surfnsprint

Early Saturday morning my four year old crawled in the bed and started poking and snoring. I wasn’t going back to sleep so I dragged myself to my desk and started paying bills. One after one I chipped away at it. The water bill, the credit cards and the part of the dental bill the insurance company wouldn’t pay. By the time I was done, I swear I had fourteen dollars left! The price of admission.

I stuffed that fourteen dollars in my pocket and headed for the track. Now, let’s all just chill a little bit after last Saturday night. It was early afternoon and they were starting to run the VRA Junior Dwarf Cars. These are kids from 5 years to 12 years sitting on top of 5 horsepower! I sat in the tower by myself and watched their heat races. Very cool. These kids are just getting the hang of it, banging some wheels and seeing some yellows. Racing is encoded in our DNA, just watch a six year old pass on the outside. Congratulations to Matt Orozco, Riley Helland and Tyler Jerman. You just won your first heat races!

Bob and Emma Alderman: Priceless

Now they’re running hot laps and I have a chance to wander around and talk to a few people. I spend a little time talking to Victor Davis and Bruce Douglas. These partners are just two fun upbeat drivers working hard on their racing. Bruce tells me he’s cool with the “lucky 13” moniker. Five minutes later he went out and flipped Victor’s car in hot laps. What he didn’t wreck Victor would finish later in the evening. What does luck have to do with the price of admission?

Back in the tower, Cliff and I are standing for the national anthem (some people were humming in Spanish; some people were humming in English). We settle into our seats and Cliff kicks this thing off with the IMCA Modified heats. These are the bellowing behemoths. Two heats with Randy McGraw and Randy Miller taking the honors. They will take the front row when they run the Mod Main Event. Gary Curtis, Brett Lynsky, Donald Houghton and Chad Weber will also be in attendance.

VRA Senior Dwarfs are up next. Two heats go down with Ed Niedzwiecki claiming first after scuffling with Tom Bellinger. The second heat race was a spirited affair between John Lynch and James Soltis. Behind them Linda Taylor and Glen Monk were reviewing positions. Lynch falls back, Monk is now chasing Soltis, taps him from behind for the pass and checker goes down with Monk on the flag. But that little tap he gave gets it called back and they give the first to John Prechtl. They’ll resume their discussion in the main.

Pony Stocks to the gate. “Hurricane Andrew” Greiman takes down Joel Chavez in the first heat. Last weeks main event winner Jack Hoyt takes a timid third. Second heat has Jim Evans besting Tom Fish. This was a sedate affair that runs the same order from the first lap to the last. We have been expecting a big rematch in the main between “Hurricane Andrew” and “Jack Attack” Hoyt, but it looks like Chavez and Fish intend to crash the party.

Heat One has your point leaders Troy Rutherford and Jimmy Crawford both on the front row. Rutherford dominates on the high track, Crawford seems satisfied with second. Angel Figueroa seems to have car trouble and leaves; Tom Hendricks is also smoking badly. Finishes Rutherford, Crawford, John Nock and Tom Harper.

Second heat has Hobie Conway scratching before the race. Mark Weitzman comes out blazing fast but he’s got Wes Richardson in heavy pursuit. Chris Wakim is starting on the fourth row and he doesn’t want to be late to the finish. Oren Prosser Jr. and Mark Chuhaloff are in. Richardson passes Weitzman, Wakim passes Prosser. White flag is Richardson, Weitzman, Wakim and Prosser; suddenly Wakim stalls in turn 1, now its Richardson, Weitzman, Prosser and Chuhaloff.

Heat Three stars “Hollywood” Espinoza off the pole and he never looks back. Joe Henderson, Derek Buckley and Ronnie “the Rocket” Case are fighting for leftovers. Henderson goes to the infield and ends up at the back. Rocket passes Buckley and here comes Ross Millar. Although the Rocket is threatening Hollywood, it’s only a heat race and not enough laps left for a final attack. Espinoza, Case, a fast Ross Millar and Derek Buckley all survive. Mighty Joe came all the way from the back but too late.

Heat Four is what happens when you have too many talented drivers and too few transfers. It’s called survivor. Billy Camarillo takes the pole and leads. Kershaw follows. Kierce is in there. Taylor is in there. Silent Steve Conrad is working his magic from the back. Kierce seems to scrape the wall. Camarillo is way out front; Conrad is working the bottom and now threatening Kershaw for second. Kierce and Taylor are fighting for the fourth position, but Taylor is picking up momentum. He passes both Kierce and Kershaw. He’s not done, now he passes Conrad for second. It finishes Camarillo, Taylor, Conrad and Kershaw. Wow! Camarillo used to run in the middle, now he runs at the front. Persistence is the price of admission.

Victor and Bruce enjoying the moment

Here comes the Mini Dwarfs! Five horsepower of raw metal pounding turns the infield into a battleground of titans. Up in the tower, Cliff and I are having a hoot watching these kids race. These drivers are going at it like Enron trial lawyers! They are running a “B” main first which has Devin McCree leading for most of the race then winning. He was followed by Tommy Velasquez and Rickey Lewis. The Main Event featured an inspiring run by Austin Figueroa, son of Angel Figueroa, powered by Bach Construction in the 48JR. Second place went to Tanner Kershaw and third to Tyler Jerman. If you kids are reading this, you are all winners!

Same claim applies for the five drivers in the VRA Junior Midget main event. This class features fifteen horsepower midgets for age’s six to twelve. Michaela Stanton, Christian Copley, Ramon Rivas, Chris Olson, Charlie Butcher; you are all winners. Christian Copley ran both a great heat race and main event to take first place. I hope you are bragging at school on Monday morning!

VRA Sprint Semi Main comes on the track. I am not used to seeing Kierce and Wakim run the semi, but here they are. Kierce is on the second row and dominates the run. Wakim starts in the back and works hard for the fourth transfer. That’s your number two and three in last years point race, both struggling with this season’s start. It seems irony is part of the price of admission. It’s early, still real early. Brandon Thomson and Victor Davis also get on board for the big dance.

The big, nasty loud Mods take over and we get treated to a great race where Randy McGraw whups all comers. This race had it all, three wide in the corners, crashes, action everywhere (Parker and Curtis were still slugging away behind the front runners). This was an incredible test of will by Randy McGraw as he negotiated the whole rolling brawl. David Addamo, Jack Parker and Donald Houghton all chased him across the finish line. I’m really starting to love the Modifieds! Jack Parker now sits on top of the points, early in the season.

VRA Senior Dwarf Main. You know the VRA Dwarfs have a cool website. I’m not sure of the address, but maybe somebody can post it. I really liked it when I visited. This race was dominated in the first half by Gary Conditt until he wobbled in turn three and lost position. At that point John Lynch stepped up and took over. His car handling ability held off Tom Bellinger, Ed Niedzwiecki, Glen Monk and Bill Van Praag. John Lynch really drove a powerful and exciting race. Lynch, Bellinger, Van Praag and Monk in that order.

More Dwarfs (man, there’s a million of these little buggers running around)! VRA Pro Dwarfs take the track and ratchet it up! Last years champ and crowd favorite Brian Saxton likes the status quo! He doesn’t see any reason for things to change. Jeff Shelton got into a wall and had to go to the back. He takes an awesome drive back to a fourth place finish. Chris Taylor and Chuck Lippert gave Saxton a hard time and they gave the crowd a great time! But they don’t dress like Saxton and it’s all about attitude. Saxton, Lippert, Taylor and Shelton in that order. I don’t know much about dwarfs but I’m learning.

In the pony main event, the heralded rematch between Jack Hoyt and Andrew Greiman kinda fizzled out when the “jack attack” left one of his tires in turn one. It wasn’t one of his front wheel drive tires so he wanted to keep going but Cliff and crew didn’t think that was a good idea. Andrew Greiman drove a hard charging race from the third row, but his efforts were eclipsed by Joel Chavez who took over from Hoyt and never gave it up! I heard there were some hard feelings on this one, didn’t get the details. Looking forward to rematch on top of rematch. Chavez, Greiman, Jim Evans and Adam McPhail.

Hollywood is hitting his stride.

VRA Sprint Car Main Event
Naylor and his team run this thing like a train and we pulled up to the VRA Sprints Main Event. This week’s main event had two red lights, two tough crashes that fortunately both drivers walked away from. As I write this it’s now Sunday night and I gotta get to bed, so I’m gonna brief this up. Mark Weitzman was on the pole and man did he burn rubber. I’m sorry, I usually don’t think about Mark in front but he had the price of admission this race. Imagine Jimmy Crawford, Greg Taylor and Luis Espinoza on your butt. Mark looked like he was enjoying it until he over steered coming out of turn one.

Taylor took over and went high. Crawford went low and everybody else was chasing. At this point, Troy Rutherford biked coming out of turn three and launched. I remember how shocked and scared we got watching from turn one as he reached at least twenty feet in the air. The tracks crash crew swarmed the car as the EMT ambulance got over there. After a nervous wait, he climbed out and left the track. Earlier in the evening he had come up to the tower and said hi to Cliff and interviewed with Jimmy. It was the first time I’ve seen Troy up close. He was soft spoken and powerful in appearance. I hope he’s ok and we see him back soon. He has been giving the fans a great run!

On the new start, Taylor and Crawford swung high and here goes Espinoza to the bottom. Shades of Blake Miller, “this is going to work for you” I was thinking to myself! Wes Richardson is holding his fourth spot and really pushing the front pack. Camarillo drifts in turn two and loses valuable real estate to Steve Conrad. Conrad always shopping for a better position! Here we go again with action everywhere and hard racing. Suddenly we get crash number two! I didn’t see the whole thing but apparently Victor Davis got turned around on the front straightaway, hit the wall near the flag stand, got unconscious and floated across the infield in a surrealistic straight line into the crash wall just past turn two. Another rapid response, ambulance rolls, nervous wait and he’s out under his own power. I hear he has a shoulder injury. A well liked member of the raceway family, Victor knows we are all pulling for your quick recovery.

Not much time left but Cliff elects to get in a few more laps. Right before the crash Espinoza edged Crawford for the second slot. It’s Taylor, Espinoza, Richardson and Crawford. White flag and Crawford and Richardson battle for third. Checkered at twenty laps has Greg Taylor across first, Espinoza second (I would liked to see what ten more laps would have done for Luis, solid rock), tenacious Crawford third, Richardson fourth (comfortable with any crowd) and Steve Conrad top five consistent.

Check out Greg Taylor, last year he couldn’t get a break. I talk to him and he’s reflective and appreciative. I think humbleness is part of the price of admission. “It’s great to be here!” he tells Naylor in the award ceremony.

from out of the fog

As we all hung out later, a beautiful ’51 Desoto Wagon stacked with a hemi drifted into the pits. You had to be there. Flag ceremony, Jimmy!