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Hall of Fame Vintage Classic Sat. nite at Manzanita Speedway
by Windy McDonald
September 16, 2008 --- The American Sprint Car Series, Canyon Division, will be running on Manzanita Speedway’s half mile track Saturday night as they headline the racing part of the Hall of Fame Vintage Classic. Mini Sprints are also on the card and they will race on the one third mile oval.
Five people will be inducted into the Arizona Motorsports Hall of Fame in a special ceremony during intermission.
The Hall of Fame came into being in 1986 when the H.O.F. Committee, headed by Windy McDonald, voted in ten people. The next two years they limited it to five and then to three. Over the years the number inducted have varied as 73 people connected to motorsports have been inducted.
The 2008 inductees are Jim McGee, Chauvin Emmons, Conrad Murphy, Ralph Hertel and Bill Krug.
McGee started working with Clint Brawner, a charter member of the Hall of Fame and soon became a crew chief. He wrenched for several big name drivers and for several very prominent car owners. During his long career McGee, as crew chief, won four Indy 500 races and nine Indy Car Championships. He totaled over 90 Indy car wins.
Emmons was inducted because of a great career in drag racing and speed trials at Bonneville. He is a member of the 300 m.p.h. club and won numerous drag racing titles.
Murphy becomes the first boat racer to be added to the list. He holds numerous records that still stands. He raced against Jimmy Bryan and also Darrell Dockery.
Ralph Hertel organized racing for the short track stock cars in 1969 and the Phoenix Claimers became street stocks and then super stocks. Ralph was also a race sponsor and helped many drivers make it to the race track each week. He had deep pockets when it car to racing.
Bill Krug hooked up with Wayne Weiler who introduced him to Full House Jalopies in 1952. Bill traveled with Wayne and the Joe Pittman Ferguson powered midget. He was also with Wayne in his rookie season at Indy. He owned cars and later decided to become a driver in off road racing. He won the final Race Against Polio at Manzy. He and his wife race raced for 16 years and won 12 championships in class and four overall championships.
Ten racers from days gone by, along with the inductees, will be signing autographs on the front concourse starting at 5:00 p.m. They are five time California Racing Association champion Jim Oskie, Hall of Fame members Benton Burns, Jon Sellers and Ron Shuman; sprint car drivers "The Flyin’ Florist Benton Burns, Allen Ervine and Will Schmink: Also super modified champion who also drover sprint cars and dirt modifieds Don Sink and Jim Massey a super modified driver who is now the car owner of sprint car #50 that is driven by Charles Davis, Jr.
Jeremy Sherman and Kiley Fellers took the main event wins when the sprint cars and mini sprints shared the short track two weeks ago and each not has ten wins.
Sherman, as usual will be challenged by Charles Davis, Jr. with R.J. Johnson and Mike Martin also in pursuit. Fellers can again expect to be tested by former champions Kyle Shipley, Dennis Parks, Brandon George and Jeff Greszler. Others that could pull of an upset include, among others, Josh Shipley, Tyler Keesler and Dennis Carrier.
A Friday night show has been added to the schedule this year with Dirt Modifieds, Factory Stocks, Bombers and Lady Stocks all racing on the one third mile track.
The last time the dirt modifieds and factory stocks ran on the same night was in the Anniversary races and Anthony Madrid won both features to raise his career total to 122, now only 40 wins behind the legendary Gene Brown who is second in total wins. That win put Madrid over the top as he won the Dirt Modified driving title for the third time. Naturally, Madrid is favored to add at least one more win to his total.
Ron Poe won the factory stock feature last week and vaulted to second in the chase for the championship. He trails points leader Bobby Taylor by 33 points but is only one point ahead of Matt Martinez with Lyle Asken, Jr. another point behind.
Daniel Romero took the win in last week’s bomber race and is among the favorites to win this week. He has to be at his best with Jeff Czoka, Gavin McGee, Mike Bray and Toby Webito expected to be near the front.
Gates open at 5:30 each night with competitive racing scheduled to begin at 7:30.
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