El Cajon, California    Of all the Saturday night race tracks on the SRL tour, El Cajon ranks as one of the best. The track is a racy 3/8 mile and the fans show up in force when the Supers come to town.  

     The humid 100 degree day had the teams scrambling for shade and the right set-up. Track publicist Bob Gardner took a lot of good natured kidding about the weather conditions from Troy and others.

      Troy qualified second, behind USAC sprint car star, Michael Lewis.

 In his heat race, Troy came from the back to win, going away. As the sun was going down, waiting to be pushed off for the heat race, Troy was deep in his thoughts, helmet on, ear plugs in, visor down. Then, all of a sudden, an all encompassing other worldly voice started calling his name. “TROY, OH TROY” the voice boomed, and broke the silence of his pre race concentration. The voice from beyond continued, “TROY IS THE WEATHER BETTER FOR YOU NOW?”

     It was Bob Gardner on the powerful PA system getting him back for his digs about the temperature. This was obliviously not Bob’s first trip to the zoo when it came to track side hijinks!

     In the main event, Troy started 7^th and by lap 25, he had made his way to 2^nd. Michael Lewis, attempting what he said was a daring pass on the outside in turn 2, was shocked to see the “baby blue dust bunny” (The 98’s new name after the Chaparral race) come around outside of him. At an after race party, Michael told a gathering of crew and fans, “He drives that thing like a slot car... how does he do that...? He really took me to school tonight...”

      The last 15 laps were difficult for the #98. The car developed a push (tight condition) that made the task of catching the #7 of AJ Russell impossible. The two went neck and neck, thrilling the crowd, but Troy could not get around crew chief Louie Gennuso’s perfect set-up on rookie Russell’s Super and finished second. 

     After the race, the pits were packed with electrified fans. The most serious of American hot rods, the Supermodified, had left a memory of “wickedly fast” ground shaking racing for the Southern California fans to talk about for another year.