The San Francisco event held at Candlestick Park on October
\n17 marked the end of yet another year of the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship Gran Prix series. Rod Millen became the new
\nnumber one plate holder in the Grand National Sport Truck class
\nbefore the event even started and Team Toyota regained the
\nManufacturer’s Cup after it’s brief stay at Dodge. Tommy Croft
\ndrove his Jeep to a championship victory in the UltraStock
\ndivision and Jeep ran away with their class Manufacturer’s Cup.
\nIn a down to the wire decision, Jerry Whelchel drove into the
\nchampionship circle in the Super 1600 division. With four main
\nevents for the year (including Candlestick) Jimmie Johnson earned
\nthe number one plate in his SuperLite division. Repeat champions
\nMark Ehrnardt and Mike Craig won in their respective Skat(c)Trak
\nATV and UltraCross divisions.<\/p>\n
Although Toyota dominated this year’s Grand National racing
\nRick Johnson served notice that he and his Nelson and Nelson
\nChevrolet will be a serious threat for 1993. Johnson drove the
\nChevrolet to two astonishing main event wins for the year. He won
\none of the heat races at Candlestick but engine woes put him in a
\nbattle for third in the main event. Johnson stated before the
\nrace that Chevrolet was influenced enough with his rookie year
\nthat he will return in 1993 with a second truck. The driver of
\nwhich is still undecided.<\/p>\n
As we stated in an earlier issue the new Nye Frank Super
\n1600 car built for Jerry Whelchel appeared to be very impressive
\nright out of the crate. Whelchel started the year in an old
\nChenowth and finished poorly in the first event then new car woes
\nmeant a disappointing second event. But once he got the bugs out
\nof the new car he then either won or finished in the top three in
\nevery event thereafter. If this car sounds like the winning
\nticket you can forget about having one made. Whelchel said that
\nNye Frank has no intention of putting the car into production.<\/p>\n
In the SuperLite class the young Jimmie Johnson won four of
\nthe eight race series events. Johnson’s other second place
\nfinishes in all but the Seattle event had earned him the
\nchampionship before the Candlestick event. But Johnson didn’t let
\nhis early victory slow him down, he came to Candlestick and won
\nthe main event too. Rumor has it that Johnson, not related to
\nRick, is one of the drivers being considered for the second
\nChevrolet next year.<\/p>\n
The Candlestick race track was tight and fast. As the track
\nwas built around the football playing field it appeared there
\nwere few places to pass, but throughout the event the drivers
\ndemonstrated their ability to pull around in some of the most
\nunusual places. To acquaint you with the action the start\/finish
\nline was set on about the 40 yard line of Candlestick Park’s
\nfootball field. A fast left hand sweeper transported the action
\naround what would be home base of the baseball field. Just before
\nfirst base, a small jump broke up the turn. At first base a left
\nhand turn greeted the racers into a rhythm section. At the end of
\nthe rhythm section, just past second base, a right hand switch
\nback turned the action back across right field. Two uneven jumps
\nshook things up before a left hand switch back. The action was
\nnow against the stadium wall where the track continued around the
\noutfield headed back to end the lap. During this long left
\nsweeper a couple of jumps were intended to keep their speed in
\ncheck but this area seen some serious horsepower. Just before the
\nlast left heading to the start\/finish line the track funneled
\ninto a very tight, single lane left turn. But the faster drivers
\nmanaged to power drift through it with a lot of style. And as
\nusual a jump was included at the finish line. <\/p>\n
Racing got underway with the first Grand National heat race.
\nRod Millen had set fast time with his new arch rival Rick Johnson
\nsecond fastest. With the inverted start the fast guys were placed
\nback in the pack and Jimmy Nichols sat on the pole. Once green,
\nRoger Mears Jr. slipped inside before the rhythm section and got
\nthe Nissan Hooked up. But the pack caught up with him in the
\nfirst switch back and Brain Stewart upended Mears Jr causing a
\nrestart. <\/p>\n
On the restart Walker Evans was spun around. This held him
\nand Rick Johnson up for a moment allowing the pack to get away
\nfrom them. Mears Jr had the lead with fourth fastest qualifier
\nIvan Stewart on his tail. Roger Mears Sr was third and Rod Millen
\nheld fourth. On the third lap Millen took the lead by slipping
\ninside of Mears Jr just before entering the fourth lap.<\/p>\n
Once out front Stewart was able to create some breathing
\nroom and Mears Jr had some also. But a heated battle was raging
\nfor third with Mears Sr, Millen and Rob MacCachren. MacCachren
\nand Millen were able to provide the show when Mears Sr spun and
\ntagged the hydro barrier. MacCachren took third place on the
\nleft hand switch-back but Millen found his way around before the
\nrace was over.<\/p>\n
Ivan Stewart pulled into the winners circle with plenty of
\nbreathing room between himself and Roger Mears Jr. Third place
\nRod Millen had Rob MacCachren close by and Walker Evans crossed
\nover fifth.<\/p>\n
UltraStock heat one had 11 cars. However teammates Tommy
\nCroft and Larry Noel were mainly worried about each other as only
\na few points separated them for the championship. On the start
\nNoel pushed his Jeep up front but Chris Neil and he collided in
\nthe switch back. Noel ended up on his roof with the Pathfinder on
\ntop of it. Both were righted and able to restart.<\/p>\n
On the restart Tim Lewis jumped out with a comfortable lead
\nas a traffic jam happened behind him. Larry Noel found himself
\nbehind Brian Collins and Tommy Croft was behind Noel. Before the
\nrace ended Noel managed to take the second spot and Croft had to
\nsettle for fourth. The second place finish added fuel to the
\npoints fire as Noel gained four points on the leader Croft.<\/p>\n
A total of 18 riders came out for the first Skat Trak ATV
\nheat. Once the green came out Charles Shepherd drove to the
\ncheckered flag. Shepherd had to earn his victory though as Greg
\nStuart pulled alongside on a couple of occasions. However, the
\n1990 points champ Charles Shepherd managed the win with Stuart
\nsecond. Third place was Donavon Holland and Gary Denton crossed
\nover fourth. Denton came into the event trailing Mark Ehrhardt
\nfor the season. Fifth went to Roger Helsley.<\/p>\n
Fifteen riders came out for the six lap Skat Trak ATV second
\nheat. Mark Ehrhardt showed his championship style by taking
\ncommand of the heat early. However Doug Eichner made him earn the
\nwin by pressuring for the lead throughout the event. Local rider
\nNiclas Granlund crossed over third. Fourth was Chris Berger and
\nfifth was Jason Sutter.<\/p>\n
This year marked a new era for the Mears Gang as CJ Mears
\nand cousin Clint Mears entered the SuperLite wars. In the first
\nheat race CJ Mears used his pole starting position to his
\nadvantage and pulled out the early leader. Behind him was the
\nnewly crowned class champ Jimmie Johnson. Having grown up around
\nserious racers the young Mears was not intimidated and held off
\nJohnson for three laps. Johnson’s lead was short lived as he made
\na rare mistake and spun out giving the lead and eventual win to
\nMears. Jimmie Johnson was able to regain control of the
\nBriggsbuilt Natures Recipe machine and finished second. Third
\nwent to Rick Marshall and fourth was Johnson’s teammate Mercedes
\nGonzales. Stacy Fay rounded out the top five.<\/p>\n
Round two of the SuperLites had nine cars competing. At
\nfirst it appeared that Greg George was headed for an easy win but
\nhe got a rear wheel hung on the hydro-barrier and Terry Peterson
\nmoved into the lead. However George was not through and was able
\nto regain control of second place and by the third lap George
\nmoved inside Peterson on the outfield sweeper for the lead.
\nPeterson managed second while third place went to Erik Cobb.
\nKeith Ehlers maneuvered around Rennie Awana before the checkered.<\/p>\n
As stated earlier Candlestick Park was fast and the speed
\ncarried on even with the usually slow Pee Wee exhibition. Many of
\nthe young riders ranging from four to eight years were air bound
\nover the jumps and showed confidence around the fast corners.
\nThose competition were Robert Harold, Tyson Talkington, Bobby
\nMorello, Nick Alvarez, Casey Russell, Mathew Clark, Matt Smith,
\nJillian Bennett, Ryan Millen, Daniel Taft and Davey Freeman.<\/p>\n
The closest points battle for the season was between the top
\nfour Super 1600 drivers. Marty Hart came to Candlestick with 228
\npoints. Jerry Whelchel had earned 222 and Frank Arciero Jr held
\n219. Mitch Mustard was also within striking distance with 218
\npoints. Whelchel was able to close up on Hart with the four
\npoints earned setting fast time but Hart had the second fastest.
\nEven so all four were still in contention and all knew they had
\nthree events to finish before anyone wear the crown. <\/p>\n
Heat one had 10 cars entered. At the green Frank Arciero
\ntook the early lead. Jerry Whelchel was second and had to study
\nArciero for a couple of laps before finding a way around. Once
\naround, Whelchel was then able to pull a ten car lead. Whelchel
\nwas able to hold on for the win and pull 15 points ahead of Hart,
\nwho was racing in the next heat. Frank Arciero managed second and
\nhis 17 points meant that he too was still a serious threat. Jimmy
\nNichols brought his Chenowth across third and fourth went to Bob
\nGordon, with Eric Arras trailing.<\/p>\n
The second Super 1600 heat followed with nine cars entered
\nin an eight lap race. Marty Hart and Mitch Mustard sat alongside
\none another in the second row. Gary Gall sat on the pole, and
\nwhen the green came out Gall couldn’t care less that a points
\nbattle raged behind him. Gall was able to win the event but
\ntowards the end Mustard pulled up to make him earn the win. Marty
\nHart finished second and earned 17 points but still found himself
\ntrailing Whelchel going into the main event.<\/p>\n
The second Grand National heat race turned out to be a wild
\nevent. Jimmy Nichols was positioned on the pole again and
\nalongside Nichols was the independent Ford of Gary Denton. Roger
\nMears Sr and Rob MacCachren made up the second row. And when the
\ngreen came out it was Roger Mears that lead the pack through the
\nswitch backs. Another charger was Rick Johnson who had moved from
\na next to last starting position into fourth place. But Johnson
\nfound Nichols sideways in the left switch back and Johnson had no
\nwhere to go. Johnson smacked the Ford, spinning it around and
\nthen Johnson’s Chevrolet came to rest on top of the barrier. This
\ncaused a restart and Walker Evans was sent to the back of the
\npack for causing Nichols to get sideways.<\/p>\n
On the restart Mears held his lead with Johnson tucking up
\nin second and MacCachren in a badly beat up Ford was in third.
\nBut before things could get heated up Nichols rolled the Ford
\nagain in the right switch back. Causing another yellow.<\/p>\n
With racing action restarted Mears quickly pulled out with
\nJohnson taking the brunt of traffic crawling all over him in the
\nfirst switch back. Rod Millen got sideways but was able to get
\ngoing. A four car battle for fourth place had developed but
\neverything appeared to be sorted out. Then while leading the
\nevent Roger Mears took the finish line jump wrong, landed on his
\nnose and did a violent flip. The Nissan caught fire but was put
\nout quickly. Mears however had his bell rung pretty good and it
\ntook a few minutes before the medics could get him out of the
\nupside down Nissan. Mears was okay but did not return for the
\nmain event.<\/p>\n
With Roger Mears out this gave the lead to Rick Johnson. On
\nthe restart Johnson took off and was able to hold a five truck
\nlength lead over Ivan Stewart. Third place went to Rob MacCachren and Rod Millen was fourth. Walker Evans managed fifth.<\/p>\n
In the UltraCross first heat race early leader Ryan Carlisle
\nwent over the handle bars of the Kawasaki and Scott Myers took
\nover the lead. But points leader Mike Craig came charging through
\nthe pack to take over the lead on the second lap. Larry Brooks
\nfollowed Craig’s lead and moved into the second spot. Time ran
\nout on Brooks’ attempt and he had to settle for second. Scott
\nMyers managed third and fourth went to Ryan Carlisle. Chris
\nRidgeway was fifth in this class of 11 riders.<\/p>\n
Another 11 riders came out for the second UltraCross event.
\nThis time Shaun Wooten put his Suzuki out front early. Back in
\nthe pack Kyle Lewis had some trouble while running third and
\ndropped the Yamaha. This mishap was to Team Kawasaki’s points
\nadvantage as Ray Crumb was able to move into the second spot.
\nCrumb wasn’t content with the second spot and stole the lead on
\nthe final corner of the race. Shaun Wooten finished second and
\nthird went to Lance Small (Yamaha). Fourth was another Yamaha of
\nLowell Thomson, and fifth was Shaun Kalos.<\/p>\n
When the UltraStock main event lined up it was points leader
\nTommy Croft and teammate Larry Noel that were sharing the front
\nrow. On the start the two Jeeps ran away from third place Jim
\nSmith. Smith had Tim Lewis in hot pursuit. Brain Collins came
\ncharging through and hit Kent Castle rolling him over about mid
\nway. Then Castle and Jeff Elrod tangled to the point the Rough
\nDriving Committee decided to drop Castle to last position.
\nMeanwhile Croft was running along with only a loose hood as his
\nbiggest threat to the championship. Larry Noel got crossed up in
\na corner on the last lap and Jim Smith was able to finish second.
\nChris Neil managed third and fourth went to Jack Millerd. Tim
\nLewis managed fifth. <\/p>\n
A total of 18 starters came out for the seven lap Skat Trak
\nATV main event. Win loose or draw Mark Eharhardt had already
\nearned the points championship so when Niclas Granlund took off
\nthe early leader Eharhardt wasn’t too worried. Granlund was able
\nto hold the lead for three laps before Greg Stuart came up to
\nworry Granlund. Stuart was able to pour the throttle to the Honda
\nand take the lead from Granlund. Once out front it was as if the
\nfat lady had sang; Greg Stuart won the main but Mark Ehrhardt won
\nthe repeat number one plate. Second for the night went to early
\nleader Nicklas Granlund and Donovan Holland, Doug Eichner and
\nCharles Shepherd trailed.<\/p>\n
The UltraLite main event was seven laps and had 16 cars
\nentered. On the pole was heat winners CJ Mears and Greg George.
\nOn the start George grabbed the lead and his teammate Jimmie
\nJohnson sandwiched the young Mears between the two. It took
\nJohnson a couple of laps before settling in behind teammate
\nGeorge. The two then quickly distanced themselves from Mears.
\nThis follow the leader strategy went on until Johnson found an
\nopening on the next to last lap. This win gave Jimmie Johnson his
\nfourth win of the season and the championship. Greg George
\nmanaged second but was vying for his 20th career victory (in
\nthree different classes). CJ Mears had a good night with his
\nthird place finish. Fourth was Stacy Fay and Rick Marshall was
\nfifth.<\/p>\n
Coming into the Super 1600 main event the stage was set for
\nwhat could be a dramatic ending to the year long war. Only a hand
\nfull of points separated the front two drivers and any one of
\nfour could conceivably win the championship. Things appeared good
\nfor Jerry Whelchel, but as with any 1600 event anything could
\nhappen. He came into the main as points leader, but still had
\nthree other drivers that could possibly take it. And two of the
\nthree cars were lined behind him. Whelchel sat on the pole next
\nto Gary Gall, but had his closest points rival Frank Arciero
\nsetting inside the second row. And Mitch Mustard was outside of
\nArciero. Marty Hart had the points advantage coming into the
\nevent but was lined up back in the pack. <\/p>\n
It must have been the “buts or what if” that spurred
\nWhelchel off the line; and eventually ruined the dramatic show
\ndown. Once racing got underway he pulled a couple of car lengths
\non Arciero, who had moved Gall into the third spot. And once out
\nfront it was a matter of negotiating lapped traffic before
\nWhelchel won the event and the championship. <\/p>\n
Frank Arciero Jr came across second and third went to Mitch
\nMustard. Gary Gall was fourth place and Jimmy Nichols was fifth.
\nAnd Marty Hart was sixth.<\/p>\n
In the UltraCross main event there were 20 starters but the
\nreal points battle was between Kyle Lewis and Mike Craig. Lewis
\nput a serious threat together early on by taking the lead.
\nHowever he had trouble holding onto the Yamaha over one of the
\njumps and ended up with the Yamaha riding him to the ground.
\nLewis was able to remount but found himself in 10th place. <\/p>\n
Shaun Kalos had no problems with his Yamaha and rode the
\ntrack for a victory. Kalos was followed by Tony Amaradio and
\nLarry Brooks. Mike Craig finished fourth in the main but earned
\nenough points for the championship. However, Graig had stated
\nearlier that he was racing in Europe next year and could not race
\nthe 1993 MTEG series.<\/p>\n
When the final Grand National Sport Truck main event came
\nout it was Team Toyota sharing the front row. Ivan Stewart sat
\ninside of Rod Millen. Rick Johnson was inside of row two and Rob
\nMacCachren was outside. Roger Mears and Brain Stewart didn’t
\nmake the starting line.<\/p>\n
Once the green flag came out the front four driver’s right
\nfoot must have grown a couple of sizes. All the power available
\nwas powering the front four around like a locomotive. Ivan
\nStewart had his Toyota out front. Rod Millen trailed with Rick
\nJohnson and Rob MacCachren all four within a sneeze of each
\nother. The pace continued this way for four laps. Then Johnson
\nappeared to be falling off the pace. Apparently the new engine
\ninstalled between races lacked the power of the previous power
\nplant. But MacCachren wasn’t slacking off any and this kept both
\nof Johnson’s hands full. Meanwhile Millen was also closing in on
\nhis teammate. But then Roger Mears Jr rolled and a yellow came
\nout to slow down the action.<\/p>\n
On the restart the savvy Stewart jumped out early and left
\nthe battle between his teammate Millen and Johnson. Rob MacCachren now had Walker Evans pressuring him as well. Ivan Stewart had nothing but clear track ahead of him and the checkered flag. The Candlestick event was Stewart’s second win of the season. Rod Millen had already sewn up the championship and was able to hold onto second. Third place was Rick Johnson and Rob MacCachren was able to hold off Walker Evans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The San Francisco event held at Candlestick Park on October 17 marked the end of yet another year of the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship Gran Prix series. Rod Millen became the new number one plate holder in the Grand National Sport Truck class before the event even started and Team Toyota regained the Manufacturer’s Cup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortcourseracer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}