"Upper Midwest Ramblings"
by Justin Zoch
Quintessential. The word defines the absolute maximum in a particular endeavor, like Sausage McMuffins are to breakfast sandwiches or Bob Ryan is to American sportswriters. Last weekend, Upper Midwest Ramblings set out on the quintessential road trip. A four-day, four thousand mile driving orgy from Minnesota’s blustery Twin Cities to Northern California’s picturesque villa of Chico. The Golden State Challenge series opener, labeled the Mini Gold Cup, was the destination and the beacon on a seemingly continuously expanding horizon.
The 30 plus hours of pre-race discourse centered on several topics. How fast would Tim Kaeding be in the Beef Packers ride? Who was all coming from Oregon? Will the track live up to its hype? Every possible angle was debated as we traversed the flat prairies of Nebraska, the primordial stew of Utah’s salt fields and the snowy caps of Northern Nevada. We had it covered. Every angle, every possibility, everything. Except for Willie Croft. He didn’t figure into the conversation. To be perfectly honest, Willie Croft was an unknown. On Saturday, his slick looking 35M drew a blank, despite the fact that he’d raced the entire Friday night program. I kind of gathered that most of the left coast fans and followers didn’t really know Willie Croft either. They do now and so do I.
Croft held off Mike Henry, Kevin Pylant and Jason Statler for 40 hard laps around Chico’s tight quarter to stake his claim in history. Croft was stunned in victory lane, speechless, except for one muttered scatological reference when prompted how it felt to win the Mini Golds. Similar to last year when Chris Knopp dusted the big boys at Lincoln’s opener, Croft gives hope to the new season. Yes, Tim Kaeding may win a lot of the Golden State shows with powerful backing for Dennis Roth and Steve Kinser looks determined to rewrite his own record books again, but Croft proves the big guys aren’t going to win them all.
The Mini Gold Cup trip was a blitz of a weekend summed up by 60 plus hours in a minivan and less than 40 hours actually spent in the state of California. But Chico is a truly superb place and to salute the finest place on earth, Upper Midwest Ramblings has compiled a list of all the superlatives from the Mini Gold Cup.
Best performance by a family: Naturally, this award goes to the Kaedings. With three stout race cars brimming with Kaeding talent, the clan seemed destined to dominate. On Friday night, Tim Kaeding won his first race ever in the Beef Packers 83jr while his dad came from seventh to second. Only Dennis Moore Jr.’s third place finish over Bud Kaeding prevented the sweep.
Worst introduction to racing fans: Travis Rutz is a 16-year-old kid from British Columbia who made his Sprint debut at Chico this weekend. Unfortunately his first night ended when someone stole his custom painted helmet following Friday’s races. Apparently, Randy Hannagan was also the victim of thieves.
Best indication of a tough field: On Saturday night, all four of the fastest qualifiers failed to make the transfer from their heats. Quick-qualifier Jason York and second quick Jayme Barnes each found themselves in the C-main while Brent and Bud Kaeding were B-main bound. All four transferred into the A-main.
Most unfortunate driver change: Shawna Wilskey picked up the ride in the Finley 77F for the weekend but flipped hard in turn four of her heat race. She was not badly hurt but was reportedly too sore to return for Saturday night. The Finley team called on a very quick Jayme Barnes to replace Wilskey.
Best reason(s) to be optimistic about 410 racing in California: Sean Becker and Bradley Sweet are two youngsters who lived up their hype and then some. Becker ran a strong fifth behind the Kaedings and Moore Jr. on Friday night and Sweet pulled the pill for the invert on Saturday after being the highest qualifier to transfer from his heat. Sweet pulled a, well, sweet move to go from 6th to 4th in that event.
Loudest Cars: Ricky Fauver and Wayne Williams, who drove a team car to Brent Kaeding, were each busted by California lawmen for exceeding the pre-determined decibel level on their time trial laps. Each was given one lap at the end of qualifying. Fauver promptly jumped his racer over the berm in turn four, thus negating his time. Fauver did not return. Williams, however, fared worse. He too jumped the cush but he slammed hard into the turn four concrete. He returned and ended his evening in the B-main.
Best T-shirt: The Chili Feed t-shirts. Now, keep in mind, these are shirts that are promoting a chili feed and bikini contest during the Gold Cup, not the actual race. Got to love that.
Most Popular Driver: Tim Kaeding certainly seemed to have the masses on his corner. No matter what he did, the crowd loved it. When he tapped Mike Henry for third on Saturday night, the crowd went nuts. It seems that TK has captured the fans hearts and it isn’t hard to see why. The kid has got talent, bravado, panache and personality. What more do we want in a driver?
Best performance by a 360: Nor Cal’s Dan Menne, a regular in Oregon and throughout California, turned in an 8th place finish in the Saturday B-main, just missing the A-main by two spots. Menne was joined by the Lovells, Korey and Kevin, Heath Hall and Travis Rutz in the 360 ranks.
Best songs to roll across the California border to: We sampled a variety including the Beach Boys “California Girls”, a hip-hop double hit of Tupac’s “California Love” and L.L. Cool J’s dated “Goin’ Back to Cali.” But, nothing seemed to peg the demands and rewards of a road trip like Phantom Planet’s “California.”
Biggest surprise entrant: An honest toss up between Bud Kaeding and Randy Hannagan. I wouldn’t have expected either one to be there although Hannagan has been spending time at home following the Outlaws romp through Perris. Bud looked like his old self, pedaling the Loan City 29 to a 4th place finish on Friday and an 11th in the finale.
Best City in the World: Chico, California. Without overstatement, I could safely say Chico qualifies for a paradise designation. Featuring one of the nicest racetracks in the country, a quality downtown bustling with a too-trendy scene courtesy of the adjoining Chico State, a dandy stadium for college baseball and natural beauty complimented by an obscenely nice climate, Chico’s pretty much amazing. How’s that for a travel brochure?
Biggest surprise no-show: Was curious about Brad Furr’s absence, perhaps I missed something? Two years ago, Furr was a full timer with the biggest dogs in the land and now he’s apparently severely reined in, even in his home state. Too bad as Furr has plenty of talent to go places.
Worst road side sign: Somewhere around Mitchell, South Dakota there are one, two, three, God knows how many, signs advertising “Dick’s 24 Hour Toe Service.” I have not yet inquired if this is a spelling error or the all night emergency pedicure shop I’ve been longing for all these years.
Only driver not to return for Saturday show: Ernest McAfee was a no show for Saturday after entering Friday but several drivers did show up for day two exclusively, including the Lovells, Jeff Halleib and Nevada’s Doug Lippincott. None of these drivers made the A-main.
Best story to tell my grandchildren when they believe me to be senile: That I saw Brent Kaeding run at Silver Dollar and they didn’t.
Upper Midwest Ramblings continues the early season road show next weekend with a historic trip to Devils Bowl for the Sprint Bandits series premiere. In the meantime, I’ll be checking e-mail from the home office in Minneapolis at justin@mompub.com.
