MOTOR SPORTS: IRWINDALE SURPRISE: STEWART TWO-TIME CHASE CHAMP COMPETES.Byline: TIM TIM Timothy TIM Technical Interchange Meeting TIM Transient Intermodulation Distortion TIM Time Is Money TIM The Invisible Man (movie) TIM Telecom Italia Mobile (Italian cellular provider) HADDOCK Staff Writer IRWINDALE -- Two-time NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. Nextel Cup The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series is NASCAR's top racing series. It was formerly known as the Strictly Stock Series (1949), Grand National Series (1950-1971), and the Winston Cup Series (1972-2003). Series champion Tony Stewart For other persons named Tony Stewart, see Tony Stewart (disambiguation). Anthony Wayne "Tony" Stewart (born May 20, 1971) is an auto racing driver who was born in Columbus, Indiana. He has won championships in sprint cars, Indy cars, and stock cars. made a surprise appearance in the 66th running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix The Turkey Night Grand Prix is an annual race of sprint cars and midget cars. It has been held on Thanksgiving night most years since 1934. It is currently held in Irwindale, California. Drivers The event is considered a major event in the sprint and midget cars series. at Irwindale Speedway Irwindale Speedway is a motorsports facility located in Irwindale, California. It features banked, paved 1/2 and 1/3 mile oval tracks. It is mainly used for USAC sprint car and regional NASCAR races. on Thursday night. Well, maybe it was a surprise to those who don't see him every weekend. Casey Mears Casey James Mears (born March 12, 1978 in Bakersfield, California) is the driver of the #25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports. He also drives the #24 National Guard Chevrolet in the NASCAR/Busch Series for Hendrick Motorsports. , a driver on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series who was entered in the USAC USAC Universal Service Administrative Company USAC United States Auto Club USAC Universidad de San Carlos (University of San Carlos, Guatemala) USAC US Airways Center (Phoenix, Arizona) Midget and Sprint car races at Irwindale Speedway, said he knew Stewart was planning on racing in the Turkey Night Grand Prix after the Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. ``I'm never surprised to see him at a Sprint car or Midget car race,'' said Mears, a driver from Bakersfield who will be racing the No. 25 Chevrolet Monte Carlo The Chevrolet Monte Carlo was an American mid-size car. Originally introduced by Chevrolet for the 1970 model year (as competition with the Ford Thunderbird), it has gone through six generations as of 2007. for Hendrick Motorsports next year. ``Are you?'' Stewart spent the afternoon putting down test laps, but made no indication he was racing until he took his car out for qualifying. It turns out Stewart was trying to make his first USAC race of the year. He owns a Midget team and apparently decided a week ago to race his own car in the traditional USAC event that is run on Thanksgiving. Stewart had to race his way into Thursday's night event after posting the 20th fastest time in qualifying. So did Mears, who was 18th fastest after qualifying. Fellow NASCAR driver Jason Leffler of Long Beach posted the second fastest time in Midget qualifying and started on the front row. The fastest 15 drivers earned spots in the Midget feature race. The remaining 45 drivers had to race their way into the Midget feature in a pair of B-mains. The top-eight drivers from each B-main qualified for the Midget feature race. Kody Swanson from Kingsburg, was the top qualifier of the 59 cars that came out for the Midget race. ``I'm just glad to be living in the moment,'' Swanson said. ``It's tremendous the amount of competition that is here tonight.'' Mears, Stewart and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Bobby East were in the same Midget B-main race to qualify for the feature. East won the B-main with Stewart in second and Mears in fourth. The USAC Sprint car race was redflagged on lap 20 when Swanson, who was running in third, flipped on the back stretch. He ran over the back wheel of Destiney Hays' car, which was a lap down, and tumbled upside down into the turn 3 wall. Tony Hunt, who won the pole, led the first 20 laps of the race. Swanson qualified sixth and Mears was eighth. Michael Faccinto of Hanford, took the lead with six laps to go and won the 50-lap USAC Ford Focus Midgets race. Ryan Smith was second and Levi Roberts, who led the first 44 laps of the race, was third. Faccinto won the USAC Ford Focus national championship, finishing 22 points ahead of Nic Faas. timothy.haddock@dailynews.com (818) 713-3715 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Bobby East leads during the USAC Midget qualifying race at Irwindale Speedway. Tom Thompson/Special to the Daily News |
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