Notebook: Figure-eight racing too dangerous? Not for Monroe's Peters

They skid around tight turns and barrel through an intersection at more than 60 mph — often narrowly avoiding being broadsided by other cars going just as fast.

Figure-eight drivers. Go figure.

Steve Peters, who races the No. 30 Battlewagon, has heard all the jokes about his sanity, but since he hasn't been seriously injured in 15-plus years of figure-eight racing, he's having the last laugh.

"A lot of people ask why I would do something so dangerous, and I guess I've been fairly lucky," said Peters, who races in the FEAR Super Figure Eight division. "I've been hit 20 to 30 times in the intersection, and half the time you spin and drive right out of it. Getting hit at 60 mph in the back of the car really isn't too vicious."

In fact, Peters thinks he needs his racing helmet and safety equipment a lot more driving down I-5 than he does in a demolition derby or figure-eight race.

"In figure eight, we don't have anything to hit other than other race cars," he said. "When you're on the street there are so many more obstacles like ditches and poles and inexperienced drivers."

Peters was honored as one of the top 50 drivers in the 50-year history of Evergreen Speedway in Monroe. He said it wasn't surprising that so many of the top drivers were from figure eights.

"Once you've raced figure eights, other racing just seems to be so easy," Peters said. "There's a lot to it, but you're basically just driving around in a circle. In figure eight, you have to turn left, you have to turn right. and you have to deal with the intersection. You have to pay attention to a lot of things at the same time."

It's at the intersection where commitment is tested, where championships are won and where tow trucks are put to work. It's where the drivers show their skill, said Mickey Beadle, Evergreen Speedway track president.

"It takes courage," Beadle said. "You have to be skillful and athletic to time the intersection just right and come within inches of other cars. If you make a mistake, you can pay dearly for it."

Peters is a three-time FEAR Xtreme Contact champion, and he currently is the points leader in the Super Figure Eight division. With five races to go, including the season-championship race that is worth double points, Peters is in a tight duel with John Carlson and Shane Sawin for the championship.

But Peters, who lives with wife AnnMarie, son Sean and daughter Shawnette in Monroe, is about to slow down, at least a little.

Sean, who has been racing since he was 7, will turn 16 next year. He can't wait to get into a figure-eight car.

"I think Sean was born to race," Steve Peters said. "He knows there's school, work and racing, and the other two come before racing. I'll take some time off to get him accustomed to the car, but I definitely want to race against my son."

Full slate at Evergreen

There will be six different classes of racing this weekend in Monroe, with the superstocks back in action tomorrow night.

There have been only 11 superstock races this year because of five rainouts.

"We have to get in at least 18 races, so after this weekend we'll probably start doubling up, running twin 25-lap or twin 30-lap superstock races," Beadle said.

Race to the finish

With only four races left to the checkered flag in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Northwest Series, Garrett Evans of Wenatchee remains the season points leader.

This week the series will race at Yakima Speedway in the Frank's Chevrolet 125. The series returns to Evergreen on Sept. 18.

Evans leads Travis Bennett of Ellensburg by 57 points.

The biggest sprint will be to get into the top 10, which earns an invitation to the NASCAR Toyota All-Star showdown against the top 10 from the other three NASCAR regions at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway in November.

Joe Benedetti of Auburn is 10th, and John Bender of Snohomish, Tom Sweatman of Yakima and Jeff Bailey of Kennewick all are within 100 points of the top 10.

Notes

• Austin Cameron, who won the Coors Light 200 at Evergreen Speedway a few weeks ago, will try to make it four NASCAR Grand National West Series wins in a row this weekend at the Stockton 99 Speedway. The all-time record for consecutive wins in the series is five, set by Hershel McGriff in 1972.

Current points leader Mike Duncan is also on a roll, with 17 consecutive top-10 finishes going all the way back to the second race in 2003.

• More than 70 of the top 360 sprint car teams will be fighting for more than $60,000 at Skagit Speedway in Alger on today and tomorrow.

Drivers from four states and Canada will try to collect the $10,000 winner's check.

• Glenn Creed of Victoria, B.C., won the main event for the 10,000-pound, 1,200-horsepower big rigs on Evergreen Speedway's 3/8-mile oval last Saturday.