Saturday, July 26, 2008

 
My family’s Sunday morning routine doesn’t change much. The kids sleep in. The wife dials in Turner Classics on the TV and stretches out on the couch. She likes to watch those old time black and white classics with all those movie stars. I sit off to the side at my desk and start downloading my racing pictures from the night before. “Why do you like that old stuff” I ask? “ Honey” she looks at me deadpan “it’s the Golden Age of Hollywood!” Hmmm, I’m looking at “Hollywood” Faria and Peter Murphy and I’m thinking this is their Age. Dave Mahar tells me it’s the Golden Age of Sprint Cars and he might be right. I did miss Ascot and Saugus, but I look around and I see racing everywhere, Ventura, Perris, Victorville, Bakersfield and Santa Maria to mention a few. I’m hooked up with greats like Rutherford, Taylor, Pombo, Sheridan and a couple million others. Everybody’s just locked into g-force turns and speed runs. They don’t care what age it is, they’re focused on their set up. But as I’m checking out these Santa Maria Grand Slam photos, it works as the Golden Age for me….  All Thrill No Fill Jace VanderWeerd Focused At Santa Maria ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Danny Faria Carries A Message First off ramp past that big empty river and you are at Santa Maria Speedway. I’m stoked to see fourteen VRA drivers have made the haul, mix in twenty something bandits and a few pirates and you have forty-one freaking hopped up sprint cars! We are giddy in the infield as they start running the heats. Faria drives from the four spot to the front in heat one, also qualifying Carlile and Schmitt. Sheridan clinches heat two followed by Jason May and Jonathan Henry. Davey Pombo is back to normal form with a heat three win, also promoting Peter Murphy and Rick Hendrix. Albert Pombo is out front in heat four, second is Rutherford followed by Justyne Hamblin. Lastly a ripping Greg Porte nailed first in the fourth heat with Taylor and Richard VanderWeerd also in. They ran two semis with top four going to the show. It was Fiscus winning Semi One followed by Brian Camarillo, Steve Demott and Brandon Thompson (another dramatic run). Then it’s Kierce pulling down Semi Two with McCormick, Faccinto and Conway closing the door. It was to be Hobie Conway’s first Grand Slam Main Event appearance. Clark Templeman suffered contact in his heat and then missed the transfer in the semi. It was not his best day.  This Fan Thanks All Crews That Made The Haul Mike, Richard and Steve ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Santa Maria Is Beautiful At Twilight That’s talented Jason May on the pole, fan favorite Rusty Carlile to the outside. May takes the lead, but it’s only a few laps before point’s leader Peter Murphy moves up from the second row. It’s Murphy, May and Greg Porte and Troy Rutherford at the front. May and Porte are battling, Porte moves into the second spot on what appears to be a very fast track. Danny Faria has showed up on the scene and is putting pressure on an imperturbable Rutherford. Michael Faccinto gets his throttle stuck and rides the wall at turn one. He catches a cable and is suspended on the chain link. He stuck it in there pretty good. Goodbye. Restart and Murphy snaps to attention. Faria gets around Rutherford for fourth and completes a lap before Cliff Warren spins in turn three. Restart and Porte is really leaning on frontrunner Murphy. May drops two spots and Faria leaps into third. It Murphy, Porte, Faria, May and Rutherford. Next yellow is Rick Hendrix and Tyler Schmitt getting crossed, Hendrix keeps moving and Schmitt goes to the back. Green flag and your top three are bunched and fighting. Murphy’s got his hands full with determined Faria and a scorching Porte. Nothing Peter can do, Faria has the fastest car and passes going into turn one.  Justyne Hamblin Is So Good, So Young, So Fast Jonathan Henry spins in turn three (he tells the story differently) and they put Faria back on the restart. Again, nothing Peter can do to stop the Hollywood press, Danny Faria reclaims the front spot and gets out in that clean air. Murphy runs second, then Porte and here comes newcomer (to me) Richard VanderWeerd. Ok, this guy is fast. He clips Porte for third. May and Rutherford are hanging tough fifth and sixth. Danny Sheridan pulls off and parks it? Albert Pombo, who has been having a spectacular season, spins in turn three and calms the pace for a few minutes. Now things get interesting…  Nothing Cooler Than Walking The Line Up Before the Main Restart and the high-speed poker resumes. Greg Porte hits the wall coming out of four (can’t wait to see the Loudpedal version for cause) and starts flipping down the front stretch. He lands on top of Brian Camarillo and gets carried down the straightaway (Brian exercised no fuel surcharge). Porte dismounts, lands on all four wheels and runs pretty hard into the concrete infield wall. He gets out and is clearly shaken. Medics roll and check him out. The EMT is pretty cute and he seems to wake right up. Now this was an extraordinary cluster cluck down the front and multiple cars stopped before the red. On the restart, most cars resumed their previous positions, which caused a firestorm of protest from the pit crews. I felt sorry for Keith (operating the cone) as he weathered most of the outrage. Restart and it’s Faria, Murphy, VanderWeerd and May and Rutherford. Just the top five are racing hard for position, I couldn’t even begin to keep up with all the drama further back. Murphy never gives up, he’s on Faria like toothpaste, and further back it’s vicious for third, fourth and fifth with Davey Pombo making an end of the race charge. It finishes Faria, Murphy, May, Rutherford and Pombo. Justyne Hamblin kept up with the madness for sixth, VanderWeerd seventh, Rusty Carlile in eight, Brian Camarillo survived piggyback for ninth and the Energizer Bunny Kevin Kierce fought for his top ten finish! Smoking.  Faria Wins So This Is For His Sponsors ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Ryan (boyfriend and crew), Jenna, Ron Jace and Richard VanderWeerd I did chat with both Faria and Murphy in the pits post race. I found Murphy applying beer to the pain of his second place finish (“It sucks”!). However, he was nothing but complimentary for his buddy Danny Faria. They been at it for a long time together and Peter noted the joy of the fast and clean rivalry. Faria concurred. A veteran of all types of racecars, Danny prefers non-winged because it allows a lot of ‘slicing and dicing” and racing from the front to the back, “just like you saw tonight.” Danny is a dairy farmer and races whenever he can get out of bailing hay. I love this sport.  Celebrating Ozzie Martin It’s hard to describe how intense, clean and fast these two were tonight. This really is a special time in sprint car racing. These guys are stars in my estimation. They represent the best in open wheel, dirt track, and community racing. They remind me of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Like Humphrey Bogart, like Jimmy Stewart.  Like Humphrey Bogart Like Jimmy Stewart http://www.vrafan.com/surfnsprintpics/726_0068.jpghttp://www.vrafan.com/surfnsprintpics/726_0194.jpghttp://www.vrafan.com/surfnsprintpics/726_0175.jpghttp://www.vrafan.com/surfnsprintpics/726_0180.jpghttp://www.vrafan.com/surfnsprintpics/726_0119.jpghttp://www.vrafan.com/surfnsprintpics/726_0191.jpghttp://www.vrafan.com/surfnsprintpics/726_0011.jpghttp://www.vrafan.com/surfnsprintpics/726_0063.jpghttp://www.vrafan.com/surfnsprintpics/726_0052.jpghttp://www.vrafan.com/surfnsprintpics/726_0056.jpg
 
 
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