"One of Them Racin' Deals"
It was a happy and surprising discovery to see an ad in the Edmonton Sun for Bud Park and the Gold Cup race, including a ticket contest giveaway from the paper, which is a major sponsor of the Gold Cup event. There are also commercials for Bud Park on local television here. When I walked into 'The Bud' as it is called, I was very impressed by the facility. Everything is very clean and kept freshly painted, and unlike a lot of dirt tracks, the spectator areas have large paved pathways instead of the usual hard packed dust and gravel. The track surface itself looked very nice, with lots of banking in the corners. It rained cats and dogs on the Thursday night prior to the race, and when we walked in, crews were hard at work preparing the track for the night's action with a veritable armada of old Dodge 4x4's, a Bobcat, and a huge road grader, and apparently had been doing so for the better part of the day. The track looked very smooth and fast to me, which was borne out in time trials when Washington State's Ricky Fauver ripped off the two fastest laps in track history, becoming the first American to hold the track record in the process. They claim the track is a 3/8's mile, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be larger than that - a pleasant change from the usual overestimation of track lengths (If Bud Park really is 3/8's of a mile, then South Buxton down here in my neck of the woods is more like a 1/4 than the 3/8's they claim it is).
The way Fauver was able to set the track record was very unique: Time Trials were held as usual with each driver getting two laps, however after each car has been given it's two laps, the teams have the option of forfeiting their time trial results in order to try and better their time. The catch is that in order to do this, the teams are required to put up $100, which goes directly into the purse for time trials, and if your second try isn't faster, too bad, you're stuck with it anyway. On Friday night, 8 cars paid to re-qualify, and all but one of them improved on their fastest time, in some cases quite drastically, including Fauver who broke the track record, and picked up about 2 tenths in the process. So instead of the original $250 award for setting fast time, Fauver took home more than $1000 just for qualifying! On Saturday night, the drivers who chose to re-qualify were not so fortunate, as only one improved his/her time, and it was only by about one hundredth of a second. We all know how racers can make excuses for a slower than expected lap or two - "the track was too wet and greasy", "the motor wasn't tuned up quite right" - , so essentially this format is "putting your money where your mouth is", and I loved it. It really spiced up what can sometimes be a tedious part of a race night, and is an idea I'd like to see used once in awhile elsewhere.
28 cars were in the pits on Friday night, which seemed like a small amount to me, considering that the final Gold Cup feature pays $5,000 to win, but what the the field lacked in quantity, it made up for in quality. One after another of immaculate sprint cars were lined up in the pits, and their time trial laps were all very respectable, with the entire field, 1st to 28th, separated by just two seconds, which was very impressive for a high banked track such as this. There wasn't a lame duck in the bunch. 'The Bud' has a very good computerized timing and scoring system, with a transponder placed in each car, and a huge tall scoreboard looming over turn 2 which is easily legible from anywhere in the pits and grandstands. It monitors each and every car on the track, which, even during hot laps, can display times for each car for every lap that they run.
One rather disapointing discovery at 'The Bud' was to find out that the sprint cars are required to have mufflers - very quiet mufflers. Noise reduction is a necessary evil in racing today, but I have never in my life heard sprint cars as quiet as these. Apparently this is the norm at a lot of sprint car races on the western end of the continent, but to somebody like me who is used to sitting under the tin roof at Oswego Speedway getting their brain rattled by 24 unmuffled big block Supermodifieds, and loving it, the mufflers were a major disapointment. It is my belief that mufflers take a little bit away from the 'sprint car experience', akin to telling AC/DC or The Who that their concerts are too loud. Call me a purist if you like.
Two other disapointments were the apparent lack of one-way radio contact between the race director and the drivers, and the fact that this was apparently far and away the best car count of the year at 'The Bud'. Considering how much money seems to have been spent out here, it makes little sense to still use the old chalkboard to relay messages and lineups for restarts to the drivers. Up until this point in the season, the previous high car count for sprint cars at The Bud was only 14, which is baffling and disapointing considering what a lovely facility they have here.
The story of the weekend was 16 year old sensation Travis Rutz from Langley, British Columbia. He's already won a couple of 410 features at Washington's famed Skagit Speedway this year, and has competed very well on the Northern Sprint Tour. During the first qualifying session on Friday night, he set fast time with a lap of 13.69 seconds. Rick Fauver and Bill Boyse eventually beat his time during the second session, so Travis ended up third quick for the night. His wild and wooly driving style drew much attention, as he bounced off the wall at least 4 times over the course of the weekend, and repeatedly got loose and almost wrecked the car in turns 3 and 4.
Friday night's feature was a battle of attrition. Jeff Hodgson started on the pole for the race and quickly drove away from the pack. Many of the strongest would-be challengers, Ricky Fauver and Travis Rutz amoung them, had mechanical problems, spins, and flat tires take them out of contention. Hodgson cruised easily to victory, having never been seriously challenged.
Saturday night was much different. Ricky Fauver started on the pole and built up a sizeable lead, however all eyes were on Travis Rutz, who was slicing and dicing his way to the front from an 11th place starting spot. With 5 laps to go, Rutz was in second place, but hit the wall quite hard in turn 4, almost climbing up and over in fact, and lost a lot of ground which he had previously made up on Fauver. I remarked at the time that he had just blown his chance for the win. How wrong I was. Somehow Rutz overcame this mistake and caught Fauver on the backstretch with a lap and a half left. Fauver appeared to hesitate just slightly as he came up on a lapped machine. Seeing a golden opportunity, Rutz dove under Fauver and took the lead. Unfortunately on his way by, Rutz clipped Fauver's left front tire with his right rear, sending Ricky into a spin and lazy roll over. The race was red flagged and the cars were stopped on the front stretch to allow clean up of the Fauver accident and to allow teams to refuel the cars.
During the red flag, Fauver confronted Rutz, who was still strapped into his car sitting on the frontstretch, and there was a brief exchange but no punches thrown. Fauver, understandably, was upset. This marked the second occasion that he had been leading this race with less than 2 laps to go, but was knocked out of the race, and he had the best car all weekend, only to have mechanical gremlins take him out of the race Friday and the wreck on Saturday. In the heat of the moment, he did something he probably should have thought better of. Unfortunately the partisan Canadian crowd did not sympathize with Ricky, and booed him rather roundly when he confronted Rutz. It was an unfortunate incident, but it's hard to place blame or find fault with the actions of either driver. It was just a case of hard racing and intense competition - two things which make sprint car racing the exciting sport we love.
For some reason, it took an inordinate amount of time to get the cars lined back up for the restart - an ongoing and slightly annoying problem which reared it's ugly head throughout the weekend. When the green finally flew again to complete the final two laps of the race, Sean Moran was in second place behind Rutz, but could not muster a serious challenge and Rutz took the $5,000 victory. In victory lane, Rutz said he was unsure of what precisely happened on the backstretch with Fauver, saying he would have to look at the tape, but he did offer an apology for his part in the incident.
All in all it was an exciting weekend with excellent racing. Hopefully it was the first of many fun nights to come at 'The Bud' for myself.
'Odds and Ends'
.......A week before my trip to the Gold Cup, I witnessed sprint car history in Ontario at South Buxton Raceway. The All Star Circuit of Champions made it's first ever visit to Canada in the history of the 25 year old club. It was also the first time a race involving dirt 410 sprint cars was held in Canada in at least 15 years (Some of you may remember the Mosport debacle as being the last time). Only 13 410's made the tow, but the Southern Ontario Sprints 360 cars augmented the field nicely, and didn't look too out of place. 2003 SOS Rookie of the Year even managed to win a heat race. The track dried out and slicked off immediately after time trials started, and Chad Kemenah's lap just a tick under 14 seconds was the best anybody could muster on the odd shaped 3/8's mile oval - well over some 'expert' predictions coming into the event. Kemenah also took the feature win, with the highest finishing 360 car being Keith Dempster, who came home a respectable 10th place. The new dirt at Buxton does not seem to hold moisture very well at all, but all in all, it was a decent night and the All Star organization expressed an interest in coming back. Let's hope next year they make it a two day weekend by heading to Ohsweken first.........
........Sincere and belated congratulations go out to Bob Crawford, who took home the SOS feature win at Ohsweken Speedway on the last Friday in July. It was Crawford's first win in a full size sprint car, and you would be hard pressed to find anybody who wasn't happy for Bobby. The former Can-Am Midget competitor remarked in victory lane that his engine was going South on him towards the end of the race, but with a win within his grasp, he couldn't bring himself to pull off the track to try to save the engine...........
.......After a the rainout of the feature this past weekend at Ohsweken, and a Glenn Styres win at Brighton, the next Southern Ontario Sprints event will be the first of the 2 race 'Can-Am Challenge' in conjunction with the Michigan-based Sprints on Dirt organization this coming Saturday at Owendale Speedway in Michigan. The second half of the Challenge will be contested Friday, August 27th at Ohsweken Speedway. The Ohsweken event will have double features to make up for the rainout this past weekend..........
Last but not least, my website address has changed. You can now find it at www.TheRaceChasers.com . Be sure to check out the new '2004 Ontario Win List'. Over the winter we plan on adding a lot to the scrapbook so make sure you check back often!
See you at the races!