admin, Author at NorCal Car Culture

Jeff Gordon Has An Unforgettable Weekend Ahead in Northern California

Jeff Gordon grew up in Vallejo, CA and has raced all over Northern California. At age 6, he raced quarter midgets and had 35 main event wins and set 5 track records. He even raced at the quarter midget track in Rio Linda know as the “Fastest Dirt Track in the West” by the Capitol Quarter Midget Association. Then at 13, Jeff and his family moved to Pittsboro, Indiana to race sprint cars. He says he always enjoys coming back home to NorCal to race and see old friends. Jeff Gordon also has a small part in the new movie Cars 2, that comes out Friday. Here is a release from his team on this weekend’s activities.

No matter the result of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, this will be a memorable weekend for five-time Infineon Raceway winner Jeff Gorvette. Er, Jeff Gordon.

Gordon, a native of Vallejo, Calif., has a busy weekend planned. On Friday, he will practice and qualify the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet at Infineon while also traveling the world as Jeff Gorvette — assisting buddies Lightning McQueen and Mater — in Disney- Pixar’s new release Cars2.

On Saturday after practice, Gordon and family will celebrate daughter Ella’s birthday (she turned four years old on June 20). On Sunday, the all-time leader in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series road course victories will attempt to reach double-digit wins at Infineon and Watkins Glen International combined.

Jeff Gordon grew up in Vallejo, California.

“There’s no doubt this is probably my favorite weekend of racing, regardless of what happens on the track,” said Gordon. “It’s just a magical time for me with my daughter’s birthday party, seeing my biological father and other family members, and seeing friends I went to elementary school with and raced with out here.

“It’s just a special weekend and it puts me in an incredibly positive frame of mind going into the race on Sunday.”

Along with five wins here, Gordon has five poles, 11 top-fives and 14 top-10’s in 18 starts. He has led 437 laps, which is 276 more laps than the nearest active competitor, Mark Martin. To put that in perspective, Martin could lead wire-to-wire in the next two events here and he would still trail Gordon by 56 laps in that category.

But the four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has not led a lap here in four years, and the No. 24 team has worked hard to correct that.

“We’ve struggled on the road courses recently, and that’s not something we’re accustomed to,” said Gordon, who is 12th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. “It’s not something we like, so we tested at Mid-Ohio and have been working really hard to make improvements.”

“I’m hoping that test will get us closer to being more competitive this weekend.”

“This is a very challenging track. On a road course, you typically want to attack the braking zones. Here, with the elevation changes and the off-cambered corners, you have to be very careful not to over-attack or drive too hard.”

“Hopefully we find the right balance with speed this weekend.”

Jeff Gorvette — Jeff Gordon's character in the new movie Cars 2.

But before Gordon battles the NASCAR Sprint Cup regulars in northern California on Sunday, Gorvette will race into theaters beginning Friday.

“My role is fairly small,” said Gorvette. “Lightning McQueen and Mater and some of his buddies are in the movie, and I’m one of their new buddies. It’s an international spy thriller, so they go all over the world.

“It was a blast.”

A blast — like every race weekend at Infineon for Gordon.

Taylor Simas, Mark Hill and Joel Giusti Win In Marysville

By Bob Burbach

Marysville- A trio of spectacular feature events produced 2 new 2011 winners at Paul and Kathy Hawes’ Marysville Raceway Park Saturday Night. Taylor Simas came out on top after a monumental tussle among the leaders in the Joe Hunt Magneto Wingless Sprint Car Series feature. Mark Hill won with an equally impressive drive to grab top honors in the MRP Mini Stock headliner. Joel Giusti continued his domination of the Pro 4 Sprint Car class with his 3rd straight win. Jason Sneep cruised to an easy victory in the BCRA Midget Lite main event.

The Hunt Wingless Shootout was exactly that. The rapid fire pace of this race was established early on. At the green flag, pole sitter and quick time qualifier Josh Vieira shot into the lead, but 5th starting Jeremy Hawes caused everyone to hold their breath as he made a series of daring moves to secure 2nd position right away. Hawes engaged the leader, Vieira, in a terrific battle that saw the pair swap positions 3 times in a lap and a half. Outside pole sitter Simas was content to watch this from a distant 3rd. 7th Starting Terry Schank started a systematic move toward the front while Hunt Series point leader Jimmy Sills seemed content with an easy ride in 8th.

Hawes, Vieira and Simas were joined by Scott Hall and Cody Myers in the race up front. The remarkably clean, fast race was peppered with spectacular passes as the turn 3 cushion provided some 1st class bite.

Simas slipped by Vieira as Vieira was challenging Hawes. Then Hawes went a little wide out of 2 and Simas secured the top spot. Hawes desperately tried to close when suddenly everything went wrong on the front chute. As the leaders were in their 12th circuit, Bobby Nichols got a wheel of the slowing #25 of Johnny Reeves. Nichols’ car headed for the sky shedding parts as it tumbled to a stop just short of the starter’s stand. Nichols’ car barrel rolled with such violence that a front wheel was thrown into the air some 25 feet, landed and rocketed through the infield landing inside the turn 2 infield barriers. Nichols was a little slow getting out, but seemed uninjured in his harrowing ride. The car was absolutely destroyed.

After the red flag, the run to the checkers was all Simas as he started to put some distance between himself and the other competitors. Hawes stayed 2nd and Vieira was 3rd after fighting back to that spot after slipping back a little in mid-race action. Schank’s run to the front garnered him 4th, while Sills settled for 5th. Hall, Ray Benkowski, and Hawes grabbed heat race honors and Vieira won the dash with some outstanding moves.

Taylor Simas from Chico, CA. Photo by Steve LaMothe.

Mark Hill was fast when he first showed up earlier this season in his familiar #8 Mini Stock. Each week he’s been a little quicker. Saturday night he got to victory lane after a stirring match of wits with point leader Misty Castleberry. At the green flag Castleberry rocketed into the lead from her outside pole position start. Hill followed her to the front from his outside 2nd row starting position. It was on from there. A remarkably quick and trouble free race turned into a thriller with but 4 laps to go. The Castleberry-Hill tango got serious as leader Castleberry approached lapped traffic. Hill, already close, started to reel in the champ as she had some difficulty getting through the traffic.

Castleberry and the lapped car of Kyle Davey got together in 4. Davey’s car spun wildly and got some air before it settled back down. Castleberry’s front end suffered some significant damage in the skirmish, but she recovered. Castleberry’s incident allowed Hill to sneak by and win the race to the yellow. The red lights flashed on as rescue workers looked in on Davey.

The 3-lap dash to the checkers saw Hill motor away from Castleberry’s damaged car with ease. 3rd running Howard Law got by Castleberry as well in the closing laps to finish 2nd. Castleberry stayed 3rd followed by Alan Furuta who turned in another fine performance. Jason Clayton and Shaun Merritt were the heat race winners.

In the Pro 4 feature Giusti and 3 time series champ Tim Maclaughlin stayed glued together for the entire race. As a matter of fact, they both spun to a stop while running 1-2 when Maclaughlin hooked Giusti while trying to pass. Both drivers went to the rear and carved their way right back to the front. But, Giusti was simply quicker and sailed into victory lane with Maclaughlin right behind. Jeff Olschowka finished in 3rd.

For more on Jason Sneep’s win in the BCRA Midget Lites go to www.bcraracing.com.

Next week is H & H Trenching Kids Nite. The mighty winged sprint cars of the Performance Auto Supply Winged Sprint Car Series will return. The MRP Super Stocks will also return after a long hiatus. The ever popular Mini Stocks and Pro 4s will also be on the card. The 2nd appearance of the Nor Cal Dwarf Cars will round out the 5-division show. On Kids Nite all kids under 12 accompanied by an adult are FREE!!

For more info please visit: www.marysvilleracewaypark.com.

J.R. Hildebrand Finishes 21st in Milwaukee

IZOD IndyCar Series, Panther Racing Move to Bullring at Iowa Speedway Next Weekend

WEST ALLIS, WI. – (June 19, 2011) – The Milwaukee 225 ended early for Panther Racing and National Guard driver JR Hildebrand after contact with the outside retaining wall on Lap 122 concluded the IZOD IndyCar Series rookie’s day in the 21st position. A faulty weight jacker during the race made for a difficult day for Hildebrand, who had to fight the car’s handling from an early point in the race on The Milwaukee Mile’s challenging one-mile oval.

J.R. Hildebrand from Sausalito, California

The finish moves Hildebrand into the 11th spot in the IZOD IndyCar Series points championship, and the 23-year-old remains the leader in the Rookie of the Year chase, where he leads James Hinchcliffe by a total of 17 points.

Hildebrand started the race in the 18th position but was able to advance several spots quickly at the start of the 225-lap event. A malfunction in the car’s on-board weight jacker at some point during the early portions of the event caused the handling on the No. 4 car to get very unpredictable, which is especially challenging at a short flat track like Milwaukee. After the first caution of the race from Laps 1-6, a long green-flag run caused the team to lose a lap and then following a yellow for contact involving Ana Beatriz, Hildebrand made his first pit stop of the day on Lap 79.

On Lap 122 leader Tony Kanaan passed Hildebrand in Turn Three which caused Hildebrand to go high in the corner and the car got into the marbles and slid into the outside retaining wall, ending the day for the Panther team in 21st position.

Ganassi Racing driver Dario Franchitti captured the race victory and was joined on the podium by Oriol Servia and the driver of the No. 38 car.

The IZOD IndyCar Series will now travel to Iowa Speedway for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 which will be broadcast live on VERSUS,Saturday, June 25th at 8:00 pm (ET) with additional coverage provided by the IMS Radio Network, XM channel 94 and Sirius channel 212.

JR Hildebrand, No. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda:

“I was struggling with the car a little bit, for sure. At that point, I’m kind of trying to stay out of my own way out there. We’re just trying to survive through the race. With the leaders going by, a lot of the guys can stay on the bottom and some of the guys just sort of can’t. It’s not their fault. I just got through with TK (Tony Kanaan), and I got shoved up in the marbles. Once I got up there, I couldn’t get it back.”

www.JRHildebrandRacing.com – www.pantherracing.com – www.NationalGuard.com

– Panther Racing, Press Release