Drivers make difference in ICAR

For casual race fans, the Inland Empire-based ICAR Late Model Series may appear to be a close cousin to the Inland Northwest Super Stocks that took to Stateline Speedway’s quarter-mile one week ago.

For ICAR president Larry Bertrand, the differences between the cars are a huge attraction for fans and racers to his upstart show that kicks off its season Saturday night.

“From the fans’ point of view, there isn’t much of a difference in the way the cars look, but we offer a motor rule that limits some horsepower, a Goodyear treaded tire versus the INSSA Hoosier race slick and a package that puts a strong emphasis on the talents of the drivers and not the motor in the car,” Bertrand said. “The most important part in the ICAR late model is the driver themselves. This is a series that has Dodge, Ford, Chevy and Pontiac race cars, but it’s the driver that is the big key to being successful.”

INSSA race cars, ARCA West and ASA Late Models are similar in rule packages, but many of those cars could not run some of the West Coast’s biggest events or across the country in local programs, Bertrand said.

“The rules of our series allow the maximum amount of cars out there –and the people who have them – to participate in a race and look at the guys running Las Vegas’ big races, the events at Irwindale (Calif.) and the Carolinas and (they’ll) know our cars are legal for most of their events.

“Our focus when we started this series was to allow most types of late model cars out there to build towards our rules and compete with what they have and keep it affordable to run anywhere they want.”

To highlight that point ICAR is sending its 2008 champion to the Las Vegas BullRing Fall Classic late model event in November in an all-expense-paid trip to compete against the nation’s top talent.

“We’ve got some good local drivers in this series including Andy Brown and Charlie Fiorino, our defending champions, plus Colton Garber, Rusty Webb, Nathan Fleury – and the region’s only late model female driver in Amanda McDonald – that represent a strong youth movement. With the chance to run Vegas, this year’s championship will have been won through a lot of hard work over some great talent.”

Bertrand is one of the drivers looking to win that championship trip. Balancing the needs of the series with the desire of being a driver is a challenge, he said.

“Any racer will tell you that taking care of all the business needs of a series is a tough job that they may not want, but I’m here to tell you that there is as much work that goes into the race cars each week just to get to the track, that it’s hard to tell which job is tougher.”

ICAR Late Models will race 10 events in 2008 with six at Stateline. More information is available at www.icarlatemodels.com

Sprint cars open

The Inland Northwest Sprint Car Association opens its season Saturday as the support show to ICAR, with defending series champion Tony Berry out to show the desire to make it two straight championships in the lightning-quick race cars.

Berry is a marked man as many of the series regulars, including Rusty Nelson and Kevin Burck, will be out to dethrone the Gonzaga University graduate.

INSCA is a favorite of fans and track operators, according to Joe Doellefeld, promoter of Stateline.

“The INSCA club has persevered, and as a track promoter I couldn’t be happier then to see a racer-run organization keep with it and build a viable series with a growing car count while also providing great entertainment for our fans,” he said.

Racing begins at 6 p.m. at Stateline Speedway. Info: (208) 773-5019.