Crockett wins second $3000 tribute to Al Hinds
event at
Al Hinds was the promoter of Placerville Speedway from 1968 to 1973 and
was known for his involvement with the speedway and the community for much of
his life. After passing away last year, Family Chevrolet of Shingle Springs
sponsored a $1000 bonus to the winner to make it one of the richest Civil War
events of the season in Hinds honor. After his victory, Crockett is now a
two-time winner of this very special race at the El Dorado County Fairground.
“It feels really good to win this special race two years in a row,” said
Crockett. “My biggest thanks goes out to all the fans
out here tonight. Its still really cold up here at
night and we have a packed house cheering the whole time. “
After qualifying sixth and finishing third in his heat race earlier in
the evening, Crockett originally started in the ninth position. On the opening
lap of the race a melee broke out in the second turn that involved several cars
drew the yellow flag and sent Brad Furr of Pleasanton and Camino’s Shawn
Whitney to the pit area for the night with damage.
The dismissal of both front runners caused an adjustment in the starting
line up, moving Crockett to the second position for the green flag outside of
Following the lead taking pass, Crockett continued to drive the high
line on the track aboard the always fast
Saturday’s event went nearly non-stop with the second caution coming out
just prior to the checkered flag when Rocklin’s
“Paul Silva prepared one heck of a car for me tonight, it was absolutely
perfect, “ said Crockett “Going without a yellow flag
for so long actually helped me out because I got in a rhythm out there and was
just able to switch high and low to get around the lapped cars. It got
interesting a couple times our there in lapped traffic.”
At the checkered flag, Crockett went into undefeated status in the
annual Hinds Tribute event. For Crockett, the win was one of many at the track
his father
“I credit alot of my success at this place to
my dad who ran so well here,” said Crockett. “I use to sit in the stands when I
was five years old and watch him race around this place. I learned a lot from
watching him and since then I have been blessed with good race cars to drive.”
Statler finished in the second
position. On the final lap Henry kept the crowd at the edge of their seats when
he battled Civil War point leader Chad Riolo of
Roseville.
After being passed by Riolo and racing side by
side for half of the final lap, Henry earned the third position at the line
ahead of Riolo, Colby Weisz
of Colfax, Sean Becker of Oroville, Billy Wallace of Grass Valley.Garden
Valley’s Ray Rust, Stan Yockey of Fresno and
Placerville’s Scott Russell completed the top ten in the finishing order.
In preliminary events Saturday, the B-main event was won by
The first heat race was won by
In qualifying,
Saturday’s event drew a total of 55 cars Saturday night and preliminary
events saw their share of incidents. Chuck Gurney Jr., Jimmy Siebert and Herman
Klein were all roll over victims early in the night. Jade Parker of Placerville
rolled over during his second lap in qualifying but was able to keep driving
and return later in the night. Former Civil War champion Andy Forsberg had a
brush with the turn two wall which ended his night.
Racing continues at Placerville Speedway this Wednesday night, May 11
with the fire breathing sprint cars of the Golden State Challenge Series in a
special weeknight event. The grandstand opens at