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Dirt Track Round 17: Cal Expo State Fairgrounds By Sco tt Rousseau Photos by Flat Trak Fotos and Shawna Rousseau SACRAMENTO, CA, SEPT. 18 ter the week that he'd dealt with, it migh t be easy - and even under tand ab le - to assu me that Chris Carr would be a little less th an a t his bes t when he showed up at the Cal Expo Sta te Fa irg ro unds fo r the Sacr am ento Mi le . Even th ou g h his secon d AMA Gra nd National Championsh ip numberone pl ate was we ll within reach , there was concern b y Carr 's fam ily a n d frien d s that the week spent in Dallas at the bedside of his good friend and protege, Toby Jorgensen, had ex tracted a heavy toll on his foc us for the task at hand . But after it was over... no, scra tch tha t... by the halfway poi nt in the 20-lap ma in event, Carr made it clear that he ha d co me to race, to wi n and to leave wi th the cha mpionship title in han d . Th at ' s just wha t t h e 32-year-old Pennsylva nia tra nsplant did before his true hom e fans - a record 19,139 of them - as he clinched his second AMA Gra nd Na tio nal Cha m ponship via a runaway victory in the feature, which was sho rtened by AMA officials due to tire-wear co nce rns. Th e Harley-Da v id s o n of Sacramento/Phoeni x Racing/Big Valley Ford- bac ked Carr d id n't act as thou gh h e wa s co ncerned w it h eit he r ti re or mental wear, as he ran second to chie f cham p io nship ri va l Rich Kin g o ff o f tu m tw o, then sho t by him on the back s traig h t to lea d a ll 20 ci rc u it s before fa lli n g und e r th e Sco tt Z im mer ma n check ered flag wi th a lead of well over half a s tra ig h taway . The w in p ut the cha mp io ns h ip a way w i th tw o races rem aining, as Ca rr picked up more than eno ug h points on title riva l Rich King to put the championship ou t of reach for the Iowan. Carr built his lead over King to 53 points, 295-242. There are a maximum of 46 poin ts available in the fina l two rounds of the series. Ca rr ma de it look all too easv , but he was quick to credit everyone bu't himself for the way that the race - and the whole year - had gone. "This is a special day for me," Ca rr said . " I got to w in in Sac ramen to , in front of m y ho me tow n people. I have to thank Mik e Sha ttuck of Ha rley-David so n of Sacra mento for giv ing me a new ca reer. I was off screwing aro und with them damn road racers for a cou ple of years. I came back, and I wasn' t making a ny mon ey , a n d th at g uy ga ve m e a cha nce a nd gave me a ca reer back so that I could make a living of this. I have to thank h im from th e bott om of m y heart. "And to my grea t mech ani c Kenny Tolbert, and Travis Smi th . To see these guys bu s tin g th eir butts for 80 to 100 hours a week and then get in the tru ck to drive to the races, I can' t than k those guys eno ugh for gi ving it their heart and so ul." And how fitting that th e man w ho fini shed second to Carr was the man who had fini sh ed ju st that o ne s pot ah ead of him so many times thr ou gh 10 ~ '" '" '" a> ~ C'I ~ E CD Q. ~ 16 yea rs of in tense r iva lry that a lways managed to rem ain frien dl y at the end of the day. Yep, nine-tim e AMA Gra nd Na tiona l Cha m pion Scott Parker missed out on wh at w a s p ro b abl y h is la st cha nce for a win a t Sacra men to, as he flogged his Bill Werner-prepa red factory Ha rley-Davi dson XR750 to a d istant seco nd- p la ce finish a fter ge tt ing a lousy s ta rt off th e se cond row an d ru nnin g 10th ea rly on a narrow -gro oved race track that demand ed that you ge t to the front in a hu rr y if you wa nted to ru n wi th the lead d raft. Park er never did get to run wi th Carr, but he did get to run wi th just about everybody else - and run them d own - s ta rting w it h USC Racing / Lancas ter Harley-David son /Dod ge Brothers' Kevin Varnes on lap two and finis hing in a drafting w ar wi th 1-800- FASTHOG /Moroney's Harley-Dav id so n's Mike H a cke r and Corb in Raeing / H -D Cycle Ce n te r of Wat erloo / SuperTrapp-sponsor ed Rich King on the las t lap. Parker was still smili ng a t th e fin ish, and he d id n' t appea r to be the least bit ou t of br ea th. "I just had to pu t my head d own and tr y to reel 'em in ," Parke r sa id. "As I s ta rt e d p icking ' em off , on e by o ne, things started rolling, bu t the worst thing that I could see was Chris Ca rr putting time on us. I looked up there, and I was like ' Uh oh, th is ain' t no good .' I wa s hoping that someone could ge t u p there and slow him down a bit, you know, mix it up with him . Bu t h e m u s t' v e h ad every thi ng rolling real go od , got th e holesh ot and did his job. I was just back there sucking hind tit for a little bit." It's over: Chris Carr happ ily paraded his team owner Mike Shattuck around the track afte r winn ing the Sacramento Mile and clinching his second AMA Grand National Championship before a record crowd of over 19,000 at the Cal Expo Slate Fa irgrounds. Hacker enjoyed his best career da y on the mile yet wi th a third-place finish. He started sixth before more or less gettin g p ro dd ed an d pushed upfield b y Parker, but the 23-y ear-o ld Virgi nia n then got ro lling and did his own prod di ng aboard hi s Mik e Wh eel er- tuned Harley-Davidson. Hacker d iced wit h and d ropped - recen t Springfield winner King and Eaken Racing's Will Davis en route to the podium finish .