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California Sprint Car Civil War Series was in Placerville

Last weekend was the busiest of the year so far in Northern California. Almost every track and series had races going on. Here is a report from Handy Racing Promotions on the California Civil War Series and Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprint Car events at Placerville Speedway.

PLACERVILLE, CA (4-30-11) – The 2011 Fast and Furious Dirt Track Racing Season began to live up to its name Saturday night at Placerville Speedway in a very big way. Last night brought the biggest race of the season to the 46 year old quarter mile dirt track and along with it came its largest crowd, one which was standing room only early into the night.

Stephen Allard from Chico. Photo by Donna Peter.

When the checkered flag waved, veteran driver Stephen Allard of Chico took home a hard earned $2000 victory Saturday night in a race that kept the fans back and forth from being on the edge of their seats or on their feet from start to finish. Allard was aboard the #77f Sprint Car fielded by Finely Farms for Saturday’s event. He shared the glory in victory lane with Mason Myers of Browns Valley, winner of the Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprint Car Division.

“I can’t thank this team enough for giving me the opportunity to drive for them,” said Allard. “We’re not really sure what the future plans are at this point but they have given me a really good race car and I’m glad I was able to give them a win here tonight and good race for all of these fans that came out to watch us.”

The Hoosier Tires Civil War Race Series is a 14 race campaign that takes place at six well known California race tracks from the sierra foothills to wine country and the California coastline. The series boasts overall car counts and competition that is second to none as drivers compete for more that $250,000 over the year and a $40,000 championship fund that will pay $10,000 to the champion alone this year, the highest in the history of the series.

A total of 35 cars formed the roster in Saturday’s winged sprint car division Saturday night. In qualifying Allard turned an 10:949 to earn the fifth fastest lap of the night. Shawn Wright of Lodi was the fast qualifier of the night with a 10:813 second lap.

After winning the first heat race of the evening, an eight car inversion resulted in Allard starting on the outside of row four for the 30-lap feature event. When the green flag waved he quickly set his sights on the top three position as Herman Klein of Sacramento took the early lead off the outside of the front row and went to battle with Visalia’s Steven Tiner who started third. Pole sitter Greg De Caires of Elk Grove suffered a drive train failure at the waving of the green flag and veered into the infield to avoid an incident.

After chasing him for six laps, Tiner took the lead from Klein in turns one and two while Allard was still back in the fifth position. As the front runners raced their way into lapped traffic. On lap eight Allard advanced in the fourth position before overtaking Sacramento’s Kyle Hirst for third and then moving into second place over Klein on lap 14.

Once in the bridesmaid position, Allard searched for a faster line than Tiner on the dry slick race track as the two leaders broke away from the pack in lapped traffic. With 22 laps down, Allard dove to the inside of turns one and two and took the lead. He was nearly crashed out of the top spot moments later when he was struck by the lapped car of David Silveria on the back stretch. While Allard was able to maintain his line, Silveria climbed the backstretch wall and rolled over along with Shane Golobic who rolled over violently trying to avoid the incident.

The red flag worked in the favor of Tiner and put his #94 back on the pole for the restart with eight laps to go. Once the green flag waved Tiner and Allard went to battle once again both fighting for the low line of the track. On lap 27, Allard went to the high side of turns three and four and muscled his way outside of Tiner, taking the lead as they approached the front stretch. At the checkered flag Allard was followed by Tiner and Klein. Antelopes Sean Becker finished in fourth with Elk Grove’s Nicole Miller rounding out the top five.

“When that red flag came out I knew it wasn’t going to help us,” said Allard. “I was lucky I wasn’t part of it. I knew Steven (Tiner) would be tough to pass the second time without any traffic in front of us. Down low is where the moisture was but luckily I found something in three and four. I can’t thank my crew enough tonight, they gave me a great car for this track.”

Although he was happy with a podium finish Saturday, Tiner was disappointed with the end result as he wanted to give his team a win. He explained the adversities he was faced with late in the race that led to the end result.

“I’m happy to finish where we did, anytime you run second in one of these races you did well but I think we had the car to win tonight,” said Tiner. “The power steering started going out there in those final laps and it took everything I had to stay up there. I though we had second chance with that red flag but he was really fast once he went up top. I just really wanted a win for these guys, they deserve it working so hard on this car for me.”

In the Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprint Car feature, Mason Myers of Browns Valley led all 20 laps of a caution flag flogged feature event. The feature event saw its share of crashes from start to finish that Myers was lucky to avoid. The biggest one of the night involved multiple cars in the opening turn and completely blocked the track requiring every two truck in attendance to clean up.

Mason Myers of Browns Valley. Photo by Donna Peter.

In the end, Myers went to victory lane for the very first time in his career at the conclusion of the race. He was chased across the line by his brother Cody Myers. DJ Johnson of Stockton finished in third followed by Johnny Reeves of Elverta and Matt Streeter of Galt. A total of 23 wingless cars were in competition Saturday night.

Racing returns to Placerville Speedway this Saturday night with championship point racing for 360 sprint cars, limited late models, pure stocks and dwarf cars. The 2011 racing season at Placerville is presented by Red Hawk Casino, Hoosier Racing Tires, Riebes Auto Parts Pepsi and Coors Light. Associate partners include the Mountain Democrat, Arnolds for Awards, Windfall Classifieds, Carls’ Jr, the Paint Spot, Dunn Consulting, Minute Man Press, Roger Miller Concrete and ADCO Driveline. For complete results of Saturday’s race visit www.placervillespeedway.com.

The grandstands at Placerville Speedway will open up once again 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.

J.R. Hildebrand from Sausalito Qualifies 22nd in Brazil

J.R. Hildebrand from Sausalito, CA driver of the Panther Racing No. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda. — J.R. Hildebrand from Sausalito, CA driver of the #4 Panther Racing Indy car.

SAO PAULO, Brazil – (April 30, 2011) – Panther Racing and IZOD IndyCar Series rookie driver J.R. Hildebrand qualified in the 22nd position Saturday afternoon on the Streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil for tomorrow’s Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle. Hildebrand had finished in seventh position it the practice session preceding qualifications but the team was unable to advance into the second round of knockout qualifications and will start in the 11th Row alongside local favorite Tony Kanaan.

Hildebrand posted a best speed of 108.888 mph, 1:23.8443 seconds, which was actually faster than Kanaan’s speed of 108.401 mph but the rookie starts behind TK because the drivers were in separate groups during the first round of qualifications.

In 2010, with former driver Dan Wheldon, Panther started in the 18th position but was unable to overcome its starting position, and a broken front wing during the race, to finish in fifth position in the inaugural IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 11-turn, 2.6-mile temporary street circuit. Hildebrand has shown the same ability to move to the front of the field; in St. Pete he climbed from 24th-to -11th, advanced from 15th-to-13th at Barber after initially falling a lap down and back to 25th, and moved up from 27th-to-17th in the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

He has completed all of the possible 275 laps of IndyCar competition this season, one of only seven drivers (Kannan, Franchitti, Power, Meira, Tagliani and Servia) to do so through the first three races of the season – and the only rookie. Hildebrand is the current leader of the IZOD IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year point standings. Sunday will mark his sixth career IndyCar Series start, as the 23-year-old Californian made two starts with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in 2010 in addition to his three races this season with Panther.

Team Penske driver Will Power captured his fourth consecutive pole position and will be joined on the front row by Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay.

The Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle will be broadcast live on VERSUS on Sunday, May 1st at 12:00 pm (EST) with additional coverage provided by the IMS Radio Network, XM Channel 145 and Sirius Channel 121.

JR Hildebrand, No. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda, had this to say:

“We definitely know that the National Guard car is really good, and we were able to make good of it in the second practice but then we were going so much quicker from second practice to qualifications that it put me in a little bit of a bind with the gearing in the car because I was going so much faster through the corners that I was having to reconfigure the gears that I was running this morning. I’m disappointed; we were in a tough group but I feel like I could have gotten a couple more tenths out of the car and, even being in the group that we were in, I felt like after the second practice that we’d have a shot to advance to the Top 12. Like I said, the car is going to be really good tomorrow and I’m bummed about starting in the back, but it does leave us some options as far as strategy in the race.”

– Panther Racing, Press Release

Keep an Eye Out for Team Cass Racing

By Ashley Schindler of The NASCAR Corner

I’ve recently had the privilege to meet a wonderful woman named Terri Cass, who is the owner of Team Cass Racing. For you who follow the K&N Pro Series West, you know who she is and what her team is about, but for those who don’t here’s a great opportunity to catch up on an awesome team! So sit back, relax, and enjoy an interview with Terri Cass.

Jason Fensler from Elk Grove and the Team Cass Racing Team. — Jason Fensler from Elk Grove and the Team Cass Racing Team in victory lane.

How did Team Cass Racing start?

“Jim and I came from Sprint cars at Ascot years ago. We stopped racing due to the kids and our growing family. When my youngest son was in ninth grade Auto Shop, he came home and asked to build a drag. I told him if we would build anything, it would be a stock car, end of discussion. So we built a Super Stock and started racing weekly at Irwindale Speedway. We spent two years in Super Stock. Our first driver was Kenny White, then Johnny White. We then went into Late Models with Johnny as our driver. With him, we broke the track record in qualifying. Then we moved to Super Lates for one year, and from there we moved to Camping World, which is now the K&N Pro Series. In this series, we have had three drivers: Chris Johnson (whom I adore), Auggie Vidovich (who won the July 4th race at Irwindale in 2010) and now we have Jason Fensler. No more driver changes for us, we have found the equation that works.”

How long have you owned the team?

“We have been in stock cars for eight to ten years now with plenty of ups and downs.”

Jim & Terri Cass with their driver Jason Fensler at Roseville's All American Speedway.

How does it feel to be a woman in the world of NASCAR?

“Men look at me like I don’t know anything, then we start talking about the cars and blow their minds with knowledge.”

Does the K&N Pro Series West do a lot of travelling?

“Yes, we travel the western United States, so we go to Iowa, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Montana and Northern and Southern California.”

Do you feel a small team has more of an advantage because you only have to work on two cars?

“We have two cars and each track requires different setups, so one car is always being worked on.”

Does religion play an important role to you?

“Religion does! I listen to my Christian music on my iPod before each race for meditation and pray my rump off; first for the safety of the drivers and then for a good finish.”

Jason Fensler driving the #59 Team Cass Racing Chevrolet in Roseville, CA.

How does it feel to have won last week?

“Winning? Awesome! The best feeling ever that we as a team have accomplished a goal together and have had fun doing it. Jason raced one heck of a race, and we are very pleased with him over all. His personality, driving ability, fan interaction (which is very important) and his willingness to do what we ask of him with the media (which he is not used to, but he does). When Jason went three wide on the track in Roseville, I thought I was going to have a heart attack! He did great, and put on a show for the fans!“

Terri is a very appreciative woman, and would like to say a special thanks to her team with all of their hard work, Rene’a Bracken for all of the media exposure, Roger Bracken for being the best crew chief ever, their sponsors (Pick N Pull, MtFX Graphics and Simple Green), all of the fans for their support and most importantly, the military. “I have two sons, both serving our country (one in the Navy helping in Japan) and the other in the Army, fresh home from Afghanistan. I would like to thank our troops and their families as I know the sacrifices made for freedom and safety. My nephew is in the National Guard and my daughter’s boyfriend is in the Air Force.”

Thank you, Terri, for taking the time out Friday morning to answer these questions for me. I know I appreciate it and the readers appreciate it! If you want to learn more about Team Cass Racing, friend them on click here or check out their website www.teamcassracing.com.

Jason Fensler with the Toyota / NAPA Auto Care 150 trophy.

All photos are courtesy of Team Cass Racing.

To follow Jason Fensler’s progress please visit his driver page at www.racing-reference.info.

Our thanks to Ashley Schindler who generously allowed us to reprint her excellent article and interview here on NorCal Car Culture. Hopefully there will be more to follow.

Ashley Schindler is a student and serious NASCAR fan from New York, studying journalism and public relations. She hopes to someday be a PR representative for a NASCAR team or a race reporter. She has a great website called The NASCAR Corner where she shares her interesting take on the world of racing. Ashley known as nascarchick_3 on Twitter, has over 650 followers. Her tweets are sometimes informative but always entertaining. I think she is well on her way to becoming an established NASCAR journalist.