We headed off to Southern California for the last race before the Oval Nationals. We stopped in Tulare to watch the first night of the 17th annual Trophy Cup. It didn’t stop raining until we were about an hour north of the Thunder Bowl, and both my dad and I were amazed that it hadn’t actually rained in Tulare. When we arrived the B-main was being pushed off, and after watching some intense racing through the B and the A-main, we were back on the road and headed for the PAS. After about a six hour nap we awoke to a parking lot full of legendary race cars. It was the Legends of Ascot event and there were some cool cars and even some of the guys who drove them. We had a great time talking with some of the old car owners who use to run at Ascot. We eventually had to pull ourselves away and go get ready for the nights racing. Once again I did not qualify well and had to start in the back of my heat race. After Damion Gardner and Matt Mitchell got into it and had to restart behind me, I was shown where I sat on the horsepower totem pole as I got passed instantly by Damion and then pushed 
around a little a lap later by Michell. I started in the middle of the pack in the semi and moved into a transfer spot pretty quickly. In the Main I started dead last, and then got into a car on the first lap who was spinning out. It busted the right nerf and did a little damage to the right side header, but nothing too major. We restarted and I began moving forward, but after a few cautions my car slowly began to go away and I wasn’t advancing any more. About half way through the leaders caught me, and once I went to the cushion to try to get out of their way I realized that my right front was going flat. We got lucky and pitted just as a red came out for a crash on the front chute. We were able to change the right front and get back out on the track. I ended up finishing 14th. We’ve learned a lot in these last couple of races and I’m hoping we can put it all together for the upcoming Budweiser Oval Nationals. We’ve got some work to do. Rip Williams hooked us up with a better set of bird cages and Ray has been refining our chassis set-up. It’s going to be a tough three nights of racing, but we’re looking forward to improving on what we did last year. Hope to see you there on November 4th, 5th, & 6th at the PAS!
- Tag Archives Perris Auto Speedway
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Perris 10/23
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Oval Nationals 2009
I have never even been to the Oval Nationals. Peeling myself away from work to go watch 3 days of racing is something I just couldn’t do. So when my son asked if he could run the Oval Nationals and then people started helping him with the funds to make the trip, I didn’t know what to do. Three days of racing against the best teams from around the country and after only 5 previous sprint car starts? He worked diligently to put his car back together after the Calistoga crash, which left me no choice but to say “OK”.His goal was simply to run every night and finish the best he could.
The Wednesday night practice started out slick so we proceeded to tighten him up and by the third round he was looking pretty good. I had him out of the car watching the others for a while listening to where they set up for the corners and pick up the throttle. By the time he got back out, the track had tightened up a bit, but he was still turning some nice laps. Then he slid up and hit the cushion really square and the car biked and caught the wall. It broke the front end and both right side wheels. We had a spare front axle all set up, but not much for the rear, so we bought a new torque tube and ladder and then Rip Williams gave us a right rear arm. We got it all back together in time for Thursday’s opener.
The crash took a little confidence out of all of us, so we set him up pretty loose and then even looser after we saw Blake Miller flip in qualifying. Marty got through Thursday unscaved, but was a bit disappointed in his performance. He did manage to knock off a full second from his first qualifying time a Perris.
Friday, Jimmy Sills gave us some advice and we were determined to time in quicker than the night before. Marty looked good in hotlaps so we pushed him out for time trials. He took the green and set her into turn one a little too hard and when she bit on the right rear the car started flipping end over end. Mom was watching over the internet and said it was a pretty spectacular ride. Ty and I thought we were done. Thank God Marty was all right and to our amazement, the car wasn’t too bad either. After replacing just the front and rear bumpers, one radius rod and securing the fuel cell, Marty was eager to get back out. He got one lap on the clock and once again bettered his time from the previous night. I still can’t believe that we didn’t change a shock or tire anywhere on the car and that the kid’s will to race wasn’t shaken a bit. His smile quickly turned upside down when he got tangled up in someone else’s spin in the C main. He really wanted to transfer and only needed a couple of spots to do it.
The Final night would culminate in a couple of nice hotlap sessions and a 20 lap C main where Marty started in the 16th position and finished 12th. The top transfers went to some heavy hitters such as Dave Darland, Austin Williams, Peter Murphy, and Chad Boat. Marty turned some real nice laps and did a great job running with the pack. He said he learned a bunch, and I must say I think I did also.
All in all, we had a great time and achieved our goal of running all four nights. We want to thank Steve Howard from SoCal Performance, Rip Williams and his hard working gang, Bruce Bromme and the #50 team, Ron Nicholson at The Toiyabe Group, the Vermeil’s, Santa Rosa Auto Parts, Gary Geving, Doug Allen for the great photos, Josh Blakeley for giving the kid something to race, Rob Johnson for a great deal on a chassis, all the wonderful folks from Perris and USAC who were very nice to us, and my cousin Ty. We would have NEVER made it through the week without Ty.
It didn’t quite turn out the way I had wished, but I wouldn’t change a thing. Keeping it running for four nights in a row is asking a lot when you only have one car, but we did it and we had a blast. I hope we can keep the kid behind the wheel enough to build on what he has learned. He definitely gave it his all every time he took the track and probably would’ve done better if dad had a little better grip on the set-up (or maybe a spare car in the trailer). Either way I am proud of him and can’t wait to see him race again.
On a side note, we met a really cool kid wandering around the pits on Saturday. He is a 14-year-old New Jersey quarter midget driver named Rob Clugsten. Rob made his first trip to the Oval Nationals with his uncle. Like us, this small budget racer prefers the dirt but wants to at least try some pavement stuff (the Ripper told him dirt is more fun). Hanging out with Rob reminded me of guys like Rick Horton, who always had the time for me when I was hanging around the pits. Thanks for driving the car to the front chute for the autograph deal Rob, and we wish you many dry days of racing next year.
Chad Hawkins
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USAC at Perris Auto Speedway
After completing the Jimmy Sill’s School of Open Wheel Racing the team began working daily to get ready for the long haul to Perris, California. We looked over every little detail on the car to make sure everything was ready, including the spare front and rear ends. We also serviced the motor home and trailer for what turned out to be an 11 hour trip over the Tehachapes into SoCal. The weekend’s crew consisted of uncle Ty, Papa George, cousin Chance, and my parents. Dad drove through the night and arrived at the track at around 5 a.m. and then got about 5 hours of sleep before the sunshine woke him up. The team got into the pits early and unloaded in the 97 degree heat. After picking up some tires from Bruce Bromme Jr. and a shock from Steve Howard the final adjustments were made to the car. During wheel packing I learned just how muddy I could get in a race car. I was very comfortable in the car even though the front chute had a few whoop-de-dos left from the trophy trucks the week before. Qualifying was rough as I learned what a heavy cushion can do to an under aggressive driver. In my heat I had a hard time working the difficult track. Entering turn one was usually an air raid before the car settled down in turn two. The smoothest entry was at the cushion, which made things particularly tricky for a first timer. However I wasn’t afraid to bring it to the fence to get to the smooth part of the track. I tried many lines through the turns and avoided a two car pile up in turn three before the checkered came out. I didn’t transfer out of the heat, but was lucky enough to have past CRA champion and Hall of Famer, Jimmy Oskie coaching me throughout the night. In the B-Main I started in the back where I had a tough time with the car in front of me. I worked every angle trying to find the better line, but didn’t have enough time to get into a transfer position. After watching the A-main I realized exactly where the lines were that night. David Cardey found the the bottom line was not only on the very bottom, but that it was also on the high line for the midget track coming off turn two. Tony Jones, however found the high line to be hitting the mud that was packed up against the wall coming out of the turns. The team had a fun night at the PAS and started their 11 hour journey back home. Ty took over the steering wheel for 5 hours while dad got some much needed sleep. Thanks to the family and crew for making the long haul to SoCal. I had a blast!
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