Grand National Race Headed for Irwindale
The AutoZone West Series of NASCAR’s Grand National Division, a steppingstone to the Nextel Cup stock car circuit, returns May 27 to Irwindale Speedway.
The King Taco 200 on Irwindale’s half-mile paved oval will be the fourth stop on the 12-race schedule for the series, whose counterpart in the eastern United States is the Busch East Series.
Mike Duncan of Bakersfield won the West championship for the second consecutive year in 2005, but the Chevrolet driver is off to a slow start this year and sits eighth in the standings.
Mike David of Modesto is leading after winning April 29 in Stockton, followed by Steve Portenga of Sparks, Nev., and Peyton Sellers of Danville, Va.
In the series’ opener at Phoenix in January, veteran Nextel Cup driver Ken Schrader took the victory. The next race, also in Phoenix last month, was won by Andrew Myers of Newport Beach, who registered his first victory in the series.
The Grand National Division has been the breeding ground for some of stock car racing’s top drivers, including Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. Another graduate, Burney Lamar, drives for Harvick’s Busch Series team.
Separately, NASCAR said that Grand National teams would be required to replace the sheet-metal on their cars with identical bodies made of a one-piece, synthetic composite material, starting next year.
The goal is to reduce the costs involved in constantly fixing the bodies, which take a beating on the division’s short tracks, such as Irwindale.
Irwindale Speedway, meanwhile, said it would show the telecast of the Nextel Cup All-Star Challenge race Saturday night on a giant screen in its infield. Fans will be able to watch the Cup race and Irwindale’s program simultaneously.
Southern Exposure
The Tecate SCORE Baja 500 off-road race is scheduled June 2-4, over a course that runs in a loop south from the start-finish line in Ensenada on the Baja California Peninsula.
Various classes of cars, trucks and motorcycles compete in the race, sanctioned by SCORE International Off-Road Racing in Calabasas.
Veteran desert racer Mike Voyles of Temecula drew the pole position in the trophy-truck class, and Damen Jefferies of Oak Hills, Calif., has the pole for Class 1 open-wheel cars.
The defending winner of the trophy-truck and overall four-wheel classes, Nextel Cup owner-driver Robby Gordon, will defend his victory by driving part of this year’s race. He’ll then turn over the wheel to a teammate so he can fly to Dover, Del., for a Cup race June 4.
Gordon, 37, is a longtime off-road racer, having won several Baja races and SCORE Off-Road championships.
Outdoor Cycling
The AMA Motocross Championship Series -- otherwise known as the Ricky Carmichael show -- kicks off this weekend with the Hangtown Motocross Classic in Rancho Cordova, just east of Sacramento.
Carmichael won all 12 races in the 250cc class last year, the second consecutive year he had done that, easily taking his sixth straight title.
The rider from Havana, Fla., also won his fifth Amp’d Mobile Supercross Series championship earlier this month.
The motocross series’ last stop is at Glen Helen Raceway in Devore, north of San Bernardino, on Sept. 9-10.
Last Laps
* Tyler Brown of Norco leads the USAC Western Midget Car Series standings entering the 30-lap race Saturday night at Ventura Raceway.
* Perris Auto Speedway is offering $5 admission to fans born in the 1950s for Saturday’s program. Chad Jones of Temecula leads the points in the extreme topless late-model series. Mark Shackleford of Riverside and Don Zoll Sr. of Moreno Valley lead in the super stock and street stock series, respectively.
