Eddie Tafoya Jr. Finishes 8th at Perris Auto Speedway

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Eddie Tafoya Jr. maintained his grip on fourth place in the USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series championship standings when he placed eighth in the September 17th 30-lap main event at Perris Auto Speedway.  With just six races remaining in the season, he is now 108 points ahead of the 5th place driver.

A healthy field of 24 410 Sprint cars showed up for the race at the track that is located 76 miles east of Hollywood. The 25-year-old driver with movie star good looks began his night by qualifying 13th fastest with a time of 16.779.  While that 13th place qualifying time may not seem up to Tafoya’s normal standards, one must realize that it was only.577 slower than the fastest qualifier in the tightly packed field.

Tafoya started on the outside of the front row in the tough first 10-lap heat race. As soon as the race began, the Chino Hills, California driver jumped ahead of the pack and proceeded to lead the first four laps. When the checkers ended the hard-fought battle, Tafoya was in third.

When the field assembled on the famous half-mile clay Oval for the 30-lap main event, Tafoya was on the outside of row six.  There was only one way the 2019 USAC CRA and USAC southwest series rookie of the year wanted to go in the race and that was forward.  That is exactly what he did.  By the halfway point he had marched up to the eighth spot and he stayed there for the duration.

The result kept Tafoya’s best season in sprint car racing rolling along.  He has a perfect attendance record through the first 15 USAC/CRA races.  Besides a seven-day period when he finished out of the top 10 three times in a row, he has not finished worse than ninth in the other 12 races and he has six top five results.  His overall finishing average in main events this year is 7.86. In the three races that he finished out of the top 10, his average was 15.33.  In the other 12 races of the year where he has not finished worse than nine, he has a fine 6.00 finishing average.

As mentioned earlier, Tafoya is 108 points ahead of the fifth-place driver as the season hits the home stretch. In addition, he only trails the racer in front of him by 36 points. 

This Saturday’s scheduled race at Perris Auto Speedway has been canceled due to a concert at the nearby lake. Next up for Tafoya will be a return to Arizona’s Mohave Valley Raceway.  Earlier this year he made his first-ever appearance at the “Copper State” track and placed third in the 30-lap main event.  After the trip to Mohave, there will only be two weekends of racing remaining in 2022.  The 55th Annual Chapman Chevrolet Western World Championship at Cocopah Speedway in Somerton, Arizona on October 28th and 29th and the 26th Annual Heimark Anheuser Busch Budweiser Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway from November 3rd through the 5th.

Tafoya has a great new YouTube channel at the following link https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1hrmC5L80EU.

Be sure to stop by the Specialty Fasteners hauler after a race to meet Tafoya and his team and to pick up one of his great-looking team shirts.

If you or your company would like to be a part of the Specialty Fastener team’s effort, please contact Eddie Tafoya Jr. via phone at (909) 393-3999 or by e-mail at [email protected]. He will be happy to talk to you and lay out the team’s 2023 plans.

Fans can follow Tafoya on Instagram @eddietafoya51. The same contact point can be used to purchase his great-looking shirts via mail.

Eddie Tafoya PR

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