By Ken Wagner
March 11, 2007

The USAC/CRA made their first trip to the Las Vegas Dirt track during a big NASCAR weekend, making the huge racing complex a very crowded place over the two days of dirt track racing. Although both days the track surface was smoothly slick, the first night was the raciest. The presence of some 70 late models barnstorming the track kept the 39 sprinters from having “their” kind of track, and it still was a successful weekend for most.

The first set of pics are here. Click here. For another Click here. And more here Click here.

The warmer than usual weather made the early afternoons a bit warm and the evenings OK, except for a small bit of wind that buffeted the crowd at times. The organization of the event, or co-ordination of the two groups, left something to be desired. In the end the late models overwhelmed the track with six heats, and two semi’s before the back em’ in boys could get their 30 lap main events in both nights. The smooth dry slick surface was night and day from Thursday to Friday. After a rousing victory by the Cowboy Tony Jones on opening night, a freight train event on Friday was all Danny Sheridan’s until an ill fated attempt to pass a lap car sent Josh Wise to the winners circle.

Opening night featured a lot of wet mud on the track early in the afternoon and some scurrying to get spun out cars off the muddy surface until it “came in” so hot laps could happen. A new qualifying format was used with groups of six cars on the track at the same time for 4 laps. All cars had transponders and the best lap during the fast four laps was used. Mike Spencer was the quickest sprinter of the first night taking a 17.062 to the bank. That worked OK for most, but if you had a problem during that period, you went to the back for all events that night, as you will see on Friday.

Tony Jones was amazing on Thursday as he was third quick, ran 4th in his heat and started 7th in the main event. The heats had a narrow strip of un-slick dirt on the bottom with the rest of the very wide track completely bald and slick all the way to the top. Most used the bottom from start to end, but the Cowboy went right to the top on the green flag and took the lead from Rickie Gaunt on lap six. Not only did he pull away from the pack at every yellow flag, he did it by running right in the middle of the slick track as others tried to keep it on the bottom.

It was Tony’s 25th big win in the La Villa Restaurant, Alexander Trucking, Ferreira Dairy # 4 Silver Bullet DRC chassied car. It was exiting to see one of the CRA guys dominate a dry slick event, and dominate he did. It was his first win of the year and the fifth different winner in five races.

The white Pace Electronics car of Damion Gardner tried hard to take this one, but the Demon had to settle for second after numerous tries to catch the silver streak ahead of him. Damion started on the outside of the front row and was a force for 30 laps. He looked hard for a faster way around the oval in his Pace Electronics, ASE, Mopar DRC # 71, but nobody could match the Cowboy on this night. Damion has his car fast and comfortable now before he leaves to go fight the Indiana National points battle next month.

For J J Yeley fans, it couldn’t have been better, unless he had won, but the young NASCAR standout was a show on his own. Driving a brand new extra shined up Tony Smiley blue entry, J J missed qualifying, so had to start at the back of his heat to get fifth, the back of the Semi to get 2nd and the back of the Main Event. He went thru traffic like he had snowmobile tracks on and pulled up behind the white polar bear Gardner car at the end for a podium finish. J J had fun and the car was one to watch coming thru the pack.

The semi was hot as they were all over the track trying to get to the front. Charles Davis Jr came forward on the top to get the win, but several behind him besides J J were on it hard! Garrett Hansen was probably as far north in third, and as far south as 10th, but he was out of the top six on the last lap and made another breathtaking shot that netted him the last transfer spot in front of Jason York who had done his share of battling as well. Anybody in the top 10 had a shot at a transfer as they crisscrossed the surprisingly racy surface.

When the feature started, Davis got pinched into the wall and was done. Then the Cowboy dance started and everyone tried to keep up with the silver streak out front. There was the usual problems during the night with long waits for the late model races, but when Levi Jones pulled off the track, a yellow flag flew, even though he was well off the surface down the push out chute. This hurt a number of racers that couldn’t rebuild the heat in their tires and those who picked the wrong tire went backwards. When the main ended, a large portion of the crowd left the grandstands as Tony Jones had an abbreviated celebratory moment in front of the grandstands.

When the racing started on Friday, there was a little different look on the track. No low groove moisture and again, the late models didn’t help the sprinters track at all. Danny Sheridan had this one wired as he led from the start for 21 laps, looking to get his second big CRA win, but he made a critical error in judgment when a lap car in front of him slowed his path. He pulled out to try and pass on the outside, but lost traction and flew up near the wall, and two cars got by so he dropped to third. You can imagine the pressure on the leader and figuring wrong that whoever was in second would capitalize on his being blocked and trying to make sure he kept the lead. Nevertheless, Josh Wise was in the right spot and took a lead that would not be challenged by Rickie Gaunt the rest of the way.

The Keith Kunz cars with Josh and Dustin Morgan in them did well this night with Josh winning and Dustin getting 4th. Josh is just playing around until his new racing venture gets started next week. In the meantime, the former Tony Stewart driver enjoyed Las Vegas with a big win

When Super Rickie Gaunt put the Black Widow Racing # 94 in second place late in the race, one wondered if he was going to be able to get by the leader. The track dictated that inability, but finishing second was a victory for the team. Driving the Nadine Keller owned red car, Super Rickie was very fast all night.

Danny Sheridan had the best combo finish of the two nights with a 6th and 3rd, but went home with dreams of more. Diving the Kittle Motorsports # 18, Showtime looked great both nights and but for a momentary brain fade, was brilliant in the blue car.

The freight train action kept a lot of competitors back as the low groove was the place to be all night. Chris Windom was pretty impressive both nights as the midget driver qualified and ran well with eight on Friday his best effort. Darren Hagen had two good runs with a 4th and 7th and he will vacate the Priestley car in a couple of weeks to begin the National USAC season in Indiana. Jeremy Sherman came over from Phoenix to get a 7th for his best of the pair. Brian Tyler came west to run but wasn’t very successful, only making one main and out of that one quickly.

With CRA coming to “my town”, it was a pleasure with only 15 minute drives home after the races instead of the normal 3-1/2 hour cruise. I knew the track wouldn’t be tacky, especially after I heard about the late models coming, but I think either group could run stand alone and we sprint car lovers would prefer that. Some fans I heard say it was nice to have something to see in between our races, but we don’t need it. From the practicality of the event, running on Thursday-Friday didn’t benefit our racers or fans, as all had to take off from work extra time to travel, and pay extremely high motel prices just to be part of the NASCAR revolution. Would we be successful here running alone, probably not, but then that’s what promotion is all about, isn’t it. It could work and we will see later in the year when my CRA friends come to town again to race. I can’t wait to see if it’s different.

I saw a large crowd in the main grandstands, but the pricing went from $26 general to nearly $50 to sit high in the stands. It was a slam dunk for the promoters, but the average fan can’t afford the travel, motel, food and entrance fees. It is kinda like the pro sports deal, the best seats are corporate owned and the average fan is left out. It was an event, but I know many didn’t come and I have no idea if the NASCAR fans bothered to walk over to see the dirt show. We had 39 cars with some National drivers, so I guess it was considered a success, but it was expensive for all who came. I know some teams still like to travel to new venues, but the little guys can only come for the experience, not the money to be earned. I did notice it was a long walk around the large pits, so maybe next time I can talk someone into taking my Mule for the ease of getting around the big asphalt parking lot.

I had time to talk to the Bill Camarillo family in the pits this week and they are all having fun. Bill’s two sons, Brian and Brent, are both looking to be big time racers. Bill has raced and enjoyed the thrills of it for a long time. He also has supported many racing causes since his involvement started. Bill really enjoys it and now in a semi-retired state, he is enjoying the time with his two sons, but reserves the right to come back and race again, because it is fun. Brian started running the 410’s last year and is on a crash course to get better, no pun intended. Brent started his career at Ventura this week in a 360. Brent has been working in the pits on Dad’s cars for as long as he could get in the pits.

Tony Jones got bit by the one thing group qualifying can do. He had a flat during his session and didn’t get an official lap in. If it were the normal individual qualifying format, he could have come back at the end, but not this time. It was upsetting for the team to realize there was no way for him to recover from this situation, but they went on to start in the back and managed a 14th on the sad track. Perhaps for those people who fire to qualify, but don’t get a lap in qualifying, especially for something simple like a flat tire, they could get one lap at the end? You can’t just give anyone that opportunity, but some thought should be given to this problem so this doesn’t happen again.

Thanks to all who came by the open house, it was heartwarming that you cared enough to stop by, especially the Thrasher's that came from Phoenix for the day just be here with us. Maybe we will do it again!

FEATURE 3/8: (30 laps) 1. Tony Jones, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. J.J. Yeley, 4. Darren Hagen, 5. Scotty Weir, 6. Danny Sheridan, 7. Jeremy Sherman, 8. Mike Spencer, 9. Rip Williams, 10. Cory Kruseman, 11. Casey Shuman, 12. Josh Wise, 13. Rickie Gaunt, 14. Garrett Hansen, 15. Mat Neely, 16. Tyler Brown, 17. Michael Trimble, 18. Josh Ford, 19. Levi Jones, 20. Robert Ballou, 21. Chris Windom, 22. Charles Davis Jr. NT

FEATURE 3/9: (30 laps) 1. Josh Wise, 2. Rickie Gaunt, 3. Danny Sheridan, 4. Dustin Morgan, 5. Mike Spencer, 6. Cory Kruseman, 7. Darren Hagen, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Garrett Hansen, 10. Damion Gardner, 11. Rip Williams, 12. Scotty Weir, 13. Mat Neely, 14. Tony Jones, 15. Jeremy Sherman, 16. Jesse Hockett, 17. David Cardey, 18. Robert Ballou, 19. Josh Ford, 20. R.J. Johnson, 21. Tyler Brown, 22. Charles Davis Jr., 23. Blake Miller, 24. Rodney Argo, 25. Matt Rossi, 26. J.J. Yeley (#2a), 27. Brian Tyler. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Sheridan, Laps 22-30 Wise.

NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-T.Jones-341; 2-Spencer-322; 3-Hagen-292; 4-Williams-290; 5-Gaunt-287; 6-Sheridan-279; 7-Weir-250; 8-Gardner-240; 9-Hansen-219; 10-Kruseman-206.