Mini stock driver Drew Crenshaw won this past Saturday’s Olga’s California Dream in dramatic fashion. His right-front axle bellowed smoke as he hustled the car during the white-flag lap around Madera Speedway to win the 100-lapper.
“On lap 98, the car barely turned,” said Crenshaw, of Nampa, Idaho. “I had to fight the car to get it to turn. On lap 99, when [the axle] exploded, it barely turned. I couldn’t see where [the] second-place [car] was. I was just hoping that it would coast to the finish.”
Fortunately, Crenshaw set a blistering pace. He still managed to finish five seconds ahead of the runner-up, Brian Boman, of Rochester, Washington. The win was the first for a front-wheel-drive car as Crenshaw competed with a 1991 Honda CRX. He downplayed the significance of it, though.
“It was right place, right time,” Crenshaw said of why he won. “The whole field is super competitive. I don’t think it matters if it’s front-wheel-drive or rear-wheel-drive.”
Bob Coply, a longtime promoter of mini stocks in the West, promotes Olga’s California Dream. The race pays $3,000 to the winner, but for Crenshaw the event meant more than that. He said he hauled 13 hours from Idaho to compete at Madera Speedway in California.
(For more on the race’s history, read “Olga’s California Dream: Big Four-Cylinder Race”.)
“We do it to support Bob [Coply] and his dream to give any mini stock out there the publicity it deserves,” said Crenshaw. “Like Kenny [Shepherd, promoter of Madera Speedway,] said, it’s one of the races where on Monday you clock in and go back to work. It’s not like you have a hauler where it takes your car to the next racetrack. These are the people’s cars, not [those of a] big, massive team.”
Drew Crenshaw only races a handful of mini stock events, with Olga’s California Dream being the primary focus of his efforts in the class. He typically competes in midgets and nonwinged and winged sprint cars.
Some might consider what Crenshaw regularly competes in a bigger deal. However, his experience at the Olga’s California Dream stands out to him.
“The whole camaraderie of everyone there is the awesome part,” Crenshaw said. “Winning the race is cool but doing it with a whole bunch of my friends was even better.”
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
