Ventura Raceway has teamed with All Coast Construction to form a season-within-a-season for teams racing sprint cars at the track.

The All Coast 3-2-1 Challenge, a three-race series with its own points system, will allow Ventura Racing Association members to race for special prizes and extra money.

"I've always wanted to be able to do this," said Raceway promoter Jim Naylor. "This kind of program gets the racers and our fans fired up and that builds excitement."

The first two events in the series will pay $2,000 to the winner. The final installment in the series will pay $3,000 to the winner, $2,000 to the runner-up and $1,000 to third place. The top point-getter in the special series will win an additional $1,000.

"I'm excited about increasing the purse for the drivers," said All Coast's Mike Grosswendt. "We have a successful business based in eastern Ventura County and we believe in the community. I have a family and the Raceway is a great place to take your family on a Saturday night."

All Coast Construction also sponsors the VRA sprint car driven by Chris Wakim.

On the final night, the winner could receive $4,000.

The final race will be on Nov. 15. Naylor said the other two dates will be announced.

Information: http://www.venturaraceway.com or http://www.allcoastconstruction.com.

Sprint cars: Ventura's Cory Kruseman will open the USAC/CRA sprint car series at Perris Auto Speedway on Saturday and Sunday, the track where he ended the 2007 season by winning the 12th annual Jack Kindoll Classic.

Kruseman ended the season with five feature wins.

Tony Jones of Norco won the series championship for car owner Mark Alexander. Jones will begin defense of his championship. Mike Spencer of Temecula finished second, 60 points behind Jones.

Kruseman has 10 career wins at Perris. Rip Williams of Yorba Linda and Kruseman are the only drivers to win at least one Perris race over the last four USAC/CRA seasons.

Last season, 11 different drivers won the first 11 USAC/CRA sprint car races.

Irwindale tickets: Irwindale Speedway, celebrating its 10th season of oval track racing, has placed tickets on its Web site at http://www.irwindalespeedway.com. The season opener will be March 22.

Ticket prices for all Saturday events are $15 for adult general admission seats. Seniors pay $12 while children 6-12 are admitted for $5. Those 5 and under are free.

Details will be announced for special races including the two NASCAR Camping World Series events July 4 and Aug. 16; the Oct. 11 Formula Drift Championship Finals, the Nov. 23 D1 Grand Prix All-Star World Championship event and the Nov. 27 USAC Turkey Night Grand Prix.

Information: 626-358-1100.

Champ Car Series: Alex Figge of Oxnard-based Pacific Coast Motorsports completed 247 trouble-free laps at Sebring International Raceway in Florida during testing for the Bridgestone Champ Car Series.

"I think we had a good test overall. We got the season started on a positive note by learning a lot over the past few days and developing important relationships," said Figge of Boulder, Colo.

"Mexico City feels like a long, long time ago and I was really ready to get back in the car, it felt great. I am looking forward to the season.  I think the developments we made here at Sebring should help us at Long Beach. I am looking forward to the next couple of tests and continued progress. I am going to stick around here for a few days and watch our Atlantic guys; I am excited about this program as well."

Teammate David Martinez was impressive in test runs from Saturday through Monday.

"I'm really happy with the work we did today. Right out of the box the car was great and we were able to put in very good laps," said Martinez, from Monterrey, Mexico.

Atlantic Champ Series drivers Carl Skerlong and Frankie Muniz completed their testing on Tuesday and Wednesday. Skerlong, from Washington, said he can't wait to get back in the King Taco car at Laguna Seca next month.

Muniz of Los Angeles was pleased with his performance.

"This was a very important test for our team in terms of development. We tested combination after combination and have a lot of great information heading into the season because of it. I am learning so much from my engineer, Tim Lewis," said Muniz. "I've never really learned how to develop a car, I've certainly never spent this much time developing set-up and it is really a great experience and I feel I have a much better fundamental understanding of what the car needs and what I need to maximize the track condition."

Information: http://www.pcmracing.com.