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Sen. Dean Heller to wave green flag at LVMS

He’ll be waving the green flag at the start of Saturday’s Senator’s Cup Fall Classic at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring, and presenting the winner with the big check afterward. But if truth be known, U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., would prefer to be down there on the asphalt, trading paint and passing on the high side with the other super late model stock car drivers.

Darn that Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee anyway.

Serving on committees and the other responsibilities of a junior U.S. senator doesn’t leave much time for trading paint and high-side passes, said Heller, a former Bullring competitor who might be going around in circles himself this weekend at LVMS had political ambition not come knocking on his rear spoiler.

“I won a few races; I lost a lot more,” Heller said from Capitol Hill when asked to characterize his 25-year career as a stock car racing weekend warrior. “If you gave me two or three days (of practice laps) or a million dollars, I still think I could be competitive.”

Heller caught the racing bug at an early age — his father, Jack Heller, was a regular at the old bullring in Carson City and owned an auto repair business, and the two spent most weekends at the track.

Dean Heller said he drove everything from go-karts to super late models as a younger man. He even turned laps on the big LVMS oval in an American Speed Association truck. Nowadays, his racing pursuits mostly are limited to road course hot laps in his GT1-TransAm Camaro when the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee breaks for recess.

Heller said he once set fast qualifying time in an IMCA modified dirt car in Carson City when he was Nevada secretary of state. Not long thereafter, they padlocked the gates at Champion Speedway.

So Sen. Dean Heller owns a track record that never will be broken — an unimpeachable fact not open to debate.

Defending champion Linny White of Fontana, California, and past and present Bullring standouts Noah Gragson, Dustin Ash, Kayli Barker, Jay Beasley and Chris Trickle will be among the Super Late Model drivers competing for the $15,000 first prize in the 150-lap Fall Classic.

Racing begins Friday with Super Late Model and Late Model qualifying, and heats and features in USAC HPD Midgets, South West Tour Truck Series Pro Trucks and U.S. Legends. A bevy of features in the Bandoleros, NASCAR Bombers, NASCAR Super Stocks, U.S. Legends, HPD Midgets and Pro Trucks will lead into the Senator’s Cup Fall Classic on Saturday.

Racing begins at 6 p.m. both nights.

NASCAR

• The Busch brothers of Las Vegas are in good position to advance in the Chase heading into the final race of the Round of 12 at Talladega Speedway. Defending champion Kyle is third in points, 27 above the cutoff for the Round of 8; 2004 champ Kurt is fifth, 17 points above the elimination line. Fellow Las Vegan Brendan Gaughan’s bid to advance in the Xfinity Series took a major hit with a 31st-place finish at Kansas. Gaughan is seventh in points with two races left in the Xfinity Round of 8; the top four advance to the final round at Homestead, Florida.

• Kyle Busch recently made two more friends off the track when he presented Holman Head of Auburn (Alabama) High School with a Toyota Camry identical in appearance to Busch’s No. 18 Interstate Batteries car, so the special needs student could drive friend Taylor Johnson to their homecoming dance. Bush also recorded a video for the two that accompanied the Camry, inviting them to this weekend’s race at Talladega as his guest.

ELSEWHERE

• Antron Brown has a 150-point cushion over second-place Doug Kalitta in the Top Fuel class heading into next week’s NHRA Toyota Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the penultimate race in the Countdown for the Championship. The Funny Car and Pro Stock battles are tighter — Ron Capps leads Tommy Johnson by 64 points in Funny Car; Jason Line is ahead of Greg Anderson by 26 points in Pro Stock. Brown (TF), Matt Hagan (FC) and Drew Skillman (PS) were the winners at last weekend’s Texas Fall Nationals.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0325. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.

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