hole but won over Swindell and Dollansky.

Sides scored fourth in a Maxim that he tested for Steve Kinser late last season. Sides was again assisted by Terry Gray, who was set to open his USCS title defense until Winona, Mississippi postponed to Saturday, March 7.

Fifth-place marked Lasoski’s best finish for Casey’s General Store since 1995. Madsen and Sonny Kratzer were sixth in a Steve Kent KPC trailed by McCarl, never-say-die Steve Kinser and Daryn Pittman, who flew to Indianapolis and drove to Pennsylvania for the 2009 Lincoln Speedway opener. All of the courtesy laps for shredded tires caused Dennis Roth’s new crew chief Guy Forbook to fall short on fuel. Tim Kaeding held fifth until his tank ran dry. Pittman produced ninth in the Roth 83jr.

Vegas is a playground for people with money to lose or in other words, people other than me. I hit a slot machine for $20 and ran like Joe Pesci was chasing me with a hammer. Out of the Silver State on 95, I passed the road to Bullhead City, home of the Mohave Valley Raceway where SCRA was scorched by Ron Shuman (’94), Steve Ostling (’95), J.J Yeley (’96) and Richard Griffin in 1998. Shuman and Ostling serve as competition directors of ASCS Canyon and USAC-CRA.

Needles, California makes me think of mom because she once lost her purse there. It also reminds of Sam Kinison, the comic killed on 95 just north of I-40. During his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman in 1984, Sam made my father and I pound the floor with laughter. He was a rare comedian who walked the line between what’s funny and what’s right.

Another man admired by father was General George S. Patton, who tried to capture Pancho Villa in 1916. I needed gas and exited I-10 at a place once known as Shaver Summit. Patton trained troops for North Africa at Camp Young, which often sent WWII soldiers to Joe Chiriaco’s general store. After a car crash claimed Old Blood and Guts, Joe established a Patton memorial in Shaver Summit, which became Chiriaco Summit 1958.

Leaving Las Vegas, I had half a notion to drive to San Diego for Big Head Todd and The Monsters, three guys from Columbine High School like Icke. Somewhere around Joshua Tree however, I realized that supermodified stars Dick O’Brien and Dick Macco were lounging in Rancho Mirage swapping stories of Kempton Dates and returned to Frank Sinatra Boulevard.

"Wacko Macko" and O.B (ex-racing writer for the Post-Standard of Syracuse) made me ponder all the eastern press in Vegas. Trackside Magazine writers Chris Blair and John Bisci were in the LVMS office. Macco and I were with Trackside after Speedway Scene, which included Dick Berggren and Bob Dillner as writers. Gater’s Steve Post prowled Outlaw pits. Macco’s boy Richie works on Juan Pablo Montoya’s Chevrolet, which pleases the U.S Auto Worker who is his father. Wacco’s hair is no longer red, just his neck.

Macco and O’Brien reunited with Bentley Warren at Perris. In super circles, Bentley is a mythic spirit kindred to Jan Opperman. He won the 1969 Oswego Classic, ran the 1971 Indy 500 (again in ’75) and left USAC to barnstorm New England. Warren won five more Oswego Classics, six Star Classics, 1985 Copper Classic and 1991 Thompson World Series. He was there to show Paul Newman the line around Star Speedway in 1998 when Newman hot-lapped Paul Dunigan’s super and Bobby Seymour’s midget.

Second in the Thompson World Series of 2008, Warren would still make a wise choice for Oswego’s first champ car race, organized by Kasey Kahne for Watkins Glen week on Thursday, August 5.

The southern loop out of Palm Desert on 74 took me through the San Bernardino National Forest past the Lake Hemet created by dam in 1895. What a road! It was the kind of snaky switchback that makes driving fun, I told O.B upon finding Bentley’s big black motorcoach and Harley hauler. Warren had camped at Yuma to acquire native silver and turquoise.

California saw very little of Bentley Warren. He ran around the Sacramento mile without a cage in 1970, did two Ontario 500s in’73-74 and ran a Mesa Marin supermod for Ken Reitz in 1991.

Perris Auto Speedway had seen no midgets for four years. USAC Western cars had not been to Perris since Troy Rutherford, Steve Paden and Robby Flock split wins in 2004, also when Ford Focus races stopped there. Perris Focus features were won by Danny Stratton, Bobby Michnowicz, Bradley Galedrige and Garrett Hansen in 2002. USAC Western winners at The PAS include the late Australian Mike Figliomeni (2000), Thomas Meseraull and Arizona’s Jeremy Sherman in 2001.

USAC National Midgets ended their 1995 season at Perris prior to its current configuration. Arizona’s Billy Boat won that one and three of the next four including the track’s only Turkey Night, the 1996 holiday classic that was the track’s last USAC National Midget race prior to Saturday.

Rick Hendrix, who won the last midget race on Vegas dirt (1998) prior to Thursday, had one of 39 midgets at Perris. Chevrolet (Hines) and Mopar (Sweet) qualified fastest. Perris was pounded by sun and wind before Ray Sheetz restored a surface. As always, midget heats were fantastic.

Texas City, Texas jockey Jerrod Ponder participated in USAC midgets at Manzanita, Vegas and Perris. Last season, Ponder scored sixth against SSMA midgets at Tyler, Alvin and Killeen.

Fremont’s Shane Golobic brought the Best Appearing Car of Chili Bowl 2009 to Perris and kept the Country Builders Spike in the last heat transfer despite heat from Bobby East.

Dennis Howell of Rancho Palos Verdes was not shaken by Dakoda Armstrong’s efforts at a heat transfer. Focus winner at Ventura in 2006 and ’07, Howell joined its VRA 360 sprint ranks and late last year, Ventura was where Dennis made his USAC Western States debut. Caleb Armstrong’s advance on a final transfer turned over Bryan Clauson, who just won Kansas City for Armstrong Farms.

Alex Schutte of Redding lost one of Cory Kruseman’s Lucas Oil midgets at Manzanita so Jesse Denome’s car was readied for Vegas and Perris. The red six (12 to maintain Western points) ran the 2008 Chili Bowl with Jessica Zemken, Kansas City with Kruseman and 2009 Chili Bowl with Cody Kershaw. Schutte scored eleventh in Vegas and transferred through his heat in Perris.

Zach Daum, a Silver Crown rookie to Manzanita like Mike Spencer, was a Turkey Night rookie to Irwindale three months ago. Since then, Zach raced indoors at Kansas City and Tulsa before expanding westward to Phoenix, Vegas and Perris, where he was eighth fastest and on pole for his first A-main of 2009.

Just as he did in Fort Worth, Phoenix and Vegas, Bryan Clauson led 19 laps around Perris until Tracy Hines worked the cushion to command. Hines had no excuse, stating how Darren Hagen was simply superior. If every provisional rocketed through the field like Coons and Hagen, I might lighten up on the free passes.

Whitt of Alpine took third. Sweet worked past Clauson to net fourth, and Hansen won a sixth-place battle with Kuhn that went down to the wire. Levi earned eighth over East and Coons, who used another provisional.

Perris displayed 2009 USAC sprint teams owned by Stewart (Jones and Hines), Benic (Darland and Hmiel), Hoffman (Coons), Kahne (Sweet), Kunz (Whitt), Gardner, Boat and Windom. Hagen is probably seeking a pavement sprint car for Winchester on April 19. Stanbrough and Darland are probably not.

Mission Viejo’s Matt Shedarowicz, first at Barona and fifth in Victorville in 2008, opened 2009 in C-mains at Manzanita, Vegas and Perris. Beginning their season at Perris were Alan Ballard, eighth fastest Jordan Hermansader, C-to-B transfer Eric Severson and Jason York, who flipped Rod Fauver’s car in his heat. Cottle tried to make Warren Dorathy’s sprint car go in Phoenix and Vegas before surrendering the seat to Aaron Altaffer.

Mike Spencer, ninth at Manzanita from row eleven, used a provisional to penetrate the Vegas A-main, and rebounded from a bad qualifying draw at Perris. Picking off the C, Spencer stole the last B-main transfer from Kevin Swindell, the petulant child who rammed Spencer post-race. Have I mentioned how these Swindells need to be slapped? Officials need to curb their nonsense before the inevitable unleashing of vigilante justice.

Shane Hmiel had a horrible Perris, flipping before one lap of sprint or midget A-mains. Dustin Morgan led the first five sprint laps before the tightening track wore the kid out.

Ol’ man Rickie Gaunt gave no hint that the fourth Gardner Sled was the gem until wheeling it to the front. Rickie ran through the middle to block a bottom slide by Brad Sweet, who used the cushion to cross under but could not find the traction. Hines followed second in midgets with third in sprints over Coons, Gardner, Hockett, Whitt, Darland, Stanbrough and Levi Jones.

After three races, USAC National/USAC-CRA points show Whitt (175), Darland (174) and Hockett at 169. Hockett will run wings with ASCS in Dallas and OKC before USAC resumes at Eldora on April 10-11. Little Rock ASCS will cause Jesse to skip USAC at Lawrenceburg on April 18.

Gaunt’s Gary Sokola Shootout trophy meant a lot because Rickie remembered the crusty competition director from CRA and USAC. It also represented Rickie’s first national win. Gaunt never even ran Top Ten during any leg of Indiana Sprintweek, which was when Jack Gardner got his only national win (Paragon) with Bill Rose in 1997. Phoenix found Gardner providing a Silver Crown debut for Gaunt in a champ car last driven by Lee Brewer in 1997.

Perris was long past curfew. There was no Sokola celebration. The lights were dark at Bentley’s mobile saloon, so I aimed for the ocean. Somewhere above Santa Monica, I parked along Pacific Coast Highway among some kids frolicking in the surf at 3am. The sound of waves has always soothed this Delaware River rat.
Sunday Morning Coming Down in Lompoc, home to the Vandenberg Air Force Base that was the first U.S missile site. Lompoc became a boomtown until Challenger exploded in 1986. West Coast shuttles halted and Lompoc lagged economically. I stimulated the economy at Starbuck’s and swallowed sushi in Avila Beach.

I have yet to meet anything that swims that is not delicious, and am grateful for my wide palate. I hear ignorant Americans talk of Australian or Mexican or Chinese cuisine being too odd to eat and I scoff. People everywhere eat some mixture of meat and vegetables, be they wrapped in bread, pasta or tortilla.

Guadalupe sold a Che Guevara hat for four bucks. El Che was a revolutionary who fought CIA insurgents in Guatemala, Cuba and Congo before they stood him in front of a Bolivian firing squad in 1967. Che died a martyr at age 39, a larger symbol of rebellion in death than in life.

The largest symbol of rebellion in sprint car racing was Jan Opperman, born in Long Beach before racing from the Oakland suburb of Hayward. Opperman briefly attended California State Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo on a football scholarship before ruining his knee on a motorcycle. By 1968, he was a hippy from Haight-Ashbury who smoked dope, dropped acid, won his first sprint race in Vallejo, and headed east to change the world.

Highway One is off the beaten path, almost off the continent completely. But no matter what roads lead from Fort Worth to Phoenix to Vegas to Perris to Marysville, Jan Opperman probably traveled them before me.

Reach me at 4979 west 13th Street, Speedway, IN 46224 or (317) 607.7841 or Kevin@openwheeltimes.com.