NAPA SPEEDWAY SEASON OPENER ON THE DIRT TRACK
Albuquerque, New Mexico 4-13-13. NAPA Speedway’s dirt track got off to a very good start with 89 cars checked in to run 7 divisions. The Dwarf cars brought 7 cars on short notice with 2 cars from Los Alamos, N.M. and 5 cars coming down from Colorado. The Mini-Sprints were also a late addition and brought a very nice group of 12 cars to run on the shorter ¼ mile track. All other divisions brought out 11 or more cars and promise to have more for the next show in 2 weeks. Look for the X-Mods to have enough cars for a B-Main in the very near future. The weather was fair with nice warm temps but the wind did howl at times. Charlie Fegan has made some nice improvements to the track with possibly the best improvement being not 1 but TWO water trucks that actually worked. With the dust blowing and the daytime sun the water trucks came out several times and gave the track a light spritz which really helped keep the dust down.

The A-Mods had an interesting mix of cars with a couple of X-Mods joining them and 3 cars coming down from Aztec Speedway and 1 car from Gallup coming to join the fun at NAPA. Heat #1 saw the #75 of Bob Harter from Bloomfield N.M. take off from his pole position start and lead the entire race. The battle behind and sometimes beside Harter was furious between the #58 of Los Alamos driver Clint Miller and the #09 of Bill Waltman, with Miller holding for 2nd and Waltman finishing 3rd. Heat #2 was a great race with outside front row starter #37 Rob Haaland taking the lead and never looking back as the battle raged on between the next 5 cars. At the finish line it was Haaland followed by the #36 of David Radman and the #62 of Tom Melloy. This was probably the most interesting race of the night as the #1 & #3 finishers, Haaland and Melloy are X-Mods running with the A-Mods. The 2nd place car of #36 David Radman is an ex-asphalt driver. The Main event saw the #3J of last years champion Josh Cain come from his outside 5th row start and take the lead in just a few short laps with a terrific battle behind him. With the laps winding down it appeared that Cain was loosing air in his right rear tire and at the White Flag lap the tire went completely flat, allowing the 2nd thru 5th place cars to nearly overtake Cain, but Cain was able to wrestle the car through the last two turns and hold on for the win. Just as Cain took the checkered flag the right rear tire exploded, sending chunks of VERY hot rubber flying down the track. Chasing Cain to the finish were the #09 of Waltman with the #31 of Gallup N.M. racer Doug Goodenough ( now that is a COOL name ) taking the last podium position.

The X-Mods had the largest car count of the day with 21 cars checking in and taking the green flag. This division is looking like the biggest player this year at NAPA and will quite possibly exceed 30 cars in the very near future. It has been a long time since any class needed a B-Main but it looks like the X-Mods will pull it off this year. Heat #1 saw the top 4 cars running side by side and fighting for the lead with the rest of the pack close on their heels. The #0 of J.R. Bonesteel took the lead but had to battle the #62 of Tom Melloy and the #5X of Rick Boelter all the way. Bonesteel, Melloy and Boelter finished in the 1, 2 and 3 spots in this race. Heat #2 saw the #00 of Steve Bonesteel ( father to heat race #1 winner J.R. ) take the win over the #37 of Rob Haaland and the #21 of Tommy Barela ( the patriotic Red, White And Blue Car ). The X-Mod main event was more like a Boxing Match main event at times as some of the boys didn’t seem to be playing nice and took out several cars before a single green flag lap could be completed. Once the dust finally settled the racing action was very good with the #37 of Rob Haaland taking off to a fairly comfortable lead ( if there is such a thing as a comfortable lead in a dirt track race) with the rest of the field trying to chase him down. In somewhat of an unusual deal the #62 of Tom Melloy and the #0 of J.R. Bonesteel got into a bit of a tussle and Melloy actually shook his fist at Bonesteel. What made this unusual is that Melloy is the most easy going person at the race track and in several years of watching him, he has never even shown that he has a temper ( unless you call GREAT attitude a temper ). At the finish it was the #37 of Rob Haaland taking the win with the #62 of Melloy taking home 2nd place and the #29 of Mike O’Neal running a great race to finish a strong 3rd.

The Street Stocks had a filed of 13 cars taking the green flag. Among the drivers were some newcomers and some old timers that haven’t raced in awhile. I apologize to Mario Truden Sr. for calling him an oldtimer, but if the shoe fits we have to wear it. All of these drivers brought out beautiful cars for opening day, lets hope they look that good at the end of the year. Heat #1 saw the 8X of Mario Truden Jr. take the win from his outside 2nd row start over the #99 of the always tough Joel Duke with the #3 of Mario Truden Sr. coming home in 3rd place. Heat #2 had the #27 of long time race Jay Pape take the win of youngster #53 R. C. Combs and the #40 of John Cruicshank. Some of the cars in this division would have done justice to the Late Models class a few short years ago, notable among them were the #3 of Mario Truden Sr. ( orange with white graphics ), #8X Mario Truden Jr. ( white with pink? Graphics ) #53 R. C. Combs and the #00 of newcomer Jimmy Smith. The main event went fairly smooth with only a couple of caution periods. The #8X of Mario Truden Jr. jumped out to the early lead but was pressured all the way by several cars. At the finish it was Truden Jr. holding of the #27 of Jay Pape in 2nd with the #98 of Toy Fisher doing a great job of working through the field to finish a close 3rd.

The Cruisers had a field of 11 cars to run a single heat and their main event. These mostly new drivers do a very good job of putting on an entertaining show for the fans. In the heat race the #0 of Gary Smith ( the grocery getter station wagon ) took the win over the #43 of Art Hurley in the Petty Blue 1965 Plymouth with the beautiful #76 of Madison Conrad coming home in 3rd. The Conrad car may well be the prettiest cruiser ever to race in New Mexico. The Cruiser main saw the #33 of Devin Gates take to the high side of the track and set sail for a fairly easy victory over the #15 of Cheyenna Yates and the #0 of Gary Smith. Cheyenna Yates in the #15 had the best drive of the day as the #4M of Rob Moseley spun in the middle of the backstretch in the heat race and Cheyenna dove into the infield at full speed and avoided hitting Moseley in the drivers door. GREAT job Cheyenna/

The Hornets ( the 4 cylinder small car class ) came out with 13 cars to run 2 heats and a main. These little 4 bangers put on a whale of a racing show. The heat race saw the #06 of Patricia Gallegos take the win over the #95 of Andrew Fowner and the #7 of Daysha Boelter. Gallegos won last week in this class on the Asphalt on showed how to do it on the dirt also. An interesting thing happened at the end of this race as the #98Y of Colten Morgan became the first car to do a Rollover at NAPA Speedway in 2013. The main event saw only 11 of the original 13 cars take the green flag but boy did they put on a show for the fans. At the end the #06 of Patricia Gallegos once again showed her dominance in this division by taking the win over the #97B of the hard charging Justin Morgan coming home 2nd and the #99 of Lena Duke not far behind in 3rd place.

The Mini-Sprints came out today with a good 12 car field to run 2 heat races and a main event. The Mini’s are running on the ¼ mile track this year and boy does it get exciting with 12 of these little Pocket Rockets on the small track, I can hardly imagine what it will be like with 16-20 of these guys and gals banging wheels lap after lap. Heat #1 was the #4S of Spencer Hill take the win over the #2 of David Gay with the #4L of full sized sprint drive Kristy Smith taking 3rd. Heat #2 had the #17 of Jacob Johnston taking the win over another full sized sprint driver #5 Jason Tanner with the #07 of Grants N.M. racer Patrick Hurtado nailing down the 3rd spot. The main event once again saw the #4S of Spencer Hill take the win over the #5 of Tanner and the #2 David Gay coming home in the final podium spot. On the final lap the #84X of Keith Gatewood and the #34 of Ann Gatewood came together very hard. I wonder how the conversation around the dinner table went tonight.

The Dwarf Cars were a late addition and brought 2 N.M. cars and 5 Colorado cars to put on a couple of very good races. A full field of 15 or so of these little Buzz Bombs could be REALLY exciting. The heat race had the #6B of J.C. Gillealand take a comfortable win over the #33 of Clayton Guymon and the #66 of David Hand. The main event saw a great battle between family members J.C. Gilleland and the #2 of Ryan Gilleland run side by side and change positions a number of times before the #2 of Ryan Gilleland took the win over the #6B of J.C. Gilleland with the #33 of Clayton Guymon taking 3rd. spot. These small pint sized racer turn some unreal lap times and are excited about returning to NAPA Speedway with a full contingent of cars in the near future

Pleae come out and play in the dirt with us on the 27th of April and again on 11 May when the Non-Wing Sprint cars take to the track for the first of 9 exciting high speed action shows.

Have A Great Day
God Bless Everybody