SCRA racing just gets better every week as more and more contender's step up to the plate. It was like an all star baseball game this week, without a tie, with salvos from one hero then the next, before Mike Kirby took charge in the ninth inning and won his third race of the year, and 39th of his SCRA career. Many had a chance at this one as Rickie Gaunt, Bobby Graham, Richard Griffin, Steve Ostling, Tony Jones, and Rip Williams all had their opportunity, but Kirby was not to be denied. Although there was more dust than usual, probably due to the hot temps, making visibility a little difficult in the main event at times, the racing was outstanding.

Tory and I got the pics ready from Perris Click here!

Mike Kirby has had recent problems that started with the crash at Las Vegas a few weeks ago where he destroyed his favorite car and injured his back. He came back the next week, in a used Stinger that didn't work for another team, and he liked it so much he led the feature in it. Unfortunately, magneto failure put him in the pits before he could complete the win. At Tulare last Saturday, his back just wouldn't let him continue, so he tried to pull off in his heat and got banged from the rear, adding insult to injury. He planned a little rest this week, but was ready for Perris and the extreme heat. This time he was 10th quick, 2nd in his heat and 4th in the J E Pistons Passing Masters Dash. He then hung around and watched the other heroes in front of him go for the brass ring before making his move. Still driving the Statewide Towing, Geurin's Mobile Home Service, Western Steam Systems, Stinger chassis, # 5, Mike waited until late to grab the lead on lap 23 and hold off the pack on four crazy restarts of the white flag last lap. His back must feel a lot better.

Steve Ostling continues to impress in the Stress Relief Engineering, Accu-true, High Performance Harleys, # 29 sprinter. Not only is he in 2nd place in the points, but he is getting closer to that elusive first 2002 win. He finished 2nd this week with some late race heroics. Steve has three fast times on the season with 10 out of 19 races in the top five. He made the podium on six of those events, so consistency has been his way of making the blue and white Fisher Motorsports car get noticed. He looks like someone who has been set free, and he is enjoying this season so much with great results. This is a good combination, and as we near the SCRA NWWC Tour, he still has no ride, while the crew takes this time off for family biz! Well, he has a 360 ride here at home, but that is not what this driver needs with his lofty point's position about to go away if he misses the trip.

Rip Williams is amazing at the PAS coming from the back! Some might remember the race a few years ago at an Oval Nationals prelim night where he won the 1st of two 20 lapper's and then swept the night by winning from his inverted last starting spot in the second one. He has a way of coming from the back very well at this place. This week he told the crowd they have a new Gambler chassis and are just getting it sorted out. He qualified 26th out of 38 and then went on to win his heat and start 20th in the Main Event. While the front runners were all elbows up and fighting for the win, Rip quietly put himself up into third, and really had a good shot at more before the last 4 restarts were done. He's still got that winnin' feeling!

He and Mike English are teammates this year in the John Jory Corp, AMA Plastics, Tomarco Fasteners sprinters. Mike has been fighting problems with his mount losing fire while under power, and it has really bugged the whole team. This week a new magneto solved it all. Mike qualified 4th, ran 2nd in his heat and 7th in the dash. He was charging in the main and ended up 4th with some pretty savvy driving. It was one of those "at last" scenes in the pits after the races with smiles all around as nobody works harder trying to do this racing than Mike. Things were so bad recently for him in the # 6 car, that he offered to step down from his ride with Rip. Thankfully, they all hung together to solve the problem and Mike showed em' what he can do when the motor continues to run strong. Good job and smiles all around. His crew also won the Wagtimes shiny tire contest this week as well, getting the big bottle. The small one went to Damion Gardner's crew.

There were so many that really had this one within their grasp, let's talk about them. Super Rickie Gaunt passed the Gasman to win the dash and then led the first 14 laps of the main. A wall-banging incident broke a Jacobs ladder that got repaired on a red, but it moved him out of the podium picture, dropping him back to his 4th place finish. The next possible winner lined up was Bobby Graham. Bobby looked strong all night as he took the lead from Rickie's misfortune and was leading the Gasman handily, until the power steering broke and he had his hands full with more than the "Little Red Sucker"! He still stayed up there leading 8 laps before the pack overwhelmed him and he finished 7th with all that. A little before that it looked like Tony Jones was coming to the front. He got by the Gasman and was chasing the leader when he hit a rough spot in the cushion and his car went hard right, and then did a soft rollover to stop. He restarted at the back and was back up to about 8th when he had a flat tire and was done for the night. His 18th place finish cost him some much needed points, but he is in 3rd at this juncture, and needs only to get consistent finishes to move up. Richard Griffin looked like the heir apparent after Bobby dropped back, but Mike Kirby then captured the lead using that low "Kruseman groove" out of turn one/two. On one of the last restarts, Kirby got loose around turn four, checked up, and so did the Gasman. That shuffle ultimately ended up putting him back to 6th because Williams, Ostling, John Scott and English were using every lane in the dusty lap traffic to shoot to the front and he was a victim of the strong shuffle.

Damion Gardner took a ride in Dwight Cheney's # 21 this week, after his crash last week at Tulare that destroyed that car. He was 5th quick, and battled from the back of his heat to get the last transfer spot. He was third in the dash, but couldn't make the car work like his own and struggled to an 8th place finish in the feature. Adam Mitchell looked his best yet this year, running 9th and looking fast on the track. He is comfortable in this new Avenger and is as competitive as he has been this year. Two more youngsters doing well again this week are Jordan Hermansader and Mike Spencer. Jordan is just getting comfortable in Ben Lancaster's one of a kind sprinter and his 10th this week shows he is doing just fine. Mike continues to push the veterans as he is getting great finishes the last six weeks or so. This coincides with Bob Harkness coming on board to help the team, says car owner Hal Engstrom, who is thankful for his help. Hal also mentioned that he wants to try the car out himself some practice night, as it is faster than when he was driving it two years ago. Just wants to get the feel, he says.

Danny Sheridan is snake bitten, or so it seems, as once again he didn't finish the night like he wanted, racing in the feature. The team has struggled excessively since forming at the start of the year. Every time they seem to solve one problem, another pops up, and so on. Danny was hot in his heat running second to qualify for the dash, but when they fired up the car for that 6 lap race, the motor popped loudly. Car owner, Ron Didonato, said his motor doesn't pop like that, and further review made the smiles wane with a cylinder problem, probably the cause, and they were parked. Danny got the $115 of Wagsbucks for the hard luck this week. Ron asked if qualifying twice for the Wagsdash meant he could run a second car, hint, hint. No Ron, even though you were the inaugural winner of the Wagsdash, you are retired!

It looked like Lance Gremett had exorcised his yearlong problems as he ran strong in his heat barely missing the transfer. He then strapped in for the semi and passed his way to second place, then began to be very conservative. This may have cost him his main spot when he hit the berm and subsequently banged the wall, coming to a stop. Later he said if he had been hard on the gas, he would have survived that dipsy-do. He restarted, but got "involved" with another car and ended up on the hook in an innocent looking crash. Later, they surveyed the damage and reported the car was seriously damaged. Still, they want to go on tour and this was a determining night of sorts, and they all felt changing the motor made the "Red Rocket" run fast. We will see, as they have a lot of work to do. No Jeremy Sherman this week as he is reported to be already on the road back east to run with USAC and other races.

One hard luck person this week that was not mentioned yet, is Cory Kruseman. After setting fast time, he was blasting to the front in his heat when he pulled silently off the track and reported a suspiciously nasty sounding motor of the expensive to repair type. With no spare in the trailer, he joined his family in the stands to watch the main event. There were several offers for him to drive other cars, but he declined, just disappointed with the loss of points that will hurt his chances of defending his championship. It's certainly not over, by a long shot, but the past three weeks have been brutal for this top driver.

John Scott and Charles Davis Jr were both very racy this week, but flat tires took them both out of contention. John was vying for third when a yellow happened and he had to change the left rear before returning at the back and getting 13th. Charles was in the top 8 or so when he went to the back after changing rubber, returning for 12th. Randy Waltman returned to try this wingless stuff, but was "taken out" when he was in a transfer spot in the C main. Speaking of "taken out", the Ford Focus feature saw leader J J Ercse getting spun out and the guilty party going on to win. Is there a rule that covers that? Or do they just let stuff like that go? It looked obvious to me, but then I wasn't driving the rude # 24 car, so intention is still 9/10ths of the law, right? Dan Hillberg continues to run "Okies" old heavy chassis, since he trashed his own some week's back, and continues to make the main event. He had a harder route to take this week when he had to go to the back of the semi, yet returned to get the last transfer and make 16th his home when his night ended. Maybe it's those overalls. They took 7 from the semi because Danny Sheridan had to drop out.

The NWWC tour Tow money collected by Wagtimes is nearing $2000, but I challenge everyone to throw in a $20 bill at the PAS on the last race before we hit the road. July 27th will be the sendoff race and they still need the gas money to get back there and home, some 7,000 plus miles. The average hauler gets about 5 to 7 miles per gallon, so you do the math. If you are a driver looking to make the trip, keep in mind a few simple rules to be eligible for the Wagtimes collected money. You must run 4 of the 21 SCRA races prior to the tour. You get one share for every race you "run" on the tour. And, this is important: one hauler, regardless of how many cars are inside and race, receives one share per race. Each event you compete in gives you one share. At the end of the tour, the total shares will be totaled up and divided into the total money collected and then paid accordingly at Kansas City. Any questions, ask me now, it is the way we always do it.

SCRA Point Standings as of: 07/13/02
1. Richard Griffin 1124, 2. Steve Ostling 1061, 3. Tony Jones 1032, 4. Cory Kruseman 999, 5. Rip Williams 964, 6. John Scott 946, 7. Mike Kirby 867, 8. Damion Gardner 852, 9. Jeremy Sherman 847, 10. Rickie Gaunt 807, 11. Charles Davis, Jr 724, 12. Bobby Graham 672, 13. Mike English 668, 14. Troy Rutherford 609, 15. Gary W. Howard 544, 16. Rodney Argo 453, 17. Danny Sheridan 387, 18. Bobby Cody 335, 19. Mike Spencer 334, 20. Adam Mitchell 328.