Benson Racing Brings Home Strong Second Place Finish at Petaluma

This past Saturday July 26th the Benson Racing team finally got a break at a track that hasn’t been too kind to them so far this season. On July 5th the team was poised to finish strong when a flat left rear tire sent them to the pits with five laps down. The team was running fourth at the time after starting outside the second row but the flat sent them to the back of the pack which relegated them to a thirteenth place finish.
Fast forward two weeks and you have a performance that was the team’s strongest night of the season so far. Driver Mike Benson turned in the eighth quickest qualifying time out of 32 cars, a second place finish in the heat race (after starting 5th), and a solid second place finish in the feature event after starting third. The racing surface was very tricky with multiple ruts mixed in with the usual ultra tacky Petaluma Speedway clay which resulted in multiple yellow and red flags for the crashes of other competitors.
A look at the top three finishing drivers shows just what kind of competition Benson had to deal with to secure a second place finish. Petaluma Speedway regular Adam McCarthey maintained the top spot while hot on Benson’s heels was Alissa Geving who is another strong speedway regular. In the end it was Benson’s ability to balance fending off the challenges of Geving while looking for any opening that appeared to take the top spot from McCarthey which all had to be done without the benefit of lapped traffic due to the number of caution periods in the race.
The additional bonus that came out of the team’s strong Petaluma performance was that it helped maintain their fifth place position in the California Civil War series points standings with just six races left. The Benson Racing Team actually entered the top 5 after a strong night at Silver Dollar Speedway on July 18th that ended with a seventh place finish. In addition to a desire to pick up their second win at Calistoga Speedway the team is also very focused on a top five finish in the final Civil War Series point standings.

Quick Trip to the Midwest

Benson Racing Team members Mike Benson, Dave Moore, and Augie “Karl” Grube traveled to the hotbed of sprint car racing that is Indiana. The one week trip had the trio taking in the United States Auto Club’s ever popular “Sprint Week” for “traditional” (non-wing) sprint cars the week of July 9th. Also on tap was the 25th Annual famous “Kings Royal” which is a $50,000 to win event for winged 410ci sprint cars at the ominously high banked Eldora Speedway (the first sprint car race in the history of the sport to pay a winner’s share of that amount). Coming up quick is the Knoxville Nationals in Knoxville, IA. for winged 410 ci sprint cars that Benson intends to attend the first four days of. The trip to the Nationals will be sandwiched between Civil War events at Placerville Speedway (August 2nd) and Calistoga Speedway (August 9th).

Taking the Lid Off

Following the Civil War event at Silver Dollar Speedway on July 18th the team began assembling a second car for their first ever venture into “traditional” (non-wing) racing. With very few minor exceptions the car will be identical to the one they have campaigned so far. The most significant differences are that this car will not have either a front or top wing mounted on it and it will have the 410 ci engine under the hood. The team plans on running the USAC /CRA event at Santa Maria Speedway August 16th as their first “traditional” sprint outing.
All of this effort is with an eye towards competing in the historic return of “traditional” sprint car racing to Calistoga Speedway August 30th-31st with the running of the “Louis Vermeil Classic” (http://www.hammerdownusa.com/calistoga08.html). This event marks the return of “traditional” sprint racing to the famous half mile after a 23 year absence and is significant to the entire team since they all grew up watching the spectacular racing waged without the wings at Calistoga Speedway. For Benson in particular the significance cannot be underestimated as Vermeil’s shop was just across the creek from the house he still calls home and veteran drivers like LeRoy Van Connet, who was his boyhood racing hero, will be in attendance. Vermeil is considered by many to be the “father” of sprint car racing in Northern California for his tireless efforts to promote racing at Calistoga Speedway in particular but all over the northern part of the state as well.