From The Grandstand

by Ron Rodda
June 5, 2007


Lincoln, CA….A three day softball tournament in Carson City NV limited Friday racing to none and allowed some Saturday action to save the oval part of the weekend. A visit to All American Speedway in Roseville revealed some information about last Saturday's very successful USAC sprint and Focus midget event.


A gate of nearly 3,000 on a Memorial Day weekend was quite impressive and it seemed to me that the fans in my area of the stands truly enjoyed the racing action. Apparently the track was told that several sprint car teams did not make the tow due to concerns over meeting the strict sound regulations. Much more stringent than the usual California fairgrounds 95 dB at 100 feet, the Roseville track has to keep houses right across the street from the property happy, hence the stricter numbers of 85 dB or less.


Also, the track is taking a look at running another sprint car show later in the season, perhaps during October. Next season the idea is being considered of 3 or maybe even 4 of the shows to build on what success they experienced on May 26th. Judging by the t-shirt choice for the evening, the USAC night drew many fans that might not have entered the gates of the newly remodeled track.


From the Placer County fairgrounds it was a 40 minute drive to Marysville Raceway Park for the running of the annual Mel Hall Memorial, an evening dedicated to the man who promoted the track several years. With Placerville not running the winged 360s in favor of a Golden State 410 night, a larger than usual field was expected and 24 were on hand.



The sun sets over the Sutter Buttes and Marysville's turn 4


I missed qualifying but former track champion, Korey Lovell, was quickest to anchor the first of three invert six heats. Accompanying the winged 360s were 20 nonwing spec sprints plus 11 midget lites, 11 stock cars, and about 20 mini stocks. A good sized crowd on a very pleasant evening got plenty of racing except for the dismal spec sprint main.


When the track dropped the wing sprint B main and assigned all 22 remaining healthy cars to the 20 lap finale, the spec sprints were caught off guard and some delay resulted in getting them in staging. After some lost time there, they finally put their 20 car field on the quarter with point leader, Patrick Russum, on the pole based on heat finishes.


A Marysville heat goes green as evening approaches


With an obvious concern for running a timely show apparent over the scanner, a spec main that was destined to run only one tenth of the scheduled distance was forthcoming. Nobody applauds an efficiently run show any more than I do, but in this case the drivers paid the price for a situation that was not their doing.


On the opening lap, a car got into the large body of water at the bottom of the first set of turns, splashing the track with moisture and causing a large jumble of cars at the same time. When everyone kept going, no yellow was thrown and Russum, 7th starting Tony Richards, and 9th starting Mark Hill crossed the line in the top 3 spots. A 2nd lap was scored with the same positions noted before a yellow came out for a spin. Now things really fell apart as the lineup was so badly jumbled that the traditional white board plus generous pointing was not getting the lineup fixed.


The scoring staff suggested stopping the cars to get the alignment fixed, but that seemed to fall on deaf ears and the cars circled the track many laps before the call was out to go green. Two more attempts to score a lap saw back markers spin for more delay before the promoter called for a checker on the next yellow due to concern over the length of time consumed. Sure enough, the next try saw another yellow and Russum had a two lap win.


Unless racing to the yellow is counted and I don't know that, I figure two laps were officially raced. Having enjoyed spec sprints many times at Chico, I notice they have a habit there of not being the most efficient division. However, the standard white board with a long list of numbers on it is virtually impossible to read while idling past in less than well lit conditions. Maybe the fiasco could have been avoided by following the scoring tip of stopping the cars and telling them their spot. They are self-starting after all.


The wingers had a much better main, getting in all 20 laps with minimum fuss despite 6 yellows and a red. Mike Wasina Jr. led six laps before a former three time track champion, Colby Wiesz, made his winning pass on lap 7. Wasina chased him to the line for runner up honors with Mark Tabor Jr. finishing 3rd. The first main of the night was the 20 lap nonstop midget lite event and Doug Hunting dominated that division, making a nonwing appearance in Marysville.


A strong effort for Elk Grove CA rookie, Kyle Larson, saw him start 22nd but reach 9th by lap 6. He made an outside pass for 8th in turn one on the 7th lap before seeing his effort end in turn two with front end issues. He was also 6th quick on the night in what was about his 7th career start in sprints. Larson is another in a long line of drivers that got their training in outlaw karts.


The track conditions were rough early but by main time the most significant roughness left was in turn one. Between the Civil War show 8 days earlier and last Saturday, I see progress in large steps at the closest dirt track to my garage. The new promotion team has cleaned the place up and I even see a staff member picking up litter during the night. I look forward to several more evenings in Marysville this season.