Daryn Pittman won the latest heat of the HammerDownUSA Popularity Contest. ...Tim Kaeding is now driving the Roth Motorsports #83 Jr. He promptly won at Chico in Golden State competition Saturday night (07-12-08). Tyler Walker was second in that event followed by Brad Bumgarner who notched his best career run on dirt. ...Danny Lasoski is blowing them away in the Knoxville Raceway points championship battle. Teamed again with Guy Forbrook, "The Dude" has a 410 point lead over Billy Alley. This week Lasoski is driving the Doyle's Harley Davidson #1HD in the ASCS Northwest Speedweek. Their first race was held Monday night at Southern Oregon Speedway. Jon Allard was the winner. ...The most recent winner at Knoxville was 20 year-old Davey Heskin. ...Brady Short, Cole Whitt, and Dave Darland won features most recently in the Indiana Sprint Week. Levi Jones leads the USAC National Sprint Car points.
Jeff Bland surprised the Indiana Sprint Week contingent with a win on the opening night of the mini-series at Lawrenceburg. ...Steve Kinser, and Tim Kaeding won the most recent heats in the HammerDown! Popularity Contest Poll. ...Craig Dollansky won his sixth World of Outlaws feature Sunday night at Haubstadt, IN. The Crowd Pleaser has never won the Kings Royal at Eldora but this may be his best chance to date. ...Destiney Hays is back! She will drive a second Dan Simpson Racing winged sprinter for the remainder of the 2008 season - concentrating on Northern California events plus the World of Outlaws races from Billings, Montana August 19th through the Gold Cup at Chico. That means the team plans to hit Skagit, Elma, and Cottage Grove. ...Brad Sweet doubled up on wins at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico this weekend (July 4-5, 2008). Driving Rod Tiner's #83, "The Yam" won both Friday's points race - and Saturday's Golden State Challenge event. ...Cody Darrah won $7,000 for his PA. Speedweek feature win at Port Royal Speedway Saturday night. ...Doug Wolfgang is going to be at the Kings Royal as part of a salute to past winners of the $50,000 to-win event (read more here). ...With a month of racing remaining - Jon Allard leads the Golden State Challenge standings by 44 points over Tyler Walker. Read more about it from the local Chico newspaper. ...Jeremy Campbell is now racing for Rick Ferkel in the famous #0. ...Paul McMahan is settling in to his new ride for Lonnie Parsons. Tony Veneziano caught up with McMahan and produced this nice update on the pro's pro. ...Sam Hafertepe Jr. is quietly having a great season as as a sophomore on the World of Outlaws trail. The Texas driver already owns ten top-ten finishes in the opening 25 WoO shows of 2008. ...Wayne Johnson broke through in ASCS National competition on the fourth of July. The Mustang, OK. driver sits third in their points behind leader Gary Wright, and second running Jason Johnson. Zach Chappell is within striking distance as well in the ASCS National points fight. ...Brad Sweet got some ink in the Scramento Bee. Dig it - here. ...Two more adjustments to the Racer's Racing Series schedule have been made. The Mitch Smith Memorial at Williams Grove was postponed due to weather and re-scheduled for July 11th. However - the race will no longer be a points earning RRS event. It was learned that the event will pay $5,000 to win rather than the previously stated $10,000 to win. ...The July 5th RRS date sanctioned by the World of Outlaws at I-55 Speedway was knocked out due to flooding. So - we have added the third leg of the Ollie's 360 Challenge at Williams Grove - August 19th, and the USAC-CRA Sprint Car event at Calistoga Speedway - August 31st to the schedule.
...Jac Haudenschild, Jason Meyers, and Paul McMahan were the winners of the last three heats in our HammerDown! Poll Popularity Contest. ...McMahan is now in the Casey's General Store #6. McMahan finished 13th in his first night driving the Lonnie Parsons owned Maxim. ...Congrats to Brad Sweet on sweeping double USAC National Midget shows at Knoxville Raceway last weekend. ...Kudos to Andy Gregg who scored his first feature win at Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway June 27th. ...A tip of the HammerDown! cap to Randy Hannagan for taking home the Ohio Sprint Speedweek points title.
...Lonnie Parsons, car owner of the Casey's General Store #6 has parted ways with driver Tim Shaffer. Early word has Pennsylvania's Mike Wagner in the car this weekend at Dodge City. We hear that Shaffer will run at Dodge City in a second Sides Motorsports car. Shaffer won at Dodge City in 2006 during National Sprint Tour action. ... Tyler Walker was the winner of the Calistoga Speedway season opener Saturday night (June 14, 2008). Read Bill Sessa's account of the night here. ...Donny Schatz won heat two in our HammerDown! Poll Popularity Contest. ...Kudos to my man Johnny Gibson on announcing his 1,100th consecutive World of Outlaws sprint car event. Lost in the amazing stat is the fact that "Gibby" drives every mile on his own in his van. His next drive will be from the Lincoln, NE. area to Dodge City, Kansas. He began announcing for the series in 1997 and has been present at every event since. ...Make sure to see Sean Buckley's video of Bret Mellenbernt's vicious non-wing sprint car launch. ...We spoke with Steve Howard of So Cal Performance this week about the Labor Day weekend Calistoga USAC races. Howard has raised money beyond the normal purse for the competitors in the CRA sprint car and Western Midget divisions. The races - being held on Saturday and Sunday August 30th and 31st. Tickets will be $25 Genral Admission. Juniors - (age 4-12) will be $10, and under four years old will be free. You can buy tickets by calling So Cal Performance at 562.862.9122. ...When the King talks you should probably listen. Steve Kinser voiced concern over the World of Outlaws rule that says you must run the same tire from your heat race in the dash. Kinser punctured his right rear tire in his heat race Saturday night at Knoxville. He was qualified for the dash but was faced with a choice of either scratching from the dash or racing with a plugged right rear. His concern was safety which is a valid point when you are racing at the speeds they race at on a half-mile such as Knoxville Raceway. The rule was put in place to save teams money. Without the rule - teams would bolt on a new right rear for every dash. This is a tough one. If a guy with a heat race punctured tire could change to a fresh tire - even if he started at the rear - he would have a competitive advantage. If you made him put on a "used tire" then the gray area of 'how used is it?' comes into play. In my book - safety trumps everything. So maybe the rule should say that running with a plugged tire at any time is not allowed. ...Joey Saldana won Heat One of our HammerDown! Poll Popularity contest - garnering 40% of the votes among ten drivers.
...With the announcement that the Hoosier Hundred will not be made up in 2008, HammerDownUSA.com's Racer's Racing Series has added a new date to the 60-race schedule. Leg #2 of the Ollie's 360 Challenge at Eldora Speedway (July 8, 2008) will now count as a points earning event. The three-race Ollie's 360 Challenge offers $6,000 to win each race with a $50,000 bonus to any driver who can win two of the three races. Already entered in the series are NASCAR Cup stars Dave Blaney, Kasey Kahne, and Tony Stewart. ...Donny Schatz swept the weekend of World of Outlaws racing - winning at Attica Raceway Park - Friday night, and at Eldora Speedway Saturday. He remains the only series driver that has finished in the Top-10 in all 14 events this season. ...Schatz (3), Jason Meyers (5) , Craig Dollansky (2) and Steve Kinser (2) are hogging all the wins right now in the Greatest Show on Dirt. ...Shane Stewart won the Quik-Liner Cup for time-trials in the World of Outlaws. Points were awarded in the first dozen races - and Stewart in the Roth Motorsports #83 - narrowly defeated Dollansky for the cup. ...Congratulations to Kyle Larson on his Civil War feature win at Chico. Now 15 years old - Larson is next in line to be a great young racer from California. If you are scoring at home - California kids Brad Sweet, Kody Swanson, Tanner Swanson, Shane Golobic, Robert Ballou, Darren Hagen, Mason Moore, Kyle Hirst, Alissa Geving, Evan Suggs, and Larson are all performing very well. Sweet, 22, is still seeking his first win of the year but he has four runner-up finishes that prove his versatility. "The Yam" has second place runs in a 360 and 410 winged sprint car, as well as in a non-wing sprinter on Kokomo's dirt, and Anderson's pavement. ...Kody Swanson, 20, is featured in the latest edition of Sprint Car & Midget magazine. ...Tanner Swanson, 17, is Kody's younger brother and right now he leads the USAC Western Sprint Car points heading into this Saturday's event at All American Speedway in Roseville. Tanner has wins at Altamont, and Anderson (IN.) this season. ...Golobic, 16, upset the Golden State Challenge regulars earlier this year at Watsonville's Ocean Speedway. ...Ballou won on May 4th at Terre Haute. ...Hagen, 21, has two USAC National wins - one in the Midget at Manzanita, and the other in a non-wing sprint car on Winchester's blacktop. ...Moore, 17, is one of four young chargers in the top-ten of the Friday night points at Silver Dollar Speedway. Moore is fourth in points with one feature win. He is joined by Hirst, Robbie Whitchurch, and 18 year-old Brett Miller in the top ten. Hirst, 20, has two 2008 wins, one at Chico in a 410 winged car - and the other in Civil War winged 360 action at Placerville. ...Geving sits eleventh in the current Civil War points - while leading the standings at Petaluma Speedway. ...Suggs, 21, has four top-five's in the Golden State Challenge. He sits sixth in points.
...Jason Meyers kept right on winning with a victory Saturday (May 24, 2008) at Virginia Motor Speedway. Delaney's daddy now has five wins with the World of Outlaws this season. ...The Night Before the 500 Midget race at Raceway Park in Indianapolis was snared by Bobby East. Kody Swanson had quick-time and finished fourth. ...The Hoosier Hundred was a wash out and a make-up date has not yet been announced. ...Casey Shuman won his second ASCS Canyon Region feature of 2008 by topping Saturday night's 51-lap Salute to Indy atop Manzanita Speedway's 1/3-mile clay oval.
...It's a huge weekend for points earning races in HammerDownUSA.com's Racer's Racing Series. The RRS awards points at 60 of the biggest events annually. Memorial Day Weekend serves up four truly BIG sprint car, Silver Crown, and midget races. Friday night, both the World of Outlaws and USAC Silver Crown divisions have races at Concord, NC., and Indianapolis, IN. respectively. The WoO show at the Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway will be televised LIVE on Speed at 8PM Eastern. The 56th annual Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds is as traditional as they come. Saturday - points will be offered to the top 15 finishers in the Little 500 at Anderson Speedway, as well as the top 15 at the Night Before the 500 USAC National Show at O'Reilly Race Park. ...Jason Meyers won the most recent RRS points earning race at Lernerville Speedway May 13th. ... The latest on the Calistoga USAC races on Labor Day weekend is that the race is a GO. USAC is promoting the event themselves. I apologize for the confusion about whether the race would actually take place. I should have done a better job for you all in checking my facts. This time around - I have talked with Patty Sereni at Calistoga Speedway, and Tommy Hunt at USAC and I have been assured that the races are on. They are set for Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Tickets will be available shortly through USAC's web site. Of course we feel this is an event that cannot be missed! They haven't run sprint cars without wings at Calistoga since September 28th, 1985. ...With the latest RRS rainout at Williams Grove - we have added the first leg of the Ollie's 360 Challenge at Sharon Speedway (June 17th) to the schedule.
...Peter Murphy scored another Bandit sprint car win at Bakersfield Speedway this past weekend. ...Tyler Walker won a thriller at the Thunderbowl in Tulare, CA. The Golden State Challenge win made Walker the first repeat winner in the series this year. ...Up at Chico in Friday night action (May 9, 2008), it was Andy Forsberg claiming his 22nd career win at the quarter-mile clay oval. The following night - Forsberg won for the third time this year at Placerville Speedway. ...The World of Outlaws have had more rainouts (ten) than nights of racing (seven) so far in 2008. They try again this week with Tuesday's RRS points earning feature at Lernerville followed by two nights at Williams Grove Speedway. The Friday Grove show is also a RRS points race. Both nights of action at the historic half-mile in Mechanicsburg, PA will be taped and later televised on Speed. ...Belated kudos to Robert Ballou on his win at Terre Haute in MSCS sanctioned competition. Ballou is quickly becoming the non-wing master of manly-man race tracks. ...A bonus is available at this year's Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park in Ohio. A $10,000 "Clean Sweep Bonus" will be paid to any driver who can set fast time, win a heat race, win the dash, and win the 40-lap A-main. The bonus money for the July 9th race is being put up by the University of Northwestern Ohio. ...Nebraska driver Jack Dover, an 18 year-old, won the ASCS National event at State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City Friday night.
Kenny Jacobs won the Lernerville Speedway (Sarver, PA.) All-Star feature Friday night (April 25, 2008). Paul McMahan posted quick-time and finished second in Rick Ferkel's #0. ...A cat named Skip Wilson was the Friday night winner in ASCS National Sprint Car action in Paris, TX. ...Billy Wease captured the Gerhardt Classic at Madera for USAC Western Midgets. Only 16 cars bothered to show up for the 100 lap race. ...Lots to catch up on. First off - condolences to the McCray family following the passing of Joel on April 20th. Joel McCray was a super supporter of sprint car racing that sponsored and owned cars associated with such Sacramento area legends as Kenny Woodruff, Duke McMillen, Johnny Anderson, and LeRoy VanConett. The J.F. McCray Plastering banner currently rides with Tim Kaeding on the McMillen tuned Tom Rolfe #10. ...At Gas City, IN. (04/18/08) USAC was able to dodge rain and get some racing in the books. Shane Cottle won the feature on a night when 46 cars timed-in. ...Congrats to Kody Swanson on his first USAC National Midget victory. The win came a couple weeks back at Southern National Raceway Park in Kenly, N.C. Swanson is driving for Steve Lewis' Nine Racing Team. ...Robby Flock recently broke Rob Russell's four-year old track record at Placerville Speedway. Driving Mike Sala's Spike/Wirth #19s, Flock ripped the P-Ville red-clay quarter-mile in 11.619 seconds! Flock also won the BCRA feature that night. ...Sprint car racing lost a visionary with the passing of Morgan Hughes. The Williams Grove Speedway mastermind consistently poured his soul into our sport. “Motor sports lost a true visionary in Morgan Hughes,” said World Racing Group President Tom Deery. “For more than 30 years, he strived to make Williams Grove the best dirt track in the country, and he succeeded in leaving behind a legacy of accomplishment that lives on at perhaps the most competitive speedway in the country. He will be missed by all of us.” ...One more reason to love Terry McCarl. "At some of the fuel stops we’ve had, we’ve still had seven or eight gallons of fuel, and that is bull! I hate fuel stops. I don’t think there should have been one at Eldora. Let drivers run out of fuel. I can tell you the next time we’re there, we’ll have the big tank on, and they should make them mandatory." ...Blake Miller recently won the special open-comp non-wing sprint car event at Victorville Speedway (Victorville, CA.). The race paid $5,000 to-win. ...Check check. ASCS sprint car acing is now 15 divisions strong. One National series is supported by 14 regional deals. Jason Johnson and Gary Wright are the star attractions. Johnson won the most recent ASCS National event Saturday night (04/19/08) at Lucas Oil Speedway in Kansas. ...Recent winners in USAC Western racing include Paul Zimmerly (Altamont midgets- 04/19/08), and Brian McClish (Altamont Sprint Cars 04/19/08). ...In Golden State Challenge competition, Bud Kaeding was the most recent winner. His Petaluma Speedway feature win was capped by a big wheelie and tight donuts. ...Evan Suggs has posted three straight "top-fives" in the GSC. ...Alissa Geving finished sixth at her Petaluma home track. She had a 360 under the hood vs. the more powerful 410's.
I updated the Chico winner's list. ...Also updated the Driver Index a little bit. ...I want to re-visit the USAC decision to scrap the new generation pavement Silver Crown car in favor of the older original big cars. While I agree that the newer car was not the answer, I think it really put the 20 or so car owners, who supported the series as it transitioned from the old car to the new car, in a tough tough spot. Among those car owners are California's Bud Kaeding and Ken Pierson. Kaeding won two Silver Crown titles back-to-back and is supposed to be defending his championship this season. However, Kaeding is rideless for the next event on the pavement schedule. The Richmond race would have had Bud in the lineup if USAC kept going with the newer, safer, uglier car. Instead - after the calendar was well into 2008 (February 15th) - Bud and Pierson and the other car owners were told that for this season USAC was going back to the old Silver Crown cars. Kaeding sold his old style Silver Crown car when USAC decided to go to the new car. ...It is a tough situation for sure. A vital part of effective leadership is recognizing and admitting a problem - then correcting it as soon as possible. USAC saw that the new car wasn't working - so they clipped it. I just feel bad for the people who stepped into the new deal and spent their time and money - only to be told that their cars would be "undergoing revision and redesign." ...My recipe for USAC's Silver Crown future goes something like this...USAC should spend money on a viable TV package or production of a "This week in USAC" type TV show. As I stated previously - the Silver Crown series needs to run at the most traditional tracks we have. If the track has no history with sprint cars, midgets, or champ cars - then the venue should be somewhere where there is another draw (like the entertainment choices of Las Vegas). I would also get the series to more half-miles. A dream Silver Crown schedule would have the long-standing dates at DuQuoin, Springfield, and the Indy Mile, plus Eldora, Manzanita, Calistoga, Terre Haute, Knoxville and Williams Grove. On the pavement - USAC has smartly added Newton, IA., the day after the Knoxville Nationals. They need to (even if it requires spending their own money to promote it) bring back the original Copper World at Phoenix International Raceway in late January or early February. I would try like heck to make a deal with the beautiful Irwindale Speedway as well. Forget trying to put these guys on display as an afterthought to a NASCAR or IndyCar weekend. A support series rarely gets support. ... Pay very close attention to how the series does in 2008. At the risk of blasphemy - I would say if the series for the Big Cars doesn't show significant improvement in car counts, at the front gate, and in close exciting racing, maybe it is time to let it rest in peace. OR - let it be someone eles's worry. Sprint Cars are the more exciting division in my opinion. Why not put all the resources from Silver Crown into making the USAC National Sprint Car series the main deal?
...Kudos to the Clauson family (Tim, Bryan specifically) for spending some of their NASCAR cash to start a new sprint car racing team. ...Over here, I just finished work on a Brent Kaeding biography piece that will coincide with his induction to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. The work will be available for reading in an upcoming issue of Flat Out magazine. ...Regarding the Hall of Fame, Tom Schmeh, our good friend, is taking a new position as curator of the Hall. His old job of basically being THE MAN at the Hall will be filled soon. ...BtW, another year has slipped by with Johnny Anderson not getting into the Hall of Fame. COME ON! Really? Are we going to have to take out advertising to get Anderson into the Hall? For the record, I voted for Anderson, and Kaeding this year. ...The upcoming USAC sprint car race (April 5, 2008) at Eldora is set to pay $5,000 to the winner. ...In case you missed it - USAC has done away with the "next generation" Silver Crown car that was running on pavement for the last couple years. Instead, the dinosaur battle busses are back. ...Lew Lewis says Jerry Belville has been found! ...The recently rained out Civil War event at Placerville Speedway has been rescheduled for Wednesday, April 9th. ...1976 West Capital Raceway points champion, Jerry Belville, has been nominated for the West Capital Raceway Hall of Fame. But he cannot be located. You out there Jerry? Please contact W.C. “Lew” Lewis, Vice President, West Capital Raceway Alumni Association. (530) 713-6491 or email openwheeler12@wcisp.com.
A few tidbits to share with you all following two nights of racing at the Mini Gold Cup in Chico... Jason Meyers' chassis this season is a home-grown deal assembled by Steve Kent. Chris Luck - a sponsor of Meyers - says the KPC frame is exclusive to Elite Racing with the #14 team owning the jig. Kent - a former King of California driver - has been busy in Central California working, among other things, as a car builder for the Gerhardt gang over at Western Speed. Kent is also the guy to call when you crash you pavement sprint car badly enough to need frame repair. ...Paul McMahan is scheduled to race in Pennsylvania at Lincoln Speedway this weekend. It will be just one more car of the several he plans to steer in 2008. We've always thought McMahan would be a natural in a pavement midget, sprint car or Silver Crown car. If I owned a good team with one of those seats available - I would be giving Paul a call. ...I was happy to see car owner Brian Sperry score the Friday night win. Sperry is a longtime friend that eats and sleeps sprint car racing. He is an even keeled dude living his dream of being a winning car owner on the rugged Northern California sprint car scene. A disciple of Kenny Woodruff, and Tim Green, Sperry has quietly accumulated lots of equipment to keep his #51 visible with either McMahan, Chuck Gurney Jr., or even Sperry himself behind the wheel. ...Brad Sweet confirmed his intent to run the Calistoga non-wing show over Labor Day Weekend. ...Mark Hall has a 410 engine for the 2008 season. The former champ at Marysville and Grass Valley raced well this weekend with the extra horsepower. ...There were 60-plus cars in the pits each night at Chico making it easy to see a handful of things that impressed me in some way shape or form... In no order: Meyers - Jason was all business - setting the tone early by attacking the track in time trials. The work he does away from the track is perhaps equally as important. Through Jason's leadership - his team is well funded, well equipped, and well traveled. The Elite Racing Team is professional in every sense of the word. ...McMahan - Paul's ability to qualify well is a huge asset for any driver to possess. His work in qualifying set him up for success each night. He also schooled cats on starts and restarts. He never did anything to jeopardize his team's chances to win. ...Tim Kaeding - T.K. could probably drive at Silver Dollar Speedway blind-folded. He passed cars every time he hit the track. Friday - he started 14th in the 30 lap feature and ran up to fourth. He did an amazing job to keep his car going after a wild pirouette in turn four in his heat race Saturday night. ...Greg DeCaires - This cat absolutely knows his way around Chico's quarter-mile. Others may do it with more flash but that was GDC passing seven cars in the Saturday feature to score a fifth place finish. ...Kevin Sharrah - He was extra good Friday night finishing seventh but ran into qualifying trouble on Saturday. Nevertheless - Sharrah showed skills Friday that opened eyes throughout the pit area. ...I like the look of Shain Matthews #67. ...For their lack of experience - Brent Bjork, and Christian Stover both looked promising. Bjork's car is being maintained by Brent Kaeding's shop which is a huge bonus for Bjork's development. ...Tyler Walker won his heat races on both nights. Walker told us he is happy beyond words to be back racing a winged sprint car in California. He and Lee Lindgrin (crew chief) are sure to win features this year. They scored a fifth place finish Friday but had mechanical gremlins Saturday.
With the cancellation of the World of Outlaws show at Bulls Gap, TN. due to bad weather - we have added the May 23rd WoO race at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway as a points earning event in the Racer's Racers Series. ...Troy Hennig tips that Sean Becker and Rod Fauver have teamed to compete at all the 410-winged sprint car races at Silver Dollar Speedway. “Sandy and myself are looking forward to working with Sean and see if we can go after a track championship together,” said Fauver. Becker will pilot the J & J chassis car that Sammy Swindell drove to a third place finish at the 2007 Gold Cup. “Fauver is supplying the car and my grandpa George is bringing the motor,” said Becker. “I am still driving the 2sb at all Civil War shows so this does not interfere with that program.” Hennig says fans should expect to see at least two or three cars a night from Fauver's Race Ready Rentals in the pits at Chico. “I have had a lot of people inquire this year. I got guys coming from Australia and the Midwest to race at Chico this year in the rental cars,” said Fauver.
...Alissa Geving will receive the "Rising Star" award from the MSPA at the annual Green Flag Dinner in Oakland, CA. March 5, 2008. ...The Weekly Calistogan says that Mike Kenny is retiring as manager of the Napa County Fairgrounds. ...Rollie Helmling - the former head man at USAC - will become the state of Indiana's new motorsports development director. ...Zach West has added 23 year-old crew chief Lee Watson to the fold for 2008. ...Word is that the Henderson Racing Team #7n has moved their shop to Grant's Pass, OR. ...From Tuesdays with T-Mac (Terry McCarl) by Bill Wright: "The recent road trip from Florida to Mississippi to Arizona to Northern California was a costly one for the team. “For a car owner, it’s just like throwing money out the window,” says TMAC. “It’s really a tough time of year to be a car owner. When you make a commitment to do a series or a point chase, you can’t second guess yourself; you have to commit to it. We’ve done it with the WoO, of course, and also at Knoxville and Huset’s. We’d drive the five hours to Sioux Falls knowing it would rain, and it finally starts when you get all the way there. That’s just part of the deal, so I try not to dwell on the cost of business, but it makes it tough.” ...Cole Whitt - the 16 year-old speedster from Alpine, CA. has joined Cory Kruseman's team for theThursday and Friday races under the USAC CRA banner at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Whitt ran strongly at the Chili Bowl in January. ...The World of Outlaws will again have a television package this season. An announcement with details is forthcoming. ...Bill Sessa notes that Andy Forsberg will be one of two drivers honored by MSPA as an "Oval Track Driver of the Year" during its annual awards dinner in Oakland, March 5. He will share the award, in a category that is always one of the most competitive, with San Jose's Bud Kaeding, who won his second consecutive national Silver Crown national championship. Also on the agenda is a MSPA Hall of Fame induction for Burt Foland SR. ...With the rain-out of the World of Outlaws event in Tulare, CA., the Racer's Racing Series has added the Anderson 400 Midget Classic (July 26th) to the 2008 schedule of points earning races.
...That was sprint car racer Ryan Newman winning the Daytona 500 - taking the lead from sprint car racer Tony Stewart. I admit to shouting at no one - alone in my living room - watching the finish of the Daytona NASCAR spectacle. I am not a NASCAR hardcore in any shape or form but I am a sports fan and the Daytona 500 is a race I always keep tabs on. Duh. ...Anyway - I felt a sense of pride seeing so much attention on Stewart and Newman. Not that it matters at all - but I told my cats the race was over when Tony took the lead with his high side drive on the final restart. I recall talking with Newman about eleven years ago in Phoenix at the old Copper World on the mile when we did TNN's Race of the Week. My first thought about him was 'Man - this guy could be Glen Boune's brother - he looks so much like him'. About that same time - Stewart was winning those Midget and Silver Crown races on pavement. Kasey Kahne was making his pavement midget debut. The point is - in about another eleven years or so - some drivers that are kids now will be winning races on the biggest stages. ...Do you wonder which guys from the HammerDown! world will be running up front at Daytona in 2019? ...We've done this before - but it is time again to use the Racer's Racing Series point standings (from 2007) as a rough guide to list the best driver/racer from the world of sprint cars, midgets, and champ-dirt cars for each age. ...Age 14: Coleman Gulick. Age 15: Kyle Larson. Age 16: Cole Whitt (Shane Golobic). Age 17: Chris Windom. Age 18: Brady Bacon (Bryan Clauson, Robert Ballou). Age 19: Kevin Swindell (02/21 will be 19), (Kody Swanson). Age 20: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Age 21: Lucas Wolfe (Darren Hagen). Age 22: Brad Sweet. Age 23: Bobby East, (Kraig Kinser). Age 24: Jesse Hockett. Age 25: Levi Jones. Age 26: Gary Taylor (Brad Kuhn, Roger Crockett, Mike Spencer). Age 27: T.J. Stutts, (Brian Brown, Sean Becker) Age 28: Bud Kaeding NOTE: Kaeding is trying to become the first driver in the 38-year history of USAC Silver Crown to claim three consecutive titles. Age 29: Daryn Pittman (Jason Meyers, Tim Kaeding). Age 30: Donny Schatz. Age 31: Jon Allard, (Shane Stewart, Jason Johnson ). Age 32: Jason Solwold. Age 33: Aaron Pierce, (Dave Steele). Age 34: Brian Paulus. Age 35: Joey Saldana. Age 36: Brooke Tatnell, (Kerry Madsen). Age 37: Paul McMahan. Age 38: Greg Hodnett. Age 39: ??? Age 40: Tim Shaffer. Age 41: Dave Darland. Age 42: Craig Dollansky. Age 43: Terry McCarl. Age 44: Dale Blaney. Age 45: ??? Age 46: Todd Shaffer. Age 47: Jeff Swindell. Age 48: Kenny Adams. Age 49: Danny Lasoski, (Jac Haudenschild, Gary Wright, Fred Rahmer). Age 50: Danny Smith, (Brent Kaeding). Age 51: Rip Williams. Age 52: Ed Lynch Jr. (Sammy Swindell, Kenny Jacobs ) Age 53: Steve Kinser. Age 54: Jimmy Sills. Age 57: Keith Kauffman. Age 63: Johnny Parsons Jr. ...The Calistoga Speedway winner's list was recently updated. ...Car counts at Manzanita for the Copper on Dirt: Midgets - 57, Sprint Cars - 44, Silver Crown cars - 17. The Copper on Dirt Silver Crown pays well enough to be a Racer's Racing Series points earning event but until the car count is higher it will remain outside of our top 60 features of the year. ...Speedy recovery wishes go out to both Troy Rutherford, and Marty Boyer. Rutherford is in a So-Cal hospital with a rare blood related virus. He has been in the crash house for a while and is said to be improving. ...Boyer is a great guy who loves midget racing. He recently suffered a stroke. He has helped many in their introduction to the Belleville High Banks - where Marty is like the "Mayor" according to Chris Lovett. Information on his current condition is here. ...Midget Madness has information on how people can help.Direct donations can be sent to: Duane Boyer - 1112 N St. Belleville, KS 66935. ....Were you at Calistoga Speedway in 1973? I need to know who the winning car owners were for the nine feature events contested under the NARC sanction. Please email me if you know.
...Speedy recovery wishes go out to Rip Williams who suffered broken bones in his left foot this past weekend at Perris Auto Speedway in the USAC-CRA season opener. Cory Kruseman won both nights of action at the PAS. ...Methanol cost this weekend? $6.50 a gallon! ...Sparky Howard confirmed his plans to run the USAC-CRA event at Calistoga Speedway over Labor Day weekend. Also planning on running is Jerry Cisco. Kyle Larson said he hopes to give the `Stoga non-wing show a try but he will decide for sure at a later date. Kyle Hirst tells us he is not sure if he will run with a wing in Washington or do the Calistoga race. ...James Sweeney will not only run on dirt this season. The 2006 Placerville Speedway Rookie of the Year has plans to try his hand at non-wing sprint cars on pavement. Sweeney's team was the winning squad at the Tony Hunt Race for a Reason charity event over the weekend. The annual shindig held at the RPM karting facility in Sacramento raised over $25,000 for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. ...Michael Faccinto of Hanford, CA told us he is looking forward to his midget debut on the Manzanita half-mile at the upcoming Copper on Dirt event (Feb. 15-16). The high school basketball player is playing hoop for the last time this season - saying that next year - he will run the Chili Bowl rather than lace up the hi-tops.
...They had a practice day at Perris Auto Speedway - which was not a good thing for Luis Espinoza. Check out the Jeff Kristensen video (it's about six minutes - thirty seconds into the video). ...Kudos to Tracy CA. pilot Jason Botsford for going all the way to Florida to start his racing season. That's heart! ...Time for the sprint car community to unite and help out one of our own. The plain and painful truth is that when Bobby Jackson - the former World of Outlaws Director of Competition - passed away, he had no life insurance. This has saddled the family with financial distress they never could have foreseen. Bobby's wife Patty was a friend and "mother, sister" to many of us who spent time out with the series away from our homes. On more than one occasion Patty was there for me. I would like to use this space to ask any and all of you to to send whatever you can to: The Jackson Family, c/o Josh Jackson, 11216 58th St. W, Milan IL 61264. HammerDown! thanks you!
We were shocked to hear about the death of Bobby Jackson. The former World of Outlaws Director of Competition passed away earlier this week. In a statement from the WoO - Carlton Reimers said it best, “The racing community is very saddened by the loss of Bobby Jackson,” said Reimers, the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Director. “Bobby loved all types of racing, especially dirt track racing, but his heart was with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. For many years, Bobby was the Series Competition Director, knowledgeable and quick-witted, he presided over many great races. On a personal note he, along with Ted Johnson and Rick Ferkel, taught me most of what I know about racing. He will be missed. God speed and our prayers are with his family.” ...We have heard from many racers about the big non-wing Calistoga race over Labor Day weekend. Surprisingly to me - some drivers who would like to run said they may not run because of USAC's requirement of the HANS device. One driver said he feels like the HANS is a 'frontal impact' helper. He says that frontal impact crashes are more prevalent on pavement and in the big heavy NASCAR stock car world. He doesn't feel like the HANS is worth the investment for just a one shot deal with USAC at Calistoga. ...I say... I just hope as a race fan for a huge turnout of cars and drivers who have the experience to get around the joint as safely as possible. My heart believes that the stands will be overflowing with fans who are ultra hyped to see the non-wing sprint cars on the nasty half-mile for the first time in over 20 years. Maybe USAC would consider a waiver of sorts for the old-schoolers who learned to race prior to the requirement of a HANS device. Personally I've seen the device work well on a couple of occasions. They were both pavement sprint car crashes that looked fatal but had drivers wind up okay. One walked away. One was airlifted but survived to race again. ...Tony Hunt, five-time USAC driving champion, will be teamed with Toyota for the 2008 racing season. Driving the Alan Kaiser sprint car – Hunt has aligned himself with Toyota Racing Development (TRD) in competition for the USAC Western Sprint Car championship. The Toyota 360 Sprint Car engine is a derivative of the eight-cylinder Toyota engine previously used in NASCAR Busch and Craftsman Truck Series competition. The combination is a natural fit for Hunt who has long been supported by Thompson’s Toyota dealership in Placerville, Calif., Said Gary Reed, Vice President of Special Racing Projects for Toyota, “We are fortunate to have Tony as a part of our 2008 sprint car motor program. Tony's success in the USAC Western Sprint Car Series will give us added experience to create a winning formula. His support of one of our Toyota dealers allows us to connect with the consumer while we continue to grow in short track racing.” Hunt’s first race in the Toyota powered sprint car will be at Roseville California’s All-American Speedway on April 12, 2008. The car will be campaigned in Nevada, Idaho, Utah, and Southern California as well. Sam Bailey of Bailey Brothers, a prominent Northern California engine builder, will be maintaining the Toyota engines throughout the season. For more information on Tony Hunt – please visit www.TonyHunt.com ...Jason Newton is a driver to look out for. Newton was the 2007 Ocean Speedway (Watsonville, CA.) Rookie of the Year on the strength of a seventh place finish in OS points. He won a main event at Antioch Speedway last season as well. ...USAC did well to add the Ultimate Challenge to their 2008 schedule. The BIG RACE at Oskaloosa, Iowa on August 5th is a part of HammerDownUSA.com's Racer's Racing Series. The USAC sanction places the USAC brand in the heart of sprint car country as it runs just one day prior to the opening night of the Knoxville Nationals. ...My friend Bruce St. James is still recovering from an accident suffered as a cab passenger. After a season that saw Bruce win his first feature, and destroy two sprint cars, en route to fourth place in the ASCA points - he never thought his most painful injuries would come from a doggone taxi. Bruce writes, ..."dizzy spells, numbness/tingling in my extremities, headaches, severe back pain" have been nagging through the winter months. The official diagnosis is that St. James has a herniated disc in his neck, a narrowing of the spinal column, nerve damage and the beginning stages of arthritis in his neck and back. Bruce quips, "other than that, I'm fine." ...Sean Cain of Fire Down Graphics e-mailed the new 2008 version of the Rudeen Racing #26
Posted on Hoseheads.com: "Ricci Faria is selling his entire Visalia, CA based #89 Sprint Car operation- equipment and tractor/trailer. Ricci hopes to drive a limited schedule for another team, so contact him if you are looking for a driver for your California based team. You can contact Ricci at ricci@trailercompany.com." ...Ricci is an excellent racer that won at least 24 feature events in California in the span from 1997 to 2007. He won with wings in 410's and 360's and he even beat USAC-CRA in a rare non-wing start. ...Lance Dewease has thrown his helmet into the dash for the All-Star Sprint Car 2008 championship. The Pennsylvania top-gun will ride in the Catoctin Motorsports #30c - which is the same car Dewesae was driving at the end of the 2007 season. Bryan Autullo reports that Dewease said, "I’m looking forward to running at some new tracks. I have never been to about 90% of the tracks on the schedule. It will be challenging on the slick bullrings. The All Stars have some pretty tough competitors and I know there are some really good teams in Ohio on the local level, so I know it won’t be easy, but I am excited about the chance to do this.”. ...Paul McMahan has a deal with legendary original outlaw Rick Ferkel to drive the "Ohio Traveler's" famous #0 on the All-Star tour in `08. Said McMahan on his website, “Rick called me ... to ask if I would be interested in driving his # 0 car for the All Star points chase for 2008. I have spoken with many different owners and crew chiefs about driving for them next season and had yet to find exactly what I was looking for, until Rick called. Rick wants to race and have fun, while also giving me the equipment I need to be competitive. After coming off of the last race at Charlotte with all the bad luck I had, I am more than ready to race and have fun and make a living while doing it. Rick and I have always gotten along real well, and my wife and I are looking forward to a wonderful racing relationship with Rick and Cathy. ...Dale Blaney and Dean Jacobs will also challenge champion Greg Wilson in the All-Star deal. ...Evan Suggs told us recently that he will attack the entire Golden State Challenge series in 2008. Suggs recently secured backing from GLR Investments that will allow the team to branch out. He has been impressive in the handful of times I've seem him compete. ...Darin Smith aka "Heavy D" will spin wrenches for Shain Matthews this season. ...Photog's - I am looking for a nice pic of Stan Yockey in racing action. Did you get a shot of him at the Chili Bowl? Please email me if so. ...Chili Bowl Travel Guide: This was by far the easiest and best trip to Tulsa I've made. I never ate at Denny's (that is a victory in itself), my flights were on time, and my hotel was the best I've stayed at during the Chili Bowl week. ...I flew United from Sacramento through Denver to Tulsa. With all the miles I've accrued in the last year on United - I have status that gets me a seat in their Economy Plus section. That means a little more leg room and the good possibility of having no one sitting next to me if the flight is not full. I was actually able to catch some Zzzz's on the plane! I traveled on Monday so as to be ready and rested for Tuesday racing. I always pay a little extra to have a four-wheel drive SUV in case on poor weather. I drove a Chevy ???? to the Double Tree on S. Yale. My room was clean and comfortable with a balcony where I could breathe fresh air (which is something you want after spending multiple hours inhaling dust and carbon monoxide). ...Food choices for the week included a Pei Wei chinese restaurant, three trips to Jamba Juice, a Sonic drive-thru stop, and only one Quik Trip junk food sell-out. At the track, I had the always strong Potato Ribbons, a so-so Chicken Strips basket, and three Chili Frito Pies made three different ways from three different concession stands. The tastiest thing I ate all week was from the outdoor "unofficial" Bar-B-Q. Some dude had a tent up and for a $5 donation - you could fill your plate. During the all-day Saturday racing - Johnny Gibson and I took advantage of a brief and rare break to sneak out to the guy's tent for ribs and chicken. The smoky flavored baby back ribs were so good that I have already tried to duplicate the taste at home. ...Three stops at the world famous Elephant Run bar post-race kept things festive. I went to the "ER" Wednesday night with 'Gibby' and then bumped into the Jack Slash contingent at the hotel upon my return. Laughs ensued and we ended up dining at the Village Pancake House around 3:30 am. ...My friends Sean Buckley and Dean Mills were breaking ground on the internet with live streaming video from the bar from Thursday through Saturday night. Curiosity delivered me to the show Thursday and I did a brief guest segment on Friday. An early flight Sunday morning kept me from attending the Saturday night post-race deal. ...Gibson found out Friday afternoon that he had pneumonia. He wasn't feeling right all week and decided that he should see a doctor before he left for Australia Sunday. Like the trooper he is - Gibson never missed a race despite his illness. ...In the booth we shared space with race officials Tommy Estes Jr., and Steve Sinclair. Lonnie Wheatley - the PR man with extraordinary organization skills - is also a part of the crew. He set up a Chili Bowl pool that was won by $inclair.
...Back at the home office after a week in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the Chili Bowl. I was working for Greg Stephens Motorsport Video on the DVD's he produces documenting all 97 races that took green flags from Tuesday through Saturday night. As always - Johnny Gibson is the host and he and I share the microphone - calling the fun! In total - 274 cars and drivers 'drew-in'. It really can be overwhelming. Basically - you wake up - eat - go to the track - eat - hang out - sleep and start over again. The Saturday deal took 12 hours from my arrival at the track at 11:15 AM until I drove away in the 39 degree chill at 11:15 pm. The first races were twin "K" Mains! As usual I observed too many things to report (some I simply can't report). I will try to share some of my observations with regard to drivers and how they performed. Let's start with a hap-tip to Bobby Michnowicz who put the Bach #48 into the Saturday A-Main. The Southern California driver has recently been running at Ventura in the VRA Sprint Car series. At one point in 2001 and 2002 Michnowicz seemed to drop off the racing radar but he proved he still has skills this week at the Quik Trip Center. ...I was impressed with Jeff Bland Jr. Each time he was racing he appeared under control yet fast. Bland is from Bloomington, Indiana and in 2007 he was both track champion and rookie of the year at Lawrenceburg Speedway. In addition, Bland was voted as Sprint Car Sportsman of the Year by his fellow competitors. ...Brad Sweet was the Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year. "The Yam" was the only rookie to make it to at least a B-Main. ...Ryan Kaplan had no luck at all as he fought mechanical gremlins all week. ...Brett Miller impressed during his Saturday afternoon racing. Miller ripped the top of the track and passed cars like a veteran even though it was his first try at it. ...Shane Golobic was very impressive during his track time. He possesses the finesse that the best drivers have. It is rare to see a 16 year-old with his maturity level. ...Ditto for Brady Bacon. Bacon was fantastic on Saturday night - showing the flashes of brilliance that have folks saying "can't miss" when the topic of talent arises. ...Aaron Fiscus was as good on the bottom on the track as anyone was all week. ...Kevin Swindell looked as good as I've ever seen him look in a non-wing car. In his third Chili Bowl - Amy & Sammy's boy finished sixth in the A-Main. ...Billy Wease made the feature for the first time in his career. He is catching up on the dirt. He already has the total pavement package. ...Nathan High finished tenth in the A-Main on Saturday. ...Understand there are 274 drivers at the Chili Bowl and I can't comment on every driver. I am just randomly writing about some of those who I feel I need to praise. ...Sometimes I hear about a driver from a source that I respect and I put stock in that. Although they didn't have a great week - Ricky Williams (Clinton, OH.) and T.J. Smith were sold to me as future stars. Said one HammerDown! insider, "The Williams kid has Brent Kaeding like instincts." ...For what it's worth we remind that the column is called Positivity. I have some (very) negative thoughts about a few things observed but I choose to not write about it. For giggles - one thought I had about one unnamed driver was "this guy is totally out of control and borderline dangerous". ...We heard stories of guys paying as much as $18,000 to car owners for the opportunity to drive at the Chili Bowl. One driver who participated last year but not this time around said he would have settled to pay $8,000 for a good car but that opportunity never presented itself. The going rate for a top-notch car seemed to be in the neighborhood of ten grand. ...Midget chassis market share at the Chili Bowl? Based on my own calculations of 274 entries I came up with a top ten of 1. Spike 33%, 2. Stealth 24%, 3. Bullet 5%, 4. F-5 3.5%, 5. Ellis 3.5%, 6. Beast 3.2%, 7. TCR 2.8%, 8. Buzzard 2.1%, 9. FSC 1.7%, 10. Maxim 1.4% & Edmunds 1.4%.
Who could win the 2008 Chili Bowl? Here is the HammerDownUSA.com short list: Jerry Coons Jr., Tony Stewart, Dave Darland, or Brad Kuhn. Or 'could it be...' someone from this group of contenders: Tracy Hines, Danny Stratton, Cory Kruseman, Sammy Swindell, Jon Stanbrough, J.J. Yeley, Davey Ray, Justin Allgaier, Jason Meyers, Darren Hagen, Kasey Kahne, Jason Leffler, Shane Cottle, Damion Gardner, Danny Lasoski, Tim McCreadie, Casey Shuman, Brady Bacon, Josh Wise, and Terry McCarl. ...Who might be Rookie of the Year at the 2008 Chili Bowl? We think it will come down to a battle between Brad Sweet, Hunter Schuerenburg, Andrew Felker, Stewart Friesen, Shane Golobic, Kyle Larson, Blake Miller, Mason Moore, Brett Miller, Kevin Ramey, Jeff Bland Jr., Bob Ream Jr. or Jerrod Wilson. ...Only 24 starters will make the Chili Bowl A-Main Saturday night. It is one hard feature to crack. With 285 entries - one should feel a sense of accomplishment if you can be among the final 24. I would be ticking off 261 teams if I tried to pick the 24 feature event makers one week in advance. So how about trying to single out 24 drivers that I think could make the Chili Bowl A-Main for the first time in their career? Here goes (in alphabetical order) ... Brady Bacon is looking to make the A-Main in his fourth Chili Bowl try. The 17-year-old ranked fourth in USAC National Sprint Car points and eighth in in USAC National Midget points in 2007. Last year he finished ninth in B-Main #2 on Saturday. ...Sam Hafertepe Jr. impressed during the World of Outlaws season. Last year at the Chili Bowl - he drove only to the H-Main on Saturday. This time around - Hafertepe has a different car and engine package that may help showcase his skills more. ...Darren Hagen would be the one guy I would put money on to make it into the final 24 that has never done it before. He was second in USAC National Midget points in 2007 on the heels of an F-Main to C-main run at the CB. The All-HammerDown! Team performer should get it done this time around. ...Randy Hannagan could make the show in his third try. He is a student of racing that will race smartly amidst the wipper-snappers trying to thrill seek. ...Nathan High was the Arizona Midget Racing Association champ in 2007. Last year at the CB he was an 'E-Mainer' on the final day of competition. It would be asking him to step up big-time but based on seeing him in a 360 sprint car at Manzanita on the inner-track - I think he has a shot at getting it done. ...Jesse Hockett has yet to see his name among the A-Main participants. Hockett started 85 feature events in 2007 with 34 top-fives and 49 top-tens. I'm thinking Hockett has a legit chance to be in the final 24 at 2008 Chili Bowl. ... Levi Jones surprisingly is 0 for 3 in his attempts to make the A-Main. During that same time-span (2005-07) - Jones has two USAC National Sprint Car championships to his credit. Obviously - Levi is a prime candidate to make it for the first time. ...Ryan Kaplan was a victim of bad luck last year when he was taken out of his preliminary night heat race by no fault of his own. The Chico, California 21 year-old has the talent to break through this year. ...Chad Kemenah has the God-given ability to finesse a race car - so even though he rarely runs a midget - we think he could come through. ...Brad Loyet won the POWRi Midget title in 2007 after finishing ninth in his B-Main at the `07 Chili Bowl. Loyet is now ready for his fifth Chili Bowl. Perhaps this will be his year. ...Terry McCarl has very limited experience in a midget but the dude is a skilled race car driver driving for a great team. McCarl is part of the Wilke-Pak squadron for 2008. It says here that T-Mac could be in the final 24 mix in just his second try at it. ...Thomas Meseraull is a certified masher that almost made the A-Main last year - falling one spot short in his B-Main. The 2004 BCRA champ could easily be a proud participant in the big show this year. ...Billy Pauch Jr. has better equipment this time around which could be the nudge he needs to open eyes in Tulsa. Pauch Jr. ran five ARDC midget events last year and was a top-ten finisher in each of them. A Saturday A-Main berth would be asking for a HUGE step-up but I liked this kid's smooth style when I watched him compete in each of the last two CB's. He could get it done. ...Chris Rahe is now 40 years old. The late bloomer won eight midget features out here on the West Coast in 2007. He has the skill and the know-how to be among the elite A-Main makers. ...Joey Saldana is certainly among the most skilled racers to have never made the CB final cut. He only tried once before - back in the year 2000 - earning a D-Main nod. Saldana will have great equipment - driving for Kasey Kahne at this year's event. ...Hunter Schuerenburg is a Chili Bowl rookie that we think could make some noise. The 18 year-old was fourth in the King of Indiana Sprintcar Series points in 2007 - one year after being named the National Sprint Car Poll non-wing Rookie of the Year. ...Matt Sherrell would have to really step up from a D-Main deal last year to make the feature on January 12th, 2008. He impressed me two years ago in an ancient car, and then last year I again saw glimpses of greatness. A better ride, and continued experience lead me to think Sherrell can improve dramatically. ...Brady Short has an impressive resume that is missing a start in the CB A-Main. The 23 year-old will try for the third time to put Scott Benic's F-5 chassis in the headliner. ...Mike Spencer is a smooth sprint car driver that we think will give Mike Sala's #19w a real good chance at being there for the A-Main. ...Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is coming off of a career year that saw him capture wins in big midget events such as Knoxville's King Doodlebug race, and the little-car portion of the Four Crown Nationals at Eldora. He could make the Saturday A-main with ease. ...Shane Stewart has yet to make the A-Main at the Chili Bowl. I don't know enough about what he is driving this year to truly comment on his chances but I do know Shane is an excellent driver capable of big performances at big races. ...Brad Sweet will try the Chili Bowl for the first time and we fully expect him to make the show. He is a natural talent that, despite only running a handful of midget events, won at the extremely tough Bakersfield Speedway in USAC action during September. ...Kevin Swindell is now 18 years old and experienced enough to make the final 24. He ranked sixth in USAC National midget points in 2007, scoring a win during Indiana Midget Week at Lawrenceburg. ...Gary Taylor has knocked on the door of the CB A-main but has yet to find the door open. This past season he won the SMRS Midget championship. He now lives in the Tulsa area. Maybe the home cooking will be enough to get Taylor past the velvet rope and into the club. ...Billy Wease is a pavement specialist. However, like a National League Pitcher that belts home runs - we think Wease has the kind of talent to shine on any surface. Billy is trying for the sixth time to make the A-Main. ...Finally - we list our 24th (okay it's actually 26th) driver that we think can, with some racing luck, make the A-main for the first time in their career. That driver is Cole Whitt. He has impressed in each of the last two years at the Tulsa Expo Center. Now 16 years-old, Whitt might have the chops to play on the big stage Saturday night. ...If you are a driver that didn't make this list - please do not take it personally. Perhaps I am not sold on the car you are driving. ...Our deepest condolences go out to the McMahan Family over the passing of Paul and Bobby's Grandpa James "Penny" Paniagua (89). The builder of quarter-midgets was a racing legend in Northern California - having built cars for John Bickford and his then prodigy Jeff Gordon. Personally, Mr. Paniagua was a smiling face I often passed by on my way to the announcers booth at various tracks in these parts. He often had a kind word to say. From past talks with Paul I know that 'Grandpa Penny' meant the world to him. Memorial services are at 11 a.m. Saturday at the United Methodist Church, 6th and M streets in Rio Linda, CA. ...The biggest news I've heard is that Ron Shuman is entered in the Chili Bowl in one of A.J. Felker's potent #37's. The Flyin' Shu last ran at the Chili Bowl back in 1997. It will be cool to see him in action once again. Shuman is one of the most accomplished midget racers of the last 30 years. Shuman won a record eight Turkey Night Grand Prix's and was twice the runner-up at the Chili Bowl (1993, 1995). ...You can keep track of all the Chili Bowl happenings by visiting the official website of the race at www.ChiliBowl.com
With Shane Stewart in the Roth #83 for 2008 - I have a couple of questions that I'm sure you have too. What happens to Danny Lasoski? And who will drive the Doyle Harley Davidson #1sprinter? Do you know FACTS? Email me. ...Curiosity about the All HammerDown! Team is a good thing I guess. Each year there are drivers that performed well but eventually did not make the team. I understand their wondering why they did not make it. Each year - we fine tune the criteria for making the team - trying to come up with a list of 40 drivers that were special that season. The Racer's Racing Series point standings do not lie. The 60 races selected on the schedule are mostly winged sprint car events because winged sprint car races in general have consistently higher purses than midget races, or non-winged sprint car events. Money is not the only consideration though. Tradition, the historical car-count at an event, and size of the media market are also factored into the schedule. In the end, the All-HammerDown! Team nods go champions in the World of Outlaws, The All-Stars, the ASCS National Tour, the Golden State Challenge, USAC National Midgets, USAC National Sprint Cars, and the King of Indiana Sprintcar Series. The rest of the team is comprised of the highest ranking in the RRS points. ...So who do I personally think has a right to gripe a bit? Let's start with Robert Ballou. Ballou won nine races in 2007 including the Ron Shuman Classic at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, KS, and the sprint car portion of the Four Crown at Eldora. However, his only points in the RRS were at those two events. He finished 74th overall. A big win at Lawrenceburg in October earned Ballou $10,000 but no RRS points. That race could have counted in the RRS standings with a ten grand offering to win but at the end of the day hard choices are made about the 60-race schedule and we opted for more prestigious events that pay less to the winner. Three prime examples of races that really need to pay more but made the 2007 RRS schedule on tradition and prestige are the Night Before the 500 (midgets at Indianapolis Raceway Park), Turkey Night (midgets at Irwindale), and the aforementioned Four Crown midget and sprint car events at Eldora. ...Chris Windom had a quietly consistent year deserving of All-HD status but he fell just shy of making it by RRS points. Good runs at the Chili Bowl, and the Belleville Midget Nationals kept the youngster in contention. Lance Dewease, Kevin Swindell, and Dale Blaney all finished in the top 40 in RRS points but missed the cut due to the automatic berths for the series' champions. Those title holders that did make the All-HD team but were not in the top 40 in RRS points were Jon Stanbrough (43rd RRS), Brent Kaeding (63rd RRS), Gary Wright (56th RRS), and Greg Wilson (68th RRS). ...The highest rated drivers in the respective 2007 National Sprint Car Polls to not be All-HammerDown! Team makers were (410 winged) Fred Rahmer, (360 winged) Jason Johnson, and (non-wing) Tony Jones. ...Rahmer finished 67th in RRS points, while Johnson was 65th. Jones was 108th among the 228 drivers that earned points last season. ...Brian Brown won the Knoxville Raceway 410 sprint car championship which is no easy task. His only points in the RRS came during Nationals week when he posted top 15 runs on his preliminary night and at the Saturday night finale. We certainly believe that Brown could have scored more in the RRS but being locked down chasing weekly track points doesn't allow for much opportunity to travel. ...You already know that we think the world of Kody Swanson and he didn't make the All-HD cut either. Swanson at present is a pavement specialist.
Kudos to Chris Lovett for being the first to send stuff to our special needs kids in Arkansas. Lovett paid for DHL to ship 20 2008 sprint car calendars for the kids! ...Yo Yo Yo (kinda like Ho Ho Ho - but different) December has ushered in all kinds of tidbits. Lonnie Wheatley reports that even with the pre-entry deadline of December 15 still over a week away, the Chili Bowl office has been flooded with entries. Ryan Newman is set to make his CB debut. Currently, a total of 169 entries from 21 different states as well as Australia have filed entries for the 22nd Annual event which takes place atop the ¼-mile Tulsa Expo Raceway inside the newly named QuikTrip Center on January 8-12, 2008. The complete list of entries for the 22nd Annual Dodge Chili Bowl Nationals is available at http://www.chilibowl.com/2008chilibowlentries.asp. ...The Chili Bowl finals on Saturday January 12th will be aired live on HBO Pay Per View. “Every year, the Chili Bowl is one of the hardest tickets to get in racing,” says Emmett Hahn, who organizes the event with Lanny Edwards. “This telecast puts you there live, but from the comfort of your living room.” ...We heard through the grapevine that Tom Gee and Gary Clem are among the guys 'in the truck' to produce the show. This is a good thing as both bring a wealth of experience in BIG motorsports events presented for the television screen. ...USAC National Sprint Car and National Midget schedules are out. Visit USACRacing.com to view. ...Cory Kruseman is offering 10% off of purchase to his driving school. Check out www.kruseman.com for details. ...Troy Hennig reports that Tyler Walker has signed on to drive the Scott Chastain owned NMI Industrial Contractors #24 for the entire 2008 season. The team (SC Motorsports) plans to compete at 50 races in `08. On the team schedule is the entire Golden State Challenge plus the Dirt Cup, Knoxville Nationals, selected World of Outlaw events and special 360 races like the Fall Nationals in Chico and The Trophy Cup in Tulare. On board as crew chief is Lee Lindgren of Elk Grove. Helping Lindgren is Jason Chastain. “Scott and I talked about who we wanted as a driver and Tyler's name kept coming up,” said Lindgren. “So I called Kaeding's and got his phone number and we talked for a while. I know Tyler is excited about running with us next year and driving sprint cars again.” ...Craig Dollansky will drive Larry Woodward's Volcano Joe's #2 in 2008 on the World of Outlaws tour. The Crowd Pleaser told Tony Veneziano “This deal came together rather quickly. I’m looking forward to getting to know and working with Larry and Lori (Woodward). They are great people and have a true love for racing. Together, I believe we can do what is necessary to make this a winning combination.” Mike Woodring will spin wrenches on the black deuce. ...One email that came in among the jillions we receive stated, "My name is Dana Kay Newsom. My husband, Kevin, and I are avid sprint car fans; however, on a daily basis he is a nurse and I am a special education teacher. We live in Bald Knob,AR which is a small community about 60 miles North of Little Rock. This year our school is in fiscal distress and found out in August that we had a short period of time to raise 2.2 million dollars in an effort to save our school. The problem stemmed from a treasurer who resigned in June. Our dilemma is that we ( myself and my teachers aide) usually try to meet the needs of our special needs students whether it be school supplies, clothing, or christmas gifts and stocking stuffers. Our local businesses usually assist in our effort but for obvious reasons they are tapped out. Our classroom is decorated in the racing theme which is as close as some of the kids will ever get to a race (considering most don't get out of the county). We would like to ask if you have any promotional items or anything race themed that you might be able to spare that we might use as stocking stuffers or gifts. We appreciate your consideration. God bless and happy holidays." ...You can help them out by sending your goodies to the attention of:
- Dana Kay Newsom - Special Education Teacher.
- Bald Knob Middle School.
- 103 West Park St. Bald Knob, AR 72010.
Kody Swanson has been hired to drive for Steve Lewis in 2008. The team plans to run the entire USAC National Midget schedule. Swanson, from Kingsburg, CA. is now 19 years old. This season, Swanson swept the USAC Midget/Sprint doubleheader in September at Altamont Motorsports Park. He also won a 50-lap USAC Western / Rocky Mountain Sprint feature at Rocky Mountain Raceways. Swanson attends Fresno State University and will continue his education while he assumes his full-time responsibilities driving for Nine Racing. In a prepared statement Kody said, “I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with a team like Nine Racing, and this is really an honor for me.” Nine Racing scored two huge victories at the end of the 2007 racing season, winning the Copper World Classic at Phoenix International Raceway with Dave Steele, and the Turkey Night Grand Prix with Dave Darland. The Lewis team has won 10 USAC National Midget Series Championships. Past drivers in the famous Lewis midget chair include prominent names such as Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, J.J. Yeley, Jason Leffler, the late Kenny Irwin Jr. and Mike Bliss. ...Kerry Madsen is set to ride for Vermeer Motorsports in 2008. The #55 car that was a staple of the weekly Knoxville Raceway scene will hit the road full time with the World of Outlaws next year. ...Jason Statler is among those off to New Zealand to compete in sprint car races. The former "King of California" will run five events at least before returning back to the USA.
...Congratulations to Ryan Kaplan who won the 2007 USAC Western Sprint car championship as a rookie! The Chico driver is a classy kid and we are happy for his success. Likewise, congrats to Johnny 'Lightning' Rodriguez on his USAC Western Midget title for 2007. ... Happy Thanksgiving everybody! The weekend past - I was in Tulare for the Trophy Cup. ...Thoughts, observations and things I learned... Chatted with Ronnie Day who says he would like to run about 20 selected races in 2008. The Elite Racing "California car" will not return in `08. Jason Meyers says his team will field a World of Outlaws entry only. ...Kyle Hirst will ride in the Gary Perkins #6 car that Brad Sweet drove this year. ...Hirst looked strong on Friday night as he battled to hold back Joey Saldana. ...Saldana will have Budweiser beer as a sponsor in 2008. ...Danny Faria Jr. tore ligaments in his thumb at the Cotton Classic - so Mike Faria raced Danny's #17v at Tulare. Danny says he hopes to be healed in time for the Chili Bowl in January. It will be "Hollywood's" debut in the biggest indoor midget race in the world. ...Jason Solwold told me he had nothing for sure in 2008 but he felt confident that something would open up for him. It says here that Solwold should be considered amongst the top 'free agents' in open wheel racing. ... The $90,000 event was enjoyable and frustrating over the course of Friday and Saturday. We went an hour and a half beyond the 11 pm curfew as Friday night spilled into Saturday morning. The feature race was cut by two laps. Then - the Saturday show had laps cut from the C-Main, and B-Main as race officials tried to be done by curfew time. The biggest obstacle was that 82 cars jammed the pits. But that shouldn't be hard to overcome - had we started earlier and made a couple tweaks to the program. My remedy for the Trophy Cup 2008 is to start a full two hours earlier on Friday - and one hour earlier on Saturday. That means everything from the pit gate opening - to the drivers meeting, to hot laps, to time-trials would commence super early. Secondly - I would alter the format so that no more than 16 cars start the C-Main, and D-Main. If it means running E and F Mains - I still think you would save time because a 24-car C-Main is asking for trouble. A winged 360 sprint car C-Main is going to be full of inexperienced drivers. Crashes and spin outs multiply quickly. I believe strongly that shorter fields would produce less major accidents. Next - I believe there should be one person, other than the Head Scorer, assigned to tally points. The Head Scorer is stretched too thin by having to score and tally points. Because the Trophy Cup format is based on points - some race lineups cannot be made until the completion of the race that just ran. True - the assigned points person could not start on lineups until the Scorer had final results - but at least the Scorer would have a break to collect his thoughts. As is - he is stressed to the max - constantly scoring races, making lineups and doing points. Finally, I want to see the rule for jumping starts altered. Evan Suggs left early on his heat race start and was put all the way to the rear of the field - rather than one row back (which is how I think the rule should be enforced). The rule WAS explained at the drivers meeting - but I just think it is too harsh. ...All of that having been said - I love the Trophy Cup. I want it to succeed and continue forever. The format is unique and it does produce entertaining race watching. Seeing World of Outlaws drivers in the field - mixing with the Northern and Central California stars is what makes the race special.
It’s all over. The World of Outlaws 2007 season finished with a bang Saturday night at the Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The first World Finals for sprint cars and late model stock cars was a huge success drawing big car counts and a sellout crowd. One would have to think that this deal will be repeated for years to come. …Steve Kinser won the Saturday feature in an exciting contest with Danny Lasoski, and Daryn Pittman. Friday’s feature was won by Jason Meyers who stole a victory from Donny Schatz on the final lap. The 2/5’s mile red clay racetrack was by far in the best condition that I’ve ever seen it in. There were two and sometimes three grooves for drivers to work with – and the hard packed surface stayed smooth, yet moist (sounds like a skin care lotion). …As we told you last month – Kraig Kinser is the new driver of Tony Stewart’s #20 sprint car for 2008. …Many times life seems unfair. It hurts me when friends are in pain – either physically or emotionally. You could chalk up both versions of pain for my buddy Paul McMahan. The ultra professional pilot put on a happy face as best he could but his last ride for T. Stewart Racing was a weekend to forget with a wicked crash on Friday that saw pieces and parts of his sprinter hanging from the fence. Adding injuries to insults – Pauly was the victim of an exploded u-joint Saturday that left him in the hospital with a hairline fracture of a big toe. The good news is that good things happen for good people. So it says here that McMahan will bounce back. He will run the Trophy Cup on November 16-17 at Tulare. …I appreciated the effort made by the Pennsylvania drivers to come down to North Carolina for the weekend. Lance Dewease, Chad Layton, Fred Rahmer, Greg Hodnett, Mark Smith, and Joey Borich were all in the house. …Donny Schatz is off to Australia already. The North Dakota driver wasn’t even going home after the banquet (Monday in Charlotte). Schatz is going to run some races down under – then come home to the USA before returning back to Australia again around Christmas time. …I got the story second-hand but nevertheless I felt for Jason Solwold who apparently was not told that Jac Haudenschild would be driving the R19 car in 2008. Solwold learned of the Haud hiring through friends who read internet reports. …News of Bud Kaeding’s Perris Oval Nationals win put a smile on my face. It offered further proof of Bud’s ability in ‘long’ races. …TV Business: If you watched the show on Speed you may have noticed that we were “kinda live” rather than “live-live”. The dead giveaway was that we did not show the B-Main. This occurred due to already being heavy on content-time following the heat races, and dash. We started recording our show ‘live-to-tape’ about an hour and a half before we actually hit the air. The hour and a half cushion allowed us to stand-down during lulls. An assessment of the remaining program time was made following the heats – which determined that we would be well over our three-hour allotment of time if we showed the B-Main. So we ‘stood-down’ during the B race and came back up when the cars were about to go four-wide for the start of the feature. …The race – for the time being was the last gig that I know I have other than the Trophy Cup. There is some talk about television coverage in 2008 but as of right now – nothing is certain. Brad Doty, Sean Buckley, and myself worked the entire season as independent contractors. We may or may not have done our last races on TV. I felt good about the job I did this season and I am hopeful that if there is more WoO TV in the future I will be asked to continue to be a part of it. In no way am I comparing myself to a race driver but in many respects I can relate to those who are without a ride for 2008. We all believe that we will back next year but like I said - nothing is certain.
The most interesting thing I've heard lately is that Jac Haudenschild is going to drive the Carnahan Motorsports #R19 in 2008. ...Tim Kaeding and Sammy Swindell are among the entrants for the non-wing Perris Oval Nationals. ...Don't forget to tune in to the World of Outlaws World Finals - LIVE on Speed - Saturday November 3rd at 5PM (Pacific). Many of the Pennsylvania drivers are headed south to North Carolina for the BIG event.
...The past weekend was a busy one with a trip to San Jose for Brent Kaeding's mom's funeral services, and then a ride to Tulare, CA for the World of Outlaws races. The 'Celebration of Life' for Dixie Kaeding was an emotional roller coaster with laughter and tears. Remember Olympia beer? "Oly" was Dixie's brand. That brought chuckles from the estimated 500 that attended the services at Oak Hill Memorial Park Friday afternoon. But even the toughest were not prepared to hold back the waterworks when Howard Kaeding - down on one knee - said goodbye to his wife of 52 years at the grave site. Dixie Kaeding was one heck of woman - a true matriarch that held her family together. The proof that she touched lives was evident in the support that her family received Friday. ...The following day we were off to Central California for the Dave Helm Memorial race at the Thunderbowl. My favorite racetrack was soft from an all-day rain 24 hours prior. That made the conditions for racing less than ideal. It happens. It doesn't make me think anything less of Tulare - it's just that for one night - the track was not it's usual exciting self. Donny Schatz won again - his 19th WoO feature of the year. ...Look for Brad Sweet to team up with Kasey Kahne in 2008 (post Chili Bowl). The word is that Sweet will run non-wing stuff for Kahne as well as selected winged events. ...I am not a fan of "one-lap qualifying". That was the deal Saturday night at Tulare. They say that any time there is more than 40 cars - they will only allow one-lap - rather than the standard "best of two laps". Teams also left the drivers meeting not knowing how many laps the feature would be. It was scheduled for 40 laps but the rain of a day prior had officials fearing a rough track - so they said they might cut it to 30 laps. After the heats the drivers wanted to go 30 - and officials wanted 40 so they compromised on 35 laps. It is easy for me - who is not in the seat - to say "What difference does five laps make?". Seriously though. Are we sprint car racers or opera goers? Come on. If a sprint car race is scheduled for 40 laps - it should be 40 laps. If a track is rough - either cancel the whole thing - or race on it as scheduled. You don't see a football game played for three and a half quarters because the field is tearing up. Gray areas are bad in any sport. The rules should not be open to 'race-night' interpretation. ...On the positive side. The WoO officials did a great job to get the show done at 9:04 PM.
Lots to catch up on. First - I want to offer condolences to the Kaeding family who lost matriarch Dixie on Friday (Oct. 5, 2007). Tim and Bud's grandma, Brent's mom, and Howard's wife is also mother to Brent's brother Joel, and their two sisters. Services are scheduled for Friday at 1:30 PM at Oak Hill Cemetery - not far from the Kaeding race shop in Campbell, CA. ...Dick Jordan of USAC updates us on the CRA points battle: Tony Jones’ point lead over runner-up Mike Spencer has slipped to just 53 points going into an October 27 race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. Spencer, of Temecula, Calif. closed the gap with a third place at Ventura (Calif.) Raceway Saturday and a victory at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway Sunday. Scotty Weir of Marion, Ind. won Saturday night’s 30-lapper at Ventura. He passed Spencer on lap 27 and led the final four laps to beat Rip Williams, Spencer, Troy Rutherford and Damion Gardner. ...The Tulare World of Outlaws race this Saturday night is named after Dave Helm. The cool car owner from Selma, CA passed earlier this year. ...Hard not to feel bad for the people on the WoO tour that have to drive all the way back out to California after racing in Pennsylvania and Minnesota the past two weeks. ...2007 ASCS Patriot Sprint Champion Chuck Hebing won 14 sanctioned feature events this season. ...Troy Hennig has thoughts on the recently completed Fall Nationals at Chico. ...Bob Ream points out all the goofy wings and things that went on to cars at the annual Cheater's Day races in South Dakota. Check out Jim Fisher pics here. ...Petaluma Speedway recently hosted a $2,500 to-win spec sprint race. Darrell Hanestad won the deal, and Nick Green finished third. ...Alissa Geving won her fourth feature event Saturday September 29th at Antioch Speedway (CA.). The 16 year-old masher finished second in the points at Antioch and earned Rookie of the Year honors. ...I was too excited to attend my first Williams Grove National Open. As a Californian – visiting “The Grove” in the past – I knew that I wasn’t really experiencing it at the right time of year. I had been there in the spring and summer – usually May, June or July – for each of the prior experiences. But the National Open is the event that is synonymous with Williams Grove Speedway, the Pennsylvania Posse and winged 410 sprint car racing in the rugged Central Pennsylvania circuit I had always heard so much about as a kid, and adult. Hearing Steve Kinser praise guys like Lynn Paxton made me romanticize the day when I would witness with my own eyes – the brilliance of a true Pennsylvania sprint car hero doing his thing at the National Open. I reckon one day I will look back on this trip and say with pride that I saw Fred Rahmer, Lance Dewease, and upstart Chad Layton racing on the paper-clip half-mile dirt track that first held races back in 1939. The Grove did not disappoint in any way on this trip. Even though there was not a pass for the lead in Saturday’s $50,000 to-win A-Main – I still enjoyed watching the 900 horsepower cars defy belief with their extreme HammerDown! style. The atmosphere was thick with what I call, ‘racing festers’ everywhere! They say the place seats 10,000 people but you can cram fans into the infield as well. Saturday night – was one of the biggest sprint car audiences I have ever been a part of. Only Knoxville Nationals final nights have seemed more crowded to me in my experiences. When a big crowd is on hand – the energy of the collective group seems to feed on itself. The cool, crisp autumn air set it off exactly like I had envisioned. It felt special. …Layton dominated the opening night – doing everything but setting quick-time. He won his heat, the dash, and the 25 lap preliminary feature. Layton was the most prolific winner in the 358 winged sprint cars in Pennsylvania – before delving into the 410’s. He owns three Selinsgrove track titles, and two Williams Grove championships in the lower 358 class. But Friday night left no doubt that the 31 year-old from Harrisburg, PA is going to be a force to be dealt with on big tracks for years to come. He has been driving the Pete Postupak #25 for about a month (and a half) now – taking over for Dewease who left the ride. I’ve seen Layton compete in the past but he never looked as strong as he did Friday night. He traded slide jobs with Kerry Madsen in a furious battle for the lead Friday night. Good stuff! Madsen deserves praise as well. In his first National Open – the Madman showed he could dice with the best at the tricky track that has two completely different corners at each end. Madsen wound up third at the checkered flag in the opener – as local T.J. Stutts passed him in the late going. The entire weekend tested the World of Outlaws drivers – with the Saturday top-ten showing an even five-five split among WoO cats, and Posse drivers. For the locals – it was their 31st and 32nd nights of competition at the half-mile this year. The WoO drivers were running there for the sixth and seventh time in 2007. It is hard to explain – you really need to see it with your own eyes – but the racing is so totally different than what we see on regular basis in California. While they did hold time-trials this weekend because it was a WoO sanctioned event, the idea of qualifying laps is a chore to endure for the local fans and media members. Weekly – they do not time-trial at The Grove. Instead their races are lined up according to a handicapping system. The longer racetracks generally produce less in the way of wheel-banging, and therefore – caution flags are fewer and farther between that what I grew up watching in the Golden State. While I believe California drivers would struggle at the Grove – I would also be quick to say that the Posse drivers would be in an equal amount of trouble on a bull-ring like Watsonville out West. The racing really couldn’t be any more different. …Saturday’s feature race started with a wicked front chute grinder for Kinser. I was happy to see Steve pop out of his #11 as quickly as he did because the first look at his mangled car resting was not a pleasant site. He hit the inside guard rail with full force after riding over the back of Craig Dollansky’s #7. Tim Shaffer and Brian Montieth also flipped in the melee. …Last week we reported that a source had told us that the Roth Motorsports #83 might be parked in 2008. That appears to be an inaccurate report now. I apologize for speculating. I know better. ...Donny Schatz’ Saturday win gave him four WG National Open titles – equaling Kinser’s mark. In just five sprint car races – Schatz earned over $300,000 when you combine his winnings from the Kings Royal, the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup, the WG Summer Nationals, the Knoxville Nationals, and the WG National Open. The only BIG BIG race Schatz didn’t get this season was the Gold Cup. …Impressive runs Saturday were turned in by Danny Lasoski, Daryn Pittman, and Jason Meyers. All three of those guys advanced by a dozen cars from their original starting spots. …We saw past National Open winner Bobby Allen roaming the pits Saturday night. Also on had was the legendary car-owner Al Hamilton. …Jason Solwold had quick-time Friday over a 58-car field. The luck of the time-trial draw is huge at the Grove. Paul McMahan – who always times-in quickly – was about a second a half off the pace with a late number drawn. I chatted with Pauly very briefly Friday and he seemed to be in good spirits despite feeling ill. He is unsure of what 2008 will hold at his time – but he said he has some possibilities that may well suit him just fine. Every once in a while I hear someone say something negative about McMahan or any WoO driver not winning features at a rate like Schatz or Joey Saldana. What these people fail to realize is that running in the top-ten in the WoO point standings in no easy task. The fact is – McMahan is fourth in the Racer’s Racing Series points, and eighth in the WoO standings. That tells me that Pauly is among the best OVERALL open-wheel dirt racers out there today. To the nay-sayers – if it is so easy to run in the top-ten in the WoO, or RRS standings – go do it! Some drivers may win 20 features in their region but how can they perform at Knoxville, Eldora, or the Grove? Can they also be good on small bull rings? Do they consistently finish races or do they crash? With McMahan the answers are… - he is a Knoxville Nationals A-Main fixture, he has wins at Eldora, and Williams Grove, and he is probably at his best on the bull-rings. Most nights – and I mean 95% of the time – McMahan’s car rolls into the trailer in tact. You should never ever sleep on guys like McMahan, Jason Meyers, Jason Sides, etc… These cats would win dozens of features if they didn’t race against teams like Schatz, Kinser, Lasoski and Saldana every night. …Did I just ride my high horse? …TV Business: Saturday’s show felt better to me than Friday’s did. The energy was much more evident on the final night. I concentrated on identifying cars by colors and numbers – reminding myself that most viewers don’t know our cars the way us hardcores do. Roger Vincent – our director – reminded me of this – which I figure was his way of saying I needed to be better at it. I appreciate that. I welcome constructive criticism from those I respect in the business. ...I learned that audio engineer Bryan Korot is part Russian. …Sean Buckley and I have taken to bouncing ideas back and forth during the day. Sean may read me something he has written for the show – while I will often share my ‘scene-set’ ideas with him. …Brad Doty and I always have a mid-day conversation about what we want to talk about in the ‘open’. Our production meetings usually occur at 3:30 pm. Producer David Bruner leads the discussion of what we want to accomplish during the night. This meeting is fortification of our mid-week conference call where we talk as a group about our ideas for the show. Usually Bruner, myself, Doty, and World of Outlaws’ guys Chris Dolack, and Brian Dunlap are the most vocal in these calls. Bruner leads and we all put in our two cents about our own perspectives. Dunlap is the direct link between the WoO and Winnercomm – the production company. He keeps us informed on any number of details related to the sponsors of the show or often to the logistics of getting set up at the tracks. Dolack – Vice President of Public Relations for the Outlaws usually has an idea about the general theme of the show. He is always thinking about the BIG picture. I like that. Brad lends a drivers’ perspective. He asks questions that no one else considers and that makes us all have better attention to detail. My two cents is most often in the form of historical information. Bruner holds it all together. He is ultimately responsible for what hits the air. It is very much a team effort. …Buckley and Laura Lingner are constantly feeding us info in the booth throughout the night of a race. They roam the pits and deal face-to-face with all the emotions that accompany competition. It is not easy. I know from past experience in Sean’s role. Drivers and mechanics are often grouchy and no fun to deal with. It really makes you appreciate the pros that ‘get it’. …The Glamorous Life: Each week I could complain about flying. I’ll spare you the details but suffice it to say it was the longest flight of the year (roundtrip) Washington DC to Sacramento. …The place we stayed is one of the best on the tour; the Courtyard by Marriott in Mechanicsburg, PA. …Our food on Friday was sliced beef (crying for some sauce), macaroni and cheese, and ???. …Saturday’s meal was herbed chicken and ???. …Post-race Saturday – Buckley, Ken Henderson, and I all wound up at the same stop-n-rob looking for food. The old microwaveable burrito was a predictable choice for me. …Upon arrival Thursday – I broke a rule of mine and ordered Chinese food East of the Rockies. Bad idea. My lemon-chicken was hard to describe, and the fried rice was scary.
Cody Darrah's broken arm looked like this. Darrah is now healed and ready to race. ...Donny Schatz is the winningest driver of the year 2007 (so far) at Williams Grove Speedway and he only ran there five times. Schatz' four wins are one better than Mark Smith's three victories. ( I am only taking about 410 wins here.) Drivers with two wins at the Grove this year are Mike Erdley, Greg Hodnett, Doug Esh, Don Kreitz Jr., Kevin Nouse, and Michael Carber. ...The 1983 audit of wins at Silver Dollar Speedway (courtesy Marty Kobata and his old Racing Wheels') changes the All-Time top-five. We can add eight more feature wins to the total of Wayne Sue, and five mo w's for Shane Scott. With these additions - Scott moves to number two on the career win list with a total of 49. Sue will be number three with 48 wins - dropping Tim Kaeding back to fourth with 44 wins. The master list is here. ...Eldora was challenging for the 120th appearance by the World of Outlaws at the famed half-mile Friday night. Joey Saldana put Kasey Kahne’s #9 up against the wall and won the 30-lap feature after he passed Steve Kinser. Early leader Donny Schatz popped a tire on lap ten – then went to the rear of the field and still finished seventh. After a JEI chassis experiment at the Gold Cup – we hear that Schatz and Tony Stewart Racing have ordered J&J cars for 2008. …Speaking of TSR – Paul McMahan was told that he will not be back in 2008 as the driver of the #20 car. Pauly finished third at Eldora after exchanging sliders with Daryn Pittman. Three scenarios we heard in regard to the new driver of the #20 are… Number one: Kraig Kinser is the leading candidate to run the Bass Pro Shops car next season if he doesn’t have anything happening in NASCAR. Kraig has three sprint car starts under his belt this season with a third, a second, and a win in regional competition. Steve’s 22 year-old boy won the 2005 Knoxville Nationals – then driving for the family team. Scenario number two: Jason Solwold is believed to be highly thought of among WoO insiders. If Kinser lands another NASCAR deal – it could be Solwold’s ride. Scenario number three: Tim Kaeding gets the job. …McMahan will be looking for a ride along with the likes of Jac Haudenschild, and Danny Lasoski. Apparently Rick Wright will not field a WoO tour machine in `08 – leaving Haud searching. …Brooke Tatnell was driving Guy Forbrook’s car in Midwest action last week. …At Eldora – Ed Lynch Jr. was the first car to time-trial – and he wound up with quick-time. …Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove in the WoO show Friday night. He was gearing up for the three-division USAC show the following day. Stenhouse will most likely be in an ARCA car – affiliated with Jack Roush in 2008. …Sammy Swindell was spinning wrenches for Chad Hillier Friday night. …Jason Sides had a scary deal when something broke on his #7s and spit fire into the cockpit. Sides jumped out on fire and ran down the front chute with flames visible on his driving uniform pants leg. Sides ran straight to the fire crew and they extinguished the fire after too many anxious seconds. He wound up with singed eyelashes. …Food for thought: it took Schatz 34 races to win his first feature at Eldora. He now has 62 starts at the joint – and it is safe to say he has it figured out. I write that to give hope to the young drivers who are scratching their heads trying to ascertain what it will take to get up to speed there. The answer is… EXPERIENCE! …Paul May crashed hard in turn one in his heat race. “The Mayniac” climbed out of his mangled car under his own power. …TV Business: The Eldora show will include a feature on Haudenschild – who is adored by the fans in Western Ohio. …I tried hard to get in more sponsor mentions during this show. …We taped our ‘opening’ segment outside on the roof of the grandstands at the Big E. My partner Brad Doty is a brave dude. He doesn’t like it when he has to be carried in his ‘chair’ and doing the deal where we did it – meant Brad had to be lifted basically through an opening in a window out onto the ‘catwalk’ on the roof. He joked that Eldora Speedway tried to take him out 20 years ago and now it was trying again. …Our catered lunch (served in the old Eldora Ballroom) was among the best of the season with Romer’s Catering providing the grub. We had pork chops, chuck roast beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, salads, rice pilaf, and cookies! The Glamorous Life: … The worst part of my job reared its ugly head today. I write as I endure a three hour-45 minute layover at my “favorite” airport – Chicago’s O’Hare International. I was supposed to fly from Dayton, Ohio to Denver – and then Denver – home to Sacramento but my Dayton to Denver flight was cancelled. No reason was given. So the United Airlines festers booked me from Dayton to Chicago and then Chicago to Sac. My brilliant plan was to arrive in Chicago – eat – and then go join the Red Carpet Club which is a lounge deal that United has in their hub cities. Basically you can drink free sodas and sit on couches and watch TV or – do internet stuff in a place like the Red Carpet Club. I reasoned that a membership would help me today and the future when a deal like this goes down. So - I eat at Manchu Wok in the airport and then stroll to the RCC and inquire about a membership now that I have Premier status on United. Guess what? That ish cost $400!!! …”Sorry but no thanks”, was my reply to the nice lady who told me the amount. …So I wandered to this gate area across from my gate and as I write I have two hours and 45 minutes left to kill before a three-hour, 56 minute flight which will be followed by a 40 minute drive to my house in Rocklin. …I have a hard time with ‘wasting time’ when I am not in control of my time. Yes – I do understand that I am blessed to be in this situation at all. It comes with my present job as TV boy for the World of Outlaws broadcasts. I’m not seeking sympathy – I am simply telling you all how much I’d like to poop on this part of the gig. …Thursday was travel day. After nappage at the Hampton Inn in Sidney, OH – Sean Buckley and I hit Taco Bell. I have a ban on the Bell dating back to 1990 so I ate at Steak N Shake. Buckley and I ventured into Dayton for giggles on Thursday night. We were looking for signs of life since the entire town of Sidney was basically sleeping after 9:30 pm. We found good times near the University of Dayton campus. Post-race Friday – my choices were McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Waffle House or Burger King. I chose a 24 hour Kroeger’s grocery store – figuring I’d make use of the in-room microwave. Marie Calendar’s Lasagna was not really that good. I had some chili-cheese dip appetizer with Fritos Scoops that was tastier. I was surprised to see Brent Kaeding, Matt Britt, Bud Kaeding, Shane Anderson, and the BK Racing crew walk through the door of the Hampton Inn late Friday night. Brent was in town to watch Bud run the following night.
The All-Stars only had 32 points races this year but will pay $50,000 to their champ Greg Wilson. That ain't a bad deal. ...Chad Blonde has ten feature wins this season. The former All-Star Rookie of the Year (2006) is a charger to keep an eye on. Between I.R.A., the Midwest All-Stars, and local shows, Blonde won six straight from July 7th to August 1st. ...Dad sent this video of a wild drag racing accident in Australia. Whoa!!!! ...We have new confirmed race wins for Dave Bradway SR at Silver Dollar Speedway. This will add six more wins to his total - putting the 70's modified champion at - (at least) eleven wins on the quarter-mile clay oval in Chico, CA. Thanks to Alan Bradway, co-owner of the #X1 currently wheeled by Colby Wiesz, for providing the info. 1978 was a stellar year for the Bradway patriarch. Of the five races we have results for - he won all five! ...Shane Stewart continued his great season of success in the Doyle's Harley Davidson #1HD - with a $10,000 plus win in the Fred Brownfield Memorial event at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, WA Saturday night. ...In Lawrenceburg, Indiana, Greg Wilson defeated Danny Smith by a mere two points in the battle for the All-Star sprint car championship. That deal paid $50,000 to the high points team. Kraig Kinser won the race. ...In ASCS Rocky Mountain Region racing - Johnny Herrera topped both nights at Aztec Speedway in New Mexico. ....Dick Jordan of USAC notes that Johnny Rodriguez continues to lead the USAC Western Midget standings following his fourth-place finish in Saturday night’s 30-lap race at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway. He holds an 86-point advantage over Scott Pierovich, who was third at Bakersfield. Brad Sweet notched his first USAC Western Midget victory at Bakersfield, piloting Cruz Pedregon’s Toyota/Q Racing Spike/Toyota to victory. ...Tony Hunt won his second Western Sprint Car USAC event at Madera this season with a 50-lap triumph on Saturday. ...In the companion BCRA midget races - Dallen McKinney won with a last lap pass of 16 year old Shane Golobic. ...Proving it was not a fluke - David Cardey backed up his first USAC-CRA win of a couple weeks ago with another victory this past Saturday night at Perris. ...The always colorful Terry McCarl said this to "Bill W." following his flip at Beaver Dam Sunday night: “Early in the race, we had a huge battle going on with Randy Hannagan and Tim Shaffer. We were three abreast. Hannagan was on the bottom, I was in the middle, and Shaffer was on top. I drove it into turn three, and the thing just stuck like glue. I was thinking I would hook it up and pass both of them. Randy slid up a little, right as I got a good bite, and I drove right over his right rear tire and got upside down. We flipped pretty hard. I quickly remembered why we don’t like flipping. It hurts. It hurts physically, and it hurts the pocketbook.” ...Congrats to Andy Gregg on his Civil War win at Petaluma Saturday night (09/15/07). Jason Statler broke the 360 winged sprint car track record at `Luma with a 12.2 clocking. ...Donny Schatz' win at Topeka Friday night was his 16th WoO win of the year. ...Willie Croft's #29 would get the HammerDown! vote for best looking car at the Gold Cup. Here's a link to the 15 best looking machines we saw this weekend. All photos courtesy John's Racing Photos.
...We all need to give it up for Marty Kobata. Marty has been digging through his old Racing Wheels newspapers and he had taken the time to log the Chico winners from 1980-82 (on top of what he already sent for the 70's!). Our all-time Chico winners list is now looking really good from 1973 through today. ...Some nuggs from all the logging. I now have 923 nights of racing logged starting in July 1972. So - if you have anything as far as winners and dates from prior to that - hit me with an email. ...Anyway - Marty's new finds add strength to the win totals in particular of Shane Scott, Dave Bradway Jr., Mitch Sue and Jackie Whitson. We now have Scott at 44 wins - which puts him in a tie for second with Tim Kaeding. My boy Mitch Sue has 18 documented wins - which puts him in a tie for tenth with Sean Becker. ...Junior Bradway won 16 times at Chico - making him 12th all-time in a tie with Greg DeCaires. ...The longest winning streak overall in the history of the track belongs to Rich Taylor. In 1979 - Taylor won five features consecutively. Drivers who snared four in a row at Chico are: Rick Hirst (The last to do it - back in 1987), Wayne Sue (he did it three-times!), Jackie Whitson, and Skip Matlock. Other stats: Most wins in a single season at Chico: (see below)
- 12 wins in a single season: Tim Kaeding (2001)
- Eleven wins in a single season: Rich Taylor (1979), Brent Kaeding (1993)
- Ten wins in a single season: Wayne Sue (1980, 1982)
- Eight wins in a single season: Skip Matlock (1976), Wayne Sue (1981), Jimmy Sills (1984), Rick Hirst (1987), Brent Kaeding (1988, 1994), Jon Allard (2007)
- Seven wins in a single season: Jackie Whitson (1981), Ricky Haugh (1987), Brent Kaeding (1989), Jon Allard (2005)
- Six wins in a single season: Shane Scott (1982, 1985), Brent Kaeding (1999), Tim Kaeding (1999)
- Five wins in a single season: Bill Durham (1977), Wayne Sue (1979), Mitch Sue (1982), Brent Kaeding (1985), Jimmy Sills (1989), Randy Tiner (1992), Jaime Cobby (1992), Shane Scott (1993, 1995), Tim Kaeding (2002), Jon Allard (2002), Andy Forsberg (2003), Blake Robertson (2004), Johnny Gray (2004), Sean Becker (2006)
- Four wins in a single season: Tom Herseth (1977), LeRoy VanConett (1984), Jimmy Sills (1985, 1989), Dave Bradway Jr. (1986), Shane Scott (1986), Brent Kaeding (1990, 1991, 1996), Brian Crockett (1990), Greg DeCaires (1992), Bobby McMahan (1996), Sean Fenn (1999, 2000), Tim Kaeding (2000, 2004), Peter Murphy (2000), Stephen Allard (2002), Sean Becker (2005, 2007), Andy Forsberg (2006).
"Top-Wing" - I got the programs! Thank you! ...Alissa Geving is featured in Faces in the Crowd in the latest Sports Illustrated. ...This portion of Positivity is dedicated to the one reader who wondered why I didn't write about Calistoga over the Labor Day weekend. The answer is that I simply got too busy with other stuff (like the Chico All-time win list and prep for TV duties). ...The Calistoga WoO show mostly was an exercise in rubber-down racing. The Sunday finale did have some good moments as Danny Lasoski and Jason Meyers diced for the lead. ...Brent Kaeding won the Calistoga track championship - making it three titles this year for the 50 year old! He won the Golden State championship and the Watsonville 360 deal too. ...The Sunday crowd seemed very large and I was pleased to see so many familiar faces. Former NARC champion Wally Talbot came up to say hello. I also saw Tim and Nick Green, Jon Golobic, Kevin Pylant, Andy Gregg, Pete Murphy, Mike Benson, Bobby McMahan, Garrett Ishii, Veronica McCann, John Steck - and Greg Yannazzo at one time or another. ...Thanks to Jerry Ishii for the wonderful frozen grapes! Those were perfect on such a hot day Saturday. ...Kim and I dined with the Williams #0 race team, and Bannister family after the races Saturday night. Peach cobbler!!!!!! Sunday Kim and I hit the Palisades Deli for a combo of veggie burritos, and ham & prosciutto quiche. ...Our lodging for the weekend was the Village Inn & Spa - as arranged by the Speedway. Calistoga hotels, and motels are booked up on holiday weekends. The rooms are expensive in the culturally rich Napa Valley wine country. We appreciated having a place to crash but the truth is this small place had no in-room internet, no fridge, and no king bed. Kim didn't like the bathroom cleanliness either. The positives were that it was conveniently located and the staff people were nice. ...I also enjoyed a quick post-race meeting Sunday with friends Dean Bruns, and Jeremy Campbell. ...Gold Cup TV Business: We had to show the end of the B-Main - or Last Chance Showdown because it was too exciting to just hit the edit room floor. The feature will take up the majority of the show. But Tim Kaeding's performance in the B-Main was the kind of stuff that best captures the beauty of sprint car racing. The crowd was as hyped as anytime I've ever seen it at any race track. Only Kings playoffs games and some concerts have provided more of a rush of collective energy in my own personal experiences. It really reminded me of a come from behind basketball game where the home team hits the game winner at the buzzer. ...(I don't expect you to understand - but i am feeling the new Talib Kweli CD as I write tonight.) ...From the TV standpoint - I was trying hard to pay more attention to the monitors and less to what was happening on the track (which may not be on camera). I left our guys in the truck hanging on the first night at Skagit as I called a great battle that wasn't on the screen. ...I will admit to a feeling of gratitude to be blessed to announce the Gold Cup on the Speed telecast. There was a time when TV gigs had dried up when I wondered if I would ever get to be in that zone again. It's hard to explain but I actually feel like I am doing what I was born to do when I lose myself in the excitement of a great race. That feeling was flowing Saturday night. ...I disappointed myself by not getting the Joey Saldana two-year contract information into the show - especially when I had a golden opportunity to do so in the time between him getting out of the car, and him being interviewed by Sean Buckley. I also screwed up a Danny Lasoski stat. I corrected it but the flub is on tape. Nothing you can do about now. ...The Glamorous Life: It was cool to have my wife Kim with me this weekend at Chico. We didn't have to get on a plane - so that was great! It is about one hour and twenty five minutes from my doorstep to Silver Dollar Speedway. We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Chico which was fine. They had high-speed internet for free, and a mini fridge in the room. Bathrooms were clean. ...I had chili from the Chili Feed on Friday which was good. We hit KFC on the way to the track Saturday. Yuck - but the Mountain Dew was cold and we were in a hurry. The TV catering was a mexican fiesta of enchiladas, fajitas, and chips and dips. ...One of the highlights of my weekend was getting a big hug from Jimmy Boyd. The first winner in World of Outlaws history and former Gold Cup champion was there with his boy Jan. Kim told me Jimmy Sills was in the house as well. Another memorable moment was seeing the golf cart wheelies post Chili Feed. (Photo below by John's Racing Photos)
Andy Forsberg was wiping his memory of a tough night - which seemed like the perfect cure for the "39th fast blues". There were California Highway Patrol officers basically just observing the 500 or so revelers in one concentrated area on the fairgrounds. As Jell-O shots were consumed by the masses things remained remarkably under control while being completely out of control. You understand? No fighting. No drama (other than some un-named boyfriend-girlfriend ish that I quickly mediated and mended). Just lots of happy people when we left at about