Uncle Kal’s in Monrovia, just East of Pasadena, the site of the famous Rose Bowl, hosted it’s third SoCal USRA scale race on Saturday January 20, 2001. The "Traveling Circus" arrived in force Saturday morning at 7:00am to find a well stocked, clean and climate controlled raceway with extra pit space added to handle the expected good turnout.

Some of the less adventurous Amateur racers complained about having to race fast GT cars on Uncle Kal’s tight "Korkscrew" roadcourse so the Amateur races were all held on the easier, banked "Grandstand" Hillclimb.

Amateur 4" Nascar was up first and Uncle Kal’s racers Jonathan Forsyth and Geoff Smith took off in the top two places. No formal qualifying was held since in the new one day format TQ points are awarded to the racer who runs the fastest lap on orange during the race.

As the lead swapped between Geoff and Jonathan up front, Earl Wilson of El Cajon settled into third as Jason "I’ll Race Anything" Holmes battled with Richard Estopellan for fifth. Jonathan was TQ.

Geoff Smith lead at the halfway point but Jonathan powered by at the end to win by two with Earl third, "Big John" fourth and followed by Jason, Richard Estopellan and Dave Decesaren.

In Expert Ira Stoker and Steve Forsyth ran 38 each to start with Duran one back. By halfway Steve had fallen back and Roy Hood moved into second with Phil Roberson third. This ultra close, ultra exciting race was contested all the way to the finish as Phil moved one past Roy and for the win with Ira three behind Roy and followed by Gil Rivera, Duran, "Crazy" Chuck Panno and Steve Forsyth. TQ points went to Duran with a 4.391.

The return of the SoCal "Slammer" trucks saw 8 combined entries in this once very popular class. The race began with a super close run between Ira, Duran and Roy, all with 39 after one.

Phil and Chuck ran one back. By halfway former truck Aces Duran and Chuck P. were 1^st and 2^nd with Roy about 5 back. Chuck kept up the pressure on Duran and pulled even by the end of the sixth. Chuck ran 39 on the difficult purple lane to go up two on Duran and then 38 on the even more deadly black lane to hold off Duran by less than one for the win. Roy was third followed by Phil, John, Richard, Gil and Ira.

The next two races were Amateur Gt-1 and Amateur GT-12 since the last two Expert races were held on the intimidating "Korkscrew". GT-1 saw a very fast paced race with UK’s Jason Reynolds, Tim Hould & Geoff Smith, El Cajon’s Earl Wilson, "Prez" Jason Holmes and David Jantis all in the hunt until near the very end. One by one the front runners went to the pits and allowed Jason Reynold, a graduate of Uncle Kal’s successful "Deathstar" racing program to build a ten lap lead. Jason held that margin till the end with Tim Hould second, Earl Wilson third and followed by Geoff Smith, who had looked very strong early, Jason Holmes, Jonathan Forsyth, Greg Noah, David Yantis, Steve Bishop Sr, Dennis Rios, Jim Maher, Clint Baze who broke early and Sal. Jason was TQ at 4.116.

GT-12 Amateur was a great, race long battle between Uncle Kal’s Jonathan Forsyth, Tim Hould and President Jason Holmes. By the halfway point all the cars had taken hits including the leaders as Tim dropped back and Earl moved into third as Jason and Jonathan tied at 166 each. By the seventh Jonathan had built a small lead over Jason and Jason Reynolds had moved into third with a great heat on black. In the final minute Jonathan lost a front upright and had to slow down allowing Jason Holmes to get by by segments for the win.

Jonathan was second, Jason Reynolds third and followed by Earl, Tim Hould, Greg Noah, Jim Maher and Dennis Rios. Jason Holmes was TQ at 3.616.

Chuck Panno was scaring everyone with his GT-1 practice times on Friday night before the Saturday race. Roy Hood was fast as well and they were both below Alan Ohren’s old track record of 4.08 seconds. As of Friday night Greg G. was still limping around with back trouble and had not put a car on the track yet. Six experts took to the "Korkscrew" for GT-1 and Greg G. produced another invisible black car and put it immediately in the lead. Chuck Panno was going consistently a tenth faster than anyone including Greg and in his second heat, as he hit orange Chuck ran an amazing 3.952 to be the first non-local to put his name on Uncle Kal’s "Korkscrew" track record board. Chuck ran 41 on orange to pull even with Greg but a 42 on purple put Greg back in front. Duran and new road racer Roy Hood battled for third while Gil and Steve Forsyth tied for fifth. By the seventh Greg had nine on Chuck as Crazy’s car was getting beat up. Roy Hood was getting fast as his tires came down and he started feeling comfortable on the difficult track. Roy turned a great 41 on orange with a 4.062 time to move past Chuck for second as Greg won by 14 with Chuck Panno third and followed by Steve Duran and Gil. Chuck Panno was awarded TQ points for his three second lap.

Monty Ohren showed up with a "purpose built" GT-12 car designed just for Uncle Kal’s Korkscrew track. Several racers drove the car and marveled at how well it worked on the tight, flat little track. Roy Hood was hooked up and as usual Crazy was ballistic with a monster mill.

Monty took off in the lead followed by Greg and Roy as Chuck hit everything in sight having a bad first heat on green. Monty continued to lead in the second followed by Greg, Roy and Chuck. In the third Greg pulled even with the Big "O" who was driving a great race. Greg set high heat in the 4^th and went up by two as Roy began to pull Monty. Chuck was struggling in 4^th place as Gil and Steve battled on the same lap for fifth.

Roy moved past Monty in the 6^th and came within 2 of Greg with an awesome 45 lap heat on white! Greg hit orange in the 7^th and ran tq time of 3.570 and another 46 laps.

Greg had 5 on Roy going into the last heat as they finished side by side on green and white.

Roy dropped the choke and went straight up, then drove the wheels off his car for three minutes, on a mission to catch Greg. In the end 5 laps were too much to make up and it was Greg 1^st, Roy second, Monty an impressive third with Chuck fourth, Steve fifth and Gil sixth.

Thank’s to Uncle Kal’s and the "Underground staff" for the great facility, two great tracks, the extra pit space and a great weekend of racing, SoCal style.