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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| RACING
SCENE by Tim Kennedy |
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Los Angeles, CA. - Bulletin! Tradition rules. The 63rd running of
the USAC Thanksgiving Midget Grand Prix (aka "Turkey
Night") will be run as usual on Thanksgiving evening, Thursday,
November 27, 2003. The race had been scheduled to run on Friday
night, November 28 this year in answer to requests by some fans with
family obligations or flight difficulties on Thanksgiving that
precluded attending a race. The announcement that the Thanksgiving
Midget Classic will be broadcast nationally LIVE THIS YEAR FOR THE
FIRST TIME convinced track management to switch the race back to the
traditional Thanksgiving date. Irwindale Speedway will host the classic event for the fifth consecutive year. There have been four first-time Turkey Night winners at Irwindale Speedway since the 1999 inaugural at IS. Jason Leffler, Tony Stewart, Dave Steele and Michael Lewis are the IS first-time winners and all are expected back at IS for the 2003 running of the 100-lap Midget Grand Prix. Race organizer J. C. Agajanian, who passed away in 1984, renewed the Thanksgiving Midget Grand Prix in 1955 at Gardena Stadium after an absence of four years following the razing of Gilmore Stadium to make way for CBS Television City. The Agajanian family holds the promotional rights to the Thanksgiving Midget Classic that dates back to 1934 at Gilmore Stadium in Hollywood. Speaking of the Agajanians, J. C. Agajanian, Jr has been named Grand Marshall of the three-day eighth annual Budweiser Sprint Car Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway November, 6-8. He recorded those famous radio commercials (1970s-1990) for races at Ascot Park. Remember his "at Ascot Park--where the Harbor, San Diego and 91 Freeways collide". For the PAS Oval Nationals he should record a radio spot that goes "Meet at the PAS just east of where the 215 Freeway and Ramona Expressway mesh". Congratulations to Josh Lakatos, from Pasadena, CA, for his twin victories in Indiana aboard his own No. 4 Ford Focus Midget. Josh won two consecutive 20-lap mains on July 26 at Putnamville (5/16 mile dirt track) and Anderson (1/4 mile paved track). Josh also ran at the Lima, OH track on August 1 when rain canceled the event before the feature, which will be run on August 22. Josh will be back in California then in defense of his USAC Ford Focus California (North) point lead. Fellow California FF Midget series drivers Todd Hunsaker and Garrett Hansen also competed successfully in the same Indiana FF Series races with Lakatos on tracks none of them had ever raced. Speaking of the Ford Focus Midgets, USAC and Ford Racing recently announced the third racing series for the FF Midgets to be head-quartered in North Carolina. Hank Scott Racing in Concord, N.C will serve as the official USAC Ford Focus engine service and parts center for the Southeast. Hank is a past AMA Grand National motorcycle racing star and the father of current USAC Midget and Silver Crown driver Ryan Scott. Tracy Trotter, of Denver, N.C, will work as the liaison between USAC, race organizers and FF competitors. Big Daddy's South Boston (VA) Speedway, Hickory Motor Speedway (N.C), Tri-County Motor Speedway, Friendship Motor Speedway and Carolina Speedway are scheduling Ford Focus dates for 2004. The opening race weekend will be a double-header March 19-20. USAC also announced during July that the USAC Indiana Ford Focus Midget Series has been renamed for next season. It will be known as the USAC Midwest Ford Focus Series in 2004. The expanded Midwest FF Series will consist of 30-35 races conducted in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan. USAC and Ford expect as many as 40 new cars to join the 25 currently registered cars in the Indiana Series. Current FF Series tracks in Indiana include Lawrenceburg, Plymouth, South Bend, Gas City, Anderson, Putnamville and Bloomington. Other Midwestern tracks committed to 2004 FF dates are Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids, IA, Red Hill Raceway in Sumner, IL and Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, OH. The new FF Midget class started in California during March, 2002 and expanded to Indiana in 2003. The California Series ran 18 races at eight different tracks (dirt and paved) during 2002 and 30 drivers earned points. This year California's FF Series split into two series (North and South) with separate points. Many drivers, including Lakatos, compete for points in both series. FF Midgets are an affordable, mechanically reliable, racy entry-level for teams desiring careers in open-wheel racing. All cars use the Ford Focus Zetec engine that has 178 horsepower. Keith Iaia's firm, Small Car Racing Engines And More (SCREAM) in Harbor City, CA prepares and ships each Zetec engine. I received a note from Frank Loverock on August 3 concerning his son, Brandon Loverock, a leading NASCAR Super Late Model driver of Frank's No. 99 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Frank's race report let the media know that Brandon qualified his SLM on sticker tires (not the best way to get a fast time) and that is why he qualified 14th fastest out of 22 SLMs on August 2. Brandon will be racing in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series for the first time in the August 30 race at Irwindale. That touring SW Series requires all competitors to qualify and race on sticker tires. Brandon will be qualifying his SLM on stickers in the August 9 and 23 races for the practice on stickers before the August 30 touring event. Frank revealed Brandon's big problems in the August 2 SLM feature were a broken valve spring in the engine at the start of the race, and then a few laps later he started to have brake problems. Brandon had to pump the brakes during the rest of the race, but he plugged away and finished 14th, on the lead lap. He was 3.869 seconds in back of winner Russell White. Brandon is in fifth position in points and only ten points in back of fourth place Dan Moore in IS championship point standings after 13 of 19 scheduled races. Brandon is also fifth in Miller Lite Big 10 Challenge points (top three drivers split the $10,000 from Miller) after eight of the ten Miller Lite Challenge races. |
