Ramsey sixth in first Factory Stocks season

Despite missing the final three races of the season, Jim Ramsey finished sixth in the final American Factory Stock point standings at Perris Auto Speedway.

“For running half a season, not bad,” Ramsey said.

The Factory Stocks, which replaced the Cruiser division, held nine races. Ramsey participated in the first six and was second in points following a third-place finish May 17.

Ramsey’s first six races included finishing second once, third on three different occasions, fifth one time, and sixth in one race.

The original Perris schedule gave the Factory Stocks a break between the May 17 race and September other than a scheduled July 12 enduro.

The enduro and the September race were cancelled and replaced by a July 26 competition. Ramsey had already made plans for July 26 and missed that race.

When Perris also cancelled the scheduled November 8 race, Ramsey realized that in two remaining races he had little chance of a significant gain in the point standings.

He opted not to compete in the October 25 and November 22 events.

Ramsey finished the season with 312 points.

When Roger Young, who was seventh in the standings and was the only driver with a mathematical chance of overtaking Ramsey on the season’s final night, was unable to repair his car in time for the November 22 race, Ramsey secured sixth place.

“This is the worst season I’ve had. I’ve never finished lower than fifth, but I’ve always had full seasons,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey drove a Cruiser from 2003 to 2007. “It was different,” he said of the switch to a Factory Stock. “I had a fun half-season.”

The Cruiser cars had two drivers; one operated the steering wheel and brakes and the other controlled the gas pedal.

At one time Brooktown Racing had four Cruiser cars, necessitating eight drivers as well as alternates.

The only other Brooktown Racing drivers to participate in the Factory Stocks this year each drove one race.

Kevin Martin’s ninth-place finish in his only main event gave him 16th place in the season standings, while Dennis Allen drove in one heat race but did not participate in a main event.

“I kind of miss the rest of the team being out there,” Ramsey said.

The cancelled races have led to rumors that Perris will drop the Factory Stocks from the track’s 2009 schedule.

“I don’t know what they’re going to have here,” Ramsey said.

Barona Speedway promoter Todd Salazar has indicated that he is considering the creation of a Pure Stocks division at Barona which would accommodate the Factory Stock class at Perris.

“I think that’s what we’re going to run at Barona next year,” Ramsey said. “We’ll see where we go next year, but it kind of points towards Barona right now.”

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