Saturday Night At The Speedway
JULY 31st AT TOYOTA SPEEDWAY: NASCAR & AUTO SOCCER (Yippe!) Irwindale, Calif. - - There are 20 races in Toyota Speedway’s 2010 championship for its premier Pepsi Super Late Models division, now two races past the half-way mark comes twin race for the big guns. Two complete points paying races, one early in the even and the other as the show closer, maybe an hour and a half (two at best) between, enough time for some changes sure, but not enough time to make a crunched car capable of getting good points in the nightcap. And that’s the real essence of short track. Be ready to race, be careful, be cognizant, and be ready to get good point in BOTH races on the night. Las Vegans Justin Johnson and Dusty Davis have been busy bussing points back across the Mojave with 568 and 534 points in first and second, with Randall King (Fontana) putting up great finishes all season so far hanging tough in third at 528. 2 x 50 = 100 and they all know it here. BROKEN NEEDLE DEPARTMENT: AKA, “The King Taco Super Trucks”: He’s not clinched the championship yet, but Rancho Cucamonga’s “Flyin’ Ryan Partridge” is certainly testing professional automotive journalist’s ability to make this points chase somewhat interesting. The best guess is that. Like a baseball no-hitter, no one really wants to talk about Partridge winning the first eight races of the season (that’s ALL of them) … So we won’t. Todd Cameron and Matt Kimball who have been looking at Partridge’s tailgate for waaaay too long if you ask them, would like to be talked about however, and have 350 and 326 points each. Cameron is a real “local” from just up the street in Monrovia and Kimball come from just a little further down the way in Mission Viejo. There are six races left in the season … and if you want to see what a Ryan Partridge looks like just stop by the #48 truck at the Autograph session, just don’t wish him luck … Please! The Vista Paint Super Stocks are back this week with Santa Clarita’s Rich DeLong III holding a 28-point lead over Riverside’s Brian Harrell. With only six races left in their season, every racer looking for a good finishing record like Harrell’s who has yet to win a race but who’s consistency has kept him well-place in this year’s chase. Remember that the Ken Porter Classic Stocks have a bit of company on the third mile in the form of the Open Comp Cars (older model race cars that are out for a bit of exercise and fun on the shorter of Irwindale’s two short tracks). Only 10 points (340 to 330) separate KPCS leader Ken Michaelian (Lawndale) from Mike Colato Junior (Chatsworth) in these low-buck/high-fun “old-school” machines. The Langers Juice S2’s have been a very special division at the Speedway. Developed right here, by people, many of whom who have worked and raced at Toyota Speedway since day one, they represent a lot of stock racing action at a very reasonable price. Strongly built, well-balanced, and very, very racy, the points chase for the 2010 points championship has been close and varied. Looking at the numbers shows a pattern of consistency that has worked well for the top five who, surprisingly enough, account for only one win among them in the first nine races of the year! Roman Lagudi (Las Vegas) fittingly is the guy with the single win (race 7), and he leads the S2’s with 400 ducats. Dylan Lupton (Wilton) (without a “50” so far this year) trails Lagudi by only two scant points, and Kendell Lopez from Independence is only 24 back at 376. Second-gen racer David Busby from Laguna started a race down but has put up good finishes every night since for a 350-point bank account, and Northridge’s Gary Waters has shown consistency in his races and sits fifth at 300 points even. But this is the night that no one leaves early because the magic word at Toyota Speedway on Saturday night will be: GOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! … when the Auto (you’ve seen it go viral on You Tube) Soccer whistle blows in Irwindale. Bring your vuvuleza and cheer on the cars as they happily bash a 300-pound, 5-foot diameter steel ball around the racetrack’s infield. Silly? Sure! But spectacular and skillful too. This is some pretty darn serious fun on the run. GATES OPEN AT 4PM, THE KING TACO RIGHT-ON-THE-TRACK AUTOGRAPH PARTY IS AT 5:45PM, KIDS UNDER 12 GET IN FREE, AND WE RACE AT 7 … THE BEST THING IS THAT FAN’S ARE FLAT GUARANTEED A GREAT TIME AT THE SPEEDWAY OR THEY GET THEIR MONEY BACK: “If after the first race of the evening a fan’s not satisfied with the show, all they need to do is return to the ticket booth for a full refund of their ticket price” … No Ifs, Ands, or Buts … for more info on the races, the racers, and more: www.toyotaspeedwayatirwindale.com HOT SHOE REMINDER: The L.A.Racing Stock Car Experiance/School is still looking for a few (more) good journos to find out what it's really like out there. The deal is simple, they'll put a journalist through their school, let them drive a full-throathed stocker on the banked half-mile at Toyota Speedway, and the jounalist reports on the experiance (and the track, natch). THEY (not me) will put YOU into a driving class on a day that best fits your journalistic needs and schedule. IF YOU WANT TO TAKE THEM UP ON THIS OFFER CALL OZZIE BLACKWELL AT 877-901-RACE - NOT STOKES. (You can tell him that I sent you of course) The deal is as above. THANKS! -Stokes