Ascot Sprint Matches Trio of Versatile Drivers

Ron Shuman of Tempe, Ariz., and Brent Kaeding of Campbell, Calif., the two men who dominated sprint car racing in California last season, battle each other and another versatile driver of open wheel cars, Jack Hewitt of Troy, Ohio, in World of Outlaws Midwinter Championships at Ascot Park on Friday and Saturday nights.

Although the two-day event on the Gardena half-mile oval features winged sprint cars in and includes many of the stars of the traveling circuit among the entries, Shuman is expected to have no trouble adapting. The defending champion of the non-winged California Racing Assn. spent four years (1983-87) with the World of Outlaws circuit and finished third twice, fourth once and fifth once in the final standings.

Kaeding, a second generation driver, won two big winged titles last season, the Northern Auto Racing Club and the Golden State Series. In NARC, Kaeding had an amazing 31 top-10 finishes in 31 starts. He also competed in several CRA non-winged races and posted two victories.

Hewitt, a familiar figure in both types of sprinters at Ascot, will be trying to improve on his 1988 Midwinter showing when he won the 20-lap preliminary main from a field that included nine-time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser of Bloomington, Ind. Kinser has chosen to cast his lot for 1989 with the United Sprint Assn., new group that will be racing at Oglethorpe, Ga., this weekend.

Hewitt’s credits, however, are especially noteworthy in the non-winged U.S. Auto Club Silver Crown competition. Not only did he win the season championships in 1986 and 1987 and finished second last year, he also became the top all-time USAC winner in the dirt track series with 10 wins.

No mean feat in a list that includes such luminaries as Gary Bettenhausen with nine, Al Unser, Sr., Tom Bigfelow and Rick Hood with six and Mario Andretti with five. Hood, incidentally, will be in the field this weekend.

In the ranks of the drivers who are year-long regulars with the World of Outlaws are Bobby Davis Jr. of Memphis, Tenn., runner-up to Kinser in the standings last year; Jac Haudenschild of Millersburg, Ohio, another versatile driver who has scored Ascot wins in non-winged sprints and midgets; Andy Hillenburg of Broken Arrow, Okla., the 1988 Outlaws rookie of the year and veteran Rick Ferkel, a 17-time World of Outlaws winner making a farewell tour of the West.

Then there is Joe Gaerte, an up and coming driver from Rochester, Ind., who will be making his Ascot debut. Gaerte, son of the famed engine builder Earl Gaerte, won the 1988 All-Star Circuit of Champions championship. Hewitt finished third in the Ohio-based winged sprint car series.

Other Californians who will compete include a quartet of Northerners, Tim Green and Chuck Miller of San Jose, Jason McMillen of Carmichael and Steve Kent of Fresno as well as Lee James of Northridge.

Miller has been the champion at the now defunct Baylands Raceway the last two seasons, McMillen won the NARC title in 1987 and Kent took the Golden State title the same year.

A threat to visitors and Californians alike is Lealand McSpadden of Tempe, Ariz., who will put a win on his Frank Lewis-owned sprinter. This team accounted for 15 features last season in CRA.

The two-day event carries a total purse of $52,000 with the winner of Saturday night’s main event collecting $8,000.