Hornaday Cruises Home to Claim NASCAR Event

How much did a home-track advantage mean to 35-year-old Ron Hornaday Jr. of Palmdale in Saturday night’s Valencia Dodge 200 at Saugus Speedway?

It meant more than a half-second advantage in qualifications for the NASCAR Winston West race and, eventually, a check for $5,775.

Hornaday led all but six laps of the 200-lap event in his Chevy Lumina, yielding the lead to eventual second-place finisher Mike Chase of Charlotte, N.C. on lap 94 when he pitted for tires on the sixth of 10 caution periods.

Hornaday, in his first victory, needed little more than a lap to regain the lead once racing resumed.

Hornaday needed only six trips around the third-of-a-mile oval to lap his first two competitors, passing St. James Davis of West Coivina as the cars came past the finish line and putting Tom Taylor of Lodi one lap down when the cars were coming out of the second turn. “I give a lot of credit to the team,” Hornaday said. “We had the right car and the right people.”

Kenny Smith of El Monte took the 20-lap Pro Four Modified main event over KLOS disc jockey Joe Benson of La Crescenta.

Benson led eight of the first 10 laps and opened up a five-length lead by the fifth lap.

Just as he had in the eight-lap heat race, Smith appeared to get faster as the race progressed, although Benson was able to stay within striking distance until lap 16 when the cars hit slower traffic. Smith got through, and Benson got bumped, allowing Smith to pull away.

Gardena’s Jeff McCall won the 20-lap Mini Stock main event, leading all but four laps.

Chuck Jezulin of Redondo Beach was fourth in the main event and won the four-lap trophy dash over Tony Dighera of Thousand Oaks.