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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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VIEW OF THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE by Norm Bogan |
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Saturday, October 4, 2003 will be a day to be remembered, as the Inaugural
“Legends of Ascot” celebration. This
event had begun as a gathering of maybe one to two hundred people to honor five
racing personalities that contributed to the development of Ascot over its
thirty-three year life span. The
first two honorees were promoters, Harry Schooler, initiated construction of the
track and J.C. Agajanian, who enjoyed many years of success operating the track.
A couple of the most colorful drivers, not only at Ascot, but in the
racing world, Allen Heath and Parnelli Jones and lastly, one of the most
successful mechanics, with eight championships under his belt, Ray Scheetz.
Initial arrangements were for a tent accommodating about three hundred
people. Shortly after tickets went on sale, it appeared the early
estimate would be exceeded and a larger tent to handle five hundred people was
planned for. When Perris Auto
Speedway said it was time to cut off any more ticket sales, requests came in
from over one hundred additional ducats. The
fair board was very cooperative, since the event had twice outgrown the size of
the tent and they made the exhibit hall available to handle the capacity crowd
of over six hundred guests. On hand were many of the heroes of yesteryear, who had graced the Ascot clay for a number of years. Two of the former drivers on hand went on from their southern California roots to score the ultimate race victory, winning the Indy 500. 1959 and 1962 champ Rodger Ward and the 1963 winner, who cut his racing teeth in the early years of Ascot, Parnelli Jones. There were drivers who ran with these two gentlemen, racers like five-time CRA champ, Jimmy Oskie, along with Bob Hogle, Bob Coulter, Stan McElrath, Tony Simon, Stan Atherton, Billy Wilkerson, Ronnie Rea, Bubby Jones, Jay East and a few more not to be overlooked. As the participants lined up to get their pit passes, they filed through some
of the legendary cars from Ascot. The
Faas “King O Lawn” Special, the Bromme “Little Red Sucker” and Jimmy
Oskie’s “Old Paint” the J-Ram Special were there with several others.
When entering, attendees received a gift bag filled with a souvenir
program with biographies on the five honorees and lots of photographs, an event
lapel pin, a legends poster and numerous sponsor decals. In addition to the drivers, there were also a number of car owners, officials
and just plain fans that came to pay their respects to the racing venue that
held a multitude of memories and affected the lives of so many.
There was lots of bench racing, reminiscing and some questionable tales,
representing Ascot’s glorious days. Moving from the exhibit hall to the adjacent Perris Auto Speedway, found the present and future. In the pits were a total of sixty-four sprint cars representing both the Sprint Car Racing Association (SCRA) and the Ventura Racing Association (VRA). Many SCRA drivers began their careers at Ascot and continue to perform at this new speed plant today. Looking to the future are numerous young racers just starting their careers, either with SCRA or VRA. Several decades from now, we will gather to honor some of tonight’s contestants. With two classes participating in an evening of traditional (non-wing) sprint
car racing, it was a race fans opportunity to “pig out”, while satisfying
their thirst for action as once experienced at Ascot. Several drivers had cars entered in both the VRA 360 class and the SCRA 410
class. Among those were Mike Kirby,
Charles Davis Jr. and Ron DiDonato. The
VRA passes on qualifying, choosing to do a pill draw to set the fields for the
heat races and then lining up the feature with by points accumulated during the
evening. The SCRA however tests
their skills against the clock with twenty-year old leading rookie, Josh Ford
setting fast time, his second of the season.
Jonas Reynolds, Chris Wakim and Charles Davis Jr captured VRA heat races.
Tonight’s feature was a maiden victory for Richard McCormick, followed
by Mike Kirby, Ronnie Case, Steve Conrad and Mike Knopf. Brian Venard, Verne Sweeney, Rip Williams and Seth Wilson raced to victory in
the four SCRA heats. Rickie Gaunt
prevailed over Mike English in the “B” Main, while Rip Williams took the
checkers in the Dash putting him on the pole for the “A” Main.
Williams got out to a lead in the feature, with Davis Jr. and Tony Jones
in hot pursuit. At the finish,
Jones made a last lap pass of Williams to claim his first main event of the
year. Williams was a close second
with Troy Rutherford coming on strong in third, Richard Griffin grabbed another
top five finish with fourth and Bobby Graham came from sixteenth to finish
fifth. It was a long day, which sent us home with visions of numerous races from
years past and also a fine night from the current racers, along with those
youngsters, who are just starting to build their own legends.
While it appears that we will have many more Legends of Ascot
celebrations, some day we will also talk about the exploits of “The Gasman”,
“The Ripper”, “The Demon”, “The Mexican National Champion”, “The
Cowboy” and others, who are today’s established heroes.
There is a nucleus of new talent just on the cusp of greatness, that have
shown a lot of ability and dedication that it takes to run in the tough SCRA.
Look for drivers like Josh Ford, Alan Ballard and Seth Wilson to replace
some of the above named racers, but first they have to earn a nickname. The VRA has some promising young racers also, of which a number will advance
to the SCRA competition and some will go further.
Look for names like Tom Stansberry, Trevor Brillman, Chris Tramel, Luis
Espinoza, Blake Miller and Jonas Reynolds to have their stars shine much
brighter in the near future.
Kudos should go to Don Weaver, Belita Michnowicz, the Kazarian family and
Perris Auto Speedway, the Lake Perris Fair Board and many behind the scenes
workers, who labored over the Legends of Ascot project, all because of their
love of the sport. |
