surfnsprint

Son of a Gun

100 degree plus fever for a week

blew off all my business and contacts

kids don’t know me

wife’s sleeping on the couch

even the cat is looking at me strange

and the only thing killing me….

is that I missed Wes Richardson’s huge win at Ventura Saturday night!

Congratulations you big hard working Son of a Gun!

And that’s that.

Reset the table. Get some more chairs. Tear up the guest list and forget the flowers. Some drivers are tired of leftovers and are making their move. Saturday night’s main event was all about who showed up in the top five…..

DENNIS RODRIQUEZ SAYS “FEED ME”

So much went down let’s get right to it! Some blistering runs in the heat races including an exciting slice and dice between Taylor and Espinoza. “Full Throttle Taylor” finally kicked in and it was “see ya!”. Jimmy Crawford took a brutal flier between turn three and four. He didn’t go to Manzanita with USAC to save some change. Guess that didn’t work out so well.

AWESOME CARS AND CAN DO ATTITUDES

Check out the Kershaw family. They represent the best kind of Ventura racing. They show up with awesome cars and can do attitudes. Here Dakota races in the VRA Junior Focus Midgets, which was won by Alex Bowman. Sorry Alex, I didn’t have any killer shots. I owe you one!!!

RACING WRITER NORM BOGAN

I was stoked to hook up with longtime racing writer Norm Bogan. This guy has visited over two hundred tracks in twenty eight states. Ventura Raceway is his flat out favorite! Working on a racing book called “Along the Way”. Second favorite track? A little dirt track out in Path Valley, Pennsylvania. Doesn’t have a favorite driver but he did mention Bubby Jones. Catch Norm at SCRAFAN.COM.

FORD FOCUS / SENIOR SPRINTS / SPORT COMPACTS

I really like the Ford Focus series. These small and nimble cars adapt well to the Ventura bullring. Nick Carlson nicks Dennis Howell for the win. Senior Sprints were jumped started by Steve Stassa shutting down Wily Miller. Miller drove the bottom hard but Stassa raced smart and never gave it up. Sport compacts (Ponies) featured Greg Raap holding off a determined “Tony Chavez”, uh, I mean Joel Chavez. Greg, you just won the sport compact main event, where are you going? “I’m going to Hawaii!” Joel is going to stay here and continue to rip C Street.

Hope and Cosby, Lennon and McCartney, Kruseman and Naylor

These guys have done it so often it’s classic. One of the nation’s best promoters hands another trophy to one of the nation’s best sprint car drivers. Cory gives a shout out to Biggie. Kevin Kierce took an early lead and almost pulled off a second consecutive win. However, when you have Cory chasing you, you may as well try to outrun a CHP helicopter. Cory reeled him in and took a decisive lead before Kevin ran into the back of Tom Hendricks in turn two, just feet away from where Tom tangled with Heidi Tressler in last week’s main. Rock steady Luis Espinoza slipped nicely into second, with third, fourth and fifth going to young Turks. Dennis Rodriquez took third place, proving his mettle and long time dedication. Fourth place went to self-starting John Nock, who has put in the time and sacrifice. Fifth place was Wes Richardson, also roaring down his destiny road. Great to see some new attitude. Rodriquez, Nock, Richardson, Marcum and Conway….we expect to see you all up front. Another great run by Rick Hendrix. Most passes by Steve Conrad. Personally I think it’s the bomb having Cory in town. He takes these great drivers up a notch. Let’s face it; Ventura Raceway is the Cory Kruseman Driving School.

Classes are currently being held every Saturday night about nine.

his dad blew out here from iowa in the 30’s

somehow ended up in the avenues and there’s your deep roots

found some work out at the navy base but this guy was a motorhead

his son jimmy was at his side

their heads and their hands were always under the hood

THE CALCULATER CRUNCHES THE NUMBERS

Last night’s Ventura Raceway season opener cracked like a whip. Kevin Kierce (does anyone drive into a corner harder?) simply crushed the competition. Took a second place heat race and transferred to the third row in the main event. From there, he proved decisively he is the Calculator, moving street smart and hard charging to the front. Never looks back. Shows again he is arguably the most exciting driver in the VRA.

he was six years old in ’52 and his dad bought him a midget

veterans of foreign wars built a asphalt track in port hueneme

right behind where camarillo hs is now

they were running a stock out in Saugus

watching sprints at Ascot

pounding midgets in Hueneme

sleeping in ventura

VRA ZEN MASTER

Luis Espinoza wears the champions crown as cool as a pork pie hat. He leans back in his chair pre race and watches carefully as Super Dave and Hacksaw turn the final wrenches. Brand new fire suit, pristine car, complete confidence. I think this guy is just the best thing to represent the VRA. Huge talent, humble and real, brings it all to every race. Brought it to second place in the opener.

he was pin stripping race cars before he was shaving

signs, cars, lettering, now bring it on

then it was body and fenders

and hey let’s build a three quarter and race irwindale

get a wife and the boy is a man

DWARFS GO OFF

Naylor called it one of the best ever. Monster dwarf racing at the end between Scribelito, Anderson, Stevens and the mighty Jeff Shelton (there is also an awesome architect in Santa Barbara named Jeff Shelton). Inquiring minds want to know. Scribelito tells the promoter how much he loves this track He will gladly drive from San Diego to race here. He drives it all the way to first place. This is gonna be an incredible season.

now he’s thick in babies race cars and business

sees a promoter drowning trying to make something happen in Ventura

talks to the wife, plunks down twenty grand and he owns a racetrack

it’s the fourth of July in 1977 and it’s his independence day

he runs four races in five day and thirty years later he is still going

DRIVE IT LIKE YA STOLE IT!

Wes Richardson is the only Young Turk to show up at the Main Event. Most Improved in 2006 was split between Derek Buckley and Brandon Thomson. Derek kissed the wall in hot laps and broke something. Brandon got to the main event as an alternate but never fired. Wes ripped Semi Two, started 18^th in the main and marched like General Sherman up to fifth place. Look out in 2007! Hobie Conway and Heidi Tressler took second and third in heat two. Very impressive. Heidi took a flaming flier in the main event that was not so impressive, but it was spectacular. Rick Hendrix survived her assault and finished fourth. Chris Wakim tore up the First Semi, went to the Main Event, started in the back twice and blew everyone away with sixth. But I still don’t know what the hell he’s doing in a semi. Like Jack Nicholson doing commercials! Taylor has some problems and splits. Conrad is back, Perris’s loss is Ventura’s gain. (Gotta mention that I saw Jimmy Crawford take quick time at Perris last week. Rocked his semi and made the Ventura locals proud. I can’t stop thinking about how he missed tech in that one race last year and the rest is history!) The incredible Cory Kruseman took an uncharacteristic third, which had to make Kevin and Luis feel like kings. I was glad to see Cory on opening night, his presence blesses the season and he is always a gracious interview for the promoter and the fans. What a life this local legend is living. I dig Cory Kruseman.

tough times don’t last, tough people do

dad passes and the body shop business is sinking

marriage comes in last in one of those main events

always a struggle to put on the show

dumps the body shop and jn designs is born

proud of his beautiful daughters laura and julie

laughs at nascar and world wrestling federation

runs full midgets on espn and knows he’s putting on some of the best racing in the world

NORTH AMERICAN NON WINGED SPRINT CAR POLL
“PROMOTER OF THE YEAR”

thirty years of non stop ventura raceway

tough enough I guess

“didn’t really plan on this”

the names roll on like a racing river

parnelli jones, bubby jones, tony stewert, sleepy trip, cory kruseman, damien gardner, roger ward, johnny parsons, bruce penhall, gary scelzi, oren prosser, mike vincento, wally pancratz, bobby michnowicz, he’s seen more drivers than people seen trees

dwarfs, midgets, ponies, mods, sprints

everyone I know in racing

everything I learn in racing

everywhere I look in racing

I see the heart of Jim Naylor