USAC Midget/Sprint Car

Hunt, a multi-time USAC Western champion, was aboard an entry fielded by Kaiser Racing. Western Speed Enterprises also fielded a two-car effort in the sprint car event, featuring drivers Tim Skoglund and Paul Zimmerly. Both teams utilize 355-ci naturally-aspirated Toyota V8 engines prepared by TRD.

Hunt was fast qualifier at Roseville, a quarter-mile paved oval, while Zimmerly was sixth and Skoglund 11th. Hunt took the lead on lap 57 of the 100-lap event and held on for the victory, while Zimmerly finished fourth. Skoglund improved from his 11th starting position to finish sixth.

“This was a very good turnaround for us,” said Hunt. “I’m not sure I can pinpoint exactly what we did differently, it was more the culmination of a lot of small improvements as the season has gone along. We’ve developed the Toyota engines very well now for the smaller track, and tonight it all paid off.”

“We were a little bit loose all night,” admitted Zimmerly. “I spun my tires on the start of the feature race, and dropped back to fourth, and that’s where I finished. It was a good night for Toyota overall, and we’ll just keep working on getting our setup better and continue to improve.”

“Starting 11th was a bit of a challenge here, but we passed some cars and improved our position and that’s what counts,” said Skoglund. “We’d like to have done better, that makes two straight weeks I’ve finished sixth. I’ll be looking to better that next week.”

In Western Midget Car competition, the 18-year-old Faas was quietly impressive at the outset of the season, and has now moved into near dominance. He was fast qualifier at Ventura, a tight quarter-mile dirt oval, then drove from 18th to victory in the 30-lap feature race. It was his second straight series victory, and fourth overall.

Faas was in a car fielded by Western Speed, utilizing a 166-ci naturally-aspirated in-line four-cylinder Toyota engine prepared by Ed Pink Racing Engines.

“We had a setback in our heat race, and I thought that might really be a problem,” said Faas. “I hit a big rut in Turn 3 and bent our suspension, and we dropped out of the race. That made us start 18th out of 19 cars, so I knew I had my work cut out for me.

“When the feature race started I just went to the top and started passing cars, and by Lap 4, we were eighth. After that I was slowly picking them off, and was leading by Lap 19. I can’t say enough about this team and the Toyota engines, hopefully we can keep this momentum going through the end of the year.”

Both the USAC Western Sprint Car Series and USAC Western Midget Car Series will return to action on Sept. 27 in a series double-header at Altamont Motorsports Park in Tracy, Calif.

USAC WESTERN SPRINT CAR SERIES – POINT STANDINGS