Irwindale Speedway

hosted seven exciting 

2019 season 

opening races

On Saturday night March 9 Irwindale Speedway opened its 20^th anniversary season with “City of Irwindale Night’ sponsored by Sunrise Ford that featured racing in six divisions and seven feature races.  Despite the chilly local temperatures, approximately 3000 fans saw some hot diverse racing action on both the ½ and 1/3- mile ovals.

The program began with the first of the LKQ Pick Your Park Late Model twin 30-lap features which started the 13-car field “straight up” based on qualifying times. Fast qualifier Ryan Vargas chose the outside front row position for the start. 

The wisdom of Vargas’ choice was proven as the inside front row starter Jace Jones, the 14-year old grandson of racing legend Parnelli Jones spun his car’s tires at the start and fell to third place entering turn one. Jones rode behind Vargas and Blaine Perkins with Jones’ Highpoint Racing teammate four-time track champion Trevor Huddleston in fourth place.

The top four cars distanced themselves from the rest of the field, and at the halfway point, Vargas held a 4-car length advantage over Perkins, then on lap 20 Jones set his sights on Perkins – Jones’ and Perkins’ cars ran three laps side-by-side before Jones dropped back in line in third place.

          

With five laps to go, Huddleston began his march to the front, as he used the low line to pass Jones and Perkins as the leaders raced through lapped cars, but Huddleston could not catch the leader. Vargas went flag-to-flag and won by .648 seconds over Huddleston with Perkins third and rookie Jace Jones fourth.

Next up was the Enduro and Enduro Sport series feature for 1980 and newer compact cars competing for 25 laps around the modified 1/3-mile infield with a dogleg at the starter’s stand. It took a few laps for veteran sprint car racer Rodney Argo to break free of the pack and run down the early leader and he built up a 6-car length lead by lap 6. By lap 13, Argo built a 6-second lead as he ran consistent 18.1 second laps in his black #9 Enduro Sport Honda Accord.  

On lap 19, the second-place car was involved in a hard crash in turn two and eliminated but the driver was uninjured. Once the green flag reappeared, Argo drove away from the pack and won by 8 seconds over Bory Molina with Bobby Ozman in third place. Back in the pack Brad Stellman took the stock Enduro class win.  

Next up on the 1/3-mile track were the super stocks with V-8 powered muscle cars using their original equipment chassis. Young lady racer Bridgette Shaw led the first lap in her 1973 Petty Blue Dodge Dart but was soon passed by Rich Delong’s #84. At the end of 25 laps, DeLong who won three super stock races in 2018, won by ½ a lap over Jerry Toperek.

73-year old racing legend “Cowboy” Kenny Smith claimed a popular win in the YouRaceLA Spec Late Models 20-lap feature over Ventura’s Ed Cutler. 

The INEX Legends series ran an action-packed 35-lap feature to close out the evening’s racing on the 1/3-mile course.  The early laps featured wild three-wide action as the field started the race fully inverted. The fast qualifier Cameron Morga from Albuquerque, New Mexico worked his way through the field and took the lead on lap four. Mora put on a dominating performance as he won by six seconds, while Ricky Schlick just edged out 2018 champion Darren Amidon for second place honors.

In his Victory Lane interview, Mora who flew in from Albuquerque on Thursday afternoon and practiced at Irwindale on Thursday and Friday night, stated that “Irwindale is the most demanding track I run on. 35 laps here in a Legends car is as tough as it gets.”

Defending champion Lucas McNeil worked his way to the lead from his fourth row starting sport by the fourth lap of the Lucas Oil Irwindale Race Trucks 30-lap feature on the1/2-mile oval. McNeil and Andrew Porter battled for the lead as the leader’s brother Jacob McNeil, Ron Peterson, Niko Mongenel and Dennis Arena battled for third place. At the drop of the checkered flag, the McNeil brothers bookended second place finisher Porter.

The evening’s finale was the second LKQ Pick Your Part Late Models 30-lap feature, this time with the top ten finishers from the first race inverted for the start. As the tightly packed field raced three-wide through turn four on the opening lap, Rodney Peacher’s yellow #35 and the #88 of Japanese driver Takuma Koga touched, and Peacher’s car was turned and crashed hard head-on into the outside retaining wall which brought out the red flag to stop the action.

After track emergency workers extracted an uninjured Peacher from the wreckage and cleaned up the fluids spilled onto the track, action resumed with one lap complete. On the restart which included all but Peacher’s car, Trevor Huddleston got caught up in an accordion action as the cars ahead failed to pick up the throttle. Trevor’s blue #50 car spun into infield which brought out the yellow flag and the field reset for another restart, this time with the three-time defending champion at the tail of the field.

When the green flag reappeared Kevin Furden surged into the lead as action behind him was 3 and 4 wide at times as the faster cars came up through the field. On lap five, Furden’s #34 bobbled as he entered the backstretch and he fell to eighth place by the time the field reached the stripe. Lucas McNeil assumed the lead trailed by Blaine Perkins, Trevor Huddleston and Ryan Vargas. Huddleston claimed second place on lap 10, then on lap he dropped to the low side of the track to challenge McNeil for the lead.

The lead pair dueled side-by-side for four laps, then on lap 20 in turns 3 and 4, as they approached two slower cars, Huddleston dove beneath McNeil then split the slower cars to grab the race lead. Huddleston built a comfortable 2-second lead over McNeil over the final nine circuits, with Perkins third, Vargas fourth and rookie Jace Jones in fifth position.

After the first two races, Huddleston holds a four-point lead for the 2019 LKQ Pick Your Part late Model championship over Ryan Vargas, who in turn has a two-marker lead over third place Blaine Perkins.

Next up on Irwindale Speedway’s half-mile oval will be the Spears Modifieds and the RJ Allen 150 SRL Tour and the Southwest Tour Trucks series presented by Traffic Management on March 23.  On March 30, Irwindale Speedway will host the NASCAR K & N West Pro Series for the NAPA Auto Parts 150 along with the Saugus Speedway reunion with Grand Marshal Ron Hornaday Junior.