CAMERON HAS BEST COMEBACK.

Byline: Tim Haddock

In a year when rebounds and resurgences were the common theme for area drivers, the biggest comeback came this month at Irwindale Speedway.

Bryan Herta and Ron Hornaday Jr., championship-caliber drivers who spent time in 2002 and 2003 as substitutes for NASCAR and open-wheel teams, had national-television audiences watch their returns to victory in two of the top racing circuits in the country.

But NASCAR Grand National Division driver Austin Cameron, from El Cajon, scored the biggest comeback of the year by winning the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale. While Herta and Hornaday had to face challenges to their abilities as drivers, Cameron battled cancer.

The driver for Bill McAnally Racing was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma after the fourth race of the season at Las Vegas. He missed a chance to race in front of his hometown fans at California Speedway in April, on a race weekend when NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Series teams share the Fontana track with the regional drivers.

Cameron was out of action for five months, going through aggressive chemotherapy treatments before returning to the track in August for a race at Irwindale Speedway. It was a comeback that hit high points with wins at Stockton 99 Speedway and Douglas County Speedway in Oregon and culminated with a victory in the Toyota All-Star Showdown before a national-television audience on Speed Channel.

``I know I have chemotherapy for another year and three months, but it's not going to be anything like I had,'' Cameron said after winning the Showdown race. ``I'll be able to maintain - maintain composure like I have now, and maintain stamina. If I can make it through the first four months, I can make it through anything.''

NASCAR mandated Cameron's blood platelets had to be at a certain level before he was allowed back in a car. He remembers going through treatments the day and the morning before practice and qualifying for the Irwindale race in August.

``And finally by 3 o'clock, I had one foot in my motor home and one foot outside of it on the phone with NASCAR waiting for them to say go or not,'' Cameron said.

His first race back was less than stellar; he finished 20th at Irwindale after starting fifth. Then he won two of the last five races of the season and scored enough points to finish 15th in the Winston West standings. To qualify for the Showdown, Winston West and Busch North Series drivers had to finish in the top 15 in the final standings.

The 26-year-old driver went from being the last Winston West driver to be eligible to winning the race, the biggest of his career, he said.

``This car right here is the one I crashed and caught my cancer in,'' Cameron said. ``This is the one I wrecked in Vegas. This is the one that won the two races after cancer, too.''

Winning races seems to make all the chemotherapy treatments worthwhile. After the Showdown, Cameron was asked whether he had a name for the car in which he had won so many races. He replied, ``Cancer Machine'' with a laugh.

``I don't have a name for it,'' Cameron finally admitted. ``But we'll have to come up with something.''

Herta, a Hart High of Newhall graduate from Valencia, landed a seat with Andretti Green Racing on the Indy Racing League and won the race at Kansas Speedway in his third start. It was his first win in nearly five years.

Hornaday, a former Saugus Speedway and NASCAR Southwest Series champion from Palmdale, started the NASCAR Busch Series season as the driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevy and won the race at Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway, his first in three years. He was in the Busch Series championship chase until the last race of the season and finished third.

But Cameron, competing in comparative obscurity, won the most important race of the year - a race that has nothing to do with cars on a track. He is beating cancer, a fight he will have for the rest of his life.

Not as many people watched Cameron win the Showdown at Irwindale Speedway, but his battle is as admirable as any in sports.

IRWINDALE SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONS

The following drivers won their respective class championships at Irwindale Speedway:

NASCAR Jani-King Super Late Models: Rip Michels, Mission Hills. Michels successfully defended his title by winning 10 races, including four of the last five points races. He was also the NASCAR Sunbelt regional champion.

NASCAR Super Late Models Miller Lite Big 10 Challenge: Greg Pursley, Canyon Country. Pursley made the most of his Super Late Model wins, taking four of the Big 10 races, and finished ahead of Michels in the standings.

NASCAR Auto Club Late Models: Todd Burns, Riverside. Burns won 10 races to capture the championship. The winningest driver at Irwindale won eight races in a row at one point over the summer and was first or second in 10 consecutive races.

NACSCAR Grand American Modifieds: Andrew Phipps, Simi Valley. Phipps, a Grand Am rookie, won two of the last three races to chase down veteran driver Rod Johnson of Canyon Country. It was Phipps' first Irwindale track championship.

NASCAR Mini Stocks: Fred Adams, Fontana. Adams scored five top-five finishes, and won once, to take the title.

Ultra-Wheel Super Truck Series: Dave Blankenship, Stevenson Ranch. Blankenship won two races, half as many as class leader Ryan Arciero of Foothill Ranch, and won the title.

NASCAR Vista Paint Super Stocks: Lee Ladd, Westlake Village. Ladd won the first six races of the season and coasted to the class championship. He added a seventh win before the end of the season.

West Coast Pro Truck Series: Aaron Staudinger, Stevenson Ranch. Staudinger won two of the last three races of the season to capture the title.

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IRWINDALE SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONS (see text)