TURKEY NIGHT MIDGET GP NOTES - Part IV
By noderel:
LOS ANGELES – The 2022 USAC Thanksgiving Midget GP co-grand marshals were Wally Pankratz and Dick Woodland. The race program had a page highlighting them with photos and a story by Richie Murray (USAC). Wally, the 2000 USAC Western Midget champion, is 77 and raced Ventura Racing Assn. 360 senior sprints this season. Dick, 80, raced CRA sprinters before switching to car ownership and NASCAR. He now operates his aircraft and race car museum in Paso Robles. Both honorees signed autographs for fans on the main concourse as drivers also signed programs and cards for fans.
Nine of the top ten drivers in USAC National Midget points raced in the 2022 TNGP. Only P.9 Zach Daum was absent. Eight of the top ten USAC Western Midget drivers raced. Only P,3 Ben Worth and P.7 Blake Bowen did not compete. Bowen was entered in No. 9, but a flip in Merced earlier in the week left him with a broken leg and elbow. A flip by Jake Hodges Friday during midget practice sidelined his No. 4, so the 58 entries were reduced to 56.
Seven of the top ten in USAC West Coast 360 Sprints points raced in the 2022 TNGP. Six of the top ten in VRA 360 Sprints raced. USAC West Coast Sprint Car Series championships started in 2009. Past series champions Matt Mitchell (2014), Brody Roa (2016), and Jake Swanson (2017) raced sprinters in the 2022 TNGP. Friday-Saturday sprint car winner Ryan Timms, 16, was a 2021 TNGP midget rookie and finished the 98-lap GP in P.24.
Keith Kunz Motor-sports became the USAC National Midget Series record feature winning car owner in 2022 in November at Placerville when he passed 133-race winner Steve Lewis, long-time holder of the USAC midget car owner honor. Kunz now has 136 wins. His fleet of 18-wheelers traveled from the Merced race on Wednesday night to Ventura. Annually KKM teams all pit in the first row just inside the pit gate. Ventura opens the pits on Thanksgiving for teams to work on their cars. Teams had Thanksgiving dinner at Ventura restaurants and stayed in nearby hotels.
Last year KKM entered seven midgets and six made the GP feature. Finishes with driver (and car number in parenthesis) were: P. 2 - Buddy Kofoid (67), P. 5 – Kaylee Bryson (71), P. 8 – Taylor Reimer (25K), P. 11 – Bryant Wiedeman (01), P. 20 – Tanner Carrick (71K), and P. 25- Brenham Crouch (97). KKM affixed metal chassis numbers to the left upright bar of roll cages to ID each frame. Bryson's No. 71 was DM 66. Carrick's 71k was DM 69. Reimer's 25K was DM 72. Crouch's 97 was DM 85. Kofoid's 67 was DM 86, and Wiedeman's 01 was the newest--DM 89. The 71E was an experimental car for rookie Mariah Ede and did not have a chassis number. It did not race.
At the 2022 TNGP KKM had ten entries (18% of the 56-midget Ventura field). KKM entered 11 midgets at the Placerville three-day event November 17-19 that paid $20,000 to win Saturday's 100-lap main. KKM had three female drivers, two young rookies, and seven KKM veterans. It was interesting to see which of the 2021 chassis returned this year after a full-season of racing and who drove them. This year KKM started identifying midget chassis as “Bullet ----” with four numbers following the chassis name Bullet on a left side metal frame bar.
Assigned chassis were: DM 74 to rookie Cade Lewis (No. 71M), DM 82 to Crouch (97), DM 84 to Reimer (25K), DM 88 to Kofoid (67), DM 89 to Wiedeman (01), and DM 98 to Ryan Timms (97K). Bullet 1840 was Daison Pursley's 71P, 1841 was rookie Dominic Gorden's 71K, 1846 was Bryson's 71, and 1849 was Ede's 71E. How did the ten KKM entries fare this year? Six of ten made the 98-lap feature with the following finishes: Wiedeman (P. 3), Timms (P. 14), Crouch (P. 16), Lewis (P. 18), Kofoid (P. 23-flipped), and Bryson (P. 27-flipped). Three KKM cars finished the last chance qualifying race below the top four transfer spots to the feature. They were: P. 5 Gorden, P. 9 Reimer, and P. 11 Ede. Pursley flipped in the third heat and his 71P was sidelined as the first of three KKM cars to flip.
Tom Malloy, the 2021 TNGP winning car owner, entered two No. 25 midgets for Nor Cal drivers last year. Logan Seavey won aboard the No. 25 and Colby Copeland drove the No. 25M to 16th position. This year he entered three No. 25 King chassis/Ed Pink Toyota midgets. Crew chief Jerome Rodela said Tyler Courtney drove Seavey's winning No. 25. Rookie Jacob Denney, 17, raced Copeland's No. 25M from 2021. Emerson Axsom, 18, drove the No. 25X, a backup car from 2021. All three midgets are black with white numerals and Trench Shoring and Malloy on the hood. It was difficult to tell them apart on the track. Good thing electronic transponders are used to score races.
Chad Boat and his major sponsor, Pristine Auctions.com, entered four midgets this year at Ventura. They were: Nos. 84, 86, 89 and 89X. He uses car numbers in the 80s (81, 84, 85, 86, 87 and 89). With Jade Avedisian ill with the flu, her 84 became 87 for Kyle Larson. New Boat driver Jonathan Beason's 86 became 89x. Mitchel Moles drove the 89 he has raced all season. Boat's team should expand for the January 2023 Tulsa Chili Bowl.