Racing Scene Column - PAS Sprints
By noderel:
Los Angeles, CA. - The September 14 USAC-CRA race at Perris Auto Speedway was round 18 of the 22 race season. There were 26 sprint cars and nine of the top ten drivers in USAC-CRA point standings present. Only P. 9 Ryan Bernal was missing. The event Saturday was the sixth annual Glenn Howard Classic in honor of the former driver, car owner, racing association president and patriarch of Howard Racing. His three sons—Gary, Mike and Steve—all raced CRA sprint cars at Ascot Park in Gardena. Glenn ran a racing fuel, tires and equipment business out of Downey until he succumbed from health issues. Son Steve carried on the family business for years, including from a truck in the PAS pits, until recently. The PAS program had a photo of Glenn's No. 80 hot rod that he raced for years. His CRA white & blue sprint cars carried No. 94.
Prior to the start of racing, the large crowd stood in silence while Cory Kruseman took several slow pace laps and one hot lap in Mark Priestley's No. 7 sprint car. He did so to honor Pat Howard, widow of race honoree Glenn and mother of Gary, Mike and Steve. She worked for decades in the family racing business and was respected for extending credit to racers temporarily short on funds to pay for their purchases to go racing. Pat passed away in late August. Funeral services were held August 30 at Forest Lawn in Cypress.
Two of the most experienced PAS sprint car drivers had similar qualifying flips. On a 95 degree day during 5:58-6:24 pm qualifying, 13th qualifier David Cardey set the eventual seventh fastest qualifying time on his first lap. On lap two he slid the Moose No. 92 into the turn one crash-wall and flipped once. The car went to the pits on a hook where the team had to replace both axles and weld the frame. It raced in heat one, the B and A mains. Matt Mitchell, the 21st qualifier, set 11th quickest time on his first lap. On his second lap he also slid into the first turn wall and flipped. His crew discovered a bent frame and parked his No. 37 car for the night. Matt picked up a ride in the borrowed 360 sprinter of Victor Davis and made the feature by finishing sixth in the B main. A smoking engine at the end of the B prevented Matt from starting the feature in his borrowed ride.
The September 14 PAS event had three other divisions in action. There were 11 senior sprints (age 45+ drivers), seven sprints for the new Young Gun Series (drivers ages 14-21), and 14 winged California Lightning Sprints that use motorcycle engines. CLS qualified individually (two laps) instead of group qualifying. Bobby Michnowicz, now a six-time 2013 CLS feature winner, set a one-lap NTR in his No. 21k Henchcraft/Kawasaki. His first lap of 17.360 eclipsed the old PAS CLS qualifying record of 17.490 set in 2008 by Jarrett Kramer. Michnowicz then won the 20-lap main by passing L 6-19 leader Dan Hillberg on lap 20 at the checkered flag. “BM” used an inside pass from turn four to the finish line to win narrowly.
Bradley Morris, led all 15 laps from the pole in the No. 89k sprinter to capture his second consecutive Young Gun 15-lap main. Logan Williams, 17-year old youngest son of still competitive 2008 NSCHoF inductee Rip Williams, 57, was a pressing runner-up in the fourth John Jory team car. Chancellor Tiscareno, 16-year old YG point leader dropped out of third place with a rough-sounding engine that cost him a lap and caused him to be black-flagged for safety reasons. He had a nine point lead entering the final YG event of the inaugural season. It wasn't enough for him to become the first PAS Young Gun Series champion. Logan Williams became the first YG champion by three points. Chancellor raced Bandolero and Legend Cars at Irwindale in 2010-11. The seven YG drivers in action all looked competitive and diced with each other professionally. All six finishers were on the lead lap. The future of this circuit and drivers eventual advancement to the USAC-CRA circuit should provide a steady stream of new driving talent to that pro circuit.
The ten-car senior sprint 20-lap feature was competitive and entertaining. Bruce Douglass, 61, led the first six laps from the pole. VRA veteran Jimmy Crawford, from Ventura, came from fifth starting spot to lead laps 7-20. Seniors point leader Rick Hendrix, 60, started sixth and chased Crawford from laps 11-20. He made several inside passing attempts in the closing laps, but Crawford, 47, held on by two lengths for his first PAS senior sprint triumph on his first attempt. Hendrix entered the event with a 15-point lead over 2012 PAS Seniors champion Douglass and added three points to that advantage by beating P. 3 finisher Douglass to the checkers by a straightaway. The senior sprints have only their final races during the November 1 and 2 PAS 18th annual Oval Nationals to settle the third PAS Senior Sprint championship.
A spectator medical emergency during the first senior sprint heat race required the infield ambulance to leave the pits and go to the front gate area. So racing was red flagged on lap 5 of 8 at 7:53 pm. The ambulance had to transport the stricken person to a hospital, so a 25-minute delay ensued before the second 8-lap senior sprint heat started at 8:20 after a replacement ambulance arrived at PAS. Racing would have concluded by 10:30 without that delay.
During the regular intermission drivers went into the grandstand with their helmets to collect funds for severely injured Kyle Boisvert, 21, of Canoga Park. The experienced demo-cross racer received critical burns during the September 7 “Night of Destruction” event (demo-cross, Figure 8 and trailer races). Kyle's older Winnebago-style motor-home was involved in a fiery flip at the end of the front straight after being hit from behind. After one and a half flips the fuel tank erupted into a huge fireball. Kyle freed himself from his safety belts and came out of the vehicle in about ten seconds with his clothes on fire according to his twin brother Craig. He rolled on the ground to extinguish the fire that burned off his clothes and melted his helmet. Fire crews arrived quickly, aided him and extinguished the blaze. You Tube videos from the grandstand and from a competing car showed how frightening the crash and fire were.
Kyle was conscious throughout his ordeal and spoke to his father according to his twin. He was taken by ambulance to a Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley and then transferred by helicopter to the burn unit at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. Craig said Kyle received third degree burns on his arms, legs and back. He was placed in a medically-induced coma for several days and then started receiving skin grafts. His condition remains critical but stable. His family was present at PAS Saturday. Donations may be mailed to PAS to help defray mounting costs for Kyle's on-going medical treatment.
Miscellaneous: Danny Faria, Jr., 41, made his first racing trip to PAS “in two years” to get experience for the Oval Nationals. He qualified 14th fastest in his No. 17v Spike and finished third in his 10-lap heat race. When interviewed by Chris Holt via the portable microphone, the Tipton, CA resident said his family came to the US to farm and operate a dairy farm. Decades ago they started with one cow and now have about 5,000 milk cows that keep the family farming business solvent despite rising costs and taxes.
John Aden, the speedway motorcycle and sidecar racing promoter in Victorville, made an infrequent PAS start in one of his self-built 777 chassis. He was 16th fastest qualifier in TT and won his heat race after starting second and leading all ten laps. John started 13th in the feature and was involved in a three-car tangle on lap 23 in turn four. His No. 7A flipped and was removed via a wrecker. Hopefully he will have his car ready for the next PAS sprint car racing event—the Oval Nationals.
Bud Kaeding, 33, raced at PAS September 14 in his usual No. 29 Bowman Chevy. The past multi-Oval National feature winner gained some impressive PAS experience Saturday for the upcoming Oval Nationals. PAS rustiness was not evident for Bud. He started second and won his ten lap heat. Then he started 12th and finished fourth in the 30-lap feature. Bud was in P. 7 at lap 15; he passed Kruseman for fourth on lap 26. Eighteen of 21 actual starters were racing at the finish with 16 drivers on the lead lap. The feature started at 10:29 and concluded at 10:55 pm after one red and three yellow flags. The four main event leaders were: Damion Gardner (L 1-2), Kruseman (L 3-11), Mike Spencer (L 12-21) and Nic Faas (L 22-30). Mike re-passed Nic on lap 23 but a caution flag erased that pass.
MAIN EVENT QUOTES:
Seniors: Crawford won the 6:02 minute, all-green 20-lap main and told the crowd over the PA mike: “We're all old, but some of us still go fast. I'm out of shape. I haven't raced since January. The smoke from my car most of the race was oil blow-by from the oil tank.” He added he came out to PAS for the first time this year to gain experience for the Thursday, October 31 all-360 cu. in. sprint car challenge event that will match California vs. Arizona 360 sprint car series drivers on night one of the three night Oval Nationals. ... P. 2 Hendrix said, “It was a good race. I came up short. I got under him (Crawford) a couple of times, but just couldn't pull it off.” ... P. 3 Douglass stated: “Jimmy and Rick both stepped up. Fans like our senior racing.” He mentioned that his day started at 5:30 am with a surfing contest in Ventura.
Young Guns: Winner Morris stated: “I was slow all day. We tried to get the car set-up. The track got dry and I was able to run the bottom where I like it. I tried to hold my line and not get rattled.” ... Runner-up Logan Williams said, “I gave it all I had. Hats off to him. I applied pressure. He stayed on the bottom. I'm happy.” ... P. 3 Parker Colston added, “That was tiring, but fun though. I needed a little luck. Thanks to my mom and especially my dad. We'll be back next year.”
CLS: Winner Michnowicz, 49, told pit announcer Holt, “Dan had it. That was his race. If the yellow hadn't come out he would've won it. (On lap 18 leader Hillberg held a 20-yard lead.) My car was rolling over in the turns. Without a wing I would've flipped.” ... Runner-up Hillberg added, “Bobby out-drove me tonight. That yellow bit me. I left it on the top and Bobby got past me on the inside. I still beat the 4x car.” ... Point leader Steve Limon (No. 4x) said, “I was trying to catch them but they had better cars than I did. I love coming here to Perris.”
USAC-CRA 410s: Winner Faas told the crowd, “I hit the cushion in turn 3-4 (on lap 23) and lost the lead, then the yellow came out. I was sick for five weeks (missed a race). We'll try to be ready for the Oval Nationals (November 1-2) and get that eagle trophy.” He thanked Mark and Steve Alexander for giving him a great car. He also thanked his mom and dad and his girlfriend. ... Disappointed P. 2 Spencer stated, “Close doesn't count. I had a good race with Nic. I moved around in turns 1 and 2. He made one mistake and the caution came out so he got the lead back. It all balances out. Sometimes yellows help you and sometimes they don't. We'll go to Arizona for the two USAC National races (at Peoria on October 25-26) and return here for the Oval Nationals and go for the podium top step.” Third place Damion Gardner skipped post-race ceremonies and drove his No. 4A Alexander Racing team car directly to his pit.