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CRA SPRINT CARS
MANZANITA SPEEDWAY - PHOENIX, AZ
FEBRUARY 2, 1991
CRA SEASON OPENER

TIME TRIALS:
1. Billy Boat, 6, Bromme- 19.13 (New Track Record), 2. Ron Shuman, 2, Morales- 19.40, 3. Lealand McSpadden, 91, Lewis- 19.42, 4. Richard Griffin, 29, Fite- 19.46, 5. Tim Green, 11, Wilkerson- 19.65, 6. Cary Faas, 47, Gaffney- 19.67, 7. Verne Sweeney, 98, Sweeney- 19.71, 8. Jimmy Sills, 4, Calderwood- 19.82, 9. Kim Craft, 72, Craft- 19.83, 10. Steve Ostling, 5, Pratt- 19.89, 11. Mike Kirby, 19, Pivovaroff- 19.99, 12. Rip Williams, 1, Lewis- 20.05, 13. Dennis Rodriguez, 20, Rodriguez- 20.27, 14. Mark Sokola, 42, Robison- 20.62, 15. Harlan Willis, 45, Willis- 20.65, 16. Sid Blandford, 31, Blandford- 20.65, 17. Will Case, 85A, Davis- 21.04, 18. Sonny Irwin, 12A, Irwin- 21.63, 19. Tom Downing, 90, Downing- 21.72, 20. Brian Campbell, 14, Campbell- 21.75, 21. Don Tucker, 32, Tucker- 21.91, 22. Joe Smith, 30, Smith- 22.23, 23. Bobby Seals, 91A, Carsten- 22.73, 24. Scotty Burns, 26, Burns- 26.40, 25. Kenny Webster, 99, Webster- NT, 26. Dale Laakso, 39, Laakso- NT.

TROPHY DASH: (3 laps)
1. Richard Griffin, 2. Lealand McSpadden, 3. Billy Boat, 4. Ron Shuman.

HEAT RACE 1: (10 laps)
1. Verne Sweeney, 2. Richard Griffin, 3. Billy Boat, 4. Steve Ostling, 5. Sid Blandford, 6. Joe Smith, 7. Tom Downing, 8. Dennis Rodriguez.

HEAT RACE 2: (10 laps)
1. Will Case, 2. Jimmy Sills, 3. Ron Shuman, 4. Tim Green, 5. Mark Sokola, 6. Brian Campbell, 7. Mike Kirby, 8. Bobby Seals.

HEAT RACE 3: (10 laps)
1. Harlan Willis, 2. Rip Williams, 3. Lealand McSpadden, 4. Kim Craft, 5. Cary Faas, 6. Don Tucker, 7. Scotty Burns, 8. Sonny Irwin.

SEMI-MAIN: (12 laps)
1. Cary Faas, 2. Mike Kirby, 3. Sid Blandford, 4. Mark Sokola, 5. Don Tucker, 6. Joe Smith, 7. Tom Downing, 8. Dale Laakso, 9. Brian Campbell, 10. Sonny Irwin, 11. Kenny Webster, 12. Dennis Rodriguez, 13. Bobby Seals, 14. Scotty Burns.

FEATURE: (30 laps - With Starting Positions)
1. Verne Sweeney (2nd), 2. Lealand McSpadden (6th), 3. Tim Green (4th), 4. Rip Williams (12th), 5. Billy Boat (8th), 6. Kim Craft (9th), 7. Steve Ostling (10th), 8. Sid Blandford (15th), 9. Harlan Willis (14th), 10. Don Tucker (17th), 11. Dale Laakso (20th), 12. Tom Downing (19th), 13. Richard Griffin (5th), 14. Joe Smith (18th), 15. Mike Kirby (11th), 16. Jimmy Sills (1st), 17. Will Case (16th), 18. Mark Sokola (13th), 19. Cary Faas (3rd), 20. Ron Shuman (DNS- 7th)
-------------------------------------
LAP LEADERS:
Laps 1-30 Verne Sweeney

NOTES:
Verne Sweeney Won His First (and only) CRA Main Event.

*Thanks to Rich & Sylvia Watkins.

Thats the second race ever that I video taped. The first one was that afternoon at PIR. I wont post that footage. LOL

Jeff Kristensen

Wow, 1st race of the season and only 26 cars qualified.

Wow, 1st race of the season and only 26 cars qualified.

This was right after the S&L meltdowns and the economy was in the tank. Ascot had just closed. I think car owners had go used to not having to travel to race. With no home track the club became vagabonds and many car owners wouldn't travel. It got worse later in the year or the following year when we were down to only 2 race tracks, Bakersfield and Manzy. I seem to recall a few Manzy races during this period where we only had 15-18 cars. Frank Lewis started paying tow money just to get cars to show up.

Boy 19 years a go just seems like that was just last month.I think we got pay 300 against your winnings maybe I got 310. for the night which helped pay for some tow gas,RR tire,and fuel ,which was not too bad a payoff for the time if I remember right.I also remember meeting Tim Green for the first time and he give me and Dennis R alot of pointers on getting around man-c and yes it was one big fast place.Seems like at that time the night before the first race man-c opened up and let us get some laps in to help get the cob webs out boy that was fun times