(San Bernardino, Calif.) Orange Show Speedway and its Leno's Rico Taco RACEceiver Legends Car contingent honored injured driver Larry Meredith before the start of Saturday's event.
The track hosted twin 45 and half-lap features to honor the driver, whose Legends number is 45.5. He was injured in a race at I-10 Lucas Oil Speedway in Blythe, Calif. earlier this year.
Prior to the first feature, all the Legends drivers gathered on the front-stretch to pay tribute to Meredith and wife, Kathy, who stood holding hands on the starting line. Meredith addressed the crowd and his fellow Legends competitors, thanking them for their thoughts and prayers during his recovery. Meredith told the crowd that he would likely not race again, but was grateful for the group's support.
"With the support of my family here (pointing toward all the Legends Cars drivers), and my family here (after putting an arm around his wife), plus all of the cards, letters and the prayers, especially the prayers, that's the reason why I'm standing here today," Meredith said.
The crowd gave the Merediths a standing ovation, and he gave the command to start engines.
The first feature saw Chase Cantania grab the early lead from the pole and pace the field for the first 19 laps. Jimmy Hanson took the lead on lap 19. The race was slowed one lap later by a spin in turn four. The field didn't get a lap in on the restart when Cantania spun in turn one. With his main competition out of contention, Hanson drove the rest of the 45 laps without a serious challenge. Chad Schug was second, Darren Amidon third, Ryan Schug fourth and Bree Brewer was fifth.
"The race was a little rough there at the beginning with everyone beating and banging on each other," Hanson, who hails from Cedar Lake, Ind. said. "I race with these guys at Blythe (Calif.), Lake Havasu City (Ariz.) and Las Vegas. They're really a good group of guys."
Later in the evening, the second Legends feature rolled to the line with a full-field inversion. Cody Kutzner led the initial lap, but was passed on lap two by Chase Cantania, whose hard luck during the first feature gave him a great start for the second race. The race was slowed by a red flag for an oil leak clean-up during the middle of the race.
Back under green, Cantania led two more laps before Darren Amidon took the lead. Amidon had difficulty maintaining any racing rhythm as the feature was littler with caution flags for spins. On lap 80, a three-car pileup in turn two involving Brewer, Kutzner and Cantania, who was snake bit twice on the same evening.
On the restart, Amidon ripped off a great start and held off a hard-charging Hanson. Brent Scheidemantle, Taylor Price and Fred Chavez, Jr. rounded out the top five.
"I kept my nose clean tonight - we started in the back and it seemed like a lot of the faster guys got into trouble," Amidon said. The victory was especially sweet on this night as it honored Meredith. "He's awesome. I've known Larry for nearly four years now and there's nobody better in the pits. We're going to miss him a ton of the track. We love him, and we'll get to see him in the pits every weekend."