Forum: SCRAFAN.COM Forum (go)
Moderators: ljennings

On April 12, 2009, Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Arizona held it's "Last Dance." A sad day in in the motor sports community.

"The Tempe Tornado" Lealand McSpadden

R.J. Johnson

I relocated to Tucson in 1994 from the Los Angeles area. After losing Ascot Park in Gardena in (I believe 1990) it was great to know that Manzanita Speedway was available (even though it was a 270 mile round trip for me). I attended a few races at Manzanita (in retrospect I wish I'd attended more). It definitely was a "full" 1/2 mile and it was incredible to hear the sprint drivers navigate the turns without ever backing off. I spent the extra bucks and spent a few nights in the infield for the sprint car races. One of those nights involved the return of the legendary Dean Thompson after a few years of retirement. On one of those nights I watched the races from the turn four vicinity. Due to the way that the infield was graded, it appeared as though the cars exiting turn four onto the straight were actually going uphill. On one occasion I saw the late Jesse Hockett hit the turn two wall pretty, never let off the gas and go into turn three full throttle. Afterwards I commented to him that I didn't know if he'd damaged the car with the hit in turn two or not and he responded with a big grin and said, "I didn't either."

Just like Balboa Stadium in San Diego, Cajon Speedway in El Cajon, Ontario Motor Speedway, Riverside International Raceway, Ascot Park, Saugus Speedway, and Whiteman Speedway to name only a few, Manzanita Speedway will always provide fond memories for me.

Tucson Osty

Final Farewell race results from Manzanita Speedway
by Windy McDonald

APRIL 12, 2009 --- The final farewell to Manzanita Speedway that ran Sunday after being rained out Saturday night, added to the overall car count for the three nights of racing and when all was over a total of 367 cars had said good-bye to the track that had opened its gates back on August 25, 1951.

The track was not at its best but the maintenance crew reworked both the half mile and the one third mile tracks and it resulted in some fast, close racing.

Out of state drivers put on the show in the American Sprint Car Series. After finishing third in a night race at Rossburg, OH, Jesse Hockett drove the car usually reserved for Bob Ream, Jr. and after losing the lead to Kevin Swindell, winner of last November’s Western World Championships at Manzy but reclaimed the lead with few laps remaining to claim the win. Swindell placed second ahead of R.J. Johnson, Mike Martin and points leader Charles Davis, Jr.

The special "last dance" race, the last race that ran, went to Bobby Marcum over Nathan High.

The Late Model Stock Cars and the Super Stocks were rained out Friday night before their main event and were added to the final farewell. Lonnie Parker, Jr., held off charges by Terry Belcher and then R.C. Whitwell who started last in the 17 car field. They both fell short. The Super Stock feature went to Stu Moffitt over Travis Benson and Mike Brigner.

Midgets, Modlites and Mini Sprints ran on the short track and the racing was again close. R.J. Johnson lead the first ten laps in the Midget feature before losing power and then Nathan High took control with Johnaton Henry in pursuit. Both crashed with three laps remaining and Terry Goodwin took over and sealed the win. Eric Welker finished second ahead of Joey Fabozzi.

Ryan Lindhorst dominated the first half of the mini sprint car feature but gave way to Joshua Shipley but managed to hold off Austin Quick for second, Fourth went to Kurt Stults over Ken Caskey.

The AMA Modlite feature was also close but Andy Eatwell led all 15 laps with Bud Grossenbacher trying every groove on the track take over the lead. He fell short but was a close second with A.J. Whistler third ahead of John Priest and Steve Bender.

Following the final trophy presentations Jesse Maguire, world reknowned trumpteer, blew "Taps" as they laid the 58 year old track to rest. May she rest in peace.

SUMMARY

MANZANITA SPEEDWAY’S FINAL FAREWELL

ASCS SPRINT CARS-1/2 MILE TRACK

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 32az-Kevin Swindell, 2. 85-Bobby Marcum, 3. 12x-Casey Shuman, 4. 11-Seainn Hendricsen, 5. 2-Michael Colegrove, 6. 71-Bernie Smith, 7. 48-Thomas Ogle, 8. 5*-Robert King, Jr., 9. 61x-Chuck Buckman.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 2. 77m-R.J. Johnson, 3. 16-Mike Martin, 4. xxx-Zach Sawyers, 5. 9-Brandon Lane, 6. 00-Ken Caskey, 7. 9x-Ryan Linder, 8. 67-Travis Cooley, 9. 27h-Jeremy Hueber, 10. 78-Larry Clark.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 62-Stevie Sussex, 2. 78x-Chris Bonneau, 3. 21-Johnathon Henry, 4. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 5. 6x-Bryan Swinehart, 6. 97j-Jesse Dunham, 7. 6-Ronnie Clark, 8. 97az-Mike Spencer, 9. 8sk-Tim Beal.

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 8-Jesse Hockett, 2. 12-Nathan High, 3. 77-Jeremy Sherman, 4. 21x-Jay Ervine, 5. 5x-Jody Wirth, 6. 7k-Bruce St. James, 7. 7-Josh Pelkey, 8. 7a-Brian Hosford, 9. 42-Steve Sandrolini.

"B" Feature (10 Laps): 1. 00-Ken Caskey, 2. 5x-Jody Wirth, 3. 9-Brandon Lane, 4. 7-Josh Pelkey, 5. 7k-Bruce St. James, 6. 6x-Bryan Swinehart, 7. 8sk-Tim Beal, 8. 97j-Jesse Dunham, 9. 6-Ronnie Clark, 10. 61x-Chuck Buckman, 11. 67-Travis Cooley, 12. 7a-Brian Hosford, 13. 42-Steve Sandrolini, 14. 71-Bernie Smith, 15. 48-Thomas Ogle, 16. 97az-Mike Spencer, 17. 9x-Ryan Linder, 18. 21x-Jay Ervine, 19. 5*-Robert King, Jr., 20. 27h-Jeremy Hueber. DNS: 78-Larry Clark.

"A" Feature (25 Laps): 1. 8-Jesse Hockett, 2. 32az-Kevin Swindell, 3. 77m-R.J. Johnson, 4. 16-Mike Martin, 5. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 6. 12-Nathan High, 7. 62-Stevie Sussex, 8. 12x-Casey Shuman, 9. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 10. 77-Jeremy Sherman, 11. xxx-Zach Sawyers, 12. 7k-Bruce St. James, 13. 9-Brandon Lane, 14. 8sk-Tim Beal, 15. 78x-Chris Bonneau, 16. 97j-Jesse Dunham, 17. 00-Ken Caskey, 18. 6x-Bryan Swinehart, 19. 11-Seainn Hendricsen, 20. 85-Bobby Marcum, 21. 2-Michael Colegrove, 22. 7-Josh Pelkey, 23. 21-Johnathon Henry, 24. 5x-Jody Wirth.

LAST DANCE MAIN EVENT: 1. Bobby Marcum 2. Nathan High 3. Jeremy Sherman 4. Jesse Hockett 5. Brian Swinehart 6. Ryan Linder 7. Jesse Hockett 8. Casey Shuman 9. R.J. Johnson 10. Charles Davis, Jr. 11. Thomas Ogle 12. Mike Martin 13. Josh Pelkey 14. Tim Beal 15. Chuck Buckman 16. Travis Cooley 17. Ken Caskey 18. Zack Sawyer 19. Chris Bonneau 20. Andy Reinbold 21. Jody Wirth 21. Lealand McSpadden

LATE MODELS-1/2 MILE TRACK)

Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Lonnie Parker, Jr. 2. R.C. Whitwell 3. Terry Belcher, Jr. 4. Keith Noyes 5. Anthony Madrid 6. Tom Poorman 7. Jaime Throckmorton 8. Mike Brigner 9. Joey Moriarity 10. Brad Whitfield 11. David Vennard 12. Keith McKinney 13. John Romero 14. Art Lacy 15. Ted Robinson 16. Wes Hall 17. Bruce Duckett

SUPER STOCKS-1/2 MILE TRACK

Main Event: (15 laps) 1. Stu Moffett 2. Travis Benson 3. Mike Brigner 4. Don Costa 5. Kenny Gill 6. Terry Belcher 7. George Fronsman 8. Joe Sarginger 9. Jody Henderson 10. Rob Colclasure 11. Tom Poorman 12. Jody Haynes 13. Rick Madrid 14. Terry Bridges 15. Robert Husted 16. John Crawford 17. John Reynolds 18. John Thomas 19. Gene Fronsman

AMRA MIDGETS (1/3 MILE TRACK)

1st Heat: (8 laps) 1. Johnathon Henry 2. Kevin Swindell 3. R.J. Johnson 4. Nathan High 5. Alex Bowman 6. Mike Spencer 7.

Mike Jackson 8. Al Ervine 9. Jeff Perry

2nd Heat: (8 laps) 1. Jeff Slinkard 2. Terry Goodwin 3. Dennis Carrier 4. Mike Jackson 5. Steve Sussex 6. Eric Welker 7. Mike Schrum 8. Joey Fabozzi 9 Ken Caskey

Main Event: (20 laps) 1. Terry Goodwin 2. Eric Welker 3. Joey Fabozzi 4. Mike Jackson 5. Jeff Perry 6. Mike Schrum 7. Ken Caskey 8. R.J. Johnson 9. Nathan High 10. Johnathon Henry 11. Al Ervine 12. Alex Bowman 13. Jeff Slinkard 14. Dennis Carrier 15. Michael Marfia 16. Mike Spencer 17. Steve Suxxex

AMA MODLITES (1/3 MILE TRACK)

1st Heat: (6 laps) 1. Dan Kelly 2. A.J. Whistler 3. David Viss 4. Steve Bender 5. Brad Hallin 6. Nick Gann 7. David Hokanson 8. Hayden Bender

2nd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Bud Grossenbacher 2.Sid Mattila 3. Anthony Platt 4. Andy Eatwell 5. James Webster 6. Justin Randall 7. Tony Hinsley

3rd Heat: (6 laps) 1. John Priest 2. Nicky Escobedo 3. Doug Borders 4. Rick Gamble 5. Tom Kunis 6. Gary Mooney 7. K.J. Goodwin

Main Event: (15 laps) 1.Andy Eatwell 2. Bud Grossenbacher 3. A.J. Whistler 4. John Priest 5. Steve Bender 6. Nicky Escobedo 7. Justin Randall 8. Dan Kelly 9. Sid Mattila 10. Nick Gann 11. Tom kunis 12. Gary Mooney 13. Doug Borders 14. Rick Gamble15. David Viss 16. Hayden Bender 17. Tony Hinsley 18. Anthony 19. Scott Korkosz 20. James Webster 21. David Hokanson

MINI SPRINTS -1/3 MILE TRACK

1st Heat: (6 laps) 1. Dennis Carrier 2. Donna Kotlinski 3. Justin Quinn 4. Kyle Shipley 5. Mike Visser 6. Dennis Parks 7. Eric Welker 8. Eric Morine

2nd Heat: (6 laps) 1. Joshua Shipley 2. Austin Quick 3. Pat Wing 4. Trey Deane 5. Bobby Britton 6. Katherine Aragon 7. Mark Miller 8. Tyler Keesler

3rd Heat: ( 6 laps) 1. Russ Morgan 2. Paul Martin 3. Alan Saine 4. Tyler Ybbara 5. Matt Jackson 6. Ken Caskey

4th Heat: (6 laps) 1. Kurt Stults 2. Ryan Lindhorst 3. Travis Keesler 4. Ryan Walter 5. Ken Caskey, Sr. 6. Brent Yarnal 7. Larry Gibson