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Ocean Speedway 7-30-10,
As usual I have no idea where
to begin relating the events of this last Taco Bravo
Series event at Ocean Speedway. When I got to the
track I thought I would try something different and
change where I parked. I thought, I need to change
things up a bit, and whose luck can I try to change.
I had already decided that Brad Furr is my guy that
I am pulling for since Brad is due for a win here
soon. So I thought I’m gonna change things up and
hope for the best. Well right away I realized things
were not going so well because I parked in a place
where it made the tailgate on my truck higher off
the ground and I had a hard time getting my fat ass
up in the truck to get my mini bike out. Then I darn
near killed myself getting back down. So things
weren’t looking so good. As I was riding around the
pits I stopped and told my buddy Kenny Thorpe, who
is Brad’s crew chief, what was up and that he was
either going to have a really good night or really
suck because I was trying to change things up for
him! Lol. Then a little bit later the chain came off
my mini bike and got tangled up and the bike was
done for the night. I told Kenny that was it, hang
on because think his night just went to hell! Well
Brad ended up flipping out of the main event while
running 6th I think. So I don’t know if
I’m allowed over around their car anymore,
especially if I am trying to bring good vibes! Lol.
I did get a chance to talk with
Nick Rescino Sr about the Johnny Key Classic and him
being a 6 time champ. He said what most guys of his
time say, that the race was alwas very special and
they pulled out all the stops to try to win it. He
said he didn’t remember the wins as much as he
remembered the ones that he says he should have won!
I talked with the former Key race winners that we
have competing regularly at Ocean Speedway and those
interviews should start being posted on this web
site and on cmpvideo2go.com. Remember we have Brent
Kaeding, Bud Kaeding, Ronnie Day, Craig Smith, Eric
Rossi, Jason Statler and Tommy Tarlton as former Key
race winners who could all find their way into the
race this year. Bud Kaeding says that his brother
Tim plans on trying to make the race this year as
well. So I hope everyone has Sat Aug 28th
marked off and plans to be at Ocean Speedway for the
50th running of the Johnny Key Classic.
The track crew did another
great job and gave us another track record surface.
Pete Murphy was the first car out to qualify and
lowered the track record to 11.57. Evan Suggs was
the 26th car out and lowered it even
further to 11.51. When I spoke with Evan he said the
car just stuck and turned and felt great. He thought
that going out so late might work against him, but
that was not so. Evan has always been fast in
qualifying and he continued to prove it this week.
I was glad to see my friend Lee
Freitas at the track this week. Lee owned the number
87 cars that Tom Henry drove at the San Jose
Fairgrounds Speedway during the mid ‘80’s.
Mark Chaves Sr was back with
his ford powered winged sprinter. He had it running
pretty good this week and was shaking the rust off
of his driving skills. Mark was able to get the last
transfer spot for the main event from the B main,
but was the first car to drop out of the main. I’m
not sure what put him out. I’m not sure if he was
involved in one of the first incidents on the track
or if he had some problem that took him out. I
should probably know those things!
The racing all night was great
and as I said, the track crew needs to be commended.
I started off this column by
pointing out that I think I screwed up Brad Furr’s
night by trying to change things up. I have to say I
think I screwed up Craig Smith too! I was talking
with Jeff Stewart who is Craig’s crew chief, and I
was telling him that one good thing about not having
a car a the track to work on was the fact that when
something happened and and the car got tore up I
could just walk by and look at someone’s pile of
bent stuff and laugh. He knows what I mean and we
agreed and laughed about it. Well Craig was involved
in an incident in the 4th heat that saw
him flip with Steve Osborne. It looked like just a
racing thing, but it still tore the heck out of both
cars. Both drivers were ok. I was hanging out
talking with Kirk Sargent and I said in kidding that
I was going to over to Craig’s pit and laugh at Jeff
Stewart because I knew he had to have a big pile of
bent stuff over there and I was glad it wasn’t my
problem! Lol. The thing is, when I got over there,
it looked like they just might have a chance to fix
things and make the B main. Well I couldn’t laugh at
them so I pitched in and did what I could to help
them. Still even with the efforts of everyone
involved, the car couldn’t be fixed in time to make
the call for the B main. So I think I jinxed both
Brad Furr and Craig Smith!
Kyle Larson has been on a roll
lately and had a good run this week moving up from
his 12th place starting spot in the main
event to finish 2nd and claim the “Fully
Charged with Sun Electric” hard charger award.
I don’t know who to give the
hard luck award to this week. Several drivers had
problems. I already mentioned Brad Furr and Steve
Osborne and Craig smith flipping. Matt Sargent also
got on his head in the main. Still I think I am
going to give the hard luck award to Brent Kaeding.
Brent was leading the race and had some sort of
motor problem that the team was still trying to
diagnose after the race. So, for having problems
while leading that put him laps down, BK gets this
week’s hard luck award.
Jerry Bonnema, who races on a
strict budget, started on the pole of the main event
and led some laps before eventually finishing 9th.
That will earn him the underdog of the night award
in my book.
I am going to give a “put your
money where my mouth is” award to Dave Rios who owns
DF Rios Construction and is a sponsor for Jason
Statler. Dave came walking by when I was doing an
interview with Gary Thomas about Key race lap money
donations and we put Dave on the spot and he
contributed $50 to the lap money fund. Thanks Dave!
Track steward Rick Albarran
gets the “who’s that knock’in on my door” award this
week. In a scary incident, the car of Justin Sanders
broke a right rear axle at the right rear wheel and
the wheel and axle took off over the fence on the
back straight and hit and went through the door of
the observation tower where Rick and his wife Faith
were monitoring the race. Rick says he is thankful
the door was there to take most of the hit, but he
said he still got the crap knocked out of him and
the impact knocked him to the floor of the tower
from the little stand he was on. Rick also expressed
his gratitude to everyone who rushed to make sure he
and Faith were ok. He said he didn’t know just how
much everyone cared about him. I didn’t have the
heart to tell him they were just worried about the
door! Lol. We are all glad Rick is ok and hope he is
around to take our abuse for a long time.
I was picking on my friend Paul
Baines, who is the crew chief for this weeks main
event winner Tommy Tarlton. Just a couple of weeks
ago I made him the zero of the week and told him it
was his fault that Tommy couldn’t miss a crash
because Paul didn’t give him a good enough car. Well
Tommy kicked some butt this last race and I guess I
have to give Paul credit for his work in giving
Tommy a good car. So good job Paul, but I’m still
gonna make Tommy the hero of the week! Tommy did a
great job running the car hard and had that little
bit of racing luck that we all need at times to get
the win. Jason Statler got past Tommy on a restart,
but a red flag came out to negate that pass and put
Tommy back in the lead. On the next start Tommy
never looked back and took the win. Congrats to the
whole team for adding to their points lead and
securing the third guaranteed starting spot for the
Johnny Key race.
At the other end of the
spectrum is the hero to zero of the week. Ronnie Day
came upon an incident in turn one while leading the
race early. He said he hit the brakes and just lost
it and spun out. So Ronnie gets the hero to zero
award this week. When I spoke to him at his trailer
and just asked for sure if it was him that messed up
or if he just got caught up in something he said he
saw the other cars spinning and just got on the
brakes too hard and spun himself out. He was pretty
discouraged with himself as you can imagine. When I
shook his hand he asked me why I was shaking his
hand after what happened and I told him it didn’t
matter where he finished or what happened, I never
had any problem shaking his hand. Ronnie did end up
8th in the main.
The series takes a few weeks
off and will return on August 20th for
the last qualifying race before the 50th
Johnny Key Classic on August 28th.
See you at the races, Buzz Rightrear.
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