FMCM
The SuperClean Modified Racing Series is gearing up to begin the second half of their 2008 racing series and will return to action at the Orange Show Speedway, in San Bernardino-California. Now in its second year of existence the series has quickly become a fan favorite at every track they visit and has also received high praise from the respective track promoters. That is largely in part due to the extremely high competitive nature of their racing. The level of wheel to wheel excitement often has the fans jumping right off of the edge of their seats. As popular as the series is with the fans and the track promoters, it’s also receiving high marks from the drivers many of whom will tell you they’re “having a blast.”
A case in point is racing veteran Tim Morse. Known as “Poncho” to his friends, this Burbank-California racer spends his week days taking care of business at Morse Mufflers and then looks forward to loading up his modified car to hit the road to the next Super Clean Modified Series race. With the second half of the season just around the corner many observers have noted that Morse’s team is one of the most improved operations in the series. After finishing fourth in the 2007 series’ points standings, Morse has caught fire during the past two races by scoring top five finishes in each of them. He will arrive at the August 16th race at Orange Show Speedway third in the series’ standing and still very much in contention for the SuperClean Series champion’s bonus because he’s only 58 points away from first.
Morse has been involved in racing most of his life and began his career in the rough and tumble world of off road motorcycles in the California desert areas. With a smile on his face he said “I got tired of breaking bones and having pins placed in my foot. Then I realized that with age comes a cage as they say” Morse turned his racing attention to go karts and did very well in that racing arena. Soon afterwards the lure of a new sense of challenge found him in the SCCA Vintage Road Racing Series where he drove a Rick Nelson owned Baby Grand Mustang that used to be owned by Mario Andretti. Through a newly formed friendship with Jack Russell, the premiere engine builder for car designer Caroll Shelby and famed road racer Mark Donahue, Morse learned the intricate nature of road racing set ups and that led to a lot of victories. Morse credits his brother’s influence for his interest in circle track racing while watching him race in the Sportsman Division at the former Saugus Speedway. His opportunity to race circle tracks came in 1995 and he’s enjoyed that racing format ever since.
Morse is just one of the many drivers who are proud to be competing in the SuperClean Modified Racing Series and said “this series is the best thing going for these modified cars. It’s so much fun. The people that are running it are outstanding. Hats off to Greg Scheidecker and Bill Rozhon for a great series. We really didn’t know how well this thing was going to take off. It’s a travelling series, and yes that makes it expensive, but it’s the most fun that anyone could possibly have. It’s a great organization.”
Andrew Phipps will be the first to tell you that he loves short track racing and he wishes the SuperClean Modified Series races were actually longer than 75 laps. The 29 year old driver, from Simi Valley-California, is no stranger to open wheel modified racing and has enjoyed a great deal of success in it. Phipps was a back to back, 2003 and 2004, Grand American Modified Series champion at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. In 2005 he graduated to the track’s NASCAR Super Late Model Series where he surprised everyone by winning the series’ rookie title and championship in his first outing. He finished third in the Super Late Model standings at Irwindale last year.
But there was a sense of general dissatisfaction with the world of Super Late Model racing for Phipps and he made the decision to eliminate that source of stress by joining the SuperClean Modified Racing Series this year. From the very first practice session Phipps quickly proved that he only needed a matter of minutes to get reacquainted with the finesse of driving an open wheel car. He is currently the series’ points leader holding a 24 point lead over Jimmy Dickerson. That’s has developed due to a high level of consistent driving so far this year. In five races Phipps has one win, at Las Vegas, and five top five finishes.
Phipps is clearly enjoying his tenure with the series and recently said “I love this series. These SuperClean guys try so hard to take care of us to keep us coming back for each race. The way that they run this show just makes you want to try that much harder to make every race and help promote their sponsors. I really appreciate it because they go the extra mile to help us out.” Commenting on the level of competition in the series Phipps said “this is a tough group of guys. You see people like Scott Winters from northern California coming down here and then there’s Jimmy, (Dickerson), and our points lead deal going on. These guys are tough and making it even tougher are guys like Tim Morse who are getting better and faster every race and now here he is beating on my back door and he’s going to win one of these things real soon.”
The aforementioned Scott Winters is also well aware of what it takes to be a modified racing champion. The Linden-California driver is the 2007 Modified Series champion at the All American Speedway in Roseville and won a total of 13 races last year. He also won some impressive open modified shows last years such as the Big Dog at Altamont Raceway Park and the Las Vegas Fall Classic. This year he paid a July 12th visit to the SuperClean Modified Series, at the Orange Show Speedway, and took home the $1,000 winner’s check following an impressive display of driving. He will be the first to tell you that the formula for a winning season is 30% equipment, 50% team members and 20% driver.
In victory lane that night at the Orange Show Speedway Winters was very complimentary of the SuperClean Modified Racing Series and said “this is fun, there are professionals here in this series that treat you great. There are top notch drivers here. These drivers have won championships all over the place. We wanted to come down this week to see how our team compared against them.” When asked if he and his team would consider joining the series full time Winters said they would love to but the travelling involved was a real hardship for them adding “the toughest part for us is the fact that we’re out of the Stockton-Modesto area of California and it was an eight hour tow just to get here, (in San Bernardino), and that was the closest track in the series to us. The longest tow would be about 14 hours for us but, having said that, it’s a great series and we’re going to come back but the question is which races will we pick to run in.”
For over three decades Larry Gerchman has been a main stay in modified racing and is the patriarch of the famed Gerchman racing family from Lake Havasu City-Arizona. Gerchman has racing success at a variety of tracks including the Las Vegas Bull Ring, the Havasu 95 Speedway and the Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway just to name a few.. There was a time when many believed that Gerchman owned the controlling rights to the modified championship series held during the Winter Blast Series at the Lucas Oil I 10 because he won the title three years in a row in 2002, ‘03 and ‘04.
Larry Gerchman is currently ranked eighth in the SuperClean Modified Racing Series this year with three top five finishes. He calls the series very challenging adding “a lot of the tracks on the schedule are kind of a benefit to us because we’ve ran on them before but this one, (the Orange Show Speedway), is one we haven’t raced on very much. We’ve ran Las Vegas, the I 10 Speedway and Havasu but then we went to Tucson and we were a little lost but we did okay and we did okay here too which I think is pretty good for the tracks that we’ve never ran on before. But the other three tracks are home tracks to us.”
Gerchman is still having fun and really doesn’t know how many more years will go by before he hangs up his helmet. “We keep talking about that,” he said adding “I don’t know, I’ll probably be in a wheel chair and they’ll put me inside of this car. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop. I’m 53 now, me and my kid, Chris, were talking about it and he said Dad you’ll turn 65 and you’ll still be driving. I don’t see retirement in the near future but I keep pushing him that’s for sure and he keeps on doing a great job.”
Chris Gerchman is currently ranked seventh in the SuperClean Modified Racing Series with three top five finishes to his credit. When talking to him it is apparent that he has a strong sense of commitment towards continuing and enhancing the Gerchman family racing legacy. When asked about life in a modified racing family he said “It’s long nights, a lot of hard work along with time, money, blood, sweat and tears.” However the family still continues to be blessed with checkered flags and championships through Chris Gerchman. He won the Winter Blast Modified Series championship, at the Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway, in the 2005 season and was second in the standings during the following two seasons. In early spring he was crowned modified champion of the 2007-’08 Winter Racing Series at the Havasu 95 Speedway.
Regarding life in the SuperClean Modified Racing Series Chris Gerchamn admits that he’s not fond of the travelling that comes with a regional touring series but does love the level of competition it has adding “you get to really roll with some great guys that are actually the best in the west. I think it’s great for me to know where I stand with all of that. If I’m going to keep pursuing this as a racing career then I’m going to need to know that I can race with the best and be the best.”
Looking to advance his racing career, through the SuperClean Modified Series, is Jim Mardis. Known as “Baby Face” this Riverside-California driver is part of Sinister Motor Sports and has enjoyed a great deal of success since starting his racing career at the age of 16 back in 2002. Most of that success has been achieved through the Stock Pony Division at the Orange Show Speedway where he won approximately 20 feature races as well as the 2006 series championship. He made a few appearances in last year’s modified series and made his first 2008 appearance last month at the series’ Orange Show Speedway race.
When asked about his opinion of the SuperClean Modified Series Mardis quickly said “this is one of the most competitive series that there is in this area and these guys are a lot of fun to race with.” Commenting on the travel aspect of a regional touring series Mardis said “the travelling is good. It gets a little pricey here and there but, for what we’re doing, it’s probably the best and most affordable travelling series around. Teams can do this series on a budget. It has some of the most competitive drivers out there and some of the best equipment and, being a younger guy in the series, I can learn a lot from them. It’s a ton of fun every time I get out on the race track with them.” Mardis and Sinister Motor Sports has plans to do some testing to prepare for the August 16th race at the Orange Show Speedway and also plans to make the events at the Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway and the Havasu 95 Speedway which they will use as test and tune learning sessions to prepare to make a full run in the series in 2009.
This group of SuperClean Modified Series drivers represents a varied sampling of age and racing experience. The one thing that they all have in common is a genuine appreciation for the series and the hope of great expectations that comes with it.
