admin, Author at NorCal Car Culture

Chico hosts the California Civil War Sprint Car Series

CHICO, CA (5-9-11) – This Friday night war will be declared on the high banks of Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico. Some 30 or more of California’s top 360 sprint car teams will converge for battle on the high banks of the quarter-mile clay oval for the third round of the traveling Hoosier Racing Tires Civil War Sprint Car Series.

When it comes to speed thrills in area sprint car racing, the Hoosier Racing Tires Civil War Series will never disappoint an open wheel race fan and is sure to bring new fans back to the track once they witness the spectacle. The latest version of California’s premier series for 360 cubic inch powered winged sprint cars has just recently begun and is already looking and is shaping into a stellar chase for the coveted statewide championship title.

Friday’s event is the third of 14 events at six of California’s best known race tracks that will experience the thrill of Civil War Sprint Car Racing. The hosts of this tour span Northern California from the Sierra Foothills to the Wine Country and the Coastal Region. Saturday’s event and every regular Civil War Series event will pay $2000 to the winner and $300 to start the 22 car A-feature.

Overall, this series will compete for more than $250,000 over the year and an outstanding championship fund of $40,000 in championship funds is in place with $10,000 of that amount going to the 2011 Civil War Series Champion alone. Additional contingency awards throughout the year are expected to reach the $30,000 mark in various products as well.

Friday night will mark the first of three visits to Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico. After this week, the series will return on Memorial Day weekend for their second appearance during the Silver Dollar Fair and once again in September when the series opens the Gold Cup week with the Pacific Sprint Cup Invitational.

Sean Becker "The Shark" from Oroville on the track. Photo by Steve LaMothe.

Entering Friday’s race, two time series champion Sean Becker of Antelope has returned to the forefront of the Civil War Series point standings. Becker won titles in the Civil War Series in 2008 and 2009 and nearly captured the 2010 title until mechanical woes on the final race of the year dashed his hopes of a record breaking third consecutive title.

Becker is currently in a three way tie for the lead position and Silver Dollar Speedway could not be the better location for the Oroville native to look for an upper hand on the competition. Becker learned the ropes of sprint car racing on the banks of Chico. He is a former track champion here and also captured the Golden State Challenge Series title back when the tour considered Chico its home.

Currently, the driver known as The Shark shares the lead position in the Civil War Series with the young man known at the Human Highlight Reel, Geoff Ensign, of Sebastopol. Steven Tiner of Visalia is third in the tied trio for the point lead. Sitting fourth is Penngrove’s Alissa Geving. The driver known as “Chicko” is eight points out of the lead and holds off the defending series champion Andy Forsberg of Auburn by a single point.

Sitting just out of the top five is former champion Mike Henry of Citrus Heights who is tied with Sacramento’s Herman Klein. Shawn Wright of Fresno is 8th in the standings followed by Chico’s own Brett Miller and Kyle Hirst of Sacramento.

Ensign in Placerville 4-30-12R — Geoff Ensign of Sebastopol, tied for the points lead. Photo by Steve LaMothe.

As the Civil War Series takes to the track Friday night the campaign regulars will be joined by former World of Outlaw’s regular Johnny Herrera of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s been nearly ten years since Herrera competed at Silver Dollar Speedway. In his previous visits here he always had strong runs during the annual Gold Cup and Mini Gold Cup events.

“We never got a win in Chico but we had our share of top finishes,” said Herrera. “I think we got in the top five a few times, It’s been awhile since I’ve raced in Chico. I always enjoyed racing there and I’m looking forward to the Civil War this Friday and Placerville on Saturday.”

Best known for his success with the Outlaws tour, Herrera is now focused on the 2011 American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) championship title. The tour will compete out west this summer, including Placerville Speedway for a two day appearance at the conclusion of July.

Herrera, 44, will be behind the wheel of the #35a sprint car fielded by Harold and Janet Main out of Grass Valley. This season Herrera and Main have teamed together to compete in the ASCS National Tour. Routinely Herrera runs the #45x in the ASCS tour.

Highlights of Herrera’s racing career include a Rookie of the Year title in the World of Outlaws tour in 1986. As of 2009 he had 12 feature victories in the tour. In 1991 he was named the Most Improved Driver Award. In 1991 Herrera won the track championship at the famed Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, IA. He captured the nationally known Kings Royal in 1996, earning a winners purse of $50,000 after leading all 30 laps of the affair.

Former World of Outlaw’s regular Johnny Herrera of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In 2002 and 2003 Herrera teamed up with former NASCAR Crew Chief Billy Wilburn and drove the popular #2W sprint car in the preliminary feature race at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He raced a number of non winged sprint car in the all areas of the United States and won the Roger McCluskey Classic at Tuscon USA Raceway. He was also the series champion in 2007 in the SCOA Winged Sprint Car Series in Arizona and won the season title in the Hollywood Hills Speedway Non Winged Class the same year.

As Herrera and the winged warriors of the Civil War Series converge on Silver Dollar Speedway Friday night they will be joined by the Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprint Car Series for a double billing of superb open wheel competition.

The front gates of Silver Dollar Speedway will open at 6 p.m. on Saturday night with qualifying starting at 6:30 followed by racing at 7. Adult tickets will be $16 at the gate. Seniors will be $16. Juniors will be $12 and Children will be $6. For further information on this event visit www.civilwarsprints.com or www.silverdollarspeedway.com.

Photos courtesy of Steve LaMothe from Steve’s Racing Photos.

Matt Crafton from Tulare to race in Dover and Toledo this Weekend

Matt Crafton of Tulare, CA has a busy weekend planned. First off, on Friday he will compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in Dover, Delaware. After the race he will fly to Toledo, Ohio to race in the Menards 200, an ARCA series event at Toledo Speedway. He will drive the No. 88 Menards Ford Fusion for Kimmel Racing. This was all arranged by Matt’s primary sponsor Menards to put on a good show for the fans in Ohio. Here is some more info from ThorSport Racing.

Matt Crafton from Tulare CA, driver of the #88 Menards Ford Truck — Matt Crafton from Tulare CA, driver of the No. 88 Menards Ford Truck

Sandusky, Ohio -May 10th, 2011 – Matt Crafton, driver of the No. 88 Menards / Certainteed Chevrolet Silverado, makes his eleventh NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at Dover International Speedway on Friday, May 13th for ThorSport Racing. With four top ten finishes and his best finish of fifth in 2008 for Crafton, currently third in driver points, he feels as ready as he’ll ever be to take on the “Monster Mile.”

“I’ve had concussions here, been life-flighted out of here, had good days and had bad days,” the driver said. “Welcome to the Monster Mile, it can eat you alive or give you the best ride you’ve ever driven. It’s one of my favorite racetracks, and I really mean that. It’s crazy to say at a place that’s beaten me up before, but that’s the beauty of Dover. You have to trust your instincts and not make any mistakes. We’re ready this year from all fronts to attack.”

Doing “double driver duty,” Crafton will fly directly from the Truck Series race to compete in the ARCA Racing Series Menards 200 in a Kimmel Racing-fielded entry, the No. 88 Menards Ford Fusion.

“Speaking” for Autism in Dover

The No. 88 Menards / Certainteed Chevy will also don the Autism Speaks Puzzle logo for the Dover Lucas Oil 200 on Friday as a tribute to children with autism. “This is the second year in a row that we’ve supported Autism Speaks, and it’s a great way that we can raise awareness for a group doing good things across the country,” Crafton continued.

Adopting Servicemembers for the No. 88

The No. 88 pit stall will have three extra “honorary pit crew” on Dover weekend, as the ThorSport Racing team supports members of the Dover Air Force Base. Staff Sergeant Erik Chittick, the 436th Civil Engineer Squadron Crew Chief; Technical Sergeant Heather Michaud, the 436th Civil Engineer Squad Fire Inspector; and Technical Sergeant James Ellis of the 9th Airlift Squadron; will all get to “catch tires” with Mechanixwear gloves alongside the No. 88 crew.

ThorSport Racing's No. 88 Menards Ford Truck driven by Matt Crafton of Tulare, CA.

“It’s really neat to have any kind of military members with us at any race, but Dover is very special,” said Crafton. “They do so much at Dover AFB and are usually not recognized, to include the ‘honor flights’ of our fallen service men and women. These are folks who quietly serve, and it’s an amazing facility that I’ve toured before. I’m glad we can show them a fun day of racing and being part of our team.”

Carrier Joins Forces with TSR to “Keep Racing Cool”

Carrier, the world leader in air conditioning, heating and refrigeration systems, has joined forces as the Official HVAC provider for ThorSport Racing. As part of the partnership, Carrier will provide heating and cooling systems for ThorSport Racing’s new 100,000-square foot facility in Sandusky, Ohio – opening to the public in August 2011. For more information on Carrier, visit www.Carrier.com.

Getting “CSI” on the “ISO” at Dover AFB

As a “thank you” from the Dover AFB staff, the ThorSport Racing No. 88 and No. 13 teams will be touring the C17 Flight Line and the C5 ISO-Chronical Inspection on Thursday night alongside Max & Tati Papis; and crew members from Red Horse Racing. Well known as the “CSI” of Dover AFB, the crew will be touring wings and tails of planes – watch out drivers, no wing walking!

For more information on Matt Crafton and ThorSport racing please visit www.thorsport.com or www.menardsracing.com.

Colby Wiesz, Matt Tilford and Tom Arbogast Get Wins in Placerville

The strange spring weather in Northern California continues. After a week in the 90’s, Saturday night it was windy, cold and raining in some areas. The racing in Chico was canceled due to rain but in Placerville they were able to get a complete night of racing in. Here is the report:

PLACERVILLE, CA (5-7-11) – The 2011 Fast and Furious Dirt Track Racing Season resumed at Placerville Speedway Saturday night with four divisions of racing on the quarter mile clay oval. Late in the day heavy clouds moved into the area and the eyes were closely following the radar from the point the green flag waved in qualifying. With a combined effort by track officials and all of the competitors a fast paced racing program took place to treat the fans to a full night of racing just moments before the rain began to fall.

“I really have to credit my whole crew for their hard work tonight, things got a little intense when the weather moved in and we weren’t sure we were going to beat the rain once we got started,” said track promoter Alan Handy. “Thanks to the great team work of all our officials and strong fan support on another night where Mother Nature tried to win, we got a great night of racing completed and I have to thank everyone involved.”

Colby Wiesz the "Colfax Comet" back in victory lane in Placerville. Photo by Donna Peter.

In the winged sprint car division, the driver that is known as The Colfax Comet returned to victory lane at Placerville with his new Rosser Motorsports race team. Former champion Colby Wiesz led every one of the 25 laps in the Hoosier Racing Tires feature event. The win didn’t come without a defensive effort by Wiesz, who was challenged throughout the race by defending track champion Andy Forsberg of Auburn.

Wiesz started Saturday’s event on the outside of the front row. With the waving of the green flag he powered the #23R Rosser Rocket around pole sitter Chad Compton of Fair Oaks to take lead he would never relinquish despite the challenges of Forsberg who quickly muscled his way up from the eighth place starting position.

Once Forsberg closed in on Wiesz a dogfight ensued that lasted for most of a race that saw its share of caution periods. The most serious delays came at the expense of Placerville’s CJ Humphreys who suffered a violent flip down the front stretch to draw a red flag. Rookie driver Matt Land of Elk Grove, who won his first career heat race earlier in the night, drew the second red flag of the event when he flipped over in the third turn after a collision with Steve Osborne. Both drivers walked away without injury.

As the race entered its final stages,Wiesz was racing the lower line of the track while Forsberg was racing on the top of the track trying to gain the moment to power past Wiesz. Forsberg is known for his high line driving style at Placerville that has proved successful time and time again. Although his car was working well down low, Wiesz was well aware that he had to defend the high line of the track to pull off the win.

Moving up to the high line of the track, Wiesz forced Forsberg to race the lower groove in the final stages of the race. Forsberg raced both high and low searching for a trump card in which he could use to overtake Wiesz. His hard fought efforts came up short at the checkered flag. Wiesz was followed across the line by Forsberg, Placerville’s Scott Russell, Placerville’s Jimmy Trulli who started 7th and Sean Becker of Antelope who rounded out the top five.

“This was one of those nights where having that fancy scoreboard at this place really paid off,” said Wiesz. “I used it to my advantage tonight because once I saw Forsberg had moved into second place behind me I knew I was going to have to find something to work with up top because that’s his fast line. This car worked high and low tonight. I can’t thank Rich Rosser and this whole team for this opportunity to drive for them this year, it’s a great team and they do a great job on a tight budget. It’s nice to get a win here with them.”

Matt Tilford of Orangevale wins Limited Late Model race. Photo by Donna Peter — Matt Tilford of Orangevale wins Pure Stock division race. Photo by Donna Peter.

In the Pure Stock division Saturday night, the name Tilford returned to victory lane once again. This time, it was former Rookie of the Year Matt Tilford of Orangevale returned to the driver’s seat for the first time this season and drove his way to a victory that broke point leader’s Clarence Holbrook’s early season undefeated status.

Tilford started the 20-lap race on the outside of the second row behind Woodland’s Rick Grunert, Holbrook and Marek Bernert of Orangevale. In the first three laps of the race, Tilford made it clear he meant business and that Holbrook’s two race win streak was in jeopardy. After trailing the leader for the first half of the race, Tilford made the move on the 12th lap when he powered past Holbrook to take the lead out of the fourth turn.

Once in front, Tilford drove the #92 camaro to a lead of several car lengths. Holbrook eventually suffered a flat tire and fell out of contention. In the final laps of the race Tilford was trailed by Burney McClure of Nevada City. Rick Grunert of Woodland finished in third followed by Chris Van Roekel of Grass Valley and John Hollow Horn Bear who garnered a top five.

“I really have thank my whole family that works together to get this car out here, no matter which one of us is driving it,” said Tilford. “Clarence was driving a really good race this was his race to win and I finally had a good run to get by him there. I really want to wish all the Mom’s a happy Mother’s Day tomorrow and thank all of the people and sponsors that pitch in and keep this #92 running strong.”

Tom Arbogast of Auburn gets his first win of the year in the Limited Late Model division in Placerville. Photo by Donna Peter.

In the Limited Late Model feature event, Auburn’s Tom Arbogast drove his way to his first feature win of the year. The evening’s race brought additional sponsorship from the Wilton Garage and Arbogast knew his odds were good at picking up the added cash when he started on the pole for the feature event that was shortened to the 15 lap mark due to incoming weather.

At the waving of the green flag, Arbogast muscled into a healthy lead. He was challenged throughout the race by Auburn’s Matt Davis. At the finish line Arbogast was followed by Davis and the defending track champion Dan Brown Jr of Grass Valley. Doug Grandboise of Jackson finished in fourth followed by Les Friend of Galt.

“I really want to thank Wilton Garage for sponsoring tonight’s race,” said Arbogast. “It’s great to see people supporting this division that were still working on growing. I think we have a great division coming together and I really want to thank Alan Handy and the fans for showing their support in it. We had a good car tonight, I have to thank my crew and my family. We’ve had some struggles getting this thing set up but we kept at it and I think we finally have it figured out.”

The three track regulars were joined by the Midget Lites of the Bay Cities Racing Association Saturday night. Cory Green of Elk Grove led all 15-laps of the feature race to take home the win. Green was followed by Cameron Beard of Turlock, Joey Hoover of Rancho Cordova, Pete Paulson of Woodland and Jason Sneep of Newark. For complete details on this division visit www.bcraracing.com.

Racing at Placerville Speedway is presented by Handy Racing Promotions Incorporated. The 2011 racing season is sponsored by Red Hawk Casino, Hoosier Tires, Riebes Auto Parts, The Mountain Democrat, Coors Light and Pepsi Cola. Additional promotional consideration includes Carls’ Jr. Resturants, The Windfall Classifieds, Arnolds for Awards, Minuteman Press, The Paint Spot, Dunn Consulting, ADCO Driveline, Roger Miller Concrete and more.
Championship point racing resumes next Saturday at Placerville Speedway. The grandstands will open up at 5 p.m. on Saturday night. Qualifying begins at 6:30 p.m. followed by heat races at 7. Adult tickets will be $13, Juniors and Seniors will be $11, Children $6. Those five and under will be admitted for free. All seating at Placerville Speedway is first come-first serve at 5 p.m. Learn more about Saturday’s event at www.placervillespeedway.com. It’s all happening at Placerville Speedway, where more than one million fans have entertained with fast and furious dirt track racing all summer long since 1965.

Media Release from Handy Racing Promotions Inc.

All photos courtesy of Donna Peter from Race Photos by Donna.