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PAS OVAL NATIONALS REVISITED - RACING SCENE COLUMN
By Tim Kennedy
LOS ANGELES, California -- As an appetizer for the upcoming USAC-CRA 410 sprint car season opener (plus 360 sprint cars) at Perris Auto Speedway (Fri.-Sat. Feb. 8-9) it might be enlightening to revisit the outstanding USAC sprint race at PAS last fall. The event was the 12th annual Budweiser Oval Nationals presented by Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply on Thur.-Fri.-Sat. Nov. 1-3. The 2007 event had the best Oval Nationals field yet (68 cars and 17 of the top 20 USAC National Sprint Series drivers). There was an exciting conclusion of the feature on the third night and the 40-lap A-main had four race leaders and five lead changes. Third-generation driver Bud Kaeding took the lead from second-generation driver Casey Shuman with an outside pass exiting turn two on the final lap. He led only one of the 40 laps-the all-important final lap. Bud, 27, became the first three-time PAS Oval Nationals champion and won another ring and $30,000 king-size check from the almost $100,000 purse. It put the icing on another successful racing season. He also won the 2006-07 USAC Silver Crown driving championships.
Drivers came from nine states and two drivers came from Canada to race at PAS for the first time. As a tribute to the Canadians, PAS management played the Canadian National Anthem prior to the U.S National Anthem. Canadian drivers Lawrence O'Connor (in a local car owner by Royal Adderson) and Kyle Bates (in a No. 397 sprinter that he drives in northern US states) enjoyed racing at The PAS. Bates had engine problems Thursday and couldn't run a qualifying lap. .Long-time CRA car owner Don Blair loaned him an engine so he could race Friday and Saturday. The two Canadians found themselves racing in last and next to last positions in Saturday's "D" main. Bates spun and lost a lap, giving 15th place to his friend O'Connor.
Among the first-time competitors at PAS during the Oval Nationals were impressive teenagers Brady Bacon, 17, Kevin Swindell, 18, Cole Whitt, 16, Robert Ballou, 18, Shane Golobic, 17, and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 17. Chris Windom, a 16-year old from Illinois, flipped in turn one during the Wednesday, Oct. 31 5:00-9:00 p.m open practice and did not race in the Oval Nationals because of lingering effects from his crash. He stuck around in the pits as a spectator. There were 41 sprint cars (out of 68 entered) on the PAS track during Wednesday night practice. Veteran Tim Kaeding, Bud's brother, was impressive in one of his race non-wing sprint car appearances in Tom Rolfe's No. 10. It was his first race at PAS without the wing he uses in WoO races at The PAS. Tim said it was only the ninth wingless sprint car race of his career. Another veteran winged sprint car champion racing at the Oval Nationals was Sammy Swindell, who drove Larry Woodward's new No. 2H. It was the first time the 52-year old past WoO champion had raced a non-wing sprint car in three years. Larry now lives in Temecula and his girl friend is the sister of retired CRA driver Billy Felts.
Two 360 cu. in. Chevy drivers--Chris Wakim and Brandon Thomson--raced well against the more powerful 410s. Former TQ Midget veteran Wakim won the $1,000 B & B Co. bonus as the 360 driver scoring the most points Thursday and Friday. Seven of eight prior Oval Nationals winners, who account for 10 of the 11 prior feature victories, raced in the 2007 Oval Nationals. Only the inaugural 1996 Oval Nationals winner Jimmy Sills was absent. PAS attendance in the grandstands for the event went from a third full Thursday, to more than half-full Friday and a near sell-out (about 7,000) Saturday. High wind caused the flags to stand straight-out and dried the track Friday and Saturday, causing some annoying dust. The pits were crowded with teams and spectators who like to get close to the action. The Thursday A main went from 9:44 to 10:30 p.m. Friday's A main lasted more than an hour from 9:10-10:12 p.m. The Saturday A feature went from 9:56 to 10:38 p.m.
FLIPS: The three nights of Oval Nationals racing had 15 total flips. There were seven tumbles Thursday-Todd Hunsaker (D-main); Brian Venard, Brady Short and Matt Rossi (C-main), Garrett Hansen (B) and Danny Sheridan and Ricky Stenhouse (A-main). The three Friday flippers were Ross Millar (hot laps), Kevin Swindell and Darren Hagen (A-main). Hagen (in Keith Kunz' No. 67x) was the 13th driver to qualify and it proved unlucky for him. His car broke the drive-shaft and a snapped torque tube ripped away, injuring Darren's foot. He limped away after his car stopped high in turn four. Five flippers Saturday were Hansen (hot laps), Dave Darland, Jon Stanbrough and Robert Ballou (B-main) plus Daron Clayton (in the A). Add to that total the wild flip by Chris Windom during the Wednesday practice and you have 16 bent sprinters. All the drivers escaped serious injury, although Windom did not see action until the Manzanita Western World event in Phoenix a week later.
Racing on Thur. and Fri. preliminary nights began at 6:30 with 10-lap D and C mains, five 10-lap heat races preceded a break, a 12-lap B main, intermission and 25-lap mains. The five heats provided some of the best racing at PAS all year. With only the top 40 qualifiers in the heats, every heat had talented drivers throughout the eight-car field. Try to pick the top four in Thursday's second heat race with a front row of Jon Stanbrough and Troy Rutherford (in his brand new Maxim) in row one, Cory Kruseman and Tim Kaeding (row 2), R. J. Johnson and Thomas Meseraull (row 3) and Chas. Davis, Jr. and Daron Clayton (row 4). Heat four had Darland on the pole with M. Trimble, Stenhouse, Levi Jones, Tony Jones, G. Weir, Bud Kaeding and Rickie Gaunt in that order completing the field. Other heats were just as tough to pick the top four finishers. The B-main lineup looked like a typical A-main during the regular season.
With 24 drivers in the A-main following the B-mains, USAC then added two National Sprint and two USAC-CRA Regional provisional starters for powerful 28-car starting fields. Provisional berths were awarded to the two highest entrants in point standings from both series. On Thursday fastest qualifier Blake Miller had a connecting rod go through the block of his No. 93 Black Widow ride, ending his racing for the night. In the third heat race Friday both front row starters-Josh Ford (pole) and Sammy Swindell (outside) were sent to the back row after two false starts in a row. PAS starter Eddie Ramirez waved them to the back row, but the call came down via radio from the USAC racing official in charge. Ford charged forward to fourth and transferred to the A-main that night, while Swindell remained eighth all 10 laps and had to race in the B-main.
The top three point drivers Thursday were Clayton 144, K. Swindell 140 and C. Shuman 136. The top 12 drivers in points after Friday's main went to Saturday's A-main directly. They were Shuman 267, J. Hockett 248, T. Kaeding 245, Clayton 244, Gardner 241, K. Swindell 225, L. Jones 219, Gaunt 217, B. Kaeding 216, D. Cardey 207, Kruseman 207, and Weir 206. Position 13 Danny Sheridan had 195 points and earned pole position for Saturday's B-main. He won the B and advanced to the A. Shuman received the B & B Co. $1,000 High Point Award for the most total points in Thur. & Fri. racing. The top 12 finishers in the B-main started 13th through 24th in the order they finished the B-main. The two National Series provisional berths (P. 25 & 27) went to Stenhouse and Darland. The two CRA Regional provisional starting spots (P.26 & 28) went to R. J. Johnson and Blake Miller. This PAS system has stood the test of time and is fair for racers and fun for fans in the stands to watch unfold on the track.
If you were wondering why veteran Charles Davis, Jr., 40, started on the pole in Friday's A-main and faded back to his 11th place finish in the 25-lap main, the reason was a broken throttle at the start of the race. One of the most unusual occurrences during Saturday's B-main happened to Dave Darland. He was scheduled to start fourth in the 20-lap race and would likely advance to the 40-lap A-feature. With cars still being pushed off from the front straight, Darland's Pace Bros. No. 44 hit the outer wall leaving the second turn and flipped once onto its left side. Dave was unhurt, but his car was taken back to the pits on the back of a wrecker with broken radius rods and three flat tires according to pit reporter Chris Holt. He placed 23rd.
Saturday's A-feature had the usual Oval Nationals special driver introductions with tuxedo-clad announcer Scott Daloisio on the track going from back to front of the 28-car field. A spotlight on the roof followed Scott from car to car as he introduced each driver on the darkened front straight after track lights were dimmed. Following the C-main Saturday and hot lapping by the 12 high-point drivers in the A-main, a special presentation took place. PAS President Donnie Kazarian presented Oval Nationals embroidered jackets to 1954 CRA champion Jack Gardner and his wife Mary Ann, the co-grand marshalls. They met at an auto race 54 years ago. Their son Jack has been involved heavily in CRA sprint car racing over the decades in driver-owner-mechanic-crew chief roles. He also married driver Nadine Keller last year.
Once the Sat. A-main started, the lead battle was intense. On lap 21 the controversial contact between Kevin Swindell and Daron Clayton occurred. P.4 Swindell slid up into P.3 Clayton, who flipped between the first two turns. Clayton landed overturned in the top groove. His No. 10c had a bent roll cage and bolt-on equipment damage. Clayton climbed out unhurt and angry at Swindell, who stopped near the starting line under a red flag. As Clayton neared Swindell's car, dad Sammy Swindell intervened on behalf of his son and fisticuffs erupted briefly. When racing resumed, K. Swindell moved from third to second behind T. Kaeding on lap 25. On lap 29 Swindell hit the second turn wall and went to the pits with a bent Jacobs ladder and broken brake rotor. Following quick repairs he returned to the back of the pack. However, Swindell was black flagged before the lap 29 green flag because the tail of his Kasey Kahne No. 9 was loose and in danger of coming off. His second stop ended his run and he placed 23rd after starting from the pole. USAC officials later parked the Swindells for the Western World Championship race at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix a week later.
Mike Spencer, second in USAC-CRA 2007 point standings, had an oil leak and his crew applied a quick fix under the lap 21 red flag. Mike restarted at the back because the crew worked on the car too long. The Chaffin No. 50 continued smoking to lap 28 when the engine let go in a big cloud of smoke entering the first turn and a small engine fire erupted. Spencer stopped at the inside of the track leaving turn two and fire crews extinguished the fire in the team's second engine of the week. A broken rod and dropped valve were the causes. After all that action, 19 of the 28 starters were racing at the finish. The problem with Spencer's No. 50 was not a leak, but too much oil in the tank a crewman said after the race. Other reasons for drop-outs were R. Gaunt (No. 94)--broken LR shock; Rip Williams (No. 3)--not handling, and D. Gardner (No. 71)--threw a connecting rod out the block. Oval Nat'ls temperatures were perfect all four nights this year. In order, temps at 5:00 p.m Wed. through Sat. were 80, 77, 87 and 84 from Oct. 31 through Nov. 3. For the same days the temps were 65 at 9:00 p.m, Wed., 56 at 10:45 Thur., 60 at 1:00 Fri. and 64 at 10:50 p.m Saturday. No wonder why the racing season in SoCal is February through November.
The 42-page PAS Oval Nationals $5.00 program had 2005-06 Oval Nationals winner Darland and Jeff Walker's blue No. 11d on the color cover. There were five color pages of racing inside. Some of these programs are still available for sale at the PAS office. Midget driver Kirk Kubik donated custom helmet paint jobs for the first driver out of the A-main because of another driver. Clayton won that helmet paint job. The PAS one-lap track record is 15.954 by Damion Gardner on 10/31/02. This year the Oval Nationals fastest qualifiers were Blake Miller at 17.129 as the 34th driver to qualify Thursday, and Cole Whitt at 16.880 as the 8th driver to qualify Friday. Tim Kaeding posted the only other sub-17 second lap at 16.975. Passing was plentiful all three nights. A-main winners started sixth Thurs. (Clayton), fifth Friday (Hockett) and ninth Sat. (B. Kaeding).
HEAT RACES: Fully inverted, eight-car heat race winners on the two preliminary nights and their starting positions follow: Thursday-Gardner, from 4th, Kruseman, from 3rd, Hagen, from 2nd, T. Jones, from 5th Sheridan, from 3rd; Friday-Clayton, from 5th, B. Kaeding, from 2nd, Gaunt, from 4th, Sheridan, from 6th and K. Swindell, from 8th. The fastest qualifiers in the eight heat races on Thur. and Fri. all came from 8th starting spot to the following finishing positions: 8th (blew engine), 4th, 4th, 7th, 5th, 8th, 3rd, 6th, 4th and 1st. The top four finishers in each heat made the A-main that night, so despite full inversions five of the nine 8th place starters who finished made the A-feature. The A-main lap leaders Thursday were Weir, L 1-3, Clayton L 4-15 & 18-25, Shuman L 16-17. There were 26 cars RAF (racing at the finish) and amazingly all were on the lead lap. Friday's A-main had two leaders-Kruseman L 1-16 and Hockett L 17-25. There were 18 of 28 starters RAF with 17 drivers on the lead lap. Saturday's A-main leaders were T. Kaeding L 1-12 & 20-28, Gardner L 13-19, Shuman L 29-39, and B. Kaeding L 40. Nineteen of the 28 starters were RAF and all 19 were on the lead lap. That statistic tells a lot about the quality and talent of the Oval Nationals competition.
The 2007 Oval Nationals had several generous cash awards totaling $1,750 posted by Buck and Betty Rice, of Pro Source Consultants in Texas. I tried unsuccessfully to learn from several track and racing sources which drivers won those monetary awards. So I went to my notes and came up with the winners based upon the official results. The $250 Hard Work Award reserved for the driver with the lowest point total after Thur. and Fri. racing to EARN a transfer to Saturday's A-main would have to go to Dusty Morgan (No. 11d) who finished 41st in the two-day points. He raced to his 20th starting position in Saturday's A-main and did not have to resort to a provisional berth. Sat. A-main Hard Charger ($500) - The objective winner is Blake Miller (No. 93) because he passed the most cars (15) charging from 28th (last) to 13th. Honorable mention in the hard charger category Saturday A would go to two drivers who passed 13 cars. Stenhouse came from 25th to 12th and Hagen came from 24th to 11th. The $250 Hard Charger Thursday award is a three-way tie in the A-main. Hagen (No. 67) 21st to 13th, R. J. Johnson (No. 15) 25th to 17th, and Darland (No. 44) 27th to 19th--all improved eight positions from their starting positions. The Friday $250 Hard Charger money would have to go to Brad Sweet (Kunz No. 67k) for gaining 21 positions (25th to 4th). Honorable mention would go to Brady Short (No. 2B) and Tony Jones (No. 4) for gaining 15 positions. The other monetary award is not as definitive, so the winner is my pickfor the most likely winner. The Saturday $500 Hard Luck Award should have gone to Daron Clayton. He was third in the A-main when the fourth place car hit and flipped his car, ending his chance at the $30,000 victory.
PODIUMS: The top three A-main finishers Thur., Fri. and Sat. were interviewed on the podium. Thursday winner Clayton said, "I didn't have good luck here last year. We're better this year. On that restart where I lost the lead I went into turn one and lost the brakes." P.2 K. Swindell said, "He (Clayton) was hurting on both ends. I decided with three laps to go I was going by him. It was a great race. If it was 35 laps I might've got there. I had a good race with Casey (Shuman) and shook hands with him. We toured the country with our dads (in World of Outlaws racing)." P.3 Shuman said, "It definitely was exciting racing. I raced Daron all year in Indiana and Kevin and I threw rocks at each other as kids. It was great to lead with ten laps to go. I feel I might have let one get away. I haven't done well here in the past. An early qualifying draw was important." (He was the ninth qualifier.)
Friday Podium: First-time PAS feature winner Hockett performed several perfect donuts leaving the fourth turn on his cool-off lap. When he alighted from his car "Rocket" Hockett stated, "The track was good on top and without yellow flags I was good." He thanked his car owner VKCC and Jim Massey for his help. He continued, "It's never over till it's over. My crew told me to go to the top and keep my revs up and don't worry about a slider and everything worked out for the best. I have a good group around me that keep me calm. I like it up by the wall. Now we have big expectations for tomorrow; the pressure is on." Second place Tim Kaeding thanked his crew and fans and said, "We were good on top and the bottom if needed. I was following Jesse who runs non-wing. This is a whole new ball-game. Tomorrow we have to come out and have fun." Third place Shuman happily stated, "On the podium two nights in a row is awesome and puts us close to the point lead. I was set-up to run low and on the last restart I picked off a couple of cars. I'm ecstatic with third place."
Pit interviewers talked to the top three drivers after Saturday's A main in reverse order. P. 3 Brady Bacon said, "I raced the track from start to finish. It was racy all race. I missed the line one time and Jesse (Hockett) got by me." Runner-up Shuman, who lost his most important career victory half a lap from the finish, stated, "This is hard to swallow. It will take a while to get over .I feel I let one get away. Being on the podium three nights in a row with the best drivers around is awesome." Winner Bud Kaeding had trouble opening the champagne bottle. He told Chris Holt, "We have a new baby on the way. This $30,000 will help pay for diapers, crib and baby food. My car owner, wife, mother and dad got play by play on the phone on how this race was going. My brother Tim and Casey drove a hell of a race. I got by my brother and with three laps to go I sized up Casey. I messed up my entry and got past by inches. I dedicate this win to my late grandmother." The race was one of the best in PAS history. The old adage leave them wanting more had never more true. Fans went home from the 2007 Oval Nationals praising it and wishing that the season was not about to conclude in two weeks.
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