WILD WEST RACING, CRASHES & FEUDS AT IRWINDALE JULY 2011
By noderel:
Irwindale, Ca. - July 9, 2011 – Toyota Speedway at Irwindale billed the evening as Super Saturday. What it became was a wild west night of hard crashes, red flags, close racing, trash talking, and driver feuds with six divisions competing in front of about 1,800 spectators. Main event winners on the half-mile were: Rod Johnson, Jr. in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist Super Late Models, Andrew Anderson in Langers Juice S2 Cars, and Gerrit Cromsigt in a Vista Paint Super Stock race. Feature winners on the third-mile were: Austin Grabowski in a Ken Porter Auctions Open Comp main that concluded the busy night at 10:16 pm, Eric Gunderson in the contentious Echo Equipment Legend Cars “National Qualifier” extended distance 50-lap main, and Danny Nikolai in a Jan's Towing Bandolero main.
Despite badly damaged cars and bruised feelings, only one driver, NASCAR SLM veteran Jason Patison, took a precautionary ride to a hospital for medical evaluation after two cars slammed together into the first turn attenuator early in the SLM feature. The impact tore off the back of his car. Patison climbed out under his own power after rescuers lifted the roof of his heavily damaged car. The other involved driver, Dennis Schlarbaum, was uninjured. Schlarbaum's No. 2 car, the 2010 track championship No. 98 Vision Airlines Ford Fusion raced by TS@I champion Justin Johnson, was not damaged as heavily.
LUCAS OIL SLM: The 16-car SLM field had a 13-car inverted starting lineup for the scheduled 75-lap event. Pole starter Race Liberante, 16, led the opening lap, which was canceled by a caution flag. Contact in three-wide, mid-pack racing forced point leader/tenth starter Kevin Thompson's car to bounce off the backstretch wall. Another car bounced off Thompson's slowing car entering the third turn. Thompson's car made secondary contact with the third turn wall and stopped near the outside wall. Angry Thompson's Ford was sidelined with extensive right side damage. A ten-minute delay followed. The two-car Patison-Schlarbaum crash caused a 33-minute red flag for removal of wrecked cars and repair of the protective attenuator. A double-file restart found SLM rookie Liberante leading again. Third starter Ryan Partridge, 23, took the lead on lap 2 and fastest qualifier/13th starter R. Johnson, Jr, 21, dropped Liberante to third on lap 4. Johnson reeled in leader Partridge by lap 20 with Partridge on the outside and Johnson inside. Lap 25 became the halfway mark after officials cut 25 laps from the 75 lap distance because of the red flag and approaching curfew with a sixth main event still to be run. Johnson made five laps of intense pressure pay off on lap 25 by taking the lead with a strong inside move entering the third turn. He then opened a 35-yard victory margin (2.233 seconds) over Partridge. Ironically, both drivers entered the race tied with 21 career feature victories at the track in four track series. Johnson, Jr. is now in a three-way tie for 14th place on the track's list of all-time main event winners.
The race took 59 minutes to complete, including red and yellow flags, with the checkers flying at 10:05 pm. Liberante finished third, 5.417 seconds in back of Johnson. Chad Schug, the 2010 Legends track champion, earned his SLM career-best fourth place, 10-seconds back, after starting seventh. P. 5 Jack Madrid, a 16-year old Legends and ASA Speed Truck veteran, returned from a bad crash in the third turn during his last Irwindale race months ago. Rescuers cut off the roof of his car then to remove him safely and he visited a hospital for medical evaluation. P. 6 Dennis Furden was the last finisher on the lead lap. Kyle Neveau, Gary Jenkins, rookie Andre Prescott, 15, and SWT Truck 2010 champion Jeff Williams followed. Winner Johnson told spectators, “I watched my dad race and Rip (Michels) and (Ron) Hornaday and you learn a little bit by watching them race. I followed him (Partridge) and watched where he was vulnerable and then used that to pass him where I was stronger.” It was the fourth SLM victory in five races this season for the 2010 late model track champion and 2011 SLM rookie for Position One Motor-sports.
LANGERS S2: A ten-car field used a straight-up lineup that put fastest qualifier Andrew Anderson, 18, on the pole. The past winner in Bandoleros led all 30 laps in the yellow 44 Huddleston car. It was his second triumph in five S2 races this year. He beat unrelated Joe Anderson, 25, by 15-yards or 1.061. The runner-up drove the dark blue No. 15 owned by Nor Cal K & N West team owner Bill McAnally. It ran only one race (as No. 5) with Rod Johnson, Jr. the FQ and 25-lap feature winner on 8/15/09 in the fourth race for the then brand new series. McAnally bought the car and used it as a show car before returning it last week during the K & N West race in Irwindale. HPR has the car on consignment and it is for sale for $17,500. Fourth starter J. Anderson took second from P. 2 starter Nik Romano's HPR No. 56 on lap 11 after Romano tried unsuccessfully to take the lead from A. Anderson. HPR cars behind the top three HPR team cars got involved in flag-producing incidents. Hollywood's Riki Rachtman spun twice on laps 10 and 21. On lap 25, P. 7 Trevor Huddleston, 15, spun high in turn two with the nose of his car facing the infield. With the yellow light on for several seconds, Rachtman's No. 55 slammed into the stopped No. 50 team car. Both cars exited to the pits. Huddleston returned later. The lap 25 restart had Mike Colato, Jr. use an outside pass to take P. 5 from Austin Dyne, a 19-year old rookie from Malibu. Dyne's No. 51 RF caught the LR of Coleto's No. 97, shooting Colato's car into the turn 4 outside wall. It left on the back of a Jan's Towing tow truck. Dyne finished fifth, behind Andrew Porter, with brothers Gary and Bill Waters in P. 6-7 and Huddleston eighth. Afterward, officials penalized Dyne for causing Colato's crash and moved him to P. 9, behind non-finisher Colato. The race took 27 minutes.
VPSS: Only four of the all-time low seven super stocks present qualified. A four-car inverted start put Camaro drivers Brad Keegan and Curtis White on the front row, with recent feature winner Zack Green and FQ Gary Frankovich's Impala SS outside row two. Late arrivals Cromsigt, rookie Garrett Crow, 19, and Rich DeLong III tagged the field. Green led the initial lap over Cromsigt. They switched positions on lap 2. A red flag flew on lap 3 after Keegan's car hit Green's car and sent both Camaros heavily into the first turn wall together. Neither driver was injured, but both cars were tow offs. The now five car field ran a 10-lap event with Cromsigt in front every lap. He defeated DeLong by ten yards (0.536). White, Frankovich and Crow followed. Cromsigt scored his 13th career victory at the track with six in super stocks and seven in late models during the track's early years.
EE LEGENDS: The explosive 19-car Legends race had a bit of everything. There was passing, re-passing, angry drivers, post-race trash talking and dramatic lead changes. The usual 35-lap distance for replica 1930s coupes and sedans powered by motorcycle engines was extended to 50-laps because the event was an INEX National Qualifier. The Irwindale 50-lap main winner is now a guaranteed qualifier for the Legends National this fall at the Bullring track in Las Vegas. A two-car invert put Brent Scheidemantle, 18, on the pole and FQ Mark Borchettas, 47, alongside. Scheidemantle grabbed the lead over 2010 champion Chad Schug, Cale Kanke and Blake Dunkleberger. They ran in that order until lap 10 when Jared Torres, 17, took fourth. Then hard chargers Ryan Partridge, in Tony Green's No. 88 (a three-time 2011 TS@I winner with Schug driving), Eric Gunderson, 17, and Donny St. Ours, 17, asserted themselves and moved into P. 4-8. St. Ours spun after contact on lap 16 and had to recharge from the back. Gunderson shot from P. 5 to P. 3 on lap 20. Partridge also dropped Kanke to fifth. Gunderson and Partridge dropped Schug from P. 2 to P. 4 on lap 22 and both drivers made it a three-way duel for the lead by lap 35. On lap 42 Gunderson and Partridge tangled on the backstretch before continuing. Partridge pitted with a flat tire. Borchetta took third from Schug on lap 42 and re-energized St. Ours moved into P. 5. On lap 43 Gunderson went low in turn 3 and passed Scheidemantle for the lead as St. Ours took third. On lap 46 Scheidemantle pushed leader Gunderson's back bumper entering turn 3 and moved him up the track to retake the point on the inside. Gunderson fought back and on lap 49 re-passed Scheidemantle on the inside for the lead and kept it to the lap 50 checkers. Gunderson's No. 97 coupe beat Scheidemantles No. 98 coupe by 0.126.
Post-race interviews with the top three finishers were blunt and expressed raw emotion. Gunderson and Scheidemantle kept their helmets on as they discussed their battle. As talking concluded, Scheidemantle shoved Gunderson away from him and walked away still angry about contact. P. 3 St. Ours criticized Gunderson's racing and said, “It's like Peyton Place down here.” Runner-up Scheidemantle stated, “Gunderson drove like an idiot.” Next, the winner, a USAC Ford Focus Midget veteran used to close competition, stated, “It got pretty rough. You have to move some people out of the way. They move you back and you move them back. That's how it is. It got pretty aggressive. I let Donny (St. Ours) go and figured I'd get him back.” Remarkably, Gunderson was the only car that did not qualify and he had to start last (19th). After being the second quickest during the first practice session at 1:15 pm, an engine problem forced them to load up and head for home in San Diego. They were 45-minutes away and returned with renewed determination to win and did so after passing all 18 cars. It was the longest Legends race since a July 17, 2010 50-lap main, which Scheidemantle won from pole position in a 19-car field. Borchetta finished fourth. Torres' 1937 Chevy sedan replica, Cory Neveau, Schug, Nevada driver/first-time TS@I racer Luis Tyrrell, 13-year old Mitchell DeJong (the Legends young lions division winner amid pro and semi-pro drivers), and Gary Scheuerell completed the top ten. Seventeen drivers finished the 22-minute race and 15 drivers ran all 50 laps.
BANDOLEROS: Event two Saturday had 16 drivers in a straight-up lineup based on qualifying times. It was the second 20-lap Bando main of the weekend. FQ/pole starter R. J. Stearns, 11, led lap 1. Ricky Lewis,12, paced lap 2. Rookie Ian Wesolowski, 11, led laps 3-8. A lap 9 caution flag for a solo spinner wiped out his ten-yard lead. Danny Nikolai, 14, started second and dropped to P. 5 in the opening lap shuffle and to P. 6 on lap 2. He was second by lap 6 and took the point at the lap 9 green flag and kept it to the end. He defeated Christian McGhee, 12, by 0.311. McGhee had won four mains in a row including the 20-lap feature a night earlier after he led the final 19 laps. Mikael Lovas, Wesolowski, Friday runner-up Brandon Weaver, Ricky Schlick, Lewis, Stearns, Blaine Perkins and rookie Troy Wesolowksi,10, rounded out the top ten. Crashing and wall-pounding did not bypass this event. Case Brinksma, 14, and Austin Farr,11, hit the turn 4 wall together on lap 14 without injury. All 14 finishers completed 20 laps. Friday's main had only one driver lapped. Perkins broke a drive chain while in P. 8.
OPEN COMP: Only six open competition cars qualified during the afternoon, but 12 cars participated in the scheduled 30 lap race. Officials shortened it to 20 laps because of the 10:11 pm start for the sixth race of the night. Austin Grabowski, a 22-year old from Upland, started second as the fifth quickest qualifier and led all 20 laps. His winning car was the ex-No. 84 Rich DeLong winged Lucas Oil modified in its first race for new ownership. New owners Bud and Karynann Dale purchased the car Thursday and renumbered it No. 20 in memory of their late daughter who was born on that date. They hired Grabowski, who has not raced in four years because he has been attending McPherson College in Kansas. Grabowsksi won seven Irwindale mains (two in late models and five in Legends) prior to his first open comp race. Grabowski said his family still has their No. 72 late model in their garage. The winning car now has won three of the five open comp mains this season with three drivers (Rich DeLong on May 7 and track announcer Jason Galvin on June 18). The 12 open comp starters clicked off 20 all-green laps in 5:22.547 and concluded at 10:16 pm. Craig Rayburn finished a closing second (-0.522) in his No. 3 late model. FQ Jerry Toporek was third in his Venice-based Figure-8 car sans top wing. Late model drivers Richie Altman and Jeff Williams ran 4-5 at the end and were the last lead lap drivers. Tony Curtis (F-8), Christopher Evans (SLM), Cromsigt (SS), Jim Schoening (LM), Garrett Crow (SS) completed the top ten. Willem Voesten (F-8) was 11th and the Impala SS super stock of Rich DeLong III dropped out just past the halfway mark.