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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
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| USAC Ford Focus Midgets -
TNGP (Irwindale Spdwy) by Tim Kennedy |
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Irwindale, Calif., Nov. 23 - Second generation driver Michael
Faccinto, 16-year old son of veteran sprint car driver Monte
Faccinto, won a thrilling victory in a four-car battle in the USAC
Ford Focus opening 50-lap main event of the annual Thanksgiving
Night Grand Prix (TNGP) at Irwindale Speedway. The protégé of 2005
NHRA funny car champion Gary Scelzi capped his rookie season by
winning the final round of a two-race USAC FF National Championship
on the third-mile paved track. He charged from fourth to first on
lap 44 of the 50-lap event and won the national title by 16-points.
The first round of the series pitting FF drivers from every USAC FF
regional series took place last Saturday at the Ventura Speedway
dirt track. Faccinto, from Hanford, won five of 11 California FF Paved Track Series features this season and his sixth victory came over a star-studded field of 32 from around the country. He drove the same No.4 Scelzi Motorsports Beast chassis. After starting sixth in a 23-driver feature field, Faccinto chased the lead trio for 43 laps. Pole starter Levi Roberts, from Broomfield, Colo., led the first 43 laps in his Dave Roberts Beast. The lead trio raced three wide, which is the norm on the track's half-mile but not as common on the four-degree banked third-mile oval. Then Faccinto made his daring dive past the three leaders entering the third turn and pulled away. "I was patient early. I saw them battling so I stuck my nose in there and hoped for the best," Faccinto said. The feature winner and new FF National Champion also set the fastest qualifying time in a 32-car field during European-style group qualifying from 3:45 to 4:00 p.m with four separate groups of seven to nine drivers. His best lap of five green flag laps was 14.258 (84.079 mph), which just missed breaking the series track record of 14.249 set at the TNGP in November 2002. Ryan Smith, from Pennsylvania, started third and ran second all
50-laps in his No. 55 S & S Beast. He also passed Roberts on lap
44 and trailed Faccinto by two lengths (0.190). Roberts dropped from
first to third on lap 44 and trailed the winner by 1.120. Tim
Skoglund, an 18-year old FF Midget rookie from Fresno, ran third for
most of the race and placed fourth, 1.483 seconds behind Faccinto.
The three-time FF feature winner this year, including a 30-lap main
at Irwindale on August 26, drove the No. 40 Western Racing Gerhardt
chassis. The feature had drivers from nine states, plus Canada and
Holland. The 32-car |
