Win Would Give Thompson a Tie

Most of the 1985 Kraco-California Racing Assn. sprint car season has been a struggle for veteran Dean Thompson of Carson, but it appears that the 35-year-old veteran may finally be back in the groove.

The most successful driver in the CRA--102 victories in 13 seasons--picked up his 90th Ascot Park win last Saturday night, and he’ll go after another record Saturday night in a 50-lap Salute to Indy that will highlight a five-day holiday program at the Gardena track.

Saturday night, Thompson will attempt to join retired Billy Wilkerson as a four-time winner of the annual Salute to Indy event. The three-time CRA champion won the race in 1978, when it was 100 laps, and in 1981 and ’82 after it had been cut to its current distance.

Although he has only 2 wins in 18 races this season, Thompson, who has finished first or second the last five years, is currently 10th in the standings. A winter illness caused him to miss the first six events at Ascot, and then he narrowly escaped serious injury in a highway accident during the CRA series of races in the Midwest.

Thompson escaped with only a broken toe when the team’s van flipped while traveling from Odessa, Mo., to Terre Haute, Ind. His father, Bud, was hospitalized for several days, however, causing Dean to miss a couple of races.

Jimmy Oskie and Rip Williams, former Salute to Indy winners, will return to Ascot from the Midwest swing in worse shape than Thompson.

Oskie suffered a compressed vertebra and Williams a broken wrist in flips at Wichita, Kan., and Putnamville, Ind., respectively. They will not be racing Saturday.

Contenders include Eddie Wirth, a runner-up to Thompson last Saturday, and Brad Noffsinger and Mike Sweeney, who continue to battle for the standings lead. Noffsinger currently leads Sweeney by seven points, 811-804.

STOCK CARS--Mesa Marin Speedway in Bakersfield will hold the $25,500 Rick Mears Budweiser 100-lap race Saturday night, with more than 60 of the West’s leading drivers expected to contest for the $3,000 winner’s share. Heading the field is defending champion Jim Thirkettle. Other challengers include Mike Chase, Vince Giamformaggio, Jimmy Insolo, Dan Press and Rick Carelli. . . . Most of the same cast will be on hand Monday night at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino for a 100-lap open competition event on the quarter-mile oval. Saturday night, Orange Show will feature four divisions, sportsman, street, pony and, Figure 8s. . . . Saugus Speedway’s modified division will take the week off to get ready for next Saturday’s Miller 150 and a visit by NASCAR star Bobby Allison, so this week’s racing will feature sportsman, street stock and Figure 8 races starting at 7 o’clock. . . . Tony Zaffino and Eddie Awtrey will have a busy weekend schedule at Ascot Park. Both drivers are entered in Figure 8 and destruction derby events that will share Sunday night’s program with the NASCAR modified stock cars, then they will come back in Monday evening’s 250-lap factory stock endurance event for 99 strictly stock machines on the quarter-mile track. Ray Burns, the transplanted New Zealander who has won three of the four Winston series races held so far, is the solid favorite in Sunday’s modified program. . . . Cajon Speedway in El Cajon will offer double point races in both the super and pro divisions Saturday night. Mark Meech, the 1985 track champion finally won his first main event of the year last Saturday and will try to make it two straight in the 40-lap feature. . . . Street and mini-stock races will share Saturday night’s program at Bakersfield Speedway, and the pro-modified division will race there Monday night in a 50-lap event that will pay $1,000 to the winner.

MOTOCROSS--The Continental Motosports Club spring series will continue Friday night at Ascot Park with the sixth of seven races. The final race is scheduled at Ascot next weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, CMC will hold an international motocross event, the Otay Pro-Am on the grounds of the University of Baja California. . . . A new 15-acre motocross facility, the Spinners Airport Raceway in Porterville, will open this weekend.

SPORTS CARS--The California Sports Car Club will present three days of road racing over the holiday weekend at Riverside Raceway. Regional and National SCCA races are scheduled Sunday and Monday, with qualifying set for Saturday. A total of seven races will be held. . . . The new Nissan GTP turbo, which made its debut at Riverside in The Times 300-kilometer race, will miss the next three Camel GT events. Driver Don Devendorf crashed the car at Charlotte Speedway last Saturday when a suspension part broke, sending him into the wall at 180 m.p.h. Devendorf was not hurt, but the car was badly damaged and will have to be flown back to the Lola factory in England to be repaired.

SPEEDWAY BIKES--Steve Lucero of Riverside, the first two-time scratch main event winner at the new South Bay Stadium track at Ascot Park, will go for a third victory tonight. His top challenger figures to be Sam Ermolenko, the hottest rider at both Inland Speedway in San Bernardino and at Orange County Fairgrounds. Others to watch include U.S. champion Kelly Moran of Norwalk and Lance King, the No. 3 rider in the world last year.