IRWINDALE - T-shirts went flying throughout the stadium.
There were oohs and aahs for every spin and crash. Cheers for the winners. The smell of tire smoke and racing fuel filled the nostrils.
The second decade of racing at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale began Saturday night like the first one ended; with Nick Joanides leading the ACDelco Super Late Model series points standings. The Woodland Hills resident won the 100-lap race on Saturday night, leading all but the first lap.
"It worked in our favor," Joanides said "We started '09 right where we finished '08."
The regular-season opener was much better than when
the series took its first green flag of the year in January as part of
the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. That race went 15 laps, of which
only three were green. Saturday's race
was the first time the series
had gone 100 laps since the season-opener six seasons ago.
About 5,500 in the track's grandstand braved the cold and the stiff wind from the southwest to watch four races.
Joanides, who won 10 Super Late Model races last season, never really seemed to be threatened.
Luis Martinez Jr., a Baldwin Park kart mechanic, rallied for a second-place finish and Matt Hicks of Santee finished third.
"This field is tough," said Joanides, who struggled in qualifying because of tire issues. "They've definitely caught up to us. We do not have the advantage we had last year. This time, it worked out.
Most people won't believe me, but trust me, I was really impressed by how many quality cars we had here. It was incredible."
Martinez, who was fourth with nine laps to go, blew by Hicks on the race's final lap for second.
"I knew we had the car and had a game plan ready," Martinez said.
"Everything came our way. A couple more laps and we would have had a show with Nick."
Joanides admits he was saving his tires for Rip Michels of San Fernando, who was as close as second, but faded to seventh.
"I looked in the mirror and I had a few car lengths on Matt," Joanides said. "I don't know where Luis came from."
