RACE REPORT: SATURDAY OCT 5, 2002

IRWINDALE SPEEDWAY RACE REPORT: OCTOBER 5,2002
By TIM KENNEDY 

Three track championships were on the line and 13 drivers had a mathematical chance at winning them Saturday at Irwindale Speedway. The races within races highlighted the five-division racing program before an announced crowd of 5,150. 

New track champions are Ricky Wildman (King Taco Legend Cars), Carson 
Woods III (Ultra Wheel Super Trucks) and 2002 Jani-King Super Late Model 
champion Rip Michels (in the SLM Miller Lite Big 10 Challenge Series-the ten 
race series within the track's SLM Division). Wildman, a 17-year old high 
school senior in Orange County, became the youngest track champion in track 
history. He entered the series final race tied at 490 points with defending 
Legends champion Tom Landreth. 

With 50 points available to main event winners, only two drivers were 
eligible for the Legends title. Seven drivers were within the point lead in 
the U.W. Super Trucks. Four drivers were still mathematically eligible for 
the SLM Big 10 Challenge trophy and the $5,000 first place check from the 
$10,000 fund posted by Miller Brewery. 

Winners of the five feature races were Art Nevill (Legends); Terry 
Limberopoulos, in his 1970 Renault R10 sedan (Modified 4s); Ryan Arciero 
(U.W. Super Trucks); Michael Thomas (West Coast Pro Trucks) and Kevin Vernon 
(Jani-King SLM-Miller Lite Big 10 Challenge). 

Nevill, rookie Arciero and Vernon all started on the pole and led all the 
way. Limberopoulos started second and Thomas won from third grid position. 
Only Thomas lost the lead (to Aaron Staudinger twice). The other four winners 
dominated their races. Arciero, the grandson of long-time Indy Car 
owner/construction magnate Frank Arciero, recorded his first-ever main event 
victory in the touring truck series. He entered the final race for the series 
at IS fifth in points. He climbed to fourth overall in final rankings at IS. 

Nevill, Arciero, Thomas and Vernon all scored their initial main event 
triumphs this season. Limberopoulos, the 2002 Modified 4s champion, earned his sixth main trophy this season in 12 races. His car, which he is retiring, stopped after the checkered flag and a cool-off lap in the infield near the starting line for the usual interview over the PA system. The third place car of Craig Kennard also came to the interview area and the left front of his car slammed into the right side and RF tire of the winner's parked Renault, pushing in the right side door and RF tire. Officials disqualified Kennard for the night for his unintentional miscue.  (Ed. Note: Kennard indicated that he just didn't see Limberopoulos' already stopped car as he motored into the interview area.  Many in the crowd thought that the rather hard hit looked like some sort of racing retaliation, but it turned out to be a momentary loss of concentration.  Nevertheless, Kennard was DQed from the event and given a stern warning by the track officials.)

The championship contests included some memorable moments. Wildman's 
misfortune started early when his Legend Car broke the rear axle during his 
first qualifying lap. He borrowed a spare rear axle from feature winner 
Nevill and had to start the main from the back row (27th of 28 cars). 
Meanwhile, his title-rival Landreth, who had set the fastest qualifying time, 
started fourth with the four-car inversion. 

Wildman passed several cars per lap and was up to 15th position by lap 20 
of the 35-lap race. At that point Landreth was in fifth place and he only had 
to keep Wildman behind him to repeat his 2001 track championship. The cars of 
fourth place Jim Smith and Landreth collided in the second turn on lap 20 and 
sixth place James Kalawaia spun out. Wildman passed Landreth during the 
melee. 

Landreth limped away from the lap 20 multi-car incident with damage to 
his car that caused him to slow and he was lapped on lap 28. Landreth 
finished 34 laps and was scored 25th of the 26 cars running at the end and he 
earned the minimum-two points. Wildman, who only needed to finish ahead of 
Landreth, continued his drive forward and finished fifth. He received 42 
points for the race and outscored Landreth by 40 points (532 to 492). 

Brandon Loverock entered the Miller Lite Big 10 Challenge 75-lap race 
only 14 points behind Michels. The duo battled for second behind Vernon from 
lap 10 to 18 when Loverock dropped out and parked in the infield with a 
broken oil pump. Michels was second on lap 33 when his car got high in turn 
two and bumped third-running Tony Bruncati, but both drivers continued. "I 
just overdrove it," Michels later admitted. 

Michels, with a loose car in the turns, fell to eighth position by lap 
35. He recovered to finish fifth. His 394 points won the $5,000 Miller Lite 
paycheck by 32 points. Bruncati finished second and passed Loverock for 
second in Miller Lite points. Bruncati (362 points) will collect $3,000 from 
Miller, while Loverock's 354 points will net $2,000 in Miller money during 
Irwindale's annual championship awards banquet. Brent Reynolds finished third 
in the 75-lap event for his second-best finish this year. SLM rookie and 
truck veteran Deyon Young was a SLM career best fourth as 13 of the 18 
starters completed all 75 laps. Sixteen drivers reached the checkered flag. 

The Ultra Wheel Super Truck 22-truck field ran 50 laps and the top three 
drivers in points were only separated by eight points at the start of the 
race. Woods (310) started third, Rich Geisler (304) started 16th and Jim 
McGill (302) started second. McGill ran second all 50 laps and finished 2.161 
seconds (40 yards) behind Arciero. Woods fell to fifth place on lap three and 
ran there to the checkers. 

If Woods had finished sixth, or if McGill had finished first instead of 
second, McGill would be the champion. Their point totals would've been tied, 
but McGill had the edge in the tie-breaker system--total victories (1-0). 
Geisler finished the race eighth and dropped from second in points to third 
overall. Final track points show Woods with 352, McGill 350 and Geisler 340. 
Winner Arciero was fourth with 330. 

No trophy dashes were contested in any of the night's five divisions.
 

KING TACO LEGEND CARS: 
Fast Time: Tom Landreth, 17.084. 
Main: Art Nevill, Brent Jones, Ted Landreth, J. D. Hendley, Ricky Wildman, 
Jim Smith, Mark Gaiser, Bill Everett, Bob Landreth, Ralph Alexander, Steve 
Twilligear, Cory Miles, Dave Green, Tom Skahill, Brian Vandehey, Gary 
Scheuerell, Rod Schug, Greg Pyke, Jason Alsop, Larry Meredith, Wendi 
Westbrook, Dennis O'Connor, Bill Bonney, John Barnett, Tom Landreth, Dennis 
Rock, James Kalawaia, Bill Watson. 

NASCAR MODIFIED 4's: 
Fast Time: Kevin Bernhardt, 17.186. 
Main: Terry Limberopoulos, Bernhardt, Steve Rogers, Ron Cooper, Richard 
Boker, Eric Reed, Bob Reed, Rick LeMaster, Jack Roberts, Jr, Fred Adams, 
Shane Rungaitis, Virgil Young, Ed Lavender, Jim McNear, Jr, Dennis Croasmus, 
Richard Garver, Tim Ross, Brenda Pugh, Mark Shackleford, Tim Clyde, Tom 
Fowler, Tony Lawler, Dustin Morgan, Doug Olson, Greg Tucker. 

ULTRA WHEEL SUPER TRUCKS: 
Fast Time: Ryan Arciero, 19.365. 
Main: Arciero, Jim McGill, Jon Campbell, Dave Blankenship, Carson Woods III, 
Joe Herold, Mark Laeger, Rich Geisler, Jim Kondziela, P. J. Baker, Jim 
Madrid, Paul Brennan, Larry Hinderman, Jesse Poppen, Greg Adler, Brian 
Harris, Kevin O'Neil, Troy Lindstrom, Scott Davidson, Darren Sigwing, Dan 
Moore, Ron Peterson.
 
WEST COAST PRO TRUCKS: 
Fast Time: Dean Kuhn, 20.636. 
Main: Michael Thomas, Aaron Staudinger, Michael May, Robbie Brand, Kuhn, Neil 
Conrad, Josh Hulsebosch, Mike Pennington, Val Cummings, Dale Cromwell, Dave 
Lyon, Chad Radmall, Cal Vandervoort, Ray Komar, Charlie Carder, Jim 
Satterfield, Don Helgeson, Terry Young, Jeff Williams, Robert Leininger, 
Chris Johnson, Tony Forfa III, Joe Perez, Kirk Knostman.

JANI-KING SUPER LATE MODELS: 
Fast Time: Rip Michels, 18.171. 
Main: Kevin Vernon, Tony Bruncati, Brent Reynolds, Deyon Young, Michels, Doug 
Renno, Kazuto Yanagawa, Dan Moore, Dan Gay, Gary Jenkins, Nick Joanides, Dean 
Cato, Stephan Sadler, Tony Gomez, Dennis Logue, Chris Skelton, Tim Woods III, 
Brandon Loverock. 


ABOUT OUR CORRESPONDENT:
Tim Kennedy has covered motorsports since 1968, when he was elected 
Publicity Director of the California Racing Association by the CRA Board of 
Directors. He performed those duties for 11 consecutive years and edited six 
yearbooks for the sprint car sanctioning body. Additionally, Tim did 
pre-race CRA publicity for race promoters and post race CRA stories and 
columns that appeared in numerous racing newspapers. 

Since 1979 Tim has done freelance work in motorsports and has assisted 
several race tracks on special events. His racing results stories and Racing 
Scene column appear every week in RACING WHEELS--an all-motor racing 
newspaper based in Vancouver, Washington. His column and racing results 
stories currently appear in MOTORACING, a monthly racing newspaper based in 
Northern California. He also covers racing events such as the annual 
Thanksgiving USAC Midget Grand Prix at Irwindale Speedway for NATIONAL SPEED SPORT NEWS, which is based in North Carolina.  

THANKS FOR ANOTHER WELL-WRITTEN REPORT OF A NIGHT OF GREAT RACING AT IRWINDALE,  TIM! -Ed.

photo:  main: Michels, upper r.: Vernon, lower l.: Woods, lower r. : Wildman