Irwindale Speedway NASCAR RACE REPORT - MAY 4, 2001

By Tim Kennedy

Irwindale, CA, May 4 - Tony Green drove to his second consecutive Saturday 
night victory and his third NASCAR Jani-King 75-lap main event triumph in 
five races this season during week eight at Irwindale Speedway.  Green took 
command on lap 31 in his Balance Contracting No. 89 Chevy Monte Carlo and won 
by 0.374 seconds in a 27-car field.  

Green, from Oak Hills, extended his season-long series point lead before 
4,872 in a five racing division program.  A season-high 147 racing vehicles 
competed.  It was the third largest field at the track in four years of 
operation.  The record is 171 cars/trucks, followed by 155 in recent seasons. 

Will Cottrell, in his 1981 Camaro, led 28 of the 30-laps from the front row 
in a 36-car NASCAR Vista Paint Super Stock main.  It was his first victory of 
the season and the fifth of his career at Irwindale.  Aaron Staudinger won 
his second American Racing Truck feature this season in a 30-lap event that 
was shortened from the scheduled 40-laps.  All three winners mastered the 
banked half-mile. 

In action on the third-mile, 16-year old point leader Ricky Wildman led all 
35-laps of the 34-car King Taco Legend Cars feature.  It was his second 
triumph of the season in his No. 78 Bill Wildman 1937 Ford replica.  Greg 
Tucker led the final 11 circuits of the 30-lap Modified 4s main in his Ford 
Pinto.  

Tucker's first victory of the year came unexpectedly.  He was a distant third 
on lap 20 when the battling lead duo-Terry Limberopoulos and defending series 
champion Guy Tripp-collided at the starting line.  Limberopoulos' car spun 
and flipped onto its roof before sliding about 15 yards to a halt just past 
start/finish.  Tripp's damaged Pinto also stopped on the track as the red 
flag appeared.  

When rescuers righted his Renault, Limberopoulos drove away in his French car 
and stopped next to Tripp's car to express his views about the incident.  
Both drivers restarted at the back of the remaining 21 cars from a 24-car 
starting field.  They finished on the lead lap, with flipper Limberopoulos 
eighth and Tripp ninth.

Fourth fastest SLM qualifier Green started second in the five-car inversion 
and led the initial three laps.  Pole starter Nathan Wulff, a second year SLM 
driver and 2001 rookie of the year, used an inside turn four pass to assume 
the point.  James Bruncati, from fourth grid position in his Sunrise Ford 
Taurus, shot into the lead on lap 10.  He paced the field two laps before 
Wulff was back on top for the next four circuits.  

On lap 16 Bruncati took charge again and led the closely bunched top four 
drivers until Green passed him on lap-31 and made the pass stick.  Green, a 
23-year old truck racing veteran in his second year of SLM racing, gave 
himself and fiancee Daylynn Wineberg an early wedding present.  He said they 
plan to wed Sunday, May 12.  Green added, "I lost my power steering halfway 
through the race."

Kazuto Yanagawa enjoyed his Irwindale career-best feature finish in his 
Jackson Race Cars house car. The 27-year old driver from Nagoya, Japan, who 
now resides in nearby Burbank, started ninth and finished second.  "KZ", who 
also drove a Chevy, took second position on lap 32 and held it 43 laps.  His 
career-best finish at Irwindale had been sixth; he has a second three years 
ago at Evergreen Speedway in Washington.  

Tommy Fry, in the only Dodge Intripid present, started and finished third for 
his best result this season.  Ben Walker came from 15th grid position to 
finish fourth in his Ford Taurus, making three different brands in the top 
four positions.  Fry complimented the clean racing displayed by his fellow 
drivers.  He added, "To catch and pass on this track, you need to be running 
a tenth of a second faster.  We (the top three drivers) were running about 
four-hundredths of a second apart."

Rip Michels, Wulff, Brandon Loverock, Rod Johnson, John Tyczki and Nick 
DeFazio completed the top ten.  Nineteen of the 27 starters finished and 15 
drivers ran all 75 laps.  Tim Woods III, who appeared a night earlier as a 
guest on the Fox Sports Net TV show "The Best Damn Sports Show Period", was 
in seventh place on lap 71.  A mechanical problem then occurred and forced 
him to watch as eight drivers raced by his slowing Ford during the final five 
circuits.

In the ART event, pole starter Jeff Williams led the first eight laps.  He 
finished second by 1.277 seconds to Staudinger, the laps nine-30 pacesetter.  
Val Cummings, two-time winner Michael May and Josh Hulsebosch followed.  
Fourteen of the 17 finishers in a 21-car field ran all 30 circuits of the 
scheduled 40-lap race that went 21 minutes past the track's voluntary curfew 
of 10:00 p.m.

Track officials also cut the scheduled 40-lap super stock main to 30 laps.  
Ken Brown and Chris Houwen were running just outside the top ten on lap-22 
when they collided at the starting line.  Houwen's Camaro nearly spun before 
it veered right and ran head-on into the turn-one pit entrance opening 
attenuator.  The serious-looking crash sent a liquid geyser from the front of 
Houwen's car.  He was shaken, but he climbed from his car and walked to an 
ambulance for a precautionary medical evaluation.  He was not transported to 
a hospital.  

When the race resumed, Andrew Phipps (outside) dueled with Cottrell (inside) 
for the point.  Phipps put his Camaro in front on laps 22-23, but Cottrell 
led the final seven circuits and edged Phipps by 0.122 seconds.  Julianne 
Seeley started and finished third in her Camaro.  Twenty-five of 35 starters 
finished, with 19 drivers on the lead lap.  

Teenager Wildman won by 2.534 seconds over veterans/winners Art Nevill, Tom 
Landreth, James Kalawaia and Bill Everett.  Eighteen drivers ran all 35 laps. 
 In the Mod 4s feature, Palm Springs resident Tony Lawler and Richard Boker 
chased Tucker home.  The SLM six-lap trophy dash for the six fastest 
qualifiers went to Wulff over Green, Tony Bruncati, Fry, J. Bruncati and 
Michels.

The Summary:  (pick up agate)

KING TACO LEGEND CARS:

Fast Time: Ricky Wildman, 16.945.

Main: Wildman, Art Nevill, Tom Landreth, James Kalawaia, Bill Everett, Don 
Akers, Ralph Alexander, Bob Landreth, Ryan Schug, Cory Miles, Steve 
Twilligear, Jim Mann, Mark Gaiser, Greg Pyke, Larry Meredith, Kevin Leffler, 
Tom Skahill, Dave Green, Kevin McMahon, Jeff Collins, Brian Vandehey, Gene 
Brokaw, John McIntyre, Wendi Westbrook, Jeff Martinez, Gary Scheurell, Brent 
Jones, Ted Landreth, Bobby Graham, Jason Brennan, Warren Merrifield, Jim 
Smith, Mark Lungerich, Dennis O'Connor.

MODIFIED 4s:

Fast Time: Greg Tucker, 17.426.

Main:  Tucker, Tony Lawler, Richard Boker, Eric Reed, Kevin Bernhardt, Dustin 
Morgan, Ron Cooper, Terry Limberopoulos, Guy Tripp, Evan Banda, Amee Blue, 
Fred Adams, Greg Didoha, Terry Elliott, John Bromberek, Tim Ross, Ed 
Lavender, Randy Colling, James McNear, Ron Pugh, Rick LeMaster, Steve Rogers, 
Pat Ackley, Brenda Pugh.

AMERICAN RACE TRUCKS:

Fast Time: Tony Forfa III, 20.774.

Main: Aaron Staudinger, Jeff Williams, Val Cummings, Michael May, Josh 
Hulsebosch, Forfa, Dale Cromwell, Dave Lyon, Stewart Sprung, Mike Pennington, 
Jim Satterfield, Cal Vandervort, Shawn Rizzone, Alan Rizzone, Terry Young, 
Mark Schilling, Ray Komar, Chris Johnson, Kirk Knostman, Neil Conrad, Steve 
Dyer.

VISTA PAINT SUPER STOCKS:

Fast Time: Dan Fitzgerald, 21.659.

Main: Will Cottrell, Andrew Phipps, Julianne Seeley, Fitzgerald, Steve 
Gilmore, Lee Ladd, Darren Cheek, Brian Harrell, Myan Spacerelli, Jay Henson, 
Greg Benner, Jim Appleby, Jr, Henry Miles, Don Rogers, Greg Crutcher, Don 
Helgeson, Scott Corrigan, Larry Sampson, Mike Gilmore, Yagel Berkovitz, Rich 
Paez, Robert Young, John Arlotti, Dave Sheppherd, Rich Sioberg, Marcel Canel, 
Fred Brown, Pat Riley, Ken Brown, Chris Houwen, Shawn Garrett, Brad Billings, 
Greg Bratschie, John Uribe, Kris Marquis.

JANI-KING SUPER LATE MODELS:

Fast Time: Rip Michels, 18.206.

Dash: Nathan Wulff, Tony Green, Tony Bruncati, Tommy Fry, James Bruncati, 
Michels.

Main: Green, Kazuto Yanagawa, Tommy Fry, Ben Walker, Michels, Wulff, Brandon 
Loverock, Rod Johnson, John Tyczki, Nick DeFazio, Dan O'Donnell, Dennis 
Arena, Stephan Sadler, Chris Straka, Tim Woods III, Taka Mizuki, Ed Hoffman, 
Gary Jenkins, Dan Moore, James Bruncati, Shawn Brink, Dean Cato, Brent 
Reynolds, Tony Bruncati, Russell White, Deyon Young, Steve Hamilton.  


THANKS!