David Robinson Jr. wins
2004 Civil War championship title...barely
Series title comes down to
the final nail biting lap at Placerville Speedway
By
In preliminary competition,
Robinson picked up three points towards the championship with a third place
finish in his heat race to bring his lead up to 12 entering the feature event.
Gurney, who had clocked a new track record in qualifying earlier with a 10:413,
finished seventh in his heat race and earned a starting spot in the money race
after winning the 12-lap B-feature. With
Gurney starting in the third position and Robinson starting tenth in the final
race of the evening, the championship title was far from determined, farther
than Robinson ever imagined it would be.
At the waving of the green
flag Roger Crockett took the lead from the pole position and was joined by the
likes of Joey Magaruh and Gurney. On the fourth lap Magaruh
brought the near capacity crowd to the edge of their seats with a daring pass
on Crockett in the fourth turn. One lap later the crowds
attention was back on the battle for the championship as an incident t occurred
that both teams admit falls under the category of bizarre and
unbelievable. Going into the third and
fourth turns, Gurney was running in the top four when his car slipped out of
gear and began to slow. As the driver they call Lil’
Rim fell off the pace and crawled around the top of the track trying to get
back in gear, Robinson was charging through traffic in the same driving line
and collided into the rear of Gurney just as he powered ahead into the top ten.
The collision broke Robinson’s brake line and drew the yellow flag.
“I could not believe it,” said Robinson.
‘There I was on my way to the front, we clearly had a
strong car tonight. I’m going towards the front up high and the next thing I
know I run into this big red car with a guy named Gurney in it and cut my brake
line. I thought it was over right there.”
During the yellow flag,
Robinson’s car was towed to the top of the south ramp of the pit area where his
crew and many others scurried to repair the FnF
Racing #x1 in time for the restart. Just as the yellow light was being shut off
the drama began to build as Gurney stalled and came to a stop on the track just
as Robinson rolled down the entry ramp, backwards to return to the line
up.
“I have to thank my whole
crew and everyone that pitched in,” said Robinson. “We were trapped in the pits
up there and had no choice but to just roll down backward. I have to really
thank a guy named Kenny from Ray Rust’s crew. That guy jumped on the side of my
car and steered it down that ramp with me and I had no brakes at that point.
That guy was crazy but if he hadn’t helped I would have crashed coming back out
like that.” As Robinson returned, Gurney
was able to restart as well but lost his top ten position for the restart and
the dueling top runners took the green flag from the rear of the field as
Crockett and Magaruh dueled for the lead, trading the
position several times in the next 10 laps that saw their share of yellow flag
delays much to the satisfaction of Robinson who was clearly having mechanical
woes while Gurney was charging back towards the front and stealing the
championship lap by lap.
During the multiple caution
periods, Robinson made several trips to the pit area to continue repairing his
brakes and making the needed adjustments. With every return to the track,
Robinson’s car appeared to perform better but not near as well as that of
Gurney’s who was riding the rim of the track passing car after car and driving
as high as the eighth position.
“I don’t know what we would
have done without those yellows,” said Robinson. “There was no way I could
drive the car well the way it was and I just knew someone was helping me out a
little bit tonight, it was pretty incredible”
On the 20th lap, Magaruh spun and fell out of
the lead in the fourth turn. As Crockett powered ahead Gurney was running
strong in the eighth position and moving forward. As he traveled into the first
and second turns he drifted high on the track, caught the top birm and flipped over all on his own to bring even more
drama to the championship soap opera that was taking place. During the red flag, Robinson was able to go
to the pit to make additional repairs while Gurney’s car was uprighted and he was able to restart with a damaged top
wing. Both drivers restarted the event from the rear of the field once again as
Crockett set the pace with Stephen Allard and Brad Sweet in tow.
“The tension in the pits was
incredible,” said Steve Tuccelli, co-owner of
Robinson’s team. “First we see Gurney slow down and we take a deep breath, then
off all people to run into him it was Dave. After that I was thinking this
championship is gone and Chuck flips over, it was great for the fans but tense
for us.”
In the final laps, Crockett
drove his way to his third victory of the season while Gurney and Robinson
battled from the back. When the checkered flag flew it was Crockett with the
win followed by Allard and Sweet. Gurney had rebounded to the 13th position
while Robinson finished 16th, won the title and for the first time climbed on
his top wing screaming in celebration.
“What an incredible year and
an incredible night,” said Robinson. “I really thought this championship was
over tonight, many times I thought that. Every time I had to go to the pits in
fact. But it was a team effort and I never want to race for any other team,
Steve Tuccelli and Alan Bradway, I love these guys
to death. It was them and the crew that got it done tonight. Hats off to Chuck
Gurney, he is one heck of a driver and he let it all hang out tonight.”
Following the race, Gurney
paid a visit to Robinson’s pit area for sportsman’s handshake and congratulated
the team on their victory. Although he appeared a bit disappointed, the third
generation driver was still able to cast his familiar smile as he talked to
fans near the damaged car that drew so much attention on this night.
“I gave it everything I had tonight, “ said Gurney. “This car was so perfect
and so fast I was going to the front and I just let myself get a little
too high. My congratulations to the FnF team, we put
a show on for the fans and that's what its all about.
I’m a little bummed but I gave it my best.”
Robinson first won a Civil
War title in 1999 aboard his family owned team. This is the first Civil War
title since teaming with Tuccelli and Bradway two years ago. Last month he
won the his third driving championship at Placerville Speedway, the second
title with the team and now holds a total of five driving championships in
the winged sprint car division. In the 2004 Civil War, Robinson garnered four
heat race wins, nine top ten finishes, six top five's and one feature event
win. Auto racing will now conclude at Placerville
Speedway until March of 2005. A special rock climbing competition is slated
for Saturday, October 16th with further details to be released.