LEGENDARY EARL COX HAS BEEN UNBEATEN IN PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY FIGURE 8s FOR OVER A YEAR By Scott Daloisio (Perris, CA, August 6, 2024) For fans who used to attend the Sunday night Figure 8 races at legendary Ascot Park in Gardena where the “Harbor, the San Diego, and the 91 Freeways used to crash,” the name Earl Cox may ring a bell. The same for the name Pat Cox. The couple were both longtime, successful drivers at what is arguably the most famous dirt track in racing history. When those same fans come to Perris, the name Earl Cox is still out there. However, it is not the same Earl Cox. This is Earl and Pat’s son Earl Jr. Like his mom and dad, he is a racing star and the dominant driver in the track’s Figure 8 class. This Saturday night, Earl Jr. will attempt to win his 11th main event in a row at the Riverside County speed plant. Earl Cox at Perris Auto Speedway earlier this year. Doug Allen photo. A year ago last weekend, Cox set off on his current 10-race win streak at The PAS. He won the last five races of the season in 2023 and has posted victories in the first five this year. The last time he did not win the main event was on June 3rd last season. On that night, he finished second after he got clobbered at the intersection. Prior to that, he won the first two main events of 2023. Go back to 2022, and he won three of the last four races. When you do the math, of the last 17 Figure 8 races at the PAS going back two years, Cox has won 15 of them. That works out to an astounding .882 winning percentage. “Over the winter, I spent a lot more time setting the car up,” said the veteran racer who hopes to sew up his fourth PAS championship in two months. “I spent more time on the suspension. The year prior to that, I was building other driver’s cars. I did not spend a lot of time on my car. A lot of people set their cars up completely different. I was taught to build a car for Figure 8 and set it up for a Figure 8. I learned that from my dad. If you do not get your gear right and your suspension right, that is going to be a negative. That is what I have been working on lately. I just want to make sure these young kids coming up do not whip my butt.” “Winning is fun, but a lot of people do not understand, it takes a simple thing to make the car not win,” Cox continued. “A drive shaft or something simple. I take a lot of time to go through everything in my car the Friday night before a race to make sure we do not have failures. There are some people out there who work on their car before the race. Well, that does not work. My concept is, when I take the car off the trailer (at the track), I do not lift the hood off of it. I just put some gas in it and go.” It may sound easy to have the car prepped, but Cox's job requires him to spend a tremendous amount of time out of town. When he was called and asked if he could do an interview for this press release on Monday night, he was having dinner in Oregon. So, instead of working on the car when he gets home from work, he preps the car before he goes on the road and goes back over everything the night before the race. That can prevent some extra challenges, too. “My granddaughter’s birthday was last weekend,” Cox stated. “I came in (got back to the airport), and I spent a couple hours with the car making sure everything was ready to go this weekend. I will fly in on Friday night to make the race this Saturday. I have been out of town working the last for weeks and the next four weeks. I will be flying in for our races.” “Right now, I am in Milwaukee, Oregon,” Cox said while waiting for the waitress to bring his dinner. “There is a canal that runs into a river. The canal is contaminated from all of the houses they built around it. The salmon spawn on this canal, but they have shut it down. They want to open it back up to spawning salmon. So I came in with boats and barges that I built to sample all of the contaminants to find out what it is. What they are going to do is use the info that I give them and dredge the river or the canal so they can open it back up to salmon. I am probably going to be in Arizona at the end of the year for a gold mine that has soil compaction going on. I can go from water to land one month to another month. It does not get boring. I am not the type of guy who would like going to the office every day, working eight to five and do the same thing over and over. I can’t do that. This is perfect.” Cox does, at times, work out of his office in Long Beach. When he goes to his Norco, California home at the end of the day, he works on racecars to help people out. When he is out of town, he cannot help people out. He has to work on his stuff and then be with his family when he is gone a lot. This past year he put a new car together for fellow PAS Figure 8 driver Anthony Guisa. Unfortunately, he feels that he has not been able to help him out with the new car as much as he would like to. While Cox races, his father, who is an Ascot legend, drops hints that he would like to do it again. “I recently took my dad out to breakfast,” Cox stated. “He is building a 1956 Ford pick up truck. That is what he likes to do. He is in his mid 80s and he has had some hip problems. I tell him, ‘One day I am going to rent the track and have you come drive the car.’ He tells me, ‘Don’t do that to me because that will make me build a car.’” “It was not just my dad, it was my mom, too,” Cox boasted. “My mom won just as much as my dad did. As a kid, to see my mom win, driving in the Figure 8 with men sometimes, was cool also. Seeing my mom go to Japan and show people how to do stunts and stuff like that was kind of cool. My mom and dad used to do stunts for movies with guys like Rock Hudson. They also did stuff with the television show “CHiP’S.” That was kind of fun.” Of course, the long-time pro wanted to thank his sponsors. “Speedway Mikkelson, he is the one who makes the heartbeat in the car,” Cox started with. “Mirror Images, Christine. My sheet metal guy, who I can’t really say what the name of his new company is yet. Perris Auto Speedway, Don (Kazarian) and you guys. Don, for keeping that place going; I feel he is a sponsor. The track itself, it is amazing to be able to race there and hang out. Also, David Blair of FourVideos. I go back and watch his videos to see what my car is doing. That is a big help for me and means a lot to me.” In addition to Earl Cox in the Figure 8s, there will be a crazy Figure 8 Trailer race, the Mighty Mini Stocks on the challenging road course, rough & tumble Demo Cross, and, of course, the zany Double Deckers. Spectator gates will open at 5:00 p.m., and the crashing will begin at 7:00. Bring all of the kids in the neighborhood to collect signatures and free candy on the track with all of the drivers and cars from 5:15 to 5:45. Adult tickets are $20.00. Kids 6-12 get in for just $5.00 and children 5 and under are free. The fairgrounds charge $10.00 for parking Advance tickets for all Perris Auto Speedway shows are available 24 hours a day online at https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/pas/7 or by calling 1-800-595-4849. For fans who do not wish to buy tickets in advance, there will be plenty available at the ticket window every race night. The PAS is conveniently located on the freeway close Lake Perris Fairgrounds, home of the Southern California Fair, in nearby Riverside County. Take the 215 freeway. Exit at the Ramona Expressway and go three miles east to the fairgrounds. For directions online, the address to enter is 18700 Lake Perris Drive, and the zip code is 92571. To keep up with everything happening at The PAS, please visit the track’s social media efforts on Facebook and Instagram and visit the website at perrisautospeedway.com. 2024 Perris Auto Speedway Schedule August 10th LKQ Pick Your Part Presents NIGHT OF DESTRUCTION: DEMO CROSS, FIGURE 8'S, TRAILER FIGURE 8’S, MINI STOCKS AND DOUBLE DECKERS August 17th BROTHER BRETT CLASSIC AT THE CALIFORNIA RACER’S HALL OF FAME NIGHT, AVANTI USAC/CRA SPRINT CARS, PAS Senior Sprints, GAS CHASSIS YOUNG GUNS SERIES AND PASSCAR SUPER AND STREET STOCKS September 7th LKQ Pick Your Part Presents NIGHT OF DESTRUCTION: DEMO CROSS, FIGURE 8'S, TRAILER FIGURE 8’S, MINI STOCKS AND DOUBLE DECKERS September 21st AVANTI USAC/CRA SPRINT CARS, PAS Senior Sprints, GAS CHASSIS YOUNG GUNS SERIES AND PASSCAR SUPER AND FACTORY STOCKS October 26th LKQ Pick Your Part Presents NIGHT OF DESTRUCTION: DEMO CROSS, FIGURE 8'S, TRAILER FIGURE 8’S, MINI STOCKS AND DOUBLE DECKERS November 8th 27TH RUNNING OF THE OVAL NATIONALS Featuring AVANTI USAC/CRA SPRINT CARS, PAS SENIOR SPRINTS, GAS CHASSIS YOUNG GUN SERIES AND PASSCAR SUPER, STREET AND FACTORY STOCKS November 9th 27TH RUNNING OF THE OVAL NATIONALS Featuring AVANTI USAC/CRA SPRINT CARS, PAS SENIOR SPRINTS, GAS CHASSIS YOUNG GUN SERIES – JERRY DODD CHAMPIONS NIGHT, PASSCAR SUPER, STREET AND FACTORY STOCKS THIS SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. The PAS would like to thank all of its 2024 marketing partners. Avanti Doors and Windows - https://www.avantiwindow.com/ Budweiser- https://us.budweiser.com/ Chris’s Hauling Ed Pink Racing Engines – edpink.com Flowdynamics - http://www.flowdynamicsonline.com/ GAS Chassis Heimark Distributors - https://heimark.com/ Hoosier Tire - https://www.hoosiertire.com/ Jugo Superfoods – https://jugobrands.com/ Living Waters Hospice - https://livingwatershospice.com/ LKQ Pick Your Part - https://www.lkqpickyourpart.com/ Marjon RV’s - https://marjonrvs.com/ Mike’s Produce Performance Online - https://www.performanceonline.com/ Premier Medical Transportation - https://pmtpremier.com/ Sunoco Race Fuels - https://www.sunocoracefuels.com/ Symbiosis - https://symbiosiscare.com/ Trench Shoring - https://www.trenchshoring.com/ Team Stites - https://teamstites.com/ Vista Paint - https://www.vistapaint.com/ Wind N Sea Towing - https://windnseatowing.com/ 4 Wheel Parts - https://www.4wheelparts.com/ For information on 2024 billboard advertising at The PAS, please call 951-940-0134 and ask for Charlie Watson. Fans can stay up to date on track and driver news on The PAS social media efforts at the links below. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Perris-Auto-Speedway/113876798686480?ref=hl  Twitter: Perris Auto Speedway on Twitter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perrisautospeedway/  Website: http://perrisautospeedway.com/  DVDs of all the PASSCAR/IMCA racing and Nights of Destruction at The PAS are available from Fourvideos. For more information call (714) 225-9500. mailto:perrisautospeedway1@gmail.com is the only authorized Internet address to issue official media news released from The Perris Auto Speedway or Oval Entertainment.