1.
34
– The number of different drivers to win at least one ASCS
feature event thus far in 2008, with 54 features in the books
after a dozen shows took the checkered flag on Memorial Day
weekend. Think about it. Fifty-four events completed already.
ASCS has completed more events before the month of June than
most series will do all year.
Half of the weekend's winners enjoyed a first career ASCS
triumph, including Jayme Barnes (Northwest), Michael Miller
(Rebel) and Bob Schaeffer (Rocky Mountain) on Saturday and then
Ryan Hall (Gulf South), Seth Bergman (Northwest) and John
Schuyler (Patriots) on Sunday.
Jason Johnson sits atop the overall win list with seven
triumphs, including four National wins and three Regional
victories. Next is Arizona's Ben Gregg, who snared his first
career ASCS win in Southwest action on May 3, kicking off a
four-race victory spree of winged Arizona racing action in May.
Gary Taylor has topped the Sooner Region ranks on three
occasions, with Jeremy Sherman and Charles Davis, Jr., each
taking three topless Canyon Region wins. Another five drivers
have taken two wins each, including Jack Dover (National and
Gulf South), Nick Smith (National and Sooner), Channin
Tankersley (both in Gulf South), Kenny Adams (National and
Coastal vs. Rebel) and Casey Shuman (both in Canyon).
Twenty-four drivers have posted single wins, including Jayme
Barnes, Seth Bergman, Aaron Berryhill, Brandon Berryman, Brad
Bowden, Tony Bruce, Jr., Bryn Gohn, Don Grable, Ryan Hall, Chuck
Hebing, R.J. Johnson, Danny Lasoski, Danny Martin, Jr., Terry
McCarl, Brian McClelland, Michael Miller, Keith Rauch, Travis
Rilat, Ben Rutan, Bob Schaeffer, John Schuyler, Chris Sweeney,
Skip Wilson and Gary Wright.
2.
The Thrill is Gone
– Or maybe not. Aaron Berryhill had reached the point where he
was ready to split time behind the wheel of his No. 97 Sprint
Car with former Sooner Region champ Sean McClelland, who drove
the car at Lucas Oil Speedway on April 19.
Agreeing that Berryhill would drive the car at the tracks he
liked and McClelland would get the nod at the tracks he
preferred, Aaron took to the track at Lake Ozark Speedway on May
3 with McClelland spinning the wrenches. McClelland may have
worked himself right out of a driving gig, as Berryhill worked
the low side of the track from row four and eventually wrestled
the lead away from the rim-riding Jason Johnson with the white
flag in sight before taking his first career O'Reilly ASCoT
National win.
"It's gonna' be tough to give that seat up now," Berryhill
commented afterward.
McClelland was originally slated to drive at Oklahoma City's
State Fair Speedway the following Friday. But there's nothing
like a win to rekindle that spark, so it was no surprise that
Berryhill chose to race rather than spectate. Reality set in
during the feature when the driveline exploded, prompting
premature speculation of a broken ankle over the radio.
Berryhill returned bruised but otherwise none the worse for the
wear and raced forward into the redraw the following night at
Devil's Bowl Speedway only to scratch from the feature with rear
end problems.
Sean McClelland surfaced a week later for American Bank of
Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region action in North Texas at Boyd
Raceway and Cowtown Speedway in his own, black No. 1 entry.
McClelland started both features from tenth, working up to fifth
at Boyd and then making his way to third at Cowtown.
3.
The Century Mark –
Texas City, TX, veteran shoe Greg Rilat reached a mark over the
Memorial Day weekend that nobody else can boast of. After
running seventh in Saturday's feature at the Gator Motorplex in
Willis, TX, Rilat became the first driver in ASCS history to
start 100 feature events within a single Region when he took the
green flag in Sunday night's main event at Waco's Heart O' Texas
Speedway.
Rilat wanted the win in the Gordon Woolley Classic, but was no
match this time out for Ryan Hall and settled for second. In
100 career ASCS Gulf South feature starts, Rilat has now posted
33 top-fives and 68 top-tens.
Motor Mike relays that the three-time series runner-up has used
just two engines, equipped with the two sets of Brodix heads
that Rilat started with, over the duration of 100 feature events
that stretches back to 2002.
The 52-year-old Rilat, father of Travis, makes his way to
Knoxville, IA, this weekend for the Master's Classic, an event
in which he finished fifth last year.
4.
Red River Shootout
– The O'Reilly ASCoT National series contested events on both
sides of the Red River on May 9 and 10, with Oklahoma City's
State Fair Speedway hosting the series on Friday night and then
Devil's Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, TX, serving as Saturday
night's playground. But, no Oklahoma or Texas drivers came away
with bragging rights, as the lion's share of the purse money
went to Nebraska and Louisiana.
Springfield, Nebraska's Jack Dover wired the field at Oklahoma
City on May 9 to become the season's tenth different winner and
the fifth driver to post a first-career ASCoT National win in
2008 along with Tony Bruce, Jr., Skip Wilson, Danny Lasoski and
Aaron Berryhill. And, just three months past his 18th
birthday, Dover also became the youngest driver to win an ASCS
National Tour feature event since Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., captured
the final round of ASCS Speedweek at West Memphis in 2004 at the
age of 16.
Dover had a shot at back-to-back wins with a front-row starting
position the next night but slid back to sixth, a spot he has
claimed three times in his last six ASCoT outings.
At Devil's Bowl, Louisiana's Jason Johnson finally eased the
pain inflicted a week before. After surrendering the Lake Ozark
lead to Aaron Berryhill in the final moments, "The Ragin' Cajun"
and The Shop Motorsports crew made the last minute decision to
drop in on the WOW forces at Sedalia. "We've got to get a
little faster," Johnson explained.
Johnson was plenty fast at Sedalia, holding a half-lap lead on
the big half-mile before a caution with four laps to go erased
his huge advantage and removed lapped cars, allowing for a
last-lap slider from Brian Brown and another tough pill to
swallow for Johnson.
After a third-place run at Oklahoma City, Johnson chased down a
red-hot Gary Taylor (three out of four Sooner Region wins since
April 12 along with a couple of SMRS Midget scores) and went on
to take top honors at Devil's Bowl. The only driver to post
more than one ASCoT National win this year, the Devil's Bowl win
also marked Johnson's 100th career ASCS National Tour
top-five feature finish, placing him in some exclusive company
that includes only Gary Wright (276), Terry Gray (174), Tim
Crawley (151), Garry Lee Maier (146), Travis Rilat (122), Wayne
Johnson (118) and Zach Chappell (107).
5.
Big Ball's in Cowtown
– Good ol' Bob Wills and his infamous Texas Playboys sang of it,
and as the American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region made its
second appearance of the season at Cowtown Speedway on Saturday
night, May 17, with 41 cars in the pit area, the "Big Balls in
Cowtown" award would have to go to rookie shoe Aaron Reutzel.
Reutzel, the baby-faced Clute, TX, teen in just his second
weekend of Sprint Car action, had won a heat race in convincing
fashion and then finished sixth in his Sooner Region debut the
night before at Boyd Raceway.
At Cowtown, he simply stunned the crowd by prevailing in a
wheel-to-wheel duel for fourth position in the "B" Main with
Cowtown ace Kevin Ramey, making several seemingly impossible
saves on the top of turns one and two, before making a last-lap
slide around Justin Melton for the final transfer to the "A"
Main. Ramey missed the main event, likely the first time that
has ever happened to the two-time Sooner Region champ at the
Cowtown oval that lies just several miles from home.
6.
Little Shu' –
Arizona Race Mart, Jimmy Blanton, Manzanita Speedway and several
others stepped up to inflate the Discount Tire Co. ASCS Canyon
Region's Wayne Weiler Salute to Indy total purse to more than
$19,000.
And Arizona native Casey Shuman was the biggest recipient.
After crewing for Jesse Hockett at Terre Haute on Thursday night
and then finishing third in Friday night's feature at Gas City,
Shuman hopped a plane for Phoenix to pilot Rex Foster's No. 32
from the eighth row to take command midway through the
51-lapper.
Shuman pocketed the $2,000 winner's share along with the $100
Mid-Way Leader bonus and $100 Hard Charger bonus. The top five
finishers all earned in excess of $1,000 with sixth-place runner
R.J. Johnson collecting an even $1,000. Derek Sell picked up
the $100 Hard Luck Award, while Jimmy Blanton distributed
another $500 among several drivers to cover the Long Tow award.
7.
What a Difference a Year Makes –
On May 25, 2007, Henry Van Dam's racing days looked bleak, to
say the least. After all, that was the night he broke his neck
at Lebanon, Oregon's Willamette Speedway.
Fast forward to exactly one year later. The all-new ASCS
Northwest Region was wrapping up its inaugural two-night stand
at Grays Harbor Raceway Park in Elma, WA, on Sunday night, May
25, 2008.
And there was Henry Van Dam, right in the mix for the win after
charging through the pack from his ninth row starting position
following a "B" Feature win. The night before, HVD had chased
Jayme Barnes to the line in the ASCS Northwest opener. This
time, Van Dam battled up to second at one point before settling
for a strong fourth place finish.
Back in top form, the 26-year-old from Enumclaw, WA, left the
opening weekend of ASCS Northwest action ranked second in points
and just four points off Sunday night winner Seth Bergman's lead
pace.
The ASCS Northwest Region's next action is at Willamette
Speedway on June 6, with Oregon's Cottage Grove Speedway on tap
the next night.
8.
Initiated
– A half dozen drivers made their first career ASCS National
Tour feature start at Lake Ozark Speedway on May 3, including J.
Kinder, front row starter Jonathan Cornell, Austin Alumbaugh,
Brad Greer, Mark Shirshekan and Eric Todd. Todd exited on the
opening lap, with Shirshekan retiring to the infield after
spinning and then tagging a valve. Cornell fared the best of
the first-timers by finishing tenth. Kinder was on his tailtank
in eleventh, while Alumbaugh, who opened the season wrenching
Danny Lasoski to ASCoT victory lane in Oklahoma City, was
twelfth.
Six nights later, 20-year-old Donnie Ray Crawford of Tulsa, OK,
became the 998th driver in ASCS history to start a
feature when he ran 15th at Oklahoma City's State
Fair Speedway in his debut aboard the Sparks Racing No. 91. A
night later, the third-generation shoe held third in the early
stages before the car came "undialed" on the slickening surface.
"The first weekend wasn't as good as it could have been, but it
sure wasn't as bad as it could have been either," Crawford
surmised.
At Devil's Bowl, Texas racers Billy Melton (Longview) and Todd
Evans (Georgetown) ran the total of drivers to start at least
one ASCS National Tour feature to an even 1,000 in the 526th
National feature event in series history.
9.
New Venues
– The American Sprint Car Series is set to sanction races at 103
different tracks throughout 29 different states and Canada over
the course of 2008. Among the 23 tracks to host at least one of
28 ASCS events contested over the past four weeks, Washington's
Grays Harbor Raceway Park, Texas' Boyd Raceway and Arizona's
Thunder Raceway each hosted the ASCS for the first time.
Jayme Barnes and Seth Bergman split ASCS Northwest victory
honors at Grays Harbor, defending Sooner Region champ Brian
McClelland posted his first win of the year in the series debut
at Boyd Raceway and current ASCS Southwest Region point leader
Ben Gregg kept up his winning ways in the series lone stop of
2008 at Show Low's Thunder Raceway.
10.
Randomness –
Jason Johnson has posted 32 consecutive top-ten feature finishes
in ASCS National Tour competition, just eight races short of
Terry Gray's record mark of 40 in a row. Johnson could tie
and/or break the mark during the 16th Annual ASCS
Speedweek, which runs from July 11-19…Weather permitting, the
100th Speedweek event in ASCS history will take place
at Little Rock's I-30 Speedway on July 12….Travis Rilat is just
two top-ten ASCS National Tour feature finishes away from the
200 mark, a level that only Gary Wright (313), Terry Gray (244),
Tim Crawley (216) and Garry Lee Maier (216) have achieved….Gary
Wright, Wayne Johnson and Jason Johnson are the only three
drivers to start all 13 ASCS National Tour feature thus far in
2008….Gary Wright and Jason Johnson have finished among the top
ten in all 13 National features….The O'Reilly ASCoT National
series is averaging 43.2 cars per night through the opening 13
events of the season….Twenty-year-old Eric Baldaccini of Keller,
TX, holds the lead in the ASCS National Tour Rookie of the Year
chase with an 86-point advantage over Oklahoma's Kenneth Walker
entering the series next event at Iowa's Knoxville Raceway on
June 20….Since making an early exit in the March 8 ASCS Canyon
Region season opener, Charles Davis, Jr., has reeled off eight
consecutive top-five feature finishes to chip away at Jeremy
Sherman's point lead….Winning just once in the last six Canyon
Region events, Sherman holds a 28-point lead as he has yet to
finish outside the top ten….After recording top-five finishes in
five of the opening six events of the season, Nathan High has
finished outside the top ten in the three most recent Canyon
Region events. High still clings to fourth in points…Rookie
Sprint Car shoe Stevie Sussex notched his first Canyon Region
top-ten feature finish by running tenth in Saturday's Wayne
Weiler Salute to Indy….The ASCS Canyon Region has added a
September 20 event on Manzanita Speedway's half-mile, making for
a slate of 30 nights of racing in 2008….Following the ASCS
Coastal Region's first visit to Mississippi's Jackson Motor
Speedway on May 17, 19-year-old Memphis racer Don Young retains
the series points lead after finishing sixth in the feature
event won by fellow Memphis-area shoe Brad Bowden….Bowden took
on the ASCS Rebel Region at Alabama's Green Valley Speedway
seven nights later, earning another podium finish by chasing
first-time winner Michael Miller and Georgia's Matt Linder to
the checkered flag….Kenny Adams holds a 40-point lead over
stepson Bryn Gohn in the ASCS Rebel Region points race, with
Daytona Beach hotshoe Matt Tiffany just two more points back in
third and Washington native Samantha Taylor another six points
back in fourth….Until this past Saturday night, Chris Sweeney's
last ASCS Gulf South win had taken place at the Gator Motorplex
in Willis, TX, on May 27, 2006. Just three nights shy of the
second anniversary of that win, Sweeney added his third career
Gulf South win with another Gator triumph, extending his Gulf
South points lead in the process….Gulf South rookie shoe Travis
Elliott has finished outside the top ten after reeling off four
consecutive top-five runs…Travis' brother Bean (yes, Bean)
Elliott has joined in on the Gulf South action over the past
four events, running tenth at both Houston Raceway Park and
Heart O' Texas Speedway…Three Barksdale's rank among the top
twenty in Sooner Region points, with Koby in eleventh, his
cousin Sheldon twelfth and Sheldon's father, Rick, tied for 20th….Koby
Barksdale posted his best career ASCS finish by running third in
Gulf South action at Waco's Heart O' Texas Speedway on
Sunday….After another rainout, the ASCS Midwest Region will now
open the season by joining forces with the National Tour at
Knoxville Raceway on June 20….The Northern Plains Region opens
the season one night earlier on June 19 at Fargo's Red River
Valley Speedway….California's Jonathan Allard was on the move in
Sunday night's Northwest Region feature at Grays Harbor before a
tangle in lapped traffic sent him pitside. Allard spent the
weekend aboard the Doyle's Harley Davidson No. 1 that Shane
Stewart drove to victory in last year's ASCS Knoxville
Nationals….While California racers aren't that unexpected in the
Northwest, it came as a surprise when Tracy, California's Jason
Botsford took on the ASCS Coastal Region at Mississippi's
Jackson Speedway on May 17….As per the norm, Chuck Hebing topped
the season-opening ASCS Patriot event by winning Saturday's
feature at Woodhull Raceway…When Hebing was absent the following
night at Pennsylvania's Eriez Speedway, John Schuyler logged his
first series win while past Patriot champ Bryan Howland vaulted
to the top of the point charts…Chris Muhleisen and Don Adamczyk,
who has never missed a Patriot event, are tied for second in
points while Jared Zimbardi and Ray Preston are tied for
fourth….Rookie shoe Bubba Broderick is sixth in Patriot points
after a fourth-place run at Erie….Matt Tiffany led much of the
way at Green Valley on Saturday night but landed in the fence
after giving up the to spots to Michael Miller and Kenny
Adams….Fifty-five year old Bob Schaeffer and 38-year-old Keith
Rauch split victory honors as the Rocky Mountain Region opened
the season at Thunder Mountain Speedway, but it was 17-year-old
Derrik Ortega escaping the weekend with the points lead on the
strength of finishes of third and second….Rauch was the first to
exit from Saturday's feature before rebounding to win Sunday's
afternoon's main event….Jeff Heffner scratched from Saturday's
Rocky Mountain Region feature and returned to finish third on
Sunday….Ortega leads a solid Rocky Mountain rookie crop of
seven….After consecutive third-place finishes at Mid-America and
Boyd, Kolt Walker retains the ASCS Sooner Region point lead
after a rough Cowtown outing that resulted in a 16th-place
finish…While Walker leads Sooner points with a Maxim, Triple-X
has combined to win five of six Sooner features with Gary Taylor
winning three and single wins from Brian McClelland and Travis
Rilat….After posting a career-best ASCS finish of second in the
May 17 Sooner event at Cowtown, Oklahoma City's Joe Wood, Jr.,
has climbed to sixth in points….Not to be confused with
Arizona's Sherman-Davis battles, Oklahoma racer Sherman Davis
has climbed to third in Sooner Region points with a fifth-place
Cowtown run on May 17 easing the bruises incurred from a rough
Cowtown opener five weeks earlier….The Number "22" swept
Saturday night's Southwest Region heat races at Tucson's USA
Race Park, as Ben Gregg (22b), Mike Rux, Jr. (22) and John
Gaston (22J) won the 8-lap prelims....Tucson's Jessica Van Dyke
very nearly joined the ranks of female ASCS feature winners that
includes only New York's Jessica Zemken by leading most of the
way Saturday night at Tucson's USA Race Park. Late lapped
traffic relegated Van Dyke to third behind Gregg and Shawn
Sander….Sander tried to put a stop to Gregg's win streak a night
later at Show Low but surrendered the point midway through as
Gregg rolled to a fourth consecutive win….Ben Rutan, who flipped
across the finish line for an ASCS Sprints on Dirt win at
Winston Motor Speedway last year, is out to the early series
points lead with a ho-hum, all-four-wheels-on-the-ground at the
finish line win at Thunderbird Race Park on May 10….Mike Galajda
finished third in the ASCS Sprints on Dirt opener at T-Bird, his
best series finish since a runner-up showing at Fife Lake's
Cherry Speedway nearly five years ago on July 25, 2003….After
rain interrupted the SOD guys across the border in South Buxton
following heat race action on May 17, the series takes to
Crystal Motor Speedway for the 100th time this
Saturday night.
Off the Beaten Path –
If growing weary of the mind-numbing drive from the Dallas-Fort
Worth Metroplex back to Tulsa, one could meander through the
town of Wetumka after veering off course. Wetumka lays claim as
"Home of the World Famous Sucker Day", a festival born of the
town's folks being taken in by a 1950's flim-flam man by the
name of F. Bam Morrison that would have made charlatans of Paul
Kruger's ilk quite proud.
