LOS ANGELES – Irwindale Speedway presented its 15th racing program of the year on Sept. 14, with an eight-event night on the half and third-miles.
Two 35-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series late model features resulted in victories for three-time Irwindale and California champion Trevor Huddleston, 23, who won seven of the 18 features this season.
Huddleston was not present three nights because of date conflicts with the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. He ranks fourth in points after 10 of 14 scheduled K&N races.
Blaine Perkins, 19, won his first NASCAR late model track championship by 36 points after winning four of the year’s 18 main events. The Bakersfield resident also claimed the NWAAS California state championship.
Perkins drove last season’s championship car, a Victory Circle chassis Four Star Fruit/Auto Park It No. 21 Chevy. Car owner Christopher Alan is the father of Irwindale’s 2018 late model champion, Lawless Alan, also 19.
This season, Lawless Alan attended the University of Alabama and raced as a rookie in the SCCA Trans Am TA2 series. Lawless drove the Auto Park It No. 52 Ford Mustang owned by Mike Cope and sponsored by his father.
He raced 10 races at famous courses – Sebring Int’l Raceway, Road Atlanta, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Lime Rock Park, Belle Isle Park in Detroit, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Road America in Wisconsin, Watkins Glen Int’l and Virginia Int’l Raceway.
Alan’s final two races will be at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
Lawless usually qualified and finished in the top 10 on the lead lap with SCCA TA2 fields in the mid-20s. His best finish of fourth came in August at IMS. He currently is the leading TA2 rookie and ranks fifth in overall point standings.
Lawless was in the Irwindale pits to watch Perkins win his 2019 title in the Alan car.
Irwindale’s late model points runner-up was series rookie Jace Jones, son of versatile racer P.J. and grandson of 1963 Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones. He won his first series 35-lap main August 31 in a 12-car field.
At 14 years, six months, Jones became the youngest late model winner in Irwindale history and won rookie of the year honors. He drove the same Racecar Factory-built HPR No. 55 Chevy that his brother, Jagger, drove as a rookie two years ago.
Behind Perkins and Jones in points were Nick Joanides, former NASCAR Drive for Diversity class member Ryan Vargas, Dean Thompson, Lucas McNeil and Huddleston.
Eight drivers won the 18 main events this year. Huddleston and Perkins led with seven and four victories, respectively. Vargas won twice. Joanides, Thompson, Jones, Ryan Schartau and Christian McGhee each won one feature.
Irwindale presented a 40-lap combined spec late model and race truck feature on the half-mile and an INEX Legend car feature on the third-mile. Both races produced surprise, first-time winners.
Other mains were for four-cylinder enduro cars and super stocks on the third-mile. An auto soccer 18-minute match in the infield, with two four-car teams, had a final score of 5-0.
First was the 35-lap Legends main. Rookie Jake Bollman, 12, won his first legends feature in a replica 1934 Ford coupe with a neon-green No. 71. He became the youngest legend car winner in track history in a car owned by his parents.
It was just his fifth race at Irwindale in the five-eighths scale, tube frame, 120-horsepower, motorcycle engine-powered race car.
Bollman started racing nine years ago in a go-kart and was a 2018 J-1 and J-2 karting champion. He was also a Bandolero champion at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino. He raced in the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series in 2016.
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