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September 21 NASCAR Races at Irwindale:
Close Points Battles, Pinups, Hot Rods, & More
As the 2013
NASCAR racing season at Irwindale speeds to a close ... The
championship points battles get tighter and tighter.
For example,
take a quick look the scrappy Mini Stocks, running their sixth
of their seven-race season on Saturday, Robby Hornsby from Yucaipa,
now holds a whole two points advantage over Beaumont's Ryan Bragdon
(242 to 240). And Dennis Croasmun (who won the last M/S race) from
Rancho Cucamonga is only 28 points out of second (that's, 30 out of
first). Tom Dye (Stanton) and Steve Rogers (Riverside), at 192
and 186 points respectively, are not all that far behind when a win
pays 50 points and a DNF pays nothing, zilch, bupkis.
The Progressive
Painting Race Trucks have another close one on the heater as
well. Darren Cheek has the lead at 258 points even though the
Redlands resident has not won a PPRT race this year ... in fact no
one in the top four coming into this race has won one! You'll
have to go to the driver currently in fifth place to find a 50 in the
points column. That's Ken Brown from Cherry Valley who won the
first race of the eight race series way back on April 27. Now
here's the best part of the whole deal: what should be second, third,
and fourth place in points are all tied up only 18 points back at 240
ducats each! Competitors Ken Michaelian (Lawndale), Todd
Cameron (Monrovia), and Dennis Arena (Duarte) are locked at the hip,
and with only two races to go in the 2013 championship, the racing is
going to be ... well ... "very interesting".
In the touring Pick
Your Part Southwest Tour Trucks Neil Conrad leads the series with
444 points. Mike Gilboy and Ronnie Davis will drive at Irwindale
coming in at 417 and 404 points in the series that visits short
tracks across the southwest including Kern County, Willow Springs,
Havasu, and I10 Speedway.
Ryan Partridge
brings the night's featured Lucas Oil Late Models into
Irwindale with the most "comfortable" points lead of all,
the Rancho Cucamonga driver holding a 32 point lead over Highland's
Toni McCray (290 to 258). McCray had a bad night last race
(number six of eight total for the year) but, count on it; she'll be
back more determined than ever. Covina's "consistent"
Mike Johnson (256 points) finally broke through for a well-deserved
win in the LOLM's last race on August 17 and will be trying to extend
that "streak" on Saturday night. In other news, rookie
points leader Andrew Porter (La Verne) has had some very good
finishes as his 246 points and strong fourth place in the points
attest with William Helgeson (Riverside) not all that far back at 230
points in fifth.
And then there's
the Skid Plate Cars ... Irwindale's very own answer to the
one-word question that has been on the lips of humankind for time
immemorial: "Why?" (Stand by for run-on sentence:) Front
wheel drive cars, kitted-out with steel plates instead of rear
wheels, handling that belies common sense, and bedevils the best of
them, showers of sparks; and a show that seems almost like something
choreographed by some mad scientist: race cars spinning on the
straights and going straight on the turns. This is the fun one,
the kids (of all ages) love it, and hitting the skids (literally)
always makes for a great way to close out another night of
super-serious NASCAR short track combat at Irwindale.
Two special fan
deals and an exhibition "race" will add to the fun at the
Speedway on Saturday, they've all been designed to honor and promote
the annual Mooneyes Holiday Party that takes place at the track in
December.
- For the first one:
all fans tooling up at the track's front gate driving a
seriously cool car or hot rod will be given free parking in a
special car show area that will run the length of Speedway Drive
...
- And for another
bit of fun: ladies visiting the Speedway dressed out as a pinup
girl on Saturday night will be admitted to the races for only
five bucks...
- Then,
early (from 5 to 6pm) the ancient and honorable Trompers Car
Club from Eagle Rock will stage a "world championship"
valve cover race event right inside the main spectator gates at
the Speedway. Like a giant Pinewood Derby track (or a mini
Soap Box Derby) wildly-decorated (and heavily-weighted) real
automotive valve covers (fitted with wheels of course) will race
two-up drag style for gold (paint), glory and unusually chatty
notoriety.full details right here
That's the
fun stuff!
Remembrance:
On September 11, Irwindale management announced that all area first
responders would be admitted free to this (September 21) Saturday
night's event in appreciation of their continuing service to the
public. All they'll need to do is show a current ID.
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