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From The Grandstand

by Ron Rodda

Tucson, AZ…With the upcoming Wild West Shootout for late models and modifieds returning this year at a new venue, the 6th edition of the Roger McCluskey Classic at USA Raceway signaled the start of a 17 day stretch enjoying Tucson’s version of winter. So far it has been nothing but sun and daytime high temperatures in the low 70’s, a marked improvement over even Northern California’s January offerings in the weather department. Also getting the long visit off to a great start was the best of the six McCluskey events, and I have been present for all of them.

The first five years the two day show was held on the last weekend of December, but the move to January’s opening weekend led to a racing trip flowing better as the next two weekend feature the reborn Shootout. New Year’s Day got 2010 off to a successful start with an afternoon event at Tucson’s paved track, the 3/8 oval at the fairgrounds just a 13 minute drive from the same sized clay of USA just to the north of the fairgrounds.

Tucson Raceway Park once held live national TV racing on Sunday afternoons with large fields and the fame that accompanies live TV. A local driver reminded me that the first ever NASCAR truck race was held at TRP. Since those days, the track has seen some periods of struggling, but local drivers had good things to say about the new promoter, now in his 2nd year. The facility also looked well kept up and with plenty of sponsorship signs displayed.

The Jan 1st race had a 3:15 start and five classes with only 28 cars total had division turnouts from 4 to 8. What I appreciated from the track is running the show very efficiently and adjusting their plan to provide the best show they could with their numbers. Three of the five divisions ran double mains with USAC Ford Focus six car field being the prime division for the day. Local driver Alex Bowman dominated the Focus main that was run in a pair of 20 lap segments.

The announcing at TRP was also good, much more informative than what was heard the next two days at USA. The coming weekend finds this corner of Tucson’s world very race intensive with huge fields expected at USA for the first of six shows in the Shootout while TRP hosts a huge super late model event that earns the winner not only $5,000 but also an all expenses trip to race in South Africa, apparently including a car to drive.

Saturday and Sunday was the 6th Annual McCluskey Classic, featuring nonwing 360s along with mod lites, a motorcycle powered class with what I call East Coast modified style bodies, and X-mods, a lowered power version of the very popular class. A 28 car field of sprints raced on Saturday in a format that was a first for me. Draw heats used passing/finishing points to seed the cars in invert six qualifiers, earning more points to total for determining the A main lineup.

How the fan in the stands that had not been in the pits would have any of this knowledge is a mystery to me as the PA system was zero help in the format department. While not an ASCS sanctioned event, it used their point structure for heats and qualifiers. I really like what ASCS has for this math as there is more of a penalty for going backwards than other passing/finishing point shows I have seen.

After what was essentially six heats for sprints, winning his heat from outside front row and adding a qualifier win from 5th starting meant Bobby Taylor was the high point driver entering the 25 lap main. Earning the pole assignment, Taylor only got in one lap before becoming a DNF to spoil his hard earned starting spot.

Inside row two starter, Johnny Herrera, got under the front row in turn 1 to lead in a main that had a messy start with two yellows and a red before lap two was scored. Mike Spencer suffered a broken left front wheel on the first start and when Taylor spun into turn 1 on a subsequent restart, Dave Darland was collected, but the Indiana veteran did not stop but still went to the rear after pitting in the infield for repairs.

Once early race mishaps ended, only one further yellow slowed the pace, and it was a frantic pace that was set by Rick Ziehl once he passed Herrera for the lead on lap 11. Using the upper areas of USA 3/8, Ziehl was 2nd by lap 4 from his sixth starting spot and motored into the lead on the top in turns 3 and 4 to lead the last 15 times around for the win.

Herrera, Charles Davis Jr. and eventually a resurgent Darland put on a superb display as they fought for spots behind Ziehl on the multi-groove track. Herrera and Davis joined Ziehl on the podium while Darland’s 4th was entertaining to watch since he was basically 18th after one lap. Ziehl was 8th on the lineup board, but since Spencer was gone before a lap was scored, Ziehl moved up a row and that means starting sixth in my book.

Sunday 23 sprints returned with the top 6 from day one locked into the first 3 rows, straight up from the main event finish 24 hours earlier. The remainder of the field ran a pair of heats and like number of qualifiers with all healthy cars then placed in rows 4 on back, straight up by Sunday points. While putting Ziehl on the front row made it decidedly tame as to a race for the win, the furious battle for 2nd kept the race very entertaining.

Ziehl led all 25 laps with relative ease, although when racing a sprint and dealing with lapped traffic, ease is not necessarily ever an accurate adjective. Herrera was 2nd until lap 14 when Davis Jr. used the bottom into turn 1 to take the spot. One lap later Darland took 3rd on the bottom of turn 4, and a superb battle for 2nd was on.

Over the last 10 laps the Davis/Darland feud featured lap after lap of tight racing between the pair and it came down to the last turn of the last lap. Darland threw a perfectly done slider in turn 4 and won the race to the line by a narrow margin for 2nd ahead of Davis, R. J. Johnson, and Spencer.

I have been to all Roger McCluskey Classic events at USA, in fact these are the only races I have seen at the dirt track south of town to date. This certainly was the best of the six with the best racing conditions for main events in the series’ history. Now we will see if the upcoming six race series over 9 days can match this one for excitement.

Lincoln, CA…With the 2009 season barely concluded, changes have already taken place in promotion at California tracks. The struggling Kings Speedway located at the fairgrounds in Hanford has hopefully received an infusion of new ideas along with the new promoter team. The last couple of years has been difficult for the very fast 3/8 clay oval with two promoter efforts not working out.

About 18 miles east of Hanford’s clay track is a successful fifth mile dirt track that hosts a full pit area of mini-sprints and modified midgets on a regular basis as a Friday night track. The people behind that operation at Plaza Park Raceway are now in charge of Kings Speedway, along with the former tour director of a West Coast late model tour.

One change already apparent is the new level of cooperation between Kings and Tulare Thunderbowl. Hanford to Tulare is only 23 miles with Visalia being only a two mile detour to visit, so the trio of tracks forms a compact triangle of dirt action. Tulare has become a larger player, particularly in the sprint car scene, over the last few years with the adoption of the Trophy Cup event when Hanford closed mid-season, jump starting their rise in stature.

Tulare Thunderbowl has always run a schedule of 8-10 events with an open wheel focus and look for Hanford to do something similar. These two excellent facilities would bump heads with big shows the same night under Hanford’s recently replaced promoter, but that sort of foolishness will be a thing of the past.

The other track in uncertainty is Antioch Speedway located at the Contra Costa County fairgrounds. When San Jose Speedway closed after the 1999 season, Antioch became my regular Saturday night track being less than 90 minutes from the San Jose garage. Moving to Lincoln in 2002 has led to less than a half dozen visits to the clay quarter since as other Saturday night venues closer to home have prevailed.

Antioch’s fair board is currently searching for a new promoter and a chance meeting with an Antioch driver on Fremont Street in Las Vegas right after the late model/UMP modified weekend led to a name as to the new promoter. No official action has yet been announced, however. Incidentally, the IMCA sanctioned Las Vegas modified special drew 260+ cars while the UMP show a week later on the same oval drew 18 modifieds.

In the cooperation arena, Marysville and Chico, two tracks that are about 45 miles apart but run different nights, are working together and both Antioch and Petaluma will be included as part of some sort of modified series. Car counts at Marysville and Chico for the class are very weak so something needed to be done if the division was to survive at those ovals.

For the first time in years, Marysville will host a Golden State Challenge Series winged 410 show, further signs of cooperative thinking as the GSC series, the winged 360 Civil War series, as well as both Chico and Placerville tracks are under the same promoter, Handy Racing Promotions. The Marysville GSC date is certain to pack the place so many sprint car fans will see the improved facility for the first time since Paul Hawes took over. Unfortunately for me, the GSC date of July 24 will almost certainly find me somewhere in the Midwest.

All American Speedway in Roseville is the closest track for me and the only facility in the state, I believe, that is run by a fair board . The board has cleaned house and new personnel will fill most positions when they resume action in March. It will be interesting to see how the USAC Western States sprint car pavement program fits into their plans as a mid-teens car count makes it tough to tackle the purse.

Visiting 38 tracks in 11 states along with playing over 200 softball games in 4 states kept things busy this year and offered many chances to pay at the pump. After about 20 years of traveling to the Midwest on a racing outing each year, the 2009 version probably takes the award as the best overall. Certainly, the best weather was encountered despite a rainout at Grand Rapids MN after some of the heat races were contested. How often will a week in Nebraska and Kansas to end July offer temperatures in the 80’s?

The highlight of the trip this year was a first time visit to North Dakota where five nights of racing were greatly enjoyed at new, for me, tracks. The Dakota Classic Modified Tour for IMCA modifieds was the catalyst for visiting ND and a repeat trip is expected for next year. The only downside was not seeing a race in Iowa for the first time in 20 years.

The winged sprint race of the year was easily the final night of the Trophy Cup at Tulare when Tim Kaeding won not only the main event but the overall points championship. He became the first driver ever to win the final night main event from last starting as his 24th starting spot came about as he was the high point car when the 50 laps unfolded. I will guess Kaeding did what no other driver in the country did this year with that effort.

The nonwing sprint race of the year was the Friday of Oval Nationals at Perris when superb track conditions allowed a wonderful display of nonwing sprint racing. A passing filled and slide job dominated race easily made this one the best of category for me in 2009.

My season started the first weekend of January at Death Valley Raceway, outside Pahrump, NV and ended last Saturday at the outlaw kart program in Red Bluff, CA. The next year will open with 3 weeks in the Tucson, AZ area, starting with the nonwing sprint special, the Roger McCluskey Classic, at USA Raceway on the 2nd and 3rd following a USAC Focus special on the 1st at nearby Tucson Raceway Park.

Benji Lyons has taken over the promotional duties at USA Raceway, a 3/8 dirt track south of town. Lyons ran Casa Grande’s track for a couple of years and was making great strides in that area when politics and dishonesty within the county’s staff put the race track in limbo. While the track was not involved at all, being on the fairgrounds property spelled trouble anyway. Lyons has resurfaced at Tucson’s dirt track and is putting on some huge shows. Casa Grande’s track has not reopened and is unlikely to do so.

Following the McCluskey sprint weekend, USA Raceway will run six late model/modified shows over a nine day span. Dubbed the Wild West Shootout, this once filled the pit area in Casa Grande and is now rejuvenated at its Tucson location. While Lincoln in January is hardly real winter, Tucson is even better and we look forward to getting the 2010 season underway in Arizona

e-mail Ron Here

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