CALISTOGA, Calif. — For the second consecutive night, James McFadden dominated the Calistoga half mile and picked up his second win of the weekend on Sunday during the NARC-sanctioned portion of the Louie Vermeil Classic.
For 24 laps, McFadden used speed to keep Dominic Gordon at bay as the pair waged a two-man duel that left the rest of the field fighting for the third step on the podium.
But with the white flag flying, McFadden needed a strong will—and a massive dose of good luck—to get to the finish line. And he needed a tow truck to get to the victory interview.
Coming off turn two, McFadden’s car suddenly slowed, allowing an up-and-coming driver on the NARC tour to briefly take the lead on the backstretch.
McFadden rallied to regain the spot by running the top groove through turns three and four while the pair diced with a lapped car.
On the final stretch to the flag, McFadden struggled with a car that most definitely didn’t want to go in a straight line before it stopped in the middle of turn one just past the finish line, like a spent marathon runner who didn’t have even one more step of energy left.
“I felt a little bit of a vibration going into turn two,” Mcfadden explained while sitting in the car, which was hooked up to the business end of a tow truck. “I didn’t know exactly where on the track to be, but when I went to the top, I knew I could drive the car off the left rear,” to compensate for what turned out to be a broken shock absorber stud on the right side.
“Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good, even if there was a bit of drama,” McFadden admitted candidly as he picked up his second “Louie” trophy of the weekend, which was a successful send-off for the Australian driver, who was scheduled to fly home on Monday.
Gordon, who started on the pole, was racing on the Calistoga Speedway half-mile for the first time, was a happy runner-up.
“It was awesome to do so good at such a historic track.”
The finish:
1, James Mcfadden (2); 2. Dominic Gordon; 3, DJ Netto (4); Shane Golobic (7); 5. Spencer Bayston (3); 6. Bud Kaeding (12); 7. Chance Grasty (6); 8. Sean Becker ((11); 9. Dylan Bloomfield (8); 10. Caeden Steele (10); 11. Mariah Ede (13); 12. Jarrett Soares (14); 13. John Clark (15); 14.Colby Copeland (5); 15. Billy Aton (9); 16. Tyler Cato (18); 17. Andy Forsberg (17).
