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HANSEN SEEKS SILLS’ SPOT AT VENTURA SATURDAY
by Lee Elder
VENTURA, Calif. (April 7, 2009) – United States Auto Club Western Midget racer Garrett Hansen has a chance to make history Saturday when he and the remainder of the USAC Western Midgets race at Ventura Raceway.
Hansen has five Midget wins at Ventura and can tie the great Jimmy Sills for fourth on the all-time USAC Midget win list at Ventura. Most of Sills’ wins at the track came during nationally televised events.
The race marks the 120th time a USAC Midget class has raced at Ventura, making the Seaside Park the leader among active tracks on the West Coast.
The Western Midgets race on both paved and dirt tracks, so the category is one of the few across the country that offer drivers a platform to demonstrate skills in either form of racing. Last weekend, the Western Midgets raced at Madera Speedway, a paved quarter-mile track, and Kingsburg’s Tanner Swanson won. Hansen, who lives in Manhattan Beach, was fifth.
Ventura’s dance card will be full Saturday. The VRA Sprint Cars, Senior Sprints, Pro Dwarf Cars, USAC’s Junior Midgets and the VRA youth divisions will all compete. Racing starts with the youth divisions at 3:45 p.m. The adult racing begins at 4 p.m.
General admission tickets cost $14. Students and military tickets cost $11. Kids 12 and under get in free when accompanied by an adult.
Hansen’s Ventura wins came in April and July of 2007, April and September of 2006 and in May of 2007. John Cofer is tied with Hansen with five wins at Ventura but Cofer is not entered.
Josh Ford, a two-time winner on the Ventura dirt in 2008, sits eighth in points.
More information about Ventura Raceway is available at www.venturaraceway.com. More information about USAC is available at www.usacracing.com.
Raceway notes: Ron ‘Sleepy’ Tripp is the all-time USAC Midgets win leader at Ventura with 18. He is followed by Billy Boat (13), Page Jones (8), and Sills…Raceway historians are scrambling to determine if Stockton’s Johnathon Henry, winner of last week’s Bandit/VRA Grand Slam event, is the winningest driver in track history in terms of average money won per race entered...Camarillo’s Brent Underwood remains undefeated in the Sport Compacts Rear Wheel Drive class with four wins this season. Fillmore’s Bill Changus is second in the standings, trailing 745-595.
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