Gerald Laurie

May 7 2012
Hunt, Swanson, and Nichols take Vuky Classic Mains
by Gerald Laurie
    After a rain out of the first 2012 Super Saturday Open Wheel Event at Madera Speedway, The Openwheelers finally got their chance to attack the newly paved surface at the annual Vukovich Memorial Classic on Saturday Night. The night resulted in three new track records for qualification (two of them were in classes not covered in this article), a long event caused by some strange events (remember, it was the largest full moon of the decade) and a two hour plus red flag period. 

    The evening started with USAC Sprint cars challenging the clocks. Scott Pierovich(14) laid down a new track record of 13.368 on the 1/3 mile banking for fast time. He was followed Tanner Swanson(3F) at 13.583 and Brian McClish(4) at 13.622.
    Pierovich(35) was also the class of the Midget field with a time of 13.762, just a whisker off the record of 13.728. Chad Nichols(17) timed in at 13.801 with Tanner Swanson(4) putting up a lap of 13.806. 
    The Supermodified Qualifications were scheduled after the heat races to allow the track and the atmosphere to cool and the spectators to see an attempt on the all time track record of 11.86 set by Davey Hamilton in 1991. That’s right, the record has stood for twenty one years. However, the aforementioned Red Flag period left the track in poor shape for a record attempt after a massive fuel spill, clean up, and crash wall repair. However, Kyle Vanderpool(3) still put up a lap of 12.291, followed by Jim Birges(32)at 12.449 and Tanner Swanson(56) at 12.635. Yes, Swanson ran all three of the open wheel classes and was fast in all of them.

    United States Auto Club Sprint cars were the first to run Heat races and the first eight lapper featured Cody Gerhardt(40), Tim Skoglund(60), Brian McClish(4), Scott Pierovich(14), and Tom Baker(3T). Skoglund and Pierovich powered around the outside of Gerhardt on lap one. McClish was fourth and Baker fifth. McClish passed Gerhardt on lap two and took off after the leaders. McClish hounded Pierovich for several laps and then took second coming down for the white flag. Finish was Skoglund over McClish, Pierovich, Gerhardt, and Baker.
    Sprint Car Heat number two lined up with Gordon Rogers(94) and Tony Hunt(56) in row one. They were pursued by Shauna Hogg(5), Tanner Swanson(3F), Marvin Mitchell(68), and Bud Trumble(9). The inside row took off in this one with Rogers leading lap one over Hogg, Hunt, Swanson and Trumble. Hogg got the nose of her mount ahead at the line on lap two only to be re-passed on lap three. Hunt took second from Hogg on lap six. He passed Rogers for the lead at the white flag and then took the checkers. Finish showed Hunt leading Rogers, Hogg, Swanson and Mitchell to the line.

    Next up were the midget heat races. This was a joint USAC, BCRA sanction, so the heats were divided between the groups with the Bay Cities Racing Association registered cars running heats one and three and the USAC cars in heat two. Heat one had Gary Contero(55) on the pole followed by Lonny Afton(5A), Floyd Alvis(18), David Goodwill(88), Darrin Snider(2K), Tanner Swanson(4) and J.R. Williams(74). There was a mad scramble on the first lap with Alvis being first back to the line followed by Afton, Snider, Contero, and Goodwill. Snider jumped to the lead on lap two with Alvis back to second, Swanson all the way up to third, Afton in fourth, and Contero in fifth. Lap three saw Swanson move to second, Goodwill come all the way to third, with Alvis back to fourth and Afton fifth. The top five stayed static until lap seven when Conterno moved to fifth. Darrin Snider took the win over Swanson, Goodwill, Alvis, and Conterno.
    Midget heat number two had Frankie Guerrinni(11), Dan Gundo(6X), Shannon McQueen(7), and Nick Chivello(27) in the first two rows. Cole Carter(10), Chad Nichols(17), and Scott Pierovich(35) rounded out the field. McQueen headed to the pits before the green with a broken throttle linkage. Somehow, on lap one, Carter and Nichols jumped from the third row to take first and second over Guerrinni, Gundo, and Chivello. Lap three saw Chivello and Pierovich , move to fourth and fifth before a yellow flew when Gundo spun in turn three and then retired to the pits. The restart saw Chivello take third and Pierovich appropriated fourth on lap five. Pierovich took third a lap later and that was the show. Cole Carter led flag to flag over Nichols, Pierovich, Chivello, Guerrinni.
    Midget Heat three saw one of those racing incidents that just makes you cringe and duck under the seat. The race lined up with Rick Holbrook(6) on the pole followed by Bob Lawlor(83), Kevin Morris(17K), Mike Donaldson(5), and Mike Snider(6K). Just as the cars crossed the finish line on lap one, Donaldson got pinched up toward the wall, contact occurred with Morris and the five car launched and tumbled along the top of the wall down the front stretch until contacting the catch fence and the supports for the pit exit gate in turn one. The car landed upside down directly in front of the gate with Morris’s car back up track about six feet. The track rescue crew stabilized Donaldson’s neck before removing him from the car. When the car was turned upright, the fuel cell started pouring out its methanol resulting in a large amount of fuel soaking into the month old asphalt. With fire trucks and a transport ambulance arriving on the scene, we were advised that Donaldson was conscious and communicating with paramedics. He was transferred to the local Hospital to be checked out and we were later told in the pits that he had been released from the hospital and had suffered only some bruising. Thank God for modern Safety Equipment. When the cars were removed from the track, a two hour long clean up ensued while the fuel was soaked up, then washed down, and then absorbed again. The Gate was closed off and stabilized and not used for the remainder of the night as major repairs will be needed to make it operational. All remaining race participants had to enter and exit through the track entrance gate on the backstretch. The race was called after one lap with the order being established as Holbrook over Snider, Lawlor, Morris, and Donaldson.

    Next up were the main events. The USAC Sprint Cars lined up the first six qualifiers inverted. They were Tony Hunt, Tim Skoglund, Shauna Hogg, Brian McClish, Tanner Swanson, and Scott Pierovich. The remaining competitors were Cody Gerhardt, Gordon Rogers, Tom Baker, Marvin Mitchell, and Bud Trumble. Skoglund got the jump on Hunt at the start and led lap one with Hogg in third, McClish in fourth, and Pierovich in fifth. The yellow flew on lap two when Trumble slid up into the turn three wall. McClish had problems on the restart and fell to fifth. He was displaced by Swanson on lap four. On lap ten, Pierovich took third from Hogg. At the ten lap juncture, the order was Skoglund, Hunt, Pierovich, Hogg, and Swanson. 
    Swanson took fourth on lap eleven and McClish knocked Hogg out of the top five on lap twelve. On lap seventeen, Swanson and Pierovich swapped spots with Tanner taking third. That pass was negated a lap later. Order at lap twenty was Skoglund, Hunt, Pierovich, Swanson, and McClish.
    Swanson again passed Pierovich on the twenty third circuit only to spin in turn two on lap twenty five. Swanson retired to the pits with a flat left rear tire during the yellow flag interval. This moved Hogg back into the top five. McClish then got the better of Pierovich on lap twenty seven. The yellow flew again on lap thirty when Mitchell and Baker banged wheels in turn four. Standings at thirty laps had Skoglund leading Hunt, McClish, Pierovich, and Hogg.


The order did not change until the yellow flew again on the thirty-eighth go around when Skoglund spun off turn four. The “Boobirds” came out in force when Hunt came around for the yellow as the crowd thought that Hunt had taken out the 60 car. On the restart, Hunt led over McClish, Pierovich, Hogg, and Gerhardt with Skoglund quickly back in the fray right on his teammate’s tail tank. Order at lap forty was the same as the restart. Lap forty one had Pierovich slowing dramatically and then stopping on the front stretch with a suspension failure. This moved Hogg to third, Gerhardt to fourth, and Skoglund back into the top five. Then, on the last lap, Hogg did a partial spin and recovery in turn three slowing Gerhardt a bit and allowing Skoglund to sneak through for third, with Gerhardt fourth and Gordon Rogers fifth. Hunt took the win with the Boobirds voicing their opinion on victory circle with McClish second, Skoglund third, Gerhardt fourth, and Rogers fifth.

    Next to take the track were the Supermodifeds. The Supers were lined up according to their qualifications with no invert. This put Kyle Vanderpool on the pole followed by Jim Birges, Tanner Swanson, Roger Galleano, Carl Johnson, and Gerry Brancato. However, Brancato scratched just before the start. Vanderpool took off at the green with the rest of the cars in the original order. Birges slowed in turn four on lap two allowing Swanson to take second. Birges quickly recovered and came right back up to the tail of Swanson’s mount while Vanderpool headed for another Zip code. The yellow flew on lap eight with fuel on the track. Birges was found to be the culprit and relegated to the pits with a malfunctioning fuel check valve. After ten laps, the remaining four cars were led by Vanderpool with Swanson a quarter lap behind, Galleano in third, and Johnson with his 360 Supermodified down a lap in fourth.
    The second ten laps were uneventful except Vanderpool was a half lap ahead and Galleano had fallen a lap behind, albeit still in third place. Between laps twenty and thirty, the distance between Vanderpool and Swanson first stabilized and then started to shrink as Vanderpool’s lap times had dropped from the 12.3 second bracket to the 12.8 second bracket while Swanson had been consistently turning 12.6 and 12.7 laps. By lap thirty three Swanson had caught  Vanderpool and the two young guns went at it tooth and nail with nary a touch between them. Kyle’s right front tire was now history. Swanson kept sticking the nose underneath the 3 car in turn four and on the thirty-eighth circuit he led at the line with Kyle powering back into the lead on the exit of turn two. Lap thirty-nine saw the same result. On lap forty, Tanner finally cleared Kyle completely going into turn one and proceeded to pull out a good lead as Vanderpool’s times fell into the 13 second bracket. There is something to be said for tire management. The remainder of the race was uneventful except for Johnson’s exit to the infield on the leader’s lap forty-three. Tanner Swanson took the win over Vanderpool and Galleano.

    The final event of the evening was the thirty lap midget feature. The midget feature started with a straight up start. Scott Pierovich started on the pole followed by Tanner Swanson, Chad Nichols, Mike Snider, Cole Carter, Darrin Snider, Nick Chivello, and Kevin Morris. The middle of the field consisted of Shannon McQueen, David Goodwill, Dan Gundo, Floyd Alvis, Frankie Guerrinni, and Rick Holbrook. Lonny Afton, Bob Lawlor, Gary Conterno, and J.R. Williams rounded out the field. Pierovich, Swanson, and Nichols took off with the green flag with Carter and Darrin Snider rounding out the top five. Goodwill moved into fifth on lap four. Before the yellow flag flapped in the win for spins in turn four. Lap five was the same as four and then Pierovich slowed on lap six with Nichols leapfrogging Swanson to take the lead over Carter in third with Pierovich and Goodwill in the top five. Chivello jumped up to fourth on circuit seven with Pierovich falling out of the top five. The order at 1/3 distance was Nichols, Swanson, Carter, Chivello, and McQueen.
    The second third of the race was uneventful except Nichols and Swanson started pulling away from the field and were in constant traffic while lapping cars. The order at lap twenty was identical to lap 10. Please note that McQueen and Goodwill were having the best race of the event during this period while fighting over fifth place.
    The yellow flew on lap twenty one when Alvis did a loop in turn two. Pierovich exited to the pits during the yellow. The green no sooner flew than there was contact between Goodwill and Afton to bring another amber hanky into the wind. We finally got a good lap on number twenty-three and the leaders charged off again. However, there were no changes to the top five and the winner was Chad Nichols, with Tanner Swanson, Cole Carter, Nick Chivello, and Shannon McQueen rounding out the top five.

  I am not usually superstitious, but I dislike watching races during a full moon. Too many weird things happen. And May fifth was the Moon’s closest approach to Earth since 1993 and there fore appeared to be much bigger than normal. It was what we call a Super Full Moon. And yes, weird things happened. 
Vukovich Memorial Classic
Madera Speedway, May 5, 2012
USAC Sprint Cars