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USAC/CRA SPRINT CARS
Calistoga Speedway - Calistoga, CA
August 31, 2008
31 CARS

TIME TRIALS:
1. Jesse Hockett, 2, McMillan-19.530 (New Track Record); 2. Garrett Hansen, 7, Preistley-19.581; 3. Daron Clayton, 83, Crossno-19.710; 4. Tim Kaeding. 83JR, Roth-19.737; 5. Nic Faas, 17F, Faas-19.835; 6. Blake Miller, 93, Gardner-19.862; 7. Kevin Swindell 10, Rolfe-19.998; 8. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-20.019; 9. Tyler Brown, 96, Gardner-20.061; 10. Damion Gardner, 71, Leffler-20.105; 11. Greg Bragg, 92, Sertich-20.106; 12. Cory Kruseman, 21K, Kruseman-20.177; 13. Bill Rose, 66, Miller-20.185; 14. Terry Schank Jr., 1, Schank-20.195; 15. Brent Kaeding, 69, BK-20.241; 16. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-20.243; 17. Shane Golobic, 121, Golobic-20.270; 18. Jason York, 25N, York-20.379; 19. Henry Clarke, 41K, Kruseman-20.449; 20. Mike Benson, 77, Benson-20.515; 21. David Cardey, 38, Crossno-20.590; 22. Shain Matthews, 67, Matthews-20.597; 23. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-20.622; 24. Jason Statler, 00, Rios-20.683; 25. Daniel Hood, 33H, Hood-20.798; 26. Darrell Hanestad, 40, Hanestad-20.881; 27. Alex Schutte, 5K, Kruseman-21.089; 28. Arvo Backholm, 96X, Backholm-21.135; 29. Jim Richardson 8, Richardson-NT; 30. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-NT; 31. Mike Mossi, 87, Mossi-NT.

HEAT RACE 1: (8 laps)
1. Jesse Hockett, 2. Daniel Hood, 3. Shane Golobic, 4. Bill Rose, 5. Nic Faas, 6. Tyler Brown, 7. David Cardey, 8. Jim Richardson. 2:51.97.

HEAT RACE 2: (8 laps)
1. Damion Gardner, 2. Jason York, 3. Garrett Hansen, 4. Shain Matthews, 5. Blake Miller, 6. Terry Schank Jr., 7. Darrell Hanestad, 8. Mike Mossi. 2:51.38.

HEAT RACE 3: (8 laps)
1. Brent Kaeding, 2. Rip Williams, 3. Daron Clayton, 4. Kevin Swindell, 5. Henry Clarke, 6. Alex Schutte, 7. Greg Bragg. 3:03.94.

HEAT RACE 4: (8 laps)
1. Jason Statler, 2. Danny Sheridan, 3. Tim Kaeding, 4. Mike Spencer, 5. Cory Kruseman, 6. Mike Benson, 7. Arvo Backholm. 2:54.43.

SEMI-MAIN: (10 laps)
1. Nic Faas, 2. Blake Miller, 3. Tyler Brown, 4. Cory Kruseman, 5. Greg Bragg, 6. Terry Schank Jr., 7. David Cardey, 8. Henry Clarke, 9. Mike Benson, 10. Alex Schutte, 11. Jim Richardson, 12. Arvo Backholm, 13. Mike Mossi. 3:37.64.

FEATURE: (30 laps - With Starting Positions)
1. Kevin Swindell (4th), 2. Jesse Hockett (8th), 3. Tim Kaeding (5th), 4. Damion Gardner (2nd), 5. Blake Miller (10th), 6. Bill Rose (1st), 7. Garrett Hansen (7th), 8. Daron Clayton (6th), 9. Brent Kaeding (15th), 10. Cory Kruseman (13th), 11. Danny Sheridan (16th), 12. Mike Spencer (3rd), 13. Jason Statler (22nd), 14. Shane Golobic (17th), 15. David Cardey (19th) 16. Greg Bragg (12th), 17. Terry Schank Jr. (14th), 18. Tyler Brown (11th), 19. Nic Faas (9th), 20. Shain Matthews (20th), 21. Jason York (18th), 22. Rip Williams (21st). 11:15.35
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS:
Laps 1-4 Bill Rose, Laps 5-30 Kevin Swindell.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS:
1-Spencer-1,074; 2-Hansen-982; 3-Miller-961; 4-Sheridan-927; 5-Kruseman-771; 6-Brown-744; 7-T.Jones-658; 8-Cardey-588; 9-Josh Ford-506; 10-Faas-448.

NEXT USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE:
September 6 - Ventura (CA) Raceway

i didnt go saturday , im glad i went sunday the non wing races midgets and sprint cars where some of the best racing ive seen at stoga. im disapointed in the southern cali guys thought they would be more players hockett , damion , swindell, tk justs awsome

the midgets hansen j rod and the 35 where awsome as well kudos to every one who got the race to go i hope it happens again ill be there for sure

Calistoga sounds like it was a great success. I really wanted to go but schedules conflicted and hopefully can go next year. Some obvious observations on the race.. "Non-wing specialists" have absolutely zero superiority over winged sprint car drivers in talent pool world. A racer is a racer and the relatively poor showing by the socal regulars is a good and humbling experience.

I grew up as a fan of both winged and non-winged shows having Santa Maria in my backyard and great NARC/Golden State races and SoCal alphabet soupers there regularly since the 1970's. Working with the non-wing Bandits I am proud of them and the quality races they put on for the fans. Most of our racers have significant winged experience and wins from Pete Murphy, Davey Pombo and "Hollywood" Dan Faria to the great young drivers up from winged Mini Sprints like…well, the whole danged bunch of youngsters. But there is a larger legacy of winged racers that were or are wingless winners. Brent Kaeding and his boys come to mind, a kid named Damion and Ron Shuman the CRA/SCRA legend is another example with a sound World of Outlaw pedigree.

So, what am I saying? By no means the CRA teams suck; they are dang good people and great racers. There is a bit more driving without a wing, that's a fact but people lose sight of the point that driving does take place with a wing on top and therefore there are great talents that fans do not always see with a wing on top. Take lil' Jac at the Mopar Million and so on. That talent is there and any differences between the two variations of the same type of car seem to disappear in short order once the cars are pushed off.

That humbling talent shows up with these great drivers doing well. They are all after all, great racers. The non-wing National guys also show why they are sooo dang fast too. So my biggest lament is that we on the west coast don't see more national non-winged racers and the wingers don't show that talent off more often and run more nonwing shows like Calistoga.

Don't feel sorry for the CRA guys. Sheridan, Spenser, Hansen and the bunch are way too good and too competitive to be labeled as anything other than the great racers they are. It is good to have it handed to you now and then. It makes us all better to be challenged and the next 'Stoga race seems to be primed for a real barnburner. So why do I think this happened?

Actually, there is a talent pool shortage in the SoCal club. There are a few higher level teams that aren't significantly challenged on a regular basis and some can start to believe in the over inflation of there talent pool. Big dollars don't always equate to talent. What these cats need is more challenges like this to make 'em better. They need a more serious effort to draw the best to their club.

The winged guys do get that with their annual doses of WoO butt kickings and humblings. The west coast wingers have and do rise to that challenge and there are some that make an impact on the national tour and pull off their wins. But they gotsta bring their best stuff to do it. That's the challenge.

I am looking forward to Perris and the next opportunity to get this talent together. I hope that things work for me to go and take it in myself. Hey, what they heck do I know?

I hope that things work for me to go and take it in myself. Hey, what they heck do I know?

Well, I almost want to say 'not much' but I know better, anyway the reason the 'other guys' do so well is simple, practice makes perfect, your talking about guys that race once and twice a week and more, at many tracks etc. the So Cal guys race once-twice a month, at just a few tracks. Big difference. Many of the 'other guys' drive as a full time job, most of the So Cal guys have a 8-5 job, it makes a difference. Personally I think the So Cal guys drive with a little more respect and have a genuine interest in the race fan, not just a smile and handshake and then point to the T-Shirt line.

I don't know,around 22.5 second laps,green- white -checkered,no yellows and most of the So.Ca. guys improved their position.Looks like they just didn't qualify well enough...here come the Oval's

I was wondering when the age-old, beaten horse debate would surface again about Traditional Sprint Car drivers versus Winged Sprint Car Drivers. Though a current native of SoCal, I grew up in Central California and was lucky enough to have many tracks within driving distance. I've watched it all...wing or non-wing, dirt and pavement. I got to witness the real "Civil War" races back a couple of decades ago when NARC came down from NorCal and took on CRA's best from SoCal.

"Burgieman" mentions the fact that our SoCal boys have fewer laps a year on fewer tracks. That is true, but more respect and interest in the race fan? I cannot disagree more! I don't think you could ever come up with enough examples to prove to me how the current crop of young guns that run PAS on a regular basis show more respect for each other than any other group of competitive racerrs.

Watch Jeff's videos @ RacewayVideo.com, then we'll talk about respect. It's all about the cheap slide jobs, ramming and blocking lately with the USAC/CRA. Those who drive clean are sitting higher in the points because they usually don't take themselves out like the impatient ones.

Here's my two cents on why those who shed their "barn doors" typically spank the non-wing specialists (keep in mind these are generalizations...there are exceptions to every rule):

1. Wing drivers are used to carrying more speed. Lightning quick reflexes are mandatory to excel.

2. Wing drivers are more disciplined. They're used to keeping the car straighter and maximizing momentum. In doing so, they learn better throttle control.

3. Wing cars are typically lighter. This allows the team to add weight in strategic places to maximize handling.

4. Historically, wing motors have generally been more powerful than non-wing motors. Today, this isn't as true, as the more well-funded non-wing teams have some killer bullets as well. However, in the past, you couldn't hook up all the power that an Outlaw-style motor produced and thus the SoCal teams didn't have to spend the huge bucks on horsepower.

5. Traditional, "Old-School", Non-wing drivers love to "back-em-in" and "gas-em-up". This looks cool, but definitely isn't the best way to maintain any traction. Sideways = Scrubbing Speed. Buzzing Tires = Loss of Forward Bite. However, without a wing holding the car down, it does require a great deal of skill to balance momentum and car control.

Therefore, with all of the above factors, and from what I've witnessed over the years, it appears as though it is easier for a winged sprint car team to make the necessary adjustments to the car and for the driver to learn to "slow down to be faster" and be competitive than for the non-wingers to do the reverse. Only rarely do you see a non-wing car do good with a wing strapped on, like when Daryl Saucier's Pace USAC car made it into the Knoxville Nationals...but they had a winger (Don Droud) behind the wheel.

I love sprint car racing...period. I'll drive for hours to see 'em race with or without wings. However, on the big money shows, I'm gonna have to put my money on those who regularly drive the faster of the two to take the money and run.

And here come the scholars to put me in my place...

As a fan to me this is a dumb argument, its the type of racing that makes it. Wild child put on one great show at the million but then came to the Ovals the same year in the same car and got it handed to him, put him at Eldora in anything and he will win.

Grady

I must say that your post was thought out and well written. I must add one point in defense of the CRA group. Most of the wingers (TK, BK, Statler, Forsberg, and others) have spent some time on the Calistoga half-mile. While the CRA drivers (at least almost all of them) were seeing the big track for the first time. That certainly adds something to the equation. However, Hockett, Swindell and Clayton are all young racers and just plain fast with powerful sprinters. Particularly Hocket with the brand new McMillan sprinter.

Anyway my family and myself had one great time on both nights and I hope they do it again next year. The midgets were sensational. Both nights were well planned by the local group of race organizers (including Chad Hawkins and wife) with plenty of special events planned. The food was good and the prices reasonable. We never felt like we were getting gouged. The race souviner program was well done and the weather for both night's was warm and pleasant. Coach Dick Vermeil and brother Stan were both very humble and took a great deal of pride in taking their father's old race car out for a spin. Announcers Bobby Gerould and Troy Henning did a good job in keeping the race fans well informed. The raffle prizes were all terrific and I can't wait to learn how much the organizing group raised for the benefit of the weekend's purse.

What a weekend. Hoping that Calistoga will be added to the USAC National Sprint Car's western swing next year. Stops at Perris and Manzanita along with the big half-mile would be great.

"When the green flag drops the bullshit stops" - The 
Great GP

National Midgets as Well!

Joe

i don't care winged or non-winged both nights at stoga were by far the hardest fought and funnest racing iv seen all year and thats a fact

second that!

"When the green flag drops the bullshit stops" - The 
Great GP

RADROBINLB

Cheers!

RADROBINLB

Hey RadRobinlb...

Huh?

The first three (of four) of your examples of USAC National drivers (Hockett, Swindell, & Gardner) are all perfect examples of wing drivers shedding their airfoils and winning against the non-wing competition, which only further reinforces my argument.

Hockett currently runs with or without the wing...and is extremely competitive at both. Swindell cut his sprint car teeth in the WoO against the best before being hired by KKR. Damion was driving his own winged sprint in NorCal before his buddy Kevin Urton suggested he run a Perris opening day race, where he was "Hard Charger" in an event won by JJ Yeley. All three adapted to non-wing racing rather quickly and have had much success recenly.

However, I'm truly with Grady on this subject anyway...this really is a "dumb" discussion...I just like to stir the pot once in a while...

P.S. I was NOT at Calistoga. However, it was mentioned that TK stated how much he enjoys running without the wing. Wouldn't you if you could spend less $$$ and take home more $$$? He has a much greater chance of taking home the big check running a USAC/CRA, TNT, or ASCS show than a WoO main...yet he's certainly capable of whippin 'em anywhere against any of 'em!

Cheers!

RADROBINLB

RADROBINLB

Cheers!

Cheers!