360 Nationals Winner 2006
Back To MediaCanadian Travis Rutz overcame adversity and ran the race of his life, and is going home to Langley, British Columbia with $10,000 in United States currency. Rutz took the lead and drove away with his first Bob’s Burgers & Brew Skagit 360 Nationals at Washington’s Skagit Speedway.
“Ten thousand bucks, baby!” Rutz yelled out loud at the thought of the big pay day.
The 18-year-old had fuel line issues in the A-Scramble event, relegating him to the sixth starting position of Saturday’s 40-lap A-Main event. After making repairs following the scramble, Rutz immediately went to work at the initial start of the feature race, moving into fourth place. On lap five, Rutz inherited third place when initial leader Brock Lemley of Ferndale, Wash. cut down a tire.
On lap nine, Rutz made a bold pass around Snohomish’s Seth Bergman, going up against the wall in turns three and four and squeezed between Bergman and the turn four fence to take second place. Two laps later, Rutz got around two-time winner Rick Fauver of Everett to take the lead. From there, Rutz put the pedal to the metal, and proceeded to dominate the rest of the race.
“That’s how you’ve gotta run this place, wide open!” a very jubilant Rutz said following the win.
Rutz may have ran it wide open around the 3/10-mile, high-banked clay oval, but a couple of close calls nearly ruined the night for Rutz. On lap 12, Rutz had to avoid the spun out Brian Kirkpatrick, threading the needle between stalled car and wall. Then on lap 29, Rutz brushed the wall in turn one, but managed to save the car and hit the gas again. Rutz encountered very heavy traffic at times, but skillfully sliced and diced his way through, putting slower cars between himself and his pursuers.
Rutz would win it in front of a very pleased crowd of spectators who greeted him with a rousing ovation when he climbed out of his car. Rutz gave credit to many people, including his crew and family. However, Rutz gave huge props to former racer Shawna Wilskey, Marc Huson, and his father Doug Rutz.
“They’ve been huge. Shawna got me here, and Marc’s helping me get to the next level,” Rutz humbly said. “But I couldn’t have done anything without my old man, Doug Rutz. I’d have gotten nowhere without him. I wouldn’t have known how to do any of this.”
Bergman, another teenage driver, would pass Fauver for second and hold it for the biggest finish of his young career. Fauver finished third ahead of Friday preliminary winner Steve Kilcup of Sedro-Woolley and Cory Chamerlain of British Columbia. Cottage Grove, Oregon visitor Danny Horner steadily climbed to sixth place from his 13th starting position and 18th starting Travis Jacobson of Lake Stevens finished seventh. Lemley, Andy Jacobson, and B-Main winner Marc Huson, who won last year’s 360 Nationals, rounded out the top ten.
Fauver won the A-Scramble, while Jason Bloodgood won the C-Scramble and Barry Martinez the B-Scramble. All three scrambles, each six laps in length, set the first three rows for their respective main events.
Winning the 20-lap C-Main was Bloodgood, who took Montana’s Trevor Kirkland, Oregon’s Brendan Boyce, Snohomish’s Jared Ridge, Brandon Harkness, and Chuck Ashe to the 25-lap B-Main with him. Winning the B-Main, Huson was followed by Jacobson, Sacramento, California’s Willie Croft, Robbie Vaughn, Harkness, and Nick Evans, who passed Shawn Rice with only a couple of laps remaining to take the sixth and final transfer spot to the A-Main.
Acme’s Harkness, who was unable to race Friday, started at the tail end of the C-Main and completed the famed “alphabet soup”, transferring to the B-Main and then the A-Main as well. Harkness finished 22nd after breaking the Watt’s link in his race car in the feature race.
Jerry Birdsey Jr. won the Wilson Auto Brokers Outlaw Hornet main event. Cory Swatzina finished second and Matt Powers third. Luther Wilson won the Hornet heat race.
Forty-seven drivers from California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Alberta, and British Columbia competed over two nights of racing in the 17th edition of Skagit Speedway’s premier 360 winged sprint car event.
Bob’s Burgers & Brew Skagit 360 Nationals Skagit Speedway – Alger, WA August 12, 2006
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
45 cars
C-Scramble (6 laps): 1. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 2. 29k Trevor Kirkland, 3. 12 Jared Ridge, 4. 65 Brendan Boyce, 5. 44 Michael Harris, 6. 24 Jayme Barnes. Finish determined the first six starting positions of the C-Main.
B-Scramble (6 laps): 1. 66 Barry Martinez, 2. 73 Marc Huson, 3. 4 Brady Dart, 4. 7j Travis Jacobson, 5. 76 Shawn Rice, 6. 4v Robbie Vaughn. Finish determines the first six starting positions of the B-Main.
A-Scramble (6 laps): 1. 26 Rick Fauver, 2. 40 Brock Lemley, 3. 18 Steve Kilcup, 4. 23 Seth Bergman, 5. 69p Rod Perkins, 6. 8r Travis Rutz. Finish determines the first six starting positions of the A-Main.
C-Main (20 laps): 1. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 2. 29k Trevor Kirkland, 3. 65 Brendan Boyce, 4. 12 Jared Ridge, 5. 29 Brandon Harkness, 6. 5x Chuck Ashe, 7. 57 Bud Ashe, 8. 44h Michael Harris, 9. 6 Colton Heath, 10. 21f Kris Fraser, 11. 13gr Glenn Reinstra, 12. 24 Jayme Barnes, 13. 7s Kirk Fellers, 14. 66 Jason Cocking, 15. 3r Chris Rogers, 16. 79k Kelsey Carpenter. Disqualified: 69t John Tharp (originally scored 6th). Top four finishers transfer to B-Main. 29 Brandon Harkness and 5x Chuck Ashe also advance due to scratches from B-Main field.
B-Main (25 laps): 1. 73 Marc Huson, 2. 7j Travis Jacobson, 3. 29c Willie Croft, 4. 4v Robbie Vaughn, 5. 29 Brandon Harkness, 6. 24e Nick Evans, 7. 76 Shawn Rice, 8. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 9. 29k Trevor Kirkland, 10. 32s Shawn Smith, 11. 12 Jared Ridge, 12. 98 Bob Stevens, 13. 66 Barry Martinez, 14. 65 Brendan Boyce, 15. 4d Brady Dart, 16. 5x Chuck Ashe, 17. 3p Dan Pierson, 18. 68 Rob Held. Top six finishers transfer to the A-Main.
A-Main (40 laps): 1. 8r Travis Rutz, 2. 23 Seth Bergman, 3. 26 Rick Fauver, 4. Steve Kilcup, 5. 10c Cory Chamberlain, 6. 75h Danny Horner, 7. 7j Travis Jacobson, 8. 40 Brock Lemley, 9. 59 Andy Jacobson, 10. 73 Marc Huson, 11. 42 Alan Munn, 12. 4v Robbie Vaughn, 13. 29c Willie Croft, 14. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick, 15. 69p Rod Perkins, 16. 8e Evan Funk, 17. 24e Nick Evans, 18. 19 Greg Sandquist, 19. 5k Brian Kirkpatrick, 20. 29 Brandon Harkness, 21. V8 Jeff Hodgson. Disqualified: 33v Henry Van Dam (originally scored 13th).
Skagit Speedway – Alger, WA
www.skagitspeedway.com