3-TIME WINNER, THE DEMON, ENTERS OVAL NATIONALS

By: Scott Daloisio

Perris, California (October 18, 2022)………Three-time Heimark Anheuser Busch Budweiser Oval Nationals winner Damion Gardner is amongst the latest entries for the 26th running of the event which will take place on November 3-4-5 at southern California’s Perris Auto Speedway.

Gardner, the nine-time USAC CRA Sprint Car Series champ from Concord, California and current series point leader, will pilot the Alexander Racing No. 1 in the season-ending races for both the USAC AMSOIL National and USAC CRA Sprint Cars as he seeks to become the first four-time “Ovals” winner after previously reigning triumphant in 2009-11-16.

The driver affectionately known to his fans as “The Demon” is closing in on his 10th USAC CRA title and leads the series with six main event wins in 2022.  The most recent of his victories, which came at the September 17th Glenn Howard Memorial at The PAS, was his 108th triumph.  That broke a tie with National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Dean Thompson for the all-time lead in victories in CRA-SCRA-USAC CRA competition.

In addition to Gardner, two other USAC/CRA Series regulars have also submitted their entries for the prestigious race. Tommy “Thunder” Malcolm of Corona, California and San Diego’s A.J. Bender will be on hand for the three-night event during the first week of November.

Both Malcolm and Bender grew up in their teen years racing at the famous Riverside County half-mile clay oval. Malcolm began competing and winning at the track in the PASSCAR Street Stocks before venturing off to race Late Models and Modifieds.  Bender was a regular and a multi-time winner at The PAS in the California Lightning Sprint Car Series.

An entry was also received from Peoria, Arizona native Tye Mihocko.  The driver known as “The Bull” recently sewed up the 2022 season championship at Indiana’s Putnamville Speedway.  Mihocko is no stranger to The PAS victory circle having visited there after a win in the track’s Young Gun Sprint Car Series several years ago.  

The early entry deadline for the Oval Nationals is this Friday, October 21st.  Entries postmarked by that date are $100.00.  Entries postmarked after the 21st or at the gate are $250.00.  The entry blank is available at the following link http://www.perrisautospeedway.com/2022/22ovalentry.pdf.

As always, the Thursday and Friday night portions of the Oval Nationals will be the preliminaries.  The winner on each preliminary night will take home $5,000.00 and the races will pay $500.00 to start.  On Saturday, the 40-lap main event will pay $20,000.00 to win and $1000.00 to start.  

All three nights of the Oval Nationals will be complete nights of racing with qualifying, heat races, preliminaries mains, and an A main event.  The top six cars from the first two nights will be seeded straight into Saturday’s main event and will contest a “Super Six Dash” to determine their starting positions in the first three rows.

In addition to being the season-ender for the USAC/CRA and National Sprint Car Series, Saturday will also feature the “Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster” finale.  Broken Arrow, Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon currently leads Ion, California’s Justin Grant by 19-points.   Greenfield, Indiana’s C.J. Leary is third and is followed by Chase Stockon and Suter, California’s Logan Seavey.  Saturday’s race will wrap up the 10-race series that honors Jones, who was a two-time CRA champion driver.  He was also one of the key people involved in the design, construction, and management of Perris Auto Speedway. 

Advance tickets for the Oval Nationals are available now online at https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/pas/7 or by calling 1-800-595-4849.

OVAL NATIONALS WINNERS:

1996 – Jimmy Sills

1997 – Rip Williams

1998 – Rodney Argo

1999 – Rickie Gaunt

2000 – Tony Jones

2001 – Bud Kaeding

2002 – Bud Kaeding

2003 – Cory Kruseman

2004 – Cory Kruseman

2005 – Dave Darland

2006 – Dave Darland

2007 – Bud Kaeding

2008 – Jesse Hockett

2009 – Damion Gardner

2010 – Chris Windom

2011 – Damion Gardner

2012 – Mike Spencer

2013 – Dave Darland

2014 – Robert Ballou

2015 – Bryan Clauson

2016 – Damion Gardner

2017 – Kevin Thomas Jr.

2018 – Kevin Thomas Jr.

2019 – C.J. Leary

2020 – No Race

2021 – Kevin Thomas Jr.