The USAC Western Classic Racing Series comes to All American Speedway this Saturday May 14th, for a pavement sprint car race honoring Larry Burton. These are the fastest cars to race at Roseville each year. NCMA Sprints, USAC Ford Focus Midgets, Legends and local Quarter Midget racers will also be in action. The Whitney High School color guard & marching band will performing as well along with a live band in the midway.
Larry Burton, known as the “Roseville Rocket”, passed away in 2007 at the age of 73. According to Bobby Gerould of HammerDownUSA, “Burton was one of the best racers to ever turn a wheel in Northern California and Nevada.” He won a Gold Cup and five track championships at West Capital Raceway in West Sacramento and one in Roseville in 1955. Later he became a race promoter in Roseville and Carson City. Larry Burton, second from left, in the 1972 Gold Cup program.
The USAC Western Classic Racing Series is a new series this year combining 8 races on pavement and 8 races on dirt. This race is also part of the USAC Western Sprint Car Series, which consists of 14 races on pavement in California, Utah and Idaho. Last year’s Series Champion, Tony Hunt from Lincoln has to be one of the favorites to win Saturday night in Roseville. He is currently the points leader in the Western Sprint Car series and 2nd in the Western Classic series. Tony, who is one of the best in the country on pavement, gets to race on dirt again for 8 races this year. It should be interesting to see how quickly he rises to the top throughout the year.
Pit gates open at 1 p.m. with fan gates opening at 4:00pm. Qualifying is scheduled for 4:30 with racing to begin at 6:00pm!
Ticket prices:
Adult $15
Student/Military/Senior $12
Juniors 7-15 $10
6 and under Free
Ticket information is available at (916) 864-8722.
For more info please visit the Larry Burton Classic facebook page.
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 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.
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.
Matt Scott from Pine Grove, CA began the 2011 NASCAR Whelen Series just like he ended the 2010 season, by winning. Matt started his career racing in the American Quarter Midget Association and has moved quickly up the ranks. At 18 years old, Matt was the track champion at Roseville’s All American Speedway, the youngest in the history of the track. Last season, in the Whelen All American Series he was ranked 60th in the nation and 3rd in California. This week Matt’s picture made it to the NASCAR Home Tracks website in the winner’s photo gallery, see it here.
Matt Scott from Pine Grove, CA - 2010 Track Champion at All American Speedway in Roseville, CA.
Rounding out the Top 5 in last Friday’s race were: Ron Chunn from Roseville, driver of the #44 car for C & H Racing, Gary Glenn from Orangevale, Juan Pitta from Galt, and in 5th place, Chris Scribner from Loomis. The following is a press release from Blakesley Sports Media about the April 15th race.
PINE GROVE, CALIFORNIA (April 19, 2011) – 2010 All American Speedway track champion Matt Scott kicked off his 2010 NASCAR California State title race with a win in the “A-All Mini Storage 100” driving his #35 BJB Enterprises / RPM NorCal / Karp Capital Chevrolet.
The 19 year-old driver picked up his 14th career NASCAR victory in just 58 starts in the division.
19 cars flocked to the All American Speedway one-third mile for the special season opener. The race was held before a huge crowd as a precursor to Saturday night’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series, West action.
Scott shined under the spotlight, setting fast-time in qualifying and starting fifth after a five car invert.
The fifth starting spot didn’t slow Scott down, as he rocketed to third quickly. Scott slid underneath both 2009 champion Jason Romero and Zane Lovelace, Jr. coming down the backstretch to take the lead at lap seven.
Romero and Scott made contact coming into turn one, sending Scott at a four-wheel drift at a 90 degree angle.
But Scott gathered the car up with a strong save while Romero backed off the gas. During a prolonged green flag run, Scott extended his lead to a quarter track at one point. Scott held off a few challenges on late restarts to claim the big victory.
“The Hoosier tire rubber laid down by the tour cars meant that it took about eight laps for the track to come in,” Scott said. “I drove hard the first few laps to get the lead then I dialed it back about 70 or 80%”
Matt Scott from Pine Grove, CA driving the #35 Chevrolet
Scott credited the victory to his crew especially with a special thanks to RPM NorCal’s Gary Quigley. Quigley’s shop houses the #35 car and sponsored three of the top-four finishing Late Models on Friday.
“We gave the trophy to Gary and Marcie for all of their help,” Scott said. “The support of RPM NorCal really really helps us a lot and I think the trophy will look really nice in their shop.
Matt Scott Racing will return to action for the second points race of the season on April 30.
Matt Scott Racing is sponsored by BJB Enterprises, Inc., RPM NorCal, Karp Capital, Kamps Propane, Jimboy’s Tacos, CatchYourEye.com, Halm Metal Fab, Pardee Lake Recreation, DoubleTree Hotel Monrovia, Hobbs Construction, T.A.S. Construction, Sumseeds, Red Corral Auto, and Blakesley Sports Media.
Additional sponsorships are available for both TOYOTA Speedway and All American Speedway NASCAR Late Model efforts. Matt Scott Racing is also actively pursuing opportunities to race in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, West in 2011.
