Capps back atop the NHRA funny car standings

Ron Capps has regained the lead in the National Hot Rod Assn. funny car standings with a win at Bandimere Raceway in Colorado and a semifinal appearance at Pacific Raceways near Seattle. He can solidify his spot atop the funny car standings with another deep run at Infineon Raceway near Sonoma this weekend.
“We knew we were going to have a good Western Swing,” said Capps, a driver from Don Schumacher Racing. “Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) was confident with having a new car built and I had the confidence that the NAPA crew guys and the DSR chassis guys had put together a good car. To win in Denver, get the points lead back and have the success we’ve had the last couple of races, is a testament to the hard work of the NAPA crew and the guys back at the shop. My hat’s off to them.”
It is a bit of a homecoming for Capps, who calls San Luis Obispo his hometown. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and is looking forward to returning home to race this weekend.
“Sonoma for me is like coming home to race,” said Capps. “I lived up in the Bay area, went to school there, met my wife Shelley there and got married there. And when I was going to school I was teaching racquetball at a couple of health clubs in the Bay Area and played in tournaments all over Northern California.”
Capps won in Sonoma in 1997. He was the runner-up in Sonoma in 2002 and 2005 and the No. 1 qualifier in 1998.
Capps took over the lead in the funny car standings from Ashley Force Hood. She can clinch a spot in the Countdown to One, the NHRA playoffs, by qualifying for the 16-car field on Sunday at Sonoma.
“Usually, you set your goals and then try to achieve them,” said the 26-year-old graduate of Cal State-Fullerton, “but I think we’ve really outdone ourselves this year. I think we went past what we projected. If anything, we were guilty of limiting ourselves.”
Force Hood has made six final-round appearances in 11 races this year. The only drawback in that streak is that she has only one once. She’s becoming the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s.
“When we suddenly found ourselves going rounds every race and going to finals and leading the points, we talked about it and decided that just because we’re only a 3-year-old team, there’s no reason why we can’t have dreams for the championship,” Force Hood said.
“Maybe some people think that’s crazy considering we’re racing people who have been racing longer than I’ve been alive, (but) sometimes it’s not just about how long you’ve been doing it.”

Photo: Ron Capps regained the lead in the NHRA funny car standings, passing Ashley Force Hood, as the teams head to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma this weekend.

Dixon in the NHRA Countdown

Larry Dixon was knocked out in the second round of the National Hot Rod Assn. top fuel races at Pacific Raceways near Seattle on Sunday. But he left as one of three top fuel drivers who have clinched a spot in the Countdown to One playoffs.
Dixon, a Van Nuys High graduate, Tony Schumacher and Antron Brown, the leader in the top fuel standings are in the Countdown. The top-10 drivers in the top fuel standings will qualify for the playoffs.
“The consolation prize that came out of Seattle is that we clinched a spot on the playoffs,” said Dixon, who drives for Al-Anabi Racing. “We all thought we’d be there, but knowing you have a spot is much nicer. Now it’s all about getting in the best position we can for the playoffs to help our championship effort. First place is not out of the question, but right now, it’s pretty far out of sight. Antron’s team really opened up a big lead on us in the last couple of races so we just have to go out there, do our best, try to win some races and see where we end up.”
Brown won the top fuel races at Seattle and at Bandimere Speedway in Colorado and can complete the Western Swing sweep if he wins the races at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.
He has a 137-point lead over Shumacher. Dixon is in third in the top fuel standings.
Last year, Dixon lost to Brown in the second round of the races at Sonoma. Dixon won the Sonoma race in 2003.
“The best way to make up points is win races, so we’ll be trying to do that this week,” Dixon said. “Antron will be trying to complete the sweep, but there will be 15 other cars trying to prevent the sweep; we’re one of them.”

Photo: Larry Dixon earned a spot in the NHRA Countdown to One playoffs at Pacific Raceways near Seattle on Sunday.

NHRA's Stoffer to throw out first pitch at A's game

Karen Stoffer, a graduate of St. Genevieve High School in Sun Valley and an NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle rider, will throw out the first pitch at the Oakland Coliseum on Wednesday.
The A's are hosting the Minnesota Twins. Game time is 12:35 p.m.
Check it out on NHRA.com.

Hornaday wins three NASCAR Truck Series races in a row

Ron Hornaday Jr. won his third NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in a row on Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway. It gives him four wins on the season and a commanding lead in the Truck Series standings.
Not only did Hornaday win the Truck Series race in Kentucky, Mark Martin gave the three-time Truck Series champ credit for helping him win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in Illinois. Martin, who drives the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorspors, said he learned a few tricks on how to get the most out of his restarts from Hornaday. Martin called Hornaday the restart king after the race. Hornaday has developed a reputation for being a master of restarts, a skill he learned racing late models at Saugus Speedway years ago.
“I don’t know that I would say I’m the king at anything,” said Hornaday, who drives for Kevin Harvick Inc. “I appreciate that people like Mark Martin watch me to gain pointers. Restarts have always been something that I worked on. I think I have a pretty good system right now. As competitive as the Truck Series is, you have to have something up your sleeve to get an advantage. I guess restarts are my thing.”
Hornaday will be looking for his fourth win in a row at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis on Friday night. He has two Truck Series wins at O’Reilly Raceway Park. They came 10 years apart. He won his first Truck Series race there in 1997 while driving for the late Dale Earnhardt. He won again in 2007.
“I really like racing at ORP and tracks like it. I grew up racing on tracks very similar to it,” Hornaday said. “I think knowing how to race guys and knowing when to pass on short tracks has been the key to my success. Luck has had a lot to do with it too.”
This is the second time Hornaday has put together a three-race winning streak in the Truck Series. He won three races in a row in 1997 when he won at The Milwaukee Mile, Loiusville Motor Speedway and Colorado National Speedway. He has recorded wins at The Milwaukee Mile, Memphis Motorsports Park and Kentucky Speedway in his current streak.

Photo: Ron Hornaday Jr. crosses the finish line and wins his third consecutive race of the 2009 season. (Photo Credit: John Sommers II/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Ricky Carmichael heading to X Games

Ricky Carmichael has one more NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race before heading to Los Angeles for X Games 15. Carmichael will be in the Truck Series race at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis this weekend. The following weekend, starting on July 30, he will be competing in two events, the best whip and step-up in the X Games. He won the gold medal in best whip at last year’s X Games.
Carmichael is coming off his best finish in the Truck Series. He was seventh in the race at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday night.
O’Reilly Raceway Park marks a stretch of short tracks on the Truck Series schedule. Three of the next five Truck Series races are on tracks that are less than a mile.
“I like short-track racing. To be honest I like racing everywhere,” said Carmichael, who drives for Kevin Harvick Inc. “Anytime I have the opportunity to climb behind the wheel of the No. 4 Monster Energy Chevrolet I get excited. I think that short-track racing is a little more challenging than some of the 1.5-mile tracks because you really have to keep your eyes open as to what is happening around you and it is tougher to pass.”
Because he is competing in the X Games, he will miss the Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway in Tennessee.
The race at O’Reilly Raceway Park coincides with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. When Carmichael was racing motocross, he made regular visits to the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. It is where he first met Sprint Cup Series driver Kasey Kahne and the two have developed a friendship over the years.
“I think that for Ricky, the opportunity to work with Kevin Harvick is a huge benefit,” said Kahne, who drives the No. 9 Dodge for Richard Petty Motorsports. “You can tell that he really cares about his team and the input he gives really helps the drivers in that organization. Ricky and I are friends and I have always been a huge fan of his from the motorcycle days. I went with Ricky to a Late Model test at Hickory [Motor Speedway in North Carolina] and watched as he made some laps.”
Carmichael, who seems to have adapted to stock car racing rather quickly, was asked if he ever had any desire to race open-wheel cars. Indianapolis Motor Speedway is home to the Indianapolis 500.
“I have no desire to get into one of those cars,” Carmichael said. “I would much rather be enclosed in a stock car. If I am in danger of hitting the wall head on, I’d like to have a cage around me. I spent the better part of my life out in the open, I think for the next chapter I will stay in something.”

Driver on title track

M.K. Kanke leads the Stockcar Racing League Southwest Tour standings as the teams and drivers head to Toyota Speedway at Irwindale for a 100-lap race on Saturday night. The driver from Frazier Park has won three of the first four races of the year and is coming off a win at Madera Speedway on July 4.
When the old NASCAR Southwest Series ran its last race in 2006, Kanke was the winningest driver in series history. He won 22 races, but never a championship.
Read more about Kanke's impressive start to the SRL Southwest Tour and his pursuit of an elusive championship in The Signal.

Driver on title track

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Patrick Long, ALMS star, unknown NASCAR commodity

Patrick Long started his motor sports career with a $75 go-kart his dad bought for him at a garage sale when he was 6. The two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans champion, who was born in Thousand Oaks and grew up in Agoura Hills, has been testing the waters of NASCAR.
He was challenging for the lead in a NASCAR Camping World Series West race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma last month when he crashed with Joey Logano.
Long finished fourth in a West Series race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on July 4.
And by the way, he has won three straight American Le Mans Series races and leads drivers standings in the GT2 class.
Read the story in the Ventura County Star for more on Long and his unconventional racing schedule.

Photo: Patrick Long, left, and American Le Mans Series teammate Joerg Bergmeister, lead the GT2 drivers standings.

Force Hood heads to Bandimere as funny car leader

Ashely Force Hood is atop the National Hot Rod Assn. funny car standings and she still has room to improve.
She has made it to the finals of five of the past nine events, but only has one win to show for it. That came in Houston Raceway Park in March.
Bandimere Speedway in Colorado, site of this weekend’s NHRA races, might not be the best place for her to add to her win total.
Force Hood has only raced at Bandimere twice in her career in funny cars. One time she didn’t qualify for the race. The other time, she didn’t make it past the first round.
Still, she enters the Bandimere races as the top driver in her division.
“We have a car that runs good in the cool, but it also runs good in the heat,” Force Hood said. “You’re not going to win championships being timid (and) my crew chiefs (Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglas) haven’t been afraid to take chances. Sometimes what they do works; sometimes it doesn’t, but this is the time to learn what the limits are -- before we get to the Countdown.”
One driver who does have a successful record at Bandimere is Jack Beckman. He has come on strong in recent weeks, winning the funny car portion of the event at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, two weeks ago. He won at Bandimere in 2007 and was the runner-up last year.
“Love the track and the Bandimere family,” said Beckman, a driver for Don Schumacher Racing who lives in North Hills. “I went there in 1984 when I was in tech school in Denver for the Air Force. And then I drove 500 miles one way for the next three years from Cannon Air Force base in New Mexico, where I was stationed at the time, to watch that race. It’s always been a phenomenal facility.”
Beckman has two wins on the season and is in fourth place in the funny car standings. He trails Force Hood by 143 points. Tony Pedregon is second in the funny car standings, followed by Ron Capps in third.
Beckman can make up some ground if he has another good run at Bandimere. But Beckman knows there are no guarantees despite his previous performances at the Colorado drag strip.
“You still have to enjoy a little bit of racing luck,” he said. “Even the best cars get beat first round once or twice, so you just shouldn’t get down from those. We need to do our best to make good quality runs and be very strategic with our qualifying.
“If it works to our benefit, we can use one or two qualifying runs to test, but our goal is to qualify in the top half in every race so we go into the first round of eliminations with lane choice and a more favorable pairing. That’s what bit us earlier in the year. We seemed to have turned that around somewhat in Norwalk. We’ll just see if we can continue that momentum.”

Photo: Ashley Force Hood enters the NHRA races at Bandimere Speedway in Colorado as the leader in the funny car standings. Her dad, John Force, has won 14 funny car championships.

NHRA's Larry Dixon shoots for third straight win

Larry Dixon is riding a couple impressive streaks in the National Hot Rod Assn. top fuel division. He was won two events in a row and has made it to the semifinals in four straight events.
The Van Nuys High graduate enters this weekend’s races at Bandimere Speedway in Colorado as the second place driver in the top fuel standings and as the hottest driver in the division.
“From where we were when we left Bristol in May, these last four events have been really nice; a very stark contrast,” said Dixon, who drives for Al-Anabi racing. “I am not too caught up on streaks or anything like that; I’m just enjoying the moment.”
Dixon can pinpoint the moment, or at least the day, when his team started its incredible streak. It was right after the races at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee in May. Crew chief Jason McCulloch decided to make some drastic changes during a test in Atlanta and Dixon and his team have been nearly unbeatable since.
“What we’re doing right now is what exactly what Jason talked about after we left Bristol to go to Atlanta and test for two days,” Dixon said. “He said we would make a bunch of runs and we’d ‘get our groove on. You’re gonna start driving the car well, and we’re gonna start making the right calls. We’re gonna make a bunch of runs and go from there.’ The more information they get, the more chances they have to make better calls and be better. Collectively, that’s exactly what has happened, and Jason made the call back in May.”
Dixon is a two-time winner at Bandimere. He won in 2001 and 2003. Last year, he was the No. 3 qualifier and lost to Tony Schumacher in the semifinals.
“With the elevation at Denver, it’s hard to make good power and have good downforce because the air is so thin,” Dixon said. “We’ve raced there before when the air is corrected to what you’d find at 10,000 feet, so that makes it tough to make power and build downforce. It’s challenging to win in Denver, but that’s what makes it cool to win there.

Bowles makes it three wins in a row at Irwindale

Jason Bowles won the NASCAR Camping World Series West race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night. It was his third win of the season and his second in a row.
Bowles, a driver from Ontario, took over the lead in the West Series standings with the win. Eric Holmes, the reigning West Series champion, entered the Irwindale race as the leader in the West Series standings. Holmes was sixth in the Irwindale race.
For Bowles, the win at Irwindale gives him three in a row at the track. He won the Fourth of July race and the August race at Irwindale last year.
Bowles has three West Series wins this year. He won the West Series race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma two weeks ago and the race at Phoenix International Raceway in April.

Jason Bowles wins NASCAR West Series race at Irwindale

Jason Bowles won his third NASCAR Camping World Series West race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale and took over the lead in the West Series standings.
Racing a car that won at Irwindale last year, Bowles, a driver from Ontario, won the pole and led 133 laps in the King Taco 200, the Fourth of July race at Irwindale.
It was his second win in row and his third West Series win of the season. He won at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma two weeks ago and won the race at Phoenix International Raceway in April.
Bowles was driving the same car at Irwindale that won the race at Phoenix. It is the same car his team brought to the Toyota All-Star Showdown in January. He crashed the car in the Showdown race and his team had to repair it for the Fourth of July race at Irwindale.
Jeff Barkshire of Auburn, Wash., was second, followed by Paulie Haraka of Fairlawn, N.J., in third.
Eric Holmes of Escalon, the reigning West Series champion, entered the Irwindale race as the leader in the West Series standings. He finished sixth and lost his lead in the West Series standings.
Patrick Long, a driver from Thousand Oaks, was fourth. He was driving a car prepared by Sunrise Ford, the same team for Bowles. Long was making his first West Series start at Irwindale. He was in the West Series race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma and will be entered in the West Series race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah on Aug. 1.
Greg Pursley finished fifth in the Irwindale race. Pursley won a NASCAR Whelen All American Racing Series national championship while racing at Irwindale in 2004. He also won the West Series season opener in Kyle, Texas.
Johnny Borneman, a driver from Ramona, was 13th. Borneman was entered in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway on Friday night. He finished 25th in Daytona then flew to California for the race at Irwindale.
Andrew Myers, a driver from Carlsbad, was 11th in the West Series race at Irwindale. Keith Spangler, a driver from Chatsworth, was 21st and last, completing only three laps.
Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills won the NASCAR Late Model race and moved into a tie for first place in the Late Model standings.
Huddleston won his second race in a row and his fifth in the past six Late Model races at the track. The reigning Late Model champion at Irwindale is tied with Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills for the lead in the Late Model standings.
Joanides was second in the Late Model race. He was followed by rookie Beau Debard of Reno, Nev., in third, Brandon Loverock from Highland in fourth and Travis Motley of Tucson, Ariz., in fifth.
Luis Martinez Jr. of Long Beach won the S-2 race. It was the debut of the new S-2 stock car at the track. Seven drivers ran a 12-lap exhibition race at the track. Kyle Longmore of Camarillo was second, followed by Andrew Johnson of Lancaster in third.
Larry Cerquettini of Redlands, the leader in the NASCAR Super Stocks standings at Irwindale, was fourth. R.J. Johnson, a driver from Canyon Country and winner of four NASCAR Super Trucks races at the track, was sixth.

Nick Joanides falls into tie for first in Late Models

Nick Joanides, a driver from Woodland Hills, is tied for the lead in the NASCAR Late Model standings at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
He finished second to Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills in the Fourth of July Late Model race at Irwindale on Saturday night. Huddleston and Joanides are tied for the lead in the Late Model standings. Huddleston is the reigning Late Model champion at Irwindale and winner of five of the past six Late Model races at the track.

Eric Holmes enters Irwindale race as West Series leader

Eric Holmes enters the NASCAR Camping World Series West race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale as the leader in the series standings. He has a 16-point edge over Jason Bowles, a driver from Ontario.
Holmes, a driver from Escalon, has won three West Series this year. He has never won a race at Irwindale. He has four top fives and two poles in five career West Series races at Irwindale.

Patrick Long makes first West Series start at Irwindale

Patrick Long, a driver from Thousand Oaks, is making his first NASCAR Camping World Series West start at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. A regular in the American Le Mans Series, Long has been racing in the NASCAR West and East Series.
He was challenging Joey Logano for the lead in the West Series race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma two weeks ago when the two drivers tangled and crashed late in the race. Jason Bowles, a driver from Ontario, inherited the lead and won the race.
Long will be racing in the American Le Mans Series race in Lime Rock Park in Connecticut July 17-18 and then in a NASCAR West Series race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah on Aug. 1.

Jason Bowles, reigning West Series winner at Irwindale

Jason Bowles, a driver from Ontario, won last years July 4 NASCAR Camping World Series West race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He also won the West Series race two weeks ago at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.
He is second the West Series standings. The car he is racing at Irwindale is the same car that won the race at Irwindale last year. It also won a race at Phoenix International Raceway in April.
Bowles won the pole for Saturday nights race. He is a two-time winner at Irwindale and owns the track record for a 200-lap West Series race.
He entered the race at Irwindale trailing Eric Holmes by 16 points in the West Series standings.

Greg Pursley returns to Irwindale

Greg Pursley returns to the track where he won a NASCAR Whelen All American Series national championship in 2004. Pursley won the NASCAR Super Late Model championship at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale and was crowned the national champion of NASCAR short track racing the same year.
Purlsey, a Canyon High graduate, won the West Series season opener in Kyle, Texas. He is fifth in the West Series standings. He has three career West Series starts at Irwindale with one top-10 finish.

Pursley prepares for return to Irwindale for NASCAR West Series race

Greg Pursley won a national championship while racing NASCAR Super Late Models at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He also won a race in the old NASCAR Southwest Series at the track.
He returns this weekend for a NASCAR Camping World Series West race. The King Taco 200 is set for Saturday, July 4, and Pursley enters as one of the top drivers in the West Series.
He won the season opener at Thunderhill Raceway in Texas and is fifth in the West Series standings.
For more on Pursley's return to Irwindale and how his season has progressed, go to The Signal.

Borneman will attempt cross country NASCAR adventure

NASCAR driver Johnny Borneman has a busy weekend scheduled for the Fourth of July.
He will attempt to qualify for two races on two coasts over three days.
He is a regular in the NASCAR Camping World Series West and will be in the race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night.
He is also attempting to run in a handful of NASCAR Nationwide Series races. He will be at Daytona International Speedway in Florida on Friday night to qualify for the Nationwide Series race.
“It’s a little stressful,” said the 32-year-old Borneman, a driver from Ramona, Calif., of qualifying for the Daytona event. “It’s a real tough show to make in Daytona. You really don’t know what you’ve got until qualifying is over.”
He attempted to qualify for the season-opening Nationwide Series race at Daytona in February, but did not make the starting field.
He did qualify for the Nationwide Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama and finished 26th.
“I think we have a real good shot at making it,” Borneman said about the race in Daytona. “Chances are real good, but you really can’t breathe until qualifying is over with. Everybody steps up their game.”
Borneman has won three West Series in his career and has been running regularly in the series since 2000. He has recruited the services of NASCAR Super Late Model driver John Manke to run practice laps for him at Irwindale in the event Borneman doesn’t make it to the track on time.
“I’m going to have him practice the car at Irwindale,” Borneman said. “We should be there in time for qualifying.”

Bryan Herta Autosport adds driver

Bryan Herta Autosport has a new driver in the Firestone Indy Lights Series. Brazilian Felipe Guimaraes, 18, will make his first start for the team at Watkins Glen International in the Corning 100 on Saturday. For the time being, it is the only race Guimaraes will run for Bryan Herta Autosport.
“I am really looking forward to my first race in the USA, especially at such a legendary circuit as Watkins Glen, which is very special as it is where fellow Brazilian and manager Emerson Fittipaldi won his first Formula 1 race,” Guimaraes said. “I expect some tough competition from the rest of the Firestone Indy Lights field, but I also feel I'll be working with a great team here.”
Guimaraes has been racing for Brazil in the A1 Grand Prix and has recorded one podium finish in the international series. He was second in the race at Kyalami in South Africa.
“We are looking forward to running Felipe in the No. 29 BHA entry at Watkins Glen,” said Herta, a Valencia resident and Hart High graduate. “He is a talent with great potential and will be a welcome addition to our established drivers Daniel Herrington and James Davison of Vision Racing. We are all approaching the race at the Glen with a great deal of optimism.”

Larry Job

Larry Job won the Unlimited Buggy race at the Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex on Sunday, June 28. It was Round 6 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. Job finished ahead of Mike Dondel, in second, and Mike Halliday, in third. Job passed Halliday late to win the race.

Joey Granatelli

Joey Granatelli, a 16-year-old from Oxnard, was second in the Super Lite race during the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex on Sunday, June 28. John Harrah won the race. Granatelli had to work his way from the back of the field for his podium finish.

Rob Naughton

Rob Naughton won the Unlimited Lite race in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex on Sunday, June 28. Naughton has won five of the first six Unlimited Lite races of the season. Brian Deegan, a driver from Temecula, won the Unlimited Lite race on Saturday in Lake Elsinore, snapping Naughton's four-race winning streak to start the season.

Carl Renezeder

Carl Renezeder won the Unlimited 4 truck race during the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex on Sunday. He won the race driving with a rear flat tire for the last three laps. Renezeder won three races over the weekend. The third win, the last race of the weekend, might have been the most impressive. He cut the rear right tire on his truck after driving through a collision between Kent Brascho and Jerry Daugherty. Daugherty's truck rolled over in the crash, but Daugherty was able to walk away without serious injury.

Hornaday, Dixon, Beckman winners

It was a good weekend for racers with Southern California roots.
Ron Hornaday Jr. won in Memphis. Larry Dixon and Jack Beckman won in Norwalk, Ohio.
Hornaday won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park on Saturday. It was his third win of the season, the 42nd of his career and helped him pad his lead in the Truck Series standings to 76 points.
“This has been a pretty commanding truck,” said Hornaday, driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick Inc. “I’m not sure what we keep doing to it, but we need to keep doing it.”
Hornaday has won two straight Truck Series races. He won the previous race at The Milwaukee. His 42 Truck Series wins are the most any driver in the series.
“This is pretty cool that I won the last Elvis trophy that they are going to have here,” Hornaday said. “I race for trophies and this has to be one of the nicest. I have to thank Longhorn, Kevin and DeLana (Harvick) and everyone else at KHI who makes racing these trucks possible. The last two weeks have been really fun and I look forward to a few weeks off before Kentucky.”
Beckman won the National Hot Rod Assn. funny car portion of the races at Summit Motorsports Park on Sunday. It was his second win of the season and snapped the two-race winning streak of Tony Pedregon.
Beckman beat Bob Tasca III with a .001 second reaction time in the final at Norwalk.
“In the final I made a mistake and got away with it, pure and simple,” said Beckman, a driver from North Hills and a driver for Don Schumacher Racing. “We had a good race car, [but] we were vulnerable. I’m not sure if this was the hottest track we raced on all year but [it was] 132 degrees. And with the new asphalt it was slippery down there, so I don’t think you were ever going to see anybody dominate.”
Beckman moved up to fourth in the funny car standings and earned the 130th national event win for Don Schumacher Racing.
Dixon continued his perfect season in final appearances in the NHRA top fuel division. He is 4-for-4 when he reaches the finals this year.
In Norwalk, Dixon faced Brandon Bernstein in the final and won the 47th NHRA top fuel race of his career.
“Four win lights at the end of the day, that’s what counts,” said Dixon, a Van Nuys High graduate and driver for Al-Anabi Racing. “There were certain rounds that were not pretty, but at the same time, we were the quickest car every pair. I’m just real thankful to be able to get this win.”
Dixon moved into second place in the top fuel standings, leap-frogging Tony Schumacher, the reigning top fuel champion.
“The biggest thing is that [this is] a good team, and they’re working on trying to find the personality of all the brand-new parts they have, and for me, it’s trying to find my comfort zone within the team,” Dixon said. “Being underneath one camp for a long period of time and then you switch, it’s different. It’s taken me a little while to adapt and try to fit in and hold up my end of the bargain.”

Photo: Jack Beckman, a driver from North Hills, won the NHRA funny car portion of the races at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, on Sunday.

LUCAS OIL OFF ROAD SERIES: Crashes and hazards can't stop racing : North County Times - Californian 06-29-2009

Spent Sunday in Lake Elsinore watching and covering the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. Carl Renezeder won the Unlimited 4 truck race on a flat tire. Jeff Ward passed Greg Adler on the last lap to win the Unlimited 2 truck race.

LUCAS OIL OFF ROAD SERIES: Crashes and hazards can't stop racing : North County Times - Californian 06-29-2009

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Tim Huddleston wins Late Model race at Irwindale

Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills won the NASCAR Late Model race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night. It was his fourth win in the past five Late Model races at the track. He closed within two points of Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills for the lead in the Late Model standings at Irwindale.
Huddleston, the reigning Late Model champion at Irwindale, was locked in a tense fight for the lead with Joanides and Mike Johnson. Johnson finished second and Joanides was third.
Joanides has two Late Models wins at the track this year and Johnson won his first race of the season two weeks ago.

Nick Joanides sees lead cut to two points in Late Models at Irwindale

Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills finished third in the NASCAR Late Model race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night. His lead in the Late Model standings at the track was trimmed to two points. Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills, the reigning Late Model champ, is second in the Late Model standings.
Joanides was challenging for the win late in the race, but a caution period prevented him from making a run on the race leaders.
There will be a 75-lap Late Model race at the track on July 4.

Huddleston wins Late Model race at Irwindale

Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills won the NASCAR Late Models race and closed within two points of the lead in the Late Model standings at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Huddleston, the reigning Late Model champion at the track, won his fourth race of the season. It was also his fourth win in the past five races in the Late Model division at the track.
Mike Johnson of Covina was second, followed by Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills in third. Joanides is the leader in the Late Model Division. He has two Late Model wins, but hasn’t won since April 25. Joanides is also the leader in the Super Late Model division at the track.
R.J. Johnson won his third straight NASCAR Super Trucks Series race after having shock problems in qualifying. His crew replaced the rear shocks on his truck after qualifying. Johnson started fourth and worked his way to the front after a tense battle with Grant Hebner for the lead.
It was Johnson’s fourth win in the past five Super Trucks races at Irwindale.
Hebner, a rookie driver from Fallbrook, held on for second. Ron Peterson from Riverside was third.
Pat Mintey Jr. of Quartz Hill, the leader in the Super Trucks standings, was fourth. Bill Sedgwick, one of the original drivers in the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series, was fifth. Sedgwick, who is the crew chief for the car driven by Ontario’s Jason Bowles in the NASCAR Camping World Series West, was making his first start of the season in the Super Trucks division at Irwindale.
Donny St. Ours of Upland made a last-lap pass on Ryan Reed of Bakersfield to win the Legends Cars race. It was the third win of the season for St. Ours and his third in the past four races at the track. Chad Schug of Oak Hills was third.
Brandon Toy of Bakersfield, the leader in the Legends Cars standings at Irwindale, had a bad points night. He completed only nine laps and finished 23rd.
Ken Michaelian of Lawndale won his third race in a row in the NASCAR Classic Stocks. It was his seventh win in eight races at the track this season.
Tommy Agosta of Chino was second followed by Mike Colato Jr. of Chatsworth.

RJ Johnson has rough start

R.J. Johnson, winner of three of the past four NASCAR Super Trucks races at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, had to replace the rear shocks on his truck before the race on Saturday night, June 27. Johnson was the fourth fastest qualifier despite running on bad shocks.
He is fifth in the Super Trucks standings at the track and has won the past two races in a row.

Bill Sedgwick tests Super Trucks skills at Irwindale

Bill Sedgwick, one of the pioneers of the NASCAR Truck Series, made a rare appearance in his NASCAR Super Truck at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night, June 27. The crew chief for Jason Bowles, a driver from Ontario in the NASCAR Camping World West Series, set fast time in qualifying. He was making his first appearance of the season at Irwindale.
Sedgwick, who lives in Acton, has led Bowles to two wins this season in the West Series. The team's most recent win came last weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.

No sure things in NHRA funny cars

The last two finals in the NHRA funny car division have been Tony Pedregon vs. Ashley Force Hood. Pederegon has won both times and leads the funny car division by 20 points over Force Hood.
The funny car division has been anything but predictable. Ron Capps started the season hot out of the gate, won four events and led the standings for most of the season. But he stumbled a bit, leaving the door open for Pedregon to rise to the top.
“Of course, it’s been nice to have led the points,” said Capps, who is seeking his first funny car championship. “We’ve kind of been floating out there in first, and here and there it got a little bit close. But then, on a couple of occasions, at the next race we were able to extend the lead.
“It allowed us to do some testing and try some things. To be honest with you, now that we’re in third, it kind of lights a little bit of a fire under us because we now have a reason to get back to our race mode and try to get the points lead back.”
Jack Beckman, Bob Tasca and Del Worsham all have claimed funny car victories this year. The top three drivers in the funny car standings are separated by 28 points.
“The next few races are going to be [run in] hot temperatures,” Force Hood said, “and we have a car that runs good in the heat. It’s great to be moving up in points, but we’re gonna keep our sights set on that No. 1 spot. We just kind of need to stay focused."
Force Hood has stayed consistent, posting three straight runner-up finishes and maintaining a stranglehold on second place in the funny car standings. Perhaps Norwalk can produce another finals appearance, and for Force Hood’s sake, another win.
“You always want to win and you’re bummed when you don’t," she said, “but the important thing is that our Mustang is running really well in all kinds of conditions.
“It’s a great feeling to go to the semis and finals week after week, [so] we’ll just keep trying to do that and see what happens.”

Photo: Ashley Force Hood has made it to three straight finals in the NHRA funny car division. She lost the past two to Tony Pedregon, who leads the funny car standings. Force Hood is second in the funny car standings.

NHRA's Larry Dixon on the rise

National Hot Rod Assn. top fuel driver Larry Dixon has won two of the past three events and has moved within shouting distance of Antron Brown, the leader in the top fuel standings.
With Dixon obviously on the rise, and reigning top fuel champion Tony Schumacher slipping a bit, it might be the end of the line for one of the more impressive runs in motor sports. Schumacher has been almost unbeatable for at least the past two seasons. Now it looks like Dixon and Brown will give Schumacher a challenge for the top fuel crown.
Dixon has been the hottest of the three drivers in recent weeks. He is coming off a win at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey, his third of the season. He has advanced to the semifinals in three straight events. He has been to the semifinals in six of the 11 events so far this year.
His past three races have been the most impressive of the season.
“That three-race swing, I think we out-pointed everybody with two wins and a semifinal,” Dixon a Van Nuys High graduate and driver for Al-Anabi Racing. “We went from sixth to third, and it was a great run.”
Dixon is third in the top fuel standings, 97 points behind Brown. Schumacher is second, 34 points out of first.
Dixon said his team tested the car after the races at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee. After that, Dixon won at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas and made it to the semifinals at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois before winning again in New Jersey.
“For me, it feels like we have less pressure on us now,” Dixon said. “Everybody on our team wants and expects to do well. We all have a past now; we’ve gone to 11 races together, and it’s more enjoyable going rounds and knowing the car is running well and I’m driving well. All of that takes pressure off of us; now you just have to go out there and do your thing.”
The next race for Dixon and the NHRA top fuel drivers is at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. Dixon’s string of semifinal appearances will be put to the test this weekend. He has never won at Norwalk in the top fuel division.

Photo: Larry Dixon is in search of his fourth NHRA top fuel win of the season this weekend at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. He has won two of the past three top fuel events, including the most recent at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey.

Hornaday wins Truck Series race, takes over lead in Truck Series standings

Ron Hornaday Jr. had a very happy birthday.
Hornaday won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at The Milwaukee Mile and took back the lead in the Truck Series at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night, his 51st birthday.
“I’m really impressed at the gains this team made from the truck I had in practice,” Hornaday said after the race. “I have to thank Rick Ren (crew chief) and all of my guys for working so hard on this truck. To be honest I don’t think our truck was all that good; we were just that much better than everyone else.”
Hornaday, a three-time Truck Series champ who drives for Kevin Harvick Inc., has a 36-point lead over Matt Crafton in the Truck Series standings. The win at Iowa Speedway was the 41st of his Truck Series career, the most of any driver in the series.
“You can’t anticipate having a truck as dominate as we had (Saturday).,” Hornaday said “This is really cool. I have to dedicate this win to my mother-in-law who we call ‘Gram’ she’s been in the hospital and is not doing too well. In the 30 years my wife and I have been married this is probably only the eighth race she’s missed. I hope this lifts her spirits a little.”
Rain postponed the race a day. It was scheduled for Friday night. The win was the 20th for Kevin Harvick Inc. in the Truck Series. Hornaday led 180 of the 200 laps in the race at Milwaukee.

Ron Hornaday Jr. celebrates winning the Copart 200 on his 51st birthday at the Milwaukee Mile (Photo Credit: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Herrington falls from second to ninth in Indy Lights race at Iowa Speedway

Daniel Herrington ran as high as second, but ended up in ninth place in the Firestone Indy Lights race at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night.
The driver for Bryan Herta Autosport qualified a season-best fourth and was challenging for the lead when he made contact with Mike Potekhen on lap 93 of the 115-lap race. Herrington’s car suffered damage to the front wing and Herrington had to drop back in the field.
"Wade (Cunningham) and I came up on a lapped car and Wade went by him on the inside,” said Herrington. “It looked like he left me room and I started going by him on the inside but for whatever reason we had contact. I was trying my hardest to give him enough room. I was trying to be cautious since we were sitting there in second place and I didn’t want to blow our position but we still managed to make contact (front wing damage). From then on I was just trying to hold on.”
Ana Beartriz, a driver for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, won the race. She led the final nine laps and won the first race of her career. Cunningham was second, followed by James Hinchcliffe.
With his ninth-place finish, Herrington moved up to sixth place in the Indy Lights standings.
“I’ve never been so happy and disappointed to finish ninth,” Herrington said. “It’ll pull the heart right out of your chest to be running second and have contact with a lapped car. It’s disappointing but then it’s also a positive to be running up there with the leader and be running strong especially when we haven’t gotten the opportunity to show what we can really do this year to date. As tough as it was to end the race that way, it’s also reassuring that we’ve made some gains with the car and seem to be there speed wise. We sure would like to go out there and show that we have the potential to win a few of these. For the whole season we have been kind of chasing the AGR and Schmidt guys, so to be up there running and racing with them and being competitive is really reassuring. I’m looking forward to the next one.”

Bowles wins West Series race in Sonoma for second year in a row

Jason Bowles won the NASCAR Camping World Series West race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma on Saturday, but he gives all the credit to teammate Patrick Long.
Long, a driver from Thousand Oaks who races regularly in the Camping World Series East and has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, won the pole for the NASCAR race in Sonoma and led the first 19 laps.
He was involved in a crash with Joey Logano, who worked his way to the led, during the final laps of the race. Logano spun, Long was penalized for rough driving and Bowles inherited the win.
“Actually, the real winner here today is my teammate Patrick Long,” Bowles said. “I was just the beneficiary of some rough driving. We were in the right place at the right time at the end.”
Bowles, a driver fron Ontario, won the West Series race in Sonoma for the second year in a row. Long wound up in 23rd place, the last driver on the lead lap.
The race featured a number of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, including Logano, driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Logano was 17th in the West Series race.
David Gilliland, a driver from Riverside who also races in the Sprint Cup Series, was 31st. Boris Said, a road-course specialists from Carlsbad who will start ninth in today’s Sprint Cup race in Sonoma, was fourth in the West Series race.
Eric Holmes of Escalon, the leader in the West Series standings, was third in the race. Bowles is second in the West Series standings and trails Holmes by 16 points.
Kyle Kelly from Huntington Beach was 10th. Greg Pursley, a Canyon High graduate, was
20th.

Jason Bowles leads Joey Logano and most of the field in the NASCAR Camping World Series West race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. (Photo Credit: Getty Images for NASCAR)

Nick Joanides wins four Super Late Model races in a row

Nick Joanides, a driver from Woodland Hills, won both NASCAR Super Late Model races at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night, June 20. He has won four Super Late Model races in a row at the track. For the second time this season, he has swept twin races in the same night at Irwindale.
Rip Michelsk, a driver from San Fernando, was second in both races. Michels was 0.197 seconds behind Joanides in the first race and 0.211 seconds behind him in the second race.
Joanides has eight wins in the Super Late Model division and leads the Super Late Model standings at the track.

RJ Johnson wins Super Trucks race at Irwindale

R.J. Johnson, a driver from Canyon Country, won his second straight NASCAR Super Trucks race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night, June 20. Johnson has three wins in his past four races at the track. He qualified with the fastest time for the fifth race in a row, but had to start eighth because of a randomly determined invert. He worked his way to the lead in 10 laps.

Joanides sweeps NASCAR Super Late Model races for second straight time

Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills swept the NASCAR Super Late Model twin races at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night. It was his fourth win in a row and his eighth of the season in the Super Late Model division at the track.
Rip Michels of San Fernando finished second in both Super Late Model races. He lost the first race by 0.197 seconds and the second by 0.211 seconds.
Joanides leads the Super Late Model standings. He is also the leader in the Late Model standings at the track. For the second time in a row, Joanides swept the Super Late Model twin races. He won both races at the track two weeks ago.
R.J. Johnson of Canyon Country won the NASCAR Super Trucks race. It was his third win in the past four Super Trucks races at the track and his second in a row. Ron Peterson of Riverside was second followed by Mason Britton of Sacramento in third.
Pat Mintey Jr. of Quartz Hill, the leader in the Super Trucks standings at the track, was fourth.
Daryl Scoggins of Sunland won his fourth Mini Stocks race in a row and extended his lead in the Mini Stocks standings at the track.
Jacob Rogers of Riverside, making only his second start of the season, was second. Dennis Croasmun of Alta Loma was third, his best finish in the three races at the track this year.
Dalton Kuhn of San Marcos won the South West Tour Trucks race. Ronnie Davis Jr. of Whittier was second followed by Christian Copley of Santa Ynez. Copley entered the race as the leader in the South West Tour Trucks standings.
Jeff Williams of Newbury Park, the second-place driver in the South West Tour Trucks standings, was involved in a first-lap crash. He was able to finish the race, with severe damage to the front of his truck, and came in sixth.

Todd Southwell returns to racing at Irwindale

Todd Southwell won four races in the NASCAR Super Late Model division at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale in 2005. He was a top-five driver in the Super Late Model standings at the track in 2005 and 2006. But he hasn't been in a stock car at Irwindale since the season finale in 2006.
That is until two weeks ago.
Southwell made his return to racing at Irwindale in the No. 43 car owned and driven by Dennis Furden. If things work out, Southwell could be in the car a few more times before the season is over.
Read about the deal Southwell and Furden worked out in The Signal.

Tony Pedregon beats Ashley Force Hood again in NHRA funny car rematch

Tony Pedregon beat Ashley Force Hood in the funny car final at Englishtown. It was a rematch of the final the previous Sunday at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois. Pedregon has won both finals against Force Hood.
“I never thought I’d be afraid of a girl,” said Pedregon who leads the funny car standings by 20 points over Force Hood. “Fear of losing was in the back of my head. I knew we had a good race car. It ran good in the heat, and it ran good with cloud cover.”
It was the third finals appearance in a row for Force Hood and her fifth finals appearance of the season. She leads the funny drivers in final appearances.
Force Hood made three final appearances in a row in 2008. She lost the first two, but won the third in Atlanta. Her three straight final appearances in 2009 have yet to produce a win for her.
“We were hoping since last year we went to three finals in a row (Houston, Las Vegas and Atlanta) and won on our third attempt Atlanta. We were hoping that we could do that again and have the third time be the charm,” said Force Hood. “I can’t complain about getting to another final. It gives us that much more data and me more experience in the car. That will come in handy down the road. If you are losing first or second round you aren’t just losing those points you are not getting extra rounds.”

Photo: Tony Pedregon won his second straight NHRA funny car event. For the second Sunday in a row, Pedregon beat Ashley Force Hood in the final. Pedregon leads the funny car standings by 20 points over Force Hood.

Dixon 3-for-3 in NHRA top fuel finals

Larry Dixon, a National Hot Rod Assn. top fuel driver and a Van Nuys High graduate, made it a perfect 3-for-3 in finals after winning at Old Bridge Township Raceway in New Jersey on Sunday.
Dixon won his third top fuel final of the season and his fifth career NHRA top fuel event in Englishtown, N.J. Joe Amato has the most wins of any NHRA driver at Englishtown with six.
“We’ve had a lot of success at this race,” said Dixon, a driver from Al-Anabi Racing. “The race used to be Father’s Day at Columbus, and we won out until they moved the Father’s Day to here. I was like, ‘Wow, I haven’t won Englishtown in a long time. It would be cool to do that,’ nonchalantly saying that at the beginning of the season. And then all of a sudden, you get to go to a bunch of finals and win here. This is a great track, and there’s so much history here. Racing on the same track as ‘Jungle’ and Garlits and Shirley and all my heroes that I grew up watching race is a great deal.”
Dixon was referring to NHRA legends “Jungle” Jim Libeman, “Big Daddy” Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney.
With the win, Dixon moved up to third place in the NHRA top fuel standings. Antron Brown, who Dixon defeated in the finals at Englishtown, leads the top fuel standings. He has a 34-point lead over reigning top fuel champion Tony Schumacher.
“Even though we didn’t get the win here, we still managed to make a lot of progress relative to performance,” said Schumacher, who lost to Brown in the semifinals. “I believe we’ve got a solid combination right now. I’m looking for that to translate into some wins real soon.”

Photo: Larry Dixon won his third NHRA top fuel race and his fifth career NHRA race at Old Bridge Township Raceway in New Hersey on Sunday. Only Joe Amato with six wins has won more NHRA races at Englishtown, N.J.

Mike Johnson wins Late Model race at Irwindale

Mike Johnson won his first NASCAR Late Model race of the season at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night. He posted three runner-up finishes in his past four races at the track. He finished ahead of Tim Huddleston, a driver from Agoura Hills and the reigning Late Model champion at Irwindale, and Nick Joanides, the current leader in the Late Model standings at the track.
Johnson also won on the same night his son, Matt, won a race in the Charger division at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Two Johnsons win in Irwindale, Las Vegas

Mike Johnson of Covina won the NASCAR Late Model race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night. It was his first win of the season at the track, snapping the three-race winning streak of Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills.
Johnson was the runner-up in three of the past four Late Model races at the track. Huddleston finished second and Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills was third.
Joanides leads the Late Model standings. He has a six-point lead over Huddleston, the reigning Late Model champion at Irwindale.
Johnson won on the same night his son, Matt, won at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Matt Johnson, 29, won his first race of the year in the Charger division at the Bullring.
It was Mike Johnson’s first win at Irwindale since winning the Late Model race of the Toyota All-Star Showdown in January.
Donny St. Ours of Upland won the Legends Cars race. It was his second Legends win of the season and his second win in his past three races. Brent Scheidemantle of Alta Loma was second, followed by Chad Schug of Oak Hills in third.
Brandon Toy of Bakersfield, the leader in the Legends standings at the track, was fourth.
St. Ours was also in the ASA Speed Trucks race and finished 15th.
Ken Michaelian of Lawndale won the Classic Stocks race. It was his fifth win in six Classic Stock race at the track. Michaelian, the leader in the Classic Stock standings, has won the past two races and has yet to finish worse than second.
Tommy Agosta of Chino was second followed by Mike Colato Jr. of Chatsworth in third.
Larry Cerquettini of Redlands won his fifth Super Stocks race in a row. He is undefeated at Irwindale this season. In addition to his five Super Stocks wins, he has a figure 8 win.
Gary Frankovich of Barstow was second and Garret Cromsigt of Saugus, making his second start of the season, was third.
Jeremiah Wagner of Las Vegas won the ASA Speed Trucks race after Cole Cabrera knocked Randel King out of the lead on the final lap of the race. Cabrera crossed the finish line first, but he was penalized for getting into the side of King’s car between turns 3 and 4.
King, a driver from Riverside, entered the race as the leader in the ASA Speed Trucks standings and dropped to third. He ended up in sixth-place in the race. Cabrera, a driver from Exeter, was credited with a 17th-place finish.
Jamie Bennet of Fullerton was second and Joey Licata of Van Nuys was third.
Lee Hatch, five years removed from his last ASA Speed Trucks championship and more than three years removed from his last race, returned to the race track Saturday night at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Hatch, a 41-year-old driver from Alta Loma, won the ASA Speed Truck championship in 2003 and 2004. He retired from racing after the 2006 season. But Hatch decided to end his retirement for at least two races this season.
He made his return in his dad’s No. 91 BHRM Motorsports Chevrolet Colorado at Irwindale. His plan is to race again in September at Irwindale. Those will be the only two races he will enter this year. He was eighth in his season debut.
Hatch was the ASA Speed Truck rookie of the year in 2002 and has won 32 Speed Truck races, the most of any drivers in the history of the series. In his championship season in 2004, Hatch won 12 races.

Lee Hatch returns to ASA Speed Trucks

Lee Hatch, five years removed from his last ASA Speed Trucks championship and more than three years removed from his last race, returned to the race track Saturday night at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Hatch, a 41-year-old driver from Alta Loma, won the ASA Speed Truck championship in 2003 and 2004. He retired from racing after the 2006 season. But Hatch decided to end his retirement for at least two races this season.
He made his return in his dad’s No. 91 BHRM Motorsports Chevrolet Colorado at Irwindale. His plan is to race again in September at Irwindale. Those will be the only two races he will enter this year.
Hatch was the ASA Speed Truck rookie of the year in 2002 and has won 32 Speed Truck races, the most of any driver in the history of the series. In his championship season in 2004, Hatch won 12 races.

Antron Brown moves into first in NHRA top fuel standings

Antron Brown is back atop the top fuel standings after a final round appearance at Route 66 Raceway. He is 18 points ahead of Tony Schumacher, the reigning top fuel champion and last year’s winner at Old Bridge Township Raceway in Englishtown, N.J.
“I couldn’t be more excited to get back to racing at E-Town,'” said Brown, whose hometown is Chesterfield, N.J. “I always love getting to go home to the home track in New Jersey and race in front of all the family and friends. Our Matco Tools dragster is running awesome. We’re leading the points standings and coming off a great race at Chicago. We just want to keep things rolling along and qualify well and go rounds on race day.”
Schumacher lost in the first round at Route 66 Raceway and broke his streak of 35 races in a row without a first-round loss. Even though he won at Englishtown last year, he does not have fond memories of the event because of the death of Kalitta.
“For sure, it’s going to be tough for everyone in the NHRA family,” said the six-time NHRA champion. “It’s hard to believe, but it’s already been a year since we lost Scott Kalitta.”

Photo: Antron Brown raced to a runner-up finish in the NHRA top fuel races at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois on Sunday and moved into first place in the top fuel standings. (NHRA)

Remembering Scott Kalitta

It was a year ago when National Hot Rod Assn. funny car driver Scott Kalitta died in a accident on the track at Old Bridge Township Raceway in Englishtown, N.J., site of this weekend’s races.
Jack Beckman, a driver from North Hills, was waiting his turn to qualify when Kalitta had his tragic accident.
“We didn't qualify last year for the SuperNationals, as the NHRA cancelled the rest of the qualifying that day when Scott had his accident,” said Beckman, a driver for Don Schumacher Racing. “It didn’t matter to me. It’s the first time that I could ever think of in my racing career where qualifying didn’t actually seem all that important.”
The fallout from the fatal wreck was the change in race distance, from a quarter-mile to 1,000 feet. The shorter distance was implemented for two reasons: to reduce the speeds of the top fuel and funny car dragsters and to create a greater distance to slow down the cars after their runs. The debate continues as to whether the top fuel and funny car divisions will ever race at a quarter-mile distance again.
“It’s never going to be the same,” he said following Kalitta’s death. “It’s not like one day we went, OK, well, we’re over that. You’ll never get over it. There is a time frame when it hurts almost constantly. And then when you get past that it’s a memory and a tugging at the heart when you think of the people we have lost.”
Beckman enters this weekend’s races in fifth place in the funny car standings and has won two events this year. But he said returning to Englishtown will be bittersweet.
“We'll have a chance to honor Scott amongst all the crews and the teams and remember him for the great racer and person he was,” Beckman said.
Ron Capps, Beckman’s teammate, leads the funny car standings and won at Englishtown in 2006.
“We’re going to one of the more historic races we have on our schedule this weekend,” said Capps, who has a 58-point lead over Tony Pedregon. “Really, I was overwhelmed by finally getting to win this race a few years ago.”
Del Worsham, a driver from Chino Hills, is fourth in the funny car standings. He is coming off a second-round loss at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., on Sunday.
“We’re fourth in points so we lost a couple of spots with our second-round loss last week, but that’s OK,” he said. “I’m still optimistic about this weekend in Englishtown; our car showed some good promise in Joliet for the summer races we are about to start running.”

Nick Joanides wins NASCAR Super Late Model twins at Irwindale

Nick Joanides, a driver from Woodland Hills and the leader in the NASCAR Super Late Model standings at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, swept the twin races at the track on Saturday night, June 6. He has six wins in the Super Late Model division. Rip Michels of San Fernando was second in the first race. Alex Haase, a driver from Las Vegas and one of the drivers for Kyle Busch Motorsports, was second in the second race. Joanides also is fourth in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national standings.

Alex Haase posts two top fives at Irwindale

Alex Haase, one of the drivers for Kyle Busch Motorsports, had two top-five finishes in the NASCAR Super Late Model division at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night, June 6. Haase was fourth in the first Super Late Model race and second in the second Super Late Model race.
Nick Joanides won both Super Late Model races.
Haase, a 19-year-old from Las Vegas, was making his first visit to the track since the Toyota All-Star Showdown in January.

RJ Johnson wins Super Trucks race

R.J. Johnson, a driver from Canyon Country, won the NASCAR Super Trucks race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night, June, 6. It was his second Super Trucks win at the track this season and his second win in the past three Super Trucks races.

Joanides sweeps Super Late Model twin races at Irwindale

Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills swept the NASCAR Super Late Model races at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night. He won both Super Late Model races and extended his lead to 62 points in the standings at the track.
It was his fifth and sixth wins of the season in the Super Late Model division. The reigning Super Late Model champion has won three of the last four races and five of his last seven.
In the first Super Late Models race, Joanides finished ahead of Rip Michels of San Fernando, who was second, and Dan Moore of Burbank in third.
Alex Haase, a driver from Las Vegas and one of the drivers for Kyle Busch Motorsports, finished fourth. Haase is the reigning Pro All Star Series champion and rookie of the year. The 19-year-old driver led the first 20 laps of the first Super Late Model race at Irwindale before giving way to Joanides.
Joanides and Haase finished 1-2 in the second Super Late Model race. Michels was third.
In addition to his five wins in the Super Late Model division, Joanides has two wins in the Late Model division and is the leader in the Late Model standings at the track.
R.J. Johnson of Canyon Country won the NASCAR Super Trucks race. It was his second win of the season at the track. Pat Mintey Jr. of Quartz Hill was second, followed by Jeff Peterson of Riverside.
Mintey is the leader in the Super Trucks standings.
Brandon Toy of Bakersfield won the Legends Cars race. Ryan Reed of Bakersfield was second, followed by Mark Iungerich in third.
Toy, the leader in the Legend Cars standings at the track, won his first race of the season at Irwindale.
Christian McGhee of La Verne won the Bandoleros race, his first of the season. Lexi Moore of Burbank was second, followed by Blake Dunkleberger of Simi Valley.
McGhee is the son of Lloyd McGhee, who owns the Super Late Model car driven by Joanides. Moore is the daughter of Dan Moore, who races in the Super Late Model division at the track.

Rip Michels almost breaks through

Rip Michels, a driver from San Fernando, led 46 laps of a 50-lap NASCAR Super Late Model race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale two weeks ago. His car broke on the last restart of the race, opening the door for Scott Dodd to win his second race of the year. Michels, the winningest driver in the history of the track, is winless this year in the Super Late Model division.

Travis Thirkettle forced to back-up car

Travis Thirkettle, a driver from Fillmore, wrecked his NASCAR Super Late Model car in a race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale two weeks ago. He was forced his team's back-up car, one that won five races at Irwindale last year. The car that crashed has only won once, a rain-shortened Toyota All-Star Showdown race in January.

Pat Mintey Jr. Super Trucks leader

Pat Mintey Jr., a driver from Quartz Hill, leads the NASCAR Super Truck standings at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He has two wins and an 18-point lead over Jeff Peterson, a driver from Riverside.

Hornaday now second in Truck Series standings

Todd Bodine won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. He won for a Truck Series record fifth time at Texas, breaking the mark held by Brendan Gaughan, a driver from Las Vegas and a NASCAR West Series champ.
“A good friend of mine told me last week that he was rooting for me to finish second, but not win," Bodine said. "Sorry Brendan, I had to beat you bud. It’s incredible. This truck right into that last run we were just too loose the whole race and (Mike Hillman) Junior (crew chief) made some great calls at the end and fixed it up to make it run. This is an awesome night.”
Matt Crafton finished second and took over the lead in the Truck Series standings for the first time in his career.
"That is cool for now. I mean, I am just a little bit aggravated because I know how good of a truck we had and I have always wanted to win here at Texas," Crafton said after the race on Friday night. "I want to be over there where that blue truck (Bodine's) is right now. These guys did an awesome job in the pits. I mean awesome, truck here. When we unloaded it, it was awesome and it was good at the end of the race too.
"I can honestly say without a doubt this is the most diappointing second place ever. This Australian Gold Chevy Silverado, I mean, it was awesome, these guys in the pits. In the beginning we were just a little bit off and they made two air pressure adjustments and it just brought this thing to life."
Ron Hornaday Jr. finished 19th in the race at Texas and dropped to second in the Truck Series standings. He trails Crafton by 30 points.

Photo: Todd Bodine does a burnout to celebrate winning the WinStar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, his second victory of the season. (Photo Credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Formula X teammates join Race Now For Autism

Formula X teammates Marc Miller and Jeff Mosing will race a Mazda MX-5 sporting the Race Now For Autism logo and colors for this weekend's race at New Jersey Motorsport Park. Each driver has a child with autism.
“As both a father and a professional driver there just isn’t a better situation for me to be in,” said Miller. “It isn’t often that I can leave for a race weekend, but still feel like I am making a big impact in my son’s life. My goal is to be able to help make an impact in other families lives as well.”
Miller leads the Mazda MX-5 Cup standings. Mosing said he is proud to drive the RaceNowForAutism.org car.
“It provides my family with a sense of pride and purpose and I look forward to working with the site to promote autism awareness throughout the year,” he said.

Hornaday on top of Truck Series standings

Ron Hornaday Jr. heads into Texas Motor Speedway as the leader in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series leader. He is in pursuit of his fourth career Truck Series championship. Every time he wins a race, he adds to his own record for career Truck Series wins. He stands at 40 after winning at Lowe's Motor Speedway last month.
Read more in The Signal.

Dixon joins NHRA's 500 club

Larry Dixon joined the 500-win club a couple weekends ago at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee and added to his total by winning the NHRA top fuel event at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas last weekend. He has 504 round wins in his career, one of only seven NHRA drivers to reach that milestone. John Force, who races in the NHRA funny car division, leads all drivers with 1,022 round wins. He is also the only driver with 1,000 round wins.
Force, Warren Johnson, Kurt Johnson and Dixon are the only active drivers among the seven drivers with at least 500 round wins.
For the record, Dixon notched his 500th round win in the first round at Bristol. He went on to win four rounds at Topeka and now has 504 career round wins. He is six round wins behind Kurt Johnson, who sits in sixth place with 510 career round wins.
“It was nice to be able to go out there at Topeka and have a great event,” said Dixon, a driver for Al-Anabi Racing and a Van Nuys High graduate. “The car ran well all weekend, and everything about it was good. The other plus was that everyone ahead of us in points went out early so we were able to make up a lot of ground. We only moved up two spots, but we gained a lot of ground on some teams so that was a nice bonus.”
Dixon moved up to fourth place in the top fuel standings and trails leader Tony Schumacher by 141 points.
“Everything that happened from the time we got back to the pit area after the second-round loss at Bristol to the time we went to Topeka was good,” Dixon said. “We talked a lot in Bristol, and then tested for two days in Atlanta. We tried a lot of different things, and I was just making runs in the car. Everything about it was good … the mental and physical parts were great. Just being able to spend time with everyone and make the runs was important. We have all of the pieces we need, but we are now becoming more of a team, and I think we saw some of the results with our win at Topeka.”

Photo: Larry Dixon moved into fourth place in the NHRA top fuel standings after winning at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas on Sunday.

Capps skips rained out Prelude race, heads to Chicago

Ron Capps, the leader in the NHRA funny car standings, was supposed to be part of Tony Stewart’s Prelude to a Dream dirt track race at Eldora Speedway in Ohio. But rain washed out the race and Capps headed straight to Route 66 Raceway in Illinois for the NHRA races this weekend.
“It’s unfortunate, but the bright side, and this happened a few years ago when it was rained out, is that the rain-out date is going to be Wednesday night, Sept. 9,” said Capps. “And it happens to be right after the biggest race on our NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule, the U.S. Nationals, which we run on Monday, Labor Day, in Indianapolis. So, I’ll be able to stay in town again and cruise over and run the Prelude. It will be held prior to what they call ‘The World,’ which is one of the biggest Late Model races they have. It’s going to be just as big an event, and we expect the weather will be good at that time.”
Capps is coming off a win at Topeka and leads the funny car standings by 119 points over Del Worsham, a driver from Chino Hills.
Capps has one career win at Route 66 Raceway. That came in 2005. He was the runner up at Route 66 Raceway two years later.
“Chicago is a track which every year, even with conditions that aren't cool, is considered one of the best tracks we go to, surface-wise,” said Capps, a driver for Don Schumacher Racing. “Lanny Miglizzi, our ‘track whisperer,’ as Tony Schumacher once called him, gets so excited when we roll into Chicago, because it’s a place where you can automatically throw a lot more clutch into these cars and that only means good things for a driver. It means hang on and pull your belts tighter.”

Photo: After winning the NHRA funny car portion of the event at Heartland Park Topeka on Sunday, Ron Capps extended his lead in the funny car standings to 119 points.

300,000-mile, $300,000 club

NHRA funny car driver Jack Beckman, along with top fuel driver Cory McClenethan and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Reed Sorenson, will be part of a promotion by Valvoline this weekend to donate $300,000 to schools and let people know about the company's 300,000-mile guarantee.
Valvoline is putting their money where its mouth, or in this case oil, is.
If Beckman, a driver from North Hills, McClenethan and Sorenson qualify for their respective races this weekend, Valvoline will commit $300,000 toward educational materials.
To register your car with the Valvoline challenge, go to www.valvoline.com.

Photo: Jack Beckman will be driving his Don Schumacher funny car with a new Valvoline paint scheme for the NHRA races this weekend at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois.

Stanton Barrett sitting out Indy race at Texas

Stanton Barrett is out and Jacques Lazier is in the Team 3G entry for this weekend’s Indy Racing League IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Barrett, a Hollywood stuntman and NASCAR veteran, was the driver for the Team 3G car to start the season. He did not qualify for the 33-car field in the Indianapolis 500.
Lazier is expected to drive the Team 3G car for one race.
“As we continue to lay the foundation and improve as a team, we believe Jaques’ experience with these cars will help our team tremendously,” team co-owner Steve Sudler said. “Now is the time to start building toward 2010 for programs and sponsorship, and we look forward to giving Stanton a competitive car later this season for Japan and some other events.”
Lazier is an IndyCar Series veteran with two career poles, at Richmond and Chicagoland, and one career win at Chicagoland.
“I am really looking forward to rejoining the IndyCar Series,” Lazier said. “I have been talking with Greg (Beck) and Steve since Indy, and I feel really comfortable with where the team is headed and how we can work to grow the program on ovals and with my sponsors, as well.”
Team 3G isn’t the only IndyCar Series team making changes for this weekend’s race at Texas. A.J. Foyt Racing is putting A.J. Foyt IV in its car and Alex Tagliani is returning to drive the Conquest Racing car after missing last weekend’s race at The Milwaukee Mile.

Shaq in the passenger's seat

After challenging Danica Patrick to a race, Shaquille O’Neal will be on the same race track with her this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
O’Neal will be the grand marshal and ride in the pace car for the IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. He will be riding with three-time Indy 500 champion Johnny Rutherford in the pace car to start the Bombardier Learjet 550k.
At least for part of the race, O’Neal will be ahead of Patrick.
“I am excited about being the grand marshal and coming to my first IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend,” O'Neal said. “Since they won’t let me enter the race, I’ll do the next best thing and start the race in the pace car. I’m sure Johnny Rutherford can teach me a few things during the ride so when the day comes and I do get to race an IndyCar, I’ll be ready.”

West Series notes for Roseburg, Sonoma

Joey Logano and Boris Said are entered in the NASCAR Camping World Series race at Infineon Raceway on June 20. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is also racing at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma that weekend.
Logano drives for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series. Said is a road-course specialist who has raced in the Cup Series on a regular basis at Infineon and Watkins Glen International Raceway in New York, the only two road course races on the Cup schedule.
Logano won the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale in 2007. Said, a driver from Carlsbad, finished third in the West Series race in Sonoma in 2007. He won a Truck Series race in 1998 and has four top-10 finishes in Cup races at Infineon in his career.
The next race on the West Series schedule is Saturday at Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, Ore. Eric Holmes won the West Series pole and the race at Roseburg last year.
“In last year’s race, I started on the pole and we had a dominant car,” Holmes said. “That was one of the best cars I’ve driven in my entire life. We got a flat tire, with a huge lead, and had to come back through the pack. That was not an easy feat, but I was determined to get back up there and win that race. I didn’t want to break the streak for the NAPA car winning that race.”
Four drivers have won five races for Bill McAnally Racing and the NAPA car. Austin Cameron won two (2002 and 2003), Peyton Sellers won in 2006, Brian Ickler won in 2007 and Holmes won last year’s race.
Holmes is the leader in the West Series standings. He is 16 points ahead of Jason Bowles, a driver from Ontario. Greg Pursley, a Canyon High graduate who won the season opener in Kyle, Texas, is fifth in the West Series standings.
By the way, Bowles won the West Series race at Sonoma last year.

Kimball in top 10, Herrington crashes in Milwaukee Indy Lights race

Daniel Herrington, driving for Valencia’s Bryan Herta and his Bryan Herta Autosport team, finished 14th in the Firestone Indy Lights race at The Milwaukee Mile on Saturday. He spun out on lap 86 of the 100-lap race and crashed into the inside wall at the track.
“We had a little bit of push in the car all day and that was the first time it gave any indication that it was loose and so then it stepped out pretty suddenly and that caught me off guard; then I was just along for the ride,” said Herrington. “It was a pretty disappointing way to end the race because there wasn’t very much further to go in the race and we had a decent run up until then. That’s not the way that I saw this weekend going, but sometimes you have those (accidents).”
It was Herrington’s first DNF of the season and the second of his Indy Lights career. It was also his worst finish of the season. In his five previous races, Herrington has posted four top 10s and one top five.
Mario Romancini won the pole, led every lap and won the race at Milwaukee.
J.R. Hildebrand, the leader in the Indy Lights series standings, finished third.
Camarillo’s Charlie Kimball, driving for the Palm Beach International Raceway team, was 10th.
The race will be televised on Versus at 1 p.m. PDT.