From Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – March 1, 2010…The 2010 season at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway will fire-off in a big way this weekend as the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series highlight an exciting double-header bill that also includes the West Coast Late Models and USAC West Coast 360 Sprinters.
The event will mark the lone visit of the season for the World of Outlaws to the 1/3 mile clay oval and an extremely strong contingent of traveling stars is scheduled to be on hand. Last seasons March stop for the series featured terrific action over the two-nights of racing and saw main event victories taken by San Jose’s Randy Hannagan and Brownsburg, Indiana’s Joey Saldana, who captured an entertaining 35-lap non-stop affair during the Saturday portion of the weekend.
Joining the World of Outlaws on Friday night will be the West Coast Shootout Late Models. It will be the first time since 2006 that late models have competed at the Tulare Thunderbowl and will also mark the first of two season stops at the track for the tour, with the other coming on May 1. On Saturday evening the USAC West Coast 360 Sprinters will then be in action for the first of five visits to the track this year. Last season saw the Tulare County Fairgrounds facility host a trio of non-wing 360 events, which were captured by Santa Maria’s Danny Sheridan, Clovis’ Peter Murphy and Visalia’s Richard Vanderweerd respectively.
Twenty-time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser will make his first Thunderbowl start since joining Tony Stewart Racing in the off-season and will lead the series into the track as he sits on top of the points aboard the Bass Pro Shops No. 11. “The King” was the victor of the very first WOO event at the 1/3 mile clay oval in 2003 and in total has captured three wins at the facility, which includes a two-night sweep of the inaugural National Sprint Tour weekend in ’06. Kinser has finished on the podium in all three WOO events so far this season and has one victory, which came on February 6 during what was just his second start under the TSR banner.
Hot on Kinser’s heels however, is his Tony Stewart Racing teammate Donny Schatz, who now finds himself second in the standings and only two scant markers back of the lead as he searches for his fifth consecutive World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series title. The Fargo, North Dakota veteran has won a pair of main events at the Thunderbowl in his career and will be searching for more to try and wrestle the top-spot back from Kinser. Along with his fourth WOO title last year the driver of the Armor All No. 15 also made more history by joining Kinser and becoming just the second driver to ever win the Knoxville Nationals four years in a row.
After winning 21 overall main events with the World of Outlaws last season Kasey Kahne Racing driver Joey Saldana goes into this weekend ranking third in the standings, just 12 back of the lead as he looks for his first career series title at the helm of the Budweiser No. 9 sprinter. In addition to his victory last March the “Brownsburg Bullet” also scored a World of Outlaw win at the Tulare Thunderbowl in 2007 and picked-up a preliminary night win at the Trophy Cup that same season, en route to a runner-up finish in the TC standings while driving for Grass Valley based car owner Harold Main.
Clovis, California’s Jason Meyers goes into the Thunderbowl ranking fourth in the WOO points and will look to accomplish a long-time goal of winning a World of Outlaws main event at his home track. The wheel-man of the GLR Investments, Elite Racing No. 14 has won a number of times in his career at the Tulare track, but none have come during a WOO event and the locally based driver will look to change that this weekend. Meyers is also coming off a thrilling victory from the 18th starting position during the most recent Outlaw event held on February 26 in Las Vegas, which put him just 16-digits back of Kinser for the top-spot in the series points.
After putting together the finest season of his World of Outlaw career last year Bartlett, Tennessee’s Jason Sides will bring his Wetherington Tractor Service, Sides Motorsports No. 7s into Tulare rounding out the top-five in the series standings. “Double Down” has yet to win a main event at the Thunderbowl, but has scored a pair of runner-up finishes in his career at the track, with the most recent of those coming in October of 2007. The last time Sides competed in California also saw him come within just two corners of a $50,000 score at the Gold Cup Race of Champions, until Saldana was able to execute a last turn pass to grab the win away.
When people think of favorites at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway many often point to San Jose’s Tim Kaeding, who ranks second on the all-time track win list and goes into this weekend sixth in the World of Outlaw Sprint Car Series standings. The driver of the Roth Motorsports, DTR Transport No. 83 goes into his car owner’s home track looking to break his way into the top-five of points as he sits only 19-digits behind Sides for the fifth spot. “TK” last season won a Golden State Challenge feature at the Thunderbowl and also had a spirited charge from 24th to first to claim his third career Trophy Cup title in October.
Now in his second year driving the Casey’s General Store, Parson’s Motorsports No. 6 former World of Outlaws champion Danny Lasoski currently ranks seventh in the series points. “The Dude” captured a Northern Auto Racing Club win at the Thunderbowl in 2001, but since then the track hasn’t seemed to be the kindest to the Dover, Missouri racer, as he’s tallied just one top-10 finish with the Outlaws at the 1/3 mile clay oval since ’05.
Other drivers set to take to the track this weekend with the World of Outlaws will include Elk River, MN’s Craig Dollansky; Wooster, Ohio’s Jac Haudenschild; Altoona, Iowa’s Terry McCarl; Owasso, Oklahoma’s Daryn Pittman; Bloomington, Indiana’s Kraig Kinser; Chico, CA’s Jonathan Allard; Nashville, TN’s Paul McMahan; Salfordville, PA’s Fred Rahmer; Easton, CA’s Tommy Tarlton; Findlay, Ohio’s Chad Kemenah; Mechanicsburg, PA’s Lucas Wolfe; Scotts Valley, CA’s Evan Suggs; Sunnyvale, TX’s Sam Hafertepe Jr. and more.
Tickets for Friday night March 5 will be $35 in the bleachers and $40 in the grandstands while Saturday March 6 will be $40 in the bleachers and $45 in the grandstands. The front gate will open at 5pm each night with hot laps scheduled for around 5:45, qualifying around 6 and first race scheduled for 7. For a seating chart, directions and more log onto http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com
For the latest news and more on the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series visit http://www.worldofoutlaws.com/sprint/
The Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway is located on the
Tulare County Fairgrounds at the corner of Bardsley and K
Streets in Tulare, California