Robinson Paid the Price for Winston West Title

Jim Robinson of Reseda took three years to complete the hat trick, but with the money he’s earned in that period he could buy a whole rack of chapeaus .

Robinson won his third straight Winston West stock car championship Sunday despite finishing second among West Coast drivers in the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway. He has collected more than $60,000 in prize money since the tour began in April, breaking a Winston West single-season record that stood since Ray Elder earned $56,000 in 1972.

“It’s kind of hard to explain that,” Robinson said. “I’ve spent almost all my money running the car this year. What I get for the championship will go to pay the rest of my bills.

“Every penny goes back into the race car. Even if I had $5,000 or $6,000 left over, I’d give it to the crew. It wouldn’t be fair to stick it in my own pocket.”

Those expenses came from seven months of traveling the West Coast to enter 12 races. Robinson won two of them--one at Shasta Speedway in May and another at Idaho’s Stateline Raceway in August. He completed every race but one.

He went into the season’s final race at Riverside--a 2.62-mile, 9-turn road course--just 13 points ahead of Hershel McGriff of Bridal Veil, Ore. McGriff, however, had electrical problems and was forced to drop out of the race early, giving Robinson the easy championship.

“Once he started having problems, it kind of assured us,” Robinson said. “So we ran a bit harder and picked up a few more points.”

Robinson led most of the season in that department. The North Hollywood auto shop owner finished the year leading McGriff in the final point standings by 19.

But it wasn’t easy.

“It wasn’t easy--by no means in the world,” Robinson said. “We had some good racing and some very good competition. When we started the year out we didn’t go chasing points. We just went through the first few races to see how we did.”

Winning his third championship puts Robinson in some exclusive company. Only five other Winston West drivers have won three points championships since the circuit’s inception in 1954. The only one to win more consecutive titles was Elder, who won four championships from 1969-72.

Matching Elder’s mark will take quite an effort. Robinson is looking for more sponsorship, and may take time out from next year’s Winston West agenda to enter some Winston Cup races back east. Robinson traveled to Atlanta earlier in the month, but failed to qualify his late-model Oldsmobile Cutlass in the Atlanta Journal 500. He is changing the body style to a sleeker Olsmobile Delta 88 for next year.