California has ties to past while focusing on future

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR's 60th anniversary season continues this week with the Sprint Cup Series returning to California Speedway for Sunday's Auto Club 500, renewing a tradition that has long preceded the 2-mile Fontana oval.

NASCAR has a rich, varied history in California that is worth remembering and cherishing. California events in NASCAR's premier series -- a total of 119 heading into Sunday -- have played a vital role in building the sport's popularity.

And that's only a small part of the story.

In 1951 -- NASCAR's fourth year of existence -- there were three California dirt tracks on the schedule: Carrell Speedway in Gardena, Marchbanks Speedway in Hanford and Oakland Stadium.

There were a total of 23 races run in California during the 1950s. The list of winners from those events is dotted with legends:

• In April 1951, Marshall Teague won the first Cup Series race held in California, at Carrell Speedway in Gardena, driving the famed Hudson Hornet.

• Herb Thomas, the two-time series champion, won at Eureka Speedway in May 1956.

• Marvin Panch won the 1957 season opener at Willow Springs Speedway in Lancaster.

On to the 1960s, and California native Dan Gurney, an open-wheel and sports-car star, won at Riverside five times (1963-85, '68), driving for two renowned NASCAR organizations -- Holman-Moody and the Wood Brothers.

In the 1970s, A.J. Foyt won the first two Ontario Motor Speedway events, in 1971 and 1972. In the '80s, Tim Richmond won four times (twice in 1982, then in 1986 and 1987) at Riverside. In the 1990s, at the new speedway in Fontana, a newer legend took up where others had left off. Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon won two of the first three races (1997, '99) there. This decade, reigning champion Jimmie Johnson has two Fontana victories.

Those were the "old days" of NASCAR in California.

But this week's race will bring about a glimpse of the future at the track. The new car raced at 10 of the 22 different Cup Series tracks last season, meaning the drivers had 12 new lessons to learn coming into the 2008 season. What would the competition hold? How would the new car fare?

Lesson 1 -- Daytona International Speedway -- is complete and the new car offered some of the most competitive racing ever seen at a Daytona 500. There were 42 lead changes among 16 drivers. Only five times since 1972 has a Daytona 500 seen that many lead changes, and the 16 different leaders is the second-most ever.

The new car competes at another new track this Sunday -- California Speedway. The series tested there from Jan. 31-Feb. 1 with Gordon, Johnson, Carl Edwards and Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman posting times at or near the top of the charts.

Also faring well at the test was Matt Kenseth, who is a juggernaut at California. He has two wins and five top-10s in the last five races. Plus, for all the superstitious handicappers out there, Kenseth has a "numbers game" advantage this Sunday. A quirky coincidental sequence has him heading to Victory Lane -- his last five finishes at California go like this: seventh, first, seventh, first, seventh.

But more logical prognosticators might want to go with the Loop Data. Kenseth leads in a number of categories including the key Driver Rating (113.9) and Average Running Position (7.2) statistics.

One result is likely at California -- the winner of Sunday's race will be a proven one. Each of the 11 different winners in the 15 races at California has at least one appearance in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

In California
• There have been 119 Cup Series races in California.

• 380 NASCAR drivers have their home state recorded as California.

• There are seven California natives presently competing in Sprint Cup: Gordon, Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Casey Mears, Robby Gordon, David Gilliland and A.J. Allmendinger. No other state has that many Sprint Cup drivers.

• There have been 29 race winners from California in NASCAR's three national series