Turkey Night Grand Prix
Talk about old school. No one was able to accurately gauge who had the fastest cars during Wednesday night’s practice for the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale Speedway.
None of the cars had transponders on them. Crew members, wives, girlfriends, parents and spectators were calculating times and speeds with stopwatches throughout the sessions.
Everyone was pretty much in agreement that Jason Leffler, Bobby East and Dave Steele had the fastest cars in the USAC Midget practices. Not many surprises there.
Leffler and East are mercenaries from NASCAR with extensive USAC experience. Steele is a USAC veteran with two Silver Crown series championships and more than 50 USAC wins.
"He’s been fast for the past 10 years,” Midget driver Brady Bacon said about Steele.
Kody Swanson was reportedly turning laps in the 16.8 second range in his Sprint car around the half-mile oval. He was one of the few drivers who was able to break the 17 second barrier.
Two Sprint cars that will undoubtedly be fast for the Turkey Night Grand Prix will be driven by Kasey Kahne and Tracy Hines.
Kahne, a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver for Gillett Evernham Motorsports, will be entered in two of the three races for Turkey Night. He will be racing one of his own Kasey Kahne Racing Midgets and a Sprint car for Zarounian Motorsports.
“I haven’t done either one in a while,” said Kahne, whose last Turkey Night Grand Prix was in 2002. “I thought it would be fun to race in both cars.”
Kahne finished second in a Turkey Night Grand Prix race for owner Steve Lewis in 2000. Kahne remembers finishing second twice and third once in the Turkey Night Grand Prix racing for Lewis.
“He’s almost won this race, but he hasn’t won this race yet,” said Bacon, a 17-year-old driver from Broken Arrow, Okla., who races for Kasey Kahne Racing. “So I’m sure he’d love to win Turkey Night.”
Kasey Kahne Racing will have three cars, driven by Brad Sweet, Bacon and Kahne, in the Midget portion of Turkey Night. Tony Stewart Racing has three cars in the race as well.
“We’re going to try and win them both,” said Kahne, who won a Sprint car race on Turkey Night in a car owned by Gary Zarounian. “If we don’t, we don’t. But it’s the only reason we’re here.”
Sweet is fairly new to the team. The 21-year-old from Grass Valley, Calif., is making his second start for Kasey Kahne Racing. His first start for the team came two weeks ago at Manzanita Speedway in Arizona. He’s been racing in USAC since 2004.
“So far so good,” Sweet said. “I’m new to the pavement, learning a lot.”What he’s not new to is seeing Kahne at the race track. But being teammates with him is.
“He’s here a lot, not always on my side,” Sweet said. “It’s good to have him on my side now.”
Tracy Hines, one of the drivers for Tony Stewart Racing, will also be in car familiar to USAC fans. Hines will be racing the Tamale Wagon in the Sprint car portion of the Turkey Night Grand Prix. The car has been racing in USAC events for the Morales family for the past 60 years.
Andy Morales owns the most recent version of the car now. The Tamale Wagon has adorned a number of race cars, and there was a time when it was one of the most feared cars at the race track.
Alex Morales, Andy’s father, used to race versions of the Tamale Wagon mostly at Ascot Park in the 1940s and ‘50s. It has been driven by Davey Hamilton and J.J. Yeley, among others, throughout the years.
The Tamale Wagon hasn’t made any starts this year. Turkey Night will be its first. This particular car was built in 2000 and Morales said if Hines didn’t agree to drive it, it would have remained idle until the end of the year.
“Tracy’s raced for me for years,” Morales said. “I’ve won here with him before.”
Hines was turning laps in the Tamale Wagon in the 17.1 second range. Morales said he expects to get into the 16s before tonight’s qualifying session and be in the top four to start the race.
Comments
I love fast cars.
I've owned a Benz, BMW and Maserati.
I am thinking of a new one as mine is getting old.
I've had it about 12 years.
If anyone hears of one please let me know.
Im single so no cars that need work please.
Does anyone know of a person who wants to restore a Maserati Biturbo Spyder Convertiable?
1989 80k miles silver with tan interior and a navy soft top.
solid body, starts but needs a clutch and a valve job.
I would like to sell her.
Posted by: julie parker | November 27, 2007 11:17 AM