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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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2009 JOHNNY KEY CLASSIC by Norm Bogan |
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The Key Classic began its long run at
the Tully Road paved track and later at the San Jose Fairgrounds.
With those tracks faded into the sunset, Ocean Speedway
picked up the mantle and this year’s program was the 49th
Annual event. The title event would be run by the GLR
Investments 360 Winged racers, which run a regular scheduled Friday
night show about twice a month.
Joining the GLR cars as companion classes were the Wingless
SPEC Sprints and the crowd favorite, 600 Micro Sprints. Johnny Key made a name for himself as
an intense racer, in a quest to reach the pinnacle of racing. Key migrated from Texas to Arizona and eventually ended up in
nearby Salinas, working in the agricultural industry and racing cars
as often as possible. In
his short stint on the Central Coast, Johnny accumulated a resume
and burning desire to go to Indianapolis and participate in the
“Greatest Spectacle in Racing”.
Boyhood friend, Elmer George encouraged him to move to Indy
and race midgets to gain the attention of car owners for a shot at
the Speedway. In pursuit of this dream, Key relocated
to the Midwest and became a journeyman racer, with an opportunity at
an Indy ride. Finally,
he was picked to pilot a backup car for one of the teams and would
attempt qualifying, when the primary car was crashed, suddenly
Johnny was out of the seat. Disappointed, Johnny returned to the Midget wars and traveled
to nearby Cincinnati for special show there.
Unfortunately, Key succumbed
to injuries suffered in a crash and never realized the thrill of
racing on the bricks. This evening’s lineup was a mix of
seasoned veterans, many who had previously competed at this event on
the San Jose tracks, including Sprint Car Hall of Famer, Brent
Kaeding. At the other
end of the spectrum are a number of outstanding young drivers, who
have only recently been licensed to drive on California highways. The SPEC Sprints had a short field of
cars, but presented the fans with some impressive racing. Billy Aton swept the night for this class, winning the heat
race, Dash and twenty-lap feature. The 600 Micro Sprints had fourteen cars
on hand for the night’s action.
Christine Root almost duplicated Aton’s fete as she
captured a heat race, finished second in the Dash and lapped about
half the field on the way to her feature victory.
Twenty-four cars staged for the Johnny
Key Main Event. Twenty-three
were GLR Winged 360s and Billy Aton borrowed a wing from Jason
Newton and entered his carbureted steel block, against the fire
breathing injected, lightweight cars.
Aton tagged the back and soon advanced through some of the
back of the pack into the middle of the field.
About midway through the event, he went to the pits for an
unknown malady, but put on an impressive show while in the action.
Aton runs a family owned car and spends his days as a student
at the California Maritime Academy.
Maybe some car owner may have seen something they liked and
Billy could end up in a regular GLR ride. Tommy Tarlton was the class of the
field as he led the thirty laps from the pole and participated in an
entertaining slide job presentation with Bud Kaeding for about a
half dozen laps. Bud
has caught my eye several times this year as a more patient driver.
While he is fast, he is also smart.
Kaeding is currently in pursuit of his third USAC Silver
Crown Championship and now abides by the rule for the long races
that, “you must first finish to finish first”.
Now he will stalk the leader waiting for the slightest error
to pounce and take control. Brent Kaeding went to great lengths to
set his car up for the last twenty-five laps, with gear changes,
wheel offset and torsion bar swaps to adjust to the changing track
conditions. The wily
vet moved forward in the second half to finish fourth.
Kyle Larson led the early challenge to Tarlton, nearly
securing first only to drop back later on that lap. Tarleton was gracious in Victory Circle as he acknowledged those that came forward to challenge him and commended them for their clean racing, noting that during that slide fest with Bud, they never touched. Tommy has a built in P.R. Agent in his young daughter, who was gathering other youngsters to come and get an autographed card from her Daddy. Yes folks, short track dirt racing is a family outing! |
