After three weeks off, Chino Hills, California sprint car driver Eddie Tafoya Jr. will be back in the cockpit this Saturday night for the “Glenn Howard Memorial” at Perris Auto Speedway. The race will be followed up by a trip to Arizona on the first Saturday night in October.
After a tough three race stint over Labor Day weekend in Northern California, Tafoya, and his Specialty Fasteners crew plan on faring better on Saturday. In the three races on the unfamiliar Northern California tracks, the #51T had uncharacteristic 11th, 16th, and 20th place finishes. The team is determined to reverse those results at its first race in autumn.
While many drivers opted to stay home during the cavernous breaks in the 2021 USAC/CRA schedule, Tafoya decided otherwise. He wanted to keep busy and he wanted to keep honing his skills. Thus, he made three separate trips to Indiana where he got in an extra 12 races against the best drivers in the nation.
This Saturday will be Tafoya’s 24th open wheel race in 2021. Dating back to mid-January’s Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the affable driver has done a lot of racing out of state. In fact, he has more starts in Indiana (12) than he does in his native California (9). Fourteen of his 23 races have come on different tracks.
Tafoya’s treks to the Midwest the past two years have paid dividends for him. Especially on his home track, Perris Auto Speedway. In four starts on the Riverside County half-mile clay oval in 2021, he has shined. Thus far, he has two top five finishes and three top 10s. Included is his first ever USAC/CRA podium finish on July 17th when he placed third. The only time he came home out of the top 10 at The PAS this year was on Memorial Day weekend when he dropped out of the race while in second. His best finish away from the Riverside County oval came at Santa Maria when he placed sixth on July 3rd.
For rising star Tafoya and his competitors in the USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series, the 2021 schedule is finally going to get busy. Beginning Saturday, there are eight races in the next seven weeks. That is in heavy contrast to the first six months of the 2021 schedule which has only seen 13 events to date.
On Saturday, fans can meet Tafoya at the on track autograph and candy giveaway session during intermission. They can also visit him after the races in the pits. He will have his 2021 shirts available at both places.
Fans can follow Tafoya on Instagram @eddietafoya51 and can use the same contact to purchase shirts via mail.
For those who wish to attend Saturday’s race, the gates will open at 5:00 p.m. with racing at 7:00. There will be plenty of tickets available for everyone at the ticket window. The race will not sell out. For those who wish, advance tickets are available at https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/pas/7.
Perris Auto Speedway is located on the freeway close Lake Perris Fairgrounds in Riverside County. The address is 18700 Lake Perris Drive in Perris (92571). The track website is at http://www.perrisautospeedway.com/ and the office phone is (951) 940-0134.
Tafoya and his team would like to thank the following sponsors for being a part of the 2021 racing campaign. Specialty Fasteners, BR Performance, DRC Chassis, Ryder Racing Engines, Benic Enterprises, Simpson, and Bell. If you or your company would like to become a part of the team in 2021, please give them a call or send an Email to the contact information at the top of this press release.
Eddie Tafoya PR
