For a family steeped in tradition at Santa Maria Speedway, it was a bit of a surprise that a Claborn had never reached the pinnacle of the Late Model division, the premier series at the 1/3-mile clay oval.

After Saturday night, all that changed, and in a big way.

Joey Claborn, in his first season in the high-powered dirt series at SMS, clinched his family/s first-ever Late Model title with a second-place finish in Saturday/s 30-lap main event.

While Billy Griffin of Buena Park claimed the victory for his series-high third win of the year, much of the focus was on Claborn and his push for the title. Claborn 7 whose uncle Randy and father Bobby were both races at the track throughout its 42-year history 7 won the 2001 Street Stock championship at the track, then ran part-time until making the leap to the Late Models this year.

"All it took was a good team, and with all the stuff the family already had around, it made the learning curve that much easier to take," Claborn said. "It/s just an awesome feeling."

It was a very successful venture for Claborn and his blue jacket-clad pit crew: of the nine times that the series ran for points at SMS, Claborn was in the top five all nine times, including five second-place finishes and one victory. It was that mark of consistency that put him over the top.

Claborn did point out that he felt that there should have been more Late Model hardware on his family/s mantle.

"It was a different time that when other people in my family ran," he said. "There/s some tough guys here, but when Randy was racing, he was going up against Danny Simkins, Fred Joehnck and Bob Oathout. There was some really heavy hitters out there.

"I think I looked it up the other day, and (Randy) had something like four second-place finishes in the points," Claborn added about his uncle/s exploits. "It/s great to have the first one, but there really should be more there for us."

As for the night/s race itself, Griffin had the measure of the field early from pole, jetting away from Claborn at the outset and never looking back. However, looking ahead was a bit of a problem for him.

"I think the biggest thing I had to deal with was fog," Griffin joked about the humid late-September conditions. "My glasses were fogged up, my helmet visor was fogged up Š there were some moves in traffic there where I was closing my eyes and hoping for the best."

Coming into the night, all Claborn had to do was finish 15th or better in the main event to clinch the title; With the mid-race retirements of Tom Keck and Danny Bohard, that was secured and all that was left was the night/s running order.

Following Griffin and Claborn to the line were Jimbo Clark, Jerry Stewart and Willy Oathout.

Another driver that used a runner-up finish in a main event to clinch a title was Santa Maria/s David Addamo in the Factory Stock ranks, taking second behind Scotty Preast in a brilliant second-half duel that saw the two drivers finish within two lengths of each other at the end.

"That was an excellent way to end the year, because it was good, hard, clean racing," Addamo said, thanking his crew, sponsors and family during post-race festivities.

Addamo had to fight his way to the front when polesitter Brian Signorelli Sr. faltered at the start, causing a logjam of cars with Addamo and Preast at the rear.

"That/s just the way racing is sometimes," Addamo said. "I just had to be patient and get going again."

Both were able to pick their way forward, with Preast taking the lead for good on lap seven. Addamo soon joined him and set off for the victory, one that Preast earned despite being side-by-side with Addamo on several occasions.

Michael Hyland finished third, followed by Dale Sylvester and Dan Smith.

With Tom Grzincic following through on his statement to end his title-clinching campaign in the Mini Stock ranks one race short, the rest of the field had a chance to end the year with a victory. However, it was Grzincic/s No. 8 Porsche 924 that was in Victory Lane again, this time with fellow Atascadero driver Darrin Davis at the wheel.

Davis/ second win of the year cemented his runner-up spot to Grzincic in the points. Mike Weigel of Lompoc was looking to clinch third and led for much of the early going in Saturday/s 20-lapper, but mechanical issues befell him before the checkers fell.

When the fog lifted, Davis was followed to the line by Jeremy Heroux of Nipomo, the only other feature winner this season; Justin Crockett and Michael Herlihy of Arroyo Grande, Frank Nyback (who may have nipped Weigel for third in overall points), Ben Caswell, Jessica Rust, Debbie Ferrara, Rob Gilbertson and Mike Leland.

Sept. 26, 2004