Brody Roa Readies for Saturday’s Sokola Shootout at Perris Auto Speedway

One week after racing with teammate Tommy Dunkel at the Imperial Valley Raceway, Brody Roa is preparing for one of the longest-running sprint car races in Southern California, the 20th annual “Sokola Shootout” at Perris Auto Speedway.  The race is this Saturday night, March 18th, and Roa comes into it as the point leader in the 2023 USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series championship standings.

In his first two times driving an Inland Rigging-owned car, Roa scored the wins in the first two races of the 2023 USAC/CRA schedule at Brad Whitfield’s Cocopah Speedway in January.  He carries a 14-point lead in the championship standings heading into Saturday’s race on the famous Riverside County half-mile clay oval that is located 77 miles east of Los Angeles.  In addition to winning both of the Cocopah mains, he also captured one of his two heat races on the weekend in his new DRC chassis. 

At last year’s “Sokola Shootout” Roa scored a dominating win in his 10-lap heat race.  For the 30-lap main event, he started seventh and finished sixth. 

Last week’s races at Imperial, which were run during the California Mid-Winter Fair, drew a strong field of cars and fine crowds.  The successful event was a rebirth of what used to be an annual tradition that carried on for decades when the original CRA raced during the fair.  For Roa, it was his first race at The PAS.  Dunkel, who lives in Murrieta, appeared on the fairgrounds track and finished seventh there last October. 

The race was an open comp show.  Meaning there were both 360s and 410s competing together.  Dunkel was in his brand new DRC and Roa was driving a Maxim.  Both were powered by Shaver 360s. 

“It was the first time out in the new DRC chassis,” Dunkel said of his car at Imperial.  “Between the new chassis and Brett & Brody Roa helping with setup and driving advice, it helped tremendously. We were able to post some decent times and hold our own out there.  I ended up getting into it with a slower car (during Friday practice) and ended up getting upside down.  The car did not get hurt too bad.  Just some radius rods, a nerf bar, wheel, and tire.  I got banged up a little bit and had some sore ribs.”

The big night at Imperial was Saturday.  In front of an enthusiastic crowd, the sprint cars were competing for the winner’s $5000.00 paycheck.  The first order of business on the night was heat races.  The top five finishers from each heat moved straight into the main event.  As luck would have it, Dunkel and Roa were matched up in the same heat.  Dunkel managed to hold off the sixth-place driver to earn the final transfer spot into the A main.  The driver he held off was Roa.

While Dunkel was locked into the A main, Roa had to go to the B to earn his ticket for a shot at the winner’s loot.  He performed flawlessly in the B and won the race.

For the main, Roa had to start 16th, on the outside of row #8.  That was directly behind new teammate Dunkel who was coming from 14th.  Despite the fact that he was competing against some stout 410s, Roa was on a mission.  The 2019 USAC Southwest Sprint Car Series champion was weaving his way through the field.  With 10 laps remaining, the Garden Grove, California veteran was all the way up to fifth and was pressing the drivers in third and fourth.  However, disaster struck when one of the cars ahead of Roa and a lapper got together.  Roa could not avoid the tangle and ended up done for the night with a junked racecar.  He ended up 17th.

After Roa’s incident, Dunkel was left to fly the Inland Rigging flag by himself.  He had advanced all the way to ninth when trouble set in and he ended up 16th

“I was in the ninth spot with three to go and I had a steering gear failure,” Dunkel lamented.  “Both of our nights ended kind of poorly.  For myself, I was really happy with the weekend.  We tore some stuff up but in the end, I am really happy with the DRC. I had a blast out there racing with those guys.  They are going to have another show there in October and we’ll come back.  We will come out swinging and hopefully, we will have some better results to show.”

Roa returns to action at Perris Auto Speedway on Saturday and will be at Kings Speedway in Hanford next Friday.  He will then journey to Arizona’s Mohave Valley on April 1st.  That night it will be a two-car effort for Inland Rigging as Dunkel will make his USAC/CRA debut.   

Spectator gates at Perris Auto Speedway will open at 5 PM on Saturday and the first race will be at 7:00.   The track is located on the Lake Perris Fairgrounds at 18700 Lake Perris Drive in the city of Perris (92571).  Advance tickets are available 24 hours a day at https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/pas/7.  The track website is www.perrisautospeedway.com and the office phone number is (951) 940-0134.

As always, Roa would be more than happy to jump in a race car on his weekends off from the #17R. His entire schedule is printed below.  If anybody wishes to contact him about open dates, they can do so at 714-932-7994 or mailto:[email protected]    

The team wants to thank the following sponsors for making the 2023 season possible. Inland Rigging, Dunkel Farms, United Asset Sales, Osborne Speed & Machine, Sander Engineering, “Biker” Bruce Fischer, ALR Virtual Services, Burris Racing, Caltrol, Competition Suspension, K-1 Race Gear, Molecule, Rod End Supply, Driven Racing Oil, Baldwin Filters, and NGK Spark Plugs. 

BRP PR