Racing Scene Column – (URA Victorville) March 2013
By noderel:
Los Angeles, CA – The inaugural United Racing Association (URA) race of 2013 took place Saturday, March 16 at the Route 66 Motorplex in central Victorville. The race honored long-time, generous sprint car fan Don Flanders, who passed away recently. The newly renamed track is a three-eighths mile, semi-banked clay track on the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds with a covered grandstand and seats 3,500. It is located just off Interstate 15 at the Roy Rogers Drive exit. Promoter Scott Burns, of Dirt Entertainment, Inc., is a former SCRA 410 sprint car owner/driver from 1991-1998. He is ably assisted by his family. They also promote under the URA banner the now clay quarter-mile Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino, about 40 miles south via I-15. The two tracks will use alternating Saturday race dates with each track hosting at least ten races from March through November. Racing schedules for both tracks are posted at www.dirtentertainment.com. The original URA sanctioning body governed midget racing in the Los Angeles area in the 1940s-50s. It had separate red and blue divisions for Offenhauser and non-Offy engines.
URA is all non-wing racing in its four divisions—two sprint cars and two midgets. The organization goal is to bring a new look to sprint car racing and named its series “Unlimited Sprints”. URA rules encourage 360 sprint car owners to use their heads, not just their wallets, to compete against more powerful 410s. All URA races will contain both 360 and 410 engine cars. URA wants to leave the mechanical end up to creative minds who think outside the box. They are encouraged to use creativity in engines and fuel to make the 360 engine more competitive with more powerful 410s. URA rules specify no restrictions for engine aspiration or displacement or fuel. Electronic fuel injection is allowed. Scales will enforce a minimum weight rule. Limited Sprints must have cast iron blocks, a 360 cu. in. minimum displacement, be normally aspirated and mechanically injected , and have 23-degree heads. The Unlimited and Limited Sprints tire rule requires the right rear to be HTW.
URA Unlimited Midgets are conventional full midget chassis with no restrictions on engine aspiration, displacement or fuel. Electronic fuel injection is allowed. The minimum weight rule is enforced at the scales. A tire rule only applies to the right rear tire, which must be a SP2. Limited midgets must use the Ford Focus engine package and they have the same SP2 right rear tire rule. These engines have been raced in the USAC Ford Focus (now Ignite Series) since 2002.
Racing at the site began on a clay quarter mile in 1999 under promoter Mike Gibson. Various stock car classes, modifieds, mini sprints and dwarf cars raced under Gibson to 2007. The track used various names—Victorville Auto Raceway, Route 66 Raceway, Victorville Raceway Park. Spot shows of sprint car racing in 2007-08 had primarily 360 engines and some 410s. Former USAC sprint car driver Cary Faas and sprint car owner Jack Gardner were co-promoters. In 2010-11 Steve Quercio leased the track and promoted races and monster truck events under the name Victor Valley Raceway. On Sunday evening, 8/19/12 Scott Burns was the promoter of a USAC doubleheader that featured point races for the USAC-CRA 410 Sprint Car Series and USAC Western Midgets. It was an artistic success with 33 sprint cars and 21 midgets competing. In a pair of competitive races, R. J. Johnson won the 20-lap midget feature that had four leaders and Ryan Bernal won the 30-lap sprint main that had two leaders.
Opening night 2013 at Victorville had 18 Unlimited Sprint cars, four Limited Midgets (Ford Focus engines), and 11 NMRA-TQ Midgets. The URA sprint car count would have been higher with the presence of some 360 cars that raced Fri.-Sat. March 15-16 in a USAC Western 360 Sprint doubleheader at Tulare Speedbowl in central California. Brett Roa, the VanderWeerd twins, Bud Kaeding and Ryan Bernal raced in Tulare where Bernal won both main events. The URA Unlimited Midget event had to be canceled for lack of cars. There were 12 midgets racing with VRA March 16 at Ventura Raceway. Booking URA, VRA and USAC Midgets race dates will require coordination to maximize car counts. Perhaps some car owners or drivers do not want to race frequently or they don't have sponsorship funds to do so.
A non-fatal heart attack in the Victorville pits delayed the planned 5:00 warmup/hot-lap session for each division. VFD paramedics arrived shortly after 5:00 and the man was taken to a nearby hospital for surgery. Track preparation took longer because a strong high-desert wind dried out the track and required more track watering. Only sprint cars qualified, using transponders, for two consecutive laps from 6:38-7:04 pm. Nine drivers ran their faster lap on the first lap and nine were faster on their second timed lap. The lap record remains 13.145 by Nic Faas on 3/26/11 when the first USAC-CRA had 30 sprint cars in the pits. Mike Spencer won that initial 30-lap feature. On March 16 Faas, the 14th driver to qualify, set fast time of 13.986 on his second lap. The second through 11th fastest qualifiers were in the 14 second bracket. A fan autograph session, with drivers standing beside their cars in the infield, followed as more track conditioning took place.
A disagreement between USAC and promoter Quercio resulted in cancellation of several planned 2011 USAC-CRA race dates. Adult fans under Quercio paid $20 at the front gate. URA front gate admission prices were: $15 for adults, $10 for military-students-seniors, and $5 for children. Pit passes were $35 for members and $45 for non-members. Parking at the fairgrounds is free and RV hookups for camping are available. Clearly, the new URA is fan and racer friendly and deserves support.
Opening night attendance was less than 1,000 in the covered grandstand. The March 16 Victorville temperature was 79 degrees at 5:15 pm and still 61 degrees when the three main events concluded at 10:37 pm. A brisk wind made it a heavy jacket night for fans. One has to hope attendance for upcoming URA races at Victorville will increase dramatically. On March 21 a release revealed the scheduled March 23 URA event in Victorville will not include sprint cars, but will have URA Limited Midgets and CDCRA dwarf cars. URA sprint cars will return on April 27.
A possible first-time occurrence in sprint car competition was NSCHofF inductee Rip Williams racing against all three of his sons for the first time. His long-time car owner, Jack Jory, owns all four of the sprinters. Qualifying times in order were: Cory, 23, 14.322; Rip, 56, 14.399; Austin, 22, 14.523, and Logan, 17, 15.915. Logan drove Rip's backup No. 3x. Austin won his heat, Cory was second, Rip third and Logan fourth in their heat races. In the feature Rip finished fourth, Cody fifth, Logan 11th - down a lap. Austin was 16th and a non-finisher.
Sprint cars ran three six-car, eight lap heat races. Winners were: Matt Mitchell (No. 91) from pole, Austin Williams from P. 2, and Damion Gardner from P. 5. Limited (FF) Midgets ran one four-car eight-lap heat, won by Parker Colston. NMRA-TQ Midgets ran a pair of eight-lap heats for the 11 TQs present. Anthony Lopiccolo (from P. 4) and Scott Dobson (from P. 3) won TQ heats. Track re-watering and grooming produced a smooth and racy surface for all three features. The four Limited Midgets ran a 15-lap main event. Colston led the first lap and Kyle Cline led laps 2-15; he won by 35-yards over Colston. Jet Davidson and 12-year old Clayton Rushton followed. The all-green flag race took five minutes.
The Unlimited Sprint 30-lap feature ($2,500 to win) ran from 9:57-1017 with four cautions. The inversion was six. FQ Faas started sixth and his Alexander Racing teammate Gardner was on the pole with Rip Williams alongside. David Cardey and C. Williams occupied row two and A. J. Bender launched from P. 5. Gardner led the first two laps. Cardey then led lap 3 via an inside pass exiting turn four. Gardner retook the point on lap 4 after Cardey drifted high in turn two. Passing was plentiful throughout the field on the well-prepared clay. Rip and Faas exchanged third place several times. The two leaders raced a length apart from lap 13 on as they began lapping slower cars. Racing was exciting for fans and drivers alike. The two leaders approached slower cars in the closing laps. Then laps 4-27 leader Gardner drifted up the fourth turn. Cardey and Faas quickly shot past him on the inside for P 1-2. Cardey led laps 28-30 and defeated Faas by ten yards with the lapped No. 29 between them. Gardner settled for third in his first visit to the track. Rip and Cody Williams completed the top five. Mitchell, John Aden, Kenny Perkins, Bender and teen Trent Williams followed. Jeff Kristensen did the video March 16 for the promoter. Jeff's excellent URA 30-lap sprint car race video is available for viewing (time 9:37) via his March 17 posting “URA Season Opener” on the www.scrafan.com website. I recommend watching it even if you saw the race in person.
About 70% of the grandstand fans departed for their cars to go home after the sprint car feature. It was their loss. The third feature, NMRA-TQ Midgets, ran a 20-lap main, reduced to 15 laps because of the late hour. Nine TQs started at 10:24 pm. There were three race leaders in the first three laps. Fourth place Scott Niven did a slow roll-over leaving turn two on lap 4 and stopped on his cage without injury for a red flag. Lopiccolo (P. 2 from laps 4-12) saw the green flag waving and shot past leader /five-time TQ champion Chuck West on the outside leaving turn four. Lopiccolo, the 2007 TQ rookie of the year and a multiple past feature winner, paced the final three laps in his dad's Stewart/750cc Honda and won by ten yards over West, with West Evans third. Rookies Chris Thomas and Britt Grissom completed the top five at the 10:37 pm checkers.
Feature winner Cardey and his No. 92 Moose Racing team were racing for co-owner Laurie Sertich (Mrs. Moose). She was absent and still hospitalized in Phoenix with injuries suffered during a practice session before the March 1 race. She was run over by a push truck in the pits at Canyon Raceway and had surgery and rehabilitation therapy. It was a most emotional victory lane ceremony as Laurie's husband Tom had his recuperating wife on his cell phone during closing laps and victory ceremonies. They were thrilled they had won the inaugural URA sprint car main event. Cardey and the Sertich team pooled their resources midway through the 2012 USAC-CRA season. Cardey and the Sertich team had won prior main events separately, but the Victorville triumph was their first feature victory together.
Victorville Facts: Victorville was incorporated in 1962. It is 81 miles NE of Los Angeles and 2,950 feet above sea level. Population as of the 2010 US Census was 115,903. In 2003 the famous Roy Rogers/Dale Evans Museum moved from Victorville (just off I-15) to Branson, Missouri for financial reasons. In 1926 US Route 66 was begun and it passed through Victorville on what is now 7th Street. The famous Route 66 song told about the cities it passed through on its 2,000+ miles from Chicago to LA, actually to Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean.