FORMER MADERA CHAMP WESTMORELAND LOOKING FORWARD TO SRL RETURN

BAKERSFIELD, California — On Saturday, May 12th, 2000, just four days passed his sixteenth birthday, SRL Southwest Tour Series driver Justin Westmoreland began his stock car career at Madera Speedway. For the nine months leading up to that first race, Justin and his father Keith (the 1995 Madera Speedway Street Stock champion) worked on building a Street Stock for the day Justin would be eligible to compete.

“From the time Justin was five, he was coming to the races at Madera Speedway, so growing up all he wanted to do was race.” Keith stated. “We got him a go kart at age eleven and traveled all over racing on the dirt and pavement.” After making the transition from go karts to Street Stocks then into the Late Models, Justin won 24 main events at Madera Speedway and the NASCAR Late Model championship in 2003 and 2005.

In 2006, the Westmorelands decided to move up to the SRL Southwest Tour Series. “We went to Shasta, we ran practice on Friday, but blew an engine on Saturday during practice so we didn’t get to race” said Justin about his first SRL race. “We had a lot of success at Madera, it was definitely time to move up, but the start we had in the (SRL) series definitely tested our drive. I’m glad we weathered the storm because it’s great to be a regular in the SRL…competing against the best drivers on the west coast.”

Spangler Racing Doing It Right for Three Generations

Bakersfield, CA – By 1963, Loren Spangler was a regular at Saugus Speedway working on his father ‘Spang’s’ race car in the pits at the Southern California track.   By 1976, Loren himself was behind the wheel competing on the flat 1/3 mile, a driving career which would last nearly 30 years.  In 1986, Loren and his son Keith built a Sportsman division car for Saugus, and Keith step into the driving duties at not quite the age of 16. “We fudged Keith’s birth date a little so he could drive the car we built.” said Spangler. 

In 1993, the Spangler family made the move full-time to the NASCAR Southwest Tour Series, where Keith had over 135 starts by the end of 2005.  “We traveled to all the races, ate at McDonald’s, had an open trailer and a box van that we slept in…we put in many hours in the shop in prepping the car…it was a great time.”

Auggie Vidovich Wins in SRL Debut

Bakersfield, CA -- Six years after winning his NASCAR Southwest Tour championship, Auggie Vidovich returned to Southwest Tour competition to win Saturday night’s “Performance Electrical 110” at Madera Speedway.

After qualifying third, Vidovich of Lakeside, CA started outside row two in his ActionSportsDrives.com/Performance Electrical Chevrolet.  Fast qualifier Craig Raudman drew a six car invert, putting Josh Combs of Sacramento, CA on the pole for the third consecutive race of 2009.  Troy Ermish led for the first seven laps before suddenly pulling to the pits with ignition troubles which ended his night and handed the lead over to Vidovich.  Vidovich was followed closely by Raudman, Victory Circle Rookie-of-the-Year contender-Kevin Callahan, Madera’s own Justin Westmoreland and SRL point leader M.K. Kanke.