Off-Road Gran Prix : 47,205 at Coliseum for Races

If upside-down cars, airborne trucks and traffic jams that would make the Santa Ana Freeway at rush hour look like a joy ride was what they wanted, the largest crowd in off-road racing history got what it came for Saturday night.

Mickey Thompson announced an attendance of 47,205 for the fourth round of his five-race Off-Road Gran Prix championship series in the Coliseum. That was more than 16,000 higher than any previous stadium race.

There were no intersections as in Figure 8 racing, but a couple of hairpin turns and the narrow archways under the peristyle and the Olympic torch took their toll of machinery.

In one Volkswagen Super 1600 race, 11 cars went up the ramp leading to the arches--and no one came out. All 11 were clogged together for nearly three minutes before a lone car leaped off the concourse to thunderous applause from the crowd.

Ivan Stewart, flying over the last big jump, passed Roger Mears in the air to win the Grand National truck main event by inches. Mears, in a Nissan, was caught behind Steve Millen’s Toyota--which he was attempting to lap--when Stewart made his dramatic pass in his Toyota. It ruined what could have been a perfect night for Mears, who was fast qualifier, trophy-dash winner and first in his heat.

Frank Arciero Jr. trailed former motocross champion Marty Tripes until the last turn of the last lap before he took over and won the unlimited single-seater main event. Tripes had led all nine laps until a smoking engine slowed him down. Arciero also won the semi-main, beating former speedway motorcycle veteran Jim Fishback Jr.

If there had been prizes for spectacular accidents, the first three could have gone to John Baker, the Mitsubishi truck driver from Burbank--and all occurred in the same race.

Baker got off the line quickly in the first Grand National truck heat race and led the field up the grandstands toward the peristyle arches. But he missed the arch and smacked head-on into one of the concrete columns. John Nelson rear-ended Baker, and Jeff Huber rear-ended him.

When Baker’s pickup was finally pulled off the barrier, he took off after the field. A couple of turns later, while racing by himself, Baker was suddenly upside-down, his wheels pawing the air like a sand crab on its back.

Course marshals tipped him back upright, and Baker was off again. A lap later, he careened around a turn and didn’t make it. The Mitsubishi plowed through haybales and a protective fence, and landed about three rows up in the seats. Fortunately, the first 12 rows were kept clear of spectators for just such a development.

The program was wildly cheered, but the crowd was treated to four hours of commercials and self-congratulatory messages from the scoreboard. Not a single race result, position, names of the drivers, or any piece of information for the paying spectators was shown on the two huge scoreboards.