Positivity - By Bobby Gerould

August 2005

Our 'home' track these days is Stockton 99 Speedway. Lying one hour from my garage door, Stockton 99 is the closest track geographically that we also get to work at. This past Saturday we took in the always entertaining sprint car and midget doubleheader. Tim Barber won the 50-lap sprint car feature in what is becoming his trademark style; no mistakes. The smooth driving San Franciscan has a road racing background but has taken to Ken Pierson's open-wheel cars with ease. He already has four career USAC Western Sprint Car wins, and a top-ten run in a Silver Crown car. Check out his website at www.TimBarber.com. …Kevin Urton was crewing and spotting for the Pierson team Saturday. …It was good to see so many familiar faces at the track. Brian Sperry is helping Tim Green's son Nick, as are Nick's Uncle Jimmy Sills, and Tim Green himself. The Rescino family, the Hunt family, the Bumgarner's, the Pierson's, Steve-O Turnross, Anthony Simone, Scott Hall, Annie Owen, Tom Parker, Larry Triguiero Jr., Brad Scadden, and Tony Iacobitti are all folks we've been comfortable around for many years. One of my best friends, "Big Mike" Bannister and his dad Ray, and son Jarrod were in the house as well. …The weather was hot - over 100 degrees during the day - and unusually sticky for California. Stockton is an old-school race track where you have to wear long pants in the pits. No shorts allowed. YUCK. …The sprint car count was at 27 machines in the first USAC, CASA co-sanctioned event. Nick Green was the hardest charging driver of the night, passing 12 cars en route to a seventh place finish. …Robert Beck of Redmond Washington has one of the best looking sprinters you will ever see. …Matt DeMartini impresses each time we see him race. On dirt with a wing, or on pavement without, the Antioch driver gasses it up. I hope I get to see him compete more often. …1998 USAC Western Sprint Car Champion, Jeff Gardner of Fresno is also a pleasure to watch race. He finished third Saturday night. …Michael Trimble looked as good as I've ever seen him Saturday. He lined-up eleventh on the grid and at the end of 50-laps was running second. …The midgets at Stockton are fun to watch. Bradley Galedrige was the show in their 50-lapper. Running the high scary side of the track - especially in turn three, Galedrige found a way to be spectacular and go forward at the same time. …Ryan Kaplan was again very impressive. The owner of two 2005 USAC Western midget feature wins on dirt, showed he can handle the pavement as well. …Food and Lodging for the weekend August 27, 2005: No lodging, just a short two hour roundtrip. I ate a "Spicy Itilian Sausage" from the track Bar-B-Q. It was spicy - but not an Italian sausage. Really - it was a hot-link. I ate a quarter of it - and tossed it. Don't call a hot-link an Italian sausage because you think white folks won't buy a hot-link. Also, no Mountain Dew at Stockton 99. WtF? ...Say a prayer for our fellow humans in the path of Hurricane Katrina. ...Fred Rahmer won his 23rd feature of the year at Susquehanna Speedway Park Thursday night (08/25/05). That moved 'Fast Freddie' into a tie for fourth with Steve Smith on SSP's all-time win list. ...Gary Costa has some Random Thoughts. Dig it here. ...Lonnie Wheatley reports that 17-year-old Tyler Spath and crew made all five legs of Sprint Bandits non-wing tour. Ranked fourth in SCRA's non-wing 360 points in California, Spath made his 410-ci debut at Oskaloosa and later commented before Lakeside's finale that "I'm having the best time of my life." He went on to post his strongest finish of the week by running sixth in the main event. ...Team Mopar's Josh Wise will be featured on Speed Channel's "SpeedFreaks TV" this Saturday. ... Indiana Midget Week was a huge success for Johnny Rodriguez. The Elk Grove, CA. driver won his first USAC National Midget feature at Terre Haute, IN. and finished second in the series points to Shane Cottle. ...With just two events remaining on the 2005 ASCS Midwest slate, including this Friday's I-90 Speedway go and the season finale at US 36 Raceway in Cameron, MO, on September 9, Brian Brown holds a 20-point lead over Lincoln's Billy Alley in the championship points chase.

Billy Wease reached a deal with Penske Racing South to share Busch Series duties with Ryan Newman next season. ...Jeremy Sherman won his eleventh feature race of 2005 after starting last in Semi Main (and winning it) and 17th in the Main over the weekend in Arizona. ...A hearty congratulations to Jimmy Trulli on his prelim win at Skagit Speedway's 360 Nationals. Jimmy is and always has been one of the good guys in sprint car racing. I was excited for him. Marc Huson won the final night at the Alger, WA. speed plant. ...Chris Lovett made his annual trek to the Belleville Midget Nationals - check out his report and some cool photos here. ...Troy Hennig points out that the combo of Duke and Scott McMillen with sponsor Tom Rolfe have won the last FOUR Chico sprint car titles. The lead the points again in 2005 with Sean Becker as driver. Andy Forsberg is nipping at their heels.

...Danny Lasoski won the 'week before the Nationals' A-Main at Knoxville Saturday night. Even though Lasoski has had a tough year he is so good at Knoxville that he should be considered one of the two favorites (along with Steve Kinser) to win the top prize at the Nationals. ...Kevin Swindell has raced at Knoxville for the last three weeks in preperation for a run at Nationals Rookie of the Year. ...Michael Lewis, Bud Kaeding, and Christi Passmore were all among the cut in the Roush "Gong Show" reduction from 25 to 12. ...We get e-mails! Stacks and stacks of e-mails. I need help with this one:

Hi, I have just purchased the Lloyd car that Jimmy Boyd drove at West Capital in 1973 winning the Gold cup race. He sold the car to Wayne Sue then he sold it to Garry Rush who brought it over here to Australia. We want to restore this wonderful racecar to its original condition when Garry drove it in OZ in 1976. Can you put me in touch with Steve Maggiora? I'm desperate for more photos please. I have also been intouch with Brenda Anderson who has been very helpful.

I am glad to see Randy Hannagan enjoying success again. "The Hurricane" is one of the best dudes you can meet involved in the sprint car game. He struggled to regain his form after a devasting Calistoga crash where he suffered a shattered leg. Now Hannagan is winning with regularity on the All-Star tour. Look for Randy to perform well at the Knoxville Nationals with good Gaerte horsepower, and a real knowledge of the fast way around the 1/2-mile.

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