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RACING SCENE Column – (PAS Sprint Car Oval Nationals)
by Tim Kennedy
Los Angeles, CA. - The 13th annual Budweiser Oval Nationals presented by Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply three nights of sprint car racing at Perris Auto Speedway (The PAS) was another winner in competitive field, on-track action and dramatic finishes. Despite the recent economic downturn, there were 64 traditional sprint cars in the pits Thursday and 61 on Friday. The main grandstand from sections A through M (turn 1 to turn 4) was about half full Thursday and Friday nights and about 85% full Saturday. The first and fourth turn grandstands were about half full. The 44-page PAS Oval Nationals program had a multi-color cover with a Halloween-ish spooky tinge to it. The cover also showed 2007 Oval Nationals champion Bud Kaeding in his winning No. 29 Maxim sprint car and also receiving the king-size first place check on the podium. The caliber of the teams and drivers this year was among the best ever at The PAS. That was true because all three nights of Oval Nationals racing carried USAC National Sprint and Lucas Oil USAC-CRA championship points. All of the top ten National Sprint drivers and 16 of the top 20 in National Series points raced. Nine of the top ten USAC-CRA point drivers competed. Only Garrett Hansen did not race because he was still recuperating from his wild flip on September 13 at PAS. Hunter Scheurenberg drove Hansen's No. 7 Priestley-owned Bullet. He was ride-less because car owner Jeff Walker kept his No. 11 sprint car in the trailer in favor of helping the No. 17B Brett Burdette Maxim team. Scheurenberg told me car owner Keith Kunz, builder of Bullet race cars, arranged his substitute ride with Priestley. Hansen, who looked good physically, attended all three Oval National nights and helped in the pits.
DRIVERS BY STATES: The Oval Nationals 62 driver field represented seven states and one Canadian (Lawrence O'Connor). As expected, drivers from California predominated with 41. Indiana sent 8, Arizona 4, Missouri 3, Illinois and Oklahoma 2 each and Tennessee 1. Four drivers competed at PAS for the first time. They were Scheurenberg, 18, from Sikeston, MO, Brett Burdette, 20, from Sunman, IN, Jeff Bland, Jr, 20, from Bloomington, IN and Casey Riggs, 19, from Shelbyville, In. Riggs drove the No. 37 Indiana Underground Maxim owned by his father, Terry Riggs. Long-time CRA car owner Dwight Cheney was on the No. 71 Jason Leffler Eagle/Shaver Chevy team of driver Damion Gardner.. Dwight gave me a tour of the two level team hauler. They have two Eagle backup cars stored in the top deck and a complete new Shaver Chevy engine in a first level storage bin ready to go. Cheney hosted drivers Dave Darland as usual and Damion Gardner at his home in Glendora, (eastern San Gabriel Valley). In fact, Gardner was staying at Cheney's home for six weeks for the Oval Nationals through the USAC-CRA races at Perris on November 15 and 29.
Seven past champions representing 11 of the prior 12 Oval Nationals raced in the event this year. They were Rip Williams, Rodney Argo, Rickie Gaunt, Tony Jones, Bud Kaeding, Cory Kruseman and Dave Darland. Retired Jimmy Sills, the 1996 winner, was in the PAS pits helping the team of 16-year old Christian Stover, from Alpine, CA. So all past Oval Nationals winners were present. Oval Nationals Saturday A-main winners received $30,000 in recent years. With a reduced purse this year, the $33,525 A-main purse paid winner Jesse Hockett, of Warsaw, MO, $12,500. Second place in the Saturday A feature paid $3,000 and third place paid $2,000. It paid at least $400 to start the A-main. Thursday and Friday A main events paid $1,000 to each winner. They were PAS regulars Tony Jones and David Cardey. I have attended sprint car races at Perris since the track opened in 1996 and the Friday A-main was the best race I've ever seen at The PAS. The three leaders traded the lead five times and Cardey came from third place on lap 22 to win the 25 lap race. He won on his 33rd birthday and his wife Danita was about to give birth to their first child any day. That certainly was a Hollywood movie ending.
FLIPS: There were 16 total flips during the Oval Nationals, including the Wednesday night practice session. 1-Christian Stover, a 16-year old California Lightning (Mini) Sprint vet at The PAS, flipped and destroyed Harley Van Dyke's No. 5H Maxim in the third turn during the Wednesday. Oct. 29 practice. Van Dyke then rented a No. 83 backup Viper chassis from Glenn Crossno for the Oval Nationals and Phoenix Western World events. They went to Crossno's shop and pulled the engine from Van Dyke's No. 5H and installed it in the rented No. 83x. Stover raced it in his third 410 cu. in. sprint car race. "I really liked the Viper chassis," Stover told me late Saturday night. 2-Dave Darland (Thur. 3rd heat), 3-Rip Williams (Thur. 4th heat), 4-Nic Faas (Thur. 4th heat), 5-Brady Bacon (Thur. A-main), 6-Dustin Morgan (Thur. A), 7-Chad Boat (Thur. A), 8-Kyle Hirst (Fri. TT), 9-Casey Riggs (Fri. C), 10-John Aden (Fri. C), 11-Robert Ballou (Fri. A), 12-Jeff Bland, Jr. (Fri. A), 13-Brien Kinney (Sat. D-main in turn one after the checkered flag), 14-Levi Jones (Sat. A), 15-Tracy Hines (Sat. A), and 16-Danny Sheridan (Sat. A).
For use of possible provisional starting positions in the A-main, Rip Williams drove his son Cody's usual No. 44 Maxim and Cody, 19, drove Rip's No. 3 Stinger because it had more car owner points (the basis for USAC main event provisional starting positions). Both of the Jory Racing team cars were involved in crashes. The 44 car was too damaged to continue. Rip said he had to get use to the newer Maxim chassis. At the Oval Nationals Chad Boat raced his No. 30 Maxim that he raced at Haubstadt, IN. The No. 30 Maxim he used to win the USAC National Series main event at Hagerstown, MD on June 7 was "upstairs" in the top deck of the hauler as a backup. "We're saving that car for the Western World next weekend at Manzanita." ... The PAS Oval Nationals were taped by a crew for telecast in two weeks (on Sunday, November 16) during the weekly one-hour Lucas Oil Motor-sports Hour on the Versus Network. Check your local listings for time and channel. ... Greg ("not Gregg" Bragg, of Visalia, drove the No. 92 Moose Racing Buck Buckley chassis built in his Phoenix shop. Greg is a walnut farmer in Visalia and he told me he harvests 200 acres of walnuts. Competition this year was so tough that C-main winners Thursday through Friday were Tim Kaeding, Daron Clayton and Cory Kruseman.
CHASSIS; There were 19 different chassis makes at the Oval Nationals this year. Maxim was by far the most popular with 20 cars. Next in order were: Bullet—6, Viper—5, Chalk, DRC and Stinger—4 each, Ellis, Sled, and TCR—3 each, Avenger, Eagle, Extreme, and JEI—2 each, and Aden 777, Buckley, Competition Welding, DEI, Gambler, and F-5—one each. The top three A-main chassis in order were Maxim, F-5 and Maxim. ... Driver Adam Frith-Smith is the 18-year old grandson of owner/driver Mike Frith-Smith, 68, who raced a No. 62 in CRA at Ascot in the mid-1970s. In fact, Mike raced his No. 62 VRA 360 sprint car at Ventura until five years ago. Adam's No. 62 is a 1989 Gambler with a 360 cu. It was the ex-No. 63 Chevy that Mike English raced for years in CRA for the late Roy Battersby, who died from Alzheimers disease. Frith-Smith bought the No. 63 car in an estate auction of the Battersby racing equipment. Mike gave English a side panel from the car to keep as a souvenir. Adam has raced for two years at Hanford, Santa Maria and Bakersfield Speedways. The only other 360 sprinters at the Oval Nationals were Brandon Thomson's No. 19 Avenger and his backup No. 91 Stinger. Grandpa Frith-Smith now operates MJF Equipment Transport Co in the high desert area.
REASONS FOR DNFs: In Thursday's feature Alan Ballard's No. 75 Stansberry & Bach broke its drive-line on the front straight. Dustin Morgan (No. 67) rode up and over Ballard's LR tire and flipped several times. There were tire marks on the tire intrusion bar that saved Alan's left shoulder according to car owner Ray Stansberry (Ron Bach owns the No. 75 engines). ... Seth Wilson's No. 17 Competition Welding chassis (out of Indiana) broke brake rotors three times. They said they got a bad batch of poor quality product. They switched over Saturday to a new brake rotor product. ... Danny Sheridan's No. 18 Kittle Motorsports team went through three engines Friday, October 31 on day two of the Oval Nationals. They had to pull and use the engine from the backup car in the team hauler. The problem was a leaking oil cam seal.
On Saturday, November 1 Alan Ballard's No. 75 led the first 18 laps of the 20-lap C-main, but faded to P. 7 on lap 19 and finished tenth, two positions from a transfer to the B-main. Alan told me he ran out of fuel, but he would have finished in a top eight position without the third and final yellow flag on lap 19. Stansberry said he put 21 gallons into the car before the race and at two laps per gallon that should have been enough. However, officials had C-main competitors run extra laps to work in the track and that was the difference in running out of methanol. Ballard said his family sold their No. 97 TCR sprint car to owner/driver Ross Millar who raced it once this year at PAS. Alan said Millar is now selling all his racing stuff because of the poor economy. He moves dirt and with construction work down, lack of business precludes racing. Alan said he missed five races before getting the 75 Stansberry/Bach Maxim ride. During mid-October Alan took tenth place in 2008 CRA driver point standings from Nic Faas, who raced Thursday and Friday at the Oval Nationals. Then Nic and his father Jerry drove to Las Vegas Saturday to race the No. 40 Western Racing Gerhardt/Toyota in the "Bullring" 3/8-mile USAC Western Midget Series penultimate race. Nic retained his 2008 USAC Western Midget Series point lead over Scott Pierovich by qualifying 15th of 21 and finishing 14th in a 21-car field.
DRIVER PAIRINGS: Teammates and family members raced in the same event at times during the three nights of Oval Nationals racing. That is not something that a car owner or family would like to see. Thur. Oct. 30: Heat 1 – had Tony Stewart Racing teammates Tracy Hines and Levi Jones. H-2 – Gardner 93 and 93J cars started in row 4 and again in the first three positions in the A-main. H-3 – Keith Kunz teammates Dustin Morgan (67) and Cole Whitt (67K) started first and third. H-4 – son Cody Williams and father Rip started third and fifth and in the B-main and in the B-main were close again in rows 6 and 7. In the A-main Glenn Crossno 83 and 38 cars shared row 6. Fri. Oct. 31 – Heat 4 – Gardner teammates Blake Miller, 20, (No. 93) and Tyler Brown, 23, (No. 96) occupied row 4. Miller practiced in both 93 and 96 sprinters during the Wed. Oct. 29 PAS practice session because Brown could not attend. Miller's 93 finished sixth and Brown's 96 seventh. Fast qualifiers during the Oval Nationals had a problem racing from row 4 of 4 into the top four positions for automatic tickets to the A-main because heat race fields were so talented. Only the fastest 40 qualifiers made the five fully inverted eight-car heat races. All three Gardner cars (93, 93J and 96) started in the B-main that transferred only the first four finishers to Friday's A-main. Brown's 96 finished second, Rickie Gaunt's 93J was third and Brown's 96 earned the fourth and final direct transfer to the feature. Gaunt's 93J team replaced the defective magneto that prevented him from starting in heat 4. The B winner you ask? Chad Boat, 16-year old son of retired open-wheel star Billy Boat. Sat. Nov. 1 – D-main – the Camarillo brothers Brent (51c) and Brian (22c) occupied row 2. Both advanced to the C-main. In the A-main Brown's 96 started first and Miller's 93 started third. They ran a strong one-two in the 28-car field for 20-laps of the 40-lap event. On lap 21 Miller crossed over high to low and passed Brown exiting the second turn, but Brown was back on top by the starting line to retain the lead.
The top 12 drivers in Oval Nationals points went directly to Saturday's A-main. Damion Gardner received the annual Dean Thompson Award as Oval Nationals High-Point Driver. The money came from the Thompson and Ted Halibrand families. Gardner's 271 points beat 266 points scored by second place Jerry Coons, Jr. Tony Jones, the 12th place driver, scored 206 points. The six highest point drivers started in the first three rows in inverted order with Gardner sixth and Tyler Brown on the pole and Tracy Hines alongside. The 28-car A-main fields each night ran perfect parade laps of seven rows with four cars in each row. One had to hope there were no mechanical problems or driver errors while they were in such close quarters. No one wants to see hard working teams that earned A-main positions get stacked up on a parade lap. The Fri. Oct 31 A-main three fastest drivers, as recorded by electronic scoring, were: fourth place Jesse Hockett, 17.419 (103.335 mph) on L 2, winner David Cardey, 17.490 (102.916 mph) on L 17, and runner-up Damion Gardner 17.555 (102.535 mph) on L 11. Temperatures for the 2008 Oval Nationals were almost shirt-sleeve each night. It was 81 degrees at 4:30 pm Thursday and still 66 at 10:20 pm. There was a brief rainstorm Thursday night at the junction of the 215 and 60 freeways north of PAS about 40 minutes after the feature concluded. On Friday it was 87 degrees at 3:45 pm and still 70 at 10:10 pm. Saturday temps were 81 at 3:45 pm and 68 degrees at 11:25 pm.
FEATURE WINNERS SPEAK: Thur. Oct. 30 – Tony Jones told the crowd, "We do our best and run hard. I'm out of breath from climbing the fence." He thanked his car owners, the Alexander brothers, his crew and many sponsors. The victory gave him five feature triumphs in the past six PAS races. Only Damion Gardner on October 18 (in Leffler's No. 71) interrupted his PAS hot streak. Feature leaders were Brady Bacon (L 1-5), Blake Miller (L 6-7) and Jones (L 8-25). Fri. Oct. 31 – Winner David Cardey said, "Once those guys got by me I thought it was over, but they bobbled and I took advantage of it. It was tight in the middle of the corners. This was a rocket tonight. I thought the last two laps couldn't go by fast enough. I just tried to protect the lead. They got the track back in shape after the dust in the main last night. Congratulations to the track crew." Runner-up Gardner stated on the PA microphone, "That was a good race there. I tried to keep the lead but Hockett got wound up and I had to change my line. We got to dog-fighting and he (Cardey) drove by us all. Congratulations to him, he was fast. There were two grooves all night and last night. I hope they get it (the track) right tomorrow. Third place Coons (Hoffman 69) added, "I was just watching the guys in front lines and I had to adjust my line. They started battling each other and I took advantage. I watched all three cars (Cardey, Gardner and Hockett) and the race track to see where I was going. It was a great race and I'm looking forward to tomorrow." Coons, 36, passed Hockett on lap 23 of 25 as Hockett fell from second to fourth. There were three leaders and five lead changes. Lap leaders were Hockett (L 1-8), Cardey (L 9-11), Gardner (L 12-16), Hockett (L 17-19), Gardner (L 20-22) and Cardey (L 23-25). Pit announcer Chris Holt said, "That was one of the most exciting races all year here."
Saturday night festivities including PAS president Don Kazarian presenting Oval Nationals Grand Marshall jackets to Rip Williams and his car owners, Jack and Sharon Jory on the victory stand at the start/finish infield. Jack said, "I spent ten years as an owner and never had a win, and with Rip driving our car we've had 70 or 71 main event wins." Holt interviewed "Super" Rickie Gaunt, who said, "This year was the best Oval Nationals field ever despite the economy. The money is down, but I don't care what the purse is. This is the Oval Nationals and I'd run it for two black eyes. I'm giving whatever money I win to the American Cancer Society." Gaunt then crossed the track and gave handicapped super fan Shawn McDonald (at the front of section J in his wheelchair) his race-worn blue top, red bottom driving uniform with a Superman-like letter R on the chest. A three-member rock band played rock music Saturday night on a stage near the fourth turn. Before Saturday's A-main all eight past Oval Nationals champions were introduced and interviewed on the front straight. Photographers took a group photo of the past champions. Four of them made the championship feature again this year. PAS chief announcer Scott Daloisio (in the tradition of famous boxing announcer Michael Buffer) wore a tuxedo as he introduced each of the 28 starters. Scott walked from the back row to front row; PAS prexy Don Kazarian walked alongside and shook hands with every driver. Nine push trucks pushed off all 28 cars as the loud AC/DC song "Thunder-shock" played on the PA system. A white No. 1 PAS dirt late model stock car paced the field.
SATURDAY A-MAIN: It took three double-file restarts to get an official lap logged. Third generation driver Kevin Swindell, 19-year old son of World of Outlaws champion Sammy Swindell, started 23rd and raced to an impressive third place finish. His parents, Sammy and Amy, were in the PAS pits. The Tony Stewart team cars were third and fourth on lap 18 at turn two when USAC National Sprint championship contender and P. 4 Levi Jones (20) put a slide job on P. 3 Tracy Hines (21). Their cars made contact and both flipped simultaneously next to the outer wall. Both drivers were unhurt but their sidelined cars finished 21st and 22nd. Team manager Jay Drake or crew chief Bobby Barth had the unenviable task of calling owner Stewart at his NASCAR Cup race to give him the news. Barth made the call and said Tony took it well. That's racing. Cardey was a strong fourth on lap 21 when a slide-job by fifth-place Hockett went wrong and resulted in hard contact with Cardey's No. 38 Viper and damaged Cardey's car too much to continue. He placed 19th. Danny Sheridan had an eventful race. He was battling CRA point leader Mike Spencer for tenth place as they exited the fourth turn on lap 21 and made contact in front of section K. Sheridan, 33, flipped high in the air about three times and landed overturned in mid-track. He was uninjured and when the car was righted fuel spilled on Sheridan and caught fire. He rolled on the track as a PAS fireman at the scene extinguished the fire on his uniform quickly. Sheridan walked to the work area. His car repairs included a new RR radius rod and birdcage bolt-ons. Amazingly, Sheridan and his No. 18 rejoined the race after the red flag and finished 13th with 15 cars still racing at the checkers. Sheridan passed Brady Bacon, 18, on lap 39 of 40. Announcer Daloisio said, "Show-time Sheridan, flipped leaving turn four, landed upside down, was on fire from spilled fuel, got back in the car and raced". Sprint car drivers and sprint cars are tough. The final incident on lap 38 involved Coons and Gardner as they exchanged the lead. Gardner slid under Coons entering turn three; Coons RR tire made contact with Gardner's LF as he passed him on the inside exiting turn four. Gardner's LF folded and he looped to the inside wall on the front straight, out of the race and 16th.
CHAMPION: Hockett, driving the No. 2 Duke and Scott McMillen Maxim out of Northern California, won his first Oval Nationals by starting 19th and leading the final three laps. He did one 360 degree donut high in turn four on his cool-off lap. Then he performed six or seven perfect donuts in the fourth turn low groove. He then drove non-stop to the starting line to join the second and third place cars. A strong wind started at the end of the feature. Vortex of moving cars factor? Winner Hockett told the crowd, "We struggled on night one and felt we gave one (a victory) away last night. It's awesome to come out here and run well. It was a struggle tonight. There were a lot of fast cars up there. I'll remember this one for awhile. It's great to pass a great driver like Jerry Coons, Jr. My car got better after every red flag." There were three red flags The race started at 9:26 and concluded at 10:42 pm. Runner-up Coons said, "It's been a good week. I didn't run the last three laps good and missed the rubber. Damion and I got together. He slid me and I slid him and our tires hit. It could've flattened my tire too. It was just racing. A lot of good cars got torn up here tonight. It was a good point night and increased our point lead." Third place Kevin Swindell stated, "It was a rough night and I got into some rough places, but it was a good finish. I wish the track hadn't taken rubber or I could've raced with them (up front). The final result was better than the rest of it." Swindell drove the No. 10K Tom Rolfe Maxim that Tim Kaeding raced successfully in the 2007 Oval Nationals. T. Kaeding drove the No. 83jr Dennis Roth DEI car this year. He started tenth in the B-main but was sidelined by a lap 4 collision that he blamed on Daron Clayton's No. 83. There were three A-main lap leaders: T. Brown (L 1-26), Coons (L 27-37) and Hockett (L 38-40). The best finish by a CRA regular was tenth by Mike Spencer in Ron Chaffin's No. 50 Maxim. However, impressive Gardner team drivers Brown and Miller ran one-two for the first 20 laps. Miller (93) slowed to fifth on lap 27 when he dropped out with a broken RR shock and RR birdcage. Brown (96) was still in second position on lap 37 when he stopped high in turn four with a broken RF steering arm. Miller placed 18th and Brown 17th.
ERCSE CLASSIC: Driver J. J. Ercse, a USAC midget and past CRA sprint (No. 84) driver, helped Jordan Hermansader's No. 32 Maxim team all three nights at the Oval Nationals. He posted fliers around the PAS premises about the annual Fred Ercse Classic. The Ercse family runs the event to honor the memory of J. J.'s late father who died suddenly from a massive heart attack. The slick kart race for charity—the American Heart Association—will take place this year during the Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix week on Tuesday, Nov. 25. The site is Go Kart World, 21330 Recreation Rd, Carson, CA. Sign-ups start at 7:00 pm and racing begins at 8:00. The entry fee is $25.00, with all proceeds going to the AHA. The format as usual will be heat races for all competitors and last chance races that will set the starting field for a 50-lap main event. Past winners were Chris Tooley (1999-2000), Josh Wise (2001), Garrett Hansen (2002), Blake Miller (2003-04), Josh Wise (2005), Greg Alexander (2006) and Garrett Hansen (2007). As you can see, professional open-wheel drivers Wise, Hansen and Miller are two-time winners of the Ercse Classic. Chances are good that all past two-time winners will race in the 2008 Ercse Classic and try to become the first three-time winner. Wise will be in the area to race in the TNGP at Irwindale Nov. 27. His ride will be the No. 75 Cruz Pedregon Toyota-powered midget; his TNGP teammate will be two-time Indy 500 starter P. J. Jones in an identical Pedregon Toyota-engine midget. The 2008 event flier by J. J. shows the year 2008 with a blank space behind it and the words "could be you". Even if you do not race, you are welcome to come to the site for a fun night. You may bid on some donated racing stuff, watch some interesting on-track contact and amazing passes.
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