This message was edited on
May 17, 2011 at
01:46:52 PM by andrewkunas
As NWWT visit nears, a look back at past Skagit non-wing winners
VANCOUVER, Wash. – The NorthWest Wingless Tour sprint car series is scheduled to run its inaugural event at Skagit Speedway in tiny Alger, Washington this Saturday night, marking a very rare appearance for non-wing sprint cars at the historic dirt track.
This Saturday’s “traditional” sprint car event will be the first at Skagit Speedway since 2006. To the best of everyone’s general knowledge, there have been a grand total of 11 modern sprint car events without the wings, all but one feature the 410ci motors. Saturday’s NWWT event will be just the second with the smaller 360ci motors. There will be many local drivers expecting to participate who have little or no non-wing experience.
In those 11 non-wing sprint car events held at Skagit Speedway, only six different drivers have found themselves in the winner’s circle at the end of the night. As it turns out, it’s quite the list.
Back in 1995, the old Sprint Car Racing Association, based out of southern California, was the premier non-wing sprint car series in the western United States. That summer, they came north to Washington for a two-night stand at Skagit Speedway on July 21st and 22nd, billed as the “Northwest Non-Wing Extravaganza” to fans curious about seeing sprint cars for the first time the way they originally were, wingless – hence the word “traditional” that purists in non-wing strongholds like Indiana and southern California like to use.
At that SCRA event, it was a face and name familiar to Skagit Speedway fans who shined both nights, as two-time Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup winner and Lealand McSpadden of Arizona won. He topped Ron Shuman and Mike Kirby on the first night and then bested Mike English and Troy Cline the next night. (Some in Oregon may remember Rickie Gaunt winning the SCRA main event three nights later at what was then called Riverside Speedway in Cottage Grove, Oregon). McSpadden, well known as the “Tempe Tornado” by his many fans, went on to win the SCRA championship that season by just eight points over Shuman, and then retired from racing.
The SCRA never returned, but Skagit Speedway decided to keep wingless racing going as starting in 1997 an un-sanctioned non-wing race was held on the Wednesday night before the Dirt Cup in June. That event was also run in 1998 and 1999.
The 1997 Pre-Dirt Cup Special featured 360 sprint cars, and it was Jay Smith, then a resident of Arlington, Wash., who won over Jason Solwold and Tim Levin. Smith is a two-time winner of the Skagit 360 Nationals (1994 and 2000).
The next two Pre-Dirt Cup Specials were run with 410ci motors and both won by Campbell, California’s Brent Kaeding. Following his 1999 non-wing victory, Kaeding scored his third Dirt Cup victory three nights later. Best known of for his success with the wings, being a many-time “King of California”, Kaeding was no slouch without the wings either, having won a number of non-wing sprint car events in California over the years.
Steve Beitler, who has owned Skagit Speedway since late 2001, decided to give non-wing racing another shot in 2004. With SCRA on its way out, USAC started its own southern California tour and resurrected the old CRA name. The USAC/CRA series made its debut in 2004 and like its predecessor it made a late July trip north to Washington for a two-night stand at Skagit Speedway and repeated such trips in 2005 and 2006.
The long trip north from southern California and Arizona for just two races was unpopular with USAC/CRA regulars, but they made clear they enjoyed racing at Skagit Speedway and fans were treated to some of the best racing to be seen in the Pacific Northwest all year. If Concord, Calif.’s Damion Gardner had his way, USAC/CRA probably would be racing at Skagit still. Of the six total races run at Skagit over three years, Gardner won four in a row, taking both of the 2005 races in the process.
Ventura, Calif.’s Cory Kruseman won the opening night of the 2004 stand on July 30th before Gardner’s streak started the next night. After winning on July 29th and 30th in 2005, Gardner stretched his Skagit win streak to four on July 28, 2006 after coming from deep in the field.
On the first night of the 2006 visit by USAC/CRA, Gardner had to pass Everett, Wash. star Jayme Barnes for the lead. Barnes, a winged sprint car driver, had clearly shown he’d gotten the non-wing thing down and eventually finished second in that first race. The next night, Barnes scored a victory that was enormously popular with his home state fans as he held off Kruseman for the checkered flag. Some may also remember future track champion Brock Lemley getting big cheers of his own as he drove from 16th to finish third in that same race, putting two Washington drivers on the podium that night.
With his win on July 29, 2006 Barnes became just the sixth different driver to win a non-wing sprint car event at the 3/10-mile, high-banked clay oval, and also the only the second Washington driver in the group. Barnes has since won two Dirt Cups and in 2008 was the ASCS Northwest Region champion with the wings on the car.
The winner of Saturday’s NorthWest Wingless Tour sprint car series main event will add his or her name to what turns out to be an impressive group of drivers. Of the six drivers who have won non-wing sprint car events at Skagit Speedway, three of them - McSpadden, Kaeding and Barnes - have a combined seven wins in the Dirt Cup, Skagit Speedway’s crown jewel event featuring winged 410 sprint cars. Three of them - McSpadden, Kruseman and Gardner - have won the very hard to win Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Kruseman has won it twice). McSpadden (inducted 1999) and Kaeding (2008) are in the National Sprint Car Fall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa.
This Saturday at Skagit Speedway, spectator gates open at 5:30 p.m. with racing scheduled for 7:00 p.m. following qualifying. The NWWT program will consist of qualifying, heat races, a trophy dash and a 30-lap main event. The track’s local winged 410 sprint cars, winged sportsman sprint cars and hornets are also on the card.
More information on the NorthWest Wingless Tour sprint car series can be found online at http://www.nwwinglesstour.com.
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Past Skagit Speedway non-wing winners (all 410 except for June 18, 1997)
July 21, 1995 (SCRA): Lealand McSpadden
July 22, 1995 (SCRA): Lealand McSpadden
June 18, 1997 (Pre-Dirt Cup 360's): Jay Smith
June 17, 1998 (Pre-Dirt Cup 410's): Brent Kaeding
June 16, 1999 (Pre-Dirt Cup 410's): Brent Kaeding
July 30, 2004 (USAC/CRA): Cory Kruseman
July 31, 2004 (USAC/CRA): Damion Gardner
July 29, 2005 (USAC/CRA): Damion Gardner
July 30, 2005 (USAC/CRA): Damion Gardner
July 28, 2006 (USAC/CRA): Damion Gardner
July 29, 2006 (USAC/CRA): Jayme Barnes
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NWWT: The NorthWest Wingless Tour sprint car series
http://www.nwwinglesstour.com
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