Untitled Document

BF's B.S. 10/26/00

by "B.F." Bill Foland (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.)

Hello once again from Mountain View, California where it is RAINING HARD....Don't they know that we have some races left. We were supposed to go to Chico for the 360 Nationals but that is up in the air right now because they already canceled the Thursday show so we will se what happens over the weekend. After Chico we will head for LAS VEGAS!!!!! I love that place (being an avid gambler doesn't help matters for me). Then we will come back to run Hanford and the Cotton Classic the following Saturday night. Then on November 10th and 11th we will venture down to Perris to run the $25,000 to win Non-Wing World Championship race.

Now for a review of where I have gone the past couple of weeks. ...With an open weekend for winged sprint cars, my dad, myself and my main crew man Darren Powers along with Darren's two sons, Jimmy and Donnie drove down to Irwindale to catch the USAC Western States Sprint Car Series race along with the Silver Bullet race. When we got there we were just in time for hot laps and went right to the stands to view the action. Let me tell you, ...THAT track is FAST!!! When you watch it on TV it does it no justice because they are flat flying. I wish I could have ran with my car but it didn't work out and hopefully we will get to go next year.

Brad Noffsinger was in Ted Finkenbinder's sprint car and Tracy Hines was in the famed Tamale Wagon. Bud Kaeding ran Bob Consani's car - so there were some serious gasser's in the field. Todd Ellison had virtually wrapped up the title as all he had to do was make the main event which he did and was crowned the 2000 champion. Bob Consani took home the car owner's championship so congratulations to both Todd and Bob. Qualifying dragged on for a while but it was worth it as the racing made up for lost time. Shauna Hogg drove a great race to win her heat race going away in her 8 race old Beast. Shauna really likes her new car and it showed as her and her dad Richard have found the right set-up. The other lady in the field Amy Barnes, had problems with her motor all day long as she was going to attempt to run the sprint car and the Silver Bullet Series but was unable to take a qualifying attempt in either. Better luck next time to Amy and her dad Danny.

Bud Kaeding won his heat race going away on his patented high line around the super fast 1/2 mile. As the main event pushed off for the sprint cars a star-studded peanut gallery had assembled in the turn one bleachers which included "Cajun" Chris Good, Kevin Pylant, Mike Andreetta, Brian Matherly, Jimmy Sills (who had problems in the other Consani car all night), Damien Gardner, Glen Bacon and myself to root on our favorites. In the sprint car main event Tracy Hines led from the pole for over 30 laps before burning his tire off and fading to 6th at the finish. Bud Kaeding was the show as he drove deeper and deeper into the corner, almost running the paved track like it had a cushion on it. He was very exciting as he charged from 8th to 2nd and had the leader in his sights when the yellow appeared on lap 31. On the restart Bud couldn't get going and faded to 6th before getting back up to 4th at the finish line. This was when Brad Noffsinger made his move as he and Hines traded the lead at least 10 times before Noffsinger took control on lap 37 and never looked back to give Ted Finkenbinder his first win on the year.

Ageless John Ryals (who I remember running a sprint car against the offset supers at Madera in the 80's) made a great charge from 12th to 2nd in his beautiful new red Beast as did Scott Hansen who drove from 14th to 3rd in his 2 race old Beast. A major crash in the main event happened when Curtis Brown and Jeff Gardner got together sending Brown spinning backwards down the track and was hit by Burney Lamar and they both got upside down but there was now injuries. This was the 2nd major crash for Brown as I witnessed first hand the hard tumble he took at Stockton when I was behind him in hot-laps. ...Hope you get back out there again Curtis.

In the Silver Bullet race, Jason Leffler led for a few laps before Jason McCord came storming through and took the lead and led for 20+ laps. He eventually would use his tires up and eventually pitted and was out of contention. Leffler took over again and led for numerous laps before Russ Gamester came into contention and battled Leffler side by side for many laps before wrestling the lead away. Bud Kaeding was again a man on a mission as he drove the top side hard and fast and drove up to 4th before kissing the turn 2 wall which sent him back a few spots but he would eventually claw back up to 5th after a spirited battle with Brian Tyler which he eventually won. Russ Gamester was gone and Leffler could do nothing to catch him, try as he might he couldn't run him down and had to settle for 2nd behind Gamester. Third in the finishing order was Aaron Fike in his first ever Silver Bullet ride and he did a tremendous job. After the races he said on his television interview that driving those cars were "easy" and like driving a "Cadillac". ...I doubt that, but he did a great job in the big cars. Watching the Silver Bullets line up for the feature looked like a commercial for Beast Chassis as they owned the 19 out of the top 20 starters. I look forward to going back next year and hopefully making some laps around there myself.

Last week we ran the Trophy Cup at Watsonville for 360 Sprinters and I was rather surprised that there weren't more than 62 cars. I thought there would be at least 80. There wasn't too many Civil War guys there which also surprised me as this was right down there alley on the short and tight 1/4 mile. Ronnie Day was fast qualifier followed by Brent Kaeding. The heat races were hard to pass on the sticky and narrow track but the fast cars were able to make moves and not fake moves. With the 12 inversion for the main event it looked to be very interesting as Keith Day and Andy Forsberg started up front. A great battled ensued between them as Forsberg ran the bottom and Day on top. Forsberg would eventually claim the top prize but Day was a disappointing 9th place after having his front end knocked out on the final lap in the final corner. Finishing second was NARC regular Brian Coehlo followed by Peter Murphy, Steve Kent and Tim Kaeding. Brent Kaeding led the points after the first night followed by Ronnie Day, Peter Murphy, Brian Coehlo and Steve Kent. In fact, the top seven in points were only seperated by 7 points.

The following day was one I would rather forget as the track was very slick and dry and was blowing dust by the first hot lap session. Usually when Watsonville goes slick there are some moist spots to hook up on but not this time as it went the other way a laid rubber down. Yes, you heard me a California track that laid rubber down and was eating tires faster than a bum at a buffet dinner. The first heat was rather eventful as Brent Kaeding had made his way from 8th to 2nd on the narrow race track and went for the lead on the last lap but spun out of contention and had to go to the tail. The rest of the heat races passing was at a minimum with most of the front row starters winning the heat races.

Tammy Wright picked off a very impressive win in her heat race over Bud Kaeding in the Sala 19. The action got better in the B-main as Terry McCarl, Bud Kaeding and Randy Tiner duked it out for the right to start in the front of the A-Main. Tiner made contact with McCarl in traffic about halfway throughout the race and sent them spinning and flipping along with Bud Kaeding and out of the Trophy Cup. The A-main event started out with Tyler Haylett leading with Herman Klein in tow. The track was very abrasive by now and the decision was handed down to run 20-laps then stop for tires then run the last 20-laps. The decision didn't sit well with fans as they had endured 55 mile an hour winds and a hour and a half power outage. But the races were run as fast as they could and the entire Trophy Cup officials team should be commended on making the best with a bad situation. Haylett led for 15 laps before being passed by Jon Allard and Herman Klein stayed in the top 5 even though he had constant pressure. Tommy Tarlton was working his way up through the field and was making some very good moves getting into the corners as he had broken into the top 5 before the 20-lap intermission after starting 17th. Brent Kaeding had moved up to 8th after starting 22nd and Brian Coehlo was in 9th after starting 21st.

Peter Murphy was running 10th after starting 23rd and Ronnie Day was two spots behind after starting 24th. The second 20 started off with Tarlton making a move into 3rd which put the pressure on Brent Kaeding, Coehlo and Murphy to try to move up. Allard still led and Kaeding attempted to pass on the outside and stayed even until the exit of the corner and Coehlo went by and moved up into contention for the Trophy Cup title. Allard still led with two laps to go followed by Tarlton, Craig Smith and a hard charging Coehlo until Coehlo spun in turn one and ended his bid to take home the title which was well within his grasp. Allard led the final 2 laps and Tarlton was crowned the Champion with a 2nd place finish. Third in the 2nd 20 went to Craig Smith followed by Tyler Haylett and Kyle Schild. Shawna Wilskey came home 6th followed by 2nd in overall points Peter Murphy and 3rd in overall points Brent Kaeding. Ronnie Day had a flat tire late in the race which ended any chance he had to win the Cup.

BF's Notes: Jason Meyers ended the Gumout Series season with a bang with a win at the Terre Haute Action Track, capping a great job this season, winning the Gumout Series Rookie Of The Year over fellow Californian Brad Furr...Tim Shaffer won another Preliminary race in Texas before being punted by Sammy Swindell on the start into a scary flip into turn one...Steve Kinser won the finale...The following week in Houston, Sammy won the prelim before Steve Kinser came back to win the finale and clinch the Championship, congrats Steve on another GREAT year...Good to see Mike and Al Consani at Irwindale they made the trip a fun(ny) one... Mike Kirby has been on a tear as of late in SCRA competition winning at Manzanita and a 2nd behind Rickie Gaunt at Ventura...Andy Forsberg clinched the Civil War Championship at Placerville to go along with his Placerville track championship and a Trophy Cup preliminary night, this kid has had a year...Unheralded Aaron Pollack won the Midgets and Tracy Hines the Sprint Car portion of the Sammy Sessions Memorial race at Winchester Speedway in Indiana...Glen Carson was crowned the BCRA midget Champion following a 3rd place finish at Petaluma behind young Chuck Gurney Jr. and ageless Floyd Alvis...Wayne Johnson clinched his 1st ASCS National crown with at win at Terre Haute as Jason Johnson to the finale...That is all I have for this time I will be gone for a while but I will report on the Las Vegas WoO show along with the big Non-Wing World Championship race next time....

At this time I want to pass on my condolences to the family on Ned Ferla. Uncle Ned as we called him passed away a couple of weeks ago from Cancer. Ned was a great person who always put everybody else ahead of himself. When Ned and Bob Miller owned the cars that Brent Kaeding drove, Ned would stay home to watch the business while we all went out on the road and played. Ned would come out to San Jose but he rarely strayed out of the area. I will never forget how much he enjoyed Bar-B-Qing for anybody that was hungry at the races or the Body Shop. His infectious laugh would bring a smile to your face at any time. We all knew Ned was sick but I guess we thought he would have more time. He was able to get out to Watsonville at the WoO race and I will never forget the smile he had on his face when he was right there on the backchute watching the speeding sprint cars go by.

That is what I will never forget about Uncle Ned, we will miss you and we all love you...Rest In Peace....BF

Anybody wishing to attend a memorial for Ned it is going to be Wednesday, November 6th at 1:00 p.m. at Vasona Park in Los Gatos right across from where Ned spent most of his time, The Los Gatos Body Shop.

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