Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: LVMS dream pushed back for Kingsland

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.

Casey Kingsland, an 18-year-old Las Vegas native, had hoped to be racing in Saturday's Las Vegas 350 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Instead, he will be watching his hometown race from the pits of fellow driver Chris Horn.

Kingsland and his father, Roger, put together a five-race deal with MLB Motorsports back in July that -- in theory -- would have had the Eldorado High graduate in the No. 66 truck for Saturday's race. Kingsland attempted to qualify for the truck race at Indianapolis Raceway Park in August, but the team did not have the truck properly prepared for the race and Kingsland just missed qualifying.

As a result of missing that race, NASCAR would not certify Kingsland to race at the bigger Richmond International Raceway or Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kingsland opted to sever his relationship with MLB, which since has gone out of business.

Although Kingsland obviously was disappointed about not being able to race this weekend, he said he was close to coming to an agreement with another established Truck Series team that would allow him to run the entire 2004 Truck Series schedule.

"I was hoping to be able to race this weekend for a long time but if we can't do it, we can't do it," Kingsland said. "Hopefully, we'll get some seat time this year and start a full season next year."

Kingsland, who already has a sponsorship commitment from the Spring Air Mattress Company and R.C. Willey Home Furnishing, said the deal he is working on would allow him to run the Oct. 18 race at Martinsville Speedway and races at Phoenix International Raceway (Oct. 31) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 14).

Roger Kingsland said NASCAR has told him that if his son races those three tracks without any problems, Casey would be allowed to attempt to qualify for the 2004 season opener at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.

"It works out perfectly," Kingsland said of his new plan. "We just can't mess up at any of those tracks. I had high hopes to do the Vegas race ... but now we've just got to get it back together and go forward."

Dick Scheen, a regional sales manager for Spring Air who is heading the company's venture into motor sports with Kingsland, said he has been impressed with the young driver and plans to continue their support in his quest to drive fulltime in the Truck Series.

"These young drivers coming along have a great image, they're good athletes and they're good people," Scheen said. "They just don't seem to have the same problems surrounding them that some of the other pro sports do.

"The people that we deal with in NASCAR, like Casey, are just top-quality people. They create a good image for their sponsor and a good image for their fans."

Las Vegas' Brendan Gaughan, the series points leader, leads all Dodge drivers with four victories, Ted Musgrave has three and Bobby Hamilton, Jason Leffler and Jimmy Spencer have one victory each.

Pastrana, 19, said he has had a difficult time adjusting to racing with two additional wheels.

"My biggest problem is that I'm always overdriving the car," Pastrana said. "What I haven't figured out is that sliding feels fast, but it's not. I usually have a lot of oversteer, sliding the car around the corner. It feels like, 'man, I'm really moving now,' but I'm not."

Nevertheless, Pastrana said he is enjoying his first foray into car racing.

"Man, I am so excited," Pastrana said. "This is going to be awesome. As long as I'm not heading up the rear of the field, I'll be happy. And to drive at Indianapolis -- (there) isn't too much better than that."

Pastrana will return to racing on two wheels when he competes in the $300,000 Maxxis U.S. Open at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Oct. 10-12.

Las Vegans Mike Vogel and his son, Patrick, won the 100-mph class in a 2001 Ford F-350 diesel pickup truck that was prepared by students from the Western High School shop class. Vogel, a former off-road racer, is a consultant to many of the local high school shop classes.

Ebberts and Castro hold a one-point lead over Southern Californians Eric Allen and Adam Pfankuch, who race in Class 1-2/1600, in the overall standings. Both teams also lead their respective classes.

Tim and Ed Herbst of Las Vegas continue to lead the featured Trophy Truck division and maintain a 34-point lead over Gus Vildosola of Mexicali and co-driver Rob MacCachren of Las Vegas.

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