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.
No comments:
Post a Comment