Despite the last-minute cancellation of the planned fireworks show due to the tragic warehouse fire in Esparto on July 1, the largest crowd of the season that turned out at the Stockton 99 Speedway on Thursday night, July 3, went home happy after fan favorite “Slammin’” Sam Solari of Escalon skyrocketed to a sparkling victory in the prestigious Strmiska Firecracker 90 for the Stockton Late Models.

Contested annually during the Fourth of July weekend, the event honors the late Ron Strmiska. Nicknamed the “Manteca Missile,” Strmiska’s racing career at the 99 Speedway spanned over 30 years and was highlighted by back-to-back track championships in 1978 and 1979.

“This means a lot because I wouldn’t even be racing without the Strmiska family. I grew up down the street from them and that is how I got into this,” Solari explained. “I love Ron Sr., and he is one of the superheroes in my life.”

Although Solari set fast time in qualifying, a bad draw put him well back in the fifth row, while the father and son team of Joey and JoJo Stearns, both of Stockton, led the 15-car field to the opening green flag of the 90-lap main. However, it mattered little as the former two-time track champion methodically carved his way up through the field, passing JoJo Stearns on lap 17 to take over the top spot.

“I wasn’t concerned at all to start that far back. I’m just concerned because I am thirty-something years older and 100 pounds heavier than most of those guys,” Solari joked. “I’m old, man. I just fasten my seatbelts a bit tighter.”

Once in the lead, Solari would never look back as he steadily pulled away from the pack. Only a handful of caution restarts, including one long red flag stoppage in which Solari jokingly claimed he “fell asleep” while waiting for the race to resume, kept his winning margin of 3.616 seconds over Ripon’s Eric “Bubba” Nascimento from being even greater.

“When the car is that good, all I am thinking about is the long hours everyone at the shop puts into it and to pay it off,” said Solari, as he proudly posed with the traditional black and white checkered barstool winner’s trophy. “This will be my fourth barstool, and I don’t know anybody that’s got four barstools.”

A total of 11 cars were still running at the conclusion, with JoJo Stearns, Stockton’s Danny Devore and Joey Stearns rounding out the top five.

Grandson Robert Strmiska, the crew chief of Jesse Love’s Richard Childress-owned NASCAR Xfinity Series car, flew in from the team’s home base in North Carolina to drive the family-prepared pink and black No. 90 Ford for the race. Unfortunately, front end damage sustained early in the race kept him out of serious contention and eventually forced him to retire on lap 57.

Tracy’s Brenden Ruzbarsky mounted a similar winning charge from mid-pack in the 40-lap Legends feature. After starting from the fourth row of the 15-car field, Ruzbarsky dove under pole sitter Kayci Phillips of Stockton on lap 11 and held the lead to the checkered flag despite being repeatedly challenged by Galt’s Travis McCullough and Ripon’s Chad Nascimento over the remaining 30 laps of the race.

“After the first five laps, I thought we had a really good car. I was just making sure I hit my marks from there on out, stay consistent, and not make any mistakes,” Ruzbarsky said, who also drove the new car to a win at Evergreen Speedway in Washington last week. “After we took the lead, it was just tire management.”

Although only six cars took the green flag for the 25-lap Street Stock main, the race proved to be highly entertaining as Donnie Darter of Valley Springs spent most of the race desperately trying to hold off Stockton’s Jeremy Tucker for the lead. Tucker used everything in his arsenal to overtake Darter’s faltering car, including a couple of not-so-subtle attempts at a bump and run, one of which tore off his front bumper. Tucker’s efforts were in vain, however, as Darter limped across the finish line for his fourth win of the season.

After the race, Darter confided how precarious his victory was due to a failing transmission.

“We had a really bad exhaust leak and when I went to fix it, I saw where the bellhousing was cracked all the way around. I was waiting for it to fall out onto the ground,” Darter admitted while standing in front of his car at the finish line during a post-race interview. “I wasn’t sure if we would even go a lap.”

Suddenly, as if on cue, Darter’s car emitted a loud bang and began to belch steam like a Turkish sauna in all directions when the busted bellhousing finally caused the radiator to blow.

“I told you,” Darter laughed.

After losing his early lead in the 30-lap feature for the Mini Modifieds to Merced’s Kyle Lebrie at midrace, Patrick Geiger of Clovis spent the remainder of the race frantically trying to track him down. Geiger got his chance on the final lap when a back marker forced Lebrie to check up as the pair duked it out side by side down the back straight.

“I was trying to save a little tire because I knew I was going to need it at the end. It all worked out,” Geiger said. “I took my time and crowded him (Lebrie) to make sure he didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

Although Stockton’s Ethan Rumsey ran away and hid from the rest of the Pure Stock field in their 25-lap main, the battle behind him for second between Linden’s Leilani Sprenkel and Stockton’s Natalie Harper had the crowd on the edge of their seats. After Sprenkel stayed glued to Harper’s rear bumper over the second half of the race, she suddenly dove to the inside of Harper on the final lap and made it stick to grab the runner-up spot.

Stockton 99 Notes:

Stockton driver Lawrence Massone is reported doing fine and back at work following a scary incident in Thursday’s race. During the Late Model feature, Massone’s driveshaft broke and came up through the floorboard, striking him in the leg. Massone was able to drive his car back to the pits and the race was red flagged for about 20 minutes while he received treatment from paramedics for his injuries.

It was not an easy week for track promoter Tony Noceti. Not only did Noceti have to deal with the last minute cancellation of the fireworks show, but a few days earlier he and his staff were scrambling to get the facility race-ready after someone broke into the track and stole $50,000 worth of equipment and goods. Noceti is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprits.

During Thursday’s program, the track held a 50/50 raffle with half the prize money going to the track to buy new equipment. The raffle raised nearly $4,000 and after drawing the winning ticket just before the main event, Marc Borges generously donated his 50 percent share back to the track.

It was announced that the fireworks show has been rescheduled for the Saturday, Aug. 9 program.

The 99 Speedway returns to action on Saturday, July 19 with a five-division program that includes the Stockton Late Models, Legends of 99, NorCal Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks and Fast Kar Solutions Mini Modifieds.