CALI NOTES: Championship Weekend & USAC Invasion

STOCKTON, Calif. – A pair of NARC-King of the West feature events were the focus of the Golden State last weekend.

Friday saw Shane Golobic claim the inaugural Anthony Simone Classic. The Fremont, Calif., native’s triumph marked his first 410 victory since November of 2019.

Golobic notched a milestone on Friday as well, earning his 50th career podium with the series.

– After leading the opening 12 laps, Sean Becker settled for second. 

The result was an encouraging one for he and the Vertullo Motorsports team as they hadn’t stood on the NARC-King of the West podium since early July.

– Completing the top-three was Cory Eliason, who was making his first start of the year with the series after spending much of his year competing full-time with the All Star Circuit of Champions, where he eventually finished runner-up in points.

Eliason became the 21st person to earn a podium this season, the most since 2016 for the series.

– Other notable finishers included 15-year-old Joel Myers Jr., who was fourth; All Star Circuit of Champions kingpin Tyler Courtney, who claimed sixth in his series debut; and another 15-year-old, Corey Day, who came home seventh. 

– The night concluded with a special 15-lap wingless NARC-sanctioned race and Courtney became the first non-winged NARC winner since 1985.

– Saturday brought the teams south to the Dirt Track at Kern County Raceway Park, where Justin Sanders picked up his fifth series win of the year and fourth in 10 races since joining forces with Kevin Kozlowski and Paul Silva.

– Dominic Scelzi claimed the runner-up spot to earn his 13th series podium of 2021, the most by any driver in one season since 2013.

– Golobic earned third to complete a fitting sweep of the podium by arguably the West Coast’s three strongest drivers this year. Sanders’ triumph gave the trio a combined 50 victories in 2021.

– This Saturday both the NARC-King of the West and the Sprint Car Challenge Tour 360 sprint cars will conclude their seasons in a joint event at the Stockton Dirt Track with the 38th annual Tribute to Gary Patterson.

– Scelzi merely needs to roll into the pit area at Stockton and claim show up points to clinch his first NARC-King of the West title. 

Scelzi currently owns the series’ win record at the three-eighths mile by collecting three checkered flags in the 19 visits NARC-King of the West has made.

– The battle for second in the standings may go down to the final lap this weekend.

The 2019 series champion, D.J. Netto, holds a slim two-point advantage over two-time series titlist Tim Kaeding. Just nine points behind Kaeding is his brother, Bud Kaeding. 

The trio will jockey for the runner-up spot at a track where they’ve all won a series event since its creation in 2013.

Currently sixth in points, Billy Aton should wrap up rookie of the year honors this weekend.

– In the Sprint Car Challenge Tour Ryan Robinson holds a comfortable 47-point lead over Colby Copeland heading into the finale.

This year will be the first time someone other than Kyle Hirst will be champion of the Sprint Car Challenge Tour.

– Shifting down to SoCal and taking the wings off, the 25th edition of the Oval Nationals is set to begin this Thursday at Perris Auto Speedway as both the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars and AMSOIL USAC CRA Sprint Cars near the end of their seasons.

Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon leads the national series to the famous half-mile. In his hunt for a fourth title with the nation’s top non-winged series, Bacon is currently 64 markers ahead Kevin Thomas Jr.

On the CRA side, Damion Gardner is on the verge of his eighth consecutive championship and ninth overall with the California series. Gardner is also seeking to become the first four-time winner of the Oval Nationals. 

– Looking even further ahead, the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series will soon invade the Golden State for a heavy slate of holiday season racing.

They’ll first visit the Bakersfield Speedway bullring on Nov. 16. The highly anticipated second edition of the Hangtown 100 is scheduled for Nov. 18th-20 at the racy Placerville Speedway. The inaugural event in 2019 attracted nearly 60 competitors to Placerville’s red clay.

Following Placerville, the series moves to Merced Speedway for a pair of events on the two days before Thanksgiving. Both nights will be supported by 360 sprint cars and, as recently reported, feature NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott’s sprint car debut.

The season will conclude with the historic Turkey Night Grand Prix at the beachside Ventura Raceway on Nov. 27.