Midseason Recap – Catching up With Benson Racing

Approaching the halfway point in the California racing season the Benson Racing Team has competed in an even dozen events split between 410ci competition and 360ci competition. While it is an unequal split the team has experienced success with both power plants under the hood. Of the twelve events nine were in the 410ci division and the remainder were in the 360ci division.

Main Event Winner at Petaluma Speedway - Photo by Chris Sampang

Highlighting the 410ci outings were five top ten feature event finishes highlighted by a well earned seventh at the season opener March 28th at Placerville Speedway. Additional highlights during 410ci competition include a heat race victory at Placerville Speedway May 3rd and a successful night at home track Calistoga Speedway May 24th with seventh quick in qualifying, second in the heat, and a strong eight place finish in the A Feature. In fact Benson scored a second place finish both nights in heat race competition at Calistoga Speedway Memorial Day Weekend.

Just recently the team decided to pull the 410ci power plant with the aim of performing a pretty significant overhaul of that motor. The first weekend with the 360ci power plant under the hood was actually competed with team member Kenny Flynn’s own motor in the car and resulted in a sixth place finish in the heat race and sixth place finish in the weekly program A Feature event at Petaluma Speedway June thirteenth. This evening ended up to just be a sign of things to come for the team which admittedly has been frustrated in the past by the quick “hooked up” 3/8ths mile Petaluma Speedway.

Quickly following this moderately successful night at Petaluma Speedway the team faced the competition of the state of California’s top 360ci series the “California Civil War” series on the third of July and was up to the challenge. To start off the evening driver Benson turned in second quick time and while the team didn’t make it directly out of the heat race a transfer was secured with a solid first place finish in the B feature followed by a stout fifth in the A feature. Mixed into all of this was participation in the annual fourth of July parade in downtown Calistoga.

Alissa & Mike - Photo by Chris Sampang

The team quickly backed up their performance at Petaluma Speedway the following weekend in a weekly speedway event on July eleventh. On this evening the team scored a heat race win and their first A main victory of the season by passing veteran home town racer Ivan Worden for the victory. The victory was won by patience and the experience gained by driver Benson over his years behind the wheel of a sprint car. The speedway story of this evening is located here.

On tap for the team in the very near future is a Placerville Speedway weekly show on July 18th and the return to 410ci competition with a newly freshened power plant at Chico Silver Dollar Speedway July 24th & 25th. The team’s tentative schedule is located here.

The 360ci power plant won’t get too much rest with the rapidly approaching Civil War event at Calistoga Speedway on August eighth. As with any opportunity to compete at their home track the team is particularly focused on preparing for success in this event. The only other event that gets this much focus for the rest of the season is the Louie Vermeil Classic for 410ci non-wing cars held Labor Day Weekend September fifth and sixth.

None of this would be possible without the support of team sponsors Hasa Pool Chemicals, Stadelhofer Construction, Tim Agapoff Construction, Cal-Mart, Calistoga Chiropractic, Porters Garage, P.C.S Specialties, Downing Paint & Equipment, Fulton Auto Body, Doug Bok, Moonlight welding, Moore Bros. Racing, Vella Racing Engines & Tech Services powered by septillion.net as well as a long list of many other supporters featured on the team website: BensonRacing.com