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| Western
States Sprint Car Notes by Kerry Fasig |
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March 1, 2004
The 2003 USAC Western States Sprint Car Series came to a conculsion on January 17, 2004 in Sacramento, California at Race Place Motorsports in the skybox overlooking the indoor go kart racing facility. Top honors were bestowed upon series Champion Michael Lewis and Champion car owners Rick Gerhardt and Larry Trigueiro. Rookie of the year honors were shared by Michael Lewis and Greg Taylor, both recieved special jackets from Hoosier Tires. This was a tough choice because both guys did a great job and both were deserving of the honor. Jim Waters running his first full year in the series recieved not only the most improved driver award, sponsored by Hossier Tires, but he also recieved the C.L.Bryant/ VP Racing Fuels sponsored Hard Charger award. Lori Scott was the winner of the Eagle Chassis kit raffled off to 2004 owner entries, donated by Eagle Chassis and Western Speed and Fuel. The 2004 schedule has now been released with the addition of two new racetracks in the state of Washington, South Sound Speedway in Tenino is a tight 1/4 mile racetrack and Monroe Speedway in Monroe is a super fast 5/8 mile racetrack, both are great additions to the schedule. The series returns to Shasta Speedway in Anderson California, the last time the western states series ran there was August 14, 1999 when Rick Williams picked up the win in the main event. Bud Kaeding set fast time with a 13.505, it will be interesting to see what fast time will be this year as technology has made huge strides in the last five years. The series also makes return appearences at Madera, Stockton, Boise, Rocky Mountain Raceway, Tucson, Irwindale and Pikes Peak. Hopefully a couple more races can be added to the schedule. When you show up for the first race of the season you definetley
will need a program to figure out who is driving what as quite a few
driver changes have been made. I will try to Michael Lewis picked up a Busch ride and won't be able to make all the races so Tony Hunt moves into the Western Speed & Fuel ride to make a run at the championship, as a teammate to Lewis. That leaves the Pierson #14 available so 2002 series rookie Tim Barber picked up the ride. Jim Waters has left the Lori Scott ride and I heard he will be replaced by Randy Dubois. Waters has the car he won the Rocky Mountain Sprint car series with and hopefully he will continue to run the Western States series with that car. Amy Barnes has picked up a new Eagle chassis looking to improve on her 2003 performances. Destiny Hayes from the Oroville, Chico area has picked up a car and has showed interest in running the entire schedule. With race additions up north in the state of Washington several teams that are based in the northwest have shown interest in running as many races as possible. We hope to see the return of Michael Newman, as he is recovering from a case of West Nile Virus, that he contracted in the middle of last season.Wendell Anderson purchased Ken Pierson's Eagle chassis that Tony Hunt drove to 2 main events last year for his son to drive this year. I'll try to fill you in with more information before the season gets under way. |
