Locals head for Harvest Classic Race

The Supermodifed Racing Association heads to Madera Speedway in Madera, Calif., for its final race there Saturday " the annual Harvest Classic.

Nevada teams competing include C&M Motorsports from Reno, Janssen Motorsports of Dayton and S&S Motorsports of Carson City. Driving for C&M is Kenny White of Fresno, Calif., for S&S is Troy Regier of Dinuba, Calif., and for Janssen is Whitey Janssen, owner/driver of Dayton.

At the last SMRA race, which was at Madera on Aug. 9, Janssen crashed into the turn 3 wall, which slowly rolled the car onto its top, then back onto its four wheels.

"I still have a sore wrist and thumb, but I'm OK," Janssen said.

Janssen has his teammate's Belfiore-built 360 cubic-inch supermodified race car as a backup, and will register it as a 410.

"I put a 4-barrel carb on it to make it a little more powerful," he said. "It won't keep up with all of them, but I can at least maintain my points and hopefully stay in fifth. I'm hoping we have a good day."

Janssen said the 410 super is pretty much totaled. The wreck tweaked the chassis, destroyed the wings, headers, injectors, rear end, both headers " about $8,000 worth of bolt-on parts. A little bit of everything.

"Both return springs on the fuel intake broke, which controls the throttle. When I backed off (the accelerator), it only backed off for a second, then the vacuum on the engine pulled it back open and I hit the wall full throttle."

Janssen compliments the construction of the chassis of the supermodified racecar, saying the footbox and cage area protecting his body are sound and square.

"I hit the wall about 60 mph head-on," he said. "I did get some speed off when I got to the brakes. But I broke the brake pedal and accelerator."

C&M Motorsports returns after missing several races due to a cracked piston, which was sent to Michigan for welding.

"We're good to go, so far," said Courtney Lewis, co-owner.

The S&S Motorsports team had a DNF on August 9. The drive stripped the pump from the cam causing power failure in both the fuel pump and power steering.

"The hex is rubbed smooth," said Steve Shaw, co-owner. "Just another freaking thing like the panhard bar breaking earlier this year at Madera."

An update on Nevada teams will be posted to the Nevada Appeal's Web site after the Harvest Classic. Full results and photos will be in Monday's Nevada Appeal.

Contact Rhonda Costa at rcosta@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1223.