Hoseheads Sprint Car Photos & News

Lincoln, CA…The 3^rd weekend of June was a first ever event for me, I intentionally attended no race on Saturday. For the first, and maybe last, time ever, I allowed a softball tournament to overrule being at any track. With the final game finishing at nearly 7 pm in Redwood City, my options were two in number.

The closest was Antioch where a late model and modified special event was occurring. Having seen the late models the night before at Chico and realizing how boring their format is helped decide against that late arrival. The other option was Petaluma for the USAC/CRA event.

Opting to forego the longer drive to Petaluma and not really wanting to be in the same part of the world as the NASCAR thing in the former Sears Point area, it appears I luckily made the best choice. From all reports, Petaluma had all my least favorite ingredients, lame track conditions topped off by an intentional time wasting on track introductions session before the main.

The Petaluma car count was significantly better than I expected, so that was a plus, but by all accounts it was a most un-Petaluma like track that the 28 car field had to deal with for the evening. It also qualifies as the most inefficient scheduling plan of the year with the Southern California based series towing way north for one race.

I have heard stories why there was not a two race weekend for the nonwing 410 supporters to make the tow more feasible, but how much truth lies in those tales is unknown. The other West Coast USAC sprint series is at Roseville’s All American Speedway this weekend with focus midgets included. With the fair also on, the show will probably be quickly run but the projected near 100 degree temperatures will be an issue.

So last weekend was a Friday only race effort and it was Chico as usual, but no sprint cars which is most unusual. With the 410s off so some of them could be in Washington, I would have been thrilled if a Civil War event for the winged 360 contingent had been in their place. No to be, it was the Western All Stars late models plus the streets and modifieds from the track’s divisions.

To quickly summarize the evening as to racing, the late models had a very solid 30 car field, but who came up with their format that takes boredom to a new level. Heats with straight up starts? Fastest cars in front of every race? The only saving feature was the last 28 laps of the 30 total running nonstop, making for some weaving through traffic for Chris Shannon, the winner for the night. His had fast time followed by winning his heat from the pole, winning the dash from the pole, and then leading all 30 laps from, you guessed if, the pole.

Listening to the WAS officials I was very impressed with the way they ran the show. When a group of cars was late to staging for the main, they all went to the back of the field, including a local star who was slated to start inside row 2. The mostly Southern California based schedule needed more visibility around these parts this year and they made it happen. But, isn’t the word “inversion” part of the series’ vocabulary?

The item that raises my eyebrows the most, however, was the track surface at the famed high-banked quarter. During a recent break in the schedule, 350 loads of dirt were added to the former clay surface at Silver Dollar, raising the elevation of the oval about a foot. Some say the banking is greater in the turns, some feel it is about the same. One obvious change is the straights are banked considerably more than before.

Another obvious change noted last Friday is how much dust was flying around the fairgrounds during the main event. While it was a warm day, a large cloud blocked the sun. in fact, a fairly large and heavy area of rain was just south and west of the track as I motored into Chico on highway 99. That cell slid just south of the track or the evening might have had less dust or no races at all.

This coming Friday will be upper 90s in Chico and nothing but sun. With the winged 410s back, it will be interesting to see just how the new dirt performs. Sprints have only tested it once and things looked hopeful that night. It seemed to me to be a better race than sometimes occurred with the older dark clay that could be so fast all night that passing was sometimes tough. Let’s hope the new material does not make it go too far the other direction.

Lincoln, CA…Placerville Speedway has suffered a trio of rainouts this year, two of which were part of the Civil War series for winged 360s. As has been done in recent years, a Wednesday night was used on June 3^rd to makeup one of the dates. The success of that one makes it more likely that the 2^nd Civil War show will also get a midweek slot this summer.

Last year the crowd was decidedly small, but the Wednesday turnout this time was larger than some Saturdays have been at the high-banked track located in the foothills above Sacramento. Even more encouraging was the fact that this strong front gate defied the weather forecasts which turned out to be correct and end racing early.

It turned out to be an evening of spectacular racing and matching weather. As the B main was trying to run, a darkening sky with accompanying lightning made it only a matter of time before racing would end. This is extremely rare weather for CA in June, in fact, a thunderstorm is a major news event in the Golden State any time of the year.

The 37 car field was stronger than the usual Civil War gathering as some of the Golden State Challenge 410 teams participated. Officials were at the top of their game which helped get in 18 of the scheduled 30 laps in the main before a light sprinkle became heavy enough that continuing was not possible. Heat races were excellent with the invert six, take four plan far superior to the Golden State invert 4 and take 5 practically useless heats. Each of the 4 heats had a great battle for the final transfer.

Five of the fastest 8 did not make a transfer, apparently a concept that is not allowed in Golden State “racing”, and back marker follies drew out the B main, using valuable minutes with weather imminent. The first cell did slide past to the west, and eventually grew to provide an amazing light show for the Sacramento area.

While I understand that lightning is as exciting as day old toast to many other parts of the country, having multiple thunderstorm cells to my north all the way home created a display unlike any I have ever seen in CA. Hearing that Marysville was under a severe thunderstorm warning was the first time I have heard that type of thing on the radio.

Excitement in the sky, as unique as it was, was still overshadowed by the race on the multi-groove Placerville clay. It did make it frustrating when only 18 laps were able to be run as one of the best shows in a long time was heading for a powerful finish.

The invert 4 plan put Kyle Hirst and Sean Becker on the front row while Tyler Walker and fast timer Andy Forsberg occupied row two. Becker, winner of the last series event 10 days earlier at Chico, got a good start to lead over Forsberg and Hirst.

After a botched initial start, 10 laps were scored before a yellow and Hirst went from 3^rd to 1^st on the 8^th of those 10. He raced past Forsberg then got under Becker in turn one to lead until misfortune came their was with the race just under half complete.

Trying to finish lap 15 while racing together for the lead, Hirst and Becker came upon traffic in turn 4, one of who was blocking the track and the resulting mess knocked Hirst our of the race and put Becker at the back on the restart.

Benefiting from this melee was Forsberg who found himself in the lead instead of 3^rd. Walker was now in 2^nd but the 3^rd and 4^th place cars of Stephen Allard and Roger Crockett tangled in turn 4 just two laps later, elevating Herman Klein from 5^th to 3^rd on the restart.

The rain intensity picked up as the green reappeared and the checkered had to be thrown after only two more laps as the track was obviously too slick. It would have been a great 12 laps that we did not see with Forsberg trying to hold off Walker while Klein watched for his chance.

We cannot complain, however, as getting to see as much as we did and such great racing at that was worth the drive. When the first 15 went nonstop seeing the leaders race each other in traffic was a reminder how unfortunate yellows are to the flow of the race. Herman Klein leads by 2 points in series standings over Becker with the series resuming June 20 in Quincy.

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