5/10/09
 
                                                
 Regier and Tuey are Vukovich Winners
                                                        
                                                          
by Gerald Laurie

                                                         
Saturday, May 9, 2009 was the date for the 32nd annual Vukovich Memorial Classic at Madera
Speedway. This race was originally set to honor two time Indy 500 winner Bill Vukovich. After the
death of Vukovich’s grandson, Billy Vukovich III in 1990, it was expanded to honor both Indy
veterans. Billy III was a many time winner at Madera in Supermodifieds as well as an Indy Rookie
of the Year. This is one of the premier West Coast Supermodified Shows of the year.

After two practice sessions, everyone was complaining about loose race cars. Times were off
about three tenths of a second from the Supermodified Racing Association for both the 360
Supermods and the SMRA cars. With practice out of the way, Jeff Russell (85) set fast time at
12.677 seconds, followed by A.J. Russell (7) at 12.723, Jim Birges (89) at 12.724, Troy Regier (98)
at 12.728, and Bobby Dalton(36) at 12.920. The Supers were not without some drama on the track
as Dalton arrived just before qualifications having just installed the engine Friday evening and
Jim Birges was back in the car after breaking his left ankle and crushing three vertebrae in his
back four weeks ago, the day after winning the SMRA opener at Madera. Birges had back surgery
on May 4th to repair the vertebrae.

The Madera 360 Supermodifieds were paced by David Tuey (6) at 13.355 seconds with Lance
Tatro (72) at 13.459, Kenny Kinchen (5) at 13.602, Lance Jackson (18) at 13.645, and Willie
Northammer(15) at 13.997 rounding out the top five.

Both Supermodified groups ran trophy dashes with the 360’s lining up with Lance Jackson on
the pole followed by Kenny Kinchen, Lance Tatro, and David Tuey. At the drop of the green,
Kinchen took to the high side to lead over Jackson, Tatro, and a rapidly slowing Tuey who
headed for the pits after a single lap. Kinchen pulled out a slight lead on Jackson as Tatro began
his attack. Tatro took second on the final circuit of the four lapper to make the finish Kinchen,
Tatro, and Jackson. Tuey headed to the pits with fuel delivery problems.

The SMRA Dash lined up with Bobby Dalton on the pole, flanked by Troy Regier. They were
followed by Jim Birges and A.J. Russell. Dalton immediately headed to the pits to find two broken
radius rod bolts. This put Regier and Birges on the front row. The two went side by side into one
with Birges having the advantage at the line when the yellow flew for flying air filters being shed
by the 7 car. Russell headed for the pits. On the restart, the two remaining cars went side by side
with Birges maintaining the lead. Birges finally drooped down in front of Regier on lap four and
got nailed in the rear going into turn three. Birges spun and Regier slipped by to take the yellow
and checkers. However, track officials awarded the win to Birges, penalizing Regier for the bump
and run.

The 360 Supermodified Heat was paced by Willie Northammer(15) followed by Kyle Vanderpool
(1C), Lance Jackson(18), Kenny Kinchen (5), Lance Tatro (72), David Tuey (6), and Larry Hinz(4).
This time the inside row worked better as Northammer and Jackson led the first lap over
Vanderpool, Kinchen, and Tatro. Tatro took fourth on lap two and Tatro and Kinchen both passed
Vanderpool on lap three. Tuey was still having mechanical issues at the back of the field. Lap
seven saw Hinz head for the pits and Northammer took the win over Jackson, Tatro, Kinchen,
and Vanderpool.

The SMRA Supermodified heat lined up with Pat Whittet (1B) and Lonnie Adamson(13) in the first
row.  Jim Birges (89), Troy Regier(98),  Jeff Russell (85), A.J. Russell (7), and George Greenway (8)
rounded out the field. Bobby Dalton (36) scratched as they were still fabricating radius rod
mounting hardware after having to drill out the two broken bolts. The green flag saw Adamson
and Regier slip by Whittet before he got 1B car gathered up. Lap one was led by Adamson over
Regier, A. Russell, Whittet, and Birges. On lap two, Whittet forced Birges high and Jeff Russell
slipped past. Meanwhile, Greenway headed for the pits. Lap three saw A.J. take second from
Regier (yes, they are forming icicles in Hades) with J. Russell moving to fourth. Birges finally got
the tires clean enough to get around Whittet on lap four. At half way, the order was Adamson, A.J.
Russell, Regier, J. Russell and Birges. On lap six, the 7 car slowed dramatically and headed for
the pits when the magneto slipped and the power dropped off. Final order at the checkers was
Adamson, Regier, Jeff Russell, Birges, and Whittet.

The SMRA and Madera 360 Supermodifieds combined for a fifty lap feature that proved to be the
barn burner for the evening. With qualifying times intermingled and a twelve car invert, Willie
Northammer started on the pole flanked by Pat Whittet. In hot pursuit were Lance Jackson, Kenny
Kinchen, Lance Tatro, and David Tuey. Completing the invert were Lonnie Adamson, Bobby
Dalton, Troy Regier, Jim Birges, A.J. Russell, and Jeff Russell. Rounding out the field were Kyle
Vanderpool, Larry Hinz, and George Greenway. Just before the green flag, Hinz headed for the
pits with what appeared to be a broken tie rod on the right front.

With most of the 360’s lining up in the front of the pack, there were bound to be some interesting
traffic situations. Whittet led lap one over Northammer, Kinchen, Jackson, and Tuey. With
Jackson fighting a racecar that couldn’t decide if it wanted to be tight or loose, Tuey, Dalton,
Adamson, Tatro, and Regier all passed Jackson on lap two. Adamson passed Dalton on lap three
and the order was Whittet over Northammer, Kinchen, Tuey and Adamson.  Lonnie took fourth on
lap six and then Adamson, Tuey, and Dalton freight trained Kinchen on lap seven. Lap eight saw
Adamson move to second, Dalton to third, Northammer back to fourth and Tuey to fifth. Whittet
was still out front when the yellow light blinked on during lap ten when Northammer spun in turn
two.

The restart order was Whittet, Adamson, Dalton, Tuey and Regier in the top five, with A.J. Russell,
Birges, Jeff Russell, Kinchen and Tatro rounding out the top ten. Lonnie took the lead on the
restart and led lap ten over Whittet, Dalton, Regier, and A.J. Dalton passed Whittet on lap eleven,
Regier repeated the feat on lap twelve. On the thirteenth round, A.J. Russell took Whittet on the
low side in turn one and Whittet dived low as Birges was trying to follow A.J. through. The
incidental contact sent Whittet spinning and brought out the yellow. Restart order was Adamson,
Dalton, Regier, A. Russell, Birges, J. Russell, Tuey, Kinchen, Tatro, and Jackson. Tuey, Tatro,
Kinchen, Jackson, and Vanderpool were the top five 360’s at this point. The track went green for
two more laps when Northammer spun coming off turn four to fly the yellow again on lap fifteen,
This time on the restart, Regier got the best of Dalton to take second. There were good battles
going on all over the track as Adamson and Regier went after it at the front. Birges was all over
the back of A.J. with Jeff Russell lurking just behind waiting for one of them to make a mistake,
Tuey was pretty much in a class by himself as the top 360, but Tatro Kinchen, Jackson, and
Vanderpool were jousting with one another while trying to keep ahead of the rapidly approaching
leaders. Lap seventeen saw Birges get around the 7 car and set off in pursuit of Dalton. The order
at lap twenty was Adamson, Regier, Dalton, Birges, and both Russells. Still on the lead lap and
having a great 360 battle were Tuey, Tatro, Kinchen, Jackson, and Vanderpool. Whittet and
Northammer were at the back as a result of spins. Regier was running a low line and Adamson
was up in the top groove, and although Regier made try after try, he could not make the car stick
coming off on the bottom.

Lapping began on lap twenty-one when Northammer dropped behind the leaders. Birges also
passed Dalton in the traffic and took off after Regier and Adamson. Vanderpool and Whittet were
the next victims of the flying 14 car and Jackson just avoided being lapped when the yellow flew
on lap twenty-four. Kinchen had spun in turn three but stopped just short of wall contact. The
restart order was Adamson, Regier, Birges, Dalton, A. Russell, the lapped cars of Vanderpool and
Whittet, then Jeff Russell, the lapped car of Northammer, then Tuey, Tatro, Jackson, and Kinchen
still on the lead lap. After the restart, Regier and Adamson kept going at it tooth and nail, again
with Adamson high and Regier low. Birges sat in third waiting for the two to wear out their tires.
At the thirty lap juncture, the order was still Adamson over Regier, Birges, Dalton, and A.J.
Russell. Jackson went down a lap on circuit thirty one in what can only be described as an evil
race car. The battle at the front waned and waxed as Birges would make a run at Troy and then
Troy would go after Adamson again. Meanwhile, it seemed like nearly everyone was just trying to
hang on to loose race cars.

As the laps wore on, Regier’s attempts to pass became more aggressive and A.J. Russell was
slowly drifting back into the clutches of Jeff Russell. Then on lap forty it happened, Lonnie came
upon lapped traffic in the high groove and could not hold the car down low to block Regier who
finally got around with the moving pick. The order at forty was Regier, Adamson, Birges, Dalton,
Russell, and Russell. Tuey was the top 360 and still hanging on to the lead lap. Tatro, Vanderpool,
Jackson, and Northammer rounded out the top five for the 360’s, all one or more laps in arrears.
Regier began to pull away from the Adamson and Birges battle for second. On lap forty three,
Birges finally pulled off the pass for second and then caught a yellow a lap later when Whittet
spun on the front stretch. This set up still another epic battle. Regier was in the lead with tires
shot from a twenty plus lap battle to get around Adamson, Birges was second with a badly bent
front wing from earlier contact. Adamson and Dalton were together on the track, then two lapped
cars, both Russells, nose to tail, two more lappers, and then Tuey. It looked to be three pretty
good battles over the last seven laps. Birges got the jump off the bottom and led lap forty four.
The two went into turn one again, and Troy crossed over and took the lead off the bottom to lead
lap forty five. Birges made another go at it and led lap forty-six by a foot and a half and Troy came
back to lead forty seven. Meanwhile, Jeff Russell disposed of A.J. Russell on lap forty six to get
into the top five. Birges made one more Bonzai run on lap forty eight, but was completely out of
tires and couldn’t make it stick. Regier pulled away to about a two car length victory. Jeff Russell
also passed Bobby Dalton on lap forty nine to complete the passing. The winner was Regier, with
Birges second after a torrid seven laps side by side. Adamson was third, followed by Jeff Russell,
Bobby Dalton, and A.J. Russell. The next five finishers were the top 360 runners with David Tuey
doing a masterful job of hanging onto the lead lap with Lance Tatro, Kyle Vanderpool, Lance
Jackson, and Willie Northammer each a lap or more back.

There was a full moon visible over Madera Speedway, but the only effect I could see was that
everyone was complaining about loose race cars. This was the second Supermodified Race of
the year at Madera, so there were no real excuses. Everyone was just out to lunch. However, it did
make for some great racing. The Supers had some epic battles and the tides changed with
different drivers involved in mini battles throughout the races. If there was anyone in the
grandstand who didn’t enjoy all of the Supermodified Main and especially the last seven laps,
well, they are just not a race fan. From the Agribusiness Capital of the World, I am the Racing
Widow’s Husband.

Madera Speedway, Madera California
SMRA / Madera 360 Supermodifieds

Qualifications: 1. 85 Jeff Russell, 12.677; 2. 7 A.J. Russell, 12.723; 3. 89 Jim Birges, 12.724; 4. 98
Troy Regier, 12.728; 5. 36 Bobby Dalton, 12.920; 6. 14 Lonnie Adamson, 13.160; 7. 6 David Tuey*,
13.355; 8. 72 Lance Tatro*, 13.459; 9. 5 Kenny Kinchen*, 13.602; 10. 18 Lance Jackson* 13.645; 11.
1B Pat Whittet, 13.746; 12. 15 Willie Northammer*, 13.997; 13. 1C Kyle Vanderpool*, 14.011;14. 4
Larry Hinz*, 14.087; 15. 8 George Greenway, 14.557.

360 Dash: 1. Kinchen*; 2. Tatro*; 3. Jackson*; 4. Tuey*.

SMRA Dash: 1. Birges; 2.0 Regier; 3. A. Russell; 4. Dalton.

360 Heat: 1. Northammer*; 2. Jackson*; 3. Tatro*; 4. Kinchen*; 5. Vanderpool*; 6. Tuey*; 7. Hinz*.

SMRA Heat: 1.Adamson: 2. Regier: 3. J. Russell; 4. Birges; 5. Whittet; 6. A. Russell; 7. Greenway;

Combined Feature: 1. Regier; 2. Birges; 3. Adamson; 4. J. Russell; 5. Dalton; 6. A. Russell; 7.
Tuey*; 8. Tatro*; 9. Vanderpool*; 10. Whittet; 11. Jackson*; 12. Northammer*; 13. Kinchen*; 14. 8
Greenway; 15. Hinz*.

* indicates 360 Supermodified.