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Antioch Speedway Prepares For
Final Two Races Of The Season
Antioch, CA...There are just two races remaining on the 2017 schedule at Antioch Speedway. Originally, the Fall Brawl was scheduled for this week, but the big event was moved to October 7th to accommodate racers who were attending another big event elsewhere. Management anticipates a big turnout on October 7th as DIRTcar Late Models compete for $1,500 to win, B Modifieds will race for a $1,000 first prize and Hobby Stocks will get $850 to win. There's still a race happening this week, and the Hobby Stocks will be racing along with the season finale for All Star Series Wingless Spec Sprints, Limited Late Models and Dwarf Cars. Two championship battles are extremely close going into this week.
The Wingless Spec Sprints have three drivers with a legitimate shot at the championship. Bryan Grier was moving right along last week as he led the race. He had his fourth win seemingly in hand when he slowed with motor issues and pitted in the infield. Had he won the race, he would be in a good position to wrap up the track championship. As it is, his lead is just two points ahead of Rick Panfili. Panfili is certainly the underdog in this battle. He was on the original Spec Sprint roster in 1999, and he's still looking for his first career Main Event win. He may need it write his name into the record books as a champion. Even a heat race win could have a big impact on the points.
Bob Newberry is 22 points out of the lead and six ahead of Shannon Newton in the race for third. After missing the opener, Newberry has been rapidly climbing up the point ladder. Last week was his fifth win of the season, and his last six starts have resulted in four wins, a second and a third. Newberry may be a bit of a longshot, but if anybody can do it, it's him. With his third third place finish last week, Newton now has a 15 point lead over Alan Miranda for fourth. Miranda broke while leading the season opener and followed that up with two seconds and three more Top 5's in the next five races. He was the point leader until motor issues put an end to that. He would love to close the season with a win.
We're now 17 races into the Hobby Stock season, and just three points separate the tied Chris Sorensen and Cameron Swank from Brent Curran. Sorensen won his heat race and was running fifth in the Main Event when transmission issues dropped him to seventh last week. Curran drove to his third straight second place finish ahead of Swank. This season has been challenging to all of the title contenders, and they can all be proud of their efforts. It may be that the driver who wins the Main Event will win the championship. Swank's two wins have come in the last four races. Curran's two wins came early in the season, and Sorensen has four wins.
Since he was a kid in the grandstands, Chris Bennett dreamed of getting a chance to race. This year, he fielded a car with the paint job of his hero, Bob "Hurricane" Hansen. Barring any mishaps, he'll be a Top 5 driver in points. He's fourth right now, 22 points ahead of Gene Haney. A two time Super Hobby Stock champion, Haney has two Main Event wins. Chris Long will be back this week to try for his fourth win of the season. Long was the point leader during the first half of the season before motor problems got the best of him. The Hobby Stocks have been the strongest division at the track this year, and other drivers to watch for this week include two time feature winner Michael Cooper, Billy Garner, Jordan Swank, Frank Furtado and Ken Rhoades.
Last week was disappointing for Kimo Oreta. The Limited Late Model point leader has four wins and five seconds, but last week was his first DNF since the season opener. Because he has been so consistent, Oreta holds a 24 point lead over Mark Garner. It's possible that Oreta will be able to clinch the championship by just starting the Main Event this week. The battle is between Mark Garner and Jim Freethy for second. Garner leads by two points as he hopes to wrap up his best Antioch season with second place rankings in both Limited Late Models and B Modifieds. Garner won his second Main Event and his heat race last week to gain his two point lead over Freethy. Freethy is the 2013 champion, and he also has two wins this season.
Mike Gustafson fell out of the second place battle last week when he blew a motor in hot laps to end his night early. Gustafson has two wins this season and a 31 point lead over the steady John Evans in the battle for fourth. Evans picked up his fourth Top 5 finish last week, and he will finish no worse than fifth in the standings. Buddy Kniss has another commitment this week, but last week saw him win his first career heat race after holding off Oreta. He also finished fourth in the Main Event. Other drivers to watch for this week include Chad Hammer, Terry Kendrick, Lori Brown and Terry DeCarlo.
Mike Corsaro has already clinched the Dwarf Car championship. His impressive numbers include three wins, three seconds and two thirds. Rookie Devan Kammermann leads David Michael Rosa by 14 points in the battle for second. Kammermann has seven Top 5 finishes this season, including two third place finishes in the last three races. Like Rosa, he's still looking for his first Antioch win. Rosa has a pair of second place finishes, but he only leads his father, David Rosa, by ten points in the race for third.
Chris Becker leads Charlie Correia by 26 points in the race for fifth. 2016 champion Kevin Miraglio took a break from point racing this season, but he's won three times, including the last two races. Open wheel veteran Brian Gray has looked good in the last two races with a second and fourth. There's not much happening with the other Dwarf Car groups this week, meaning there could be an increase in car count at Antioch. Other drivers to watch for include Chuck Conover, Mario Marquez, David Corsaro and Brandon Anderson.
There's plenty of excitement in the point battles as the season winds down. After this week's show will be the Fall Brawl for DIRTcar Late Models, B Modifieds and Hobby Stocks. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.
Championship Night This Saturday At Orland Raceway
Orland, CA...On the heels of the successful Fan Appreciation Night, Orland Raceway is wrapping up their 2017 championship season this Saturday before two big events in October. October 7th will be an open wheel themed night with Wingless Sprints, Micro Sprints and California Hardtops. The final race on October 14th is the Battle Of The Axels. Not only is there a $1,000 to win Pure Stock race and extra money on the line for Mini Trucks and Mini Stocks, there's also a $1,000 to win Destruction Derby. The October 14th event will be the biggest show hosted at Orland Raceway in years.
Before we get there, we have champions to crown in the final point event this Saturday night. Featured divisions include Pure Stocks, Mini Stocks, Mini Trucks, Micro Sprints and Wingless Gas Sprints.
The most recent Pure Stock race featured a crowd pleasing battle to the checkered fllag, won by Kyle Cheney ahead of Shannon Collins. Collins lost by inches. When Jeremy Langenderfer spun from second not too many laps from the end, Collins looked like he'd make a big gain in points. However, Langenderfer recovered for a Top 5 finish in the big double point race. Collins still managed to cut Langenderfer's lead to 17 points, and that means the championship is still up for grabs. Brad Ray and 2015 champion Paul Stevens both had Top 5 finishes last week, and both are threats to win this week. There were 15 cars last week, and a big turnout this week could impact the championship race. Reigning champion Steve Martin, Amanda Koop, Earl Adams and Frank Leonardo are other racers to watch for this week.
Mini Stock point leader Tom Davis grabbed a third place finish last time out and added more points to his lead over Sean Perry in the process. Davis now leads by 34 points as he closes in on another championship. Barbara Crain led for several laps before Pure Stock star Paul Stevens and Sean Merritt moved by for the 1-2 finish. Stevens was behind the wheel of the #3 car driven to two wins this season by Donovan Chilton. John Kirkpatrick didn't have the best of nights, but he will hold onto third in points this year. Jason Libbee and Dustin Hills are other drivers to watch for this week.
Keith Ross grabbed another win last time as 12 Mini Trucks competed. Ross now leads Dan Webster by 39 points, and he'll win the championship just by starting the Main Event this week. Nate Skaggs had a second place finish in his second start of the season, while Webster won a good battle with Olin Crain for third. Webster is in no danger of losing second in points to William Fogle, who will finish third. This week may be about bragging rights as past champion Ross Vige and Zach Baker are others who would like to win the point season finale. When Mini Trucks and Mini Stocks run their final race on October 14th, they will race for $500 to win their respective Main Events.
Jackie Whitson Jr. has been the class of the field in 250 Micro Sprints. He lapped everybody but his father in the recent double point race. James Barnes hopped into the Jess Garland car for the Main Event and got a third place finish. That will enable him to hold on to second in points as Ronnie Heyer will finish third in the standings. The bigger question is can anybody beat Whitson? Barnes beat him once this year. Seth Libbee, Pax Gonzalez and Dave McKinnon are other drivers to keep an eye on this week.
The effort to rebuild the Wingless Sprint class continues. The decision was made to run them on gasoline this season, and Josh Jacobo, Josh Tucker and Rob Worthington are among the drivers who have raced. They had four cars at the most recent race. When the division competes on October 7th, it will be a $500 to win race, and it will be open to all Wingless Spec Sprint cars and the Economy Sprint racers who are willing to take off their wings. This is a chance for those drivers to make a case for rule changes next season.
It should be a great night of racing in Orland. Gates open at 5 PM with the first race starting at 7. General Admission is $8.00, Seniors and Juniors (7-12) are $5.00 and children 6 and under are free. For further information, go to www.orlandraceway.org.
Orland Raceway Points
Pure Stocks
Jeremy Langenderfer 549
Shannon Collins 532
Steve Martin 446
Amanda Koop 405
Paul Stevens 378
Earl Adams 375
Brad Ray 342
Keith Ross 278
John Camper 268
Frank Leonardo 260
Mini Trucks
Keith Ross 637
Dan Webster 598
William Fogle 536
Olin Crain 381
Zachary Baker 292
Ross Vige 284
Jeremy Callen 125
Nicolas Siemens 114
Nate Skaggs 104
Jake Van Tol 94
Mini Stocks
Tom Davis 625
Sean Perry 591
John Kirkpatrick 547
Jason Libbee 412
Barbara Crain 378
Dustin Hills 279
Donovon Chilton 202
Steven Spears 128
Paul Stevens 105
Sean Merritt 99
250 Micro Sprints
Jackie Whitson Jr. 635
James Barnes 583
Ronnie Heyer 475
Seth Libbee 341
Jess Garland 336
Jackie Whitson Sr. 304
Dave McKinnon Jr. 251
Pax Gonzalez 250
Scott Holloway 230
Monica Aldrich 136
McCarthy Wins Antioch Speedway Sprint Car Championship
Antioch, CA...Art McCarthy completed one of the most impressive comebacks in Antioch Speedway history to win the All Star Series Winged 360 Sprint Car championship. This comes ten years after McCarthy's first Antioch championship in 2007. Since the effort began to build up the Sprint Car program at Antioch, it's been known that the road to the championship goes through McCarthy. In 2014, he finished third, and he followed that up with back to back runnerup seasons. His eight wins during the past three seasons makes him the top feature winner in the division.
The season had a nightmare beginning for McCarthy after he blew a motor and was forced to scratch from the Main Event. After three races, he was 61 points out of the lead. After five races, he had only earned two Top 5 feature finishes. The prospects of overtaking point leader Marissa Polizzi seemed bleak at the halfway point of the season. That's when the two time Petaluma Speedway champion turned things around.
Art won the sixth Main Event of the season, and he finished second in the next race. When he won again on Week 8, McCarthy was second in points. However, there was no margin for error. If he wanted to win the championship, he would need to finish the season strong and hope for some bad luck for Polizzi. The ninth event was the third win of the season for McCarthy, while Polizzi pitted with motor problems. He ended the season with a third place finish, and this gave him a nine point advantage over Polizzi in the final point standings.
Art McCarthy is the Winged 360 Sprint Car champion at Antioch Speedway. He never gave up on the season, and this just goes to show what can happen when you don't give up.
Pit Stops
This week's column will take on a bit more of an editorial tone on the subject of booking on top of other track's dates and Divisionitis. We coined the word Divisionitis to describe the abundance of divisions many race tracks run on any given night. This weekend is the Pat Pettit Memorial Shoot Out at Watsonville. This is the seventh running of the big IMCA Modified, IMCA Sport Modified and American Stock show. As one of the more established races, drivers from everywhere want to be there.
Originally, Antioch Speedway booked the Fall Brawl for this weekend. The event features a $1,500 to win DIRTcar Late Model race, $1,000 to win for B Modifieds and $850 to win for Hobby Stocks. There were Late Model racers planning to race A Modifieds at the Pettit Race, and some B Modified racers were going as well. Management elected to move the Fall Brawl to October 7th. A few critics have suggested that Antioch is booking over a Tulare race, but this is not an established date like the Pettit Race or The Budweiser Nationals at Bakersfield. At the end of the season, several tracks try to make special race dates. This is assisted by the fact that October in California tends to be a dry month.
But there is the question of big races during the season and not booking on top of other track's big races. Watsonville is traditionally a Friday night track, but they pick the first Saturday in August for the Mike Cecil Memorial IMCA Modified, IMCA Sport Modified and American Stock race. Ed Parker at Merced chose to go dark to support that show. Petaluma made sure the Modified drivers were off that night. This is one of those cases where Divisionitis is helpful, because tracks can give certain divisions a night off if other tracks have something big happening with a certain division.
One of the easiest things promoters could accomplish at the Reno Promoters Meeting is booking race dates where each track has a shot at a car count. You have Merced running The Ted Stofle Classic and Timmy Post Memorial, Watsonville and the Cecil and Pettit races, Petaluma has an All Star Modified Series race and a Dwarf Car Regional and Antioch has the Hetrick and Soares races. It should be a simple task to schedule accordingly. You can see an alliance starting to build between Watsonville and Merced, and there's no reason why Petaluma and Antioch couldn't have the same. For one thing, Antioch could have a stronger Winged 360 Sprint Car program if they worked closer with Petaluma. There are also Dwarf Car, Super Stock and IMCA Modified possibilities where both tracks would benefit.
Divisionitis isn't a good thing. It dilutes the product, and it's a reason for declining attendance. It's a different time and there are other factors, but when you have more cars in fewer divisions, fans are more interested in attending the races. The advantage to having more divisions is you can more easily give divisions a night off and work with other tracks. Promoters have a magic number for how many cars they need in the pits to make the show at least a little profitable, and let's not kid ourselves here. At the promoter level, this is a business. Yes, they love the sport. However, they take financial risks in the hopes of financial rewards.
Looking at Antioch, the one thing Promoter John M. Soares was known for was booking big A Modified races and having 60 cars show up. With the addition of B Modifieds, that's no longer possible. In fact, you seldom hear about car counts for big shows reaching beyond the 40's. Two reasons for B Modifieds were the increasing cost of A Mods and the fact that the drivers at the back of the pack eventually gave up. Antioch was certainly not first in line to start B Modifieds, probably because the A Modified show was still performing well. At a certain point, they had to join the statewide trend with a B Modified class or be left behind. It's interesting to note that Petaluma has still avoided the B Modified division, though a West Coast Sport Mod Tour race was rained out there this year.
The purpose of this comment is not to belittle any division, track or promoter. Promoters do what they have to do to keep the gates open, and racers do what they need to do to be able to afford racing. B Modifieds are basically recycling the A Modifieds, meaning the future of this style of racing looks good for the foreseeable future. Wingless Spec Sprints did a similar thing for Sprint Car racing. Drivers started getting those old chassis, putting Stock Car motors in them and racing them as Spec Sprints. It's brought new racers into Sprint Car racing. A similar thing was attempted with the old Late Model chassis and the Limited Late Model class at Antioch. It had some good seasons, but the side effect is the Street Stock division was sacrificed to keep Limited Late Models alive. Many Street Stock drivers ended up parking back then.
The latest call at Antioch by some people is for the return of the Four Banger division. By all rights, this division should still be at the track. This is a long story that we'll just skip past for now. The reason people are asking for the division is it is a way for new racers to get out there on a small budget. As it is, there have been a few new drivers starting in the Hobby Stocks, but some are claiming that even that division is a bit pricey. Is a Four Banger division needed? This is the real question. Management has already said if eight drivers sign up, they will get some races next year.
Will Four Bangers put butts in the seats? Not likely. Maybe a few family members of racers, but many of them are already at the races. Can it get new racers into the sport? The answer is yes. The Swank family, for instance, returned to racing via Four Bangers. The thing is, what is needed now is strengthening the program that is already there. The building blocks are already in place, but a few adjustments are needed. Presently, car count average is about 10-12 cars per race. The immediate goal should be to get those numbers up to 15-17 cars per division, and that is a realistic goal. Getting the car count up in the existing divisions should result in more people coming to watch. There's more to it than that, but this is part of the equation.
I would never begrudge the Four Banger racers for trying to bring this class back, but you should also consider the history of the class at Antioch. If you're going to go through the effort of putting a car together, you are going to bear some of the responsibility of keeping car count up. Eight cars might start the division, but only eight cars won't sustain it. Theoretically, this level of racing should be the fastest to grow, but look at the numbers at a few other tracks. That just isn't the case. Maybe this time will be different?
It's interestinng to note that 15 years ago last Wednesday, Mike McCann led a group of Cascade Hardtop drivers from Sunset Speedway in Oregon to California for a two race weekend at Sacramento Raceway and Orland Raceway. This marked the beginning of the Hardtop movement we see today. In fact, the California Hardtops will be racing in Orland on October 7th. Recently, there were ten Hardtops in Bakersfield. These two efforts will continue next season.
The nostalgia racing movement is in full gear. Super Modifieds are perhaps the fastest growing division in California. The Legends Of Kearney Bowl are having lots of fun staging exhibition races on pavement and dirt and having community gatherings where they show off their race cars. This has also sparked a movement to book actual races for the Super Modifieds at select tracks in California. If enough drivers commit to it, this will happen.
The Sportsman division may be back for their 20th season at Merced Speedway. The promoter at the time, Chuck Griffin, introduced the class to his racing program in 1999, 20 years after the division had been dropped from the roster. The division didn't have a banner year, but Promoter Ed Parker released a point list after the season that shows Jeff Bristow as champion. There are known to be at least a dozen cars in the area that could race next season, but there are some racers unhappy with the way engine rules got out of hand. Hopefully, something can be done to deal with those issues and get more cars back to the track again. Perhaps allowing Hardtops to compete will be considered too?
The last comment isn't meant to put down any effort to honor greats from the past, but a certain movement has caught my attention because of the negative comments being made repeatedly by the leader. Having somebody organizing an effort to induct deserving racers into a "Hall Of Fame" is a good thing. However, you can do it without putting down other efforts to honor the past. It's not a competition. It's an effort to acknowledge racing history.
I would also advise people who lead an effort like this to not make it about themselves. You risk making it "so and so's version of a certain track's Hall Of Fame" and defeat your own purpose. Having been a part of starting a Hall Of Fame for Southern Oregon racing, I can tell you it takes a team effort. Were I to achieve my goal of helping start something similar at Antioch Speedway, I can tell you it would take a team effort, or it would fail. I don't know everything, and input from others who were there should be considered. The purpose of things like a Hall Of Fame or a Legend's Night is to honor the greats of the sport who helped make the track so special and to educate the fans and the surrounding community on the history of the track.
