Salm wins at Orange Show

Mike Salm earned his first-ever main event victory at Orange Show Speedway by capturing the season’s final Grand American Modified race October 7.

The main event win was the first for Salm since May 1, 2004, when Salm and his Modified won that night’s Cajon Speedway main event.

“Been a little dry streak, so we’re pretty proud of that,” he said of his first win in over two years.

Salm raced in the Modified division at Cajon Speedway between 1996 and 2004. He won 19 of his 120 Modified main events while racing at Cajon; 17 of those victories were during the points season and two were open competition races. Salm’s first main event win came on July 1, 2000, which was his 60th Modified race, and during that year Salm also set the track record for Modified drivers with five consecutive main event victories. Salm won the Modified track championship in 2000, finished second in the standings for each of the next three years, and was fourth in 2004 (Salm also finished 12th in 1996, seventh in 1997, sixth in 1998, and fifth in 1999). In addition to his Cajon Speedway racing, Salm had also participated in open competition races at Irwindale Speedway and in Las Vegas.

After plans for a 2005 season at Cajon Speedway fell through, Orange Show added a Modified division midway through the 2005 season and the first-ever Grand American Modified race at the San Bernardino paved oval was held on July 23, 2005. Salm placed fourth in that main event after qualifying second and finishing fourth in the heat race. Orange Show did not have a points format for the Modifieds in 2005.

Orange Show included the Modifieds as a regular class for 2006, adding a points system and specific track rules for the division. (Differences between the Cajon Speedway and Orange Show rules include reduced maximum left-side weight percentage and wheel offset for Orange Show and treaded tires at Orange Show as opposed to the slicks allowed at Cajon.) Orange Show’s first Modified race of 2006 took place April 22; Salm qualified fourth, finished third in the heat race, and placed second in the main event.

Salm posted the fast qualifying time in the following Modified race May 6 for his first fast time at that track and also earned his first-ever heat race win at Orange Show that night before finishing fourth in the main event.

Salm ran several Orange Show races in 2006 but did not run the full season. His intent was to race for fun rather than for points. “We’re serious about winning, but we’re having a lot more fun,” Salm said.

One change Salm made during the year was switching to his backup motor, which may be more suitable for the quarter-mile Orange Show oval than the motor Salm used at the 3/8-mile Cajon Speedway. “The motor actually ran a lot better than we thought it was going to run,” Salm said. “The motor seemed to work pretty good.”

Because Salm is not running for points at Orange Show, he has not taken the car to the track for practice sessions and only practices during the hot laps the day of the race. Salm qualified fifth October 7 with a lap of 14.01 seconds; Mike Jackson had the fast qualifying time at 13.85 seconds. “We were off the pace a little bit,” Salm said. “We had a bunch of problems.”

Salm began the eight-lap heat race on the inside of the second row and finished second to Jackson. “He probably had the most dominant car,” Salm said of Jackson.

Jackson’s biggest problem in terms of winning the main event was the same one Salm had on May 6. The fast qualifier draws a ball from a jar to determine the number of top qualifiers who will be inverted for the main event. Salm’s pea pick May 6 inverted the top eight qualifiers on a narrow track where passing fast cars is difficult, and he did not have enough laps to overtake the final three drivers that night. Jackson’s pea pick October 7 inverted seven drivers, and when one of those drivers was unable to make the main event Jackson started the feature on the outside of the third row while Salm began the race on the outside of the front row.

“We figured we had to get a jump,” Salm said. “We got a jump luckily.”

Salm got that jump, but a first-lap accident caused a restart. “I was determined to make sure we got a good start,” Salm said.

Salm stayed alongside the other front-row driver on the restart for more than a lap before taking the lead in the second lap. He led the race for the entire 25 laps, holding off second-place driver Lloyd Mack during three cautions and restarts. “Every time a caution came up I was a little bit worried,” Salm said.

Salm and his crew made some changes to the car for the main event, one of which was a chassis adjustment Salm believes allowed his car to work better on the bottom groove. Jackson was caught in traffic, and by the time he moved his way up to third place Salm and Mack were about four to five car lengths ahead of Jackson.

“There was a lot of pressure from behind. There were some fast cars out there,” Salm said.

Salm felt that Mack’s car was better in turns 1 and 2 while Salm’s car was better in turns 3 and 4. “It made it an interesting race,” Salm said.

“He was kind of on my bumper. He was running strong,” Salm said of Mack. “I was trying all I could do to hold him off.”

After the race Mack was disqualified due to the track’s belief that he had not complied with the tech inspection. Jackson was given second place in the race along with the track championship, while Salm’s win was not affected by the disqualification of Mack and two other drivers.

“It felt good to finally have a win at Orange Show,” Salm said.

The Salm family moved from Lake Arrowhead to Fallbrook in 1976 and David Salm often took his son to races at Orange Show Speedway, but Salm had not raced at that track until 2005.

“I guess it’s like a dream,” Salm said. “Actually winning a race at a place you used to go to as a kid is a good feeling.”

Salm’s father passed away in 1992. Salm’s mother is still living but did not attend the October 7 race. “It would have been nice if they could have seen the win there,” Salm said.

Salm’s son is also named David. Another difference between Cajon Speedway and Orange Show is that Cajon had a minimum age of 16 for pit entry during the races (the minimum age at Cajon was 18 prior to 1999) while Orange Show has no minimum age. David Salm is now 14 1/2 and was part of his father’s pit crew for the win. “It’s fun to have kids that are interested in going racing,” said Mike Salm, whose son races motorcycles at the Lake Elsinore track and whose 19-year-old daughter, Nicole, will be racing a 1967 Nova in drag competition once work on that car is completed.

The pit crew October 7 also included Josh Berkeley, Kyle Coffman, Jim Gray, and Donna Salm. Barbara Teets served as Salm’s spotter for the race.