Brooktown begins Factory Stock era

Brooktown Racing drivers and everybody else associated with Perris Auto Speedway are set to begin the Pick-A-Part American Factory Stock era this month.

The Factory Stock division replaces the Cruiser class which saw numerous Brooktown Racing drivers compete between 2003 and 2007.

The most notable difference is that the Cruisers had two drivers, with one operating the steering wheel and brake and the other controlling the gas pedal, while the Factory Stock is a single-driver vehicle.

“I think you’ll be more competitive with one driver,” said Jim Ramsey, who drove in the Cruiser division from 2003 to 2007. “You have total control.”

The Cruiser division predates the involvement of Fallbrook drivers. “The Cruisers we ran for ten years, and they pretty much ran their course,” said track promoter Don Kazarian.

“When we originally started the Cruisers it was a demolition derby on the half-mile,” Kazarian said. “It evolved into more of a racing class.”

As the Cruiser division became a more competitive form of racing, the car count dwindled. Ironically, it was an attempt to stave off a declining number of cars which may have spurred the Cruisers’ evolution into a racing division.

“We used to water the track,” Kazarian said. “Half the cars would get destroyed, so they wouldn’t be back two weeks later.”

Watering down the track also slowed the cars. “When we stopped watering it, it kind of turned into a pure racing division,” Kazarian said.

Pick-A-Part, which was also the sponsor of the Cruiser division, sought to sponsor a class with a higher car count. “We think it’s going to be a good thing for the spectators. We think it’s going to be a more exciting race,” Kazarian said.

In the case of Brooktown Racing and likely many other Cruiser teams, the car count will be increased by each driver having separate cars. “We’re going to have at least four cars,” Ramsey said.

Last year Ramsey and Dennis Allen began the season in the 1977 Thunderbird the two used when they began their Cruiser careers in 2003. By the time a 1975 LTD was ready for racing, Allen’s schedule did not permit him to be at the track and Mike Lackey took over as Ramsey’s co-driver.

This year Ramsey plans to drive the LTD and Allen plans to use the Thunderbird.

“We’re going to resurrect the old ’77 car, bring it out of retirement,” Allen said.

Ironically, the LTD had been a Factory Stock at Cajon Speedway and Barona Speedway before Ramsey and Allen purchased it from Fallbrook drivers Scott Denton and Keith Krueger and turned it into a Cruiser.

In addition to the second seat and converting the gas pedal to the passenger side, the work on the LTD included modifying the roll cage from the four-point Barona standard to the six-point Perris requirement and replacing the motor.

Roll cage work is not needed to convert Cruisers to Factory Stocks which can run at Perris.

“Everybody that owns a Cruiser, all they have to do is pull the right seat out and move the gas pedal over,” Kazarian said.

Since Factory Stock drivers also compete at the Barona, Victorville, and Bakersfield tracks, the car count could also be increased by visitors from those other tracks.

“The rules are very similar to those three other racetracks, so we’ll be able to draw some,” Kazarian said. “Likewise our guys can go compete there, too.”

The track had previously replaced a pickup truck and SUV class, which was unique to Perris, with a late model sedan division which allowed drivers from other tracks to visit Perris and late model drivers competing at Perris to race elsewhere.

“As a promoter you need a large slate of cars to field a 24-car field every Saturday night,” Kazarian said.

Since some drivers will be absent on a given night, either due to schedule conflicts or due to cars not being ready, additional cars need to be registered to ensure that at least 24 cars arrive at the track.

The other tracks tend to draw between 30 and 50 Factory Stock drivers on race nights. “That’s a little better than three to eight,” Kazarian said, referring to the 2007 Cruiser car count.

“We kind of thought they might go away,” Ramsey said of the abolition of the Cruiser division. “It takes a long time to put them back together.”

Brooktown Racing held a meeting in mid-December at Ramsey’s home. Allen, Kevin Martin, Debi Martin, and Scott Urquhart were in attendance.

“It’s going to be relatively easy for us to convert the Lincoln,” said Debi Martin, who drove a 1984 Lincoln Town Car with her husband before a shoulder injury kept her out of the car for last year’s final races.

“Hopefully we’re all going to get our own car out there,” Kevin Martin said.

“Sharing is the next best thing,” Kevin Martin said. “We’re just doing it so we can both have fun.”

Kevin Martin began his racing career in 2004 as a substitute for Allen. He enjoyed the experience enough to build his own car.

Bob Hunsaker, who has since retired from racing, was Martin’s original co-driver.

The initial plan was for Kevin Martin’s wife and daughter to drive a Cruiser after it was built, but Candice Martin was transferred to Texas before the car was ready for racing in 2006.

Kevin Martin joined his wife in the Town Car while Dave Hill became Hunsaker’s partner in the Chevy station wagon which blew a motor in the final race of 2006.

“It was something we enjoyed doing together,” Debi Martin said. “I’m very disappointed. I liked the Cruiser class.”

Kevin Martin has a more optimistic view of the conversion. “I feel like we’re stepping up a class as we go into this,” he said. “It’s a little more competition.”

The Martins will not make their debut Saturday since they spent their off-season working on their house and property, which incurred some damage from the Rice Fire, and have not yet completed the conversion of their racecar.

“We’re going to run this year with one car and see if we like it,” Debi Martin said. “We’ll go ahead and run 54 and decide from there.”

The car number was derived from the television series “Car 54” and the Martins’ vehicles bear police car decor. In the event the Martins run a second car, it will take its number from the television show “Adam 12.”

Until the Martins acquire a second car, they will alternate the driving. “We’re going to split the racing. I’m going to drive half the time and Debi’s going to drive half the time, so it should be real fun,” Kevin Martin said.

The Rice Fire had more of an impact than the experimental nature of the Factory Stock division on the Martins’ decision only to race one car this year. “The Oldsmobile kind of burned up,” Kevin Martin said.

Damage to the Oldsmobile included part of the engine hoist as well as various other parts. The fire also destroyed the motor of a Lincoln Continental.

The fire, which scorched the Martins’ house but did not destroy any of the residence, stopped short of the Chevy station wagon.

“We’re trying to get rid of a couple of them,” Kevin Martin said of their four racecars.

The track rules for the Factory Stock division didn’t specify that only one driver was allowed in the car. “We noticed that ourselves,” Debi Martin said. “It doesn’t say only one driver.”

Theoretically that could allow Kevin and Debi Martin to drive together. “If they’ll let us, we would,” Debi Martin said.

Kazarian notes otherwise. “There’s nothing per se in the rules, but you can’t have passengers in any other racecars,” he said. “We will not allow passengers to ride.”

One stipulated Factory Stock rule may keep Urquhart from driving in 2008. Drivers in the Factory Stock division may not have driven in any other Perris Auto Speedway division during the season.

“This is an entry-level class,” Kazarian said. “We don’t need guys who have 13 years of experience going down and cherry-picking that class.”

The restriction targeted the Street Stock drivers and was not intended to exclude older drivers making the transition from the Cruisers to the Factory Stocks. “They’ll complete very nicely in the new division,” Kazarian said of the former Cruiser drivers.

Urquhart, who drove with Rick Marks during part of 2007 and borrowed Brian Tully from the Street Stocks when Marks was unavailable, will thus choose between the Street Stocks and theFactory Stocks. “I haven’t really made an absolute decision,” Urquhart said.

“The car will be out there, I’m sure,” Urquhart said. “Whether it’s me or someone else, I don’t know.”

Urquhart may drive a Factory Stock in 2008 and hold off on Street Stock racing until 2009. “It might be kind of fun to do the Factory Stock,” he said.

Marks, who was not at the meeting, may have a Factory Stock ready for the early part of the 2008 season. He had contemplated building a Cruiser to drive with his son, but his son is now attending school in Washington.

Hill and Lackey have committed to serve on the Brooktown Racing pit crew for 2008, although Hill noted that racing was more enjoyable with another driver and that he has no desire to drive in a Factory Stock. “You’re out there by yourself,” he said.

The Fallbrook drivers are uncertain whether they’ll utilize the opportunity to race at other tracks. “We’re talking about it. I don’t know if we’re going to do that or not,” Kevin Martin said.

Perris is a half-mile dirt oval. Barona is a quarter-mile dirt oval. “I’m not going to go to Barona. That’s not the kind of track I’d like to race on,” Urquhart said.

“We don’t want to put too many races on it,” Allen said of taking the Thunderbird to other tracks. “Make sure it lasts the whole year.”

Ramsey is willing to visit the other tracks. “It might be fun to go down there and run a couple of races,” he said.

Most of his races, however, will be at Perris. “I kind of like the longer track,” he said.

One advantage of the Factory Stock class over the Cruisers is that the Cruisers ran 12-lap main events with occasional 15-lap mains. The Factory Stock main events are scheduled for 20 laps.

“I’m looking forward to being on the track. The more the merrier,” Kevin Martin said.

“That’s going to be great,” Ramsey said. “But you’ve got to have some pit guys.”

If no tire changes or repairs are needed, the cost of running a Factory Stock for a night is estimated at six to eight gallons of gas, a $20 entry fee, and pit passes for the driver and crew. Factory Stock vehicles are required to use seven-inch tires.

The Factory Stocks are also expected to be approximately a second per lap faster than the Cruisers. “That’s pretty quick,” Kazarian said.

The 2008 Perris Auto Speedway season opened February 8, and the conversion led to a later start for the first Factory Stock race.

“I’m letting them have time to build their cars, get out and practice a couple of times before we debut them,” Kazarian said.

“Life and times change, and you’ve got to learn to change with them,” Debi Martin said.

“We’re looking forward to having a fun season up there,” Ramsey said. “It will be different, that’s for sure.”