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52ND JOHNNY KEY CLASSIC THIS SATURDAY AT OCEAN SPEEDWAY
WATSONVILLE,
CALIFORNIA (August 22, 2012) - Saturday night one driver will
leave Ocean Speedway with $10,000 as the winner of the 52nd Johnny Key Classic
presented by Digital Delivery Networks.A record winner's share has drawn an all-star cast of drivers expected
to the Watsonville
quarter-mile on Saturday night.
The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo points race will include points
leader Shane Golobic of Fremont and
second in points Brad Furr of Stockton who are
locked into the race based on their points performances so far.They are joined by 2009 Johnny Key winner
Tommy Tarlton, San Jose's Nick Green, Auburn's Andy Forsberg, and Fresno rookie
Dominic Scelzi as the drivers locked into the feature.
Tarlton won the first three consecutive Key qualifying races while Green
and Forsberg used runner-up finishes behind Tarlton to lock themselves in.Scelzi took home his first career Sprint Car
win dramatic fashion last Friday night with a last-lap pass to defeat Furr and
take his place in the Key.
All told, Tarlton has won five Ocean Sprints features despite missing
several events due to family commitments.The 2010 Ocean Sprints champion is chasing down Brent Kaeding's all-time
win mark of seven wins in a single season.
In fact all four drivers who qualified into the Key through the
qualifying races are running part-time efforts.Scelzi, son of NHRA legend Gary Scelzi, suffered a concussion in a wild
flip on June 1st but came back to win on August 18.Green, son of legendary Knoxville Sprint Car
champion Tim Green, flipped in a USAC/CRA event at
Ocean in June but came back with a new ART chassis
to finish second on July 20.
Driving Steve Osborne's #9j, Golobic has been a model of consistency in
2012 but has yet to visit victory lane.He holds down a 19 point lead of Furr in the Price Rite Restaurant
Equipment #2 who has also had a very consistent season despite a goose-egg in
the wins column.
Among the bigger surprises of the 2012 campaign is that all three
Kaedings, Brent and his sons Tim and Bud, will have to race their way into the
Key in one of the 20 lap qualifying races.All three have enjoyed great success this season with Bud winning the
season-opener and Brent winning round two.
Other high profile drivers expected to try to race in include St. Helena's Rico Abreu, GrassValley's Jason
Statler, and ScottsValley's Evan
Suggs.Chico's Mason
Moore and Peter Murphy were also likely to race as of press time.Ocean Sprints regulars Gilroy's Kurt
Nelson, San Martin's "Cowboy" Craig Smith, Corralitos' Jerry Bonemma,
Salinas' Carter
Train, San Jose's Ryan
Rusconi, San Jose's Wayne
Katen, Lemoore's Carson Macedo, and Watsonville's Justin
Sanders are expected.
Also expected to appear are Auburn's Cole
Wood, Fresno's Koen
Shaw, Salinas' Jeremy
and Jason Chisum, Morgan Hill's Nick
Ringo, Jr. and Nicholas Ringo, San Jose's Michael
Twitchell, Petaluma's Jason
Toft, and Fremont's Anthony
Espinoza.
Each b-main
event will invert the top-four as usual for Ocean Sprints heat races and the
b-mains will be 20 laps.Drivers who
make the Key through their b-main will get their qualifying times back and
start behind the qualified six.
The six
qualified cars will hot lap then pill draw for positions in a six lap
dash.The finishing order of the dash
for cash will make up the starting line-up for the feature.
Purse for
the Johnny Key Classic A-main will be $10,000 to win and $300 to start.There will also be lap money awarded $25
going to first, $15 to second and $10 to third during the sponsored laps.
The Johnny
Key Classic will be a 50 lap feature in two 25 lap segments.During the break, teams will be allowed to
refuel, change tires, and make adjustments before the race resumes.
Laps are
still for sale for the Johnny Key Classic with interested parties urged to
contact [email protected]Laps are $50 each to be paid out to the
top-three cars each lap.
Friday's
races for the Ocean Sprints will also include racing for the Micro 600s, IMCA
Modifieds, and Wingless Sprints.Adult
tickets are just $17 with seniors 65+ $15 and kids ages 6-12 are $13.The family pass for two adults and two
children is value priced at just $55.Qualifying
will get underway at 5 p.m. with fan gates opening at 3:30
p.m.The Goularte Brothers Racing Reunion will
take place from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. in the grassy area behind turn four
with classic racing cars and the snack bar will be open for lunch.
For more
information on the Ocean Sprint Cars presented by Taco Bravo log onto http://www.oceansprints.com
and for more on the Ocean Speedway visit http://www.oceanspeedway.com
Ocean
Speedway would like to thank Taco Bravo, Digital Delivery Networks, Get Som
Sports, Ray Scheidt's Electric, Hoosier Tires West, and Kaeding Performance for
their support of the 2012 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo.
Johnny Key Classic winners
1954 Danny
Graves
1955 Al Pombo
1956 Clyde Palmer
1957 Ray Raineri
1958 Rick Henderson
1959 George Benson
1960 Marshall Sargent
1961 Clyde Palmer(2)
1962 Clyde Palmer(3)
1963 Marshall Sargent
1964 George Snider
1965 Burt Foland
1966 Burt Foland(2)
1967 Bill Scott
1968 Howard Kaeding
1969 Bill Scott(2)
1970 Don Epperson
1971 Everett Edlund
1972 Nick Rescino
1973 Howard Kaeding(2)
1974 Nick Rescino(2)
1975 Nick Rescino(3)
1976 Tony Ringo
1977 Danny O'Neill
1978 Johnny Brazil
1979 Howard Kaeding(3)
1980 Brent Kaeding
1981 Mike Sargent
1982 Nick Rescino(4)
1983 John Viel
1984 Nick Rescino(5)
1985 Rich Voss
1986 Nick Rescino(6)
1987 Howard Kaeding(4)
1988 Rod Spencer
1989 Scott Luhdorff
1990 Danny Olmstead
1991 Terry McCarl
1992 Scott Luhdorff(2)
1993 Chuck Miller
1994 Chuck Miller(2)
1995 Rick Martin
1996 Bud Kaeding
1997 Craig Smith
1998 Ronnie Day
1999 Eric Rossi
2007 Jason Statler*
2008 Brent Kaeding (2)*
2009 Tommy Tarlton*
2010 Tim Kaeding*
2011 Ronnie Day*
* = Held at
Ocean Speedway
www.stevenblakesley.com
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