FULL SPEED AHEAD FOR KANKE & CO.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK Motor Sports

Frazier Park's M.K. Kanke calls last season a building year.

The NASCAR Elite Division Southwest Series driver made only a handful of races last year, in part because he was putting together a new team and building a new car.

He tested his new No. 33 RPM Motorsports Chevrolet at Phoenix International Raceway Jan. 7 in preparation for this weekend's Copper World Classic and said he liked the results.

``The car ran good,'' said Kanke, a Southwest Series veteran with 81 career top-five finishes, the most of any driver on the circuit. ``We should be OK. I have three good guys working on the car. There's a bunch of depth on the team. It was really good at the test at Phoenix.''

Two of the ``good guys'' Kanke mentioned are Leon Ruther, his longtime crew chief in the 1980s and '90s, and Dennis Olson, a crew chief for Kanke from 1997 to 2000. Kanke has won 14 of his 19 career Southwest Series races with either Ruther or Olson as his crew chief.

The other ``good guy'' is shock and set-up specialist Junior Joyner from Victory Circle, a stock-car chassis manufacturer in Bakersfield. Joyner has worked as crew chief for Matt Crafton, a driver on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and has been integral in putting together Kanke's new Southwest Series car.

The three have been working on Kanke's car since summer. They took it to Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield in October and set the fast time in 18.324 seconds. The car finished third in the race.

Mesa Marin, a half-mile oval, was too short of a track to record any measurable data for the Phoenix track, a wide-open, 1-mile speedway.

``It's a new car,'' Kanke said. ``We needed a day to work on the car and get it in good and fast. It hadn't tested on a big track.''

The team has three cars: the new one it built over the summer, a road- course car for the race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma and an old Chevrolet he used to race with his Crown Motorsports team a few years ago.

In addition to running a full Southwest Series schedule, Kanke said his team may run two or three NASCAR Northwest Series races.

Canyon Country's Greg Pursley will return to the Southwest Series and drive the No. 70 Star Nursey Chevrolet for DZ Motorsports.

``This is a great opportunity,'' said Pursley, who won the 2004 Dodge Weekly Racing Series Sunbelt Region championship in the NASCAR Super Late Model division at Irwindale Speedway. ``I have a chance to return to the Southwest Series with a championship-caliber team, and I can't wait to get started.''

Pursley's best Southwest Series season was 2000, when he finished fifth in points and one won race. He has two career Southwest Series victories, both coming at Irwindale Speedway.

Reigning Southwest Series champion Jim Pettit of Prunedale posted three top-five finishes at Phoenix last year: a third, fourth and fifth.

``Sometimes this track just means survival,'' Pettit said. ``Last season we had top-five runs at Phoenix. It's time to find victory lane.''

Eddy McKean won last year's season opener at Phoenix, taking the lead on the second lap and staying out front the rest of the way. He has won three of the past nine Southwest Series races at Phoenix.

``I don't know what it is. I just have a good feel for the place,'' said McKean, from Jerome, Idaho. ``Phoenix is a track where I just feel comfortable, and in a race car, that is a real good feeling.''

Rip Michels of Mission Hills, the 2004 Southwest Series Rookie of the Year, and Bob Lyon of Agua Dulce also are entered in the Phoenix race.

Additionally, Ken Schrader, a regular on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, is entered in the Southwest and West series races at Phoenix.

The 10-race Southwest Series opens in Phoenix with a 75-lap race on Sunday. The drivers also will race at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield on April 10 and Oct. 15 and at Irwindale Speedway on Aug. 6. The Southwest Series finishes its season Nov. 10 in Phoenix.

``We'd like to finish in the top five at Phoenix,'' Kanke said. ``That would be a good start to the season.''

The 12-race NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series, also starts on Sunday in Phoenix with a 100-lap race. The West Series will make visits to Irwindale Speedway on July 23 and to California Speedway on Sept. 3.

NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick of Bakersfield and former Indy Racing League driver Sarah Fisher will be racing the West Series event.

Fisher will be driving the No. 20 Chevrolet Monte Carlo as part of a joint effort between Richard Childress Racing and Bill McAnally Racing. She is part of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program, established to attract minorities and women to develop careers in NASCAR.

``The Drive for Diversity program gives talented drivers and crew members an opportunity to prove themselves as members of the NASCAR community,'' Fisher said. ``Above and beyond that, I am very excited to begin my stock-car-racing career with a West Coast-based team the caliber of Bill McAnally Racing is and be in association with Richard Childress Racing. It's an indescribable opportunity for me as a driver.''

Bill McAnally Racing is based in Rocklin, near Sacramento, and has six West Series championships.

Harvick, who races for Richard Childress Racing on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, will be driving the No. 92 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

--USAC: Val Verde's Jay Drake won a record-setting three consecutive USAC Silver Crown pavement events in 2004 driving for Tony Stewart. When the USAC Silver Crown Series season starts Sunday in Phoenix, Drake will be looking to do even better.

``When you do something significant as a team, you always hope to equal or better your accomplishment,'' said Drake, the 2004 USAC National Sprint Car Series champion. ``With five pavement races on the schedule, we'd like to win four or maybe five of those shows.''

Stewart, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, is fielding two cars in the Silver Crown Series. The other is for driver Josh Wise.

The USAC Silver Crown Series and Western Midget Car Series will be racing with the NASCAR divisions at Phoenix this weekend.

Drake will be driving the No. 22 Tony Stewart Enterprises entry. He also is entered the USAC Western Midget race in the No. 67 Keith Kunz Motorsports entry.

Troy Cline, formerly of Santa Clarita, will be racing the BWB Racing LLC entry in the Silver Crown Series race.

CAPTION(S):

2 boxes

Box:

(1) NASCAR Elite Division Southwest Series Schedule

(2) NASCAR Grand National Division West Series Schedule