Williams up to Fifth and McCarthy up to Ninth After Salute to Indy

By:
On:
In: Racing News

Flowdynamics drivers Logan Williams and Matt McCarthy both moved up a position in the USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series standings after the 71st running of the Salute to Indy at Perris Auto Speedway.  Williams, who finished fifth in the 30-lap main event, is now fifth in the season-long standings.  McCarthy, who came home 15th, moved up to ninth.

Twenty-four cars showed up for the prestigious race on the famous Riverside County half-mile clay oval.  Williams, the son of National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Rip Williams, turned in the sixth-fastest qualifying lap with a time of 16.626.  McCarthy ended up 17th fastest when he stopped the track clocks at 16.929.

McCarthy, who calls Riverside, California home, was on the pole for the second heat race of the night. The first time the green flag waved to start the 10-lapper, McCarthy took the lead.  However, two cars tangled in turn two and one of them stopped on the track.  That forced officials to throw the yellow flag and call for a complete restart. 

The second time the heat started, McCarthy again burst ahead of the rest of the pack, but the yellow light immediately came on. The driver on the outside of the front row did not get a good start.  The field bunched up for a third try and as in the previous two, McCarthy flew into the lead.  Throughout the race, he continually pulled away and ended up with a half straightaway advantage over the second-place car.  It was his second heat race victory of the year.

“We felt pretty good these last few races,” McCarthy told the crowd in a brief interview after the heat race Triumph.  “We have just been fighting demons, monkeys, or whatever you want to call it.  We have got this thing pretty good right now and we just have to make it happen for 30-laps later on.  So, we will see how it goes.”

A few moments after McCarthy’s commanding performance in his heat, Yorba Linda, California’s Williams took to the well-groomed oval for the final heat race of the night. Due to his impressive qualifying time, he was starting on the inside of the third row in fifth.  When the 10-lap race ended, he had prevailed in a race-long battle to claim the fourth-place spot.  

While McCarthy sparkled in the heat race portion of the team highlights, it was Logan who shined through in the main event.  He started sixth in the 30-lapper with McCarthy coming from 17th. 

When the Steve Russell green flag sent the field on its way, Williams led the first half lap of the race.  He then settled into third place.  For several of the early laps, he and his two brothers, Cody and Austin, were running second, third and fourth.  In the second half of the race, Williams slipped as far back as seventh.  However, in the closing laps, he came back to finish fifth.   It was his fifth top 10 result this year and his second top-five in a row.

For McCarthy, he slipped back to 18th early on and was part of a pack of six or seven cars throughout the race.  The group battled and scrapped all race long and when the checkered ended the action, McCarthy was ahead of the others in the pack and came home 15th.

Team shirts for both drivers will be on sale in the pits after this Saturday’s race at the Ventura Raceway.

McCarthy and Williams would like to thank the following sponsors for making the 2021 season possible. Flowdynamics Inc., JFK Design Build, Cal Therm Mechanical Insulators, CRC Component Repair Co., Encore Gas and Supply, Drink-Pac, and Benic Enterprises. If you or your company would like to come on board and join up with one of the fastest rising sprint car teams west of the Mississippi, please contact John McCarthy at 909 930-5522 or  mailto:[email protected]

Flowdynamics PR

Speedway Digest Staff
Follow Me
Latest posts by Speedway Digest Staff (see all)
Post Views: 119