RENO, NV (April 17) — Happy Easter to all my readers. There were two very different events this weekend with racing and a car meet.
Saturday afternoon began with the next race at Diamond Mountain Speedway. Fortunately the storms missed the track as on Easter Saturday they have a Easter Egg Hunt for the kids on the infield.
Before any heats got started the kids came on the infield. Two zones were for the bigger kids while the little ones had two zones of their own. Since the crowd was smaller due to the weather the kids had a bigger haul of eggs.
There was a bit of urgency as the entire town was blacked out and the event had to be completed before it got dark. On thing that slowed down the proceeding was when one car went over the Turn 3 banking and slammed into tires that formed a barrier.
It took a bit of time to recover the car. The driver was check by the medics and got a ride to the hospital. His condition was unknown when this article was posted.
After the heat races were completed the drivers got their cars ready and began to line up. The laps were set at 15 unless a race was taking too much time as the daylight was starting to diminish.
First up were the IMCA Modifieds and on the green the field charged into Turn Then Chris Nieman started to slow and would pit while Wade Kennemore stopped on track an needed a tow.
When the race resumed Jeff White lead then Jeffrey Hudson took over the lead in Turn 4. Another yellow then slowed the pace. On the restart Hudson jumped into the lead and took the victory followed by Paris Archie and White.
Next up were the Mini Stocks and with only a few on hand their main was reduced to 10 laps. On the green Ashlyn Hogan and Brian Smith led the charge.
Soon Suzi Schmitt came from the back and took over the lead. Behind her one car slowed by two others stalled.
The race resumed with a green-white-checkered and Schmidt took the win followed by Anthony Hovland.
The Sport Mod main had a rough start when three cars tangled in Turn 4. The tow truck was summoned as it had to pick up the middle car so the other two could get untangled. That car was towed away while the car of Cole Olexiewicz rolled onto the infield.
After the second start Ryan Peery used an outside pass in Turn 2 to claim the lead and stormed off to victory in the shortened race.
When the Street Stock main began Doug Weeks led then a car spun in Turn 2 and a restart was ordered. On the second green Weeks led again while Grayson Olschowka went into the infield and another caution came when another car slowed.
On the restart Carl Barlow was on while Royce Goetz had moved into third then second. Up front the fellow team car driven by Carl Barlow took the victory and it was a Goetz Racing one-two finish.
Finally in the fading light the IMCA Stock Cars took to the track. On the green Jason Emmot used an outside pass to grab the lead. Soon after that Terry Kennemore used an inside pass to claim the point and the chase was on.
Both drivers were pretty close to nose-to-tail for the remaining laps. At the checkered flag they finished in that order.
Any later and it would have been almost impossible to see the flagman let alone the darkened track.
Next race at Diamond Mountain is a Friday-Saturday show the weekend of May 13 and14. Among the regular classes will be the Dwarf Cars.
REPORTER’S NOTE: Due to the black out in Susanville the scorekeeper’s computer was affected. As I result I don’t have complete results so any errors in driver’s names are my fault. Had to use past results to match car numbers with my notes.
• Easter Sunday had good weather as Reno Cars & Coffee held the second meet of the month. Considering the holiday there was a pretty good turn out of many types of cars, trucks and some motorcycles.
One of the stand out cars was a red Cobra owned by Bruce Gonyea.
“This is a Superformance 1965 Shelby Cobra with a Roush 427. It was built in 2021 but it’s a replica of a 1965 Shelby Cobra,” he said. “It’s still completely the way I got it from the performance shop. So it’s got the Roush 427, a Trimex TKX 5-speed transmission, I dynoed it about 510 horsepower. “
Of course the next question is how is it to drive one of these.
“ It’s a beast and you’ve got to pay attention,” he said. “If its your first time driving there is a learning curve but once you get used to the feel and handling stuff it just wants to go like hell.
“It drives great, cruises nice on the freeway and when you want get into it you just put your foot down. The car gets a little bit of attention as it’s red so you can’t miss it. It’s a great car, a childhood dream car and happy I was able to get one.”
Another car that’s kind of a sleeper is owned by Leslee and Jack Combs.
“This is a 2009 Volkswagon EOS Comfort. EOS is the Goddess of Dawn,” she said. “I had never heard of an EOS before.”
Their search began as they own a F-350 Diesel and the fuel prices were killing them.
They were very pleased to find the EOS as Leslee explained, “This gets about 22 to 24 in the city and 30ish on the highway.”
It took some doing but they were able to find this one.
“So we started looking and we found on in Sacramento and didn’t really want to go up and over the mountain so my husband Jack started looking at what’s local” she said. “And there was a lady down in Demonte Ranch, garage kept, she put 12,000 miles on it in four years like Holy Cow.
“It’s a nice little car it gets up and scoots has a six-speed automatic/manual transmission that’s kind of cool. Actually it doesn’t have the paddles but it’s on the column you can put it in drive but then you can throw it over on the other side then up and down to sixth gear. It’s kind of cool, it’s Pelican Blue and a cute little car, kind nice to have.”
She is very pleased on how it drives.
“It corners absolutely fabulous. Going home in Golden Valley we go from Virginia Street take the Panther on-ramp, my husband had it up to 60-70 miles an hour doing the doing the corners. That was kind of cool, I can’t do this but you can. It’s a cute little car, I mean it serves a purpose and it’s fun,” she said.”
One of the trucks on display was a Toyota 4X4 that had a miniature of the same type resting on the hood.
One car appears stock but is anything but stock is owned by Nick Scotto. Asked about his car he said,
“It’s a ’69 Camaro,” he said. “It’s been built from ground up it has an LS3 stroked out to a 427 burning on Nitrous. Its got QA1 control arms and coil overs Ride Tech 4-link in the rear with coil overs, and 4-speed manual body transmission.
“Recently I just painted it a little over two weeks ago so Pure White is the color. Carbon fiber cowl, hood, deck lids spoiler pretty much anything I can buy carbon fiber for.”
This car also has a history with him.
“I’ve had it for a little over 30 years. Bought it slightly used, it was a one-owner car when I lived with my parents 30 years ago,” he said. “My neighbor bought it brand new in ’69 and we ended up getting it from them and started building it from there.
“With the new suspension and coil overs it rides beautifully. It hugs turns, stops really well and I’ve got 6 piston in the front, 4 piston in the rear disc brakes. It’s a very fun car but a good weather car, that’s it.”
For Easter day the turn out was pretty good and the weather was just great. Next meet for Reno Cars & Coffee will be on Mother’s Day, May 8 at the Keitzke Starbucks.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
• Teresa’s Garage Radio Show is on the air from 2 until 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. In northwest Nevada, it can be heard over the air at 1060 AM.
There is also a Podcast at amm.streamon.fm or it can be seen live on Face Book. The show is focused on all things automotive, trends, new developments and trivia.
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