LOS ANGELES – USAC official Kirk Spridgeon ran the Perris Auto Speedway pit meetings. He explained PAS management wanted to start more cars in the A-main and added money to do so. USAC transferred eight cars from the B-main instead of the usual six cars. Provisional starters Thursday and Friday received no Oval Nationals points but they received points towards USAC National and USAC-CRA point standings.

The Oval Nationals had its own point scoring system for the entire field. Qualifying awarded ten points to the fastest qualifier and descended to one for the tenth quickest qualifier. Heats and semi-mains awarded 16 points to winners down to two points. Features awarded 125 points to winners with three points drop-off per position. The top six drivers after Thursday and Friday did not have to qualify for Saturday heat racing. They went directly to Saturday's “Super Six Dash”. It followed three heat races. The dash finish determined the starting order (P 1-6) for Saturday's 40-lap feature.

On Thursday the top six in points were: Brady Bacon-146, Justin Grant-138, C. J. Leary-138, Robert Ballou-121, Jadon Rogers-126, and Max Adams-126. National drivers Emerson Axsom, 121, Jason McDougal-117, Jadon Rogers-111, and Logan Seavey-106 completed the top ten with local Damion Gardner 11^th. Adding points from Friday the top six were: Bacon-275, Leary 274, Ballou-271, Thomas-268, Grant 258, and Axsom-244. Followers were: Jake Swanson-236, Adams-236, Matt Westfall-222, local Cody Williams-220, and 11th Gardner-218. The Super Six Dash used a fully-inverted starting lineup. Grant led all six laps over pole-sitter Axsom and Ballou. Bacon passed Seavey on lap one and dropped Thomas one spot on lap 5.

The new pit reporter for the Oval Nationals live streaming telecast was third generation driver Drake York, who raced at Red Bluff, north of Sacramento. His father, Jason York, raced the SCRA No. 25 sprint car at Perris two decades ago. His grandfather Pat York raced the No. 22 CRA sprint car at Ascot in the 1960-70 era. Drake also is the pit reporter for the live streaming telecast of all seven USAC National Midget races from November 15-26 at four speedways—Bakersfield, Placerville, Merced and Ventura. Oval Nationals drivers with midget rides for those USAC western swing races are: Grant, McDougal, Thomas, Jr., Seavey, Axsom, J. Swanson, Mitchel Moles, Chase Johnson, and Daniel Whitley.

Michael Dutcher's USAC sprinter No. 17GP had stickers on both sides honoring late CRA and WRA president Walt James and his vintage race car group. The James and Dutcher families are long-time friends. Walt's daughter Wendy watched all three nights at Perris from the Dutcher pit. She told me her brother Lee James, CRA 1975 rookie of the year/feature winner and a WoO sprints front-runner in early years of the 1978-founded national winged sprint group, recently had successful surgery to replace both hips. Lee, 68, now lives in Lincoln (north of Sacramento). Wendy added that Art Loya, a 1950s-early 1960s CRA publicist, passed away earlier this year.

Tafoya Racing had the most unusual “mule” to push its No. 51T sprint car in the pits. It is a three-cylinder Smart car built by Mercedes and it's street legal. It seats two (three if crowded) and has air conditioning and Montana license plates. Eddie Tafoya, Sr. drives it and pushes his son around the pits. They carry their unusual “mule” on the top deck of their trailer to all races, including their treks to Indiana Sprint Weeks.

The 2022 Oval Nationals had only three flips compared to six last year. The 2022 event had 23 sprinters on track during Wednesday night practice compared to 27 in 2021. … PAS grandstand attendance increased each night from Thursday to Saturday. People are reluctant to travel on So Cal's notoriously crowded freeways during M-F work days. … CRA champion and NSCHofF inductee Jimmy Oskie, 76, and long-time PAS sponsor Mike Grosswendt (All Coast Construction) were in the pits as usual.

USAC National Sprint series point leader Grant entered the Oval Nationals with a 78-point lead over Bacon. It dropped to 66 points after Friday racing. Starting on the pole Saturday, Grant figured to increase his point lead. He finished sixth and saw his point lead shrink to 51 over runner-up Bacon. Leary finished only 33 points behind Bacon.

The highest USAC-CRA Series driver finishes in the three A-mains in order were: D. Gardner (11^th), C. Williams (ninth), and Brody Roa (11^th). … Feature hard charger award winners were: Seavey (19^th to ninth), R. J. Johnson (22^nd to 12th), and Jadon Rogers (21^st to eighth). … Indiana's HARF Fan Club contributed cash to the Oval Nationals payout and prior to racing selected Saturday's A-main third place driver as the recipient. The money went to Indiana driver Emerson Axsom.

NSCHofF inducted driver Rip Williams had his three sons—Cody, Austin and Logan—start in Saturday's B-main from second, fourth and sixth positions. Cody and Austin finished fourth and seventh to advance to the A-main. Logan placed 12^th. Cody's wife Heidi (nee Tressler) worked as a nurse and also raced 360 and 410 sprint cars against Cody in Perris and Victorville. They now have three children, two daughters and a son—Lexi, 7, Rip 3, and Skye, 14-months. Cody said young Rip soon will be ready to receive a small race car to follow in the footsteps of his dad, uncles and proud grandfather Rip.

Former USAC-CRA driver Dwight Cheney moved from Los Angeles County several years ago to race in Indiana. He towed his 2022 DRC No. 42 sprinter from his spacious race shop in Peru, Indiana to Perris for driver Seavey. Dwight showed me a photo of his nine sprint cars at his shop. He said he just bought a new Maxim Silver Crown car for next season. Dwight said he held off competing until July. when he hired a driver he wanted. Seavey then led feature laps in the Cheney 42 and finished second in a USAC feature. Other good results followed. Cheney spent Oval Nationals evenings at his home in Glendora. He said his mother and only brother died recently within weeks, leaving him without close relatives. He still has his long-time sponsor Racing Optics on the hood. Dwight said the firm, formerly with HQ in Las Vegas, bought him his plush white Mercedes-Benz truck to tow his hauler.