California Coast
By noderel:
LOS ANGELES – Irwindale Speedway presented 235 laps of late model main events on the progressively-banked half-mile by three series March 19 in front of 5,290 fans. The star was the youngest driver, Todd Gilliland, 15 years and ten months. He set fast time in two afternoon practice sessions in a 24 car NASCAR K & N West touring field. Then he turned a 17.997 (100.017 mph) to win fast time by 0.022 during 5:00 pm time trials. Todd, son of NASCAR Sprint Cup veteran David and grandson of NASCAR K & N West 1997 champion Butch, led the first five laps and the final 28 laps of the 150 lap race, run without a full-field, mid-race break.
Gilliland drove Bill McAnally's No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota that Brandon McReynolds drove in 2014-15. McAnally, the race promoter and entrant of four cars, saw his other cars finish third, sixth and eighth. Gilliland's winning margin was 1.962 seconds. It was Todd's third consecutive K & N victory, including a West victory last November on the Phoenix mile, and an East triumph in February, 2016 at half-mile New Smyrna Speedway in Florida. He also became the youngest ARCA feature winner last May in Toledo, Ohio shortly after he turned 15 onMay 1.
Irwindale's Toyota/NAPA Auto Parts 150 runner-up was three-time Irwindale track champion Ryan Partridge, 27, from Rancho Cucamonga. He was a K & N West feature winner in Colorado and third place in 2015 K & N West final points as a K & N rookie. Ryan led laps 91-122 in one of three Bob Bruncati Sunrise Ford Fusions.
Chris Eggleston, the 2015 Irwindale 150 winner, placed third after leading laps 43-44. Gracin Raz, 18, led laps 6-42 and 45-90 before finishing 14th after wall contact on lap 95 while running second. Noah Gragson, 17, and Johnny Borneman III placed fourth and fifth. Rookies Riley Herbst, 17, Hannah Newhouse, 19, Julia Landauer, Cole Rouse, 18, and Trevor Huddleston, 19, completed the top ten. Twenty of 24 starters finished with 16 on the lead lap.
The entertaining race had four leaders and five lead changes that were captured by NBCSN in a taped one hour telecast shown on March 25. There were seven caution flags (three for debris) totaling 38 laps. The 24 driver field included 11 K & N rookies hoping to advance to a NASCAR national touring series. Five rookies finished in the top ten.
PODIUM INTERVIEWS:
Gilliland stated, “I wasn't concerned too much with our tires. I didn't drive into turns too hard and came straight off. It will be close, hard racing all year with Ryan and Chris. I plan to run seven more K & N East races including Bristol and Dover. Jason Hedleski is my spotter. Dad has given me a lot of information and was on my radio at times from the infield. He told me when it was time to go. This race was fun. My only other race here (at age 14 in a July 2014 super late model race in which his dad and grandfather raced) I was in a car that wasn't handling. We'll fly home (North Carolina) tomorrow. I work on race cars every day after my school homework.” Asked what his dad said to him after his victory, Todd replied, “He said, 'I'm proud of you. You're doing racing stuff I could only dream about at 15.' He started racing at 18.”
Partridge told the media, “I'm just a broke kid. I need to drive for others. This is my second and last year with Bob Bruncati. I would love to race in K & N East. Todd is a great racer and a wild card in K & N West. He drove straight into corners and accelerated hard. The track “rubbered-up” more than usual after two other divisions. If there was a green, white, checker finish I think I'd have something for him. When it was time to go everyone put the hammer down and went.”
Eggleston, 26, said, “The track was temperature sensitive tonight. I tried to save my stuff and get the car to rotate in the corners. It will be close all year racing with them. It was easy to race on the bottom and gain positions there when tires are cooler. I wanted to lead a lap for bonus points. I drove the 99 NAPA car last year; we put 50 on it this season for NAPA Filters 50th year anniversary.”
JULIA LANDAUER: The 24-year old K & N rookie drove McAnally's No. 54 that Christopher Bell raced in the 2015 Irwindale 150. She told media members, “That was a lot of fun. K & N cars are fun to drive. The racing here at Irwindale was great. I was tenth fastest in qualifying. I found my rhythm and got going. The bottom was really tough for me. I got passed by others on restarts after I got as high as fifth place. Past K & N West champion Eric Holmes is my spotter. My tires were pretty good, but my brakes got a little hot.”
The New York City native now resides in Charlotte, N.C to further her racing career. Julia's background is amazing. She started racing at age 13 and won her first championship at 14 in a Skip Barber Racing series. She also raced Formula BMR in 2007, Ford Focus Midgets 2008 on pavement. She raced late models in 2009 for McAnally at Roseville (Calif.) All-American Speedway. She also raced late models at Virginia's South Boston Speedway from 2010-11 and INEX Legends from 2012-14. She was the 2015 NASCAR Whelen Series limited late model track champion at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Virginia. McAnally named her as one of his four K & N West Toyotas in 2016 all season.
That is not all that is impressive on Julia's resume. She attended Stanford University all four years and graduated in 2014 from the prestigious California university with a bachelors degree (major--science, technology and society). She currently is a motivational speaker. Julia took hiatus from Stanford from 5/21 to 6/28/2012 to be one of 20 contestants on the long-running CBSTV show “Survivor” hosted by Jeff Probst. About 800 persons applied and Julia was one of ten fans selected to be a contestant. She was one of ten Survivor fans against ten past Survivor favorites in season 26 that aired from 2/13 to 5/12/2013. Julia made it to day 19 and was the seventh contestant voted off Caramoan Island (the Philippines). She was two contestants short of making the seven member tribal council (jury) that determined the winner (a past favorite).
SUPPORT MAINS: Nick Joanides, 45, won the 50-lap NASCAR Whelen late model feature that started 17 cars at 6:30. He led laps 5-50 and won by 0.518 over 2015 Irwindale late model champion Trevor Huddleston, 19. Early leader Kyle McGrady, 23, finished third. It was the 43rdcareer feature victory at IS for Joanides, the 2008-09 NASCAR super late model and 2009 late model track champion. He is tied for fourth most victories at IS. Rip Michels leads with 67 and Partridge has 50.
The second race of the evening was a Racecar Factory spec late model class 35-lap main that started all ten cars. There were three leaders and four lead changes. Todd Conrad, who has been racing 31 years with only three Figure 8 main event victories, told fans it was his first ever oval track feature triumph. Kenny Smith, 69, and James Bruncati completed the top three with nine cars running at the finish.