From Gary Thomas, photo courtesy of Bryan Lugo
The revival of the prestigious Pacific Coast Nationals this past Saturday and Sunday brought back an event that was originally held in 1962 at the famed Ascot Park in Gardena and this year’s reincarnation also marked Larson’s very first weekend of racing with the USAC National Sprint Car Series.
The weekend as a whole was also just the second ever outing in a wingless 410 sprint car for the 17-year-old and he kicked-off the opener on Saturday by qualifying 27th fastest overall in the star-studded 54-car field aboard the Stadelhofer Construction/ Phoenix ParkerStore/ BK Motorsports, No. 99 machine. With the USAC National and CRA Sprint Car Series inverting eight cars in the heats Larson then found himself on the front row in the third of four 10-lap heat races and he immediately jumped into the lead at the waving of the green flag.
Despite having limited laps in a wingless sprinter Larson impressively pulled away from the stacked field and crossed under the checkered flag with a huge lead to capture his second career wingless 410 heat race victory, after also winning a heat during the second night of the Vermeil Classic in Calistoga. Making the dominating win even more impressive and, although not counting as an official record, the 2009 Golden State Challenge Series Rookie of the Year also turned a 14.565 lap during the heat race under the Thunderbowl Raceway wingless track record of 14.646, which was set earlier in qualifying by Bryan Clauson.
Larson was then forced to start from the 20th position in the main event and when racing got underway in the 30-lapper he picked up right where he left off in the heat race as he began to make his way through the field. Despite very fast conditions the youngster was able to charge forward passing a number of drivers, which included executing a strong move to blast around Hall of Fame member Rip Williams to get within an arms reach of the top-10. Just after that though on lap eight Larson felt something possibly wrong with the engine and pulled into the infield to err on the side of caution and not risk further damage to the power-plant.
Despite the disappointing end to the night Larson remained positive going into Sunday and began the finale of the Pacific Coast Nationals by timing-in a solid 14th fastest out of the 51-cars that returned. He then lined-up in the third row of his heat race. However, disaster struck on the opening lap when Henry Clarke slid up into him and resulted in the Kaeding Performance/Maxim/Shaver getting upside down wildly in the first set of corners. Larson’s mount was towed to the pit area and the BK Motorsports crew went to work fixing the damage which included the need for welding on the right front corner of the frame. Thankfully, the massive crew was able to piece the car back together just in time for the B-main, where he started from the outside of the fourth row.
When the green lights came on for the 12-lap contest Larson would drop a couple of spots, but soon after found the high-side to his liking and started to reel back in the eighth place car, which was the final transfer spot into the feature. The Elk Grove racer would soon fight it out with Brad Sweet and Rip Williams as the trio attempted to push their way into the main event. Remaining upstairs on the 1/3 mile clay oval Larson carved his way around Williams with just a couple of laps left to slice into seventh, where he would eventually finish to transfer into the $12,500-to-win A-main.
Lining-up in the seventh row for the 40-lap contest Larson attempted to find his groove in the early stages, but for the second time during the night an incident would happen to him in the first and second corners. Matt Mitchell spun in front of Larson, leaving him with nowhere to go and resulted in the Stadelhofer Construction No. 99 sprinter getting upside down to bring out a red flag. He restarted at the rear of the field and would do a nice job to pick off several cars as the race went on and crossed under the checkered flag in the 13th position. “We had a great weekend even though again our finishes don’t exactly show for it,” Larson said. “I felt really comfortable in the car, but luck didn’t seem to be on our side either night.”
Although the weekend didn’t go totally as planned for Larson he still left Tulare feeling confident after getting up to speed quickly yet again without the wing. “It was a lot of fun to get some non-wing experience this year and I really enjoyed it the two times I got to do it,” said the 17-year-old. “We were really good on opening night in Tulare so it was tough to have to pull in because we were coming forward. You seem to have to drive the cars a little more sideways in Tulare since the corners are smaller and I love this track so hopefully I can run with these guys again next season when they come back here.”
The Pacific Coast Nationals puts a wrap on what was a solid third season of running sprint cars for Larson that saw him claim three victories and put together a number of other strong performances throughout the year. “We had a good year and I got to run for a lot different car owners so that was pretty cool,” he said. “I also got a lot of good experience running with GSC and I think I learned some things as the year went on so I just can’t wait for next season. I want to thank all of my sponsors for helping out this year and have to thank my family for all their support as well because it means a lot.”
Kyle Larson Racing is also seeking associate sponsors for the 2010 racing season and for anyone who would like to get on board please contact us at kylelarsonracing@yahoo.com.
Larson’s racing efforts are sponsored by Stadelhofer Construction, Phoenix ParkerStore and Lubrication Equipment and Supply Co., Safety Solutions-LFT Technologies, Simpson Performance Products, G & N Construction, JW Web Design, and Mancamp Motorsports.