By Scott Daloisio
(Perris, CA, August 13, 2013) After six weeks away from the “Southern California Home of Major League Sprint Car Racing,” the Amsoil USAC/CRA Sprint Cars return to Perris Auto Speedway this Saturday night, August 17th, for the “California Racer’s Hall of Fame Night” with lots of extra money up for grabs. In addition to the USAC/CRA Series, the California Lightning Sprint Cars, PAS Senior Sprints and PAS Young Gun Sprint Cars will also be in action. Spectator gates for the night of racing and family fun will open at 5:00 PM and the first race will be at 7:00.
In the above photo, Perris Auto Speedway all-time leading main event winner Cory Kruseman of Ventura is on the inside of Riverside’s David Cardey during the July 4th race. Media, please feel free to publish this photo and please give photo credit to Doug Allen.
In addition to the regular USAC/CRA purse, the top stars in west coast sprint car racing will have a lot of extra dollars to race for on Saturday night. The Billy Wilkerson Fast Time award will reward the fast qualifier with a nice $700.00 payment. Second quick on the clocks will take home an extra $200.00.
One of the most anticipated events on the night will be the Walt James Last Man Standing Trophy Dash. The event will feature the four fast qualifiers on the night in a series of three, three lap races. The last place finisher in each of the three races is eliminated. The winner of the third and final race, which will have the two surviving cars, will win the event. As this piece went to press, the purse for the trophy dash stands at a whopping $2,625.00 and may rise past $3,000.00 by race time Saturday.
Both Wilkerson, the 1967 and 1970 CRA Sprint Car champion and James, a past driver and longtime president of CRA, are enshrined in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa.
“As always, Chris Holt did a tremendous job organizing this event,” promoter Don Kazarian said. “He got qualifying money, trophy dash money, lap money, hard charger money and more. It is going to be a tremendously exciting night of racing.”
Kazarian went on to marvel at what a driver could take home on Saturday.
“If the fast qualifier wins the main event and the trophy dash, he is taking home over $4,000.00,” he said. “Not a bad nights pay for racing on a dirt track. Who knows, by the time the race comes around with more people getting involved, it could be close to $5,000.00 if the fast qualifier wins the dash and the main.”
The latest USAC/CRA winner of 2013 is Ryan Bernal of Hollister. The 19-year-old Josh Ford Motorsports driver won the main event last Saturday night at the Santa Maria Speedway. One night earlier, Bernal was leading the main when he ran out of fuel at Watsonville with only two laps to go. Marty Hawkins, a Citrus College student from Santa Rosa, bagged his first ever win that night.
Damion Gardner, who this week is trying to establish a sprint car land speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats and who will be back at The PAS on Saturday, holds a commanding 130-point lead in the USAC/CRA championship standings. Second to the popular Concord driver is his Huntington Beach teammate Nic Faas. The distance between the two Mark Alexander drivers would have been much smaller, but Faas was out ill and missed both races last weekend. Five-time defending series champion Mike Spencer is third in the standings with Yorba Linda’s Matt Mitchell and Bud Kaeding of Campbell rounding out the top five.
Tight point races prevail in all three of the other divisions on the card. Three time USAC champion Rick Hendrix of Palmdale carries a 12-point lead over defending champ Bruce Douglass of Ventura in the Senior Series. Teenager Chancellor Tiscareno of Menifee has an 18-point advantage over Mitch Collins of Lake Forest in the Young Guns and Corona’s Stephen Limon has increased his lead in the Lightning Sprints to 25-points over Placentia’s Dan Hillberg.
Amsoil USAC/CRA Points
1. Damion Gardner – Concord, CA – 889
2. Nic Faas – Huntington Beach, CA – 759
3. Mike Spencer – Temecula, CA – 708
4. Matt Mitchell – Yorba Linda, CA – 613
5. Bud Kaeding – Campbell, CA – 564
6. Austin Williams – Yorba Linda, CA – 545
7. Cody Williams – Yorba Linda, CA – 538
8. Brody Roa – Buena Park, CA – 505
9. Ryan Bernal – Hollister, CA – 491
10. Richard Vander Weerd – Visalia, CA – 371
PAS Senior Sprints
1. Rick Hendrix – Palmdale, CA – 288
2. Bruce Douglass – Ventura, CA – 276
2. Ed Schwarz – Santa Fe Springs, CA – 261
4. Victor Davis – Simi Valley, CA – 246
5. Bob Alderman – Santa Ynez, CA – 222
6. Mike Collins – Lake Forest, CA – 193
7. Jesse DeNome – San Diego, CA – 153
8. Steve Brown – Corona, CA – 153
9. Tony Lima – Rowland Heights, CA – 147
10. Bill Badger – Santa Clarita, CA – 132
PAS Young Gun Sprint Cars Presented by Sprint Car Driving Experience
1. Chancellor Tiscareno – Menifee, CA – 210
2. Mitch Collins – Lake Forrest, CA – 192
3. Logan Williams – Yorba Linda, CA – 177
4. Trent Williams – Victorville, CA – 159
5. Mikey Lovas – Menifee – 96
California Lightning Sprint Cars
1. Stephen Limon – Corona, CA – 1866
2. Dan Hillberg – Placentia, CA – 1841
3. Tom Downing – Lakewood, CA – 1586
4. Bobby Michnowicz – Lomita, CA – 1553
5. Damon Arnett – San Diego, CA – 1458
6. Zach Zauss – Murrieta, CA – 1438
7. Guy Maresch – Anaheim Hills, CA – 1422
8. Jeff Dyer – Silver Lake, CA – 1372
9. Dale Gamer – Anaheim, CA – 1365
10. Darren Hillberg – Corona, CA – 1085
For more information call The PAS at: (951) 940-0134.
Camping for all events at The PAS is available for $25.00 per night. The campground will open at noon on Friday. Tailgating in the spectator parking lot will begin at 1:00 PM for all PAS events as well.
The entire 2013 PAS schedule is listed at the end of this release.
Perris Auto Speedway wants to thank its corporate sponsors for the 2012 season. 1-800LoanMart, 777 Racecars, Aaron’s, Ahern Rentals, All Coast Construction, Amsoil, Ayers Hotel and Spa, Budweiser, CamGuard, Champion Towing, City of Perris, Comfort Inn, Day Construction, Daytona Boat & RV Storage, Edelbrok, Frazee Paint, HD Industries, Hoosier Tires, K&N Engineering, McMahon’s RV, OneDirt.com, P.I.P.E., Pepsi-Cola, Pick-A-Part Auto Salvage, Prolong Super Lubricants, Running Waters Hospice, Scott Sales, Snap-on, Soboba Casino, Sprint Car Driving Experience, Square H, Swedish Speed, Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply, Trench Shoring, US Foods, Valley Auto Salvage, White Nuckl USA and Zanzabuku Sports Lounge.
To keep up with all of the latest Perris Auto Speedway news, photos, gossip and receive special offers, sign up at The PAS Facebook site at: http://www.facebook.com/home.
You can also keep up with the latest news and receive special offers from The PAS Twitter site: http://twitter.com/
Video and DVD productions of all racing events at Perris Auto Speedway are available from Loudpedal Productions. For more information on these productions you can contact them by calling (805) 844-3854, E-mailing mailto:trtruex@gmail.com or you can visit the web site http://www.loudpedalvideo.com/
Fans can participate for free in The PAS 2013 Fantasy League at: http://www.shorttrackin.com/. There are separate divisions for the Amsoil USAC/CRA Sprint Cars and the Amsoil OilTwins.com PASSCAR classes of the LoanMart Street Stocks, Pick-A-Part American Factory Stocks and the Modifieds. Players can compete in as many divisions as they like. The winner of the USAC/CRA game will win a 20-lap ($240.00 value) driving session on the famous PAS half-mile clay oval courtesy of the Sprint Car Driving Experience. The winner of the Modified group will take receive a $50.00 gift certificate for Amsoil products from The Oil Twins. More prizes will be announced as they come in.
Perris Auto Speedway is located on the Lake Perris Fairgrounds (home of October’s Southern California Fair), approximately one hour east of Los Angeles and one hour North of San Diego. To get to the track, take the 215 freeway, exit on the Ramona Expressway and go three miles east to the fairgrounds.
racesatthepas@aol.com is the only authorized Internet address to issue official media news released from The Perris Auto Speedway or Oval Entertainment