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RACING SCENE Column – (PAS Sprints – June 14) – By Tim Kennedy
Los Angeles, CA. - The June 14 four open-wheel divisions event at Perris Auto Speedway (PAS) attracted 56 race cars—USAC-CRA (27), senior sprints (10), young guns (6) and CLS winged mini sprints (13). Official USAC results showed 25 cars, but driver Cody Swanson, of Covina, utilized three different cars himself. He dropped a piston during hot laps in John Springstead's No. 14 Triple 7 chassis. So John left his No. 14 in the pits, departed the track at 6:00 pm and drove to his shop in Garden Grove to get his older No. 36 Eagle, a one-time Danny Faria, winged car. “I wanted to help keep Cody up in the pit standings,” John told me. At his shop John installed a front axle, steering and tie rods. He arrived back in the PAS pits with his No. 36 car at 8:15 after detouring from the 91 freeway to the 60 and 215 freeways because of heavy traffic.
Meanwhile, Cody arranged to drive the “Hubcap Mike” Collins No. 04 car that Mike's 17-year old son Mitch was racing in the young guns division. Mitch raced No. 04 in the 6-lap young guns heat race that immediately preceded the USAC-CRA “B” main. Mitch had it in P. 4 in a six-car field on lap 4 when he pulled into the pits so Cody could get into it for the USAC-CRA “B” that started within five minutes. In the “B” Cody started last in the now No. 04x (the 26th car). Ten of the 12 car field were slated to advance to the feature. Cody was in a three-car battle for P. 8 when Chris Gansen (No. 4G), Cody and Cal Smith's No. 39 collided on the backstretch. Cody's 04X was damaged, unable to continue and placed 12th.
Springstead then arrived right after the “B” and just before the four main events. Cody used a provisional starting spot and started last (24th) in the Springstead No. 36 Eagle (the 27th car). It was in the DNF column and placed 22nd after a gallant effort by John to give his USAC-CRA rookie driver a fighting chance. In appreciation for allowing Cody to race his No. 04 car, Springstead let Mitch drive his No. 36 Eagle in the young gun 15-lap main event that concluded racing. Mitch finished fourth in the unfamiliar chassis that he drove for the first time in his YG feature.
FEATURES FORMAT: PAS management again used the same race order for the four features. Senior (drivers 45+) raced 20-laps from 8:54-9:03 pm with one yellow flag. The second main event was the premier 30-lap USAC-CRA 410 sprints feature. It ran from 9:24-9:56 and had two red flags following flips. After that race concluded an estimated 30% of the grandstand crowd departed for the parking lot. Event three was the winged CLS 20-lap race from 10:08-10:17. Feature four was the 15-lap young guns main with six drivers. About 30% of the original crowd remained for that race. The age 14-21 young guns raced from 10:27-10:44 pm and had an unusually high number of yellow flags (five). Fans who departed earlier missed an interesting P 1-2 battle between winner George Morris, 20, from Holtville, and Victorville's Trent Williams, who was undefeated in 2014 YG mains. He tried his best to keep his winning streak alive but fell two lengths short.
Morris drove the No. 3K Lucas Oil Bullet/360 Chevy owned by Cory Kruseman “to my first main event win.” George took Cory's sprint car driving school two years ago for his 18th birthday. He praised the set-up his crew chief Hobie Conway gave him June 14. She is a veteran Ventura Racing Assn 360 sprint car driver who now works for Cory's race car driving school. She tows the No. 3K sprinter back to Ventura after each race. George and his dad just drive to PAS from their Imperial County home and race. George told his dad in the pits the victory trophy was his as a Father's Day present.
Another young gun driver who ran the 15-lap main was Malysia Young, 22, from Oak Hills. “I never raced anything before this season,” she told me. Her No. 0K ride is one of two Bill Perkins bright orange Victory chassis (Mikey Lovas drives the Perkins No. 0). She spun out while in P. 4 on lap 12. Her car went to the pits with no oil pressure. Tattooed Malysia told me she is the fiancee of sprint car driver Kenny Perkins (Bill's son) who has not raced lately. “He moved to North Dakota in April to work in the fast-growing shale oil field production business,” she told me. TV and newspaper reports have indicated workers can earn six figure salaries with overtime and little chance to spend their cash in the isolated oil fields.
DAMION: It was announced that fastest qualifier Damion Gardner had recorded his 56th FQ time in USAC-CRA, breaking his tie with Mike Spencer. Damion flew to Indiana earlier in the week to race in annual USAC Indiana Midget Week events. I-69 Speedway in Gas City was rained out June 11. He raced in the No. 4 Klatt Enterprises 2013 Beast/Chevy that he drove in the November 2013 Turkey Night GP. “It's the car I almost won in until it lost a tire near the end” of the PAS 98-lap GP. In Indiana Damion finished eighth in the June 12 Putnamville feature. He started on the pole in the Friday, June 13 Bloomington main, but a deflating tire caused him to settle for eighth. Damion told me in the PAS pits he flew Southwest Airlines from Indianapolis Saturday morning at 7:30 (CT) to Las Vegas and then to Ontario Airport, where he arrived at 10 am (PDT). “It's nice to gain hours flying west because of time zone differences.”
Damion, known as “the demon”, said his Alexander Racing team has three Spikes with engines built by J & D Performance. The silver No. 4 sprinter has 20 official sponsors on it and listed in the PAS printed program. He said he really likes racing in California with all the great dirt tracks here. He listed Perris, Ventura, Santa Maria, Hanford, Tulare, Calistoga and other Nor Cal short tracks. Damion, who is from Concord, wondered why USAC-CRA couldn't race at the Cocopah Speedway near Yuma, AZ as well.
For years Gary Taylor, 32, raced out of Snohomish, WA. He raced at Skagit Speedway. Some time back he relocated to Princeton, Indiana and picks up rides in the Midwest. This year Taylor is driving the No. 04G in USAC-CRA races for Tucson, AZ car owner Gerry Cook. The pair plan to head east to race in the 2014 USAC National Sprint Series annual Indiana Sprint Week from July 11-19 at seven tracks in nine days. Gary was the 12th driver to qualify June 14 but he pulled into the pits during his first lap with an ignition problem. With trial trials run quickly from 5:44-6:02 pm they did not find the problem in time to post a lap at the end. Even the standard five minutes allowed to come to the qualifying line after the final car qualified didn't help. Taylor later told me the problem was the ground wire came off.
In heat three Gary raced the Cook 04G from last starting spot (8th) to fifth in ten laps. He was sensational in the 12-lap “B” main, where he came from tenth in a 12-car field and was third by lap 6. He took P. 2 on lap 9 from Jace VanderWeerd and passed laps 1-9 leader A. J. Bender on lap 10 high in the first two turns. He won by ten yards over Jace. In the 30-lap feature Taylor again was a comet. He started 20th in a 24-car field and raced to sixth place by lap 22. He lost two positions to Spencer and Nic Faas, but settled for P. 8 with 18 cars still racing at the end and 14 drivers on the lead lap. The Taylor-Cook team bears watching during the upcoming ISW and could use some help (financial and manpower) because just the two of them are towing back to Indiana.
CAUSES - DNFs: Jake Swanson was in P. 5 on lap 22 when he flipped his Sertich No. 92 once in turn four, landing upright. He restarted at the back but two laps later he drove to the pits with a flat left rear tire. ... Cory Kruseman had the Priestley No. 7 in sixth place on lap 10 when he dropped out with a rear end vibration. Cory missed the May 24 PAS race because of a flair-up of lupus. He said he was not back to normal until Thursday, May 29. ... Damion Gardner started sixth as FQ and took P. 2 on lap 16. He caught leader Matt Mitchell's No. 37 Maxim. Under caution on lap 22 Damion had to pit with a flat LR tire. He returned to the back and raced forward quickly to finish seventh. Gardner's LR tire probably went flat gradually after David Bezio rode over it on lap 17 and flipped in a multi-car get-together on the backstretch. Fast-improving Bezio's No. 37X set fourth FQ time at 16.671. He started third in the feature and ran second from laps 2-15. A lapped car caused leaders to back off momentarily on the backstretch. That caused P. 3 Bezio to ride over P. 2 Gardner's LR tire and Bezio flipped. He was OK, but his car was removed on a hook with a broken front axle and possible frame damage. That was a tough break for the owner/driver from El Cajon who was en-route to his likely career-best finish in USAC-CRA.
Mike Spencer's Ron Chaffin No. 50 Maxim had a badly misfiring engine on his first qualifying lap and logged an uncharacteristic slow 17.927 (18th fastest). He pulled into the pits on his second lap. Starting on the pole in heat three Mike's engine misfiring caused him to drop to P. 5 and he dropped out on lap 8. Crew chief Bruce Bromme, Jr.. a NSCHoF inductee, skipped the “B”-main and changed engines. They used a provisional berth to start the feature from the back row (23rd). The engine still wasn't normal in the main event but Mike raced up to P. 14 by the first red flag on lap 17. He was eighth after the lap 22 red. He was in P. 5 by lap 27 and finished fifth to really earn the “Hard Charger Award” by gaining 18 positions. Bromme talked to five-time CRA champion Jimmy Oskie and me in the pits afterward; he said he had just bought 1,200 gallons of methanol and it could be bad. He said he will have the fuel tested by a lab to determine if tainted fuel was the cause of the misfiring...Very likely.
USAC Ford Focus and midget racing veteran Kyle Edwards, 18, made his debut in a USAC-CRA event and used a 360 cu. In Chevy. The Fountain Valley resident and son of midget owner/driver Gordy Edwards qualified 23rd quickest at 18.289. His yellow & red No. 39E Stinger chassis is an ex-No. 91R Brody Roa car from several seasons back. Kyle made his first sprint car feature by starting 11th and finishing sixth in the 12-lap “B” main to earn one of the ten transfers to the feature. He started the main 21st and finished last (18th), down two laps but running smoothly and not causing any problems for the leaders. Given more laps and more cubic inches he should be a welcome addition to the young drivers in USAC-CRA.
Parker Colston, from Lake Elsinore, turned 16 on June 14. He won the 6-lap YG heat by leading the final four laps to beat P. 2 by 35-yards. He drove the Richard Gore, of Corona, No. 64 Dave Ellis (41 inch chassis not 40 inches) with a restricted 410 engine. D. J. Ruth, of Riverside is their engine builder. D.J's dad is CRA racer Jim Ruth, who is now in his 80s. Parker raced URA midgets in 2012 and has eyes on USAC-CRA racing eventually. He looped twice in the main was was a DQ by the two spins and your out rule.
Andrew Reinbold, from Gilbert, AZ, towed “four hours west” to race at PAS and gain more experience at the track for the 19th annual Budweiser Oval Nationals from November 6-8. He said the Arizona sprint car group was racing that night but he came west to PAS. His Underwood No. 19 sprinter is a RSS chassis out of Phoenix built by Roy Steve Sanders (RSS). The tall 6'5” driver said there are two other RSS-built cars racing at Perris—the No. 04G Cook and No. 4G of Chris Gansen.
SENIOR SPRINTS: The No. 15B raced by owner/driver Todd Boy, 50, of Huntington Beach, is a Stinger/Chevy 360. His did, Dale Boy, helped late CRA car owner Chuck Howard on his CRA No. 15 at Ascot in the 1960-70 decades. Todd decided to race for the first time this year with the seniors and selected No. 15 and the metallic medium blue and yellow color in tribute to Chuck's No. 15. “It's a 1990-91 GMC blue that replicates Chuck's CRA car. ... Senior sprint No. 5 is a black 777 chassis by John Aden owned by Bill Perkins and driven by newcomer Brian Grosenherder, 57. He lives in El Cerrito near Richmond in the SF Bay Area.
Dr. Jim Giardina, DDS, is a 73-year old dentist from Riverside. He has been known as “the tooth doc” since his Ascot Park racing years. “I raced from 1974-2000. I raced midgets from 1979-83 and sprint cars from 1985-2000,” he told me prior to his 20-lap PAS race. Jim raced with the PAS seniors a bit last season with his black No. 7. He has gotten noticeably faster this season. “I now instruct several days a week on dental hygiene to students at Concord Career College in San Bernardino. I still do some dental work for friends,” he added.
PIT NOTES: Rickie Gaunt was not present with his No. 9 Shawn McDonald “pit competitors community-backed” sprint car this week. “Super” Rickie was attending the high school graduation of one of his sons. Also missing was writer/photog Ed Hollowell from his pit perch. However, 1970-80s CRA owner/driver Tom Patton, from Oak Glen, was in the pits. He said he sold his car decades ago to the late Don Blair, who died at 89 several years ago. Also present in the pits was long-time racing photographer Jim Chini, a voting member of the NSCHoF induction committee.Wendy Michnowicz, wife of Bobby and mother of Kevin, was in the CLS pits to watch this week after missing the May 24 race because of her back injury.
A celebration of the life of Jay East will be held on Sunday, June 22 from 11 am well into the afternoon. Food and music will be part of the proceedings according to Jay's widow Donna. The site will be the American Legion Hall Post 155, 1401 Veterans Way, in Colton. The East family owned and operated East Crane & Equipment Rental on Fogg St. in Colton for decades. Jay, 86, died from cancer on Monday, May 19 at 3 am in his home. The popular 1960-80s driver won eight CRA features for seven different car owners.
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