5/8/2014
King of the West
May 8, 2014 Santa Ana, CA: “Here come those Santa Ana winds again,” is 1980 Steely Dan lyric licking my brain on the edge of Tustin. Times inside the maze of Los Angeles highways every other town served residence to a racer or two. Tustin was home to Buster Venard, who edged Steve Kinser to win 1978 Pacific Coast Open at Ascot Park in Gardena. Tracing along the Pacific Ocean is Costa Mesa (Sleepy Tripp), Huntington Beach (Pancho Carter), Long Beach (Jason Leffler), Lakewood (Bobby Olivero), Bellflower (Bob East), Downey (Jimmy Oskie), Carson (Dean Thompson), Torrance (Parnelli Jones) and Hermosa Beach, home to Eddie Wirth. Ascot legend has it that Ed broke so many bones on motorcycles that paramedics kept X-rays on file to quickly determine if any breaks were fresh.
My ten weeks in California have dwindled to days. The first USAC-CRA victory by Richard VanderWeerd at Perris marked my first Saturday in So Cal after eight up north. Nor Cal ended rather quietly when rain ruined a regular 410 show in Chico and another Civil War 360 stop in Petaluma. I salvaged that Saturday by spearing a new fish in Ukiah on way to Sebastopol to hang with Human Highlight Reel and entourage I call Film Crew. Placerville on previous Saturday was when Abreu Vineyards stomped everyone’s grapes in King of the West 410 series. Night before that, 56-year old Brent Kaeding kicked off Ocean 360 season by winning in Watsonville. Saturday prior to Placerville deposited King of West opener at Tulare with Tarlton, Inc. Thunder Bowl offered a winged 410 alternative to Perris with World of Outlaws, which exited Central Cal after Kasey Kahne Racing made winners of its third team behind Cody Darrah.
My week between Sebastopol and Perris occupied one of two towns in California called El Cerrito. Mine was East Bay’s version south of Richmond and north of Albany. Did you know United States have 28 Albanys and 24 Richmonds? I aim to see ‘em all! Not liking San Mateo-Hayward Bridge to Half Moon Bay, I chose San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge ($6) to end of I-80 to 280 to peel for Pacifica on Pacific Coast Highway for 200 glorious miles. San Simeon is symbol to man’s excess (Hearst Castle) and nature’s rarities: seals and sea lions. Last summer, Matt Mussell guided us to an excellent taco truck in Cambria but on this Thursday, there was no such vehicle. I did find downtown deli and after roast beef on rye, rode 46 across Santa Lucia Range past Templeton (home to Madera Produce 50 maintained by Bruce Bromme Jr.) to The 101.
Woodland Auto Display in Paso Robles was my destination. I had heard stories and seen photos of the astounding collection of classic cars possessed by Richard Woodland, who raced hardtops at Fresno’s Kearney Bowl and sponsored sprint cars owned by Billy Wilkerson and Steve Siegel. Dick did confess to still sponsoring Siegel and happily enough, Jim Siegel won at Lincoln the next night. I stood 2800 miles west of Williams Grove looking at 1970 Bobby Allen chassis driven by Smokey Snellbaker as Roy Morral 880 behind 1972 Ralph Heintzleman jockeyed by Jan Opperman as Dick Bogar 99. Other jewels include 1937 Fred Gerhardt midget driven by Bill Vukovich; 1962 Grant King commanded by Art Pollard; 1962 chassis built and driven by Don Brown; 1966 Don Edmunds T-Top driven as Buddy Taylor 91; 1975 Edmunds Moser raced by Rick Goudy as Alex Morales 4; 1975 King of Anthony Simone; 1977 Don Maxwell raced by Mike Shaw as Gonden 92; 1977 Bob Trostle handled by Jimmy Boyd as Ken Woodruff 21 (fresh from Dallas, where it was honored as first WoO winner); 1978 King super guided as George Snider 11; and 1978 Merle Van Steenwyk midget as miniature Agajanian 98 though it actually wore wings in 1975 when driven by Doug Craig to an ARDC midget win at Williams Grove.
I piled out of Paso Robles south through San Luis Obispo, where Jan Opperman was quarterback on scholarship from Hayward High class of ‘56. Opp ruined his shoulder racing motorcycles, had to quit football, and became Dirt Track Jesus. I carried 101 to 134 at North Hollywood, thought of all the A.J Watson roadsters that rolled out of Glendale, thought better about startling Joe Scalzo in Sierra Madre, and found my Friday Night sweet spot: Arcadia Blues Club for Rick Estrin & the Night Cats. California is vast as indicated by odometer that put Paso Robles about 300 miles from the Perris Auto Speedway.
This insatiable wanderlust to stray into each and every arena that hosts auto racing raised my count to 490 at Ukiah Speedway, a paved quarter-mile alongside 101. Adventures seldom follow script. Mine was improvisation in wake of Sierra storms. Santa Rosa promised a pack of friends that I made in Arizona last autumn swirling around Geoff Ensign, who just earned his fifth international 360 win. Despite second Civil War cease fire in four weeks (Antioch fell first) Ensign still wanted me to sample local brew from Bear Republic of Healdsburg and Lagunitas in Petaluma, both of which do splendid work. As with grapes and grass, an abundance of area hops marks most Cali beer as IPA.
Ensign’s soiree in Sebastopol (just a Saturday rain out after he declined an Antioch spec sprint) was reached from Grass Valley, where I spent seven nights after Placerville. The last couple brought heavy rain that put me in no particular hurry, so I shunned I-80 for 20 east through Marysville (also rained out) and Yuba City, home to the famed Lovell Brothers 71 chauffeured by Jimmy Sills, Chuck Gurney and Tim Green to name but three.
At southern tip of Clear Lake, rather than crawl through Calistoga as I had did last year, I traced its north shore to Nice, CA, which made me smile. Sign for Lakeport made my mind race because it holds a race track. Sure it was asphalt, but that only made it less likely to be rained out. Saturday certainly offered full-bodied late models and unshelled modified stocks but in an odd twist, they were 20 miles from Lakeport Speedway at Ukiah. As promoter of both places (along with three dirt tracks for karts and bikes) David Furio operates Lakeport and Ukiah on alternate Saturday nights. Does it work? Ukiah had a hundred fans to see 60 cars in seven classes. They also had Total Domination IPA from the Ninkasi Brewery that I visited last summer in Eugene, OR.
Ukiah’s uphill second corner and cracked pavement reminded of the semi-banked saucer 700 miles north in Tenino (WA) that is called South Sound Speedway. Like Lakeport, Ukiah Speedway began as a dirt track titled Redwood Empire Raceway. It was paved in 1964 and rebranded Shodakai Speedway. Like most of United States, coupes and cut downs became super modifieds by 1968 when Bob Neilson was champion. As they evolved to full-grown sprint cars, Neilson fielded some of the fastest. Number Two was Neilson other than 1984 when he and Leroy Van Conett chose Number One as NARC champs. Darrell Hanestad drove for Ukiah Bob before 1987 hired Mitch Sue, Shane Scott, Hank Butcher, Dan Ochs, Kevin Urton and Leonard Lee, the San Diego kid who won for Neilson at Calistoga.
Sixty miles south of Ukiah is Santa Rosa, where the late wizard Bob Consani crafted sprints, midgets and supers. Pioneer Concrete cars owned by Consani captured winged Ukiah BCRA midget meets with Rick Bussell (’89), Davey Hamilton (’92) and Hank Butcher in 1994. Bussell won again (’91) before his 1993 murder attributed to Fresno methamphetamine trade. Ukiah BCRA wins went to Jimmy Screeton (’88, 91), Tim Joyce (‘89), Burt Foland (’90), Glenn Carson (’91) and Lloyd Hemman, who won four straight in Pete Baraldi roadster. Baraldi and Butcher won in ’96 with too much offset so Ken Molica got credit. Baraldi won in 2001 with Chuck Gurney Jr. Terry Tarditi (’96), Chad Nichols (’97), 15-year old Shane Golobic and John Sarale (2007) also scored. Justin Grant, the kid from Ione who won 2014 USAC sprint opener, set Ukiah track record (12.18) though Hemman (Baraldi 45) cracked 11.98 in ’92 with wings. Marco DeGeorge (‘08), Nick Chivello (‘11), Kevin Morris (‘12) and Darin Snider (’13) also bagged BCRA wins at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds.
Ukiah was posted: No Marijuana Smoking; You Will Be Removed. That such a decree went unheeded was unspoken yet I had never seen such a sign at 489 other places. I was however, in Mendocino County, one of three that comprise exalted Emerald Triangle that grows most American weed. At least one-third of Mendocino’s economy is rooted in cannabis sativa, stoking The Great Hypocrisy. I needed to be high (in turn four) to get excited about Extreme Asphalt Outlaws.
Abreu is ablaze. No one in the world has more open wheel wins in 2014 than Rico’s nine: four with 360, three with 410 and two midgets. After his first career World of Outlaws victory at Tulare, he was fastest man in Calistoga not driving for Kasey Kahne. When outlaws were in Hanford and Perris, Rico raced instead in Indiana but kept right on winning both USAC/POWRi programs at Kokomo in Keith Kunz Toyota. Back beneath wings, Abreu and Paul Silva held Friday’s pole at Chico until Rico ran off the end. There were no mistakes on Placerville’s lively little clay. Silva said that when Abreu is away, he keeps busy converting sprint cars raced by Kyle Larson in 2013 to those that can accommodate tiny throttle stomper in 2014. Silver Dollar’s Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial made 70 straight laps led in King of West and paid $6500 to Abreu Vineyards, which donated far more.
There are no bad seats at Placerville Speedway. Packed front bleachers provoked me to again remain in pits overlooking turn four alongside my cousin Greg Eckert, who lived in Milford, NJ and Phoenix, AZ before building Folsom family. In four months, I visited Greg and his brother Jeff, who was at Weikert Memorial in Port Royal while I was in Ukiah. Greg and his son James (named after our grandfather) are big fans of Andy Forsberg, partly because Andy is personable with fans of all ages but also because the five-time track champ is very exciting. With a 410 between rails, Forsberg worked the red rim to second and seemed a potential thorn to Abreu until restart enabled Kyle Hirst to squeeze Andy above turn four.
King of the West 410 surprise was national ASCS 360 traveler Logan Forler, native to Orting, WA before listing Lake Havasu, AZ and Boise, ID on ID. On dirt he had seen on 2013 Lucas Oil expedition, Forler found his way from row seven to second. Seven nights after seventh-place against outlaws at Kings, Cory Eliason ended third after topping qualifying at 10.13. Brent Kaeding came from row seven to fourth with 410 one night after winning Watsonville with 360. Hirst won dash but fell to fifth to finish tumultuous week for Roth Motorsports. Forsberg scored sixth ahead of Shane Golobic (Vonschriltz 121), Mason Moore, Bud Kaeding (Williams 0) and Jason Statler from the last row.
Colby Copeland, capturing wingless USAC 360 checkered at Canyon in January, earned eleventh against King of the West 410 field at Placerville piloting Vanlare Steering Repair 5v. One week later when all sprint races rained out, Copeland returned to Cycleland in Chico to win on a winged kart. Another kid who rode outlaw karts all the way to Charlotte is Matt DiBenedetto, who ran NASCAR Nationwide race from Richmond.
Dan Monhoff had Sean Becker drive in 2013, hired Bradley Terrell for 2014, lost him to Calistoga injury, and came to Placerville with Joey Magaruh in car that came up short of finish line in grinding collision with Andy Gregg after Abreu received checkered. Jonathan Allard (Lamar 3c) did not finish second King of the West feature one week after pulling off on parade lap at Tulare.
Missing the 22-car cut from 35-car field were Gary Morgan’s son Jake, Willie Croft (own car after being last year’s Lamar star), D.J Netto, NASCAR moonlighter Tayler Malsam (Rudeen 26) and Nathan Washam, who started Stockton’s BCRA midget opener in March. Michael Pickens of New Zealand added international flavor as pilot of Maxim co-owned by Kyle Larson and Kaeding Performance. In first U.S winged heat, Kiwi stopped spin, got popped in left front and broke steering. KWS race director Mike Andreetta held B-main until Kaeding crew was through with Pickens, who then tangled with Croft.
Placerville start saw Forler fence Steven Tiner, who took borrowed Wright Process 410 to great altitude exiting turn one. Only three nights early, I had been in Steven’s dining room writing Flat Out Magazine material listening to Tiner trash talk cousin Bradley Kennedy (of Fish & D) on sprint car monitor. It warms my heart that kids like Fish forever link me to that “widow maker” intro I wrote for Ratbag and J.D Kramer in 2001. They created an experience so true to life as to foster children as adept as Kevin Swindell and Kyle Larson. Steven stepped from virtual reality to victory lane at Watsonville and Hanford.
I spent week in Visalia visiting BR Motorsports father/son Brock and Blake Robertson, former BR stock boy Tiner and current clerk Tim Williams. Tim is Tiner’s roommate and crew on Civil War shows that do not rain out. BR is spearheading shift from non-ASCS 360 to Racesaver 305 at Kings/Tulare. There are loud arguments for and against such drastic change, some from Steven’s own house. Last year’s Rebel Cup car counts did however, drop to an all-time low. Robertson requires racers to buy parts and partnered with Virginia’s French Grimes, godfather of the working man’s sprint car class. Time will tell if Fresno farmers and fruit merchants buy into the 305 concept.
As in 2013, dry slick Hanford had more passing in its World of Outlaws feature than on any of California’s heavier surfaces. Five nights after their historic Calistoga KKR sweep, the Kings conclusion would have packed more suspense had Darrah’s teammates Daryn Pittman and Brad Sweet not been wiped out on double-file restart gone wrong. To parrot NASCAR remains heated topic: fans love ‘em; teams hate ‘em. Darrah admitted that Kahne told him to get up in the chair or have that chair brought in from the road. Why now? Cody’s inclusion in KKR has long been questioned. Now that he’s up front, his job is in jeopardy? Perhaps it is mere motivational tool. I like Darrah and not only because his mom is an Eckert. Outlaws are far more rigid regarding double-file restarts than they are size of dash, which started at ten, dipped to six, bumped to eight then returned to ten.
Hanford-to-Tulare (15 miles) made more sense than Hanford-to-Perris, which is 275 miles. In agreement were eleven teams behind Mike Faria, Hirst, Bud Kaeding, Malsam, Netto, Dominic Scelzi, Statler, Tommy Tarlton, Todd Wanless, Austen Wheatley and Wright Process.
Tarlton, Inc. intended to keep the new Triple Crown offered by Prentice Motorsports Group in Central Cal. Hours after Tom topped Tulare however, his wife Melissa suffered a stroke. She steadily improved to be discharged from hospital long after Tarlton scrapped plans to open Watsonville, where he closed 2013 with devastating loss. Carson Macedo made sure that PMG was supported by Tarlton, Inc.
Tarlton was trailed in Tulare by Hirst, Bud Kaeding, and Scelzi’s last race with Rob Hart as wrench. After a Pleasant Valley Sunday at Larry Davis Land Leveling (good company, good food) Tiner dumped Hart at same Fresno airport that enabled Davey Jones to flee for Kevin Thomas Jr. Rob declined Davey’s vacancy with Roth to accept A.J Foyt task of lifting Martin Plowman into Indianapolis 500.
Melissa Tarlton and her friend Peter Murphy illustrate how fleeting these good times can be. Both went from victory lane to emergency care. Last summer, Sydney native was atop the world, carrying New Zealand Number One to Dirt Cup prelim and podium. One month later at Antioch, he took a shot to the cage that nearly killed him. After remarkable recovery and winter of soul searching, Murphy chose to retire at King of the West opener at Tulare. He cut a couple hot laps, stood on wing one last time, and listened to his 12-year old son Tyler sing the only National Anthem the kid has ever known. It is encouraging that Peter may lease his seat to stars of Australia or New Zealand as Kaeding Performance has in 2014.
I first visited Nor Cal in 1987 and in those 27 years have listened to Kaeding detractors assure me that Brent benefitted from favors extended by Andreetta, the ex-racer who became NARC and Golden State race director. During the Dan Simpson years, Andreetta was absent. Now that John Prentice has the wheel, Mike is back. Opening night at Tulare, BK jumped an entire row of cars. Somebody crashed yet Andreetta invoked split-red to allow Brent to keep spots. In his Watsonville opener, Prentice granted his business partner two extra hot lap sessions, ostensibly to test mufflers. When its normally top notch clay went away, Brent slipped under Allard to win Worst Race of 2014. In its defense, Watsonville was good and wet when Tiner won.
On the day before Ocean opened, I finally visited Peter Murphy’s Pro Signs shop in Fresno. He has the Tarlton 21 that won him a wingless championship. He has a hundred helmets from assorted drivers. Most curiously, Murphy keeps samples of dirt from speedways around the world. Woodland has similar spice rack. More macabre is Murphy’s decision to keep damaged Dalton car that almost became his coffin. He calls it a constant reminder that life is a gift.
One rush order at Pro Signs were decals that “Danny the Dude” Lasoski needed overnight freighted to flanks of Dennis Roth 83. On the World of Outlaws wagon train between El Paso to Dallas, Danny replaced Tim Kaeding after Border Patrol charged Tim with possession of controlled substance.
So we address the Elephant in the Room, metaphor for something so big yet unspoken. This case is bigger than Tim Kaeding because he was victim to War on Terror that allows warrantless search and seizure and War on Drugs that makes it a felony to possess processed natural product such as hashish or vaporizer wax. This is not merely Texas but federal law. Note to Self: Lose the Hash.
Kaeding (or Kanawyer on arrest report) got nicked by same dope-sniffin’ German Shepherds that pestered Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg. Sierra Blanca is Border Patrol checkpoint about 90 miles east of El Paso. One minute, motorists enjoy an 80 MPH speed limit, maybe even a toke knowing Texarkana is 700 miles away. Next minute, all traffic must exit I-10 and creep single-file to a green suit who asks, “Are you U.S citizen?” or “Where are you headed?” Prior to 9/11, that was the extent of it. Now, these questions are posed after dogs circle your car.
Two years ago, I was detained in one on I-8 east of Yuma, AZ. They said the dog detected marijuana and would I consent to search. I said, “No, go get a warrant.” He said that he really didn’t need one and performed a piss poor search anyhow, finding neither container only one pipe that I was told to toss “down the road” which I did on my way to Tucson for new one. Other folks have been cited, had modest amount of contraband confiscated and sent on their way.
Kaeding was caught with wax, which is concentrated weed for vaporizers. But what seems like difference between coffee and espresso is difference between misdemeanor and felony. When his driver was charged, car owner Dennis Roth had no choice but to fire him. To do otherwise would be to condone the crime.
But please do not pretend that a wealthy beef and leather merchant (“Dennis wins in the cattle business every day”) involved in an expensive hobby like racing had not done enough research to know that Tim Kaeding likes weed. Back in 2007, Tony Stewart hired family man Paul McMahan after background checks warned against TK or Tyler Walker, both of whom now face drug charges. Roth had to know because Tim has seldom been discreet. We smoked a bowl right outside Roth’s office. To his credit, Dennis has taken the high road by stating officially that Tim quit “for personal reasons.”
If you believe Tim Kaeding quit the World of Outlaws because of a migraine, then you probably bought the story of Tyler Walker leaving the Knoxville Nationals because of vertigo. Sanctimonious folks who cannot differentiate one drug from another were quick to compare Kaeding to Walker. But those people do not know difference between weed and meth. Asked at Devil’s Bowl how he had regained his old ride, Lasoski told people that Tim was holding cocaine, which was manure.
Kaeding is no different than many U.S citizens who enjoy recreational marijuana. He has been smoking half his life. Has it affected his performance? Answer seems to be no given last season when Tim beat the World of Outlaws more than anyone except Donny Schatz. Do I think he hit the pipe before any of those victories? No. Do I think he could rip a bong and win another Friday night at Silver Dollar? Yes.
In an age when state after state is relaxing marijuana laws, people need to reconsider their feelings on this topic. Every hall of fame from football to baseball to basketball and sprint car racing has immortalized stars that used and abused all sorts of substances, some legal, some illegal, and some which were both. Yet they managed to perform at a high level, no pun intended.
What happens now? Tim Kaeding is after all, embroiled in criminal case and cannot speak freely to investigative reporters. He would only say that one day, he will tell his tale, and that he does not face a felony. In the meantime, he has been hired by Tom Leidig to replace David Gravel, who followed Kaeding and Lasoski to Roth and promptly won Eldora in their second race.
If they piss tested all the drivers and mechanics in the World of Outlaws or King of the West, there would not be enough cars to fill a dash.
Note to Self II: Fuck Texas. I’m taken on overland route to Illinois Midget Week.
This column is dedicated to Bob Quinn, who passed away at age 62. Quinn loved auto racing and loved the United Racing Club, which he followed as crewman to Fran Hogue and Tim Higgins and as driver of pace car. On my last trip to East Windsor (NJ) in 1998, Quinn had son Travis in KARS 358 sprint car. They soon tried URC. They had to. URC were Quinn’s friends. It was easy to be Bob’s friend.
When my dad worked for Lindy Vicari in Reading, PA we first met Quinn, who ran a lunch truck. Like most frozen northeasters, Bob so badly wanted to romp around Florida with Fran that he entrusted me with his route knowing that I held no drivers license. Each morning before dawn, his mom made breakfast sandwiches while we added tray of pastries, warmed hot dogs and sausage for lunch and above all brewed coffee. I was up at 4am and done by 2pm. Construction sites occupied most of the day. I only scuffed Bob’s bumper once in the snow because those lunch trucks with all their weight in the back can be hard to steer.
Nobody loved sprint cars more than Bob Quinn. Checkered Flag Fan Club has lost another soldier.
ok
Article Credit: Kevin Eckert
