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Hello once again from Mtn.View, California. It has been a strange past few weeks not only for me but from what I have learned the rest of the racing world was in for a few shocks also. I have spent three of the past four weeks at home battling pneumonia. Let me tell you I have been sick before but this takes the cake, you have no energy and basically can't do anything but rest, which becomes very old after a while. I missed allot of things over the past few weeks, like some good parties and get togethers that I will only hear about (and never get to realize how much fun I missed).
The holidays are over now but for some families the hurting from deaths around the nation will sting for a while. First I have to send condolences to the family of Larry Triguerio who passed away right before Christmas after suffering a heart attack. Larry was a true racer and put allot into the sport that he loved. His accomplishments as a car owner were well documented with numerous wins in the super modifieds and hardtops over the years with drivers like Everett Edlund, Howard Kaeding, Davey Hamilton, Paul Durant and Tony Stewart. His biggest wins came at the Copper World Classic in Phoenix, AZ., as well as numerous wins in the sprint cars. The biggest win coming at the Gold Cup when Danny Smith upset the field. Larry will be truly missed and his legacy lives on with Larry Jr. as he continues to be a crew chief on the west coast.
It was a shock to me to learn of the death of Stan Fox over in New Zealand. This guy was truly one of the BEST midget drivers that I have ever seen. Still to this day I will never forget the run that he made through the field at the Copper World Classic after starting scratch and driving by a very stout field like the yellow flag was out. It was a stirring drive. He also won the last Turkey night at Ascot, then backed it up with a win the following year on the flat Saugus Speedway. Stan's career was cut short with a devastating crash at Indianapolis but he will always be a true racer in my book who never forgot where he came from and was always willing to give back to the sport.
Lastly Don Tognotti was an icon on the west coast. Who in west coast sprint car racing has never heard of the Tognotti Chassis? Things have changed over the years as far as his chassis have gone but the name Tognotti, whether it was a race car or his huge part store always was a bright spot in the Sacramento area. Don was also involved with John Padjen in the Golden State 100 at the Sacramento Cal Expo and was instrumental in bringing the "Big" cars back to the Golden State. God Speed to all that have perished over the past year as you are gone but never forgotten.
I will take this time to review the past year in racing, with the good, the bad and sometimes the ugly in this great sport of ours in no particular order.... Joey Saldana had a breakout year. Sure he has won more races with the All-Stars but he proved he is a force with the WoO...Dale Blaney rode Mopar power and Maxim Chassis to his best ever season with the WoO winning 2 races...Mike Kirby started off slow this year but cam on during the middle and end of the season to score 6 wins with SCRA...What can you say about Keith Kauffman? This guy seems to be getting better every year and had 7 wins to go with 10 2nd place finishes on the tough PA circuit...Damien Gardner won a NARC race at Chowchilla and a Golden State race at Santa Maria to garner some national exposure after being nominated for Sprint Car Rookie Of The Year, losing out to Kraig Kinser who showed he is going to be tough in the future... Look for Gardner to run some USAC Western States Pavement Series races next year and look for Kinser to run more Support races...Todd Ellison was crowned USAC Western States 360 Champion after a very consistent year with a win and three 2nd place finishes in former WoO owner Red Powell's #20...Herman Klein, son of former West Capital driver Hash Brown, picked up 3 wins, had 3 2nd places and was impressive running up front on the Saturday night finale at Trophy Cup...
Can you say unbelievable? I can't say that Kasey Kahne surprised me too much with his stellar year with 12 wins in USAC midgets, a win at Williams Grove in a winged sprint car and numerous top five runs in Silver Bullet and non-winged sprint cars. That is not all as Kasey picked up the National USAC Midget Title along with a Rookie Of The Year in the Silver Bullet Series...Glen Carson had his best year in BCRA midget action in several seasons as he copped the BCRA Championship...Alex Harris came back from a miserable beginning of the season to have some strong races at the end of the year...Ronald Laney opened a few eyes with a strong season on the WoO Support Group also picking up a couple of wins including the big 360 Nationals at East Bay...Shane Stewart had a very good year running for Jr. Holbrook and took high flyer award of the year for his acrobatics on the ultra rough race track in Las Vegas at the end of the year. Jeff Shepard started out on the WoO tour but went to the support series and ran up front for most of the year until fading to 3rd in the final standings even though he won 9 races...Kelly Kinser had an up and down year but maybe the most impressive run was his Knoxville prelim night effort as he led for the first few laps and qualified for the big show...Cory Kruseman started off the season with a big win at the Chili Bowl then scored 8 more wins the rest of the year winning in SCRA, Non Winged World Championship and USAC series... Cris Eash returned from a devastating crash at Lincoln in March and rehabilitated his knee and returned strong with great runs against the WoO (2nd at The National Open) and the PA Posse (3 wins) in the final month of the season...Former Steve Kinser crewman Jimmy McBee showed he can drive a sprint car also as he picked up a win at PA's toughest weekly show at Lincoln...Roger Crockett had several strong runs in CA 360 action with 7 wins and 11 2nd place finishes...Jason Statler has a successful year with several top five runs in CA before venturing east to run with the Support Group as he also picked up an open show win at Putnamville...Burney Lamar came out of stock cars to run very strong on the USAC Western States Sprint Car series and was nominated for National Sprint Car RoY...Derek Davidson came back from a serious arm injury to turn in a good season with the National USAC Sprint Car Series...Ryan Scott was fast in the second half of the season running the USAC National Midget series...Sterling Pratz had a very good season running only pavement in BCRA action winning a race...Danny Ebberts ran in the top 5 for most of the season on the tough USAC Western States Midget series...Wayne Johnson was simply superb on the tough ASCS National Sprint Car Tour winning 8 races including the 360 Knoxville Nationals...Tony Stewart picked up his coveted 1st Turkey Night race to go with his Copper World Midget triumph, but I don't think he will quit his day job...Rodney Duncan was a huge hit on the new and improved All-Star Series with a weight rule that he rode to 2nd in points and numerous top 5's...Gary Geving had an abbreviated season as motor woes kept him out for over a month at Petaluma...Randy Lathrop had a bust out year with a pair of wins at Petaluma and 11 top 5 finishes.
Brad Furr ran as strong as ever running the WoO Support Series, even though he didn't pick up a victory he picked up 17 top 5 finishes and won and open show at Terre Haute...Daryn Pittman started out with Kenny Woodruff but he was gone by mid season and Pittman still ran good picking up 10 top 5 finishes with the big boys, including prelim wins at Chico and Devil's Bowl... Rip Williams started off slow but finished with a flurry winning all four of his races late in the season...Todd Shaffer picked up the Selinsgrove Speedway title and racked up 35 top 5's to go with 6 wins...Colby Wiesz has another good season running mostly at Marysville and Civil War to score 5 feature wins...Randy Tiner started the year off with Dale Orth before moving to Rick Wright's 35 then finished the year with his brother Rod's 83 as he failed to score a win, this guy is exciting every time he goes on the track... Luke Beberia gave Monte Faccinto a run in the Rebel Cup Series before fading at the end after picking up 5 wins...Jim Van Lare ran sparingly but made his races count with some impressive performances with a Civil War win and a strong Trophy Cup...Thomas Messeraul was impressive picking up his first USAC win at Oildale after flipping in his heat, winning with a bent race car... Eric Gordon rode the Arctic Cat green Beast to several strong performances including 2 wins in USAC National Sprint Car competition...Rick Hendrix split his time between USAC Midget and Western States 360 action to score 7 top 5's on the year...Larry Neighbors started off strong on the ASCS Tour but fell off near the middle of the year after garnering 4 wins...Randy Kinser was impressive running the WoO Support Group for most of the year and had some great finishes to run in the top 10 in points..
."Super" Blake Robertson was nearly unstoppable at Tulare and had some impressive runs throughout the year in NARC-Golden State competition... Kenny Jacobs picked up where he left off last year winning the All-Star title (8 wins) once again. He watched as his young son Lee prospered in hometown sprint action and daughter Kendra took on the PR Job for the Support Group... Terry McCarl picked off another Knoxville title to go along with a championship at Huset's but found himself without a ride at seasons end... Jeremy Sherman was very impressive running both SCRA and USAC event and picked up two wins in the stout SCRA series...James Chesson picked up his first win at Williams Grove after a stirring dual with Tyler Walker on the historic 1/2 mile paperclip...Brian Paulus had some strong runs in the "salad" car as well as some impressive performances in the USAC Silver Bullet Series...Brent Kaeding dominated NARC and the new Chowchilla Speedway (winning 5 of 6 races) and also had a sweep of all the Northern Sprint Tour races he ran in Oregon and Washington...Mike Faria won the NARC Rookie Of The Year and came within a corner of winning his first 410 race until BK stole it from him in turn 4 at Hanford...Jeremy Phillips brought the Silver Dollar season down with a bang when he flipped as far as I have ever seen, going into turn one and over the fence before landing where the Tilt O Whirl usually is for the Fair
...Brian Tyler had an off year but still won races in the USAC Silver Bullet and National Sprint Car Series...Matt Streeter ran sparingly between the BCRA and USAC midget series with 5 top 5's...Jerry Kobza picked up frequent flyer miles commuting from North Carolina to California for BCRA action before splitting the sheets with Chris Walker...Aaron Berryhill ran very good in NCRA action coming close to unseating Gary Wright for the title but came up just short...Mark Keegan ran fast in several All-Star races winning a race and had 8 top 5's on the season...Rodney "Astronaut" Argo ran most of the SCRA year with mixed results and finished with 8 top 5's. Stevie Smith picked up 6 wins on the WoO circuit running one of the only "non-factory" and coil cars in the country...Andy Hillenburg made the switch from Amercian Racer to Hoosier tires and picked up 3 wins with the WoO...P.J. Chesson took one of the wildest rides of the year at Bristol but returned to race all over the country...Curt Michael took over the "Brickmobile" after Walt Dyer's short retirement and picked up a win in PA...Monte Faccinto once again took the Rebel Cup Series by storm winning 4 races and the Championship...Billy Sellers III had a tough year coming off his best year ever picking up just one Main Event win...Peter Murphy had a spectacular year winning numerous times at Chico, taking the special 20-lap race at the Sacramento Mile and getting married all in one year, congrats Pete!...Jerry Coons Jr. had success when he was able to get in a good car and picked up a win and 8 top 5' in USAC sprints and midgets...Davey Hamilton, looked to be on his way to his 1st Championship as he led the USAC Western States Sprint Car Series late in the year, but IRL commitments pulled him away after picking up 6 wins...Steve Paden broke out on the Western States Midgets Series and won 2 races to go along with 6 top 5's...Gary Wright won 20 races between NCRA,ASCS,All-Star and WoO races and was on his way to a sure top 3 finish at Chili Bowl until turning over with just a few laps to go...Danny Smith had his best year in the past ten winning 3 races between All-Stars and USAC Sprints and picked up 16 top 5's...Norm Johns started the season out slow but came on during the middle of the year at Petaluma to score to wins on the tacky 1/4 mile...Lance Blevins was on his way to his best year to date but found himself rideless by mid-season.
Greg Hodnett had his share of bad lick with numerous motor and mechanical problems that sidelined him and a bad crash at Granite City put him out from over a month, but he still won 2 WoO races...Tim Shaffer came into his own this year on the WoO tour picking up 3 wins and almost pulled off the upset win at the Gold Cup in Chico...Tony Jones pocketed $20,000 for 50-laps work at the Oval Nationals in Perris and won 3 other races to go with 18 top 5's... Don Kreitz Jr. picked up 6 wins and six 2nd places during at year that was marred by a controversial bump at Williams Grove that sent Todd Shaffer flipping and sent Don to a $10,000 victory...Tim Kaeding is the most exciting driver to watch on the west coast, especially when he starts in the middle or at the tail of the pack, Tim won 4 races and picked off 24 top 5's during the year...Mike Wasina Jr. drove his Maxim to 2 wins this year in the rough and tumble 360 class in CA...Johnny Rodriquez tried to make it two year in a row as champ at Chico, but couldn't pull it off and had to settle for 2nd with 3 wins between 410's and 360's...Kyle Schild had his best season so far picking up two wins on the very competitive Civil War Series...Kevin Doty had an off year running in USAC, although he picked up some wins in midgets, his sprint car year was disappointing...Marc DeBeaumont couldn't find a steady ride to compete in USAC but will once again be tough if he returns back to CA... Critter Malone was probably the most disappointed about 16th Street getting shut down as he was only able to garner a 2nd and a 3rd in USAC midgets...Mike Figliomeni was a welcomed guest to both Western States and the National USAC midget series as he picked off two Western States wins...Zach Chappel was a pleasant surprise running with ASCS and really impressed me with a fine run in the B-Main at Las Vegas in November...Dave Blaney made us all proud with strong runs in the Winston Cup Series...Dale Howard picked up an ASCS win in his first full year on tour...Greg Wilson was impressive in both All-Star competition and USAC Silver Bullet series races and will be a threat to win in both classes next year...Paul White was going to win at the Sacramento Mile until he was penalized for passing the stumbling motor of J.J Yeley.
Sammy Swindell won 21 races and 57 top 5's during the WoO year and plans to cut back next year and only run the "big" races...Randy Hannagan returned home after starting the year in Jr. Holbrook's 8H and was fired on TNN TV, but did manage to win 3 races in CA and finish 2nd at Dirt Cup...Brad Noffsinger took a nasty spill at Terre Haute but had some good runs in both Silver Bullet and SCRA competition...Mike Wagner had an off year struggling between different rides in PA...Brook Weibley won a race at Lincoln and had 12 top 5's in his best year to date...Steve Kent had his best season in recent memory as he picked up 6 wins and the big $10,000 to win race at Oildale on Thanksgiving weekend and also picked up 3 win in the Northern Sprint Tour Speedweek...Andy Forsberg's season can only be described one way, it was magical as he picked off both the Civil War Championship and the Placerville Track Championship to go along with 7 Main Event wins and even ran a couple of Western States Pavement races!!!...Craig Stidham ran most of the Rebel Cup races and picked up a win and 8 top 5's...Dave Darland had his share of misfortune with mechanical failures ending his night too many times but still managed to pick up 6 main event wins and 20 top 5's between USAC Midgets, Sprints and Silver Bullet Series...John Sarale started out the year "en fuego" picking up two quick wins in BCRA before mechanical problems put a damper on the rest of his season...Floyd Alvis keeps on racing and keeps on winning as he picked up 2 wins in BCRA and might very well be the oldest rookie in the history of the Chili Bowl this year...Dane Carter picked up a win at Winchester, the same track that his dad Pancho was almost unbeatable at for may years...Phil Gressman was impressive after returning from a successful trip to Australia he won 3 All-Star races...Chad Kemenah also had a successful trip to Australia and he mirrored Gressman with 3 All-Star wins...Art McCarthy was strong during the middle part of the year racing at the fast gumbo at Petaluma.
Donnie Schatz was having a miserable year until he hired Kenny Woodruff right before Knoxville. He led the Nationals for 24 laps before Mark Kinser drove by for the win, but he did pick up the prestigious National Open at Williams Grove...Danny Wood capped off a very good 1st season with the WoO and took home the Kevin Gobrecht Memorial Rookie Of The Year...Troy Cline split his time between USAC Western States Sprints and SCRA and picked up a win and a huge payday for the 2 day show at Manzanita late in the year...Skip Jackson ventured to PA and had a rough time and after vacating the Zemco 1Z he found himself rideless until Shawn Keen put a car together for him, look for Skip to return to Knoxville this year...Billy Wallace split his time between his 360 and Hal Jacobson's 410 and picked up 2 wins and 11 top 5's...Eric Rossi returned to a full year of NARC action in Rick Wright's #35 to win 2 races including the Mini-Gold Cup and finishing 2nd in NARC points...Jason York broke out this year with 2 wins and 16 top 5's at Chico and the Track Championship...Dave Steele quit his Busch ride to return to USAC Sprints and Silver Bullet action but failed to win a race...Jack Hewitt built a two seater and took Page Jones for a ride at Chili Bowl that was stirring. He also took the win at the Springfield Mile for Silver Bullet cars...Wally Pankratz finally won that coveted 1st championship, waiting until the final race to clinch the crown by a mere 3 points...Garry Lee Maier had his rig stolen but it was eventually found, and had his leg broken by a wayward drive train part. He has had some of the worst luck I have seen in a long time...Ed Lynch Jr. continued to have the ugliest car in the country but he is fast and won races all over the east...Kurt Nelson enjoyed a stellar season running the Rebel Cup Series picking up a win and 10 top 5's.
Jac Haudenschild will be switching rides to Dennis Roth's #83 after splitting with Jack Elden after almost 9 years together, Haud won 5 races and had 25 top 5's with the WoO...Byron Reed ran sparingly with the All-Stars but still scored a win and 6 top 5 finishes...Troy Rutherford enjoyed his most productive year even though he didn't win a race he ran in the top 5 ten times...Billy Pauch ran only about 20 races in the sprints this year but still managed to run in the top 5 nine times with a feature win...Todd Hestor won 2 races, including his 1st career win at Williams Grove to go along with 12 top 5's...Bud Kaeding had a successful first year away from CA with 2 National sprint car wins and a non-winged open show win in PA, he also led the Silver Bullet race at Springfield for 80+ laps before Hewitt drove by for the win, Bud also ran 3rd at the Chili Bowl to start the season off...Tim Worth finished 2nd in the Rebel Cup Series after picking off 2 wins and 16 top 5's...Tony Hunt won 3 Western States Sprint Car races to go with a Western States Midget race at Madera...Jon Allard was strong in both the 360 and 410 division this year winning 4 races including the Trophy Cup finale... Jay Drake had a dream season with 20 wins combined between USAC National Sprint Car, USAC National Midget, Silver Bullet,SCRA and Non-Winged World Championship competition, as he also scored 34 top 5 finishes...Bobby Boone started out strong on the Western States Midget Series and led for most of the season before finishing 2nd to Wally Pankratz...Ed Carpenter was impressive in both the Silver Bullet Series and the USAC National Midget Series, running 2nd to Kasey Kahne at the Belleville Nationals...Chuck Gurney Jr. looks like the real deal after winning races in BCRA on pavement and dirt, taking home 4 wins...Travis Rilat split his time between NCRA and ASCS to score 3 wins and 14 top 5's...Tyler Walker came back to sprint cars to run the Apple Chevrolet car in PA and won 2 races and finished 2nd to James Chesson in an epic battle at Williams Grove...Mike Boat highlighted his year at Mesa Marin in Bakersfield with a win in his Stealth car during the USAC Western States Sprint Car Series only visit to the high banked speedplant... C.J. Humphreys scored a win and 5 top 5's at Placerville.
Mark Kinser scored an amazing 52 top fives with 14 wins, 15 second place runs and 13 thirds - to go along with his stellar drive at the Knoxville Nationals. He stole the win from Donnie Schatz late in the race...Craig Dollansky won the inaugural Gumout Series to go with 11 wins and 12 2nd place finishes...John Scott picked up 2 wins on the SCRA tour with the help of legend Bubby Jones...Shawn Keen had a disappointing year splitting his time between his new business and a 2nd car for Skip Jackson...Len Thompson scored a win at Williams Grove but his races were cut back a little and still managed to run in the top 5 twelve times..Korey Lovell picked up 4 wins splitting time between Marysville and the Civil War Series...Sean Fenn picked up 4 wins and 15 top 5's during his season run exclusively at Silver Dollar Speedway...Kevin Pylant had a strong year and led the Golden State Series for almost half the year before fading to 3rd as he snatched 13 top 5's on the year...Mike Monahan won a race at Marysville to go along with 6 top 5's...Ryan Newman ran 2nd 11 time and won 2 races before heading to the south to run for Roger Penske...Jason McCord spent the first part of the year running the Bumgarner 88 on the Western States Sprint Car Series before heading back east to compete in the National Series...Russ Gamester won 2 Silver Bullet Series race including a stellar battle that he won over Jason Leffler at Irwindale...Terry Gray continued to be consistent on the ASCS tour winning 2 races and finishing in the top 5 twenty four times...Shane Scott subbed for the ailing Chad Riolo after Riolo had to have heart surgery (he will be fully recovered) and got ran strong at Chico and Marysville.
Danny Lasoski was strong all year starting the season out in the radical new Eagle Chassis and winning 7 out of 8 races, he continued into the WoO season and won numerous big money shows including Calistoga and the Gold Cup in Chico. Danny will now team up with Tony Stewart to run for the WoO title... Jason Meyers ventured out of California for the first time and had a tremendous year, taking the Gumout Series Rookie Of The Year while netting 2 wins in the tough series...Mike English was his usual quiet self, cruising to 9 top 5's with a feature win...Dave Ely started out fast but fell off the pace during the middle part of the year. However, he still finished with 4 wins and 20 top 5's... Steve Siegel just keeps on rolling along running in the top 5 twenty times on the tough PA Posse...Tommy Tarlton was strong all year winning 8 races between 410 and 360's and he also picked up the Trophy Cup title at Watsonville...Ricky Wondergem was strong at Marysville picking up 10 top 5' and a feature win...Marc Zieske coming off his best year to date has a disappointing year that was cut short by mechanical ills...Tony Elliott was strong once again taking the USAC National Sprint Car title, scored 20 top 5's to go along 3 with 4 feature wins...Clay Klepper ran on the USAC National Midget tour for most of the year with limited success...A.J Fike split his time between the USAC National Midget Series and the Silver Bullet Series and scored 4 top 5's...Tim Crawley ran a limited schedule on the ASCS tour but still had a good year with 6 wins and 21 top 5's...Jason Leffler ran a handful of Midget and Silver Bullet race but concentrated mainly on his Busch career...Danny Faria Jr. scored his first 360 win in his best year so far in the Rebel Cup Series...Mark Mackay split his time between Placerville and the Civil War Series to score 10 top 5 finishes...Blake Feese earned a nomination for the National Sprint Car Rookie Of The Year with some stellar runs in the Gumout Series.
Steve Kinser proved why he will always be the "King" by winning 16 WoO races and running in the top 5 an amazing 60 times as he cruised to the WoO Championship...Kevin Huntley made a successful return to the All-Stars by winning a race and running in the top 5 eight times on a limited schedule... Richard Griffin picked up yet another SCRA Championship and also picked off his first Non-Wing World Championship title after winning 9 race with 36 top 5's...Jesse Wentz won a race at Lincoln and scored 8 top five finishes in one of his best years so far...Johnny Mackison had his beat year since returning to sprint car as he took home 22 top 5's including a win at Lincoln...Gary Morgan was consistent running at Placerville and the Civil War Series picking up a main event win in the process...Dave Lindt won the Petaluma track Championship with 4 main event wins and 17 top 5's...Mark Tabor Sr. had his best year with 5 top 5's at Marysville...Jeff Gardner returned to the USAC Western States Sprint Car Series to take home 2 wins and 8 top 5's...J.J Yeley struggled for most of the year and ended up with only 1 main event win but he still scored 17 top 5's...Kevin Briscoe ran mostly non-winged USAC and Indiana races taking a win and 7 top 5's...Scott Nail picked up 2 main events in BCRA competition as he was tough every time he showed up at the races... Michael Lewis scored a hair raising win at Anderson by inches?? over Kasey Kahne on a race that was nationally televised...Jason Sides split his time between NCRA and ASCS, even though he didn't win a race, he finished 2nd 3 times and 3rd three times...Mike Goodman started out on the Gumout Series but returned home to run locally with some success including an All-Star win... Craig Smith ran a limited schedule splitting time between the Rebel Cup Series and selected 410 race to score 8 top 5's...Lawrence Edlund had a good year running the Rebel Cup Series with 9 top 5's.
Johnny Herrera started the year off with a win at Hanford then won races at I-80, Knoxville and Eldora...Paul McMahan had his best year since leaving CA with 31 top 5's and 5 feature wins in the Gumout Series on his way to a 2nd place in the point standings...Rickie Gaunt won more race this year than he had in the past few year combined with 5...Lance DeWease won 13 races and collected 40 top 5's over the course of the season in PA...Sean Michael started the season out in URC but when the Zemco ride opened up for good he filled the seat and took home 2 late season wins...Ronnie Day had a superb year in CA, winning the Dirt Cup for the 1st time as well as the Golden State Series title with 5 wins...Brian Coehlo really stepped to the plate and score his 1st main event win at Watsonville and was in line to win the Trophy Cup until spinning late in the 2nd race...Terry Tarditti ran a limited schedule with BCRA but still was able to pick up a feature win...Josh Wise scored 3 wins on the USAC Western States Midget Series with his first coming at Madera Speedway in a thrilling drive from deep in the pack...Brian Stanfill ran both Midgets and Sprint Cars on the Western States scoring 9 top 5's and a win in the midget...Jason Johnson had a wonderful year winning 3 races on the ASCS National Tour and came up with 24 top 5's in his first year on the tour, he also was married late in the year in Las Vegas...Jerrod Hull ran NCRA, WoO and All-Star races during the year and finished with 5 top 5's on the year... Cliff Brian split his time between running 410's and 360's and came up with 4 top 5's including a win at Port Royal...Michael Dupuy scored 2 wins in ASCS competition on a limited schedule.
Dean Jacobs started out the year on the All-Star Series running for Janet Holbrook, then moved into the Jr. Holbrook 8H after Randy Hannagan was fired and drove to seven 5th place finishes...Frankie Kerr was running strong when he abruptly retired from sprint car racing during the middle of the year but still garnered 11 top 5's with a feature win...Steve Ostling scored 14 top 5's of the very tough SCRA tour...Fred Rahmer was his usual outstanding self as he won 28 times with 57 top 5's and some very strong runs with wins in the All-Stars, WoO, Gumout Series, Williams Grove, Lincoln, Port Royal, Silver Spring and Selinsgrove...Todd Gracey ran mostly with the All-Stars Series and had limited success with 3 top 5's...Ricci Faria ran mainly with the NARC and Golden State Series and had some nice runs at Hanford, Tulare and Chowchilla...Rick Williams ran his own car on the Western States Sprint Car Series, then got into Ted Finkenbinder's car for several race and also ran Walt Branco's Hurricane in selected races...Brian Bullard drove Mark Flachman's Maxim to 2 wins and 11 top 5's splitting time between Placerville and Civil War...Chad Vermeil was strong for most of the season at Petaluma with a main event win and 7 top 5's...Tracy Hines ran USAC Midgets, Sprints and Silver Bullets to a combined 9 main event wins to go with 32 top 5's... Shane Scully ran the USAC Western States Midget Series and scored a win and 6 top 5's...Mike Ward ran selected ASCS races but still scored 8 top 5's on the year...Mark Richard returned to 410 racing and ran mainly at Port Royal with his best finish being a 2nd place...Jimmy McCune was impressive driving for Johnny Vance in selected USAC Sprint and Silver Bullet events and parlayed that into 4 top 5 finishes.
That is all I have I hope you found your favorite driver, if I missed somebody I am sorry but hopefully I covered most everybody. The new year has passed and it was good to hear from Kevin and Heather Pylant as well as Ken Costa and Muffin on New Years Eve, I wish I could have been there. The Chili Bowl is next week so here we go again. See ya at the races, BF
(BF has been a key crew member for Brent Kaeding's race teams for years in California. He is the son of Hall of Fame Midget pilot, Burt Foland. BF also works at the Kaeding Maxim Center and races a USAC Western States sprint car himself.)
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