Night of Thrills lights up Tucson Raceway Park

TUCSON--The NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series and the local Bud Five Star competitors took the night off at Tucson Raceway Park Saturday, but the track was anything but dark.

The annual Night of Thrills presented by Desert Diamond Casino was jammed packed with fun and excitement with Hornet Racing, a Tuff Trux challenge, head banging in the Demolition Derbies, neighbor against neighbor in the Specialist's Spectacular Drags, and the skies lit up by a fireworks extravaganza.

In Saturday's 30-lap Hornet main event, Karl Griggs won for the third time this season.

Griggs, who started the race on the outside of row two, was on top to stay by lap three and never looked back.

Trailing by 16

Griggs entered Saturday's racing action in second place in the Hornet division, trailing John "Crash" Callans by 16 points.

The two men took their series battle into the main event, where Callans finished second to Griggs.

For "Crash," it marked his fourth second-place finish in five tries to go with one win.

Griggs' recap at TRP in 2004 so far has him with three wins, a fourth and a 10th place finish.

Running third in his maiden voyage was newcomer Dave Wiersma. Finishing fourth was Bob Davis, while Dave Reynolds rounded out the top five in fifth place.

Tuff Trux

In the Tuff Trux main event, Grant Wilson made it two wins in a row in the series and tallied his third truck triumph in 2004.

Wilson's efforts made him a repeat division champion in 2004 as his report card for the season showed three wins and two second-place finishes in the five-race series.

The rest of the Saturday's Tuff Trux top five included Bill Holt in second place, John Callans in third, Tom Baird in fourth and Alex Megariz in fifth place.

Monster Trucks

In the outrageous Monster Truck Freestyle Showdown, McGruff (Rick Wood and son Murphy) defended their TRP Title as they out-dueled the Dodge Digging Dust Devil.

McGruff shook the ground and had track-goers hearts pumping at a fever pitch.

These two old rivals crunched remnants of discarded vehicles and bounced their way through a challenging freestyle course to the delight of an appreciative crowd.

Demolition Derby

In the 8-cylinder Demolition Derby, Roy Tripoloni prevailed over some stiff competition, outlasting the likes of Demo Vets John Callans (second place) and Karl Griggs (third place).

In the 4-cylinder Demolition Derby, Jim Wilson topped an energetic group of competitors and emerged with his first demo win at Tucson Raceway Park.

Giving Wilson all he wanted was Nick Cameron, who took home second-place honors, while David Mitchell turned in an effort good enough for a third-place trophy.

Auto Soccer Match

In the Auto Soccer Match, the Green Team comprised of Nick Cameron, John Callans, Brian Piette and Richard Jisko took on the Yellow Team of Karl Griggs, Todd Meola, Tommy Baird and Roy Tripoloni in a struggle to see who could best handle an 800-pound steel soccer ball.

Yellow team member Griggs scored twice earlier, but a mechanical failure forced him from competition, leaving his teammates a man down for the balance of the battle.

That advantage allowed Cameron of the Green Team to tally a goal, only to see Baird return the favor moments later with the game winner for the short-handed Green Team.

Spectacular Drags

In Round Five of The Specialist's Spectacular Drags, John Raskob in his 1990 Eclipse made it two wins in a row in back-to-back weekends as he outlasted Martin Glenn in a best two-out-of-three showdown.

Feeling loud and proud after two winning weekends, Raskob accepted the challenge of Motorcycle Dare Devil Mike Jackson on his Honda 1000 in a winner-take-all showdown and commanded his 400-horsepowered engine to a one-lap runaway win.

In keeping with the night's theme, a car jump was on the schedule as Dr. Danger returned.

This without-a-care, fear junkie planned to scale a ramp and clear a three car jump.

He hit the ramp without a hitch, but as sometimes happens, the angle of elevation was miscalculated and he clipped the top car in the stack. This clip turned into a flip and he landed upside down on the roof in the infield dirt going into turn one.

As we held our collective breath, "DR. D" cheated death again and emerged unscathed and is already planning his next adventure. Stay tuned.

The Bud Five Star Series continues on Saturday, Sept. 18, as Starnursery.com presents the NASCAR Auto Zone Southwest Series 150.

In addition, local NASCAR Late Models will do battle along with Grand American Modifieds, and the Factory Stocks will run a 40-lap main event.

Courtesy of Tucson Raceway Park