Competition in the Art’s Concrete Pumping Extreme Late Models class at Perris Auto Speedway is about to get a lot tougher as former USAC/CRA Sprint Car star Mike Kirby is throwing his hat into the tough ring of competition. The Late Models will head this Saturday’s show at The PAS and the California Lightning Sprint Cars, Street Stocks and the Pick-A-Part Cruisers will join them. Spectator gates will open at 5:00 PM with racing at 6:30.
Kirby, who turned 41 today (May 1st) is going to take a serious stab at the Late Model competition. On Sunday morning, Kirby took delivery of the powerful 410 engine that Blake Miller drove to a third place finish in the Lucas Oil USAC/CRA Sprint Car main event some 10 hours earlier at The PAS. Miller qualified for the USAC/CRA race on Saturday with a 17.356. That time was just a couple clicks slower than Kelly Boen’s all time PAS Late Model track record of 17.063.
Kirby and crew have been in a thrash since the engine arrived in hopes of getting the car ready for this Saturday’s race on the Riverside County clay oval.
Kirby has won three of the first four Modified main events at The PAS this season. For the record, he won the last ever full season championship in the original CRA in 1993, he won three NASCAR Figure 8 championships at J. C. Agajanian’s legendary Ascot Park where the Harbor, the San Diego and the 91 freeways used to slide in Gardena and he has a total of 61 Sprint Car Main event wins on the west coast.
Kirby will encounter good friends Nick, Bill and Ron Bartels when he makes his PAS Late Model debut. Nick, of El Segundo, California, holds a precarious 10-point lead over his grandfather Bill, of Marina Del Rey, California, in the season long point standings. Ron, who is Bill’s son and Nick’s father, - have you got all of that straight? - will also be on hand on Saturday and he led the PAS Late Model contingent in main event wins in 2006.
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