RACING SCENE Column - Part I of III – USAC Triple-header @ Tucson – By Tim Kennedy
Release Date: 3/8/2010
Los Angeles, CA. - This will be the first of my three part coverage of the USAC three states Western Swing at dirt tracks during late February. Stops included USA Raceway, a banked, three-eighths mile in south Tucson, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway dirt half-mile, and the Perris Auto Speedway half-mile south of Riverside. Stop one was the 4th annual Copper on Dirt, which was the brainchild of Dennis Woods, the Manzanita Speedway GM in Phoenix at the time. The first three years of Copper on Dirt USAC triple-header action (Midgets, Sprints and Silver Crown cars) took place on the half-mile clay Manzanita track and were successful. Manzy was sold and closed in April 2009 so the Copper on Dirt needed a new home. I checked USA Raceway last year following Manzy’s C on D on my way to legendary Tombstone, AZ., home of the Gunfight at the OK Corral south of Tucson. I wrote last April that USA Raceway would be a great site for the USAC C on D and it is. I drove by Manzy February 22 on my way home. It is now a storage yard for Southwest Crane rigs behind metal fencing. The main grandstand metal framework and press box were still standing, as was the main entry archway.
Fortunately, second year USA Raceway co-promoters Kevin Montgomery and Benji Lyons stepped up and continued the USAC C on D this year. They selected Friday-Saturday February 19-20 to kick off the USAC western tour. They deserve praise and support for continuing this outstanding event. Their financial commitment was considerable. The Midget purse was $22,040, with Sprint teams racing for $26,040, and the Silver Crown purse $39,250. The combined purse was.$87,330. Feature winners received $4,000 (Midgets), $6,000 (Sprints), and $9,000 (S/C). The enterprising promoters trucked in new clay during the off-season and booked a 30 week schedule for a variety of home track classes and touring series. The first USA Raceway C on D attracted a solid field of 90 cars—30 Midgets, 40 Sprints and 20 S/C cars. It marked the first time S/C cars have raced on a track less than a half-mile. They put on an entertaining race with a dramatic finish thanks to Levi Jones.
The 3,000 seat main grandstand was about 75% full Friday night for qualifying, heat races and three trophy dashes. The enclosed suite area and the grassy knoll at the fourth turn exit also were crowded, as were the pits. Saturday night was projected to be a full-house as Phoenix area residents who worked Friday were expected to drive 120 miles south on I-10 for some early season open-wheel racing. Friday had a 73 degree, sunny day and mid 60s for the solid night of racing. Some midget drivers said USA Raceway reminded them of the Belleville (KS) half-mile because they stayed on the throttle all the way around the fast USA oval.
Predicted rain on Saturday arrived just after 12 noon and made the pits muddy. With rain predicted for that night, about 3 pm promoters postponed the second day events to Sunday afternoon. It rained again from 5 to 6 pm and later that evening so they made the right choice. The Sunday schedule called for pit gates to open at 10 am, with wheel-packing at 11:15, followed by hot-lapping for Midgets (11:30) Sprints (12 noon) and S/C (12:30). Racing began 1:00 pm with three "B" mains and then three "A" mains from 2 pm to 5+ pm. Midgets ran a 30-lap main, followed by 40-laps for Sprints and 50-laps for S/C cars. Track crews re-prepped the track before the Midget and Sprint "A" mains. They used a tiller that they acquired from Emmett Hahn and dug into the track from top to bottom before watering and wheel-packing the track made it like new for the first two features.
The crowd Sunday was about 50 to 60% full in the grandstands under 56 degrees, sunny, blue sky. Some fans were unable to stay the extra day because they had Sunday flights home. Saturday night would have been packed if the predicted rain was not an imminent factor. Even some USAC competitors were unable to stay in Tucson for the extra day. Car owner Don Fike had to fly home to Illinois for a business meeting. Son A. J. Fike, the S/C 2009 second place driver, finished in P. 7 Sunday afternoon and flew home to IL Monday via Dallas. The John Jory USAC-CRA team towed home to California with both sprint cars. Dick Jordan, USAC V-P Communications, had to fly to Las Vegas early Sunday. Dick said it was only the third S/C race he has missed in 42 years. He missed two S/C races decades ago when he covered a USAC stock car race in Milwaukee and an Indy Car race during USAC’s early involvement with that series. Sunday was sunny with blue sky again. The track crew had the track racy and the pit area manageable. Everyone I spoke to (competitors and fans alike) said they hope the USAC C on D at USA Raceway becomes an annual event. Tucson does not get a lot of rain annually so this one day rainstorm should not deter racers.
C on D DRIVERS BY STATES: The 30 Midget Division drivers came from ten states as follows: 8 each from AZ and CA, 5 from IN, 3 from IL, and 1 each from CO, KS, MO, OH, TX and WA. The 40 Sprint car drivers also hailed from ten states: 13 from CA, 12 AZ, 6 IN, 2 each from IL and OH, and 1 each MO, NC, NM, NY and SD. The 20 S/C drivers came from 10 states as well: 5 IN, 3 each CA and IL, 2 each AZ and NC, and 1 each from AR, MA, NY, TN and TX. ... Three C on D drivers raced in all three divisions, They were Bryan Clauson, Tracy Hines and hometown driver Jerry Coons, Jr., 37, a graduate of Tucson’s Palo Verde High School. Fourteen drivers did double duty--Midgets & Sprints-B. Loyet, R. J. Johnson, C. Boat, H. Clarke, D. Darland, and B. Sweet; Midgets & S/C—B. East, Z. Daum, M. Erickson, Kody & Tanner Swanson; Sprints & S/C—L. Jones, S. Hmiel, and B. Kaeding.
C on D CHASSIS/ENGINE STATS: MIDGETS: 6 Chassis – 18 Spike, 5 Beast, 3 Stealth, 2 Bullet, and 1 each Buzzard and Ellis; 13 Engine Builders – 12 Esslinger Ford, 4 Mopar, 3 Toyota, 2 Fontana, 1 each Chevy II, Gaerte, Hawk, Honda, Proflyer Esslinger, Stanton Mopar, Stanton Toyota, TRD Toyota and VDS Ford. ... SPRINT CARS: 13 Chassis – 17 Maxim, 4 Bullet, 3 each DRC and Viper, 2 each Ellis, F5, Stinger and XXX, 1 each Buckley, Beaberbuilt, Eagle, J & J, and RSS; 20 Engine Builders – 6 Chevy, 5 Shaver, 4 Gaerte, 3 each ITI Performance and Speedway Chevy, 2 each Don Ott, Kistler Chevy, Speedway Mopar and Wesmar, 1 each Advanced Engines, Claxton Chevy, Cummings, Garrett, Gresham Chevy, Hansen, Klein, Mopar, Proflyer Chevy, RC Performance, and Shark. ... SILVER CROWN: 7 Chassis - 10 Beast, 3 DRC, 2 each Drinan and Maxim,1 each Competition Welding, GRR and J & J; 11 Engine builders – 5 Toyota, 2 each Dynotec, Foxco, Gaerte, Kistler Chevy, Mopar, 1 each Chevy, Ford, Roush-Yates Ford, Speedway Mopar and Wesmar.
USA Raceway’s Thursday evening (5 to 9 pm) practice for all three divisions was fast. Both midgets and sprints ran laps under existing USAC one-lap track records. Six sprint drivers ran best laps under the track mark of 15.582 with Damion Gardner’s 15.394 the best of his 40 laps. Coons, Sweet, C. Shuman, Kaeding and Hines (15.581) all bettered the one lap mark. Drivers ran nine to 52 laps during three practice sessions. All 20 S/C drivers had up to four sessions to get use to the track. Levi Jones ran the most laps (41) and turned his fastest lap of 15.957 on lap 6 of session two. Shane Hmiels’s 16.047 was the next quickest lap of 13 drivers in the 16 second bracket and five drivers in the 17s. In Friday time trials Levi ran the FQ time of 17.016, well off his Thursday night 15.957, which was almost as fast as the one lap sprint car track record. The 1.059 second difference shows how much quicker night times are over daytime laps. ... Brad Kuhn ran 42 laps Thursday with his best lap at 16.195. Sweet, G. Taylor, R. Allen, Coons, Daum, East, Hagen and Boat also ran beast laps under the 16.542 Midget track record. Drivers ran anywhere from 10 to 45 laps in three sessions.
While in Tucson racers discovered a great Tucson restaurant—Cattletown Steakhouse & Saloon—two miles from the Tucson Airport area hotels where most racing teams stayed. The race HQ with racer rates is only three miles from the track. Sprint car owner Casey Minks, from El Paso, TX (Sprint No. 8m--Tony Elliott--and No. 75--Jo Jo Helberg) was there after the Saturday rain postponement with his entire crew and Nor Cal driver Jo Jo, a USAC Western 360 CI sprint vet trying 410 ci sprints on dirt. Minks also employs Travis Rilat in his 8 car at times. He said Tucson to El Paso is about 300 miles and a six hour drive. He enjoys competing at USA Raceway and is one of the few teams with experience at USA. The track began life a decade or so ago as Saguaro Speedway and had midget racer Dave Burns promoting races. The property owner is Pat Robles, who leases the track. Longtime Manzanita Speedway promoter Keith Hall promoted at USA in 2008. His son Ladd still runs the bar/concessions as he did at Manzanita. The track is now in its seventh year of operation and co-promoters Montgomery and Lyons are second year promoters. Locals said their weekly efforts are outstanding.
Retired USAC driver Jack Hewitt was the grand marshal at Tucson. He brought his two-seater yellow No. 21 sprint car and gave rides Friday and Sunday to "lucky" winners. They received four hot laps and were able to use the second seat "steering wheel" to simulate driving the car. Hewitt’s quickest lap was the 23rd fastest among the 40 sprint car qualifiers. Hewitt’s first passenger Friday was Jolene, the VIP/suites bartender and a relative of promoter Montgomery, who owns the No 76 sprint car that Mike Leslie has driven for many years. ... The $5.00 color cover C on D 28-page program was outstanding. It contained 25 driver bios with head-shots, action photos and pages of color photos, plus pages for lineups and finishes. ... Tim Spillman, the American Racing Ministries chaplain from Indianapolis, gave the vocation at Tucson each day and at Las Vegas. His wife Ginny sang American the Beautiful and the National Anthem. ... S/C car owner Gene Nolen, of Greenwood, IN., flew to Tucson to watch Shane Hollingsworth, of Lafayette, IN. race his No. 20. Shane, a 25-year old engineering graduate from Rose-Hulman Institute, won the May 2009 Hoosier 100 at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds mile in the same F5 car. He led all 100 laps for his first S/C victory. After the 2009 C on D at Manzanita the Nolen S/C car, trailer and tow rig all were stolen during an overnight stop at the Red Roof Inn in Oklahoma City. Nolen said he had insurance only on the tow rig and he received insurance payment for it. Two months after the theft Oklahoma City police caught thief and recovered the tow rig. Gene took possession of it and repaid the insurer. The trailer and race car and engine were trashed and unusable.
QUALIFYING: Friday time trials divided the series into groups for qualifying. Midgets had four groups of seven cars from 5:34-5:45 pm. USAC announcer Rob Klepper kept fans informed of the fast times as did the turn four electronic scoreboard. Sprinters had six groups of six or seven cars from 5:50-6:15; S/C had three groups of six or seven cars from 6:16-6:30 pm. USAC 1 Lap TRs: Midgets – 16.542 by Jerome Rodela on 11/18/06. Sweet’s 16.606 on his fourth lap was quickest this year with nine qualifiers at 16 seconds. Sprints – 15.582 by Cory Kruseman on 10-8-05. Bud Kaeding’s 16.281 on his second timed lap was fastest this year with 19 qualifiers in the 16 second bracket. S/C cars were at USA for the first time. Levi Jones’ 17.016 on his third of four laps became an automatic NTR. Clauson’s 17.157 was second FQ time, with 11 qualifiers in the 17s, 7 in the 18s and 2 in the 19s.
Four drivers (20%) made their S/C debuts at Tucson. They were: Bobby Santos III, Justin Carver, Tanner Swanson and AZ sprint car vet Mike Martin, who drove the ex-No. 00 Wayne Reutimann ride owned by Chuck Christensen, of Plant City, FL. Case Containers backed his No. 116. Martin dropped out on lap 8 with a broken valve cover gasket. ... Coleman Gulick, 16, drove the ex-No. 56 Galen Fox DRC/Foxco. The NY-based Gulick team picked up a pavement sprint car built by a new constructor in Phoenix and planned to test it at the Tucson paved track, skipping the Las Vegas race. The Kingsburg, CA based Swanson brothers—Kody, 21, and Tanner, 19—have won rookie and championship honors in nearly every series they have run. At Tucson they both drove midgets and S/C cars for Team 6 Racing owner Darrell Guiducci, of Indiana. The Swansons brought sponsorship from Lyons Transportation of Clovis (a frozen fruit hauler), HJ Hay Co., of Visalia, and Brad’s Auto Body of Clovis. Kody blew his No. 19 midget Toyota engine (dropped valve) in Heat 1 Friday. He used a Toyota engine borrowed from the No. 11 Wilke Racing team to race in Sunday’s feature and that engine also blew on lap 11. The Wilke team deserves a sportsmanship award for their sporting gesture/loan. ... Bud Kaeding’s dad Brent and grandfather Howard were in the pits helping his sprint car and S/C efforts.
Following the Sunday S/C race ex-NASCAR truck and Nationwide Series driver Shane Hmiel, from NC, used his cell phone in the R-W Racing pits. He called his father Steve, a former Jack Roush Ford crew chief and current competition director for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing. Shane said, "Sorry dad, I had a bad day." He was in fourth place at the halfway mark in the S/C 50 when he slowed and dropped out "with a broken RR tire bleeder valve" on lap 30. Levi Jones, 27, won his first career S/C victory after he won the 40-lap sprint car main, also for Tony Stewart’s Bass Pro Shops team. "It seems like I’ve had 20 second place finishes." Levi, a three-time USAC National Sprint champion, held up huge wooden first place symbolic checks of $9,000 (S/C) and $6,000 (Sprint) for photos in the pits.
The No. 4 Maxim/Shaver sprint car raced by Tracy Hines, of New Castle, IN, was listed as his car. Actually, Dave Calderwood, of Bakersfield, CA, owns the new car and uses his MP Environment Services and his usual No. 4 on it. Dave owned the winning USAC Western Series Midget No. 4 that Jimmy Sills raced during the 1990s. Dave said he had been out of racing for six years. His son Shawn, 32, races NASCAR SLM cars and son Rex, 30, races open-wheel cars in Las Vegas. ... Sprint car owner/driver Hmiel, 29, bought his No. 17 sprinter over the winter from Kasey Kahne Motor-sports. The car was the World of Outlaws No. 9 that Joey Saldana drove last year on the WoO trail. ... Casey Shuman raced the No. 4G Maxim/Chevy owned by Gerry Cook, of Indianapolis. Damion Gardner, 32, drove the same Pace Lighting older Eagle/Shaver in which he won the first two USAC features of 2010 at East Bay Raceway in Gibsonton, FL. ... Owner/driver Jerome Rodela, a two-time USAC Western Midget champion, hired Alex Schutte to drive his No. 25 Trench Shoring Stealth/Toyota this year. "I hired someone to go faster. I’ll be an owner only with a little one due in August."
Non-Finishers: Midgets – Darland – set up too loose; Daum – jumped cushion, got RR nerf bar into the tire; Boat – ignition problem; Alex Bowman – electrical problem, broken cell in the battery on L 16; Robby Josett – broken valve on L 21. Buddy Lowther’s No. 31 DNQ because he broke his fuel pump Thursday and did not have a spare. ... Sprint DNFs – Chris Windom, 19, had the Tucson 40 lap main all but won in Jeff Walker’s No. 11 Maxim when he ran out of fuel with two laps to go. He ran high at the cushion (using more fuel) and opened a straightaway lead en-route to his first USAC National Sprint victory. The team informed me they filled the 28 gallon tank fully. They checked other teams afterwards and many had only one or two gallons in their tanks after the race. ... Teenager Keith Bloom, Jr. got into turn one too fast on L 2, rode up the cushion and flipped the beautiful No. 27 Kaeding Motor-sports Maxim several times without injury. The car was a write-off and he had to use a backup No. 27 at Las Vegas. ... Brad Sweet’s Kahne No. 49 Maxim/Mopar sprinter dropped out after he hit the wall on L 26 and "bent up a bunch of stuff." D. Darland’s No. 67K Kunz sprinter dropped out on L 16 after contact by the No. 71 caused front axle damage. Danny Sheridan’s Kittle No. 18 broke the RF suspension on L 8. Mathew Shadarowich’s colorful No. 9 blew a hole in the side of the block. Ricky Williams, 16, said a rock knocked the oil plug off on L 2.
RACING ACTION: Two of three Midget 10-lap heat winners started in row two of four. Gary Taylor, from WA, made the trophy dash as one of the six FQ who made the A-main from their heat races. He ran fifth from L 1 until he edged past Mike Hess by a few feet on the inside at the finish line for the important transfer position. There were four 10-lap sprint car heats that sent P 1-4 to the feature. The first sprint heat had three race leaders with passing throughout the field. Sheridan led L 1. R. J. Johnson led L 2-9 and sixth starter Kaeding made an amazing slide job pass in the third turn without contact to win by a few yards. ... That same ten-car heat had father Rip Williams, 54, and son Cody, 20, starting in P. 9-10. On L 5 Rip exited turn two and his RR tire slapped the concrete base of the wall sending his Jory No. 3 Viper flipping down the backstretch. Son Cody, in tenth, said he saw his dad flipping in the center of the track and tried to pass on the left, but Rip’s car flipped to the left and landed on the No. 44 Jory team car atop the RR corner of Cody’s cage. Cody continued and Rip’s car landed overturned after about five flips that covered 40 or 50 yards. He was unhurt. Cody restarted and finished ninth. With day two on Saturday postponed by rain the Jory team towed home to So Cal. Rip’s No. 3 was a write-off and the team put together a new Viper for the Thursday, February 25 USAC race in Las Vegas. ... Following the midget and sprint heat races Friday all three divisions ran 8-lap trophy dashes for the six fastest qualifiers who earned feature berths in their heat races. The TD finishing order determined the starting order for the features. Pole starter Clauson led all the way in his No. 39 midget. Second starter Sweet led all the way in Kahne’s No 49 sprinter. The six FQ in the S/C class started straight-up in P. 1-6 and Levi Jones led all the way to defeat Tony Stewart teammate Clauson by half a straight. Friday racing concluded at 9:35 pm. Saturday racing called for wheel-packing at 5:15 pm, hot laps for three divisions from 7 to 8 pm, and main events from 8 to 10 pm. Rain postponed the three B and three A mains to Sunday afternoon from 1 to 5+ pm.
FEATURES: Sweet (No. 49 Midget) led L 1-21 and 28-30 and won by 15 yards. He became the first two-time C on D Midget feature winner. Hines (No. 8x) passed Sweet on a L 22 restart on the inside at turn two and led L 22-27. Sweet re-passed him on L 28 with an inside move entering turn one. Bobby East nipped Hines by a few feet for second spot at the finish line with his inside pass. The race ran from 2:48-3:09 pm and 18 of 26 starters finished, with 16 drivers on the lead lap. Winner Sweet said: "Track maintenance did an awesome job for a day race. Tracy (Hines) drove by me so I put my elbows up and got back by him. I have one race to go (sprints) and hope to do it again." ... The track crew reworked the track and made it like new for the sprints. The 26 sprint car field took the green flag at 4:11, had two red flags (L 2 and L 18) and ended at 4:52 pm. Chris Windom started second (next to Sweet) and opened a straightaway lead by L 11. He ran the fastest lap of the race at 16.346 on L 12. Kaeding’s 16.806 on L 10 was the next fastest lap and winner Jones ran his best lap (16.905) on L 7. By lap 26 Windom again had a straightaway lead and lapped up to 11th place. His lead began to evaporate by lap 38 and his sputtering engine stalled high in turn three on L 39—out of fuel. Jones (in Stewart’s No. 20 Maxim) inherited the lead and won by five yards (0.374 officially) over Coons, who had five yards (0.381) on third place Kaeding, The sixth and seventh place cars got together and spun out entering turn one after they received the checkered flag from track starter Jason Weyminger. Sixteen cars finished, with 13 on the lead lap. Asked whether he had anything for long-gone Windom, Levi said "Definitely not. He set a helluva pace. He probably ran out of fuel." Coons said: "I gave it everything I had. Attrition helped us. We had nothing for Chris. I came up one position short, but it was a good race for us."
S/C Main: The race ran from 5:17-5:39 pm in daylight and concluded before track lights became necessary. Pole-man Jones led L 1-8 until ninth starter Kaeding made an inside pass through the first two turns; he opened a straightaway lead by L 25 crossed flags with cars in P. 2-9 virtually nose to tail. A L 30 caution for a stalled car made the final 20 laps a close, three-car duel with Kaeding and P. 3 Hines running low and P. 2 Jones high. Jones and Hines traded P. 2 on L 39 and again on L 46 after a yellow flag for Gulick’s stalled car at turn three (flat RR tire). Kaeding led Jones by five yards as they started the final lap. Jones stayed high in all four turns and Hines dropped him to third briefly on the backstretch. Jones kept the power on entering turn three and re-passed Hines and powered by leader Kaeding exiting turn four for the lead. Jones (No. 10) won by a length and a half over surprised Kaeding. B. East was third, ten yards back. It was a thriller. Sixteen of 19 starters (Daum DNS) finished and all 16 drivers completed 50 laps. Winner Jones said: "This is my first S/C win. To have a race like that at the end of a long day is really something." Kaeding said: "My car was tight and did not have enough stagger. I was freaking out a little bit." He admitted he thought he had it won in the fourth turn on L 50. "It was a no-brainer for me." S/C winner Jones ran his fastest lap (18.601) on L 49. Kaeding’s best lap (18.519) came on L 9. Brian Tyler ran the fastest lap of the race at 18.321 on L 13. My next Racing Scene column will cover the Las Vegas Motor Speedway half-mile dirt track Feb. 25 USAC event and the Feb. 26 WoO winged sprint & IMCA Modified races.
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