By Scott Daloisio
(Perris, CA, February 10, 2016) Southern California Sprint Car fans are in for a major treat when Perris Auto Speedway opens the 2016 season on Saturday, March 5th, with the annual running of the Sokola Shootout for the Amsoil USAC/CRA Sprint Cars. In addition to the usual bevy of west coast stars, Indiana superstars Bryan Clauson and Dave Darland will be on hand to try to capture the checkered flag at the Riverside County clay ovals 21st season opener.
Clauson, a 26-year-old Northern California native who now calls Noblesville, Indiana home, won the historic 20th Annual Budweiser Oval Nationals at The PAS last November. To say that victory was anything, but a perfect picture of determination would be an understatement. After blowing an engine in the Friday night preliminary main event, he made an overnight round trip drive to Arizona to borrow an engine from friend Mike Martin. With a new bullet in the Dooling/Hayward #63, Clauson scored a convincing win and pocketed the $25,000 winner’s check making the overnight sojourn across the desert well worthwhile.
Bryan Clauson hoists one of the highly sought after Budweiser Eagle trophies after
winning the 20th Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway last November. Please
give photo credit to Doug Allen.
At the March 5th season opener, Clauson will be driving Martin’s Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Jonathon Byrd Restaurant and Hospitality Group #16. It will be just one of 200 races he hopes to compete in, in a dizzying 2016 in what he is calling the “Circle Insanity Tour.” As this piece went to press, he has already contested 12 races. Of the 12, he has four wins, five top sevens and nine top ten finishes. In the course of the 200 races Clauson will be competing in non-wing sprint cars, wing sprint cars, midgets and for the third year, the Indianapolis 500.
A past driver for Chip Ganassi in the NASCAR Infinity Series, Clauson sat on the pole at Daytona in July of 2008. In open wheel action, the highly decorated driver is a two-time USAC National Midget champion (2010-2011), two-time USAC National Sprint Car champion (2012-2013), two-time winner of the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale (2009 – 2010) and the 2014 winner of the important Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Darland, a 49-year-old racing grandfather from Lincoln, Indiana, is one of only two drivers to have won the Oval Nationals at The PAS three-times. He won his first two Oval Nationals in 2005 and 2006. It was another seven years before he won his third tying him with Bud Kaeding in 2013. That win came a couple of weeks before he returned to The PAS and recorded his second win in the Turkey Night Grand. His first victory in the Thanksgiving Night Classic came at Irwindale in 2007
The “People’s Champ,” Dave Darland, is a picture of concentration as he gets ready to start the 20th Budweiser Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway last November. Please give photo credit to Doug Allen.
Darland scored his first USAC National Championship when he emerged triumphant in the Silver Crown Series in 1997. Two years later he took the top spot in the National Sprint Car Series and he won the USAC National Championship in 2001 and 2002. He is also the all-time leading winner in the USAC National Sprint Car Series. Last month the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame presented Darland with the prestigious “Thomas J. Schmeh Award” for outstanding contributions to the sport. In addition to his championships, titles and wins, the affable racer has been tabbed with the moniker of “The People’s Champ” due to his immense popularity with race fans from one end of the open wheel racing world to the other.
At The PAS season opener, Darland will be steering the Dwight Cheney owned Saldana Race Products/Shaver Specialties/Sander Engineering/Barnes Systems/Fab Shop/Parker Store & Hose Fittings of Phoenix #42.
In addition to Clauson & Darland and the stars of the USAC/CRA stars, the PAS Senior and Young Gun Sprint Cars will also be in action at the opener.
Tickets for the season opener and all 2016 shows, with the exception of the April World of Outlaws date, are available by calling 1-800-595-4849 or online at http://pas.tix.com/Schedule.aspx?OrgNum=7. Fans wanting to purchase World of Outlaws tickets can do so by calling 1-844-247-8849 or go online at: https://dirtcar.ticketforce.com/ordertickets.asp?p=667&backurl=default.asp
Money saving season tickets are only available through February 26th. To order yours or for information, call 951-940-0134 or E-mail: mailto:openwhchic.kim@aol.com