Fast Track From Goleta to Irwindale

Two Ventura Raceway veterans from Goleta who first teamed in 1995 are dominating the top classes in the NASCAR weekly racing series at Irwindale Speedway.

Chassis specialist Greg Voigt, 31, leads the super late model points standings and engine-builder James Weston, 34, leads the late model points standings.

Each driver finished third in his class in 1999, their first full seasonof pavement racing.

Voigt--who won consecutive street stock track championships in the dirt at Ventura in his first two seasons--has one victory, three second-place finishes, two thirds, one fourth and one fifth in eight races, and leads Ben Walker of North Hills in the points standings, 372-292.

Weston has won four of his last five races and leads Tony Green of Oak Hills, 380-366. Todd Burns of Riverside is third with 360 points. Weston has two seconds and two fifths.

“I was real ecstatic when I won one and I couldn’t believe I won my second in a row,” Weston said. “I won the third and I was like ‘What’s going on here?’ Then I didn’t do so well in the fourth but came back and won the fifth.

“You just have to go race to race and remember where you came from.”

Both drivers agree Weston’s experience in dirt-track racing helped Voigt to championships in 1995 and 1996, and both agree that Voigt--who ran 10 pavement races at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield in 1998--returned the favor last year.

“I knew the mistakes I had made moving to pavement from dirt, and had been able to prepare him,” said Voigt.

They were friends for several years when Weston began his career in the street stock division at Ventura in 1991. Voigt became interested in driving during the 1994 season, obtained an old Pontiac from Weston and entered his first street stock race late that year.

Voigt totaled the car in his third race, then built the Chevy Camaro that was so successful. He moved to the Western Late Model Tour in 1997 and finished second in points to another Ventura alumnus, Ryan Cole of Santa Maria.

Weston, who moved up to International Motor Contest Assn. modifieds at Ventura in 1996, never won a track championship in either division. The closest he came at Ventura was in 1998, when he chose to forfeit his points after a victory rather than honor a competitor’s claim to his engine with one race remaining.

Weston finished second in the points standings that year and had a second-place finish in street stocks.

Usually, the two classes do not compete on the same night, which means both drivers are at Irwindale every week because one or the other is racing. On a rare night off, Weston and Voigt serve on the pit crew for Ventura Raceway’s defending street stock champion, Craig Germanetti of Carpinteria.

Voigt did not plan to compete in every race at Irwindale because of the expense, but the crew, including Weston, urged him to reconsider.

Voigt is planning to drive in five NASCAR Winston West series races, starting June 24 at Irwindale, with Weston as a crew member.

“James would make somebody a good crew chief or mechanic,” Voigt said. “He could do it at a professional level.”

Said Weston: “I get as much satisfaction out of seeing Greg do well as I do when I win.”

*

Ventura Raceway has been a stop on the road to success for many racers.

The most prominent alumnus is Tony Stewart of Rushville, Ind., who was NASCAR Winston Cup rookie of the year in 1999.

Billy Boat of Phoenix is a regular in the Indy Racing League, and Cory Kruseman of Ventura has been successful in the Sprint Car Racing Assn.

Kruseman finished second in the points while competing against the Midwestern stars of the United States Auto Club at their home tracks last year during sprint week.