With the Ocean Speedways Awards Dinner coming up this Saturday it
brings forth the opportunity to look back at the 2009 season and honor
the Champions before we move on to 2010. As can be said of many seasons
in the past, BAD had a lot of thrills, spills, and chills, with just as
many first time accomplishments occurring for the dwarf car associations
ninth season.
In a season full of tight racing the points battles for two of the
three season ending awards were just as tight. The Hard Charger is a
secondary award that stands by itself, its a racers award. It is given
to the driver that passes the most cars in a season from his/her
starting spot both in the heat as well as in the main event. This was a
very close battle all season with the lead changing hands on numerous
occasions, there were comers and goers too but in the end it was a dead
heat between two of BAD's top drivers. Gene "Punky" Pires Jr. Of Los
Banos and John Wear of Los Gatos finished with the same amount of cars
passed to share the honor of BAD's Hard Charger.
Shawn Jones of San Jose took home the Rookie of the year in his
number 24B M&M chassis. Shawn is a former go kart driver and has stepped
right in as a top notch Dwarf car pilot running up front all season and
finishing third at the BAD regional held at Ocean speedway.
The other highly contested Award was the BAD championship, at the
start of every season, thats your goal, winning a Championship, its
instilled in us, we all want to Win it, our competitive egos so to
speak, but at the end there can only be one driver who can claim the
title 2009 BAD Champion. This season was no different, coming into
March BAD had a car count of twenty six cars or more, week in and week
out, with twenty drivers making every race. Twenty drivers, one
championship! This can only mean one thing be fast and be consistent.
Gilbert Toste of Gilroy is both of those, if he starts in the front he
will finish there, take July 24, 2009 for example Gilbert started on the
pole of his heat race, as he took the green he noticed his car was only
running on three cylinders, it was missing bad, but he just keep it in
the front, he held off the seven car field for seven of the scheduled
eight laps and eventually finished second to Camron Diatte. I should
also mention that he was able to correct his clogged injector and win
that nights A main. Four times this season, Toste had to make his way
from the tenth starting spot due to winning the week before making
holding the points lead even more of a challenge.
Of course it wasn't all easy for BAD's longest tenure member and
the 2001 Champion as we all witnessed on opening night March 20, 2009 as
Toste brought out his brand new M&M Chassis and went into turn three
during the A main and caught a rut, that sent the yellow and blue Vicki
into a barrel roll with it landing at the top of turn. This was a hard
lick but Mr. Toste had that car ready to go as they headed to the
nationals in the desert of Nevada just four days later. Not only has he
been doing it on the club level but he has been running up front both at
nationals and regionals, as a BAD member he has won the past two BAD
regionals along with the HCDCA regional in Vernal, UT in 2009 and finish
in the top five of WSDCA points the past two seasons.
The late Dale Earnhardt had an aggressive driving style and a love
him or hate him fan base, but what you couldn't take from him is what he
brought to the sport and the same could be said for Gilbert Toste when
it comes to Dwarf Car racing. I have seen him offer to help every driver
out there today in one way or another and I have seen him spend night
after night working on cars at the shop to help the new guys. With that
said I remember back to my first national in the sportsman division,
Yreka 2008, this was all new to me, and I remember telling Gilbert to
"Go Represent". While the outcome of the race weekend wasn't what he
would have liked, his positivity towards my second place finish couldn't
have been better and I remembered him say "Way to Represent". While our
personal goals are always first and for most its a true champion that
looks past that and remembers the club and the sport. Gilbert Toste
"does Represent".
Aside from the Championship and other awards BAD witness the return
of a past Champion John Prentice in the 55 car and saw the end of a
career for a weekly regular out at the track Billy Martinez. We also
witness a second generation driver in Chance Damron in his Hot Rod
Chassis break into the sport, along with Shawn Jones, Dean Pires, Josh
Pires, Alicia Youngblood, and Igor Gandzjuk. BAD also witnessed new
blood in the winners circle with Duane Daniel (2008 Hard Charger
Champion), Cameron Diatte, Marty Weisler, and the 2008 rookie of the
year Mark Biscardi picking up two victory's. Nick Squatritto picked up a
Friday night victory in Marysville at the NCDCA Nationals, and Dean
Pires won the Sportsman Championship to represent BAD.
All in all even in the tenses of times with the issues that arose
within the Club over this past 2009 season I must say that there is no
better place to be than at the track whether its the regular Friday
night show that JP and Ocean puts on or at a Nationals with all of our
Western State Brothers. Congratulations to all the winners and can't
wait for the "Gotta Go, Gotta Go" in 2010.
By Greg Penny
brings forth the opportunity to look back at the 2009 season and honor
the Champions before we move on to 2010. As can be said of many seasons
in the past, BAD had a lot of thrills, spills, and chills, with just as
many first time accomplishments occurring for the dwarf car associations
ninth season.
In a season full of tight racing the points battles for two of the
three season ending awards were just as tight. The Hard Charger is a
secondary award that stands by itself, its a racers award. It is given
to the driver that passes the most cars in a season from his/her
starting spot both in the heat as well as in the main event. This was a
very close battle all season with the lead changing hands on numerous
occasions, there were comers and goers too but in the end it was a dead
heat between two of BAD's top drivers. Gene "Punky" Pires Jr. Of Los
Banos and John Wear of Los Gatos finished with the same amount of cars
passed to share the honor of BAD's Hard Charger.
Shawn Jones of San Jose took home the Rookie of the year in his
number 24B M&M chassis. Shawn is a former go kart driver and has stepped
right in as a top notch Dwarf car pilot running up front all season and
finishing third at the BAD regional held at Ocean speedway.
The other highly contested Award was the BAD championship, at the
start of every season, thats your goal, winning a Championship, its
instilled in us, we all want to Win it, our competitive egos so to
speak, but at the end there can only be one driver who can claim the
title 2009 BAD Champion. This season was no different, coming into
March BAD had a car count of twenty six cars or more, week in and week
out, with twenty drivers making every race. Twenty drivers, one
championship! This can only mean one thing be fast and be consistent.
Gilbert Toste of Gilroy is both of those, if he starts in the front he
will finish there, take July 24, 2009 for example Gilbert started on the
pole of his heat race, as he took the green he noticed his car was only
running on three cylinders, it was missing bad, but he just keep it in
the front, he held off the seven car field for seven of the scheduled
eight laps and eventually finished second to Camron Diatte. I should
also mention that he was able to correct his clogged injector and win
that nights A main. Four times this season, Toste had to make his way
from the tenth starting spot due to winning the week before making
holding the points lead even more of a challenge.
Of course it wasn't all easy for BAD's longest tenure member and
the 2001 Champion as we all witnessed on opening night March 20, 2009 as
Toste brought out his brand new M&M Chassis and went into turn three
during the A main and caught a rut, that sent the yellow and blue Vicki
into a barrel roll with it landing at the top of turn. This was a hard
lick but Mr. Toste had that car ready to go as they headed to the
nationals in the desert of Nevada just four days later. Not only has he
been doing it on the club level but he has been running up front both at
nationals and regionals, as a BAD member he has won the past two BAD
regionals along with the HCDCA regional in Vernal, UT in 2009 and finish
in the top five of WSDCA points the past two seasons.
The late Dale Earnhardt had an aggressive driving style and a love
him or hate him fan base, but what you couldn't take from him is what he
brought to the sport and the same could be said for Gilbert Toste when
it comes to Dwarf Car racing. I have seen him offer to help every driver
out there today in one way or another and I have seen him spend night
after night working on cars at the shop to help the new guys. With that
said I remember back to my first national in the sportsman division,
Yreka 2008, this was all new to me, and I remember telling Gilbert to
"Go Represent". While the outcome of the race weekend wasn't what he
would have liked, his positivity towards my second place finish couldn't
have been better and I remembered him say "Way to Represent". While our
personal goals are always first and for most its a true champion that
looks past that and remembers the club and the sport. Gilbert Toste
"does Represent".
Aside from the Championship and other awards BAD witness the return
of a past Champion John Prentice in the 55 car and saw the end of a
career for a weekly regular out at the track Billy Martinez. We also
witness a second generation driver in Chance Damron in his Hot Rod
Chassis break into the sport, along with Shawn Jones, Dean Pires, Josh
Pires, Alicia Youngblood, and Igor Gandzjuk. BAD also witnessed new
blood in the winners circle with Duane Daniel (2008 Hard Charger
Champion), Cameron Diatte, Marty Weisler, and the 2008 rookie of the
year Mark Biscardi picking up two victory's. Nick Squatritto picked up a
Friday night victory in Marysville at the NCDCA Nationals, and Dean
Pires won the Sportsman Championship to represent BAD.
All in all even in the tenses of times with the issues that arose
within the Club over this past 2009 season I must say that there is no
better place to be than at the track whether its the regular Friday
night show that JP and Ocean puts on or at a Nationals with all of our
Western State Brothers. Congratulations to all the winners and can't
wait for the "Gotta Go, Gotta Go" in 2010.
By Greg Penny
| January 14, 2010 |
| Gotta Go, Gotta Go |