|
Los Angeles, CA. - If it's late January
it's Phoenix time, a week after "Tulsa Time" for Chili
Bowl midget participants and fans. This year "Buzz" Rose,
a winning 1960s CRA and IMCA sprint car driver and current prominent
author/publisher of sprint car racing books, staged his annual
"Ye Olde Racers Cookout" for 60+ people. Buzz and his wife
Cathy hosted the affair Friday, January 20 from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m at
the Long Branch Saloon on Buckeye Rd in Tolleson, AZ. A large
covered and heated patio of the saloon was next to the outdoor BBQ
pit. The temperature was in the low 50s and dipped to 49 degrees
before the conclusion. Buzz is still selling his latest books,
"Kings of the Hills" and "The Eastern Bull
Rings", plus his two books on CRA sprint car racing pre-1970
and post-1970. Contact Buzz at P. O. Box 10879, Glendale, AZ 85318
or by phone (602) 978-1599. His website is www.roseracingpublications.com.
The cookout site, located between Manzanita
Speedway on 35th Ave. and Phoenix International Raceway on 115th
Ave. in Avondale, was straight out of the 1880s. You almost expected
to see Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp or other legendary figures in
attendance. A four-piece country band played inside the saloon. A
cash bar, free soft drinks and food, featuring famous Ohio
mettwursts prepared by retired USAC driver "Duke" Cook,
were available. Two racing-cars were parked at the patio entrance
for racing flavor. A white and gold No. 89 Frank Kurtis-built midget
with a Ford V8-60, and the white & red No. 84A Gabe &
Tillies sprint car that Billy Shuman raced into the 1970s were the
cars.
Open-wheel drivers in attendance were five-time
CRA champion Jimmy Oskie, with pal Marsha Smith, Lealand McSpadden
and wife Janet, John Redican and wife Kathy, Billy Shuman, Jeremy
Sherman, R. J. Johnson and Pat Nalon. Sherman and Johnson raced in
the January 14 Chili Bowl in the No. 51 midget team cars. McSpadden,
looking and "feeling good", said he still works "as
long as they keep paying me." Oskie, enjoying the food and
company, was seeking a country music establishment to go dancing
with Marsha. Gone are the clubs Mr. Lucky's and Toolies Country with
their live bands of years past. Locals advised "ski" that
The Oasis now should be his country music club. Retired CRA driver
Redican moved to Phoenix after the Northridge, CA 1994 earthquake
made his uninsured home in Chatsworth uninhabitable. He is still
working as a body shop manager for a car dealer in the Valley of the
Sun. Nalon, son of famous Indy 500 Novi driver "Duke"
Nalon and a 1970s sprint car driver himself at Manzanita, works for
a Chevrolet dealer in Phoenix. Pat said he is getting married soon
and will be moving to Indianapolis. Billy Shuman said his brother
Ron is still involved with the SCRA 360-sprint car organization and
he handles the money end.
Racing activity began Saturday, January 21 and
this report will cover the third season opener for the USAC/CRA 410
cu. in. sprint car action Saturday night. The site was Manzanita
Speedway, a big half-mile clay oval nestled between 35th Ave. and
the wrecked car salvage yard beyond turns three and four. Dennis
Wood runs Manzy operations. Windy McDonald mans the PA system
microphone in the press box in his inimitable style. Former sprint
car driver Rick Setzer handled pit portable microphone duties.
Windy's well-received hard-cover book "Thunder in the
Desert" is still available for purchase. It is a complete
history of circle track auto racing in Phoenix, all tracks and all
classes, from 1909 to 1980. Cost is $59.95 plus $6.50 for mailing.
Arizona residents add
sales tax. It can be ordered from Windy at Win-di Publishing, P. O.
Box 82727, Phoenix, AZ 85071. His website is www.thunderndesert@cox.net.
USAC/CRA: The sprint opener had 33 cars
present--19 from CA, 11 from AZ-N.M, and three from IN. Levi Jones
held the one-lap track record--18.301. Damion Gardner, who set a
record 22 fast qualifying times last year, did it again during
6:48-7:24 time trials with the ambient temp at 59 degrees. As the
30th driver to qualify, Damion ran a 18.862 first lap, which did not
unseat Albuquerque driver Johnny Herrera's 18.771 quick time.
Damion's second lap of 18.667 gave him fast time honors. Four
caution-free heat races for eight starters all had times and ran
quickly from 7:50 to 8:17. Series rookie Blake Miller, a VRA
360-sprint veteran, led all 10-laps from second starting spot. Josh
Wise came from fifth grid position to lead laps 8-10. Then Tom Ogle
led lap 1 from third, Johnny Rodriguez led lap 2 from seventh and
Danny Sheridan led the final eight laps from fifth. Outside front
row starter R. J. Johnson led all ten laps of heat four and posted
the quickest time of 3:14.84, three seconds better than Miller's
next-best first heat time.
The 12-lap B main had Gardner and teen Bryan
Clauson on the front row. Chip Ganassi developmental driver Clauson
led all 12 laps and beat Gardner by 30-yards. Tony Jones, in his new
No. 4 Alexander Chevy ride, was fifth on the final lap with a
transfer to the feature almost assured. Entering the first turn on
the final lap Bubby Jones' son slowed, lost two positions on the
backstretch and another before he received the checkered flag.
He finished eighth (two positions short of an A-main transfer) and
skidded to a stop on the inside edge of the front straight. The
problem? "A water hose let go."
The 30-lap feature started 23 cars at a
relatively early 9:18. It concluded at 10:34 after three red flag
incidents for three single car flips. Pole starter Josh Wise (the
14th fastest qualifier in an eight-car inversion of the 16
qualifiers from the four heat races) grabbed an early lead in Tony
Stewart's Maxim/Mopar. The first red flag came on lap seven for Rip
Williams rollover, with Clauson and Ogle involved. The next red at
9:45 came for race-long leader Wise. As Josh expanded his lead to
40-yards over Stewart Racing teammate Levi Jones, he came up to lap
rookie Miller entering the first turn on lap 14. As
Miller's 17th place Nadine Keller No. 5 passed the starter his
engine sounded sour and he slowed suddenly. Wise tried to get past
the slowing No. 5 on the outside, caught the cushion and took a wild
four to six flip ride near the crash-wall. Speed Channel's Speed
News show Sunday, January 22 carried video of the mishap that surely
cost Josh a victory.
Wise, the 2005 USAC National Midget Champion, was
conscious in the upright car. When asked where he hurt, he replied,
"All over." It was the worst crash of his success-filled
career. Rescuers removed Josh from his No. 20 car with a backboard
and he went in the track's PMT ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital
at 12th St. & McDowell. His dad and mom accompanied him, as did
USAC chaplain Tim Skillman, of American Racing Ministries. MRI and
CT scans Saturday night and Sunday morning proved negative. Josh was
discharged Sunday to return home and he did not compete in the USAC
National Midget race at PIR January 22. On Saturday afternoon
Josh had qualified tenth best for the race in Stewart's No. 20 Mopar
midget. His crew reported Josh had black eyes and racers
"red-eye" and was very sore.
The red-flag prevailed until a second PMI
ambulance arrived at Manzy. A green flag resumed racing at 10:17
with Levi Jones leading. Second place Jesse Hockett shot to the
inside in turn two and led laps 14-24 in the Massey No. 2az.
High-running Jesse and low-running Levi waged an exciting duel to
lap 25 when Jesse's engine began smoking. Levi shot under Jesse
entering the third turn and led laps 25-30. Hockett, still second on
lap 28, slowed and stopped by the backstretch wall, bringing out a
yellow flag. On the lap 29 restart Jones led Cory Kruseman, Darren
Hagen, Herrera and ninth-starter Gardner.
The third red flag came on lap 29 when fourth
place Herrera "caught the cushion wrong" and rolled his
dad's No. 45x once, landing upright near the wall. He was A-OK, but
his sprinter left on the business end of a wrecker. The green flag
reappeared at 10:32. Levi extended his lead to 15-yards over
Kruseman at the finish, with Hagen third, 70-yards behind the
winner. Gardner took fourth and Danny Sheridan fifth. David Cardey
was tenth at the lap 29 restart and slowed with a problem, dropping
two positions during the final two laps as 12 of 23 starters
finished. Levi leads CRA points by one (67-66) over Kruseman. Round
two of the third USAC/CRA season is a day race scheduled Saturday,
February 4 at Perris Auto Speedway.
|
