surfnsprint

“Holy Sodbusters, Batman!!”
Race 2
April 22, 2006

Somebody call the National Guard! BAM, WHAM, POW!#)*. The government now wants health advisories printed on Ventura Raceway tickets! “May be too much action for weak hearts!” ZING ZAM *&#!!BOOM! The Weather Channel showed up and was interviewing the track crew. Satellite photos showed the track at the center of a hurricane!! CRACK POP #&*!@ RRRRRrrr! Naylor says to me “don’t write everything you hear in the tower and don’t write about me!” I think I just broke two rules in less than a paragraph! RIP BANG #&!)*%WOW! Holy Sodbusters, Batman! What a race!!!

If you stayed home Saturday night, you were probably safe and sound. Those hardy souls that ventured out to the raceway (and the stands were full) were exposed to the most exciting racing Gotham has to offer. Some USAC troublemakers showed up and got into it with our local drivers. Naylor and his ace racing organization presented a show that could barely be contained by the crash walls. Driver Danny Sheridan even tried the walls but couldn’t get enough grip! But I’m getting ahead of myself……

I didn’t get off work until almost 4:15 so I tore up the coast trying to get to the track in time. I didn’t get to hear our National Anthem and by the time I got settled I had missed the Modified and Ford Focus heats. Scott Holder kindly provided me with result sheets that showed IMCA Modified drivers David Addamo and Donald Houghton taking their heats. For USAC Ford Focus, you had twenty nine cars pitted. They ran four heats with Bobby Michnowicz, Chris Veach, Jake Vail and Keith Janca leading their own parades. (Hey Larry O, why don’t you start writing about the Ford Focus races? Frank gives you all that web space, get to work! I can’t do everything! I am grasshopper, you are master) LOL

Senior Sprints are only racing 14 times this season (rain schedule) and I don’t want to miss one. I have really developed an appreciation for these guys. Ron Bach, Wily and Danny Miller, Bob Alderman, Bruce Douglas, Tim Moon and all the others knock me out every time.

Heat One brings an unrestricted Danny Miller (doesn’t have to keep that 10 car safe for his kid) into the pack. My prediction proves true as I watch him savagely back into almost every corner. The crackle of radio static says Culver has tanked in turn four, Stasa out with a broken part. Restart has Mike Cook in front with Bach now biting his heels. Soon it’s just Bach. It’s immediately apparent that Bach, Hendrix and Miller are all on the gas. Don’t know this Hendrix, but he’s fast going from the back to the second spot! He keeps denying Danny Miller. There’s also action in the back as Bruce Douglas is trying to pass Mike Cook for the transfer. I thought he was going to get it done, misses by a half car. Bach, Hendrix, Miller and Cook.

Heat Two announces Bob Alderman’s intentions. Get out of the way! Marini led at first but a spin by Porter created a restart that was all Alderman needed. Tim Moon was also primed to jump at the green. Quickly it finished Alderman, Moon, Chris McArthur and Tom Harper.

Heat three had Oren Prosser Sr. jumping the curb early but no yellow, he just raced the infield. Willey “Way Out” Miller is way out front, no change from last year. The battle is between Chulahoof and Ross Millar and it’s a good fight. Millar wins that skirmish, Willey wins the battle. Miller, Millar, Chuhaloff and Leonard. Ross Millar is looking very sharp this year.

VRA Heat One
Blake Miller’s hair has grown out but he isn’t any slower. However Rutherford’s not giving any quarter. Trimble steps up from the last row quickly and Conrad is always showing up. There’s not going to be any yellows here. They are spaced out nicely and you can tell this one’s going to be clean. Miller doesn’t look like he missed a day here (actually he’s only missed one day!) Miller, Rutherford, Trimble, Conrad.

VRA Heat Two
Chris Wakim took control of this race from the front row. He got in the wind and never looked back. The real battle was between USAC vets Alan Ballard and Josh Ford. That provided for tension as Ballard was half a step ahead of Ford. Ford kept pushing the bottom while everybody else was slinging the high hash. Espinoza was easily fourth and would have moved up but Ford and Ballard were hogging the track. I keep remembering that awesome drive Ballard had here last year. Ford finally edged Ballard for second place. Finished Wakim, Ford, Ballard and Espinoza.

VRA Heat Three
Good to see Clark Templeman lining up. He had some more bad luck last race.
On the green he quickly moved from the second row to the front. Oren “Plain Fast” Prosser Jr. and Mark Weitzman were mixing right behind with Kershaw closing in. Kershaw passes for third and Dennis Rodriquez is now stalking in the fourth slot. Weitzman is trying to hang but his fingers are slipping. It’s Templeman easily, Prosser, Kershaw and the hard working Rodriquez. After the heat I casually mention to Cliff and the others that there haven’t been any yellows! Well, Cliff held me down while the others kicked me. Rookie! There was nothing but yellows the rest of the night! Sorry guys.

VRA Heat Four
The last heat finished Taylor, Richardson, Sheridan and Crawford. First row, third row, last row, it doesn’t matter to Greg Taylor. He moved out front and started banging laps. If they were handing out trophies for confidence, Greg Taylor can go straight to the winner’s circle. This was a great heat. Wes Richardson slotted second and drove it like the pro he is. Kevin Kierce jumped up and then developed some kind of trouble. USAC driver Danny Sheridan took the third spot (no sign of the brilliance to come) and here comes Jimmy Crawford snapping the transfer. Kierce works all the way from the back to fifth but he’s going to the B Main. He doesn’t care, just another race, bring it on.

Junior Focus Main went off with Robby Josett landing first, Jonathon Henry taking second, Dakota Kershaw finding third and Justin Kierce in fourth. I really enjoy watching the teens get out there and drive. Give it sun and water and it will grow.

Ford Focus Semi advanced Nic Faas, Keith Iaia, Dennis Howell and Mike Collins. That completed twenty drivers for the main event.

VRA B MAIN #1
It’s Camarillo, its Weitzman. It’s Weitzman, it’s Camarillo, it’s Camarillo, it’s Weitzman spinning in one. Billy Camarillo smokes the competition and handles the front. John Wright is taking care of second and it looks like Hendricks has the transfer. Nock is pushing hard to take it away. But a couple of things happen on the way to the dance, Nock gets knocked up, Carlisle dumps in three, Hendricks is mugged and Weitzman is cited for repeat offences. Checkered goes to Camarillo, Wright and Tjaarda.

VRA B Main #2
I don’t think you can sum up the desire that a couple of these drivers are feeling. Henderson, Kierce, Angel Figueroa; I can sense it all the way up in the tower. Fiscus also shows up with a ton of need. And how about Jeremy Ellertson! He’s out front with Kierce crawling up his back. Henderson is strong and Fiscus is standing on his pedal. Angel’s in the hunt but it’s just not enough. A vicious hard fought race with Ellertson, Henderson, Kierce. Fiscus holds off Angel, barely, but it doesn’t matter. Goodbye.

The IMCA Modifieds Final was just a great toe to toe slugfest between Jack Parker and Gary Curtis. Before things kicked off I was looking down on these cars and appreciating their ugly beauty. They are big and less responsive than the sprints, they move in a herd, almost like watching elephant seals race! An exciting race where Parker came out on top but Curtis had nothing to apologize for! Bill Waltman and David Addamo did third and fourth.

Senior Sprints Final rolled twenty three cars, scratch that, twenty two cars as Willey Miller left the track without starting. Rick Hendrix, in a very authoritive manner, took the outside front row to the lead and never gave it up. Bob Alderman came from the second row and was settled in right behind him. A real race was developing between Danny Miller and Ron Bach, two bulls going at it! But a cluster cluck in turn three took out Danny Miller along with Ross Millar and Bill Leonard. I hope their cars didn’t take too much hurt, that stuff gets expensive. Hendrix sailed to victory with Alderman, Bach and “Lucky 13” Bruce Douglas.

The USAC Ford Focus is loading the field for their final. I wanted to make room for the USAC official in the tower so I cleared out and made for my friends in turn one. I grabbed a hot dog so I missed the first couple of laps but got to watch Cameron Veach who led from the pole position. Bobby Michnowicz gave him a run, but couldn’t get around him. Strong run by Cameron, Bobby, Chris Veach and Quinton Crye. That’s the second strong showing by Quinton at Ventura.

Now, finally, at about 9:30, the VRA sprints with some of the usual USAC suspects take to the track. What a powerhouse lineup. Trimble (who had the most passes in his heat victory) takes the pole. Josh “Strawberry Fields Forever” Ford lines up next to him. Chris Wakim and Clark Templeman III are behind them. Blake Miller and Greg Taylor up the ante behind them. Troy Rutherford and Oren Prosser Jr. are huge in the fourth row. Way back, Danny “Showtime” Sheridan sits quietly, waiting to explode. Up in turn one, we already know we are going to see a race! We’re on the edge of our bleachers, slowly nodding our heads. I’m gonna get some of this wrong so don’t worry, it’s like trying to cram a gallon of root beer into a soda can!

The green struck like a snake and all of that talent and muscle jumped at once. It was Trimble and Wakim going through turn two when they got together. Templeman came up on that mess and got the worst of it, slamming up against the straightaway wall. (I walked by his pit after the race and looked at the frame: pretzel logic.) Well that’s two of your front runners out of the picture. Wakim did get cleaned up, went to the back and finished the race. Blake Miller also stopped and had to go to the back. Trimble and Templeman were gone, way too early.

Now we have USAC experience up front in Ford and Rutherford. VRA (with USAC experience) right behind them in Taylor and Richardson. Crawford’s back there, Sheridan, Kershaw, Conrad and Ballard are all back there. On the restart, Taylor steps up, but we get another yellow. On the single file restart we now have Troy Rutherford grabbing lead with Ford and Taylor right behind him. This starts up some of the best racing I have ever seen. Rutherford is taking the high but it’s slick up there. Ford is taking the low but it’s slick down there. The slick stretches from the berm all the way up the bank. There is maybe a three foot cushion at the top and Taylor starts in with that. You are seeing high speed laps with Rutherford barely holding off Ford, Ford coming off the bottom just high enough to stuff Greg’s slingshot efforts. Lap after lap Greg tries to get around but Josh is playing it like a piano! Rutherford, Ford and Taylor are three abreast down the straight and around turns three and four. You are also seeing Crawford and Sheridan making big moves.

I am seeing some big time body checking and jabs. You gotta have thick skin for this style of racing. Now Sheridan is pushing the top three and great racing gets even better. I am watching four monster drivers all high on the turn one and two wall, inches apart, inches from the wall, moving in perfect high speed sync. Ford is sticking low, working on his own thing. You also see Crawford hugging the bottom as they all get into traffic. Ford wobbles, Taylor and Sheridan move up and Ford’s suddenly in fourth. Rutherford puts a little front runner distance, Taylor hits a slow turn and now Sheridan is in second chasing Troy. Super acceleration from Showtime, brave almost perfect driving as he rockets the high side at every corner! Then Ford in third, Taylor in fourth, Crawford in fifth and here comes Blake Miller bulleting from the very back! Rodriquez stalls and everybody gasps a breath.

Rutherford is desperately holding off a possessed Danny Sheridan. My pal Ron commented post race that it was almost as if Sheridan was going to climb the crash wall and race vertical to get around Rutherford! Ford keeps chipping at the bottom. Sheridan’s Kittle machine is now working a half inch off the wall. Now a quarter inch. All the drivers are googling “where do I go?” Ford gets the answer on the bottom and nicks both Rutherford and Sheridan and is back in the lead. As Blake Miller flips in turn four, they are at twenty five laps, it’s ten o’clock and Cliff suddenly checkers it. It’s Ford, Rutherford, Sheridan, Crawford and Conrad!

Gotta mention a couple of gems. Blake Miller had the most passes with about two hundred, but unfortunately didn’t finish the race. As a matter of fact, the Millers had a pretty rotten evening all around! Kevin Kierce started at the back of the main, had an unbelievable 14 passes and finished eighth! Tougher than the rest!
Danny Sheridan raced Hanford the night before where nine cars ran and he took first! This third had to be just as satisfying. Either way, he gave the fans a show I’ll never forget! Same for Rutherford. The quality of the competition on this track is off the scale.

See you next week! Support Ventura Raceway, It’s Your Raceway!

Seaside Park, I love this place. After a month of Sunday’s writing about racing, I’ve been invited up into the tower, which has to be the best seat in the house. I’m sitting at the top of the world next to race master Cliff Morgan as he weaves five classes totaling 109 cars (that’s right, one hundred and nine cars) into position.

Right below us, I suspect Jim Naylor is gargling tea and honey, getting ready to scream his lungs out. It’s Saturday night, we’re racing and you have your eyes and ears right on the heartbeat of Ventura Raceway.

I got ready for this racing season by listening to nothing to Bruce Springsteen for three months. I got so many “born to run, deathtrap, baby strap your hands, stand on it, thunder road” lyrics in my brain I can’t think straight. But Greg Taylor just ran hot laps and the sound of that Raney engine roaring just wiped that all out. I am suddenly at peace.

Check out the new paint jobs. Joe Henderson seems to have a new attitude strutting some black and white. Wakim has ditched the “white knight” look and rolled out a snappy blue and white stripe. Espinoza has turbocharged the “deep purple” look. Somehow he has squeezed more color out of that car. Good looking. Clark Templeman has monster flames worked across the front end. I really dig this driver. Clark took some nasty hits last year but here he is. Racing heritage hard at work.

Three Ford Focus heats started the party. Nice and easy, everybody worked their way around the track and made nice. Quinton Crye, Brent Engstrom and Nick Carlson handle the checkered flags.

Next the USAC midgets strode on the field and woke everybody up for the new season. These midgets are monsters! The first lap showed hairball nerve and verve. I didn’t think they were gonna make two laps! They made 8 laps and Josh Lakatos edged Jerome Rodella for the first heat. Heat Two features midget wunderkind Garret Hansen. This kid (actually not a kid anymore) knows his way around a sprint car too! He doesn’t even transfer, but his fast qualifying time will still put him near the front of the main event. Scott Pierovich drives hard and takes the heat. Heat Three has Tyler Brown stealing past Shannon McQueen at the white flag to take the checkered.

Pony stocks up next. If you want to meet some cool people, go into the pits and hang with the pony racers. They remind me of the Wild Bunch. They rule the message boards with insults, one ups and helping hands. Mike Frazier took the first heat, Jack Hoyt claimed the second.

Now we have the first and only heat for VRA Junior Focus Midgets, created for drivers 13 to 16. Naylor wants the kids to race towards the future. Robby Josett shows some grit and takes the historic first heat followed Jonathon Henry. Other drivers included Dakota Kershaw, Dustin Petty and Justin Pierce. These drivers are going to rock.

First VRA Sprint Heat smokes the field. Michael Trimble comes out fighting (I don’t know Trimble, I’ll have to check him out) Joe Henderson is also looking huge taking second. Angel Figueroa and Luis Espinoza take third and fourth.

Second heat, Kershaw is looking young, fast and first! Conrad quickly grabs second. Everybody likes this driver, “Silent Steve” Conrad. Silent but deadly. (OK, here’s the deal with nicknames. I agree with jackslash.com that nicknames are cool. I don’t know everybody’s nickname and I don’t care. I’m just gonna keep throwing things out and see what sticks.) Third and fourth are Brandon and father Jim Thomson. The only heat of the night where fourth was happy for third. Brandon is really maturing, very strong driving!

Third heat, something happens to Derek Buckley and his car is in flames. He gets out faster than a nasty rumor and is rolling in the dirt! They are spraying the car flames while Cliff is in the tower yelling “spray the driver!” Before they could get to him, Buckley gets up, takes a bow and walks off into the pits. Wes Richardson starts his season the right way with first. We are expecting great things out of Wes Richardson this year. Ross Millar is looking more aggressive than last year and takes second. Jimmy Crawford is back on the high line and rolls past Tom Hendricks for third. Hendricks good on you, that’s a strong start. But people get ready, here comes Crawford and he’s pounding on the door.

Fourth Heat just clocks all that comes before. Greg Taylor stretches his muscles and dominates the field. Troy Rutherford is putting everyone on notice with a very aggressive drive taking second. Third goes to constantly improving Billy Camarillo. Put a little Agromin in your cereal. Fourth is Oren Prosser Jr. Face it race fans, Oren Prosser Jr. is just plain fast! This fourth heat was the cream!

VRA Junior Focus Midgets main event goes off with Dakota Kershaw taking first and Robby Jossett following in second place. I am looking forward to getting in the pits and learning about these drivers this year.

Ford Focus run semi with Williams, Howell, Collins and Kirkbride advancing.

Jim Naylor and Cliff Morgan huddle in the tower. There are so many cars and races they’ve gotta cut laps. They are running behind schedule and lap counts start getting dropped faster than bad habits. VRA Sprint semi main #1 advances two cars in only eight laps. Chris Wakim and Bob Alderman survive. Semi #2 advances Tom Harper and Errol Sack. Kevin Kierce just misses the cut. Unbelievable. Hard to advance when laps are getting cut.

Ford Focus runs a fifteen lap main event. It’s a spirited race that Keith Janca wins, Quinton Crye in second and Chris Veach is third. A crowd favorite Bobby Michnowicz takes seventh tonight (here’s a shout out to Larry O, fastest gun on the internet!)

USAC Midget Main Event is also trimmed to twenty five laps. Garret Hanson keeps jumping to the front but crashes keep restarting the race. Doesn’t matter to Garret. There are more crashes than Tennessee tornados, but Hanson continues to dominate with Michael Lewis chasing. So many yellows they decide mid race to trim to twenty laps. Drivers, points and lap counts continue to fall. Midgets have one way radios and they are getting rapid fire direction the USAC race steward, an interesting guy named Howard who’s up in the tower. When you are sitting in the stands and see a crash and a yellow, those midgets start getting whipped into shape. “Single file” he’s yelling in the radio, “get back into single file, number 4 get back behind number 7, number 12 you slow down or I’m going to throw you off the track, SLOW DOWN did you hear me this is a yellow not hot laps!!” Reminded me of a biker dad trying to organize a bunch of wet cats. Now the field is down to seven cars. Seven cars or twenty cars, it still doesn’t matter to Garrett. He walks to first, followed by Terry Coons Jr. and Tyler Brown. Great stuff. I wonder if Garrett ever gets tired of winning. Every time I see him, he’s winning.

Let’s Get Ready To Rumble. VRA Sprint Cars in their first main event in five months, two weeks, three days and one hour. I ran down to the Turn One grandstands to watch with my family and friends. Anticipation was thick. The methanol aroma was wafting with the breeze. The cars filed by and finally it was hammer down in Ventura town.

Let’s get to the point; this race was all about Greg Taylor! Greg Taylor took all of the frustration from his last season and whipped it into a massive demonstration of power and skill. But he wasn’t unchallenged.

Henderson and Rutherford were on the front row and took it into the first laps. Taylor had started on the second row next to Michael Trimble. They were both in the hunt. Then Rutherford passed Henderson and was clearly leading the pack. This Troy Rutherford is a powerful driver. At this point Taylor puts a clean slide job on Henderson down in turn two, takes second place and sets his sights on front runner Rutherford.

Back in the huddle, you are seeing contenders like Crawford, Kershaw, Camarillo and Conrad. Even the back of the pack looked good. Most passes were shared by four drivers from the back of the pack with eight passes each. That was Espinoza, Wakim, Tom Harper and Bob Alderman. But the most important passing (with seven passes) was getting done by Jimmy “Neutron” Crawford who was working from starting at ninth and now he is challenging the front runners. Dude!

Rutherford continues to hold off Taylor, they are actually drag racing down the backstretch! It doesn’t get any better! Trimble’s out. Prosser’s out. Now Taylor throws some powerful slide jobs on Rutherford (“hey they were clean!” -Taylor) and Rutherford finally falls. Now with clean air in front of him, Taylor just starts banging out the laps, swinging high and just about touching the wall on every corner.

Crawford uncharacteristically starts going low and passes Rutherford. You have Taylor high, Crawford low and Rutherford trying everything. Billy Camarillo is hanging fourth and that’s something to brag about with this crowd. Henderson is present with one of his best races. Conrad is also on the move continuing his momentum from last season. (Attention all sponsors, bargain on aisle 56!)

As we come into the white flag, Taylor is so far out front I think he was home in bed before the last car crossed. Crawford second, Rutherford third, Conrad fourth and Joe Henderson fights his way into the top five column. This is going to be an incredible season.

Due to the late schedule, they ran the ponies last, but it was terribly anticlimactic. Quick work by Jack Hoyt for the win with “Hurricane Andrew” Greiman destroying the rest of the field.

It’s nice to see this wonderful resource being enjoyed by so many people. The parking lot was full, the stands were packed and the popcorn was popping. This is great news for the Raceway. I believe the Raceway is ready to start the greatest time of its history. Jim Naylor’s hard work has transformed this site into an outstanding venue for family entertainment. People like to watch racing, it contains the most inspiring elements of character. Technology is adding to the fun. Pioneers like Rick Lewis got the websites going. In car cameras are coming. Tell your friends, bring your friends. Check out vrafan.com or Save Ventura Raceway.

Support Ventura Raceway! It’s Your Raceway!