1988 Miller 100 (September)

1988 Miller 100
Saugus
September 10, 1988
Fin	Driver
1	Mike Hood (RES)
2	Roman Calczynski (RES)
3	Troy Beebe (RES)
4	Ron Hornaday, Jr. (RES)
5	Larry Lord (RES)
6	Will Harper (RES)

The 1988 Miller 100 was a Southwest Tour event held at Saugus Speedway on September 10, 1988. It was a rough-and-tumble evening, but Mike Hood emerged with his only career victory, holding off eventual season champ Roman Calczynski after a contact-riddled contest.

[edit] Race Review

For once, it wasn't that old Sepulveda smoothie, Roman Calczynski, leading NASCAR's Southwest Tour troupe home at Saugus Speedway Saturday night.

Winner of the last two such 100-lap events there, Calczynski had to be content with second place as 23-year-old Mike Hood of Bakersfield gave a masterful performance in scoring his first win ever on the traveling circuit.

Calczynski finished right on his bumper and had his chief adversary in the points battle - Modesto's Troy Beebe - immediately to his rear.

The finish enabled Calczynski to expand his lead to 11 points over Beebe with three races to go in this sizzling championship battle.

"I knew Roman was there the whole time," said Hood, the 11th different winner on the circuit this season. "I felt him back there and a couple of times he wheeled me into the corners a little fast."

Calczynski said he "gave Mike everything I had" in his bag of tricks to get around but "Mike drove a good race. And Troy was back there and I didn't want to do anything stupid."

Hood took the lead on a 57th-lap restart when the car of early pace- setter Loran Kelley of Vacaville balked and he had to head for the pits.

The victory was worth an approximate $3,000 to the one-time go-kart racer. He averaged 57.831 mph.

Palmdale's Ron Hornaday finished fourth after a mid-race spin with Riverside's Larry Lord fifth. Tarzana's Will Harper was sixth in a Chevrolet ride he rented from Beebe.

Dan Press, another Saugus favorite, made an early exit on a troubled night. Press, who had established a track record in qualifying, first got hooked up in an altercation caused by Rick Carellie's fifth-lap spin.

He'd worked his way from 18th back into 12th when Van Nuys' Bill Sedgwick bumped him and sent him spinning into the car of Harry Brady of Newhall. Brady resumed the chase but Press' car was battered beyond quick repair.

The crowd of 4,615 also saw Reseda's Dave Blankenship wrest the track street-stock championship from Sepulveda's Russ Beckers by winning the 15-lap figure eight finale as Beckers finished back in the pack.

After Beckers had won a heat race to forge ahead in the battle, Blankenship came back to climb into a tie by winning the 25-lap oval feature. In between in the hotly-contested event were Brian Hayden of Simi Valley and Reseda's Ed Horst.

In preliminary doings, Sedgwick tied the track record (15.91 seconds) for Tour cars in qualifying before Carelli (15.79) and Press (15.75) lowered it.