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Ocean
Speedway
6-25-10,
So after about a three week
lay-off the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo
360 Series was back in action at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, CA.
During that time the sprint car
community lost on of its biggest fans and
supporters. Terry Hannagan passed away on June 14.
Twenty years ago Terry was shot in a robbery and
left paralyzed from the neck down. Terry managed to
survive the last 20 years in a wheel chair with the
help of his family and fielded a sprint car team on
the World of Outlaws tour for years with his brother
Randy doing the driving. Terry lived with a bullet
lodged in his body, and from what I understand Terry
passed away at home in his sleep as a result of that
bullet. Even with his disability Terry pursued his
love of racing through the team he owned. Terry was
able to attend some local races lately to watch his
brother in law to be, Nick Ringo Jr, so it’s nice to
know Terry was able to get some time in at the track
before he passed. Racing and cars were Terry’s
favorite things besides his family. I know one
thing, the people who love him will not stop trying
to please him just because he is gone. Terry had a
way of just making you want to make him happy, and
one way to make him happy was to see a good race. So
let’s put on some good ones. This last one was one
he would have liked for sure.
Ok, on a lighter
note, I got to make my rounds in the pits this week
and check in with a few people. One of them was Nick
Rescino Jr who was making his second trip to Ocean
Speedway this year. The first trip didn’t work out
so good as he ended up upside down and over the wall
in turns 3 & 4. Nick said he is just trying to get
some more seat time in a dirt car after spending the
last few years on pavement. He said he has some
habits to break from the pavement and is just
looking to get some confidence back.
I also ran into
Kyle Larson’s mom, Janet. I tried to get her to do a
little on camera interview and ask her for a mom’s
point of view of a young driver, but she said she
was Asian and was only used to being on the back
side of the camera! Lol! Hey she said it not me. I
thought that was funny as hell.
The other thing I
got to do was spend a little time with the Ringo
family as they made plans to pay tribute to Terry
Hannagan. Kathy Ringo, who is the daughter of local
racing veteran Nick Ringo, was engaged to Terry and
was set make some memorial laps in her brother Nick
Ringo Jr’s sprint car. Kathy had never even been in
a sprint cat until that morning and had just learned
how to start it and drive it around at a nice safe
speed. Kathy and Terry had a daughter named Lisa and
she was also going to make some laps in a micro
midget for her dad. Lisa had never been in the micro
until that night. Kathy’s sons James and Nicholas
Ringo were on hand to help their mom and half sister
as well as their uncle Nick Ringo Jr who was racing.
I’m glad they all got to pay tribute to Terry at the
track.
Let’s see, I also
got to spend some relaxing time with the always
articulate and soft spoken Joe VonSchriltz, who
claims he is the owner of the number 121 sprinter
that Shane Golobic was driving. I am wondering if he
was just claiming ownership on a night the car was
doing well! It’s always nice to sit back and have a
nice quiet chat with Joe. He never gets excited or
has a bad word to say about anyone. (did I get all
that in with a straight face?) Joe has been involved
in local racing for years and it is great to see him
giving a young driver the chance to get some extra
seat time in at the local events. While I am
speaking of the 121 car I need to mention that Shane
Golobic had a heck of a run this night coming from
15th to finish second and picking up the
“Fully Charged with Sun Electric” hard charger
award. Shane also won the next night driving the
John Taylor #35 sprinter in Placerville, Ca so great weekend for Golobic.
Let’s see, I really
can’t remember what else I did, but I do know who I
think should get the hard luck award for the night.
Actually I think it is a tie between Tommy Tarlton
and Ronnie Day who both got taken out on the white
flag lap of the main while running I think second
and third respectively. Both Tarlton and day spent
the main event up front trying to run down race
leader Kyle Larson. I still don’t now just WTF
happened, but in turn 2 on the white flag lap I
think there was an altercation between Bud Kaeding
and Eric Rossi as they were about to be lapped by
the leaders and Tarlton and Day were collected in
it. That ended goods runs by both of them but they
still managed to come back and finish 11th
and 12th as I believe there were just 13
cars left on the lead lap at the end of the race. As
usual, check the race report by Gary Thomas that is
on this site for more info on the event.
I gave the hard
luck award but I also have to give a “can’t I get a
frick’in break award” to Brent Kaeding who had a
motor quit on him for some reason on the last lap
while running second. This ended BK’s night with a
13th place finish and dropped him a
position in the points.
Speaking of Brent I
also have to give him an “atta boy” for his memorial
laps for Terry Hannagan. Brent ran the “fast laps”
of the memorial and ran them as hard as any other
laps he has ever run at the track. He not only paid
tribute to Terry in a way Terry would love, he put
on a show and did some cool wheelies as well. Good
job Brent.
I need to give out
a “you go girl” award to both Kathy Ringo and Lisa
Hannagan. They had never been in race cars, but each
did a great job running a few memorial laps For
Terry Hannagan
I also need to give
out a “boy that hit the spot” award to car owner
Keith Day for the food spread he put out in the
pits. There was roasted sirloin that was great as
well as chili verde and beans and rice and lamb stew
and bread and salad and I don’t know what else, and
their was a lot of it. Thanks Keith!
Ok now, for an
underdog of the night I think I’m picking Jerry
Bonnema. Jerry, who runs on a very limited budget,
won his heat race and finished 10th in
the main event. Great job!
For leading the
main event from the second lap on and winning the
race and becoming the first car locked into the
Johnny Key race, Kyle Larson gets the hero of the
night. The combination of driver Larson and car
owner Brent Kaeding has become a potent combination.
I asked BK after the race just how that combination
came about and he mentioned something about a
meeting at a gentle mans club. I guess things get
pretty crazy at Chuckie Cheeze after hours! Lol.
I’m giving a
runner up hero award to Brad Furr just because he
had a good third place run and is knocking on the
door for a win here soon.
For a zero of the
night I really can’t make up my mind. It could go a
lot of different ways. Someone said it should be the
flagman for throwing two checkered flags! Lol. Other
people said that Eric Rossi put an aggressive move
on Bud Kaeding that ended up crashing them and
Tarlton and Day. Bud Kaeding was running up towards
the front in like third place or so and then spun in
turn two taking himself out of contention. Shawn
Wright ended up wiping out a car that his dad had
just bought from Rick Wright, and that might top the
list just because I guess when you wipe out a car
that you haven’t paid for yet that puts you on the
zero list! Lol.
But we spent the night honoring Terry
Hannagan and talking about him and remembering him
and everyone kept reminding everyone that Terry was
all about love and just getting along. So maybe in
Terry’s honor I will just give everyone who screwed
up a pass on the night and just be thankful they are
around for us to bitch about the next time.
Hope to see
everyone out on July 16th for the next
Taco Bravo Series event that will pit the Ocean
Speedway series cars against the California Civil
War Series cars and will also be the second
qualifying race for the $5000 to win 50th
running of the Johnny Key Classic to be run on
August 28 of this year.
See you at the races, Buzz Rightrear.
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