I’m not going anywhere. When I did the story about Jim Gresham I was also trying to develop an idea about the importance of local track racing. I worked it for few days but it was getting in the way. So I let it go but it’s still bugging me. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to Daytona, I’m not going to Eldora, hell, I’m going to be lucky to make it to Perris for a couple of races. I haul my butt to work every morning, I drag it to bed at night and sometimes I get a pat on the head. Saturday I’m at my local track. The pits are stuffed with motor minding metal magic mavericks. The grandstands are half empty because it’s GD freezing up there. I pack a sandwich because those punks in the food stand are trying to kill me and charge me for the privilege. I’m clutching my camera because I’m stone cold amazed. People are talking at me but I’m really not registering. Danny Danger is rushing around like a big shot but nobody’s paying attention. Swirling around me are the most extraordinary people and they are all cocked and loaded. Cars are rolling onto the track. The sun is setting, the halogens are sparking and the starter leans back and lazily flutters a yellow. Naylor checks his watch, Keith closes that ramp and in my precisely planned life all hell breaks loose….

Young Gun Midgets In Food Fight

Every Sunday morning I take my dogs to Arnold Beach. Follow Hueneme Road to the edge of the continent and hang a left on Arnold Road. It’s one of the last beaches in America where the buffalo still run free. The wind whips down from the Port of Hueneme, scrubs all along the shoreline and is wicked clean whistling through the reeds. Your mind can really open up. Nobody is ever there and my dogs go nuts in the surf. Set in the middle of this marsh like land is an Agromin green waste reclamation factory. It’s were people and corporations bring their yard waste and dump it. Agromin takes that waste, shreds it, mixes it and turns it into certified organic mulch, soil amendment and fertilizer. I think it’s about the coolest business plan you could ever come up with but then it’s gets better. Bill Camarillo then takes some of that green and puts cars and drivers on my track! On my track! His kids are rocking the place. Brent Camarillo should take up motivational speaking. A lot of people need to approach life the way he approaches a main event. Head on, full bore, no complaints and no excuses. Top five Saturday Night from nineteenth in a field of giants. You should have seen him and Brian at the Nationals. Grinning at everything. Bring it. And it’s not just Bill’s kids I’m talking about; he’s taking care of a dozen racers. Screw Scott’s Fertilizer. They’re not putting anybody on my track. Demand Agromin in your life. They’re recycling 250,000 tons of green waste a year. Get some at agromin.com. Or just call Gabby at 805-485-9217 for a bulk purchase for your yard. That’s what I do. Sponsors are the lifeblood of racers. Every dollar that gets to a racer helps win the war. We are going to shine a light on the good guys all year. I’m starting right here.

Brent Camarillo Grinning At Life

I had an early breakfast Saturday night with Greg Alexander and his new sponsor, Chuck Tyler Sr. and crew. The biggest charm of opening night is to see who’s coming out and there was Greg in polk salad. Greg has only been in sprint cars since 2007 but he is spectacular to watch. He started crewing for Eric Severson (where is the talented Severson?) and then got a ride with Brian Williams for a few years. He won his first VRA main on March 15th, 2008. It was only his tenth time in a sprint car. Brian treated him good and we all remember that scorching flyer in turn one. A year later he won the Ventura season opener in March of ’09. Followed that up with a Grand Slam victory in August in Santa Maria driving for Ray Stansbury. Tore up a Perris main pretty good and got found by the Tyler’s. Chuck Tyler Sr. (Tyler Family Farms and Tyler Pool Service in Lancaster) has been around racing his whole life, running midgets and sprints back in Gilmore Stadium and Ascot Speedway. His son Chuck Tyler Jr. has been running senior sprints at Ventura but they wanted to see Greg in this car. It’s not hard to spot talent and this kid’s got it in spades. Contact the team in the pits if you can help with gas or tires. Everything helps and yes, he is related to the famous Alexander Racing who run the Tony Jones #4 juggernaut.

Greg Alexander’s Famous Turn One Flyer in March, 2008

Let’s talk about last Saturday night. I’m not in the shooting groove yet but I will post the winner’s photos this week. I do have a couple of mindless thoughts. I can’t spend another year writing about Kevin Kierce. I’m starting to love this guy like a brother, but please, somebody step up! Great to see Cody Grieman sweep the Sport Compact main. He has come a long way in the past year. I saw USAC everywhere putting on the dog for Ford Focus Midgets and Young Guns (Junior Focus Midgets). Fantastic racing with Nic Carlson coming from behind for the Focus win. Young Casey Martinez took the Guns. Brilliant job by USAC providing an efficient entry level racing program and good on Naylor for rolling with it. Wily Miller took a brisk Senior Sprints and brother Danny wasn’t far behind. But the real headline was Russell Deblauw trying to catch the wily one. A full throttle assault and he almost pulled it off. Wily is back on his game and with guys like Douglas, Kershaw and Bach all at their peak, we are all just mad hatters in Wonderland.

Cody “Cadillac” Grieman Crew

All Coast Challenge (third annual) starts Saturday with race #1 of three. If anybody’s still confused on how it works, you may not be hardcore enough to come to Ventura. I hate the fact that the Grand Slams are done. Trips to Santa Maria, Bakersfield, and Hanford introduced me to all those Central California greats. Drivers like Murphy, Pombo, Faria, Hamblyn, Gutierrez and Carlisle. I am hoping against hope that some these monsters will show up, but not likely. It kills me that Ventura fans have never seen either Jace or Richard VanderWeerd in this mud cage. Hope to see Jonathan Henry, he used to cash a regular All Coast paycheck. Looking to the East, Perris is dark and we may see some of those speed matadors. How about Blake Miller. His bullring agility combined with ruthless speed has a lot of fans here. Jackslash.com reports David Cardey and Nic Faas are in. I remember David Cardey’s last trip to Ventura where he started dead last and worked up to sixth. Cardey’s performances at Perris last year were stunning and his second place season finish only due to the sterling Mike Spencer. Spencer is always up for Ventura, likes to hang with Hendrix. Nic Faas will be driving for Steve Gresham in the storied Jim Gresham Special. Steve took his late brother’s engine and placed it in a new chassis. It has only rolled three times and claimed a first, second and third. Speaking of that, last year’s final Challenge winner Jimmy Crawford decidedly tells me he will be up front Saturday night. Kruseman?

Back On The Ponderosa

After weeks of negotiation (touch and go in the last few days) surfnsprint.com is pleased to announce that we have signed a celebrity spokesperson. Brett “Brudder Brett” Taylor will be representing surfnsprint.com and affiliated enterprises (All Coast Construction, estatemaintenance.net, The Memorabilia Store, ect.) at racing events around the country. His first “official” duty will be to present the All Coast Challenge check this Saturday night. One last thing, I’m thinking of building a car and stashing it behind the race barn. I got some friends that can help me. Not for a regular driver, but just the opportunity for our non-wing friends like Tony Jones, Danny Sheridan, Rickie Gaunt and Hall of Fame Williams to rip a Ventura ride whenever they are in the mood. The most beautiful people pass through this place, usually at high speeds. Me, I’m not going anywhere.